The contracts with Wildside are signed and counter-signed, payment is on the way, and the publisher has asked me to please remove the free version — we want people to pay for the official e-book when it’s released.

Therefore, I’ll be taking down the Epilogue and Chapters Three through Forty; they’ll be gone no later than Monday, possibly much sooner. If there was anything you wanted to re-read, either get it now or wait for the finished book. (Chapters One and Two will remain, as advertising.)

I haven’t finished the revised version; Wildside wants it ASAP, and the contract has a deadline in late May, so I need to get to work on that.

We still don’t have a specific release date for the finished book, but Wildside likes to get stuff out to market and earning money quickly.

There will be a trade paperback (probably print-on-demand), and an e-book. Don’t know about a hardcover yet. A mass-market paperback edition is very unlikely. No word yet on details like cover art or price.

Thanks to all who contributed!

Chapter Forty and the Epilogue are now online. The serial is concluded and complete. My sincere gratitude to everyone who contributed!

Wildside Press has sent my agent a contract, but it’s not signed yet, so I have no information about the eventual publication date, cover price, or much of anything else. I do know that once the contracts are signed I’ll be taking down the serial version, so read it while you can.

I have only made the most tentative of starts on the second draft at this point. Given the time needed for revisions, editing, copy-editing, cover design, and so forth, it will still be several months before the finished book sees print.

When it does see print, I’ll be sending copies to everyone who donated $25 or more (in the U.S.; Canada the minimum is $30, and overseas it’s $35). I’ll post updates about that here when the time comes, as well as e-mailing information. I’ll be verifying addresses as best I can before anything actually ships.

I’m fairly sure there will be e-book editions for the Kindle and for other e-readers, as Wildside is enthusiastic about those, but again, I have no information at this point.

As long as the serial is online, I’ll accept donations/advance orders. (You can look at them either way, now that we know the book will appear.) Once it’s down, you’ll have to wait until you can order from Wildside, Amazon, B&N, or whatever your preferred source is; I won’t continue taking orders after that.

If you donated more than the minimum, we can discuss in e-mail what extras, if any, you might want — but please, don’t do that now; wait until I announce that the book’s ready and I’m verifying addresses.

In the past, I’ve always included extras of some sort with everyone’s books, but this novel is much longer than any of my previous serials, so I’m not sure whether I’ll be doing that this time. We’ll see.

As for future serials, right now I have no definite plans. I’ll want to see how the writing and publishing business develop over the next year or so — e-books and other developments are drastically changing the market. I will say, though, that this is definitely not the last Ethshar novel; I’ve started writing the next, a “young adult” novel with the working title Ishta’s Playmate (formerly A Stranger in the Forest) that I hope will move the series back to traditional publishing. We’ll see how that works out.

Thanks again for your support!

Chapter Thirty-Nine is finally online. One more chapter to go! My thanks to everyone who’s supported this project.

As you can see, this chapter wraps up Hanner’s part in the story, but Chapter Forty and the epilogue will tie up several other loose ends.

As of right now, there’s $235 to go to finish the serial. (The e-mail I sent to contributors said $215; that was a typo. Sorry.)

I haven’t really gotten serious about the second draft yet; I’ve been focused on a couple of other projects that I hope will bring in money. One of them, which is really just getting started, is another Ethshar novel, untitled as yet (working title was originally A Stranger in the Forest, but that’s not going to stay), aimed at the “young adult” market, which I’m hoping will move the series back to traditional publishing.

Whether it succeeds or not, I more or less expect to do at least one more serial eventually — probably The Sorcerer’s Widow — but not any time soon. It’s possible, depending on how the market develops, that I may just start self-publishing these as e-books, rather than running serials.

Meanwhile, Wildside does plan to publish The Unwelcome Warlock eventually, but there’s still a lot to be done before that happens, so I won’t be sending out the finished books for several months yet.

Chapter Thirty-Eight is now online. I’m back from Chicago, and trying to catch up on tons of stuff, but since it was actually paid for by Saturday I gave this priority.

This is a relatively low-key chapter, but I hope you’ll be pleased to see a little more of these relatively minor characters. The remaining two chapters after this return to the main storyline.

Chapter Thirty-Nine is something like 20% paid for — I don’t have exact numbers yet.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Chapter Thirty-Seven is now online.

From now on, I’ll post chapters as fast as they’re paid for, rather than trying to maintain a weekly or semi-weekly schedule — after all, there are only three left. (The epilogue will be posted with Chapter Forty.) Chapter Thirty-Eight is about 20% covered.

No further news on rewrite or publication; I’ve been busy with other stuff.

If any of you are at Capricon this coming weekend, do say hello. (And if anyone can provide a ride to or from Union Station…)

Oh — that trip does mean I won’t be online from Thursday, February 10, through Monday, February 14. Sorry about that.

Okay, folks, it’s a day late, but Chapter Thirty-Six is now posted. I actually had enough money late Saturday afternoon, but I wasn’t home — the wife and I went out to a reception and show, so I wasn’t online until after midnight.

Technically, actually, we’re still 74¢ short, but I’m not about to put it off over less than a dollar.

This does mean we don’t have anything at all toward Chapter Thirty-Seven yet, but if $250 comes in by Tuesday night, I’ll post it on Wednesday, February 2nd, a.k.a. Candlemas, a.k.a. Groundhog Day. Which is also a family member’s birthday, and I have a medical appointment that afternoon. Big day, this coming Wednesday. Let’s see if we can’t make it even bigger with that thirty-seventh chapter!

First draft’s written, forty chapters and an epilogue. Haven’t started the second draft.

Chapter Thirty-Five is now online. This is, once again, the last chapter that’s paid for; Chapter Thirty-Six is only about 20% paid for.

If the other 80% comes in, I’ll post Chapter Thirty-Six on Saturday, January 29th. If not, I’ll post Chapter Thirty-Six when the money does come in.

The first draft is complete, including a short epilogue that will be a free extra, if and when Chapter Forty is posted.

Nothing new on rewriting or contracts.

Chapter Thirty-Four is now online. This is the last chapter that’s paid for; Chapter Thirty-Five is about $40 short. Assuming that $40 comes in, I’ll post Chapter Thirty-Five on Wednesday, January 26th.

The first draft is complete, including a short epilogue — which will be a free extra, if and when Chapter Forty is posted.

I still haven’t started the second draft, and Wildside admits they haven’t actually sent the contracts yet, but they’ll get to them soon.

Chapter Thirty-Three is now online. I’m still planning to post new chapters twice a week if the money comes in that fast, but right now there’s only one more chapter paid for. We’re only about halfway to Chapter Thirty-Five,

We’re paid through Chapter Thirty-Four, which will be posted Saturday, January 22nd.

The first draft is complete, though I’m still tweaking bits here and there and haven’t ruled out adding a short epilogue.

I haven’t started the second draft, but Wildside says they’re sending my agent a contract.

Chapter Thirty-Two is now online — the first Saturday chapter. From now on, I’ll post new chapters twice a week if the money comes in that fast.

I also made a small revision to Chapter Thirty-One.

We’re paid through Chapter Thirty-Four. Chapter Thirty-Three will be posted Wednesday, January 19th.

The first draft is written, except I still might decide to add a short epilogue. The novel runs forty chapters, and just over 125,000 words.

I’m not sure when I’ll get to the second draft, and I don’t actually have a contract with Wildside yet, so there’s no telling when the final version will see print.