Richard Raley's Blog, page 38
August 15, 2014
Totally Non-professional Sky-Island Map and World Diagram
Sky-Island 1827 Shitty Map
World of the One Path Even Shittier Diagram
Hope that helps any confusion (I know it doesn't).
Small update: writing really well at the moment! Might finish the school timeline of FM5 in a few days!
World of the One Path Even Shittier Diagram
Hope that helps any confusion (I know it doesn't).
Small update: writing really well at the moment! Might finish the school timeline of FM5 in a few days!
July 7, 2014
What the Future Holds: Next Year, Next Decade, and My Whole Damn Life
Now that Sky-Island 1827-E is published I thought I'd go through what you fans can expect from me in the future. I know most of you so far have come to my writing through THE KING HENRY TAPES and that much more still will, but that's probably not going to stay the same in the years ahead.
Let's get this out there: I'm not a one series writer who's going to pump out 40 King Henry books and then retire and have my as-of-yet-not-existent child pump out 40 MORE King Henry books. More power to the authors that can do this and get a sense of total fulfillment, it's just not for me. I've got a lot of stories in me and just creativity and ideas flowing out of my brain...some out of my asshole too, but mostly out of my brain!
You're going to get A LOT of King Henry books, but I'm not overstaying my welcome and even within that series I will try to keep reinventing and changing things up as necessary, like the School timeline finishing itself up in FM7 and the total change of pace from THE KING HENRY TAPES into THE MANCY WARS to cap the whole thing off.
But, it's going to end eventually, There is a Plan (and unlike Battlestar Galactica and Lost I'm not lying about it to keep you watching!). Even in the meantime I will be taking breaks to work on other worlds and stories. It's important to note that doing this doesn't actually affect my speed at writing King Henry novels. It's not a zero sum game where in one world you will be getting two KH novels a year and in the other you'll be getting one. What I've found actually happens is that in both worlds you still get the KH novel every 9-12 months, but instead of the other side novel coming out I'm just really fucking cranky and depressed that I can't focus in on writing half the time.
So all this being said, here's what the future looks like.
MY WHOLE DAMN LIFE
Here are the stories I plan to write by the time my eyes give out and my hands are decrepit and I'm farting in stores and no one complains about it because I'm so old. Oh, how I look forward to those days...
*These names I'm giving are often vague or not final with only book estimates and genre-type because I'm a sneaky bastard that doesn't want to give a synopsis and have someone think "that's a great idea" and write it before I'm ready.
The Shinide Saga (5-10 Books)(Hyper-fantasy): If I found out I was dying within the next five years, this would be the series I drop everything to write 24/7. It's my first love, my baby, etc. Why am I writing other stuff and not it? Because I wanted to wait until I was ready to do it justice as an author. I'm getting there but I'm not there yet.
The Five God Series (5 Books)(YA Epic Fantasy, Mage Coming of Age Story, Renaissance Era)
The Godborn World (One duology/One Trilogy/Possible Standalones)(Godpunk): God of War meets Stargate meets Percy Jackson meets Bladerunner.
The Rii Enslavement (Duology)(Epic Fantasy, 1st Person): Magic System revolves around emotions and their absence.
The King Henry World (20 books possible)(12 Book THE KING HENRY TAPES)(3-5 Book THE MANCY WARS)(3 book THE DEAD WORLD): Urban Fantasy into Epic Fantasy Morph.
The Prisoners Cycle (endless possibilities, multi-genre): A series of standalone books all set in the same world but different...well, you'll see. Sky-Island 1827-E and Gush are both in this "series".
Eat the Future (post-apoc, dystopian, big monster, neo-western standalone): An extension of the world I created in Prime Pickings (which would be the first chapter).
Djinn (time-travel, thriller, horror, standalone): a story about reliving high school that goes wrong.
The Next Decade
So yeah, I've got a lot of books in my head! But what about the next decade? Well, I plan to focus in on 3 of those worlds mentioned above. By the time I turn 40 (yeah, I'm 30, it's not as terrifying as promised, mostly because I skipped all that marriage and divorce stuff to do the starving author thing) I believe THE KING HENRY TAPES will have been finished and I'll be part way into THE MANCY WARS.
