Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 356
February 6, 2012
Soul of Serpents – 2,000 copies
In January, SOUL OF SERPENTS, the third book in the DEMONSOULED series, passed 2,000 copies sold.
That's a pretty cool milestone. Tune in tomorrow to find out how we're going to celebrate it!
-JM
February 5, 2012
ebook sales for January 2012
The Lord was very good to me for January, specifically in the form of a post-holiday sales surge – I sold 3,261 books in January across all platforms. People needed to fill up all those Christmas Kindles, Nooks, and iPads, after all.
And I am happy to provide the filler.
For historical purposes, here's what my numbers have looked like since April, when I started with ebooks.
April 2011: 22
May 2011: 105
June 2011: 236
July 2011: 366
August 2011: 489
September 2011: 1335
October 2011: 1607
November 2011: 2142
December 2011: 2340
January 2012: 3261
-JM
February 4, 2012
Reader Question Day #10 – all about Caina Amalas and THE GHOSTS
As it happens, this week's Reader Question Day is almost all about Caina Amalas, elite spy and main character of THE GHOSTS series. So fair warning – spoilers for THE GHOSTS, along with the Caina stories in the SWORD & SORCERESS anthologies, follow bellow.
Katie asks:
In Sword and Sorceress 25 (I think) Caina is reunited with Ark, and he helps her out. However, at the end of Ghost in the Blood it sounds like he retires from an active ghost role to become more of a spy ghost. Is he still happily living with his family, or back to doing more active ghost work?
That will be a major plot point in the next book in the series, GHOST IN THE STORM, which I'm hoping to start writing this month. Ark will be one of the three point-of-view characters in GHOST IN THE STORM – I figure he's been in two novels and a short story now, so it's time he had some POV chapters of his own.
Basically, the discrepancy comes because Caina is twenty at the end of GHOST IN THE BLOOD, but she's closer to twenty-eight at the end of the short story SWORD & SORCERESS 25.
In Sword and Sorceress 23, Halfdan dies, and it seems so sudden and abrupt, especially after learning so much about him in your longer works. Was that story written before your longer works? I liked him as a character, and thus was saddened when I re-read the Sword and Sorceress story after your longer works.
Yes. I wrote the Caina stories in SWORD & SORCERESS 22 and SWORD & SORCERESS 23 in the spring of 2007 and the spring of 2008. Since people responded well to the character, I started writing the first novel in summer of 2008. I wrote the novels later, but in terms of the story's continuity, they predate all the SWORD & SORCERESS short stories. Halfdan started out as a fairly minor figure in the SWORD & SORCERESS 23 story, but as I fleshed out Caina's background in the novels, he became an increasingly important figure to Caina's life.
Eventually (if my health and finances enable me to keep writing) the novels will catch up to the continuity of the short stories, and flesh out some of the events around Halfdan's death and Caina's fight against Ryther – who was one of Maglarion's students.
Will you next story take place with Caina still as a ghost, or more after your short stories where she is working directly as the Emperors spy? If it is the former, do you ever plan to write more on the latter? It would be fascinating to learn how she built up her new reputation and gathered spies for herself.
GHOST IN THE STORM will take place about three weeks or so after the end of GHOST IN THE BLOOD, still in the city of Marsis. I plan to keep writing both THE GHOSTS novels and short stories as long as people keep buying them. 
Manwe asks:
Who would win in a fight, Mazael or Caina?
An interesting question. Mazael Cravenlock is the main character from my other series, DEMONSOULED.
In a straight physical fight, Mazael would win, quite quickly. Caina is younger than Mazael, and in excellent physical condition, and has had excellent combat training and experience. However, Mazael has sixty or seventy pounds of muscle on her, before his Demonsouled strength comes into play. He's also a knight, which in the context of the setting means he has lived and breathed warfare since he first held a sword at the age of seven. He's been in every sort of fight and every sort of battle, and knows all the tricks. In additional, he is Demonsouled, and quite accustomed to physical pain, which means he could heal from almost any wound Caina inflicted on him, and it is unlikely Caina could inflict enough pain to incapacitate him. Unless Caina managed to behead him or completely destroy his heart (pretty much the only way to kill a powerful Demonsouled), Mazael would win.
On the other hand, Caina is smarter and vastly more perceptive than Mazael. He's not intellectual the way Caina is – Mazael regards reading as a tool, like a hammer, and would no more read for pleasure than he would hammer nails for fun. Mazael is stronger than Caina, but Caina has defeated enemies much more powerful than Mazael by exploiting their weak points. If given time to prepare, Caina would come up with a plan capable of defeating Mazael, one that he would never see coming.
