Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 323

GHOST IN THE FORGE, the first 3.5 days

Cover image copyright JC_Design | istockphoto.com

GHOST IN THE FORGE came out on February 25th, and in its first three and a half days, the book sold 168 copies. Thanks, everyone!

-JM

Weaver of Shadow, by William King

WEAVER OF SHADOW, by William King, is another installment of the adventure of Kormak, the Guardian of the Dawn. If you’re unfamiliar with Mr. King’s Kormak books, they’re sword-and-sorcery novels in the classic tradition of Robert Howard. Kormark is a Guardian of the Dawn, a knight sworn to fight the various forces of dark magic, and while he has the grim hardness of an antihero, he nonetheless puts himself at extreme risk again and again to defend people from supernatural predators.

In Weaver of Shadow, Kormak fights to defend frontiersmen from an invasion of sinister, spider-worshiping elves. I enjoyed the treatment of the elves in WEAVER – the elves were truly alien, with alien motivations. The common fantasy cliche is that elves are in tune with nature and worship trees, but that’s as oversimplified as saying Baptists immerse themselves in a religious rite. An excellent explanation for why the elves worship tree is key to the plot and setting of the book.

Anyway, this was an excellent sword-and-sorcery tale, and I recommend it.

-JM

Reader Question Day #57 – print books, DEMONSOULED, and the number of moons

Manwe asks:

Seriously though, why not just release all your major series in paperback? Why only do a few of each?

Eventually, I would like to have all my major series in paperback – three of DEMONSOULED and three of THE GHOSTS is the minimum goal I’m setting for myself to reach by November and the start of the holiday season. So if I can do more (and I think I’ll be able to, as I’m getting the process down) that would be excellent.

That said, ebooks sell way better than print books, and in the time it takes me to do layout for a single print book, I could probably write about 20,000 words of new fiction, which is almost a third of a short novel. For all that I’ve talked about print books, I’ve so far sold a grand total of one copy. By contrast, GHOST IN THE FORGE sold something like 150 copies in ebook form during its first three days. So simple math dictates that it’s better to spend more time writing new books than turning old books into paper form.

That said, my goal is to have all my books available in all formats, which includes paper. I just have some work to do to get there.

Ciphas asks:

I don”t like to think that the next book will be the “end of Demonsouled ” I hope Mazael wil have many more adventures.

The next book, SOUL OF SWORDS, will be the last book in the DEMONSOULED series. That said, I do think I will revisit the setting and some of the characters at some point. So while SOUL OF SWORDS will be the last of the DEMONSOULED books, it won’t be the end of the DEMONSOULED world.

Also curious if you can make like a category in this site for “Books” – Books that you are reading right now or you plan to read , books that have an influence in your writing or plain simple books that you like to read.

If you scroll down far enough on the right sidebar, there will be a category for “book reviews” – that will take you to all the book reviews I’ve written since I had this site.

ladysaotome asks, concerning Choose Your Own Adventure:

Old Earth had only one moon?

Andomhaim has nine moons, and their position can cause or change certain magical effects. I don’t think this will be a plot point in Choose Your Own Adventure, but it will definitely come up when I write the first novel in the setting. Especially since the position of the moons potentially makes it much easier to open magical gates to other worlds.

All the humans in Andomhaim came through one of those magical gates – specifically, a magical gate to post-Roman Britain, where the survivors of King Arthur’s realm fled through the gate to get away from the Saxons. (Ironically, there are things in Andomhaim much nastier than the Saxons. ) So in all the books the refugees brought with them – mostly the Bible and various Roman and Greek authors – there would be references to how the Earth had only one moon. At the time of the story, humans have lived in Andomhaim for 1500 years, so for many of them, Old Earth seems almost mythical, which is why the idea of having only one moon instead of nine seems so odd to them.

-JM

BLOOD SKIES, by Steven Montano

I admit I had a hard time getting into BLOOD SKIES, by Steven Montano, but that was my own fault – the in media res prologue followed by a twenty-year jump is not my favorite literary device. However, I’m glad I persisted – BLOOD SKIES is a fascinating book.

The premise is that a mysterious force called The Black afflicted contemporary Earth, causing the dead to rise as vampires, humans to develop magical abilities, and a number of alien worlds to intersect with Earth. After several decades of this, the survivors have banded together in an alliance of city-states, and are fighting a losing war against a coalition of vampire cities and other horrors.

Because of humanity’s dire straits, all humans with magical ability are pressed into military service. Eric Cross is one of them, and he finds himself part of an elite squad assigned a dangerous mission to hunt down a traitor. But when Cross’s sister is assigned to the squad, Cross finds himself willing to risk everything to save her, even as his mission leads him up against the dark forces at the root of The Black.

