Martyn Stanley's Blog, page 11

The Blood Queen hits 70,000 words!

I'm getting closer! I have worked out a rescue plan for a difficult scenario, where several of the companions are incapacitated. By January the 1st I will be on the editing, proofing, tweaking and polishing things!

I really hope this goes down well and people enjoy it as much as they enjoyed the first two books.

Martyn

The Blood Queen

The Blood Queen is coming! It's going to be long and different. We're going to learn what 'Deathsworn' means and we're going to have a much better feel for who Vashni really is. I can't wait to get it finished and out there!

Martyn

Deathsworn Arc 1 is currently on a Kindle Countdown Deal!

For a limited time you can pick up DS1: The Last Dragon Slayer for less than it's list price!

http://www.amazon.com/Deathsworn-Arc-...

Or for UK here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deathsworn-Ar...

The Temple of the Mad God and the Blood Queen

I have to say, given the vastly increase in size of book 3 and the fact that I'm approaching a logical point to end a book. (Which is still miles away from the Temple of the Mad God) I am seriously looking at changing book 3 into 'The Blood Queen'

When will it be out? Early 2014 I think, and I think it will be longer than 1 and 2, but not double or triple the size as it would have been if I kept it as 'The Temple of the Mad God'

Mad God will follow, eventually... But for now, start looking forward to 'The Blood Queen'

'The Temple of the Mad God'

Well, part 3 is progressing nicely! My volunteer editor is now going through the first half of part 3, and I'm now over 51,000 words. There's still a long way to go though! It is going to be bigger, in fact it's going to be huge. I can't see it being less than 100,000 at the moment, but after careful deliberation I've decided not to break up the books again. I did think book 3 could have become, 'Deathsworn Arc 3 : The Blood Trials' but it's starting to get ridiculous! So I'm going to press on and release a late, but double the expected size. 'Deathsworn Arc 3 : The Temple of the Mad God'

It's coming, I know it's late, but it will be worth the wait!

Martyn

Free Promo! Free Ebook! Free Download!

Today is the day! You can pick up :-



Deathsworn Arc : The Last Dragon Slayer

You can download it today for free from these links:-

http://www.amazon.com/Deathsworn-Arc-...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deathsworn-Ar...

Please feel pick up a copy, this may the last time it's offered for free!

Martyn

Free Ebook! 23rd & 24th October!

I'm giving away as many copies as possible of my first fantasy book:-






UK Amazon:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deathsworn-Ar...

US Amazon:-

http://www.amazon.com/Deathsworn-Arc-...

Please, please pick up a copy and share this with anyone interested, I want as many people as possible to get a free copy of the ebook.

Thanks,

Martyn

New Cover Illustrations!

To maintain continuity through the series, I've sadly decided to change cover illustrator. The artist responsible for the excellent, dark fantasy scene which most recently became the cover for book 1 was essentially too busy to commit to producing the covers within the right time period. I can see why he's in demand, I am very, very fond of the current cover

I have two contenders for the series, two artist's both of whose work I very much admire. One is Daniel Johnson of Squared Motion. His fantasy creatures are incredibly detailed and have real character. His proposal for a new cover I think is excellent (See Photo's section of The Last Dragon Slayer

The other artist in contention is my good friend, the Brazilian Artist, Isis Sousa Her characters are beautifully painted with emotive expression and a life-like quality. To me they really jump off the page, she gave me a sneak preview of a WIP recently and it was stunning.

So I'm really, really torn. It's definitely one or the other, both are incredible, both could bring a new vibrancy to the coming re-launch of books 1 and 2 and the fast approaching book 3. Time-scales will be a factor I think, I'm planning on having a big promotional push as soon as my new covers for 1 and 2 are created.

The question is, who to get to do them!?

I'm very, very torn on this.

You can see more of Daniel's work on his website and facebook page here:-

http://squaredmotion.com/

and here:-

https://www.facebook.com/SquaredMotion

You can see more of Isis Sousa's work on her webpage here:-

http://www.isissousadesigner.com/

And facebook page here:-

https://www.facebook.com/isissousa.2d

Any comments on would be the best artist for the job, along with 'why' would be appreciated. I love both of their work and an genuinely really torn.

Martyn

Plan of Action for the Release of book 3 'The Temple of the Mad God'

I was thinking about this last night, my content editor has finished going through 'The Verkreath Horror' I need a meeting to go through some minor edits. Then while he's working on book 1 I'm going to put Book 2 to a proof-reader to fine-tune the grammar and punctuation. Once books 1 and 2 are fully sorted, they are off to my literary agent and my intended illustrator (Daniel Johnson is the current likely candidate.) to have new covers designed.

Then when the new covers are done and the texts are really polished, I will release a full 2nd Edition of books 1 and 2. Finish up book 3, and this time put it through my content editor and proof-reader before passing it onto my illustrator for a cover and waiting for the new cover before I publish! Target date for book three 'The Temple of the Mad God' is being pushed back to about 15th December I think. The reason for this are down to personal reasons, why I haven't been able to spend as much time on it, the increased length over the first two books and the fact that I want to do things differently. I rushed books 1 and 2 out to gain some momentum, get some feedback and build awareness. I have those things, I get mixed criticism, but mostly very positive feedback. So I now really want 'Deathsworn Arc 3 : The Temple of the Mad God' to be great on it's first release and not need to publish as many revisions as the first two books. I expect to raise the price once all the three books are what I consider 'finished' but that's to be decided yet. If I can move to the traditional publishing model it might be that I don't have control over pricing any more.

I am sorry about the wait, but it will be worth it. 'Deathsworn Arc 3 : The Temple of the Mad God' is going to be best yet!

Martyn

Progress report on Part 3.

I'm about 20,000 words in, but book 3 is going to be long. I expect it to be 80,000 to 120,000 words long. Why? Simply because I have so much travelling for the characters to do to get them to the 'Temple of the Mad God' and so many plot elements to incorporate!

Book 3 is going to be longer and more complex, it will answer some questions but present some more. Book 4 is going to be a very tricky write, because it's going break up in to three separate, simultaneous stories... Very excited about book 3 though, after a short holiday, watching the Bournemouth Air Festival I've had an epiphany and come up with a plot twist which will tie the whole series together and give the series that 'epic feel' the sort of plot element like Darth Vader being Luke Skywalker's father, or when César discovers Jean de Florette was his son... I love it!

Martyn