Still, Mazael may not be intellectual, but that's not the same thing as stupid. It's entirely possible he might realize Caina's plan and act to defuse it. So whether Caina or Mazael wins in a fight depends on how well Caina's plan works.
-JM
February 2, 2012
Soul of Dragons – draft word count
The first draft of SOUL OF DRAGONS had 119,000 words, and the second draft came to 108,000. Just a bit of interesting trivia.
-JM
February 1, 2012
And Now For A Change In Our Regularly Scheduled Programming
Our weekly Reader Question Day is moving to Saturdays instead of Fridays. So if you think of a question to ask me this week, you've got one more day than usual to leave it in a comment here or email it to me at jmcontact @ jonathanmoeller.com.
I could make up a deep and profound reason for the change, but the truth is that it gives me a chance to watch episodes of "House" off Hulu on Saturday mornings while writing Reader Question Day.
-JM
January 31, 2012
Soul of Dragons – a fourth excerpt
We are drawing very near to the release of SOUL OF DRAGONS – only a little more work left, I think.
In the meantime, have another brief (and spoiler-free) excerpt from the book:
Mazael frowned. "And could you answer my questions?"
"Perhaps," said the spirit. "I do not know everything. But I know many things. And I have seen you as I slept my long stone sleep, child of the Old Demon. I have seen you in my dreams. The shadow you cast upon the past is long. But the shadow you cast upon the future might be longer and darker yet. Unless, of course, you perish this day."
Mazael hesitated. Trafficking with spirits, bound in stone or not, never ended well. The brotherhood of wizards refused to countenance the practice, at least officially. Lucan, Mazael knew, had conjured spirits and interrogated them on a regular basis.
And look what had happened to him.
-JM
January 30, 2012
Soul of Dragons – the table of contents
The final stages of work on SOUL OF DRAGONS are moving along nicely. I think we can definitively plan for a February release, maybe even an early February release. Watch this space!
In the meantime, here is the Table of Contents for SOUL OF DRAGONS:
Chapter 2 – Shadow Walk
Chapter 3 – Wolf Hunt
Chapter 4 – Ruins
Chapter 5 – Crawling Shadows
Chapter 6 – Raiders
Chapter 7 – Red Knights
Chapter 8 – A Vial Of Blood
Chapter 9 – Shades
Chapter 10 – Vengeance
Chapter 11 – Duel
Chapter 12 – Blood Ties
Chapter 13 – Mirrors
Chapter 14 – Secrets
Chapter 15 – Beneath the Mask
Chapter 16 – False Oaths
Chapter 17 – The Battle of Morsen Village
Chapter 18 – Ruined Temple
Chapter 19 – The Cleric of Sepharivaim
Chapter 20 – Master of Shadows
Chapter 21 – Children of the Old Demon
Chapter 22 – Castle Highgate
Chapter 23 – Crown of Dracaryl
Chapter 24 – The Dead City
Chapter 25 – Dragon Fire
Chapter 26 – Guardians
Chapter 27 – Oracles
Chapter 28 – The Glamdaigyr
Chapter 29 – Only Blood Can Pay For Blood
Chapter 30 – The Malrag Queen
Chapter 31 – The Soul of the Dragon
Chapter 32 – Father and Son
Chapter 33 – Brother and Sister
Chapter 34 – The Bastard of Castle Cravenlock
Chapter 35 – Beginnings
Epilogue
-JM
January 28, 2012
Reader Question Day #9 ADDENUM – more on the Wheel of Time
Manwe writes with additional questions about The Wheel of Time:
First of all, I can;t believe you read the entire series all over again, lol! That is one heck of a long saga, and to read most of it twice?? You got a lot more chutzpah than I ever had! I usually only read a tale once, to read Jordan's saga twice?! Madness I tell you! Jokes aside, you must have enjoyed the series alot to do that.
Yep. I read it twice. Specifically, I only read books 1-10 twice. By the time I decided to pick it up again, it had been so long that I feared many of the details had slipped my mind. So I started over from the beginning again.
Nevertheless, the Wheel of Time Wiki proved invaluable for refreshing my memory. They didn't have wikis back in 1998 when I started reading!
And this is where my second point comes in, was it just the piles of unresolved subplots that made it frustrating for you, or was it the length as well, or rather Jordan's habit of 'padding' his books (which I have seen him accused of).