I'm also looking at continuing THE PRISONERS CYCLE (plan to put up an About Page on this by the end of the year) which as I said includes Sky-Island 1827-E, a follow up book, and a trilogy set in that "world" as well as Gush + Gush sequel, and a few other stories with different characters. The important thing to note with THE PRISONERS CYCLE, unlike the rest of everything I talk about, is that it's "possible" that they might be written. It's the one thing I'm doing where it's all pay-to-play and something I'm taking one book at a time.
The 3rd series I plan to work on is the aforementioned GODBORN WORLD. As to the name of "godborn" it's one of those things were you consider "should i be different and really creative" or should I just get lumped in with Mistborn or Dragonborn and all the other borns. I decided there's more than enough creativity in the world to let the name be a little generic.
Which leads us into...
The Next Year
Finishing FM5 and Gush, starting the first GODBORN book (no title atm beside the stand-in of CHAINS) and FM6.
Pretty simple really (also a crap-ton of writing!). I just wanted to write this to let you fans know I'm very committed to this author thing, I see it as my future and my life for a long time to come, it's what I've wanted to do since I was 12 and I'm lucky as hell that I get to live in the time period where Digital Publishing showed up to start a publishing revolution.
I know it's scary being a fan. You love these worlds but really have no control over them. An author can just faff about or get addicted to coke and pornstars or...other stuff. Nothing you can do about it...beside writing Welf/KH slash fanfiction (please don't do this!). So there you go, there's my plan for the years and years ahead of us. Hopefully all of us make it to the end! In the meantime, stick with me through this journey and we'll kick some ass and take some names together!
Now, because I've written this, here comes the alien invasion in 3...2...1...
Let's get this out there: I'm not a one series writer who's going to pump out 40 King Henry books and then retire and have my as-of-yet-not-existent child pump out 40 MORE King Henry books. More power to the authors that can do this and get a sense of total fulfillment, it's just not for me. I've got a lot of stories in me and just creativity and ideas flowing out of my brain...some out of my asshole too, but mostly out of my brain!
You're going to get A LOT of King Henry books, but I'm not overstaying my welcome and even within that series I will try to keep reinventing and changing things up as necessary, like the School timeline finishing itself up in FM7 and the total change of pace from THE KING HENRY TAPES into THE MANCY WARS to cap the whole thing off.
But, it's going to end eventually, There is a Plan (and unlike Battlestar Galactica and Lost I'm not lying about it to keep you watching!). Even in the meantime I will be taking breaks to work on other worlds and stories. It's important to note that doing this doesn't actually affect my speed at writing King Henry novels. It's not a zero sum game where in one world you will be getting two KH novels a year and in the other you'll be getting one. What I've found actually happens is that in both worlds you still get the KH novel every 9-12 months, but instead of the other side novel coming out I'm just really fucking cranky and depressed that I can't focus in on writing half the time.
So all this being said, here's what the future looks like.
MY WHOLE DAMN LIFE
Here are the stories I plan to write by the time my eyes give out and my hands are decrepit and I'm farting in stores and no one complains about it because I'm so old. Oh, how I look forward to those days...
*These names I'm giving are often vague or not final with only book estimates and genre-type because I'm a sneaky bastard that doesn't want to give a synopsis and have someone think "that's a great idea" and write it before I'm ready.
The Shinide Saga (5-10 Books)(Hyper-fantasy): If I found out I was dying within the next five years, this would be the series I drop everything to write 24/7. It's my first love, my baby, etc. Why am I writing other stuff and not it? Because I wanted to wait until I was ready to do it justice as an author. I'm getting there but I'm not there yet.
The Five God Series (5 Books)(YA Epic Fantasy, Mage Coming of Age Story, Renaissance Era)
The Godborn World (One duology/One Trilogy/Possible Standalones)(Godpunk): God of War meets Stargate meets Percy Jackson meets Bladerunner.
The Rii Enslavement (Duology)(Epic Fantasy, 1st Person): Magic System revolves around emotions and their absence.
The King Henry World (20 books possible)(12 Book THE KING HENRY TAPES)(3-5 Book THE MANCY WARS)(3 book THE DEAD WORLD): Urban Fantasy into Epic Fantasy Morph.
The Prisoners Cycle (endless possibilities, multi-genre): A series of standalone books all set in the same world but different...well, you'll see. Sky-Island 1827-E and Gush are both in this "series".