The setting is fascinating, and I appreciate that it depicts vampires as evil monsters rather than sparkly romantic figures. It’s a bit dark, but then it is dystopian military fantasy fiction, and I look forward to seeing what happens in book 2.

-JM

choose your own adventure, episode 6

“Magistrius,” you say, stepping forward. “I can see the purple monkeys, too.”

Both Ulacht and Linus give you a startled look, but Richard bobs his head up and down.

“You can see them?” says the old Magistrius, coming closer. “Then you know their villainy! You know they cannot be trusted! The purple monkeys are building mansions beneath the grass, and they are plotting against us! All of us!”

“Yes,” you say. “And I can help you.”

“How?” says Richard. “Will you raise the Order of the Soulblade and the armies of the High King and march to war against the sinister armies of the monkey emperor?”

“Something like that,” you say. “Please hold still.”

You step forward, draw upon the power of your bond with Heartwarden, and clamp your hands on the old man’s temples. Richard’s eyes bulge, and he starts to work a spell of his own, but he’s too slow. Blue light pulses from your fingers and into his head, and the Magistrius flinches and almost loses his balance.

And as he does, you feel…something flee from him. Some taint, some corruption in his blood. The Magistrius had indeed been poisoned. Richard stumbles back, blinking…and some lucidity comes back into his wild-eyed face.

“What…what am I doing here?” he says, looking at you, and then at Linus. “Father? What is going on?”

“You don’t see the monkeys?” says Linus.

“Monkeys?” says Richard. “What the devil are you talking about? This is the Northerland. There aren’t any monkeys for a thousand miles in any direction.”

“You were poisoned,” you say. “Some sort of drug that made you see things that were not real.” Such as, apparently, purple monkeys.

“Poisoned?” says Richard, shaking his head. “But that…that is preposterous. I am a Magistrius! Who would dare to poison me?”

“What is the last thing you remember clearly?” you say.

Richard blinks and looks at Ulacht. “You, headman. I saw you…I went to Rzoldur at your invitation, to heal an orcish woman with an infection.”

“Aye,” says Ulacht, “Ulacht remembers.”

“After I felt like talking a walk,” says Richard, “to the top of the hill, to clear my thoughts.”

Which would take him near, you note, the dark elven ruin atop the hill.

“After that…all I can remember is a gray mist,” says Richard. “Then I was standing here, with you, Linus, and…and this Knight of the Soulblade.”

“Sir Ridmark Arban,” you say.

“Magistrius,” says Ulacht, “it is as you say, you did heal Uzrbella…but that was six weeks ago?”

“Six weeks!” says Richard.

“How long have the children been missing?” you say.

“The first disappeared eight days ago,” says Linus.

“The first orcish child,” says Ulacht, “six.”

“Children?” says Richard. “What is going on?”

You open your mouth to answer, and then hear the rattle of armor.

You turn, and see five men in chain mail approaching the base of Richard’s tower, hands on the hilts of their sheathed swords. They have the look of men-at-arms. At their head walks a stocky, balding knight of about thirty, with a face like a disgruntled bulldog. To judge from his oft-broken nose and the scars on his jaw, the man knows how to fight.

“So,” says the knight, looking you over, “it seems Lady Gwenaelle was correct.” His mouth twists, just a bit, at the mention of the name. “We are honored by the visit of a Knight of the Soulblade.”

“I am Sir Ridmark Arban,” you say.

The knight bows. “And I am Sir Thomas Norsegard, son of Sir Hamus Norsegard, the lord of this village.” He looks at you. “My father and his…wife have heard of your arrival, and sent me to escort you to their presence. They wish to meet you. Now.”

His tone is just short of a threat.

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CHILD OF THE GHOSTS print edition now available

As part of my plan to have at least six of my books available in print editions by Christmas, CHILD OF THE GHOSTS is now available in a print version at Amazon.com and Amazon.uk.

Createspace has a learning curve like the Matterhorn, but once you’ve got the method down, it actually gets a lot easier to produce paper books. Once upon a time, publishing a paper book was an arcane and mysterious profession involving hideous, hulking, and expensive machines and (more recently) ghastly software programs like Quark Express, which was probably written by the devil himself. Now any idiot (like me!) with a web browser, a copy of Microsoft Word, a copy of Paint.NET, and $25 can make a paper book and sell it around the world.

Which is pretty cool, really.

-JM

choose your own adventure, episode 5

“I will see the Magistrius Richard first,” you say. “Perhaps his knowledge of magic will lend some insight.”

Ulacht snorts. “Or he’ll drool on your boots.”

Father Linus gives the orcish headman a reproving look. “I am…sure he will be glad to see you, sir knight. Please, follow me.”

