Novelette Release – In Past’s Shadow

This was actually a short time in coming. In Past’s Shadow started out as an attempt at a fantasy adventure short story in the vein of Robert E. Howard and his undeniably awesome Conan tales. Having mostly written dark fantasy up to this point, the story was a slight departure for me, though not much of one. I found that the main characters, Marek the shade-walker and Tolaz the young, self-doubting evocator, fit the fantasy adventure mold remarkably well. It was easy to write, which I’ve discovered is usually a good thing, and the story soon edged into novelette territory without too much effort. There was a story waiting there the whole time, and a new world too. I was only too happy to give it life.

In Past’s Shadow was released in July 2015 on Amazon as an ebook, marking my first foray into self-publishing territory. I plan to write a few more installments in the series, continuing in the easily digestible novelette/pulp-fiction style that distinguishes it from other stories I’ve written so far. I think those characters have a lot more in them just begging to be unleashed onto the world.

If you’re interested in the story, here’s the description and a link:

Desperate to save their clan from an army of dark sorcerers, Marek and the young evocator Tolaz scale a mountain to unlock an artifact buried at its peak. What lies beneath the stone may lead to their peoples’ salvation, but it may also spell their doom. With death below, and uncertainty above, Marek and Tolaz’s problems are just beginning – the greatest shade-walker in all the clans is hunting them down, and he means to keep the arcane power locked away… any way he can.

This is a novelette-length story of desperation, betrayal, and triumph. It is a tale of the shade-walker Marek, and how he gained the name ‘Oathbreaker.’

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0126GHYNG

On Writing

I’ve been writing on and off for about 13 years now. It sounds like a lot, but some of the breaks between writing periods were years in length. My very first novel was an attempt at epic fantasy that I started in university and was set in a land of perpetual winters and broken states. There were some decent characters, and the core concept had some merit, I think. But the whole thing spiraled out of control faster than I could keep up with.

There were magic-users from four opposing disciplines, but most of them had been wiped out in a cataclysmic war some 300-hundred years previous. There was a civil war, a resurgence in forbidden magic, a danger-filled journey from one state to the other — and then back again, and then back the other way one more time — religious oppression, and even a subtle lesbian romance plotline.

It was too much for a first novel, by far, and the thing ended up being a beastly 180,000 words with little to no conclusion and a dozen different character’s subplots still awaiting resolution. I remember I even e-mailed Elizabeth Moon about horses and some of the difficulties they might encounter during winter. (If you’ve never read a book by Elizabeth Moon, horses figure prominently in her writing, and she’s an accomplished rider herself). Her response was alarmingly perceptive. She proceeded to tell me that the whole story sounded like something that had gotten out of control, then recommended some good equestrian resources and writing that I could consult. Boy, had she hit the nail on the head. Despite that, I naively resolved to make it a trilogy, in the tradition of all great fantasy and sci-fi series, and even sent it to a publisher for consideration, which was promptly, and rightly rejected.

I never did finish that trilogy because somewhere along the line life got in the way. Since then I’ve taught English in Japan, worked for the Department of National Defence in Canada, got married and relocated to Thailand. I also wrote two more fantasy novels, a novelette, and a few short stories. My publishing adventure has just begun, to be honest, and I’m constantly amazed at how much dedication the craft of writing takes. Writing is hard, and at times depressing, but those of us who write, whether for fun or profit, do so because we love it. Something strange goes on inside a writer’s head, I’m sure. Maybe it would make a good psychological/neurological study. Actually one’s probably already been done.

To all of my fellow writers and readers out there, I salute you. It’s a tough path to tread. I know I’ll keep on writing until I get right, though. There are way too many stories trying to fight their way out of my head for me to stop.