Eat the Future (post-apoc, dystopian, big monster, neo-western standalone): An extension of the world I created in Prime Pickings (which would be the first chapter).
Djinn (time-travel, thriller, horror, standalone): a story about reliving high school that goes wrong.
The Next Decade
So yeah, I've got a lot of books in my head! But what about the next decade? Well, I plan to focus in on 3 of those worlds mentioned above. By the time I turn 40 (yeah, I'm 30, it's not as terrifying as promised, mostly because I skipped all that marriage and divorce stuff to do the starving author thing) I believe THE KING HENRY TAPES will have been finished and I'll be part way into THE MANCY WARS.
I'm also looking at continuing THE PRISONERS CYCLE (plan to put up an About Page on this by the end of the year) which as I said includes Sky-Island 1827-E, a follow up book, and a trilogy set in that "world" as well as Gush + Gush sequel, and a few other stories with different characters. The important thing to note with THE PRISONERS CYCLE, unlike the rest of everything I talk about, is that it's "possible" that they might be written. It's the one thing I'm doing where it's all pay-to-play and something I'm taking one book at a time.
The 3rd series I plan to work on is the aforementioned GODBORN WORLD. As to the name of "godborn" it's one of those things were you consider "should i be different and really creative" or should I just get lumped in with Mistborn or Dragonborn and all the other borns. I decided there's more than enough creativity in the world to let the name be a little generic.
Which leads us into...
The Next Year
Finishing FM5 and Gush, starting the first GODBORN book (no title atm beside the stand-in of CHAINS) and FM6.
Pretty simple really (also a crap-ton of writing!). I just wanted to write this to let you fans know I'm very committed to this author thing, I see it as my future and my life for a long time to come, it's what I've wanted to do since I was 12 and I'm lucky as hell that I get to live in the time period where Digital Publishing showed up to start a publishing revolution.
I know it's scary being a fan. You love these worlds but really have no control over them. An author can just faff about or get addicted to coke and pornstars or...other stuff. Nothing you can do about it...beside writing Welf/KH slash fanfiction (please don't do this!). So there you go, there's my plan for the years and years ahead of us. Hopefully all of us make it to the end! In the meantime, stick with me through this journey and we'll kick some ass and take some names together!
Now, because I've written this, here comes the alien invasion in 3...2...1...
June 25, 2014
Sky-Island 1827-E is OUT!!!
It's finally done, I can move on!Linkage:
Sky-Island 1827-E by Richard Raley on Amazon Kindle
Sky-Island 1827-E by Richard Raley on Amazon UK Kindle
Sky-Island 1827-E by Richard Raley on Smashwords
As always, Barnes and Noble and Apple take a week or two to propagate out from the Smashwords distribution channels, so if you read on a iPad or Nook, you'll need to buy from Smashwords and download the appropriate file type, or wait until I have those links for you soon.
As for me, I'm looking forward to a self-enforced writer lockdown away from the internet, twitter, video games, and ya know, generally anything distracting or too much fun. Now that Sky-Island is off my plate (and I hope you all enjoy it!) I need to get back to King Henry and to really starting in on Gush as well.
June 14, 2014
Sky-Island 1827-E Release Date = June 26th
So yeah, all the heat wave going through Fresno has made writing original stuff really uncomfortable, so instead I jumped the gun and focused in on finishing Sky-Island. Did some rewrites, gave it some edits, and now it's in the hands of my beta readers.
As long as nothing crazy happens (like Alien Invasion) it should be coming out on June 26th, little under two weeks from now.
Now that it's finished I can completely focus in on FM5 and Gush through the rest of year. Hopefully one of those will sneak into December but we'll just have to see if King Henry decides to get difficult or not this time around.
As long as nothing crazy happens (like Alien Invasion) it should be coming out on June 26th, little under two weeks from now.
Now that it's finished I can completely focus in on FM5 and Gush through the rest of year. Hopefully one of those will sneak into December but we'll just have to see if King Henry decides to get difficult or not this time around.
May 21, 2014
Sky-Island 1827-E First Draft Done
Relief, lots of relief on finally finishing this one. I started writing "Sky-Island" (then only named "Rockets") in July 2011. That period of my life was one where I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with myself writing wise. Indies were become a thing, I'd thrown "The Betrothal" out there just to see what the process was like (poor, poor, mistreated Betrothal), but still wasn't sure if I should commit to the grand new experiment in publishing.