Ulacht insists on accompanying you, and after some negotiation, the other orcs return to Rzoldur, and Linus leads you further along the road to the village of Victrix itself. The ground grows hillier as you travel further north, the road cutting back and forth, and at last the village comes into sight.

Or, rather, both Victrix and Rzoldur…and then thing between them.

A steep hill, at least a thousand feet tall, rises out of the forests of the Northerland. A farming village of perhaps five hundred people nestles in a valley at the base of the hill, surrounding a stout square keep, a sturdy church, and the round tower favored by a Magistrius. Upon an outthrust spur of the hill, overlooking the valley, stands a cluster of the domed houses of rusticated stone favored by the orcs – the village of Rzoldur. If the villages are so close to each other, than means the orcs and the humans have coexisted peacefully for some time.

So why turn on each other now?

But the ruin of white stone high upon the hill holds your attention. It looks like a delicate castle of gleaming stone, pale, beautiful…and utterly wrong. The angles of the crumbling towers are odd, and the shape of the arches and windows reflects an alien mind.

It is a ruin of the dark elves.

“You live near that,” you say, “and you wonder why your children have disappeared?”

Linus shrugs. “But it is safe enough, Swordbearer. Men settled here a century ago, and the ruin has been deserted the entire time. We even store cured meats and dried vegetables in the ruin’s cellar during the winter.”

“Your folk are miners?” you say, looking at the stone domes of Rzoldur.

“Aye,” says Ulacht. “There are ores and gemstones in the hills, and many caves as well.”

“Did you ever tunnel far enough to reach the Deeps?” you say. There are thousands of miles of unmapped caverns below the surface of Andomhaim, and unpleasant things dwell down there. If the orcs dug deep enough to awaken one…

Ulacht snorts, the muscles of his scarred face tightened. “And awaken some horror, you mean? We are not so foolish. Ulacht does not let his clan dig so deep. Some things are better left to sleep.”

You walk in silence the rest of the way to the Magistrius’s tower at the edge of Victrix. The Magistri, you understand, prefer to work in towers, since the position of the nine moons can alter certain magical effects. (According to the Holy Scriptures and ancient Roman books, Old Earth had only one moon, which seems like it would be altogether peculiar.) You stride towards the tower’s door, preparing to knock.

Except the door swing opens, and a tall, forbidding old man in a white robe with a black sash steps out. He looks like the very image of a learned Magistrius – stern, wise, and solemn.

“Magistrius Richard,” says Father Linus. “I bring before you Sir Ridmark, son of the Dux Leogrance Arban of Taliand, and a Knight of the Order of the Soulblade.”

“I have come seeking your counsel, Magistrius,” you say.

Richard gives you a grave nod.

“Monkeys!” bellows the Magistrius.

You blink, and Ulacht and Linus share a look.

“Pardon?” you say at last.

“Monkeys!” says Richard, deadly serious. “Do you not see the purple monkey upon your shoulder, Swordbearer?”

You look at your shoulder. “I…fear I cannot.”

“The purple monkeys!” shouts Richard, his eyes growing wider. “There is a purple monkey standing upon your shoulder, wearing a hat with feathered plumes and reciting the uncouth poetry of Ovid while juggling flaming apples with its paws and tail!” He leans forward, and the Magistrius smells…sick. When you were a squire, one of your father’s knights accidentally ate some poisoned berries, and he smelled much the same.

“Yes,” says Ulacht, his voice heavy with disgust. “The monkeys.”

“Do you not see them?” shrieks Richard. “The purple monkeys are everywhere! Plotting their conspiracies, tunneling beneath my tower, and listening to my thoughts! They are scheming against me! They make me hear colors! I know that they’re planning to wage war against the sun and turn my shoes into breadsticks!”

“Has he…always been like this?” you say.

“Not this bad,” says Linus. “I feared he had been growing senile, but he has taken quite a turn for the worse.”

The old Magistrius is likely hallucinating, and suddenly you wonder if he has been poisoned. And if he has, the power of your bond with Heartwarden might let you cure the poison.

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THE THIRD SOUL is coming back

Now that GHOST IN THE FORGE is in the can, what’s next?

I’m going to start the final DEMONSOULED book in April, but before that, I’m going to write something new in THE THIRD SOUL series.

Actually, to be more specific, I’m going to write three new things in THE THIRD SOUL. Specifically, a novella, and then two short novels in the setting. They’ll bring in a lot of new characters, and they’ll have new protagonists. I will return to Rachaelis and Corthain at some point, but before I do, I want to explore and expand the world of THE THIRD SOUL a bit more.

