One of the great challenges writers face is letting go. When you create a new character, you try to make it unique. Colorful. Realistic. And as different from yourself as possible. Otherwise, it just becomes a self-therapy for your alter ego, and your characters all look and behave a very bland and boring same. The farther you go, the more freedom you have. Then, you face a moral question. What is the one thing you will never ever let your hero do?
Recently, I started reading a 19th Century novel, The Black Coats: The Parisian Jungle by Paul Feval, and translated by Brian Stableford. Predictably, the book offers a very olden writing style. Omnipotent, with numerous interruptions from the author slash narrator, and frequent point of view jumps between characters. This makes for a somewhat hectic read. But.
Admit it, some books are better than others. And not just because a certain author makes a better work with words than his or her fellow companions. Sometimes, it comes down to a purely emotional reaction to the setting. The Hobbit Shire, the Shannara world, Locke Lamora and his band of thieves. So if you had to choose, what is your ideal type of fantasy, as a reader and as a writer?
That’s not actually the title of the book. But that’s definitely the theme of the book. My new book. I wouldn’t call it historical fiction, especially not when you toss in dragons into the bowl and mix it all up. The Book of Revelations, Armageddon, dragons, the end of the world. That’s the basic storyline. How about a sample chapter?
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the title of the brand new book that I intend to publish in the coming months. It is totally unrelated to The Lost Words quadrilogy. Moreover, I am inventing a whole new genre. Fundark. Or grimfun. Yep. Now, as to our protagonist. Imagine the perfect hero: handsome, tall, courageous, loves his father. Meet Prince Dietrich, the exact opposite.
Warning, warning, warning. Spoilers! Like with the first two books, you get two sample chapters of the third and penultimate installment in The Lost Words series, The Forgotten. The book picks up the action right where The Broken ended, so if you have not read that one, please, stop right now, or you might spoil it for yourself. And most importantly, keep the children away. The first chapter, in particular, is very brutal. Now, commence.
Dear fellas, I am most pleased to announce The Forgotten, the third and penultimate volume in The Lost Words epic, and some would say grimdark, fantasy series has been released. The paperback version is available on Amazon, with the Kindle edition coming shortly.
Hello, everyone. I am pleased to announce yet another literary work featuring a bunch of words written by your significant other, me. It is an anthology commemorating the 100th anniversary of WWI with alternate history stories from the trenches, and it is aptly named Wars to End All Wars – Alternate Tales from the Trenches. Real-life events, only not quite. Now, surprise surprise, one of the contributing authors to this piece is Elizabeth Moon!
Now that I’m done with my anti-hero Rennaissance fantasy novel and my first-person zombie novella, I decided to try yet another new angle at writing. So my curiosity took me to 8th Century BC, the Biblical times. As a man with a very particular taste for religion, or rather lack thereof, writing from a biblical point of view is a most refreshing challenge for me.
I am pleased to showcase the cover art for the upcoming third book in The Lost Words series. This time around, I have commissioned the awesome Anton Kokarev of kanartist.ru, to create the cover for me. As always, it’s a divine motif from the book. Now, I will also be redesigning the art work for the first and the second book in the series, and I will call upon Anton’s talent for those, as well.
