Letter to Callisto

It looks like Callisto has received her first fan mail from online.

I've enjoyed sharing her story with everyone.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QL999X5

Author Interview on Hella Vella

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Azrielle Lawless of Hella Vella this past weekend.

https://youtu.be/4H1bgvqg0RA

Hella Vella has both a Facebook Group and a YouTube channel that highlights Kindle Vella authors and their Vella stories.

Many thanks once more to Azrielle for the opportunity to reach out to Vella readers.

Wolf Before the Storm Appears in the Faerie Review

It was exciting to see A Wolf Before the Storm appear on The Faerie Review this past weekend. To quote from Liliyana's review of the ARC for the novel:

An absolutely gripping story. Getting a peek at Callisto’s life before she appears in the series was interesting and really added depth to her character. . . . The action is vivid, and the story will keep you turning pages wanting to know what happens next. I cannot recommend this enough.

https://www.thefaeriereview.com/2022/03/review-a-wolf-before-the-storm/

Thanks again Liliyana! So glad you enjoyed it.

Cover Reveal That Almost Was: A Stormfall Chronicles Prequel

I thought it might be interesting to share what the cover art might have looked like, had I released A Wolf Before the Storm as a novel rather than as an episodic series on Vella. I also wanted to share what the book blurb would have looked like - as opposed to the shortened version Vella supports.

My thanks again to my daughter, Liron for pulling the cover design together.

In an age of magic, in a realm where werewolves still stalk the land, a lost girl awakens from a nightmare – and claims a legend as her own.

Callisto never saw herself as a hero in anyone’s tale, least of all her own. She never saw herself as a villain either. Just someone making the best of an impossible situation.

An indentured servant to a den-master of thieves, she has had to live by her wits and talents – all the while hiding the secrets of her past. Trained as a pickpocket and lockpick, she proves equally adept with a dagger. Fate, it has seemed, had never thrown her many favors. The few it has thrown she has been determined to make the most from.

Everything changes when a chance burglary hints at a hidden cache of letters – letters left behind by an Arche-Mage centuries ago. Secreted somewhere in the imperial library, the documents promise to fetch a fortune from the right buyer. It could be everything she dreamed of. Enough to pay off her debts. Enough to start a new life. Or it could just as easily land her in the dungeons of an empire vowed to exterminate her kin.

Amidst fleeting glimpses of a life she longs for but can never have, Callisto must maintain her cover long enough to find the treasured documents – before the shadows of her past overtake her.

A Stormfall Chronicles Prequel, “A Wolf Before the Storm” follows the story of Callisto more than a decade before she appears in Book 3 of the series.

The first three episodes of the novel are available now on Kindle Vella for free:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QL999X5/

Stormfall Chronicles Prequel - Released on Vella

It's here! Finally ready for release!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QL999X5/

The first chapters in the Stormfall Chronicles Prequel, A Wolf Before the Storm will be released this week.

The first four episodes will be released at a once-per-day cadence. Other episodes in the story will follow each week on Friday.

My thanks go out again to my daughters who have been my beta-readers throughout this journey.

From the moment I had introduced her in Book 3 of The Stormfall Chronicles, I knew the story behind Callisto was a tale which deserved to be told. A tale of both tragedy, and resilience. I'm glad to finally see it available online.

Sixth Prequel Draft Complete

It's done! Draft six of the Stormfall Chronicles Prequel is finally complete. The text has grown moderately since its last edit, from 63,000 to 66,000 words. The number of chapters has grown from 44 to 45.

It's finally ready, however. Time to begin uploading episodes to Kindle Vella.

Fifth Prequel Draft Complete

With the fifth draft complete, the prequel is nearly ready. The text has grown yet again, from 60,000 to 63,000 words, and the number of chapters has increased from 43 to 44. The sixth draft will be the one which goes to Vella. Have to get the cover design completed too.

I'm looking forward to having my two older daughters, who are also my beta-readers, back home next week. They'll be returning from university for winter break. It will be nice to talk with them in person, and not just over FaceTime, about plans for the prequel's release.

