Matthew Hughes's Blog: barbarians of the beyond - Posts Tagged "a-wizard-s-henchman"
Kaslo novel renamed A Wizard's Henchman
I’ve turned in the polished and somewhat repaired draft of the science fantasy novel I’ve been serializing in Lightspeed as The Kaslo Chronicles. I’ve renamed it A Wizard’s Henchman and called it the first book of a series, because Erm Kaslo is a promising character and the story took him to an interesting point of departure. So I’ll probably write a sequel down the line, if I live long enough (I've just turned sixty-six).
The book is also a point of departure for me in the long string of novels, novellas, and short stories I’ve been writing under the general heading of The Archonate. That string began a very, very long time ago – the Labor Day weekend of 1982 – when I sat down and wrote 27,000 words in 72 hours. It was an impulse thing, an entry in the annual novel-in-a-weekend contest put on by a small literary press in Vancouver, which I’d heard about only for the first time the day before I started writing.
Those 27,000 words, which amazingly had a beginning, a middle, and an end, with a proper arc of character development, came rolling out of me as if it had all been tucked away inside, just waiting for the fingers to strike the keyboard (an IBM Selectric in those days). Years later, when I got my first word processor, I expanded the draft and it eventually became Fools Errant, the first novel of the Archonate.
In those initial 72 hours, as I neared the end of the 27,000 words, I came up with the notion that the universe occasionally arbitrarily switches its fundamental operating principle from rational cause and effect to magic. The idea came from something I’d recently read about Isaac Newton, the great guiding light of the Enlightenment in England, who ended his days as the founder and head of The Royal Society (the first British scientific organization), but who began his career as an alchemist. I wondered what had happened to change his point of view so radically.
Years later, when I seriously got down to writing more Archonate tales, I was taken by the idea that this great interstellar civilization, The Ten Thousand Worlds, was about to crash into ruin and chaos. And almost nobody knew it – or would believe it if the few who knew what was about to happen tried to warn them. By then I was thinking about the people of Europe, just before the outbreak of the First World War, who didn’t know that four years of carnage was going to bring down Edwardian civilization for good and all.
I’ve written about a number of different characters – Henghis Hapthorn and Luff Imbry in particular, who get an inkling of what is about to happen and try to deal with it as their natures dictate. But I’ve received occasional letters from readers who, if they don’t quite accuse me of apocalyptus interruptus, lead me to I think I’m seeing the accusation between the lines.
So, with Erm Kaslo, confidential operative of The Ten Thousand Worlds, I’ve finally gone over the top and into the great change. I think it’s worked out well – at least in the polished draft, which fixed some glitches in the serial that resulted from the facts that (a) I don’t outline, and (b) if you’re writing a serial and sending in the episodes as they’re finished, you can’t go back and change something in chapter three to fit with what you’ve only just thought of midway through chapter seven.
My apologies to the astute readers who have noticed those little glitches. The version that comes out of PS Publishing will not only be one of their beautifully made limited edition volumes, but its plot won’t leak like an old bucket. It will be out sometime next year and I hope you will buy it, read it, and enjoy it.
The book is also a point of departure for me in the long string of novels, novellas, and short stories I’ve been writing under the general heading of The Archonate. That string began a very, very long time ago – the Labor Day weekend of 1982 – when I sat down and wrote 27,000 words in 72 hours. It was an impulse thing, an entry in the annual novel-in-a-weekend contest put on by a small literary press in Vancouver, which I’d heard about only for the first time the day before I started writing.
Those 27,000 words, which amazingly had a beginning, a middle, and an end, with a proper arc of character development, came rolling out of me as if it had all been tucked away inside, just waiting for the fingers to strike the keyboard (an IBM Selectric in those days). Years later, when I got my first word processor, I expanded the draft and it eventually became Fools Errant, the first novel of the Archonate.
In those initial 72 hours, as I neared the end of the 27,000 words, I came up with the notion that the universe occasionally arbitrarily switches its fundamental operating principle from rational cause and effect to magic. The idea came from something I’d recently read about Isaac Newton, the great guiding light of the Enlightenment in England, who ended his days as the founder and head of The Royal Society (the first British scientific organization), but who began his career as an alchemist. I wondered what had happened to change his point of view so radically.
Years later, when I seriously got down to writing more Archonate tales, I was taken by the idea that this great interstellar civilization, The Ten Thousand Worlds, was about to crash into ruin and chaos. And almost nobody knew it – or would believe it if the few who knew what was about to happen tried to warn them. By then I was thinking about the people of Europe, just before the outbreak of the First World War, who didn’t know that four years of carnage was going to bring down Edwardian civilization for good and all.