"The Foul Mouth and the Fanged Lady" was in editing and not wanting to get started on FM2 without the first being published or picked up by an agent or SOMETHING (strangely enough I never even bothered to send FM1 to an agent and took the full Indie plunge a few months later) I had to come up with a few other novels to work on.
I have quite a few grand series' planned in my life, books and worlds and characters even more important to me than King Henry, but I knew I wasn't ready for them. I wasn't experienced enough to do them justice. So instead I came up with 5 small plots of books that were part writing experiment, part challenge, and partly drawn from mashed together dreams. I figured this would make me a better writer and that I could work on these novels without "locking me in" to a specific course.
One of those books was "Sky Island 1827-E".
So yeah...already changed and simplified the cover.Along with a story about a very violent tree, a girl who can run on water, and a man who can hop from dream to dream, "Sky-Island" was born as the story of a company of soldiers that spent their days on a small island watching rockets fly overhead...before the enemy attacked.
It's still that at its heart. But much more. It's also a tale of religious divide, of what makes a hero or if there even are heroes, of point of view, and of course...KILLER ROBOTS.
It's been a long 3 years for a short novel (250 pages), mostly because once I took the plunge I was super into that King Henry Price guy and everything else got pushed to the side. But now King Henry is firmly established and I understand him to a degree that's probably not healthy, so I have time to return to those 5 small novels and get them out of my brain (I have so many stories in my brain it's really getting crowded in there).
If you like twist and turns, mystery, some SERIOUS world building, and punches to the gut, then you'll enjoy "Sky-Island." Or at least survive it.
Of course the first draft is just the start and we have editing and more editing and typo hell and beta reading in front of us, so don't expect the book immediately. July-September is probably the best estimate for its release. As always with Indie releases, you can't tell how quickly or how long certain aspects will take. If you need to change something you need to do it all yourself. If the beta readers say "it's all good" then it can be published the next day.
As for what I plan next, I'm looking to finishing FM5's school story (King Henry and Plutarch get off to a rough start) and to writing "Gush", which is about that girl who can run on water that I mentioned.
"The Foul Mouth and the Fanged Lady" was in editing and not wanting to get started on FM2 without the first being published or picked up by an agent or SOMETHING (strangely enough I never even bothered to send FM1 to an agent and took the full Indie plunge a few months later) I had to come up with a few other novels to work on.
I have quite a few grand series' planned in my life, books and worlds and characters even more important to me than King Henry, but I knew I wasn't ready for them. I wasn't experienced enough to do them justice. So instead I came up with 5 small plots of books that were part writing experiment, part challenge, and partly drawn from mashed together dreams. I figured this would make me a better writer and that I could work on these novels without "locking me in" to a specific course.
One of those books was "Sky Island 1827-E".
So yeah...already changed and simplified the cover.Along with a story about a very violent tree, a girl who can run on water, and a man who can hop from dream to dream, "Sky-Island" was born as the story of a company of soldiers that spent their days on a small island watching rockets fly overhead...before the enemy attacked.It's still that at its heart. But much more. It's also a tale of religious divide, of what makes a hero or if there even are heroes, of point of view, and of course...KILLER ROBOTS.
It's been a long 3 years for a short novel (250 pages), mostly because once I took the plunge I was super into that King Henry Price guy and everything else got pushed to the side. But now King Henry is firmly established and I understand him to a degree that's probably not healthy, so I have time to return to those 5 small novels and get them out of my brain (I have so many stories in my brain it's really getting crowded in there).
If you like twist and turns, mystery, some SERIOUS world building, and punches to the gut, then you'll enjoy "Sky-Island." Or at least survive it.
Of course the first draft is just the start and we have editing and more editing and typo hell and beta reading in front of us, so don't expect the book immediately. July-September is probably the best estimate for its release. As always with Indie releases, you can't tell how quickly or how long certain aspects will take. If you need to change something you need to do it all yourself. If the beta readers say "it's all good" then it can be published the next day.
As for what I plan next, I'm looking to finishing FM5's school story (King Henry and Plutarch get off to a rough start) and to writing "Gush", which is about that girl who can run on water that I mentioned.
