There’s a lot going on today, so I’ll make this quick.
Audio is for closers
First, a big update to my audiobook post. That one may have been my most controversial non-Puppy-related post. Lots of folks are passionate about getting the Soul Cycle in audio, and they’ve suggested ways that I could make it happen on my budget.
Like I’ve said on many occasions, you guys are my bosses. I do whatever I can to meet your needs to the best of my ability. Rest assured that I have been working behind the scenes for a while to bring you Soul Cycle audiobooks.
There was one avenue in particular that I was exploring, but I didn’t want to say anything until I closed the deal. Well, those of you who watched last night’s Darkstream will know by now that Vox Day let the cat out of the bag, so I doubt he’ll object if I share his announcement here.
That’s right. I’ve sold the audio rights for the Soul Cycle to Castalia House!
To anticipate the most likely questions:
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No, I’m not selling the print or eBook rights to CH. My earnings thus far have already beaten the industry standard new author contract, and changing publishers would reset the Soul Cycle’s Amazon rankings and reviews to zero. Vox agrees that’s a bad idea.
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I don’t know when the SC audiobooks will be out. That’s now entirely up to Castalia House. I’ll be sure to update you as new information becomes available.
This is a super exciting deal. I wouldn’t have been able to produce SC audiobooks for years working on my own. Castalia House reduces my up-front costs to zero and pays better royalties than ACX. I win, CH wins, and most importantly, you guys win.
Your next Puppy of the Month
If the news that Soul Cycle audiobooks are finally on the way weren’t reason enough to celebrate, the fine gentlemen at the Puppy of the Month Book Club have a special surprise for you.
My Dragon Award-winning SFF/horror novel Souldancer is April’s Puppy of the Month!
Thanks to Jon, Nathan, and the Frisky Pagan for selecting SD for your next insightful read-through.
If any of you out there reading this haven’t experienced a Puppy of the Month read-along yet, you’re in for a treat. Jon, Nate, and the FP know their stuff. In fact, their in-depth review of Nethereal pointed out obscure references and subtle plot points that nobody else found.
With its more prominent romance element–Red SF style; not Pink SF–and even greater emphasis on action, I think SD will resonate with the PotMBK’s readers even more than its predecessor did. Read along next month to find out!
Vox keeps letting the cat out of the bag :).
Congrats.
Thanks. Hated to keep my readers waiting, but I didn't want to say anything until I knew it was cool with Vox.
Now to just wait until Vox spills the beans on the Not StarTrek/Starwars book you have both hinted at.
He will definitely not spill the beans about the book I'm half-finished writing.
Brian
Congrats on the audio book contracta. I'm sure they'll be a great success.
As for the potential Star wars/star trek book no doubt they'll be well recieved and compared favourably to Timothy Zahn's books on Thrawn
That is high praise. Thank you.
Oh, this is marvelous news, and I look forward to seeing the new vistas opening up.
I rejoice with you and give thanks to God.
Thank you, my friend. Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.
I'm rereading Souldancer in preparation for Puppy of the Month next month, and I am finding it exceedingly helpful to make notes on characters, history, and cosmology. Yes, it sounds like (and is) homework, but I am understanding and appreciating it more. You don't have to do anything like this with J. R. R. Tolkien, but I have also found it helpful with John C. Wright.
Thank you for the insight. I must say that I'm equally baffled and flattered by the comparisons to JCW.
Tolkien's world building was orders of magnitude more layered and refined than mine, and his cast of characters vastly larger. But his books have page after page of explanatory notes and appendices at the end. That seems to me like another good argument for adding a list of dramatis personae to a 2nd edition of Souldancer.
Also, Tolkien's cosmology is fairly basic and not hidden:
God made the world.
Most archangels and angels followed him.
An archangel and his angel followers rebelled and marred the world.
Mortals seem mostly pagan or stoic (or both).
The world is slowly winding down from great feats of wonder and myth towards mundanity.
Now sure there's a lot more to it than that, but these short sentences give a very large portion of the background for the setting. Your setting is far more complex than that, and mostly hidden from the readers, and only slowly being revealed piece by piece.
Wright does similar things due to a fondness for amnesiac characters, and is especially well done in Iron Chamber of Memory: there are twists and turns that are slowly unearthed and things are not necessarily as they seem. Same with your stories.
I won't say that your prose is as exalted as his is, but you both have breathtakingly epic plots and wonderful turns.
Correia and Butcher also have good turns, but I don't need to keep notes on factions and cosmologies with them. Though Grimnoir comes close to needing them.
Also, you and JCW I am pretty sure have a large overlap in your fanbases, so it is useful to have this technique as something that will help in both.
Accurate observations, but not entirely fair in light of the timing. For example, you're clearly drawing on The Silmarillion, which wasn't published until after Tolkien's death. You only get the faintest hints of a larger cosmology in The Hobbit, with more, but still veiled, references in LotR.
Look at it this way: in direct comparison to Tolkien's publishing schedule, I'm only on The Two Towers. My Silmarillion is still a ways off, but it is in the works.
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You're spammed, David M. You didn't get away with lying about me on Amazon. You won't get away with it here.