I’ve written about a number of different characters – Henghis Hapthorn and Luff Imbry in particular, who get an inkling of what is about to happen and try to deal with it as their natures dictate. But I’ve received occasional letters from readers who, if they don’t quite accuse me of apocalyptus interruptus, lead me to I think I’m seeing the accusation between the lines.
So, with Erm Kaslo, confidential operative of The Ten Thousand Worlds, I’ve finally gone over the top and into the great change. I think it’s worked out well – at least in the polished draft, which fixed some glitches in the serial that resulted from the facts that (a) I don’t outline, and (b) if you’re writing a serial and sending in the episodes as they’re finished, you can’t go back and change something in chapter three to fit with what you’ve only just thought of midway through chapter seven.
My apologies to the astute readers who have noticed those little glitches. The version that comes out of PS Publishing will not only be one of their beautifully made limited edition volumes, but its plot won’t leak like an old bucket. It will be out sometime next year and I hope you will buy it, read it, and enjoy it.
Two new titles scheduled from PS Publishing
The fourth and final Luff Imbry novella, "Epiphanies," is scheduled for publication by PS Publishing in April, 2016. As with the others, there will be two limited editions, one of them signed and numbered. There will also be an ebook.
Sometime down the road, all four novellas will be put out as a paperback omnibus.
A Wizard's Henchman, a novel previously serialized in Lightspeed Magazine, is scheduled for July, 2016. It, too, will be published in two limiteds, with an ebook version.
For those who tuned in just lately, it was called The Kaslo Chronicles when it ran in Lightspeed, and started out as a Vancean space opera about Erm Kaslo, a hardboiled confidential operative (a private eye) pursuing his career in a far-future civilization spanning the Ten Thousand Worlds of our galactic arm.
But as the story proceeds, it morphs into a science-fantasy as the basic operating principle of the universe shifts from rationalism to magic. Kaslo's hard-won skills are rendered inoperative and he finds that he has no talents at all for "sympathetic association." He goes to work for a former client who was a rich ninny before the change but is now becoming a powerful proto-thaumaturge.
The plot ties in with elements of the Filidor and Hapthorn series.
Sometime down the road, all four novellas will be put out as a paperback omnibus.
A Wizard's Henchman, a novel previously serialized in Lightspeed Magazine, is scheduled for July, 2016. It, too, will be published in two limiteds, with an ebook version.
For those who tuned in just lately, it was called The Kaslo Chronicles when it ran in Lightspeed, and started out as a Vancean space opera about Erm Kaslo, a hardboiled confidential operative (a private eye) pursuing his career in a far-future civilization spanning the Ten Thousand Worlds of our galactic arm.
But as the story proceeds, it morphs into a science-fantasy as the basic operating principle of the universe shifts from rationalism to magic. Kaslo's hard-won skills are rendered inoperative and he finds that he has no talents at all for "sympathetic association." He goes to work for a former client who was a rich ninny before the change but is now becoming a powerful proto-thaumaturge.
The plot ties in with elements of the Filidor and Hapthorn series.
Another sale to F&SF
I've sold another novelette to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. It's called "The Prognosticant" and carries on the life and times of my new serial character, Baldemar, a young wizard's henchman. It's my thirtieth sale to F&SF.
And I've turned in "Thunderstone," a space-opera/science-fantasy mix to Nick Gevers, who is editing an invitation-only antho I was invited to submit to on a last-minute basis when somebody else didn't deliver a story. It features Erm Kaslo, a far-future Sam Spade. I'm hoping Nick takes it.
I invented Kaslo some years ago for a story called "And Then Some," that ran in Asimov's and then again in Lightspeed Magazine, where it became the beginning of a serialized novel called The Kaslo Chronicles. After it ran, I tidied up the narrative and sold it to PS Publishing, which will bring it out in limited editions and ebook format in the next few weeks, retitled as A Wizard's Henchman.
I'm telling you all this because I see I have set things up for possible confusion. Erm Kaslo is a hard-boiled, Sam-Spade-type private eye who becomes a wizard's henchman when the universe switches from science to magic, and we make the transition from a Jack Vancean Gaean Reach kind of civilization to the decadence of The Dying Earth.
Baldemar is a wizard's henchman on an Old Earth that is already well into the Dying Earth era. They have nothing in common except the henchman thing.
And I've turned in "Thunderstone," a space-opera/science-fantasy mix to Nick Gevers, who is editing an invitation-only antho I was invited to submit to on a last-minute basis when somebody else didn't deliver a story. It features Erm Kaslo, a far-future Sam Spade. I'm hoping Nick takes it.
