News

Sigh. You’ll note that I’ve pushed the goal posts a bit further out again. I swear it’s like trying to run a marathon where the finish line is marked by the current napping spot of a cat.

76039 / 83000 words. 92% done!

I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s either the completion of the book, or the beginnings of a seizure.

74055 / 80000 words. 93% done!

…I will listen to people who are wiser than I, and I will get it through my thick skull that no good can ever come of me walking into a Barnes & Noble and looking for my newly released novel.

Why?

Because authors tend to the neurotic, and I’m one of those who ruins the curve for the rest of the class. 😳

If they don’t have the book, my assumption is never "They sold out," but rather "They didn’t bother to order it."

If there are lots of the new book, my assumption is "It’s not selling."

If (as was the case today), there are only a couple (and they weren’t even shelved in the new releases, where they should have been), then my assumption is that they didn’t bother to order more than a few of them, because they didn’t expect them to sell.

Notice, of course, that in all three cases, the correct answer could be "Hey, the book’s selling." But that’s never my first assumption. 😛

I just want to point out that if this novel had come in at the word count I’d originally expected, I’d be done now. 😛

71441 / 80000 words. 89% done!

Trudge, trudge, trudge, trudge…

69098 / 80000 words. 86% done!

…and/or The Warlord’s Legacy, and assuming you enjoyed one, the other, or both, I have an odd question for you.

What other books/authors do they remind you of? In other words, if I wanted to read a fantasy novel with a very similar combination of darkness and action and humor, roughly the same degree of gritty without being grim, what titles would you recommend?

(Don’t worry about going back and looking at the books/authors I’ve said inspired me in the past. I’d rather get the full range of people’s opinions, even if it means getting some recommendations I’ve already read.)

I am, in this case, looking specifically for fantasy (of a traditional sort, be it epic or sword-and-sorcery). If you want to also recommend urban/contemporary fantasy, sci-fi, or horror, that’s cool, but please do so in addition to traditional fantasy recs, not in lieu of.