Where Do We Go Now? (Part 5)
At last, I get to the Fantasy/Sword & Sorcery genre, which was a key part of my youthful self, where writers like Tolkien, Michael Moorcock, Tad Williams, Katharine Kerr, CJ Cherryh, and George R.R. Martin fueled my fondness for worldbuilding and fantasy fiction.
The pen name for my own series is Dane Vale, and the Sagas of Irth embodies my love of the genre. There will be some changes to the series in the next year or two (?) -- including new covers, and a new Book 1, which incorporates some elements I think were missing in the first one.
I thought this series would find its audience, but it clunked pretty forcefully, relative to the rest of my largely-disregarded work. I don't really know why/how that happened, but I console myself that even Tolkien's LOTR languished for about two decades before the hippies discovered it and the appreciation grew. And it took an HBO series after around 17 years for the seemingly monolithic Martin franchise to be societally appreciated on any level.
That's what I tell myself. I think Sagas of Irth is a fun series, and Books 1-6 offer something for fans of the genre. However, this stillborn series haunts me more than a little. I stopped working on these books when I just couldn't garner any interest in them. I bitterly call Sagas the best least-read indie Fantasy/Sword & Sorcery series out there.
With the WIP Super-Series squarely in my sights right now, it's an open question if I ever go back to Sagas. I have about three more novels to write in the series (with the potential of prequels and sequels, if there was only interest there).
I'm guardedly hopeful that new covers and marketing might kindle (hah, pun intended) interest in the series, but who knows, anymore?
As it stands, these six books still do credit to the genres they represent.
Rather than linking to the books individually, I'll just link to the series as it currently stands:
SAGAS OF IRTH (6 books so far)
I love the main characters in the series -- Farys, the wandering knight, Sibyl, the mysterious sorceress, Fiss'Q, the cosmopolitan Shadowlander. They're dear to me, and I don't want them to wither into literary oblivion.
However, until there's audience and interest in them, they'll likely remain in limbo. The amount of worldbuilding energy I put into them requires that sort of balance.
The pen name for my own series is Dane Vale, and the Sagas of Irth embodies my love of the genre. There will be some changes to the series in the next year or two (?) -- including new covers, and a new Book 1, which incorporates some elements I think were missing in the first one.
I thought this series would find its audience, but it clunked pretty forcefully, relative to the rest of my largely-disregarded work. I don't really know why/how that happened, but I console myself that even Tolkien's LOTR languished for about two decades before the hippies discovered it and the appreciation grew. And it took an HBO series after around 17 years for the seemingly monolithic Martin franchise to be societally appreciated on any level.
That's what I tell myself. I think Sagas of Irth is a fun series, and Books 1-6 offer something for fans of the genre. However, this stillborn series haunts me more than a little. I stopped working on these books when I just couldn't garner any interest in them. I bitterly call Sagas the best least-read indie Fantasy/Sword & Sorcery series out there.
With the WIP Super-Series squarely in my sights right now, it's an open question if I ever go back to Sagas. I have about three more novels to write in the series (with the potential of prequels and sequels, if there was only interest there).
I'm guardedly hopeful that new covers and marketing might kindle (hah, pun intended) interest in the series, but who knows, anymore?
As it stands, these six books still do credit to the genres they represent.
Rather than linking to the books individually, I'll just link to the series as it currently stands:
SAGAS OF IRTH (6 books so far)
I love the main characters in the series -- Farys, the wandering knight, Sibyl, the mysterious sorceress, Fiss'Q, the cosmopolitan Shadowlander. They're dear to me, and I don't want them to wither into literary oblivion.
However, until there's audience and interest in them, they'll likely remain in limbo. The amount of worldbuilding energy I put into them requires that sort of balance.
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