I invented Kaslo some years ago for a story called "And Then Some," that ran in Asimov's and then again in Lightspeed Magazine, where it became the beginning of a serialized novel called The Kaslo Chronicles. After it ran, I tidied up the narrative and sold it to PS Publishing, which will bring it out in limited editions and ebook format in the next few weeks, retitled as A Wizard's Henchman.
I'm telling you all this because I see I have set things up for possible confusion. Erm Kaslo is a hard-boiled, Sam-Spade-type private eye who becomes a wizard's henchman when the universe switches from science to magic, and we make the transition from a Jack Vancean Gaean Reach kind of civilization to the decadence of The Dying Earth.
Baldemar is a wizard's henchman on an Old Earth that is already well into the Dying Earth era. They have nothing in common except the henchman thing.
New Erm Kaslo story sold
Last month, editor Nick Gevers asked me to write a story for an upcoming anthology called Extrasolar, to be published by PS Publishing. Somebody who had been expected to deliver a story had not done so and the deadline was coming up.
Nick described the theme of the antho thusly:
Stories will deal with the recent discoveries via the Hubble Telescope and other efforts at identifying extrasolar planets--all those bizarre solar systems made up of superjovians, hot Neptunes, superearths, lots of planets close to their stars, wild eccentric orbits, etc. What are the implications of these observations, for the nature of planetary systems in the universe as a whole, for the hope of finding life elsewhere in the galaxy, for SF itself, a genre that traditionally has anticipated other solar systems arranged rather like ours?
So, basically hard SF, which I don't write, but I can do space-opera set against interesting backgrounds. So I was very pleased to take a shot at it. I decided to revive Erm Kaslo, my hardboiled "confidential operative" whose investigations take him out among the Ten Thousand Worlds of The Spray. The story is called "Thunderstone" and it shows Erm before the events in his upcoming novel, A Wizard's Henchman, when he has to deal with the universe arbitrarily switching its fundamental operating principle from rationalism to magic.
Nick has accepted the story. The antho will be out next year.
Fans of my Luff Imbry tales owe Nick Gevers a tip of the hat. It was he who suggested, after Luff's initial appearance in the novel Black Brillion, that I write some stories about him for the quarterly PS Publishing anthology, Postscripts. Without Nick's suggestion, I might have let the fat man fade into the shadows.
Nick described the theme of the antho thusly:
Stories will deal with the recent discoveries via the Hubble Telescope and other efforts at identifying extrasolar planets--all those bizarre solar systems made up of superjovians, hot Neptunes, superearths, lots of planets close to their stars, wild eccentric orbits, etc. What are the implications of these observations, for the nature of planetary systems in the universe as a whole, for the hope of finding life elsewhere in the galaxy, for SF itself, a genre that traditionally has anticipated other solar systems arranged rather like ours?
So, basically hard SF, which I don't write, but I can do space-opera set against interesting backgrounds. So I was very pleased to take a shot at it. I decided to revive Erm Kaslo, my hardboiled "confidential operative" whose investigations take him out among the Ten Thousand Worlds of The Spray. The story is called "Thunderstone" and it shows Erm before the events in his upcoming novel, A Wizard's Henchman, when he has to deal with the universe arbitrarily switching its fundamental operating principle from rationalism to magic.
Nick has accepted the story. The antho will be out next year.
Fans of my Luff Imbry tales owe Nick Gevers a tip of the hat. It was he who suggested, after Luff's initial appearance in the novel Black Brillion, that I write some stories about him for the quarterly PS Publishing anthology, Postscripts. Without Nick's suggestion, I might have let the fat man fade into the shadows.
A Wizard's Henchman now available for preorder
A Wizard’s Henchman is now listed as a forthcoming title from PS Publishing and is available for preorder.
It’s a science-fantasy novel originally serialized in Lightspeed Magazine under the title, The Kaslo Chronicles. Here’s the blurb:
Erm Kaslo is at the top of his game: a hardboiled confidential operative in the ultra-high-tech civilization of The Ten Thousand Worlds that spans the entire galactic arm known as The Spray. But the universe is about to arbitrarily change its fundamental operating premise from science to magic. Technology will cease to function and all of Kaslo’s hard-won skills and abilities will be useless.
As the change nears, a handful of would-be wizards are jockeying for position in the coming race for supremacy, squabbling over the few ancient books and paraphernalia that survive from the long-forgotten age when magic last ruled the cosmos. Kaslo goes to work for Diomedo Obron, a wealthy dilettante with more money than common sense who hopes to emerge as a powerful thaumaturge.
