Guy Antibes's Blog, page 12

Demeron: A Horse’s Tale Cover

I have just  released Demeron: A Horse’s Tale.  It’s a sixty page (20,000 word) novella depicting Demeron’s travels during Book Three: A Sip of Magic.  Here is my first version of the cover. It just might be a little dark. What do you think?

 

A Word About Pol and Shira in The Sleeping God

I don’t typically try to explain my characters’ motivations and how I wrote them, but it seems I might have gone too far in A Sleeping God.  I’ll try to address a number of reader objections without any spoilers.

Let me be clear, Pol and Shira are teenagers. They are both exceptionally smart, talented, and capable people. They are in a relationship that is awkward for both of them. Neither have grown up in a natural environment. Pol struggles to react properly around Shira. Shira, on the other hand, has additional pressures (hang-ups?) that become more apparent towards the end of the book. She covers this awkwardness by pinching, hitting and bumping Pol. It isn’t because she is a shrew, it’s because she is having some real difficulties as she develops a relationship with Pol who is, shall we say, an Imperial male. She expresses that inner conflict through physical means. Note that her behavior doesn’t affect Pol’s feelings, but he is sometimes as lost in their relationship as she is. He just reacts differently.

In my own high school days, I observed the physical behavior first hand and didn’t see it then as abuse, but as part of a girl’s attempt to assert herself in a relationship. Perhaps I went a bit overboard, but when you get an idea, as a writer, you sometimes just go with it. I did.

Her reactions doesn’t make her a bad person. You will note she shows a great deal of affection along with her outbursts of whatever you want to call it. In crafting her personality, I consciously made her a very conflicted girl and a great deal of that comes from her upbringing in a unique matriarchal society in Shinkya. To me, as I wrote her, she remains a sympathetic character. Some readers don’t see it that way, and for them, I apologize.

Demeron Draft Complete – End of March Projected Release

I’ve had a few comments about the Demeron novella.  I finished the draft and have run through the story a few times, just getting it back from my editor last night. I have corrections to make, and then a final perusal by an outside person. It will come out to about 60 pages as planned and will be available on Amazon when I’m done.  I’ll keep you posted, but I’m planning on getting this out around the end of March.

I hope to have a cover out in the next week or so.

I’m currently working on The Emperor’s Pet, the fifth Disinherited Prince novel. I’m shooting for the end of April on that one, too, but slipping Demeron in between books four and five might push that novel out a week or two.

Maps Are Coming and so is Demeron!

MAPS

For kindle books, maps have to be jpeg files.  These don’t come out particularly well when published. I have embarked on a little project to set up a location on this site to house maps for my series. I will probably have them downloadable as PDF files so the maps can be enlarged without losing too much detail.

I intend on setting them up on a page on the menu bar below the title.

Demeron: A Horse’s Tale

I’ve also written the first draft of a novella (about 60 pages long) on Demeron’s adventures. Demeron: A Horse’s Tale is all about Demeron and his quest to return to the Deftnis Monastery after being left to his own devices in A Sip of Magic. I hope to have it out by the end of March, but my next book, Emperor’s Pet has priority, so I can publish that by the end of April.  An excerpt has been plopped at that end of The Sleeping God.

All the Disinherited Prince books are in Pol’s point of view and I didn’t feel Demeron’s story would fit into the novels, so it will be a standalone story. It is intended to be read after A Sip of Magic and before Emperor’s Pet.

By the way, Mark Twain wrote A Horse’s Tale a century ago. I have appropriated most of the title from him. I have Clemens’s in my family history and there is one of those hoary family ‘legends’ that he was a cousin or something to one of my direct ancestors. I hope he doesn’t mind.

The Sleeping God is Awake! Book is published

Book Four in the Disinherited Prince Series is now out. Here is the blurb:

Carrying an amulet given to him by his late mother, Pol Cissert seizes on an opportunity to travel to a far off city in search of his roots. He has no idea that the journey is no easy jaunt. Chased by magicians, thugs, pirates, and priests, he seeks his legacy by seeking the Cathedral of the Sleeping God. Pol finds that the truth isn’t always something everyone wants.

FANTASY – EPIC / SWORD & SORCERY / YOUNG ADULT

I won’t get the paperback finished until sometime in March. I had to push things to get the e-book version out before the end of February.  I didn’t think it would make it, but it did. It is exclusively on Amazon.

 

The Sleeping God – Disinherited Prince #4: First Draft Done

I just finished the first draft of The Sleeping God, the 4th book in the Disinherited Prince series.  Now I get to go over the manuscript for reviewing, edit, and publishing. I have a lot going on in February and it’s a short month, so it might be a challenge to get the book out by the end of the month.

This lastest installment features the escapees from Borstall and their adventures on the continent of Volia.

Tentative Writing Schedule

I’ve had some emails and comments on my book releases. I thought a post outlining my thinking for 2017 would be useful.

I have set a goal of six full-length novels and one novella for 2017.  That is about a novel every two months.  For the Disinherited Prince series, Book Four is currently being drafted and is scheduled for a February release.  That will be followed by a novella that will be released during April with a different character than Pol. Then I’ll try to squeeze in five novels in nine months from April to December.  I’ve got two more books (Book 5 and Book 6) in the series sketched out, but I’m not quite sure on how I will handle Pol after a certain event and I don’t know if there will be reader fatigue.

I have two or three ideas for future series, but I can’t be definitive. I also have some extensions to write, a promised sequel to The Power Bearer and I have two more books sketched out to turn The Quest of the Wizardess into a trilogy. Again it will all depend on the continued popularity of the Disinherited Prince.

My plans are always subject to change, but that’s my vision for this year.

A Sip of Magic – Now Available

It was a hard slog, but A Sip of Magic, the third volume of the Disinherited Prince series just went live on Amazon for Kindle.  The paperback will be published next week.  I wanted to get it out before Christmas and I made it!  Now for a few days immersing myself in the holiday spirit, and then it’s on to Book 4, The Sleeping God.

A Sip of Magic gets closer. Aiming for 12/24 release.

The proof of A Sip of Magic is on its way. When it arrives, I’ll be hard at work trying to get the third installment of The Disinherited Prince out before Christmas. I’m not sure if I’ll make it, but that’s my goal.

Until then, I am in the beginning stages of drafting the fourth book, The Sleeping God.

Sip of Magic – Now In Editing

A Sip of Magic has been sent to editing. Pol has a lot of challenges in this story, but he finds new friends amidst the ones he already has.  Here’s the cover blurb:

Expecting to resume his studies after a long absence, Pol Cissert is disappointed when he is drafted by the Emperor’s Seeker to infiltrate into Tesna Monastery. His mission is to verify rumors of a new army being raised by the South Salvan King, a man he perceives as an enemy. Pol will face new challenges, not the least of which will be figuring out the mysterious roommate that arrives not long after he learns about the Tesnan’s plans to take over the world.

And here is the cover!  The release of A Sip of Magic is targeted just before Christmas.