Fourth Prequel Draft Complete

I've had my first reader feedback on the Stormfall Chronicles prequel, mostly centering around the pacing and a couple of the side-characters in the story. My middle daughter's feedback has been invaluable in refining the storyline.

A few of the chapters have undergone some rearranging as a result - particularly closer to the end of the story where a lot of things are happening at once. It has not been the edit cycle I might have originally envisioned for the 4th draft of this novel, but it was the edit cycle which was needed.

The text has grown from 55,000 to 60,000 words, and the number of chapters has grown from 40 to 43.

It's coming along nicely, although another round of edits and beta-readers is still needed to polish the story before release.

Third Prequel Draft Complete

Each successive edit cycle tends to take less time, with fewer additions and changes to the text. Having now completed the 3rd draft of the Stormfall Chronicles prequel, the text has grown from 52,000 to 55,000 words. The number of "chapters" or "episodes" has likewise grown from 39 to 40.

Ordinarily, I would continue to complete multiple edit cycles at this point, and begin to seek beta-reader feedback on the draft novel as part of this process.

In this instance, however, since the story is expected to be released as a serial, on Kindle Vella, I'm planning to begin honing the story on a chapter-by-chapter basis. In other words, Chapters 1 through 4 might each undergo multiple edit cycles and beta-reads, before I even begin additional edits to Chapter 5.

Getting more excited to see how this story shapes up.

Second Prequel Draft Completed

I've completed the 2nd draft of the Stormfall Chronicles prequel I've been working on, with the text growing from 43,000 to 52,000 words.  Along the way, I ended up sub-dividing one of the longer chapters, so the "episode" or "chapter" count has grown to 39. I'd like to see at least one more edit cycle completed before I'm ready to submit the draft to my beta-readers.

This prequel is very different from the books in the series. It's shorter - about half the length of most of the novels in the series. It's also a different tone. This is the story of Callisto, and how she came to be the person we're introduced to in Book 3 of the series. As such, this prequel takes on the air of a tragedy.

First Draft for Prequel Complete

I have finally finished the initial draft to the first prequel for the Stormfall Chronicles. As I had indicated in a previous post, it's my intention to publish this prequel as an episodic series on Kindle's Vella platform.

Before I can do that, of course, there is a lot of editing which needs to be done. At least I have a skeleton to work with now.

The first draft spans 43,000 words, arranged into 38 short episodes or chapters. My plan is to complete the second and possibly third draft, front-to-back for the series - getting the story's flow right - before beginning to edit and release the final draft for each episode on a chapter-by-chapter basis.

I can't deny that I'm excited to see this story take shape.

Changes and Episodic Fiction

This past month has come with a lot of changes. My two oldest daughters, who were also my beta-readers for the prior novels, moved to their respective university campuses. It's been quite an adjustment to not have them around. Tomorrow, my youngest starts her sophomore year in high school.

While we were preparing for the move, and my daughters were beginning their beta-read of Book 4 in the Stormfall Chronicles, I took a little time out to begin a new project. As those who follow the indie author scene might be aware, Amazon has launched a new Kindle service known as Vella. The new platform is aimed at delivering episodic series a chapter at a time rather than as a completed novel. It's a different, and intriguing prospect, which I thought might be a good match for one of the prequel novels I had been contemplating as a spin-off for the Stormfall Chronicles.

Ever since I first introduced the character in Book 3, I was convinced that Callisto was deserving of her own prequel (and likely a sequel) story. Being focused on a single character, it would be very different from the Epic landscape of the first four novels. It also might be well suited to a episodic format such as Vella offers.

I am currently over half way through the first draft of this prequel story, patching it together between preparations and moving my daughters across country. It will be shorter than the novels have been, and would likely be released one week at a time, chapter by chapter - once the initial draft is complete. It has definitely been a different canvas to work from. Hopefully it brings a little insight into the tragic beginnings which made Callisto into the figure she becomes.