Athanarel

Query to readers

sartorias — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 19:35:15 GMT

Okay, so I have three completed books and DAW still hasn't given me a pub date, so though I have drafts of everything else, I stopped working on those as a new one gripped me, set in the Time of Daughters, that gets a brief mention in Banner of the Damned and later stories.

I'm going to publish it myself.

It looks like it's dividing in such a way that I could actually publish it in one massive book or novellas (sixty thousand words). If I do the novella thing, they will come out close together.

Assuming you'd have any interest, which format would you prefer?

Sasharia En Garde

shayera17 — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 19:43:27 GMT

This past weekend, I finally got my hands (er, virtual hands?) on a copy of the Sasharia En Garde e-book (formerly Once a Princess and Twice a Prince), and my to-do list went out the window in favor of this delightful read. My cheeks hurt from all the smiling and laughing this book induced. Wonderfully rendered characters with complex motivations, tricksy politics and moving family struggles, the threat of Norsunder brimming underneath the surface (resulting in some fun cameos), and so much swashbuckling I walked away despondent that piracy isn't a valid career option. Those battles were a great blend of suspense and fun, and I enjoyed seeing how the tactics and wardrobe of "historical" pirates like Fox, Inda, and the Brotherhood have percolated into Zathdar's own codes of conduct (and fashion choices). I'm continually impressed that no skirmish is the same!

I was curious, Sherwood, what resources or traditions did you draw from as you developed your pirate plots (here, and in the Inda quartet)? All I know about pirate fare is what I absorbed from the 1930s Errol Flynn adaptation of Captain Blood and the (first) Johnny Depp Pirates of the Caribbean film (which clearly drew from the earlier film!). Where would you direct someone interested in learning more about the history of privateering and pirates?

Thanks for such a rollicking adventure! Hope we'll see more of these characters in future stories. :)

Update

sartorias — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 11:59:31 GMT

So I am on the east coast, finishing up the workshop Viable Paradise. As always, it has been a great week — and a great visit.

I was in New York about 10 days ago, and according to my editorial assistant (who I think will probably become my editor, at least I hope so) the three books will come out in 2018. Of course I am not going to let myself believe that until I see cover art, and a firmer date because I've been through this twice before. But still, I had a great talk with her, and what's more, she really liked A Sword Named Truth.

In the meantime, once in a while when I get the courage, I take a quick peek at the discussion of Inda going on at reddit/fantasy. I am learning a lot about what those readers respond to and what they don't.

My reading has backed up because I became addicted to an intensely wonderful Chinese series called Nirvana in Fire. My connectivity has been awful, and reaching the show means either dealing with YouTube, which not only has many annoying ads, but a bunch of the episodes have the subtitles completely off track, or Viki.com which has the most annoying commercials ever. (Or maybe I'm just not used to commercials as I seldom watch commercial TV, but rely on Netflix.)

I am going to make a post about Nirvana in Fire, but what I want to say now is that it is about loyalty, secret identities, complex politics, unrequited love, and fun characters as well. not to mention ninja powers. the actors are jaw-dropping the beautiful, and all my goodness the clothes! The setting!

Thai Crown Duel Book Cover

janiemc1 — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 03:25:37 GMT

Sherwood, I didn't know you had Crown Duel published in Thai? I was ready to submit a review on Goodreads when I noticed CD had an alternate book cover for a Thai translation. I find book covers fascinating from both an artistic and marketing perspective. So I searched on Google and found larger images of the Thai books:

And OMGoodness! Look at the Court Duel cover! So many lovely details. Meliara is so cute and petite and she's holding a fan, with the castle and colorwoods backdrop. What gets me is if you wander your eyes to the right, there lurking in the shadows is a mysterious stranger with a folded letter in his hand! Whoever drew the cover certainly read the book and was probably a huge fan!

Do you have CD published in other languages, Spanish for instance? It would open up a brand new opportunity to reach other audiences with this captivating book.

Crown Duel and Vidanric Outtakes

janiemc1 — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 03:08:03 GMT

Hi there! I just finished the ebook edition of Crown Duel and I loved it. It has all the elements of a great fantasy book - action, adventure, world-building, intrigue, and oh yeah, that little romance - which was oh so satisfying! Sherwood, thank you for writing this story and bringing a little piece of joy into my life! This is a book that will go on my shelf and be one of those comfort reads for years to come. I especially enjoyed the Vidanric POVs. What a treat! It's not often we get the heroe's perspective straight from the author (and instead have to resort to listless fanfiction). Those extras really humanized him and made me love his character even more. I had a few questions.

