It’s been a while since the last blog post, and I’m sure you’re wondering, “What’s going on in Lindsay’s world?” You weren’t? Well, humor me anyway.
First off, Wounded is now available at iTunes which means you can get it just about everywhere (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords), if you’re game to try a modern mystery story. Thank you to everyone who has already grabbed a copy. Some people have asked if there will be more stories with the characters, and I probably will do a couple more at some point. As I’ll point out if I get around to writing my post on genre-hopping (it’s on the to-do list), it’s a lot easier to get something new off the ground if you have a series.
But next up, we have more fantasy.
I’m almost done with the first editing pass of Republic, the monster follow-up to the Forged in Blood novels. You knew the new government couldn’t get off the ground without a few snafus, right? And, even more obvious, Amaranthe and Sicarius couldn’t go on a tropical vacation without getting into trouble.
Last month, I was debating whether to split Republic into two books, but I’ve decided there’s not really a good breaking point, so I’m going to leave it as one. It’s currently sitting at 212,000 words (just over twice the length of the first Emperor’s Edge book). Why so big? We’ve got six point-of-view characters in this one (Amaranthe, Sicarius, Tikaya, Mahliki, Sespian, and Maldynado), and there’s a lot going on. With all of those POV characters, this is a departure from the usual format, but I hope fans of the series will enjoy spending time in these guys’ heads.
I’m not sure on the release date for Republic yet, but it should be early spring. It will take my beta readers a while to plow through this beast, and while they’re working on that, I’m going to be finishing the fourth Flash Gold novella. I started on it last summer, but got distracted by all of my other projects. I’ve been invited to a steampunk convention in Tucson in a couple of weeks, though, so I thought I should write a little more actual steampunk! It would be nice to finish it up and have it ready to go by then, but I don’t know if that will happen, because I have a ski vacation coming up next week (bad author, slacker author, I know!). I’ll try though.
After FG4 and Republic, I’ll be working on the second Rust & Relics book as well as the first novel in Yanko’s series (if you haven’t checked out the prequel novellas yet, they’re available everywhere now too). For those who have already read the novellas, the first one in particular, you’ll get to find out who “Dak” is in Republic.
That’s about it for writing updates. For those who are authors or who are interested in that side of the business, I was interviewed on the Self Publishing Podcast last week. Check it out if you need something to listen to during your commute.
Any thoughts? Questions? Let me know! 🙂
Glad to hear your update–just finished reading “Wounded” which I enjoyed (love your humor!) even though it’s outside my genre. Unlike critics, I like it when authors take a jaunt outside their regular genre. It’s refreshing!
The steampunk convention and ski vaca sound like a lot of fun–you deserve it! I’m constantly inspired by your prolific-ness (if that’s not a real word, it should be) and appreciate all your helpful posts. Have a great time and DON’T break a leg!
Thank you, J.P. I’m glad you enjoyed Wounded!
I have to admit I stopped by a few times and was wondering. Thanks for the update!
Definitely interested in the upcoming genre-hopping post . . . when I first started self-publishing, I’d envisioned myself as a single-genre author (fantasy), but I’ve already found myself genre-hopping. First novel was fantasy, the second novel is a thriller, and I’m already dabbling with the start of a romance novel in addition to book two of the fantasy series. Curious to hear some thoughts from a more experienced genre-hopper!
Hope you have a fun and restful vacation!
Howdy, Lindsay:
Dan Simmons had a similar project—multiple POVs, long story in total—and he just split it around the half-way point, and published them fairly close together (for 20th century traditional publishing standards). ‘Hyperion’ and ‘The Fall of Hyperion’ did very well for him, so the readers seem fine with the decision of splitting the work—and these books won back to back Locus Awards, as well (warning: not everyone’s work will accomplish this result with this tactic; your mileage may vary).
If the titles were similar, then the readers would realize that the books need to be purchased for the full story, especially if the subtitle were something along the line of ‘Part 1 of The Republic Vacation’ and ‘Part 2 of The Republic Vacation’ (sorry, having no other references about the book to give a better set of subtitles). Republic Cantos sounds classy, if you think it fits.
If Forged in Blood I and Forged in Blood II did well, then I say go for it.
Best Wishes,
JMP
Locus Awards? You are tempting me, John! 😀
I did think about it, mostly for marketing and monetary reasons, but I think it’s just going to work better as one book. If it was 250-300k, I would break it in half anyway (as I did with FiB), but it’s not quite that long. Thanks for chiming in, though!
umm, about ‘Dak’…is he someone we’ve met before? I had a theory about who he might be….
Nobody we’ve met yet! But we haven’t met everyone’s relatives yet either. 😉
DAK!!!Just finished reading the S&S tales 1-3…Is there going to be more?
Now I have my theory about who’s relative he might be…
Yes, there will be more stories with Yanko and Dak and crew. 🙂
Yay to seeing Flash Gold coming soon! I can’t wait.
Woo Hoo to more everything, but especially Flash Gold. (FG is how I got hooked on Lindsay-land, so it has a special place in my heart.)
Same here, can’t wait to continue the adventures with Kali and Cedar! 🙂
Early Spring? That’s like, May where I live…please tell me Spring comes in March where You live.
I am definitely going to enjoy the novellas while waiting for Republic. Now I am quite glad I did not read FG last summer while waiting for FiB2!
Hi Lindsay, first time emailer here.. A friend let me borrow her Kindle which had a mysteriously cool ebook called ‘Emperors Edge’ on it. Two weeks later I had devoured all 7 books, read the Novella’s and started reading the series all over again – for good measure. Then the short story of A & S’s vacation was found! Yippee. Now pacing waiting for Republic. Thank you for inspiring me to take up reading again… I love them to bits. Now my daughter has stolen the kindle and is enjoying them too! Enjoy your much deserved rest. Maybe one day you can visit Australia – Western Australia in particular. We have the awesome Supanova Expo’s that we would love you to be a part of! Take care.. Louisa
I’m glad you found and enjoyed the books, Louisa! I would love to visit Western Australia someday. I’ve been to Sydney and Cairns, but didn’t get to see much of the country. 🙂
Obviously I should just have Amazon email me when you release something! I’d managed to miss Wounded and the Yanko novellas. Glad you posted this update. I picked up all four and enjoyed them thoroughly!
Thanks for grabbing them, JM. I’m glad you enjoyed the reads! 🙂