Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 93
February 18, 2022
DRAGONSKULL: BLADE OF THE ELVES progress update
Not gonna lie – it wasn’t the best week for writing productivity. My car died, I spent an entire day getting ready for taxes, I sent the wrong link in one of my newsletters, and every piece of personal technology I own seemed determined to malfunction exactly when I wanted to write. Like, when I turned on the coffee maker, I wanted to duck behind the refrigerator for cover, because given the way the week was going I wouldn’t be surprised if it exploded.
But everyone else I talked to this week was having worse problems, so I won’t complain. Perspective is important. 
Despite all that, I did make progress on DRAGONSKULL: BLADE OF THE ELVES, and I passed the 70,000 word mark, which puts me on Chapter 17 of 20. Over 75% of the way there. I am very much hoping I can finish up the rough draft next week.
-JM
February 17, 2022
CLOAK OF IRON now in paperback and hardback!
I am pleased to report that you can now get CLOAK OF IRON in paperback and hardback!
In additional CLOAK MAGE news, there will also be an audio version of CLOAK OF IRON, as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. It will probably be out towards the end of April if all goes well.
-JM
February 16, 2022
The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 108: Reader Opinions About Free Books
In this week’s episode, I discuss readers’ opinions about free books and whether or not they work for marketing.
I also talk about Draft2Digital’s surprise acquisition of Smashwords, and the excellent Nintendo Switch Game METROID DREAD.
As always, you can listen to the show on Libsyn, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Amazon Music.
-JM
February 15, 2022
Help me test a new system and get a free audiobook!
The upcoming Draft2Digital/Smashwords merger has me rethinking how I give away free short stories to my newsletter subscribers. I don’t expect anything to drastically change, but it’s always good to keep at least one eye on the future.
So I’m testing a new way to deliver free ebooks and audiobooks. As of right now, you can get the audiobook of the short story GHOST RELICS (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) for free at Payhip! The actual delivery of the audiobook is powered via Bookfunnel (which many of you already use), so give it a try and let me know what you think of the process.
At the very least you’ll get a free audiobook out of it.
The audiobook will be free through the end of Friday, February 18th, 2022.
-JM
February 14, 2022
GHOST IN THE SEAL now in audio!
February 13, 2022
DRAGONSKULL reader question
A reader sent a question about the DRAGONSKULL series.
I should mention that this question has some spoilers for the DRAGONTIARNA series, but none for DRAGONSKULL if you haven’t started reading it yet.
Basically, the reader wanted to know why the Heptarchy hasn’t followed up with another attack on Andomhaim since the events of DRAGONTIARNA.
The short answer: building a fleet, equipping an invasion army, and sending it three and a half thousand miles across the ocean is really, really expensive and difficult to do. A seaborne invasion is traditionally one of the hardest maneuvers to successfully execute in the history of warfare.
Longer answer:
The Heptarchy is a large group of city-states, tribes, kingdoms, and nations who are all client states of one of the Seven Temples of the urdmordar, and the purpose of the Seven Temples is to harvest life energy for the urdmordar to consume using enspelled sacrificial altars. That is the ultimate purpose of the Heptarchy, and that guides every decision taken by the ruling priestesses. It’s basically a giant feed farm for the seven urdmordar. The entire system was designed and set up by the Visionary, who by urdmordar standards is insane, and her Quaesitor priestesses act as the secret police who make sure everything runs smoothly. Sometimes the Seven Temples let their client states go to war against one another, sometimes to resolve a dispute between two Temples, sometimes to kill off a troublesome population, sometimes to let tensions resolve themselves, but the priestesses keep things from getting out of hand.
So the Heptarchy is a brutally efficient evil empire, but not even the Heptarchy can escape from the banes of large, centralized states – expenses, logistical difficulty, bureaucratic inertia, and internal unrest.
1.) Expense. Preparing Warlord Agravhask’s fleet and invasion army in DRAGONTIARA was hugely expensive, and in exchange for all that money and effort the Heptarchy got more or less nothing. They still hold the Isle of Kordain, but that is a remote outpost that will be difficult and costly to defend, and they might well lose their grip upon it. The Visionary convinced the other six urdmordar to support the invasion plan, and after the failure of the first invasion, the urdmordar are unlikely to want to try again for some time. For her part, the Visionary knew that Warlord Agravhask would likely betray the Heptarchy, but she didn’t care since she knew it would set in motion of chain of events that might give her a chance to capture the high elven artificer Tarmyntir.
