Christian Ellingsen's Blog, page 2
January 25, 2024
A Murder in the Docklands giveaway
With Murder in the Docklands: Tales From Vasini III’s impending release on 22 February, I’m running a Goodreads giveaway. There’s a chance to win 1 of 100 Kindle editions of the book and be one of the first to read it.
Unfortunately, it’s only available in the US. However, for those who are eligible to enter, you can do so here.
And whilst we’re here…A few updates on where things are with what I’m working on.
The first draft of the first novella of Tales From Vasini IV is now complete. It ended up 41,089 words long. A little longer than expected, but that’s the way of things.
That novella was finished on 12 January. On 15 January, I plunged into writing a new thing – the first of a new series of short novels. I’m already a fifth of the way through and, at my current speed, may actually have wrapped up the first draft by the end of February. Things never go as planned though. So we’ll see what actually happens.
Editing-wise, I’m still working my way through the next draft of The Vasini Chronicles III. Out of anything I’ve written, The Vasini Chronicle novels are the most complex, and managing all the threads that make up each one and how they tie in with what comes before and what is coming down the line is an interesting, but somewhat lengthy, challenge.
January 5, 2024
A Beasts of the Wildlands giveaway and other things
In all my excitement about Murder in the Docklands: Tales From Vasini III coming out (it’s out on 22 February and available for pre-order on Kindle now), I forgot to say Happy New Year. So…
Happy New Year.
Beasts of the Wildlands Goodreads giveawayUS people — to celebrate Beasts of the Wildlands: Tales From Vasini II turning one on 19 January, I’m running a Goodreads giveaway.
There’s a chance to win 1 of 100 Kindle editions of the book. It’s an opportunity to catch up on the series before Murder in the Docklands is released.
You have until 19 January.
You can enter here.
In other newsI’m coming to the end of the first draft of the first novella that will make up Tales From Vasini IV. It’s currently around 34,000 words. I’m hoping it will wrap up in the next 5,000 words, which will maybe take me until next Friday to complete. Fingers crossed.
After that I’ll be plunging into work on the first of a new series of short novels. Once that’s done, I’ll be switching back to Tales From Vasini IV and my current intent is to switch between work on the new novel series and the novellas for Tales From Vasini IV. But we’ll see how things go.
Editing-wise, I’m working my way through The Vasini Chronicles III. Once this draft is done it will be put back in its virtual draw for a short while as I turn my attention to the sequel to The City Between the Books and The Cities Beyond the Signal that I finished the first draft of in July last year.
January 2, 2024
Coming 22 February: Murder in the Docklands
Back on 8 December, when I revealed the cover to Murder in the Docklands: Tales From Vasini III, my new flintlock fantasy book, I said there would be more information to come in the New Year.
Well, it’s the new year, so…
Murder in the Docklands: Tales From Vasini III will be out in the world on 22 February on Kindle and in paperback.
You can pre-order it on Kindle here:
Please check your local Amazon store if your location isn’t listed above.
If you’re on Goodreads, you can find details and add it to your To Read list here.
And it’s about this…
The city-state of Vasini was rebuilt from the ashes left by the fall of the deities. Key to its survival are the docklands of Mid-Port and Southport, where the fish and trade that feed and fuel the city are brought in.
As summer begins, the people of quality prepare to elect a new seigneur and médiateur. The city is getting ready to celebrate the Festival of Games and the city wall run. Trade flows freely through the Mid-Port docks. The days may be longer, but there are still deep shadows and threats within them…murders are about to happen.
A conflagration at a dockside warehouse leaves a nightwatchman dead. In The Fire, Sergeant Rebecca Flint of the Mid-Port Inspectorate is called to investigate the destruction of the warehouse and the death of the nightwatchman amongst the flames. But why was this warehouse targeted and what was it holding?
A local pickpocket is found dead in an alley. In In Service to the Dead, the murder makes no sense to Flint. Why was the pickpocket carrying a satchel with samples of strange plants? Was he murdered out of revenge or for what he carried? And, if it was for what he carried, why was the satchel not taken?
The crew of a river boat are shot dead as they travel up the Sini. In Juniper, Flint receives a mysterious note that leads her to an abandoned boat at the Southport river docks. Who owns the boat? Why is it of importance? Who sent the note that led her there and why? As Flint investigates, she’ll find answers to these questions and maybe, finally, to some of the other mysteries that she and the docklands have faced over the past months.