To do that, I’m going to revive a really, really long novel I wrote before I actually wrote THE THIRD SOUL called “The Black Paladin.” “The Black Paladin” was the origin of the setting in THE THIRD SOUL, and like GHOST IN THE FLAMES, I spent a lot of time trying to get “The Black Paladin” published. After I gave up, I wrote THE THIRD SOUL using the same setting as “The Black Paladin”.

And then ebooks happened.

Anyway, the novella is tentatively entitled THE OUTLAW ADEPT, and will take place in Araspan, with Thalia Kalarien as the main protagonist. The two novels will be THE BLACK PALADIN and THE TOMB OF BALIGANT, and will take place a good distance from Araspan. (And in fact, as the plotline goes on they get farther away from Araspan.)

Anyway, look for THE OUTLAW ADEPT sometime in April, with THE BLACK PALADIN and THE TOMB OF BALIGANT after that.

Watch this space for more information!

-JM

GHOST IN THE FORGE is now available

Cover image copyright JC_Design | istockphoto.com

I am very pleased to announce that GHOST IN THE FORGE, the sixth book in THE GHOSTS series, is now available. You can get it at at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, and it should be available at the iBookstore within the next two weeks.

I would like to thank you all for reading the Caina stories in their various forms over the years. When I wrote the first story about Caina (BLACK GHOST, RED GHOST for SWORD & SORCERESS 22) back in April of 2007, I had absolutely no idea that six years later I would be announcing the sixth novel about her, or that this short story would expand into a  series.

Curious indeed are the turns of life, but none of this would have happened if so many of you hadn’t read and enjoyed the stories. Thank you, all!

-JM

choose your own adventure, episode 4

You draw on the power of your bond with Heartwarden, and the sword’s blade flares with blue light, filling you with speed, and you hurtle forward like an arrow, the world blurring around you.

The urvaalg looks up from the helpless orc just in time for you to bring Heartwarden around in a vicious backhand. The glowing blade slams into the creature’s face with a burst of black blood, and the urvaalg topples backwards and starts thrashing like a landed fish, albeit an eight hundred pound fish with talons and fangs.

You skid to a stop and turn twenty yards further down the forest road, the power of your speed carrying you that far. You prepare for a killing blow on the urvaalg, but there’s no need. Ulacht heaves himself to his feet, howling an imprecation in orcish, and brings his massive club down upon the urvaalg’s skull.

The resultant mess is considerable.

You hurry forward and kneel besides the wounded orc. The gashes and his chest and belly are very bad, but you are a Swordbearer. Again you draw on the sword’s power, and blue light flares around your fingers as you summon healing energy. The orc shudders and goes limp as the gashes turn into ugly black scars against his green skin. He’s going to be on his back for a week or more, but he’s not going to die.

You get to your feet, exhausted, and find the orcs and Father Linus staring at you.

“It seems that the Lord is indeed merciful,” says Linus, voice quiet, “to have sent you when he did.”

“Aye,” rumbles Ulacht, gesturing for his men to help the wounded orc. He sounds furious, but you realize he is angry at himself. “And Ulacht is almost slain in the woods like some callow stripling! He should know better than to shout in the trees.”

Both the human priest and the orcish headman look embarrassed, and you think you can nudge them towards working together to find whatever has kidnapped their respective villages’ children.

“But will you accept,” you say, “that neither one of you is to blame? That something is preying upon both your villages and kidnapping your children?”

Ulacht and Linus share a look.

“This urvaalg, perhaps?” said Linus. “I have not heard of one coming this far south for years.”

Ulacht growls. “Nay, Father. The children disappeared without a trace. An urvaalg would have left pieces of them everywhere.”

The headman has a point. But there are lots of other things in the wild that kidnap victims and take them alive back to their lairs…and none of them are things you particularly want to meet. But you are a Knight of the Order of the Soulblade, and it is your duty.

“Then you will help me,” you say, “to find whatever has done this? For I am bound by duty and law to do so…but aid would be welcome.”

“As you say,” says Linus.

Ulacht nods, grunts, and picks a bit of urvaalg skull off his club. “You come to Rzoldur, sir knight, and all Ulacht’s kinsfolk will speak with you.”

“Or come to Victrix,” says Linus, “and my flock will speak to you of what they have seen. Little enough as it is.”

“Who is lord of Victrix?” you say.

Ulacht and Linus share a look.

“Sir Hamus,” says Linus, “may God preserve him.”

Ulacht scowls. “Bloated lecher that he is.”

Linus winces. “Sir Hamus has grown somewhat…indolent of late, true, but I am sure he means well.”

“Does Victrix have one of the Magistri?” you ask. A Magistrius, skilled in magic, might know more about whatever dangers dwell nearby…and his magic might prove useful.

“We do,” says Linus, “the Magistrius Richard, though he is a touch…eccentric.”

You need to find out what is happening here…and you need to choose a starting point for an investigation.

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