1. What made you decide to write these extras!

2. How did you choose which scenes to write?

3. Will you be writing more scenes from Vidanric's POV in the future?

Effects of a hyper-sterile environment

19_99 — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 18:09:50 GMT

So the other night I couldn't sleep and I started thinking about the waste-spell and its variants in s-d because you know, what else would I be thinking about. I haven't been around the LJ parts for a while, but now I have some questions so I hope this is okay.

Indelicate questions under the cut:

Are there medical repercussions???

Diagnostics:

1. Sometimes as unpleasant as it seems with our OWN cultural taboo on body functions and such, symptoms of a variety of illnesses manifest in the character and contents of waste. For example, if someone's vomiting we know something's wrong, but if they're vomiting blood we know something is REALLY wrong or at least a different kind of wrong, but with the waste spell that kind of distinction would get lost in the throat. Other kinds of health issues also have symptoms that are related to waste, even hydration is a little easier to keep track of if one bothers to check the color of their urine. Does the trade of the hyper sanitized environment and cultural taboo of s-d end up with people being undiagnosed more or for longer?

1a. Same applies to animals, actually. Even though I know they cannot use the waste spell and the task falls to "wanders", it seems the cultural taboo would prevent animal-owners from paying much attention to the waste their wanding, which given that animals don't always signal something is wrong, their waste is one of the main diagnostic tools we have. My roommate's cat once ended up with a bladder stone and the ONLY symptom he was in any discomfort was his bloody urine, but it was a pretty darn important thing that needed to be treated.

Periods:

I'm actually just curious how the modified waste spell for this works. Though depending on if it's like a one time don't worry about it after thing or based on time/quantity, that could also effect diagnostic questions regarding causes of anemia.

tl;dr: While the waste spells certainly provide convenience and protection against disease, I wonder if it has an impact on frequency and speed of diagnosing non-communicable health issues in both humans and animals (and the other races??)

((Also, I'm a little behind on s-d reading. Tragically right now the more I want to read a book, the more I put it off?))

glory / damnation

shadowsinfire — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 01:15:09 GMT

glory / damnation
an INDA fst
(listen) (keep) (share)
a mix for Iasca Leror that was, and Marloven Hess that is; for nine hundred years of children raised for war.

The alternative title for this mix would have been born to ride under the banner of the damned, from Senrid: "The old king said we Marlovens were born to ride under the Banner of the Damned."
It is a mix for the troubled link between glory and damnation, framed by the three Marloven kings

Intro
Bloody Shirt (remix) - Imagine Dragons
blood in your hair though
blood on your shirt

The first thing you have to know about Marlovan history is this: someone is gonna get hurt. That's a truism of any power game, but it goes double in a country where war is a national pastime and an expectation; where military victories bring honour and glory, and martial skill is prized above all else. Power is dangerous, and people do nasty, bloody things for it in the dark. So the first Montredavan-An king is murdered in his bed, his throne usurped, his descendants imprisoned within their ancestral lands. So his ancestral banner is given over to the academy where children are trained for war. So Dogpiss Noth dies, and Inda is exiled, for the schemes of the Sierandael. So Ivandred is betrayed for the ambitions of his friends and the schemes of his enemies. So Senrid's father is killed, and his uncle comes close to destroying them all.

I: Evred

Three songs for Evred and a Marlovan golden age. Evred ruled over the Halian subcontinent, the largest Marlovan Empire in history; who defeated the Venn Empire’s invasion; who inherited a land torn by internal and external strife, economically impoverished, without the aid of magical amenities; who not only inherited this land at the age of eighteen but held it, in increasing peace and prosperity, for nearly fifty years; who was the first and only Marlovan King in history to voluntarily step down, handing rule of his vast empire peacefully and successfully to his son. Who spent his whole life torn between duty and compromise, trust and broken promises.

Warriors - Imagine Dragons
as a child you would wait and watch from far away
but you always knew that you'd be the one to work while they all play

Kings and Queens - 30 Seconds to Mars
we were the kings and queens of promise

we were the victims of ourselves

Battle Born - The Killers
no, you can't stop now

Interlude
The Golden Age - Woodkid
I could not believe the light would ever go
but the golden age is over

Evred ruled over the greatest Marlovan Empire in history; and after the wars of conquest and the Venn invasion, he ruled in peace and prosperity. That didn't last that long after he stepped down. Over the next centuries, the former Marlovan empire disingrates into squabbling pieces and internecine warfare; it's always been rare for Marlovan rulers to die peacefully of old age.

