Another BFU (Big Fething Update)

A little bit of big news is here.  I've been working diligently to get the two Anthology books completed and released.  I've gotten one step closer and I'd like to introduce the cover and titles of the two books (the Cover Art was done by Thomas Drew).

First up is the Anthology that is placed chronologically between Bad Lands and Knights of The Realm and it's called Echoes of the Ever War: Untold Tales

While my original intention was to release both anthologies at the same time I'm expecting to instead release them one at a time.  The second will book will be Echoes of the Ever War: Lost Lore

The two covers are designed to be placed side by side as one unified image, but can otherwise simply be considered two separate covers designed under the same aesthetic.

5 Golden Stories!

Just in time for X-mas I managed to close out the 5th story in the second anthology, which means I'm roughly half-way through that book! It was another experimental piece, this one starring Honest, but I was quite happy with the outcome.

I've also managed to get the special Kindle edition of book 1 up. To be honest it's probably the definitive electronic version primarily because it maintains the existing formatting of the book rather than reformatting and changing the look of subtitles the way the Nook and Apple variations do.

I hope to release Kindle editions of Books II and III soon as I also work to get the anthologies completed and available.

Website Forthcoming

After a long dry spell with no official site due to a crash in the ftp and some other tech issues I'm finally getting around to rebuilding a working site. It will be slow work over the next couple weeks, but I'm going to try and have something up the entire time.

I'm intending to keep it a rather simple design this time around and not push for the flash imagery like the last site, that was also an involved process to update. If all things go as planned then I'll have full content and function restored by the new year with the new design.

The Fourth Wall Falls

Today I finished up the 4th short story in the second anthology. Ostensibly it was Julienna's tale, but more importantly it dealt with a detail I had wanted to reveal for some time. I'm not sure if finally finishing this story produces the fulfillment of an author's contract from the series, as I'm not entirely sure I ever made a promise on this conclusion, but I think it certainly captures a moment I wanted revealed.

Hopefully when people read this story they'll see it slides in a piece of the story that they hadn't even realized was missing until they read it. 114 pages in and I'm still feeling pretty good about how these stories are shaping up. I wonder which I'll tackle next?

>33% Done

The 5th book (another short story anothology) has reached a critcal point, it's more than one third completed. Oddly enough the story I finished was the first short story I started from the series. It was originally going to be handled as a flashback in the third book but I felt like the storyline didn't further the overall story and was simply a unique adventure. It helps explain some of the details that appear in the third book without having to actually slow down that book with a tangent.

From the standpoint that you question when these anthologies end up in your grasping, clawing hands the answer is... I'm not yet sure. At first I was expecting I'd put out both books individually, but the more I work on them the more I see them as a complimentary pair so there is a strong chance they'll simplly end up getting released at the same time.

We'll see where my whimsy carries me as I continue to work on these stories and filling in some of the background that was previously removed to keep the pace up and keep the focus strong.

After the long Hiatus

It has been quite a while since I've posted, but with good reason. I've been doing a considerable amount of writing for Itsgeektime and I've also been doing some behind the scenes work with these books. Not the least of which is working on getting the second anthology volume completed. My goal at this point is to have both the anthologies out by next year and have the first draft of the second anthology done by this year, but we'll see how well all of that goes. At this point I'm through two out of the ten stories and roughly one third of my expected page count.

Even with the end of the series written this anthology works as a sort of swan song for some of these characters and moments. I get one more chance for characters to surprise me and reveal secrets about the world. I also get to detail some of the minor events that are barely referenced in the series in a more complete fashion. Last night I completed Medic's section and while it was sad to say goodbye to another character I felt it was a good way to leave things off, because for me it's saying goodbye on a high note.

Well, back to work, but be aware that things are moving behind the scenes and hopefully I'll have some more news to post soon.

-D

Book Four is Completed

Last night I was up until the wee hours of the morning completing the first short story anthology for the Ever War series. Because of the duration of the editing process I expect the book will be released in Q1 of 2011. This book details some of the events that are alluded to in the series that take place between The Bad Lands and Knights of The Realm. It will be released under the header "Echoes of the Ever War" as the stories contained within are additional information to the primary story line designed to improve the entirity of the reading experience.

In about a year I expect to complete the second anthology, in what I've called the "Chronicles" line as their working title during the writing process, and then return to long form fiction earlier in the Ever War timeline. Today I am basking in the glow of being one step closer to completing what I see as an entire cycle.

Keep watching this space for more updates.

Sincerely,
DWH