All right, I promised to do one of these for each book, and so here I am (albeit a weee bit late). I’m going to say right now that this is written specifically for those who have already purchased and/or read the previous self-published editions of my books, and are only wanting to know what has changed. I don’t want anyone going in blind, or thinking they might miss out on any plot changes that will have ramifications on Shadowdance books 5 and 6. So, let’s dive into this. I’m going solely on memory here, so it is possible I’ve missed a few things, though I hope not.
The biggest noticeable difference any reader should see with DoC is an overall tightening up of the writing. Not to say I sucked as a writer when I first did DoC, but I’d like to pretend I’ve gotten better as I’ve gone along, and a few poor phrases or confusing wordings should now be excised. A combination of my own editing run-through plus everyone at Orbit should result in a much cleaner flow, and I don’t just mean in the individual sentences.
The timeline itself was reworked, because I had a lot of chapters taking place all over the place in terms of time. I think the worst was when I had three chapters in a row, with the chapter between taking place a good five days *later* than the ones it was sandwiched between. Needless to say, all of this has been nice and clarified. I’ve reordered many chapters, with the goal of keeping the timeline sane, as well as just ensuring there’s no overly lengthy gaps between the appearance of characters. That, and I tried to emphasize Aaron’s importance in the beginning, as well as making it easier to just get into the story (example: you don’t meet Alyssa until chapter 3, when she was originally chapter 1. Instead you get the two chapters of Aaron running for his life from the assassins that ambushed him at Robert Haern’s home).
Now, what’s new, you may wonder. Well, there’s a lot of tiny bits here and there, nothing dramatic. Thren and the Worm actually speak for a moment at the end of one chapter, revealing how he knows where the Worm has Veliana trapped. I’ve added more parts of Aaron alone, helping get a tiny bit more into his mindset. The biggest was a brand new chapter involving Zusa and Alyssa. Alyssa attempts to run away from the camp, with Zusa chasing her down and insisting that instead of running she turn and face her captors. This sets up their relationship in later books, as well as their killing of the Kulls near the end of DoC.
Speaking of Alyssa, her relationship with the douchebag, Yoren Kull, has been reworked. The rape scene is gone, and he is far less aggressive to her. I want to keep it realistic that he could believe she’d still be is loyal little wife and play along, and this should help.
Zusa and Eliora have actually swapped places in a view spots. While originally it was Eliora who rescued Zusa from the Worm and then took her to the temple, now it is Zusa doing so. The reason should also be obvious: I want to set up how Zusa knows Veliana in book two. Truth be told, when I wrote book two, I just completely forgot that it was Eliora, not Zusa, who’d done the rescuing. Now I get the chance to rework things so faulty memory = reality.
I’ve added more scenes with Thren and Haern, most only a page or two long, but designed to help clarify their relationship, as well as how Thren views the rest of the guilds (he gives a bit about how they’re all to be conquered once the war is over to Haern on their way to kill Delius Eschaton, for example).
Other tidbits people should like. Kayla no longer dies so easily, but instead makes an attempt to kill Thren when she’s been found out. Yes, she still dies, but at least she goes down fighting, something I know a lot of people were unhappy about before.
The house the Spider Guild is using now contains references and items directly linked to the Kane family from Shadowdance #4.
Well, that’s about all I can think of. It’s definitely not just a grab and republish, in case you were worried about it. If you were hoping for massive new additions, I must apologize and say they are not there. If you wanted a fine-tuning, and some extra scenes to flesh out a few characters and improve the flow, then that you will indeed get. If you wish to buy the book again, it’s up to you, but know that in terms of actual plot, and being lost come SD 5 and 6, know you should be just fine having read just the self-published edition.
David