II: Ivandred

Four songs for the damned. Ivandred had to contend not only with his father's pride and fear, but with the legend of Inda, against whom he was often compared: a merciless measure of success. Fathers and sons, the Academy the harshest and cruelest it's ever been. PTSD is a viable training technique, right? Between the academy, the old king's ambitions, Emras's magic, the Herskalt's manipulations and Ivandred's conquests, is it any wonder things started to go so wrong? At last, betrayed and outmaneuvered, Ivandred makes his last ride out of Darchelde and into Norsunder.

Everything in its Own Time - Indigo Girls
around the table the white haired men have gathered
spilling their sons' blood like table wine

Ghost Under Rocks - Ra Ra Riot
you have spent them
you have gone and dreamt them dry

Glory and Gore - Lorde
victory's contagious

Ready Aim Fire - Imagine Dragons
we never quite thought we could lose it all
and empires fall in just one day
you close your eyes and the glory fades

Interlude
Centuries - Fall Out Boy
as long as there's a light my shadow's over you

History, and memory, and legend. Inda became a legend, larger than life and almost unbelievable; more myth than man. Evred vanished into the mists of time. Hadand was remembered as the last great Marlovan queen. But Ivandred's ride into Norsunder leaves a pall over Marloven history. He becomes a bogeyman to frighten children; his story told once to children and his name never mentioned again.

III: Senrid

Four songs for Senrid, and hope for the future. Senrid wasn't brought up to have much truck with morals, or with compassion, or with the rule of law. But he chooses them anyway. Chooses to be good and compassionate and just, and keeps choosing that at every turn. And he's slowly, slowly remaking Marloven Hess in his own image. Turning it into a place where the rule of law prevails over the rule of privilege. More than that, turning it into a place where war and fighting are not the be-all and end-all of life. It's not going to be easy, and it's not going to be quick, and there's a war to fight with Norsunder first. But I can't help hoping he's gonna succeed.

Front Line - Pillar

drive on and don't look back
it doesn't mean we can't learn from our past

When They Come For Me - Linkin Park
y'all oughta stop talking start trying to catch up

Wars Will Always Happen - Punchline
hold your breath
and don't forget
that wars will always happen
and we will always fight them

Battle Cry - Angel Haze ft. Sia
I got lives in my hands and I'm fighting to make 'em change

Miss Eleanor Tilney

sartorias — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 02:22:51 GMT

I don't know if anyone reading here likes my Jane Austen novellas, but in case, there is a new one: Miss Eleanor Tilney--I take a character from Northanger Abbey who was little more than a plot device, give her a story, Henry some fleshing out, and look at Catherine through both of their eyes.

The Inda read begins!

sartorias — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 18:25:52 GMT

They started over at Reddit.

made me think of Marloven Hess

asakiyume — Sun, 08 May 2016 14:55:10 GMT

This photo of a Turkmen equestrian made me think of Marloven Hess, so I thought I'd share. You can click through to get to the poster's Flickr account.

Interview and Status

sartorias — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 13:29:46 GMT

Midway through Darkside--hit the place where the action begins to get heavy.

Did an interview

Various

sartorias — Sat, 09 Apr 2016 14:02:54 GMT

So I'm pushing on with Darkside of the Sun, and making notes for the massive rewrite of Liere's first romance.

And over at Book View Cafe, where I have to come up with blog topics every two weeks (I've already done over two hundred of them, so it's begun to feel a bit like scraping the inside of my head) I typed up the notes from last year's presentation at Sirens on fan language. Unfortunately,this is just the notes, I can't replicate the truly fun part--the skits people put together.

Dark Side of the Sun

sartorias — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 13:56:01 GMT

Ripped ten thousand words out of the ms, and it felt so good. That enabled me to put the messy middle into some kind of order so I can tackle it (the first third and last third staying in place, but getting expanded)

This is the last of the ones I have to dovetail in stuff I wrote as a teen--it's the last one before the teens start to grow up.

Weird feeling, coming at the story from this end.

The Spy and The Trouble With Kings BVC versions

areth_lovejoy — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 05:54:50 GMT

It was mentioned on Goodreads that a lot was cut from The Spy for marketing reasons (such as connections to other stories) and I was wondering if the Book View Cafe version has some of that back in it?

And are there any changes to The Trouble With Kings in the Book View Cafe edition?

Crown Duel "Wren's World" edition differences

shayera17 — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 20:45:51 GMT

Hello, I've been a lurker on these boards for years, but I'm finally coming out of the woodwork!