Tales From Vasini is a companion series of short stories and novellas to The Vasini Chronicles novel series. It tells stories of the wider world of Vasini and its environs. Murder in the Docklands contains the interconnected novellas The Fire, In Service to the Dead, and Juniper.
December 8, 2023
Murder in the Docklands coming soon
Coming in February 2024…
Murder in the Docklands: Tales From Vasini III. More details to come in the New Year.
October 10, 2023
Mapping
11 weeks ago I wrapped up the first draft of the sequel to The City Between the Books and The Cities Beyond the Signal and started mapping out the four novellas that would make up Tales From Vasini IV plus five novellas (likely to end up as short novels) for another project.
A few weeks ago, I finished that mapping and the week before last I transferred those notes into Scrivener.
All that means that last Monday I started writing the first of those Tales From Vasini IV novellas.
Woo’hoo.
I should be a little clearer on what I mean by ‘mapped out’. There are those who plan and there are those who write by the seat of their pants. Then there’s me somewhere between the two.
I probably lean more towards a ‘pantser’ than a ‘planner’. My map for each story is simply that – something to guide me and get me towards where I’m going, but not necessarily dictate the route I take.
The map for each of those four novellas is a sentence or two on a number of index cards, that can vary from “X does Y at this location, where Z event is happening. They’re in this emotional state. A is also there to stop them.” to the oh so helpful “They find a clue” with no indication of what that clue is.
The cards are intended simply to capture the initial ideas of what the story is and the key events in that story, to provide a few landmarks that I can use to guide my way through and make sure I don’t get too lost.
There will, inevitably be diversions and, at points, I’ll realise there is a better route through. Scenes intended for one character will be better suited to another, certain events will reveal themselves to be unnecessary and will get cut before I even write them and other events will replace them, characters that I thought would be cool to include will get culled as they’re unnecessary and other characters will appear and blossom and become more than their original intent.
Already, last week a card that basically read “Rumours of event reach location” has sparked the reintroduction of a character that hasn’t appeared for several books and who I thought wouldn’t make an appearance until a couple of books in the future if at all. The scene is nothing like I originally thought it would be.
The landmark on the map is still the same, it just looks different from what I thought even up until the day before I started writing it. And it’s better than I thought it would be.
It’s good to be back writing a first draft. Getting to explore Vasini again and finding out where this map I’ve created for myself actually leads.
In other news, I’m now proofreading Tales From Vasini III, which means that in the not too distant future I might have some idea of when it will be released into the world.
July 17, 2023
And so it begins again
On Friday I wrote the last few words of a novella that had turned into a short novel.
I’d originally believed it was going to be about 40,000 words maximum, it ended up at — according to Scrivener — 49,063. So only about 123% of the length I’d thought it would be (by comparison The Theatre of Shadows was, if memory serves me right, about 150% of what I thought it would be when I started writing it).
By the way this novella-turned-short-novel is a sequel to The City Between the Books and The Cities Beyond the Signal. More details to come when it’s a bit closer to going out into the world, but you can assume it will have some variation of the word ‘city’ in its title. For the time being ,it is sitting in the virtual draw (at least until I’ve finished work on Tales From Vasini III and probably after I’ve worked on the second draft of The Vasini Chronicles III).
With the third ‘city’ story in the virtual draw, I now get to start work on something new (well, newish).
I’m pulling together the ideas for the stories that will make up this volume at the moment, as well as those for a series of novellas (likely to end up as short novels — because that’s the way things work) that I’ll be working on between writing each of the TFV IV stories. I’ll likely start on the first draft of the first TFV IV story sometime in September.
In other newsThe Kindle editions of The Silver Mask and The Theatre of Shadows (The Vasini Chronicles I & II) are back on sale.
You can get them for 99p/99c in the UK/US until 24 July.
UK – you can find them here.
US – you can find them here.
July 9, 2023
What was I doing again?
Given it’s been a few months, I thought I’d give a very quick update on where things are with what I’m working on at the moment.
After tidying up the first draft of The Vasini Chronicles III, it’s been put into its virtual draw for a while.