But there’s worse to come: an ancient evil has been biding its time for millennia, waiting for the age of science to end. Now, its moment finally arrived, it reaches out from another plane to strike with deadly force. And only Kaslo can stop it—if he can live long enough.
The novel is available in two editions: an unsigned, jacketed hardcover for £20 (US$27) and a signed, jacketed edition of 100 copies for £35 (US$46). Being PS editions, the quality will be first-rate.
A petite avian has told me that both books have arrived in the PS warehouse so any preorders ought to be filled fairly quickly. There will also be an ebook at some point, though I don’t know the price.
I haven’t got a jpeg of the final cover art yet, but I’ll post one when I do.
It’s a science-fantasy novel originally serialized in Lightspeed Magazine under the title, The Kaslo Chronicles. Here’s the blurb:
Erm Kaslo is at the top of his game: a hardboiled confidential operative in the ultra-high-tech civilization of The Ten Thousand Worlds that spans the entire galactic arm known as The Spray. But the universe is about to arbitrarily change its fundamental operating premise from science to magic. Technology will cease to function and all of Kaslo’s hard-won skills and abilities will be useless.
As the change nears, a handful of would-be wizards are jockeying for position in the coming race for supremacy, squabbling over the few ancient books and paraphernalia that survive from the long-forgotten age when magic last ruled the cosmos. Kaslo goes to work for Diomedo Obron, a wealthy dilettante with more money than common sense who hopes to emerge as a powerful thaumaturge.
But there’s worse to come: an ancient evil has been biding its time for millennia, waiting for the age of science to end. Now, its moment finally arrived, it reaches out from another plane to strike with deadly force. And only Kaslo can stop it—if he can live long enough.
The novel is available in two editions: an unsigned, jacketed hardcover for £20 (US$27) and a signed, jacketed edition of 100 copies for £35 (US$46). Being PS editions, the quality will be first-rate.
A petite avian has told me that both books have arrived in the PS warehouse so any preorders ought to be filled fairly quickly. There will also be an ebook at some point, though I don’t know the price.
I haven’t got a jpeg of the final cover art yet, but I’ll post one when I do.
Wizard's Henchman cover
Here's the cover for A Wizard's Henchman. It's by Ben Baldwin, who has done all the covers for my PS Publishing books and most of my self-pubbed ebooks and paperbacks. I recommend him strongly.
A Wizard's Henchman, first chapter
I've posted the first chapter of A Wizard's Henchman for a free read.
For quite a few years now, I've been imagining a far-future civilization called the Ten Thousand Worlds, which occupies an arm of the galaxy known as The Spray. The time I've been writing about is just before the universe suddenly and arbitrarily shifts from a basis of rational cause-and-effect to a new regime based on magic. When that happens, technological civilization will collapse and the age of The Dying Earth will dawn, with its grim thaumaturges, haunted ruins, and louche decadence.
Whether they live on grand old, long-settled worlds or strange little planets in odd corners, virtually none of The Spray's multitude of inhabitants knows that disaster impends. A handful do, and they are preparing for the great change.
Until now, I've written only about the handful and I've always taken the overarching story just to the point where the cataclysm is about to break upon the Ten Thousand Worlds. In A Wizard's Henchman, for the first time, I go all the way.
So the story starts out as hardboiled space opera and transmutes into dark fantasy, from a universe of intelligent space ships to a realm of dragons and demons.
I'll be interested to see how it's received.
For quite a few years now, I've been imagining a far-future civilization called the Ten Thousand Worlds, which occupies an arm of the galaxy known as The Spray. The time I've been writing about is just before the universe suddenly and arbitrarily shifts from a basis of rational cause-and-effect to a new regime based on magic. When that happens, technological civilization will collapse and the age of The Dying Earth will dawn, with its grim thaumaturges, haunted ruins, and louche decadence.
Whether they live on grand old, long-settled worlds or strange little planets in odd corners, virtually none of The Spray's multitude of inhabitants knows that disaster impends. A handful do, and they are preparing for the great change.
Until now, I've written only about the handful and I've always taken the overarching story just to the point where the cataclysm is about to break upon the Ten Thousand Worlds. In A Wizard's Henchman, for the first time, I go all the way.
So the story starts out as hardboiled space opera and transmutes into dark fantasy, from a universe of intelligent space ships to a realm of dragons and demons.
I'll be interested to see how it's received.
A Wizard's Henchman now in Kindle format
My new Archonate novel, A Wizard’s Henchman, is now available as a Kindle ebook on Amazon. The US price is $5.99 ($7.79 Canadian) and £4.56 in the UK.