The unresolved subplots. I suspect the subplots were necessary for a story of that size – it's hard to get 13 books out of the same three point-of-view characters. That said, it does slow things down. I don't know if that constitutes "padding", since it retrospect a lot of the subplots do hang together well. Of course, a final judgment will have to wait until the final volume comes out later this year.
Also you recommended that I read to the 200 page mark of the first novel, but then you went on to say in another paragraph how boring the first 200 pages were, and that it was only AFTER the 200 mark that it got good. So which is it then, read to the 200 mark, or should I continue a little further to see if I get hooked as well?
I'd say read the first third of the first book or so, and see if you like it or not.
Next on the list, I have stacks of books to read, adding another series to that pile, especially one as long as Wheel of Time, well you can see why I might be a little hesitant. You seem to like the series very much. So let me ask you this, overall, is it worth my time? Let me say it another way. Of all the many fantasy stories out there, is the Wheel of Time one of the better ones, so that if I didn't read them, I'd be missing out on something great?
I'd say it's one of the better ones. Granted, there's not a lot of competition in the "15 book fantasy series" field. And the comparative worth of literature is almost wholly subjective. But the Wheel of Time did have a big impact on the current fantasy field, since people seem to either hate or love it.
Since you have read through the many books, can you give me a brief synopsis of what the saga is all about. LOTR, for example is about Frodo's quest to destroy the one ring, and thus save middle-earth from the dark lord Sauron. Is there a way you can make a statement like that about Wheel of Time, or does it's many subplots make it to difficult to do so?
Basically, the main character, Rand al'Thor, discovers that he is the reincarnation of the Dragon, a legendary hero who sealed away the Dark One (sort of a combination of Satan, the Gnostic Demiurge, and the Zoroastrian Ahriman) three thousand years earlier. Except the Dragon screwed up, and in the process of sealing the Dark One's prison, the Dark One tainted the male half of the One Power, the source of "magic" in the world. That means that any male magic user inevitably descends into homicidal insanity.
Including Rand, who must somehow stay sane long enough to face the Dark One at the prophesied Last Battle.
Of course, a lot of other stuff happens.
Last but not least, is the world of Wheel of Time worth saving? By that I mean it is not another crapsack world right? I trust you know what I mean by crapsack, seeing as how I remember you used that to describe GRR Martin's world in a previous post. This series is nothing like his right? I'd hate to be immersed into a saga only to have it turn sour on me, that is why I ask. I did hear the books have some eastern/buddhist/hindu philosophy in them, in the sense of an eternal return mechanic working in them, not sure if that is a good thing or not?
Oh, certainly not. The Wheel of Time is nowhere near as nihilistic as A Song Of Ice And Fire, or a lot of the other current popular fantasy series. Granted, there is a lot of violence and some sex, but it's nowhere near as explicit or graphic as A Song Of Ice And Fire. And Rand, the main character, struggles constantly to do the right thing, or to figure out the right thing to do, even if he frequently goes about it the wrong way, or causes himself (and others) immense harm in the process. (In fact, I didn't catch on to this the first time, but I'd say one of the chief conflicts in the series is Rand's inner struggle, his fight to stay sane and to retain his humanity.)
As for the eastern influences, it's hard to pin down any one thing, since there are a lot of influences in the Wheel of Time. The conflict between the Dark One and the Creator is very dualistic, a bit like the Cathars or the Zoroastrians. There are parts taken from Norse mythology – Rand al'Thor is a lot like the Norse god Tyr, and his friend Matrim Cauthon grows increasingly similar to Odin. Like "Lord of the Rings", there is no organized religion in the series, but everyone seems to share a belief in "the Light" and "the Creator", whereas Darkfriends (secret worshipers of the Dark One) have to stay underground. The idea of "the Wheel of Time" is of course from eastern philosophy. The idea that there is a "male" half and a "female" half to the One Power is intriguing – and I like the premise that neither is superior to the other, and that the greatest works of the One Power could only be achieved by men and women working together. The Aiel nation in the book is a lot like the Apache or the Sioux, and the Children of the Light are a bit like the Teutonic Knights. Arthurian mythology also plays a part – there's a sword in the stone (literally), and several of the character names are Arthurian.
Given the breadth and number of influences, it's difficult to say that the Wheel of Time is an explicitly eastern work – I think Jordan just used whatever he thought would strengthen the story.
-JM
January 27, 2012
Reader Question Day #9 – Should You Start Reading THE WHEEL OF TIME?
Manwe writes:
A friend of mine has on several different occasions recommended Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, but I have always been a bit hesitant to pick them up. Have you read them and/or do you know if they are any good?
Short answer: I've read them all.