And while the Seven Temples are rich, they don’t have infinite money, and the Heptarchy isn’t a command economy because that would lead to fewer people being born and therefore fewer potential people upon whom the urdmordar could feed. So at some point, the Seven Temples have to stop spending and recover their finances. The seven urdmordar are generally hands-off in the day to day ruling so long as the regular sacrifices continue upon their altars and let the priestesses run most things, but the priestesses can sometimes persuade them to make decisions, and after DRAGONTIARNA, very few priestesses support an invasion of Andomhaim.
For now, anyway.
2.) Logistical difficulty. As mentioned above, seaborne invasion is one of the most difficult maneuvers to perform in warfare, especially across the distance separating the Heptarchy from Andomhaim. For that matter, the Heptarchy is a continent-spanning empire, and while it has good internal roads and canals, moving stuff around is still difficult. Assembling the amount of ships, weapons, and material necessary for another large seaborne invasion would be difficult, which leads directly to the next point.
3.) Bureaucratic inertia. As many a crusading politician fired with reforming zeal has realized, getting the government to change is difficult when most of the people doing the actual work of the governing don’t want things to change. Many of the priestesses of the Seven Temples thought the invasion was a bad idea, and only participated because the urdmordar commanded it, and if Agravhask conquered Andomhaim, they wanted a share of the spoils and the shaping of Andomhaim’s new government. Some of the younger and more ambitious priestesses were enthusiastic about the invasion, but they all got killed. The vast majority of priestesses don’t want to try another invasion at the moment.
4.) Internal unrest. The Heptarchy is a brutally efficient ruler, but things go wrong. Sometimes rebellions get out of hand, and the Heptarchy lost a lot of soldiers in Andomhaim. Too much more strain, and the Heptarchy might have to fight a bloody, decades-long war to get their homeland back under control. To the priestesses’ way of thinking, that is the waste of a lot of valuable assets. And they still haven’t been able to find the hidden city of the Stormblades, who are making trouble and stirring up rebellion.
So with all that in mind, the Heptarchy is unlikely to want to invade Andomhaim again for some time, focusing instead on internal rebuilding.
That said…the priestesses haven’t forgotten about Andomhaim. And the chief priestesses of the Seven Temples are intelligent and capable of carrying out centuries-long plans. Main force failed in Andomhaim. But subversion and corruption might succeed where conquest failed. What if in five or six generations enough humans could be converted to the worship of the urdmordar to cause a civil war within Andomhaim? Or that enough nobles could be subverted, or perhaps even the High King himself. This would save on the expense of a costly invasion, and hand Andomhaim to the Heptarchy upon a silver platter.
Of course, our protagonists will not take that lying down.
So that is why the Heptarchy hasn’t sent another fleet to Andomhaim after DRAGONTIARNA.
-JM
February 12, 2022
PROPHECY OF THE HIGH QUEEN Orange Tag!
I am pleased to report that PROPHECY OF THE HIGH QUEEN got to the top of its category and got an orange bestseller tag on Amazon US. Thanks everyone!
I have to admit this is surprising for two reasons.
1.) I gave it away for free to my newsletter subscribers.
2.) PROPHECY OF THE HIGH QUEEN is frankly one of the weirder things I’ve written. It’s non-linear, and I don’t usually write non-linear stories, though CLOAK OF IRON had a much bigger flashback sequence than I usually write. (The key to flashbacks, I’ve found, is to make sure they reveal vital information that is unknown to the reader, and not to overuse them.) But with short stories you can sometimes try ideas that wouldn’t be able to support an entire novel on their own.
Anyway, while I did give away PROPHECY OF THE HIGH QUEEN for free to my newsletter subscribers, I certainly won’t object if people want to buy it. You can get the story for $0.99 USD at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play, and Smashwords.
-JM
February 11, 2022
DRAGONSKULL: BLADE OF THE ELVES progress update
Now on Chapter 11 of 20.
Over halfway there! Still hoping to have the book out sometime in March.