After talking up Crown Duel to my sister for oh, the last dozen years or so, she finally got her hands on a copy...of the 1997 Wren's World versions of Crown Duel and Court Duel (they are, admittedly, beautiful covers and in hardback!). I was thrilled to hear that she adored them, especially coming to the world "late" as a twenty-something as opposed to the early teenager that I was when I first fell in love with it, and with a lot of hype attached. That said, I recalled at least one crucial difference between the first version and what's now the canonized version, and I wondered if there were others worth noting. I expect that place names might have been changed, and other "trappings" tailored to fit Wren's World rather than S-D, but were there major ones beyond

The rainy day scene where Flauvic and Meliara have that spark of attraction in his residence, and Meliara chooses not to pursue it?

I know this is mentioned in Beauty, and therefore important for reasons of continuity, but it has importance (I certainly think) in the immediate context as well.

I'm more than willing to "suffer" for a cause and make a catalog myself (darn, reading in addition to my annual romp though Crown Duel? Twist my arm!), but since I don't have access to my sister's copies at the moment, I was hoping the community could fill me in for now!

Vidanric extras

dreaming_mage — Sat, 12 Dec 2015 11:33:53 GMT

I was thinking of reading Crown Duel again. I haven't read the ebook edition yet. It has those extra Vidanric point of view chapters. How do I read them? Can you tell me with which chapters the Vidanric ones coincide with so I can read it while in the story instead of reading them as extras at the end of the book.

ESCAPE --- Chapter ?
CANDLESTICK --- Chapter ?
THE EVIDENCE --- Chapter ?
THE WAGER --- Chapter ?
RUSSAV AND THE RING --- Chapter ?
THE WAGER IS WON—AND SO IS THE DUEL --- Chapter ?

Worldbuilders offer:

sartorias — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 18:30:45 GMT

This year's offer is to personalize one of my books any way you like. More details over at Pat Rothfuss's blog.

This can also mean writing a missing chapter or scene from any book, on a prompt.

Thoughts on Rereading Once a Princess

kith_koby — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 07:02:48 GMT

So, last Saturday I had some free time and sat down with Once a Princess to reread it. Doing so, I suddenly noticed so much more I had not seen before and wanted to share my thoughts. So here they are, in no particular order - as always, I welcome any comments!

Zathdar contiinually wears crimson. I can understand the bright colors, but crimson constantly shows up - I was thrown back to Barend, who always had some crimson accent. It's probably just classic pirate style, as it was done before Barend, but I can't help but imagine that Barend started a fashion trend for pirates to wear a lot more crimson.

It was interesting to note one fo the reasons he claimed he wore crimson was that so nobody would know when he got wounded - which is oddly similar to what Fox did, only he did it with black...

Of course, I didn't get the earring thing at the time, but having read Inda, the idea that even centuries later, people still wear hoops and rubies for defeating pirates... now that's one hell of a symbol and legacy.

Gliss hoping she would get to sleep with Zathdar despite the rules reminded me of a similar instance with Inda, where he discovered sleeping with someone caused problems. I can see why that rule was instituted, and I wonder if Inda himself instituted it, or it just came about naturally.

Was Zathdar using Yi Sun-Shin's tactics? Because the way he caught Captain Bragail was suspiciously alike Yi's Crane Wings formation. Of course, all tactics are the same at the end, but still...

I found it odd that Canardan would warn Randart about making sure all the pirates are dead, so nobody could tell of it. But then I was thrown back to how even Inda at first let the pirates go, and they were a lot more vicious than these pirates - so it makes sense there's still a strong sense of tradition about how you don't kill pirates once they're defeated, even if you're a royal fleet, but let them go. I find that exceedingly odd, but I suppose this world is a lot more civilized in many ways, espeically in regards to violence.

The way Zathdar used his men and fleet also reminded me of Inda, who trained his people, but had them go off without him whenver they wanted/needed, increasing their power and prestige, and making him far stronger than he seemed at times.

The four mysterious ones who showed up... well, I still wonder about them. They were clearly Marlovan, or at least, wanted to give the impression they were Marlovan. That one was similar to Senrid made me suspicious, as well as that one signed MV. I guess it's the influence of seeing so many Inda references, but I can't help but wonder if the familial resemblance to Senrid comes from Fox, and if MV is for Marlo-vayir... Probably not, but given that they're probably similar to Fox in that they go out of the circle sof the world, I can't help but wonder...

That's all for now, I think. I had another long part about certain tropes in Sherwood's books and the importance of trust, but I'll save that for later. Again, any feedback is very welcome!

