Derfel Cadarn

Weekly promo thread on Reddit is a waste of time. Posted on it several times, and no one seems to get any engagement at all. That particular reddit page is only really interested in the big names.

Congrats on the release. @The Grey Wolf Strikes Back ! Can't help you with the formatting question, my publisher dealt with that side of it with my three novels. I finished the third draft of The Blood Hour (working title for now), and am now 3/5 through the revision, powering through it! Goes a lot quicker with it on my phone where I'm now only making very small amendments. Just under 140k words long. It's shaped up pretty well, imho. I plan to send it off to my agent next week. A sample blurb: Dreams of wealth and reclaiming his soul bring Garius the sellsword across the sea to the red city of Mask, ruled by priests and merchant princes. The wealth of kingdoms moves through the city, and Garius sees no reason why some of that can’t fall into his own hands. Vengeance, not coin, motivates Tamira, a young but deadly assassin. Even her skills will be tested as she plans a spectacularly audacious kill that if successful will shake a city. Roan the Red, gladiator and slave, seeks only to win his freedom and return to his homeland in the distant north. He too is driven by revenge, and no one will stand in his way. Drawn together by chance or fate, the three of them must brave the intrigues of Mask, from temple, to palace, and finally to the Xarian Arena, where one of them will face the Blood Hour, forging a dark legend that will linger on for millennia. A quest brings magicker Shukara to Mask. She seeks adventurers to accompany her across the vast Kavari Desert to the rainforests of Munin, where a temple lies hidden. Shukara knows that the tomb of feared necromancer, the Bone King, awaits within, and that she must confront this dread power, or the world may fall. Even she cannot imagine the scale of the task that awaits, as past and future entwine. Two thousand years in the future, diplomat and spy Karla Garison and her historian husband are assigned to their embassy in Mask, there to undertake a mission to bring down the shadowy organisation known as the Unbroken Circle. Karla believes the past is the past, but she will learn it can cast a long shadow as her family is ambushed on the streets of Mask by gunmen, forcing old secrets to be revealed.

“Uncomfortably honest” when you claim to have finished a trilogy that in fact isn’t finished, and still isn’t finished 15 years later

Thanks and it’s the one woman (Eleanor Morton) who’s doing both.

CS Lewis describing his new book to Tolkein

According to my publisher, each sequel typically sells 50% fewer copies than the preceding book. This isn’t quite as bad as it sounds, as the release of a new book usually drives interest/sales in the books before.

Nice cover

Didn’t he claim in 2007 that the first draft of the whole series was done and just needed editing?

The difference with Rothfuss is that he claimed the trilogy was finished before book 1 came out, and that books 2-3 just needed some editing. He claimed that unlike other series, his readers would only have a year or so in between books. Turns out that was at best a case of overoptimism.

Doing a free(!) giveaway of x3 paperback copies each of my first two books, Resurrection Men(supernatural gothic) and Thorns of a Black Rose (action/adventure fantasy). This is due to my publisher switching printer so cheaper to do via amazon, especially internationally. PM me if interested, with your address. One book per person. UK/US/Canada only I’ll update with how many copies still available if there’s any interest. Please leave a review if you enjoy

Your fellow readers.

Maybe /spoiler it sonit doesnt require lots of scrilling to get past for those whove read it/dont want to?

Elsewhen Press, the publisher of my x3 novels, have started using Amazon to print their paperbacks rather than their previous printer. Their printer’s US partner went out of business a few years ago which largely curtailed paperback sales in the US, and Brexit has pretty much stopped them from selling paperbacks to the EU. (The publisher and myself are UK-based). So having Amazon doing the printing means new markets are available to paperback sales in non-UK Amazon sites! So for those who don’t use Kindle, here’s a link to my books on Amazon US, the books now available abroad in paperback! https://www.amazon.com/David-Craig/e/B07H416SXW/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1

Thr last few chapters of draft 2 have gone slow, but finally on the last chapter of the Blood Hour! Then time for draft 3. I really need to get some sensitivity readers, if I can.

If EL James had taken that attitude, her bank balance would be short of several xeroes

Despite a dip in seasons 6 and 7 I felt Supernatural bounced back. Thr final season saw . I liked the season 11 finale where God’s sister is on the verge of destroying the world, with God, Crowley, Rowena and Castiel hanging out in a bar listening to ‘Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying’ while waiting for the sun to die.

70 pages left to be edited in 2nd draft of The Blood Hour! Jumped from 122k words to just under 130k words.

Morgoth is essentially Satan

I was 28 when I finally started writing properly. First two attempts were abandoned. I was 31 when I started Resurrection Men, 36 when I started shopping it around, 38 when it was accepted by a small press, 39 when it came out, and just turned 42 when I got taken on by an agent (with my 4th finished novel).

Thanks She was ‘sick’ another two times snd then was fine. No issues past couple nights which is great because wife’s nightshift. Phoned GP re bile, wasnt concerned as no other symptoms; thought maybe a viral bug that ‘kicked in’ at that time, and given she was sick at 0500ish, there was nothing else to bring up.

Finished addinng thr flashforward chapters to my first draft of The Blood Hour - its 121k words at thr moment. Now to start the second draft!

Ugh. So at 0520 she kind of puked. Nothing to bring up though she did try. Happened sgain two more times 15 mins apart (so far, sitting with her). No idea why. Nothing came up apart from yellowy saliva. Was 11 hours after her dinner. It had maybe gone bit cold as she messed around before eating it, but I had some too. edit: Wife’s nightshift next three nights, hope it’s a one-off. Not a great sleeper when just me watching kid at the best of times, never mind when I’ll be listening out all night for puking

Yep. Almost-3 year old daughter is a pain to get to sleep (already told nursery no more naps unless she really needs it). Bit when she’s asleep, she’s asleep. Almost shat myself when takeaway driver rang doorbell, but she didnt stir.

Congrats!