Vincent Trigili's Blog, page 13

The Steel-Eyed Man Needs A Name!

Hey everyone! New question for you all! I am working on Spectra’s Gambit right now and I am getting tired of typing “steel eyed man,” so it is time to name him! I thought it would be fun to toss this one out to my readers and see what you think? So comment below, tweet me, email me, Facebook me, whatever and send me your suggestions! This is the famous steel-eyed man that assists the Old Man (whose name was revealed as Henrick in Darkness). I’ll leave this question open until the release of The Sac’a’rith on Friday the 13th!

JUST 10 DAYS TO GO!

That is right, we are now officially inside a fortnight! In eleven days The Sac’a’rith will automagically go live in the stores where it is currently up for pre-order. There is a good chance that it might be live on Amazon a little early, but you will only know when that happens if you are on my email announcement list – so sign up while there is still time!

Do not forget to help support the anthology that will be featuring my very first published short story soon! There are three planned anthologies, my story is in the second one, but the first one is the only one out so far. All of the money that is raised by selling these books is going to the Grand Appeal, which is raising money to buy equipment and other supplies for Bristol’s Children’s Hospital. The first book (Something to Read on the Ride), as I mentioned, is already for sale on Amazon, and I will update everyone when the second book comes out (the one featuring my short story). I may write another story for the third one, if enough of my fans tell me they bought the books so far and want more.

In other news all the books are now live on Google Play and DriveThruFiction. Hopefully we will see some benefits from the increased exposure those stores bring.

Work on Spectra’s Gambit has slowed considerably as I deal with the holidays, and getting The Sac’a’rith out the door. I hope to hit it hard and get it out by the summer, but that is probably wishful thinking just like every other time I have announced when a book was coming out.

I have the foundation for Volume VII worked out, and I will hint this much: key characters from The Sac’a’rith are coming back in it, and you will find out more about them. There will be some teasers weaved in to Spectra’s Gambit for you to look for.

19 Days Until The Release Of The Sac’a’rith!

We are almost inside a fortnight until the release of The Sac’a’rith!  One observant reader recently pointed out that it is a Friday the 13th that the book will be released on. Yes it is, and yes it was deliberate. I target my releases to hit the thirteenth of the month when I can.  Now, while the book is up for pre-order right now on Apple, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords; Amazon does not allow pre-order. That means I will have to upload it ahead of the release so that it is ready on the thirteenth for sale. I will send a notice out to the Lost Tales email list as soon as I get it up loaded, which might be a bit ahead of the release date, so sign up on the list to be the first to know!

I also want to mention that I am looking at making my books available in Google Play for all the Android users out there. Right now I have Enemy of an Enemy up for sale, but none of the other books. Their system to get books into their store is really annoying, and their reporting is one of the worst that I have had to deal with so far so I am not really rushing into this with glee. If there appears to be a demand over there, I will list there. I am a bit surprised that Google of all companies could not pull of a decent system to list and track items for sale.

This coming week here in America we will be celebrating Thanksgiving, which is when we take time out of our very busy lives to visit family, and focus on being grateful for what we have. This year I am very grateful all of you for supporting my books! I really appreciate all of you!

Twenty-Six Days to go!

Hey everyone, there are just 26 days left until the release of The Sac’a’rith!

Kobo still does not have the ebook for pre-order (grumble), but Apple, Smashwords and Barns and Noble have it. Speaking of Barnes and Noble, it looks like they are now carrying the dead-tree versions (a.k.a. paperbacks) of my books on their site! So if you are into printed versions, you can get them there. Since they are listed on their website, that means they are available in their stores (though you probably have to special order them) and that means any major bookstore can order them now.

Also I wanted to let you know about a charity anthology that I will be part of this Christmas season. It will feature short stories from many different authors and will be sold to raise money for a children’s hospital in the UK. The short story I am donating to them is my first ever attempt at a short. It is about 1,000 words long, which is around three pages in print. I am considering writing a second one for them if I can find a few spare hours in the next week before the American holiday season really kicks in and everyone goes insane. The short I have already submitted is not from the Lost Tales universe, and my wife tells me it is scary! She called it “freaky” even.

This will be the second anthology they are producing. The first one is called, Something to Read on the Ride: A Charity Anthology and you can purchase it on Amazon, but it does not have any of my work in it. I will likely have my work in future editions if they continue this. It was fun, and the money is going to a good cause. The book description on Amazon has the details, so if you can spare the coin for this work, you will be helping sick children get proper medical care.

So spread the word about the Lost Tales series and this charity offering! Here is the link to purchase the first anthology:

There are just 34 days left till the release of The Sac’a’rith!