Now, to decide if you want to read them or not, read the first 200 pages of "Eye of the World", the first book in the series. One of two things will happen. You will either get bored and put aside the book, or you will get hooked, and you'll continue reading the story all the way to the end…no matter how much it frustrates or aggravates you in the interim, because you'll just have to see how it ends.
Longer answer: The Wheel of Time possesses every virtue except that of brevity.
Let me explain.
I started reading the Wheel of Time in 1997 or 1998. Specifically, on a bench outside a Culver's fast food restaurant in southeastern Wisconsin, while waiting for a ride. I thought at the time that the first 200 pages of "Eye of the World" were pretty boring…but, remember, I was stuck outside a Culver's with nothing else to do. (This predated smartphones by a decade, and I would own my first laptop until 2003.) So I kept reading, past the 200 page mark…and I was hooked.
The rest of that year I tore through the rest of the Wheel of Time as fast as I could manage it. I don't remember clearly, but at that time, the series only went up to book 7 or 8. So when I finished, I wanted more. I started poking around on the nascent Web, and figured out when book 9 would be released. When I came out, I walked three miles to the nearest bookstore to get it.
But after reading book 10, I had lost interest.
In the first five books, the plot advanced with vigorous speed. By book 10, the plot had become weighed down with many, many subplots. And none of those subplots ever received any resolution, but kept proliferating, like rabbits in the dark. Book 10 advanced some of the subplots, but none of the main plots moved forward. And some of those main plotlines had been going on for decades.
Then Robert Jordan died after book 11. And I thought that was that. I hadn't been planning on reading any more Wheel of Time books (I had never gotten around to book 11), and that only solidified things. Even after I heard Brandon Sanderson had been hired to finish the series, I didn't have any particular interest in continuing.
However, in 2010 I happened to pick up Sanderson's "Mistborn". I really liked it, along with its two sequels. And Sanderson showed good progress on turning out Wheel of Time books, with first "The Gathering Storm" and then "Towers of Midnight". Since it seemed likely he would finish it, and I liked his writing, I decided to restart the Wheel of Time from the beginning.
So it's fourteen years later, and now I have a new appreciation for the series. Jordan was an amazing writer – having written books myself, the amount of effort required to hold together a story that huge for that long just boggles my mind. As I said, the Wheel of Time possesses every virtue but brevity. There are some amazing, amazing scenes in the series, and when one of the subplots pays off, holy crap is it awesome. The worldbuilding is robust and realistic. The characters are vivid and engaging, even if you very frequently want to smack certain ones upside the head. Jordan had a solid grasp of human psychology, and the characters reflect that. The battle scenes and descriptions of military action were clearly written by a man who, to use the Civil War parlance, has seen the elephant. And looking at the series as a (nearly) unified whole, you can see that the plot arcs and subplot arcs do hold together. While the glacial pace of the plot in books 6, 8, and 10 was frustrating at the time, they do hold up very well as part of a unified whole. Nothing gets resolved in book 10, but that's not nearly so annoying if you have books 11, 12, and 13 readily at hand.
Sanderson has done a good job with the two books he did, and I have every confidence the final volume, "A Memory of Light", will be good. He also has a knack for bringing successful resolution to the various plotlines in the series – both "The Gathering Storm" and "Towers of Midnight" have some amazing climatic scenes. (In particular, I am thinking of Rand's final scenes in "The Gathering Storm", Egwene's final chapters in "Gathering Storm", and Mat's final scenes in "Towers of Midnight.") I feel bad for Jordan – he spent twenty years carefully setting up all these Chekov's Guns, and Sanderson is the one who gets to fire them. (On the other hand, I suspect "The Gathering Storm" alone would have transmuted into another four or five books had Jordan written it.)
So, when the final book comes out, I will definitely be getting and reading it straightaway. It's been 14 years, and I want to see how the story ends. As for whether or not someone else should start reading it…well, read the first 200 pages of the first book. If you're bored, set it aside. If you're hooked, you'll plow through to the end, no matter how much the story's meandering pace happens to frustrate you in the interim.
But it might not frustrate you if you start after the final volume is complete, since you can read the entire thing in one go.
(However, I recommend you skip the prequel book "New Spring" until you've read at least through book 6, since book 0 isn't a good starting point, and "New Spring" only makes sense if you've read the other books first.)
-JM
January 24, 2012
Soul of Dragons – Chapter 1
SOUL OF DRAGONS is nearing completion – a release in February looks more and more likely.
In fact, you can have a look at Chapter 1 of SOUL OF DRAGONS right here.
-JM
