Meant to do this for the last book, but it appears I write entire novels more frequently than I do blog posts.

Anyway, the big news first: edits are in for Clash of Faiths (Paladins, book two). Should receive the final cover from Terry tonight if not tomorrow. What’s that mean? Next book should hit Amazon / B&N by Tuesday (standard week or two delay on iBookstore…sorry guys 🙁 ). Hope you’re all as excited as I am!

Okay, now about the paladins. When I first started this little series, the idea was to crank out a lot of shorter novels, more frequently, and at slightly lower prices. I also planned on jumping around time wise, sort of filling in the gaps in the history of Dezrel that I’ve alluded to, mainly involving the Citadel, Jerico, and Lathaar. But of course, things rarely go as I intended.

I originally planned on hopping backward in time after the first two, so I could delve into Lathaar’s history, in particular the Fall of the Citadel (which is alluded to in several places, described briefly in Cost of Betrayal, and once again referred to in Night of Wolves). More and more, though, that looks less likely to happen. Stupid Jerico keeps getting in trouble, and I’m rather fond of this Darius guy, too. I may end up writing Fall of the Citadel next year, as either a standalone, or perhaps a Paladins #0. It’ll depend on how the third book ends.

Last, some news I’m sure many of you care about possibly even more than the paladins: I’m about a fifty of the way through the rough draft of Dance of Shadows. For those dying to know some sort of date, expect it to hit around Nov 1st. That’ll obviously be my next release. After that, I’m thinking one more Paladin novel before I turn my gaze back to my beloved Half-Orcs.

Well, that’s that. Thanks for your time, and enjoy Clash of Faiths!

David Dalglish

Just a quick note to anyone who might stumble over here: I’m heading off on vacation, and won’t be back until the 20th. My internet activity will be…well, it’ll most likely be nonexistent. So any emails and messages you send me, I promise I’ll still get to them, just when I get back.

Other than that, off to see the Alamo!

So, I often have people talk about how “dark” Weight of Blood is. There’s killing of children, morally ambiguous main characters, necromancy, etc. So I’ve decide this is a problem given how it is the first book of my five book series. With that in mind, I’ve done some tweaks, and changed the cover to something far more…friendly. My marketing executives tell me this should drastically increase my potential buying audience.

Presenting…The Weight of Bieber!

I feel good about this decision. I really do. Happy April 1st, everybody!

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First and foremost, I’ll say I have not seen the movie. Only thing I knew going in was that the movie is a classic, and HAL turns evil. Needless to say, I had some surprises waiting for me.

What I enjoy about good science fiction is how the author can make the most fantastical events seem not only possible, but downright plausible. Compared to say, Star Wars, space travel in 2001 is difficult, slow, and impossible when looking at moving beyond the reach of our own sun. This all is shaken when an alien artifact is found on the moon, and is indisputably declared 3 million years old.

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So for all five of you who’ve visited my website, I released a copy of my map showing the east of Dezrel. Now, I made it clear this was just my personal version, to help me keep track of places and whatnot. That, and I am not an artist. Not even close. Well, evidently I made someone cry.

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I get a lot of requests. Some involve books for a specific character, which I can answer easily enough. Some would like certain plot points clarified, or inconsistencies explained (common answer: I messed up). An index of characters for Dance of Cloaks is a pretty common one. And some just want me to know when the next book will come out. But out of all of them, nothing, and I mean nothing, tops the request for a map. Continue reading →

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I know people who say they like to read books because it takes them places. When you think of, say, Lord of the Rings, there’s many awesome battles, but people also remember the sights themselves, from the quaint peaceful realms of Hobbiton, to the great city of Minas Tirith, to Sauron’s tower rising out from a blackened land. Of course, it takes a lot of time to travel between them (and plenty of people are fond of complaining about it, too).

In Amber, characters travel between these majestic locations like you and I might walk from one street block to the next. Zelazny is willing to show you -anything- he can dream up, and his imagination alone is worthy of deeming this collection a classic.

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I figure here is as good as any to discuss a few things about Dance of Cloaks, some of its history, and why I’ve made a slight change.

When I first started Dance of Cloaks, I wanted it to be a standalone novel. I’d been working on the Half-Orcs, which was stretching out to five books, and involved a great deal of investment on the reader’s part to even start (because many will finish a series they start no matter how terrible). That, and I’d just read a ton of G. R. R. Martin and Brent Weeks, and I wanted to see if I could create a sort of amalgamation between the two: a dark, gritty, believable world of low magic and only humans. Now at the time, I was working as a para-professional with Spec-Ed students, and I’d been an emergency hire. Basically, I was working with a strong eighteen year old kid with the mental capacities of a two year old. We were separate from the rest of the students, and the day was full of tedium. During the times my student watched Andy Griffith, or took two hour long naps (no joke), I wrote Dance. By god, if anything added a bit of darkness to the story, it was that! Continue reading →