-JM
February 10, 2022
Draft2Digital Buys Smashwords
The big news in the self-publishing world this week is that Draft2Digital is buying Smashwords. And here people thought Microsoft buying Activision was a big deal!
I’ve used both platforms for years. Initially I used Smashwords to get my books into first iTunes and now Apple Books. When Draft2Digital came along I started using it for Apple distribution because it was faster and generally less persnickety, but I kept using Smashwords for library service distribution. Also, the Smashwords Store has a small but very loyal following. Like, the really hardcore ebook people, the people who store their ebooks in elaborate arranged folder hierarchies they’ve been maintaining since the 90s, they use Smashwords. So I imagine this will save D2D the hassle of finding their own storefront.
Additionally, as you know if you’re one of my newsletter subscribers, I also use Smashwords coupon codes to give away short stories for free when I have a new release.
So, in practical terms, I don’t think much will change for you, the reader, and I don’t think all that much will change for me. D2D says it will keep the Smashwords Store and all its features going, so I can still give away books via coupon code to newsletter subscribers.
That said, it might be time to start rethinking how I give away free short stories. I’ve been dabbling with setting up a storefront of my own via PayHip, and perhaps it’s time to start using that to give away free short stories. As the D2D/Smashwords merger reminds us, change is the only constant. The best way as a self-published writer to weather change is to have control of one’s own website, mailing list, and potentially storefront.
-JM
February 9, 2022
I finished METROID DREAD!
I am pleased to report that I finished METROID DREAD!
It only took me five months. Considering that it took me ten years to finish the Main Quest in SKYRIM, that’s like lightning speed.
METROID DREAD won the Best Action/Adventure game award in 2021, and in my opinion the game deserves it completely. It’s the best side-scrolling Metroid to date – it has all the strong points of the previous side-scrolling Metroid games, with the addition of many refinements and a lot of polish.
The plot is a bit of a twist on the usual Metroid formula. Samus is sent to the mysterious planet ZDR to investigate a sighting of the deadly X Parasite, an alien lifeform that could wipe out all life on the galaxy. When she lands on the planet, she’s attacked by a mysterious figure in a more advanced version of her Power Armor and knocked unconscious. When she awakens, Samus finds herself in the lowest level of the planet’s caverns with most of her armor’s abilities missing. So instead of starting on the planet’s surface and fighting her way down to the boss’s lair, Samus has to start in the lowest level of the caves and fight her way back to the surface and her ship to escape.
The controls are fluid and slick. There are several new additions to the game mechanics that are great fun. For instance, Samus can now slide under obstacles, which is useful all through the game up to and including the final boss battle. My favorite new weapon is the Storm Missile, which is kind of like The Mandalorian’s Whistling Birds weapon, but with more explosions.
The EMMI robots are another excellent addition. Seven areas of ZDR are patrolled by EMMI robots, and if they detect Samus entering their zones, they will hunt her, and they have the capability to kill Samus with a single hit. Outwitting, outrunning, and finally defeating the EMMI robots is a major part of the game, and defeat them is immensely satisfying.
The chief villain of the game (no spoilers) has substantially more personality and malevolent motivations than most of the villains in a Metroid game. Samus only has a single spoken line throughout the entire game, but a combination of her gestures, body language, and the occasional eye take beneath her armor’s visor seems to give her more personality than in any game before. For instance, she doesn’t say a word when she runs into an old enemy, but his body language all but screams Not Impressed, further reinforced when she puts a Charge Beam blast into the boss’s face to start the battle.
Way back in the NES era, one of my favorite games was CASTLEVANIA II: SIMON’S CURSE, which was one of the early progenitors of what is has become the “Metroidvania” genre. So between METROID DREAD and BLOODSTAINED: RITUAL OF THE NIGHT (which I finished back in 2020), it’s exciting to see the full concepts of the early Metroidvania games realized on modern hardware with the finesse and smoothness of modern software.
I hope this isn’t the last 2D Metroid game, but if it is, they saved the best for last. So I hugely, hugely recommend this game, and if you have a Switch you should try it out. Though when you finish the game, it announces that Hard Mode has been unlocked.
Hard Mode?!? You mean the main game WASN’T Hard Mode?
-JM