April 18, 2014
13 Vampire Divines
Not in order of importance:
Divine Inanina - Mistress of War
Divine Nii-Vah - Mistress of Justice
Divine Eresha - Mistress of Shells
Divine Pwent - Mistress of Coin
Divine Moshi - Master of Flesh
Divine Kien
Divine Acharon
Divine Balhad
Divine Limkar
Divine Paa-Hsi
Divine Rennya
Divine Cherya
Divine Amarusa
You'll just have to keep reading to find out what the rest of them do.
Divine Inanina - Mistress of War
Divine Nii-Vah - Mistress of Justice
Divine Eresha - Mistress of Shells
Divine Pwent - Mistress of Coin
Divine Moshi - Master of Flesh
Divine Kien
Divine Acharon
Divine Balhad
Divine Limkar
Divine Paa-Hsi
Divine Rennya
Divine Cherya
Divine Amarusa
You'll just have to keep reading to find out what the rest of them do.
March 29, 2014
FM4 Apple iTunes Link and Small Update
Linkage: The Headless Hunny by Richard Raley on Apple iTunes
Update: First, thanks to everyone who bought a copy of FM4 so far and to everyone who plans to. March 2014 is officially my first $1000+ month as a writer and has seen FM4 float between 5k and 10k on the Amazon sells charts. Despite a few of the reviews contemplating that it's a shame King Henry isn't a bestseller yet (FYI "Foul Mouth" in the title with over 200 f-bombs per novel probably has something to do with this), I actually am in a spot to be envied by many Indies and that's all due to having such a loyal, fanatic, duct tape threatening readership. Special thanks to everyone who took the time to review FM4, it really does help the book get noticed among all the new releases and your five minutes to write that gushing paragraph is appreciated.
One of the things you fans might not know about releasing a book is that checking up on the numbers on KDP quickly enters the zone of gambling addiction, so after a novel is out and everything seems to be stable, I like to take some time away from the net to focus in on the next work, instead of clicking refresh like a lab-rat after nicotine pills. So this will be the last update for awhile as I go about finishing SKY-ISLAND 1827-E and beginning FM5.
Still plenty ahead from me in 2014, so keep an eye out here and on the twitter!
Update: First, thanks to everyone who bought a copy of FM4 so far and to everyone who plans to. March 2014 is officially my first $1000+ month as a writer and has seen FM4 float between 5k and 10k on the Amazon sells charts. Despite a few of the reviews contemplating that it's a shame King Henry isn't a bestseller yet (FYI "Foul Mouth" in the title with over 200 f-bombs per novel probably has something to do with this), I actually am in a spot to be envied by many Indies and that's all due to having such a loyal, fanatic, duct tape threatening readership. Special thanks to everyone who took the time to review FM4, it really does help the book get noticed among all the new releases and your five minutes to write that gushing paragraph is appreciated.
One of the things you fans might not know about releasing a book is that checking up on the numbers on KDP quickly enters the zone of gambling addiction, so after a novel is out and everything seems to be stable, I like to take some time away from the net to focus in on the next work, instead of clicking refresh like a lab-rat after nicotine pills. So this will be the last update for awhile as I go about finishing SKY-ISLAND 1827-E and beginning FM5.
Still plenty ahead from me in 2014, so keep an eye out here and on the twitter!
March 27, 2014
The King Henry Tapes FAQ #2
SPOILER WARNING!!! This could have spoilers for every book and short in the series, including FM4, you've been warned.
So I wrote an FAQ for the series just after I finished FM2 and I figured it's been a couple years and a couple books and things have changed a bit since then, so why not another one?
Q: Change?!?! What do you mean change? NOTHING CAN CHANGE, WRITER SLAVE, LEAVE IT ALL THE SAME!
The story itself is still the story I outlined back in...2009? I feel old now... The themes and the attitude and the plot are still all how I envisioned them, but structurally the realization that 12 school stories was stretching that half of the story way too much is a biggie. Also a few characters that I thought wouldn't be as important or as involved keep finding themselves with extra scenes (T-Bone, Miranda, Hope) while other characters I thought would be more involved have been slowly cut back (poor, poor School Eva, she was supposed to have a much bigger part).
