Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 205

THE GHOSTS now available in paperback!

I am pleased to report that all nine books of THE GHOSTS are available in paperback. I suspect they would make admirable Christmas gifts.

See, the thing about Christmas gifts is that you want to give good gifts. You want to give gifts that say “I am a classy, thoughtful, and tasteful person,” not gifts that say “I stopped at the drugstore on the way here and this was all that was left. Enjoy your thumbtacks!”

I ask you – is there a better gift than one of the nine volumes of THE GHOSTS in trade paperback?

That’s a rhetorical question. Obviously, there are no better Christmas gifts than one of the nine volumes of THE GHOSTS in trade paperback!

SEVENFOLD SWORD now available in print!

I am pleased to report that all three current SEVENFOLD SWORD books are now available in paperback.

Since it’s so close to Christmas, you might wonder if I am hinting that these books would make a tasteful (and, indeed, thoughtful) present for the fantasy reader in your life.

Rest assured, I am hinting at no such thing. I am stating it outright: these books would make a tasteful (and, indeed, thoughtful) present for the fantasy reader in your life!

Interesting Links #7: Writing Advice & Resilience

This week’s Interesting Links has writing advice, contemplation of the qualities of resilience, and the CEO of Microsoft making fun of the iPad:

-Resilience is an important skill for writers. And for everyone else, really: The Secrets Of Resilience.

–My audiobooks are now available at Kobo!

-Speaking of audiobooks, it sounds like Google might be getting into the audiobook game: Google Reportedly Wants To Take On Amazon’s Audiobook Business.

-Some good writing advice in here: Tips and Tools to Help You Complete NaNoWriMo (or any writing project)

-The Smashwords podcast looks at selling to libraries: How To Market Ebooks To Libraries.

-Easily! Stop wasting time with publishers and self-publish: How Do I Keep My Head Up While Finding A Publisher?

-This is a bit like the King of France refusing to buy any longbows before the Battle of Agincourt: Traditional Publishing CEOs Are Happy To Sell Fewer Ebooks.

-I am quoted favorably in this article: It’s Not About Us.

–The comments thread in my post about Overpowered Characters turned into an interesting yet SPOILER-filled discussion of the CLOAK GAMES series. 

-I admit I read this and I LOLed: Microsoft CEO Tells iPad Users To Get A Real Computer.

-JM

 

SEVENFOLD SWORD: WARLORD – who is the Warlord?

Today a reader email asked which character is the “Warlord” referred to in the title of SEVENFOLD SWORD: WARLORD, since a couple of characters in the book have “Warlord” as their actual title?

My answer:

It does refer to one specific character…

…but probably not the one you think. Read and find out!

SILENT ORDER: WASP HAND underway

My main project for the next week or so is going to be SILENT ORDER: WASP HAND, the sixth book in the SILENT ORDER series.

I think I only have 28,000 words or so to reach the end, so I’m going to try and finish the rough draft by Thanksgiving. I probably am not going to reach that goal, but it’s worthwhile to try!

Either way, the book will come out in the second half of December.

And, yes, the title was inspired by a wasp infestation I had to deal with in October.

CLOAK GAMES: BLOOD CAST underway

I’ve now started working on CLOAK GAMES: BLOOD CAST, the ninth book in the CLOAK GAMES series. I’m planning to have it out in either February or March, depending on how things go in December and January.

What will CLOAK GAMES: BLOOD CAST be about? It will be about Nadia Moran and Russell Moran. Also, everything will go wrong at once.

GHOST IN THE GLASS table of contents

Is it time to share the Table of Contents from GHOST IN THE GLASS? Yes, yes it is.

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If all goes well, the book should be out in the first week of December.

-JM

Reader Question: THE TOWER OF ENDLESS WORLDS & crossover series

Stephen asks:

“Do you ever think of writing another book in The Tower of Endless Worlds series? Your novels tend to have “links” to other dimensions/worlds in them and I wonder if the tower can access them all.”

I have to admit it would be really hard to write more in THE TOWER OF ENDLESS WORLDS. I started working on what would become that series fifteen years ago, so it would be a challenge to get back into the proper headspace for writing more. What I mean by that is I look back at THE TOWER OF ENDLESS WORLDS with fifteen years additional experience I think that I would have done this or that differently now. I only had a six-year gap between writing SOUL OF TYRANTS in 2005 and SOUL OF SERPENTS, and it was still hard to get back into the headspace for that series. (Since I wrote like eight more DEMONSOULED books after that, it worked out.)

Stephen then wondered:

“The “linked worlds” aspect of many of your series just makes me wonder if Ridmark, Mazael, Nadia, and Jack could get together for a workout on the Tiger.”

I get asked this question every so often – would I do a crossover series where Caina met Mazael or Ridmark met Nadia or whatever? People really seem to like crossovers in general. Disney made billions of dollars doing the Avengers movies.

I dunno. I’ve thought about it. But only if I liked the story idea. It couldn’t be gimmicky. By “gimmicky”, I mean the sort of things that comic books do to boost failing sales, where they have a Giant Green Space Hand or whatever kidnap Captain America and Batman* so they can fight alongside each other against the villain of the week. Like, the story would have to make sense, and not be an obvious and transparent gimmick.

Also, the settings have to be compatible. Each one of my settings tends to have underlying rules, and those would have to work with each other. Like, in Caina’s setting, there are no nonhumans like elves and orcs and dwarves or whatever. So it would be jarring to have Caina suddenly run into a band of orcs. For that matter, no one in Caina’s world uses magic. It’s “arcane science”. The Magisterium would insist that they are rationalists, and they’re systematically investigating and documenting what are natural forces. (It’s just that some of those forces can make you crazy and blow things up, which really isn’t all that different from hallucinogens, come to think of it.) They would think “magic” is superstitious nonsense, a bunch of claptrap obscuring predictable scientific laws.

Or in the FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN, it’s established that while it’s the year 1478 AD on Andomhaim, it’s the year 2013 AD on Earth. Since CLOAK GAMES starts on Earth in 2312 AD (or Conquest Year 299), it would be really odd for Nadia Moran to turn up in the FROSTBORN setting, or for the FROSTBORN characters to visit Nadia’s version of Earth.

I think of all my settings, the ones that would work best for a crossover would be DEMONSOULED and CLOAK GAMES. But if I do anything like that, it’s a ways off yet, I think. I would want to finish CLOAK GAMES and GHOST NIGHT first.

-JM

*Yes, I know Captain America is Marvel and Batman is DC.

IN THE LAIR now available!

I got invited to join a fantasy short story anthology put out by Fantasy Bridge, and I contributed my FROSTBORN short story THE BONE ORCS. I’m pleased to report that the anthology is now available at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon AU, Amazon CA, Barnes & Noble, & Kobo.

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-JM

 

GHOST IN THE GLASS & SILENT ORDER progress updates

It looks like things will work out so that GHOST IN THE GLASS and SILENT ORDER #6 will both come out in December.

The title of the new SILENT ORDER book will be SILENT ORDER: WASP HAND.

(The title, of course, was inspired by a wasp infestation I had back in September/October.)

Caina and March would get along just fine if they ever actually met. I don’t think I ever actually used the word “professionalism” in THE GHOSTS, but Caina would grasp the concept at once and approve of it.