The main focus of my editing efforts is now Tales From Vasini III and it will remain so until it’s out in the world. Not quite sure when that will be, but it’s getting closer. At some point, I’ll settle on a title for the book, but I’m mostly certain that the three novellas it contains will be called: The Fire; In Service to the Dead; and Juniper.
Writing-wise, I’m coming up on the end of the first draft of the non-Vasini novella-turned-short-novel I’ve been working on. Fingers crossed, it should be wrapped up in the next couple of weeks.
In other newsThe Cities Beyond the Signal, my portal fantasy novella, is on back sale on Kindle until Sunday 16 April.
UK people – you can pick up a copy for 99p here.
US People – you can pick up a copy for 99c here.
April 5, 2023
A few quick notes
A quick note to let you know The Cities Beyond the Signal, my portal fantasy novella, is on sale on Kindle.
UK people – you can pick up a copy for 99p here.
US People – you can pick up a copy for 99c here.
The sale runs until 12 April.
In other newsWhile we’re here, a quick update on the things I’m working on.
Tales From Vasini III is sitting patiently in its virtual draw while I do some tidying up on the first draft of The Vasini Chronicles III.
I’m now about 28,000 words into the first draft of the non-Vasini novella I’ve been writing. It’s looking more and more like this will actually be a short novel than a novella.
February 5, 2023
A thank you and other things
It’s been a little over two weeks since Beasts of the Wildlands: Tales From Vasini II was released into the wilds. Thank you to any and all who have bought and/or read it. I hope you’ve enjoyed it.
Should you feel inclined to do so, please do leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Even a handful of words can help.
If you’ve yet to get your copy, you can find it here (please check your local Amazon store if you’re outside the UK).
The Cities Beyond the Signal saleIn other news, my portal fantasy novella, The Cities Beyond the Signal is on sale on Kindle in the UK and US for the next week.
UK people, you can get it for 99p here.
For US people, it’s 99c and can be found here.
What’s next?With Beasts of the Wildlands sent out into the wilds, my attention is now turning to the other things.
Ahead of BotW’s release, I’d been editing Tales From Vasini III. However, with the next draft of that complete, it’s been put in a virtual draw, and I’m now tidying up the first draft of The Vasini Chronicles III ahead of me actually working on the next draft proper a little way down the line. So, far it’s mostly been focused on giving certain characters actual names instead of [Lawyer] or XX. There’s some other bits to do, like some little structural changes I thought of while I was writing the original draft.
Writing-wise, I’m now about 12,500 words into a non-Vasini novella. I say novella, I’m suspicious that it actually wants to become a short novel.
January 19, 2023
Beasts of the Wildlands is now in the wild
It’s here. At last. Beasts of the Wildlands: Tales From Vasini II, my new flintlock fantasy book, is out in the wilds as of today.
You can find it on Kindle and in paperback here:
Please check your local Amazon store if your location isn’t listed above.
If you’re on Goodreads, you can add it to your To Read list here.
Beasts of the Wildlands
Tales From Vasini I
The deities were destroyed two hundred years ago. The moon split apart, the sun dwindled and the land was devastated. Civilisation has re-emerged from the carnage, but beasts, twisted by the ravages of the dying gods and goddesses, still prowl the savage Wildlands between the city-states.
Each year, as winter turns to spring, twisted beasts drift into the farmlands surrounding the city-state of Vasini, threatening herds and livelihoods. In The Hunters, Addy Blake, an apprentice hunter, is hired with her mistress and master to hunt down a beast that is killing shepherds and destroying flocks of sheep. But, as they hunt the beast, it becomes clear that there is more than simple hunger behind why the creature is there.
Out in the Wildlands, small independent settlements eek out an existence in walled enclaves free from the interference of the city-states. In In the Ruins of the Deities, one such settlement is asked for aid by a visitor from Vasini. It is down to Nate Tyler and his band of hunters to take the visitor on an expedition through the Wildlands to an abandoned estate. But can they survive against the beasts that now claim the land as their territory and why is the visitor so interested in the ruin?
Tales From Vasini is a companion series of short stories and novellas to The Vasini Chronicles novel series. It tells stories of the wider world of Vasini and its environs. Beasts of the Wildlands contains the novellas The Hunters and In the Ruins of the Deities.