The places of FM4 and FM5 got switched, I think it's much more natural now and much less of a whiplash. A lot of the Meteyos and Divine Chamber stuff that I thought wouldn't evolve until later in the series all came out much earlier. The FM1 Prophecy isn't nearly as important as I thought it would be, although it's always been a bit of a red herring mocking prophecies in Fantasy fiction, so perhaps it's still done its job.
Q: What do you mean no 12 school stories?
Only going to be 7 of them now, they'll be stopping with FM7. Which is good, because after FM7...shit gets real. There was a couple big updates about that decision, go search the blog for them if you're interested in my angst over the issue.
Q: But still 12 books?
Yes, this hasn't changed. There will be 12 books in The King Henry Tapes and then a 3-5 book wrap up series with multiple POV characters including King Henry.
Q: What's FM5 Called?
The Mancy Martial Artist.
Q: Any extra hint on FM5?
School = Plutarch.
Mainline = King Henry. T-Bone. Pocket. Vegas.
Q: Any hint on when FM5 will---
LEAVE ME ALONE!
Q: Will there be any more short stories or novellas?
No plans or desire to write them. I prefer writing novels and I'm writing well enough now that the wait between books shouldn't require a shorter work to hold you over.
Q: Why did you end FM4 like that? I hate you so much.
First of all, I don't think calling it a cliffhanger is accurate. There's side stories and greater stories within the series left hanging, but there's always greater stories left hanging in this series. That's how I get you addicted. When it comes to the main plot and the main issue King Henry was dealing with however, it's resolved. It's not cathartic, it's like watching your parents yell at each other, but it's resolved.
As for why I didn't give you the same feeling I did with FM3...well, I'd feel like a failure as a writer if every book in the series did the same thing. Some endings are going to make you fulfilled, some endings are going to pump you up, some are going to make you sad, and some are going to make you want to strangle me. Within the 12 books there's probably going to be a couple actual cliffhangers, so...deal with it. FM4 however, isn't one. It was just a kick to the fuckballs.
Q: Is Annie B okay?
She's fine outside of having a bit of a hurt pride. She'll be back.
Q: You have a bad habit of writing a book about a specific set of characters or villains and then having those characters disappear for awhile, can I assume "back" doesn't mean FM5?
Yup. Again, I try to have every book different and mixed and not the same thing book after book, which is why sidekicks and villains appear and disappear. One of the bad habits in Urban Fantasy/Paranormal is to have the same feel for every book in the series so they just kind of mush together. I want my fans to be able to look back 10 years later and say, oh yeah, FM3 was the Valentine/Curator Book and FM4 was the Annie B/Divine book, and FM5 was the...har, har, I torture you.
Helpful? No? Yes? If you have any other questions, leave a comment. I'll probably just RAFO you, but asking doesn't hurt. I guess you fans could also use this thread as a FM4 spoiler discussion thread if you want.
So I wrote an FAQ for the series just after I finished FM2 and I figured it's been a couple years and a couple books and things have changed a bit since then, so why not another one?
Q: Change?!?! What do you mean change? NOTHING CAN CHANGE, WRITER SLAVE, LEAVE IT ALL THE SAME!
The story itself is still the story I outlined back in...2009? I feel old now... The themes and the attitude and the plot are still all how I envisioned them, but structurally the realization that 12 school stories was stretching that half of the story way too much is a biggie. Also a few characters that I thought wouldn't be as important or as involved keep finding themselves with extra scenes (T-Bone, Miranda, Hope) while other characters I thought would be more involved have been slowly cut back (poor, poor School Eva, she was supposed to have a much bigger part).
The places of FM4 and FM5 got switched, I think it's much more natural now and much less of a whiplash. A lot of the Meteyos and Divine Chamber stuff that I thought wouldn't evolve until later in the series all came out much earlier. The FM1 Prophecy isn't nearly as important as I thought it would be, although it's always been a bit of a red herring mocking prophecies in Fantasy fiction, so perhaps it's still done its job.
Q: What do you mean no 12 school stories?
Only going to be 7 of them now, they'll be stopping with FM7. Which is good, because after FM7...shit gets real. There was a couple big updates about that decision, go search the blog for them if you're interested in my angst over the issue.
Q: But still 12 books?