Hey everyone! Just some tiny updates here! First off, there is only 34 days left to the release of The Sac’a’rith! In fact, it is so close that it is already up for pre order in iTunes, Barns and Noble, and Smashwords (Kobo is still dragging their feet on it). Here is another little teaser for you, a time line:

IE = Imperial Era (similar to BC, counts backwards)

EM = Era of Magic

12/01/01 IE – Enemy of an Enemy starts

01/20/02 EM – Enemy of an Enemy ends

02/01/02 EM – The Academy starts

08/30/42 EM – The Academy ends

05/15/55 EM – Rise of Shadows starts

12/30/58 EM – Rise of Shadows ends

01/31/59 EM – Resurgence of Ancient Darkness starts

03/15/59 EM – The Sac’a’rith starts

10/31/62 EM – The Sac’a’rith ends

01/25/63 EM – Resurgence of Ancient Darkness ends

In other news, the print editions of all books are live again, with the new covers. They are currently available on Amazon and Create Space, but they should slowly be working their way out to all the other print shops. In fact, if you are the kind that prefers dead tree editions, then you will soon be able to walk in to any major bookstore and request the books! I doubt any bookstore will just randomly decide to put them on the shelves, but most will be happy to order it for you.

Just a reminder, do not forget to sign up on my email list for announcements and special news. Those super fans on my email list will be the first to know about the release, and any other special news that comes out in the future.

Spread the word about the series so that new fans that do not know they are fans of this series yet have time to read the first four books before the release of volume five!

Update on Print Edition Woes and New Covers

Only 38 days left until the release of The Sac’a'rith!

In other news, I think all the issues with the print editions of The Lost Tales of Power has been cleared up. I am just awaiting the proof order to go through to physically verify the books and then I will have them back up for sale. Also, all of the print editions will now be added to the extended distribution channels at Amazon. That means you will be able to get the print editions from Barnes and Noble, and other fine retail outlets in addition to Amazon. I am not sure how long it will take to roll through the system, but I imagine it will be a few more weeks yet.

Also, you may have noticed this already, but I have started rolling out new covers for the Volumes II, III and IV. They still use the same art work, but have new typography. Here they are:

Paperback Edition of The Academy

Hey everyone – just a quick note. The paperback edition of The Academy has recently become unavailable because Amazon (who prints them for me) has suddenly decided the cover no longer meets their guidelines (but has not been clear on what is wrong). I am working with them over the past week trying to find out exactly what I need to do to fix it. I will get it fixed and get it back up as soon as I can. Sorry for any inconvenience this causes anyone!

The Sac’a'rith – Cover Reveal

The Sac’a'rith is in the final stages of polishing now, and we are closing in on its release! I am targeting December 13th, 2013 as the release date. If all goes well it should be live in all major stores right around that time. It will be up for pre-order at Kobo, Apple, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords soon. Amazon does not offer a pre-order option, so I cannot do much there. Until then, here is the cover and blurb for The Sac’a'rith:

Clear across the galaxy from where Grandmaster Vydor is building his kingdom of wizards, a new darkness is rising up. Soldiers who die in battle are standing back up and switching sides by the thousands. Entire space stations are being wiped clean of life and it seems that the military is powerless to stand against this rising tide of death.

One man, perhaps more dangerous than the darkness itself, and his apprentice, the former slave of a street thug, have risen up to stand in the gap against this new wave of darkness. Will they be enough to prevail? If they succeed, will their region be the better for it, or will they usher in an even greater evil?

Oyster

Hey everyone I just wanted to let you know about a new outlet for finding my books. One of my book distributors, Smashwords, has inked a deal with a new company called Oyster. Oyster is offering a new service that for one flat monthly fee of $9.95 allows its customers to read all the books they want, with no limits or per book fees. It is to new yet to know how this will play out in practice, but you can find out more from their website: https://www.oysterbooks.com/. You can even sign up for a free trial. For now, all of my books will be offered through this service. I will watch and see if it makes sense to stick it out with them or not. Let me know what you think about Oyster in the comments below, Thanks!

The Sac’a'rith is Back From Editing!

The edited copy of The Sac’a'rith has just come back from our editor and as usual she tore apart my masterpiece of perfection (we awl knowe I tipe purfectley and awl editors due is incert missteaks of coarse!) Now begins the hard part of writing, working through her edits and making “yes/no” decisions on each one. This will take me far longer then it took her to do the editing. I never understand how she works so fast!

After that, I have to send it back to her because I need to fix a story issue in the ending, which I will want her to edit again. Once that re-cycle is complete I will have to work through formatting it for e-readers, which is a pain. Every e-reader is different, and the subset of HTML that the various e-readers understand does not give me a lot of options for adjusting to the different platforms dynamically. That means I have to guess my way through finding lowest common formatting set between the platforms. I still end up with 5 or 6 versions of the manuscript to submit to the various distribution channels and I will still not be happy with how it looks on at least some e-readers, but such is the price of progress.

Volume VI, Spectra’s Gambit, will be put back on hold while I work through this, but if all goes well I should be back writing that in a month or so. Spectra’s Gambit’s beginning chronologically overlaps with both volume IV and V’s endings so weaving them together is taking extra time. Plus I need to lay the groundwork for Volume VII. I am going to have to get that wiki (http://wiki.losttalesofpower.com) updated at some point (any volunteers?) if for nothing else then to keep my head straight!