Once a Princess / Twice a Prince

laransb — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 09:27:20 GMT

Dear Sherwood,

I am excited about the news that you are planning a revised edition of Once a Princess /Twice a Prince (as I read on your homepage). So here are my questions: Where will it be published, at bookviewcafe? Will there be a print version? And especially: Under which title? I suppose OaP/TaP as title(s) only works well with two volumes, so I am wondering.

Thanks!
Laran

Another interview!

sartorias — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 23:49:18 GMT

Here, at Booknista--which is a site run by mainly reviewers who like YA novels.

It's a nifty site!

AMA at Reddit

sartorias — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 22:15:47 GMT

The "Ask Me Anything" at Reddit is tomorrow, starting noon Pacific Time. I realize this is coals to Newcastle, as anyone can ask me a question here anytime, but they said to publicize it, and, well, this is me, publicizing with all my might.

NPS romances

sartorias — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 17:02:06 GMT

This NPR romance list is the sort of thing Crown Duel never gets mentioned on, though it's been in print for twenty years.

I think I've got the most stealth-hidden "popular" book ever written. :-/

New Releases

sartorias — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 13:15:20 GMT

I've been insanely busy--though still waiting for notes on A Stranger to Command.

Here is some new stuff out.

The novel before this one, Lhind the Thief, was written over a period of about thirty years, a good deal of it in hospital waiting rooms. It was my escapist story, a kitchen sink fantasy that I turned to when things were really dire in realityland. I set it aside yet again 1990 when 60 k words was the expected limit but it didn’t feel done. A couple decades later another bad patch happened, out it came and this time I finished it.

Of the readers who liked it, many indicated they expected a sequel. Oh! I can do that . . . I think. At my time of life, forty year projects are not optimal! Early last year I was driving across the desert with rachelmanija, my co-writer on the Change Series, and with her help brainstormed a plot.

When I actually wrote it, that plot turned out to be half of the story, the fluff mixing with other stuff, like identity, power, the problem of pain, the question of family, added to all the chases and magic and castles and side worlds and mythical creatures.

So, in short, I think of this second one as Fluff with Stuff.

This is a Book View Cafe release, and as always I'd prefer interested readers get it there, but if that isn't an option, it's also up on Kindle and Nook.

I've also released some of my Jane Austen sequel stories, with two to come.

The Poignant Sting is only on Kindle right now:

This novella-length homage to Jane Austen's Emma was inspired by a single line in the novel that makes Miss Bates, for one moment, startlingly prescient. Supposing Miss Bates really could hear others' thoughts? A look at three marriages in Highbury with a touch of magic.

Henry and Fanny: An Alternate Ending to Mansfield Park, also on Kindle:

One of the longest-running debates about Jane Austen’s work has been the problematical ending of Mansfield Park. As it says in the foreword, part of the problem is how the narrative stops abruptly in Book Three, Chapter XVII. Here Austen's narrator takes the stage to issue a long summary of what happened, after all those brilliant pages of immersing readers in the minds of the characters and their world.

When I read James Austen-Leigh’s memoir about his famous aunt in which he reported sister Cassandra begging Jane for a different ending, I got the courage to join the host of other authors who love to play in Jane Austen’s world, and take up the story from that point and offer a new ending, solving that problem, plus some others.

The Dancing Monkeys, also on Kindle:

One of three long novella-length stories I've written about Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. This story accepts the ending that Jane Austen wrote, and follows a bitter Henry Crawford wandering the world after his failure at winning Fanny Price. An unexpected encounter with an equally bitter Captain Wentworth, during a sea battle with the French, brings about changes for both gentlemen . . .

Series recommendations?

dreaming_mage — Sat, 23 May 2015 04:28:15 GMT

Can someone recommend me some series to read? More than a trilogy. I love Miles Vorkosigan books. I love a strong focus on characters. One POV is preferred. I dislike action in books so suggest accordingly. Any favourite series? I loved the Wren books too. But there were only 4. I have the Liaden books stalled on 'I dare.' It has too many character perspectives in that book. Female POV is preferred. Thanks. I like books like Georgette Heyer's and Jane Austen's, do you have any such recommendations? Somthing with a strong cast.

Don't recommend any series that has less than 5 books.

Random Crown Duel Spotting!

aemedith — Fri, 22 May 2015 04:15:47 GMT

Crown Duel (the Firebird edition) is in the background of season one, episode 8 of Sex and the City! Has anyone else ever noticed this before?

Sorry for the totally random post!