Here’s the blurb:
Erm Kaslo is at the top of his game: a hardboiled confidential operative in the ultra-high-tech civilization of The Ten Thousand Worlds that spans the entire galactic arm known as The Spray. But the universe is about to arbitrarily change its fundamental operating premise from science to magic. Technology will cease to function and all of Kaslo’s hard-won skills and abilities will be useless.
As the change nears, a handful of would-be wizards are jockeying for position in the coming race for supremacy, squabbling over the few ancient books and paraphernalia that survive from the long-forgotten age when magic last ruled the cosmos. Kaslo goes to work for Diomedo Obron, a wealthy dilettante with more money than common sense who hopes to emerge as a powerful thaumaturge.
But there’s worse to come: an ancient evil has been biding its time for millennia, waiting for the age of science to end. Now, its moment finally arrived, it reaches out from another plane to strike with deadly force. And only Kaslo can stop it—if he can live long enough.
And here’s the opening chapter:
Here’s the blurb:
Erm Kaslo is at the top of his game: a hardboiled confidential operative in the ultra-high-tech civilization of The Ten Thousand Worlds that spans the entire galactic arm known as The Spray. But the universe is about to arbitrarily change its fundamental operating premise from science to magic. Technology will cease to function and all of Kaslo’s hard-won skills and abilities will be useless.
As the change nears, a handful of would-be wizards are jockeying for position in the coming race for supremacy, squabbling over the few ancient books and paraphernalia that survive from the long-forgotten age when magic last ruled the cosmos. Kaslo goes to work for Diomedo Obron, a wealthy dilettante with more money than common sense who hopes to emerge as a powerful thaumaturge.
But there’s worse to come: an ancient evil has been biding its time for millennia, waiting for the age of science to end. Now, its moment finally arrived, it reaches out from another plane to strike with deadly force. And only Kaslo can stop it—if he can live long enough.
And here’s the opening chapter:
Amazon Kindle giveaway of A Wizard's Henchman
With the release of A Wizard's Henchman, I'm trying something new to broaden my readership. Using Amazon's giveaway program, I've provided seven copies of the Kindle ebook as prizes.
An apology to my readers in Canada, the UK, and the antipodes, but Amazon will only allow the contest to be open to US residents, To enter to win a copy of the novel, all you have to do is go here and click on the button that says you will follow my Amazon author's page.
The promotion runs for the next nine days and the winners will be randomly selected by Amazon's computers.
Good luck!
An apology to my readers in Canada, the UK, and the antipodes, but Amazon will only allow the contest to be open to US residents, To enter to win a copy of the novel, all you have to do is go here and click on the button that says you will follow my Amazon author's page.
The promotion runs for the next nine days and the winners will be randomly selected by Amazon's computers.
Good luck!
Wizard's Henchman signed limited edition
Yesterday I received the signature sheets for the 100-copy signed limited edition of
A Wizard's Henchman
. These are pages that will be bound into the front of the limited, each with my signature and a number from 1 to 100.
I signed them and had them back in the hands of FedEx that afternoon. By Wednesday evening (September 21) they'll arrive at PS Publishing's Yorkshire premises from where they can go to the bindery and get bound into the books.
So those who have ordered the limited edition can start counting the days. Shouldn't be too long.
The book has already had its first review on Amazon.com (five stars -- thanks, Karl). Here's a gentle reminder that reviews on Amazon or Goodreads and other venues help sell books. They don't have to be five stars; in fact, a book that earns a range of reader reactions tends to be more trusted by a reader who hasn't tried the author before. Too many authors enlist friends and family to plug their works.
Also, a couple of readers have posted questions about the book on Goodreads, and I've been happy to answer them. Anybody who has any questions about any of my works is welcome to use the Goodreads site to get in touch, and I'll answer as soon as I can.
I signed them and had them back in the hands of FedEx that afternoon. By Wednesday evening (September 21) they'll arrive at PS Publishing's Yorkshire premises from where they can go to the bindery and get bound into the books.
So those who have ordered the limited edition can start counting the days. Shouldn't be too long.
The book has already had its first review on Amazon.com (five stars -- thanks, Karl). Here's a gentle reminder that reviews on Amazon or Goodreads and other venues help sell books. They don't have to be five stars; in fact, a book that earns a range of reader reactions tends to be more trusted by a reader who hasn't tried the author before. Too many authors enlist friends and family to plug their works.
Also, a couple of readers have posted questions about the book on Goodreads, and I've been happy to answer them. Anybody who has any questions about any of my works is welcome to use the Goodreads site to get in touch, and I'll answer as soon as I can.