Yes, this hasn't changed. There will be 12 books in The King Henry Tapes and then a 3-5 book wrap up series with multiple POV characters including King Henry.
Q: What's FM5 Called?
The Mancy Martial Artist.
Q: Any extra hint on FM5?
School = Plutarch.
Mainline = King Henry. T-Bone. Pocket. Vegas.
Q: Any hint on when FM5 will---
LEAVE ME ALONE!
Q: Will there be any more short stories or novellas?
No plans or desire to write them. I prefer writing novels and I'm writing well enough now that the wait between books shouldn't require a shorter work to hold you over.
Q: Why did you end FM4 like that? I hate you so much.
First of all, I don't think calling it a cliffhanger is accurate. There's side stories and greater stories within the series left hanging, but there's always greater stories left hanging in this series. That's how I get you addicted. When it comes to the main plot and the main issue King Henry was dealing with however, it's resolved. It's not cathartic, it's like watching your parents yell at each other, but it's resolved.
As for why I didn't give you the same feeling I did with FM3...well, I'd feel like a failure as a writer if every book in the series did the same thing. Some endings are going to make you fulfilled, some endings are going to pump you up, some are going to make you sad, and some are going to make you want to strangle me. Within the 12 books there's probably going to be a couple actual cliffhangers, so...deal with it. FM4 however, isn't one. It was just a kick to the fuckballs.
Q: Is Annie B okay?
She's fine outside of having a bit of a hurt pride. She'll be back.
Q: You have a bad habit of writing a book about a specific set of characters or villains and then having those characters disappear for awhile, can I assume "back" doesn't mean FM5?
Yup. Again, I try to have every book different and mixed and not the same thing book after book, which is why sidekicks and villains appear and disappear. One of the bad habits in Urban Fantasy/Paranormal is to have the same feel for every book in the series so they just kind of mush together. I want my fans to be able to look back 10 years later and say, oh yeah, FM3 was the Valentine/Curator Book and FM4 was the Annie B/Divine book, and FM5 was the...har, har, I torture you.
Helpful? No? Yes? If you have any other questions, leave a comment. I'll probably just RAFO you, but asking doesn't hurt. I guess you fans could also use this thread as a FM4 spoiler discussion thread if you want.
March 20, 2014
FM4 Barnes and Noble Link
Barnes and Noble: The Headless Hunny by Richard Raley on Nook
Have fun, ladies and gents.
Have fun, ladies and gents.
March 17, 2014
FM4 IS OUT!!!
Well, the more insane/rambunctious/dedicated among you fans have already used the fact that Amazon takes an estimated 12-24 hours to propagate books, meaning you can search/refresh like a coked-out hamster to snag early copies. Usually I put the files through the day before and they just sit there unknown until I post links, but THIS TIME I got people already buying the thing before it's even released, so in the interest of fairness to the more innocent and rule following among my fan base...WE'RE DOING IT LIVE!
FM4 is released six hours early.
Yay!
Beef jerky and Dr. Pepper for all (as long as you buy it for yourself)!
Linkage:
Amazon: The Foul Mouth and the Headless Hunny by Richard Raley on Kindle
Amazon UK: The Foul Mouth and the Headless Hunny by Richard Raley on Monarchy Loving Kindle
Smashwords: The Foul Mouth and the Headless Hunny by Richard Raley in 7 Different Formats
As always, Smashwords takes a couple weeks to get the novel out to Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo, etc. I too wish it was instant, but it is what it is and I'll have those links for you when they become available. Or, if you're an advanced Nook or iPad reader, you can buy directly from Smashwords itself and download the book in your chosen file format.
FM4 is released six hours early.
Yay!
Beef jerky and Dr. Pepper for all (as long as you buy it for yourself)!
Linkage:
Amazon: The Foul Mouth and the Headless Hunny by Richard Raley on Kindle
Amazon UK: The Foul Mouth and the Headless Hunny by Richard Raley on Monarchy Loving Kindle
Smashwords: The Foul Mouth and the Headless Hunny by Richard Raley in 7 Different Formats
As always, Smashwords takes a couple weeks to get the novel out to Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo, etc. I too wish it was instant, but it is what it is and I'll have those links for you when they become available. Or, if you're an advanced Nook or iPad reader, you can buy directly from Smashwords itself and download the book in your chosen file format.
