1.0 out of 5 stars This book sets up a false binary from the start … By PinkGandhi on December 9, 2016 Format: Kindle Edition This book sets up a false binary from the start and then goes to prove its case on these terms. It is for the simple minded.
How fortunate that there are so many simple-minded people who troubled to read it.
I also have some other book-related news. As you know, the 500-page early edition of A SEA OF SKULLS will be out soon, most likely next week. There will be two ways to acquire it:
Buy it for $7.99 at the Castalia store. We will send out the 900-page final edition when it is completed in the late spring, which is when the paperback and hardcover editions will also be released. There will be no print editions of the early edition.
Buy it for $5.99 at Amazon, then update in the spring.
We expect most people to prefer Amazon and we will absolutely be willing to send out updates to everyone who buys from Amazon and send us a copy of a purchase invoice dated December 2016, but we are aware that there are people who are liable to fall through the cracks that way.
Take this with a grain of salt, of course, given that an author finishing a novel is among the least trustworthy of judges, but the initial internal reviews of ASOS have been positive. I was determined to avoid both the sophomore slump and middle-book syndrome, as well as GRRM’s patented perspective-character metastasization, and it would appear that I have been successful in doing so. ASOS is a harsher book than ATOB, but then, that is because it provides a glimpse into some harsher cultures than that of Amorr.
hannah_in_azon December 8, 2016 Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase This book is so filled with wisdom that I am planning to leave my copy in the airport on the way home for Christmas for anybody else who wants it. Consider it my end of year non-tax-deductible donation to a good cause.
I suggest putting a note on it; otherwise I suspect people will simply assume you forgot it. It’s sad, but true, that almost everyone needs SJWAL these days.
And speaking of wokeness, there are other ways to spread it. I am informed we have an Original Galaxian sighting on YouTube.
In Selenoth, the race of Man is on the ascendant. The ancient dragons sleep. The ghastly Witchkings are no more; their evil power destroyed by the courage of Men and the fearsome magic of the Elves. The Dwarves have retreated to the kingdoms of the Underdeep, the trolls hide in their mountains, and even the savage orc tribes have learned to dread the iron discipline of Amorr’s mighty legions. But after four hundred years of mutual suspicion, the rivalry between two of the Houses Martial that rule the Amorran Senate threatens to turn violent, and unrest sparks rebellion throughout the imperial provinces.
In the north, the barbarian reavers who have long plagued the coasts of the White Sea unexpectedly plead for the royal protection of the King of Savondir, as they flee a vicious race of wolf-demons who have invaded their islands. And in the distant east, the war drums echo throughout the mountains as orcs and goblins gather in vast numbers, summoned by their bestial gods.
Epic fantasy at its deepest and most gripping. Military fiction at its most fantastic. A THRONE OF BONES is Book I in the ARTS OF DARK AND LIGHT series. Available in both paperback and case-bound hardcover.
Thanks to Matt, Robert, Markku, and Kirk, who somehow managed to find the time to get this out before next week’s release of the early edition of Book II, and in between all of the other new releases to boot. Although the text is the same, it has had another round of deep proofreading and is a completely revamped print edition. Despite being Royal Octavo and larger than the Marcher Lord hardcover, it clocks in at 922 pages.
Scott Cole of the Castalia House blog interviews Castalia author John C. Wright about his recently completed trilogy, (and first quarter of his MOTH & COBWEB duodecology) The Green Knight’s Squire, which consists of the following three books:
Scott Cole: After reading both books my thought is the series is influenced by The Once and Future King and shares similarities with the Book of Revelations (i.e. descriptions of some of the beasts, especially at the first elf tournament), Shakespeare, Narnian anthropomorphism, and Sergei Lukyanenko’s Night Watch along with a multiple mythological references.
John C Wright: You are a little off, but not too far. Any similarity with Lukyanenko’s NIGHT WATCH is pure coincidence. Shakespeare I certainly steal from, but I don’t recall stealing anything from Narnia, aside from a mood. I am not a fan of T.S. White; I take my Arthuriana from Mallory and the Mabinogion and Tennyson’s IDYLLS OF THE KING. Alan Gardner’s WEIRDSTONE OF BRISINGAMEN is also an inspiration.
Since the book is called SWAN KNIGHT’S SON’S SQUIRE, expect to see the events of THE SWAN KNIGHT’S SON played out. Also, I decided to borrow the bad guys from G.K. Chesterton’s THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY, and to make Gil a member of the Last Crusade.
SC:What was the inspiration for the Moth and Cobweb series?
JCW: Once upon a time I asked my editor, Vox Day, what I could write that would reach a wider audience. He suggested writing something aimed at the juvenile market, and said that talking animals were always popular. He also admired my short story ‘A Parliament of Beast and Birds’ which appeared in the anthology BOOK OF FEASTS AND SEASONS.
The mystery of where writers get their ideas is a perennial one, but the truth is that we have no more ideas than anyone else. The difference is that, unlike muggles, we write our ideas down and use them. Every writer I have ever met keeps a notebook in purse or pocket or in his smartphone where he jots down ideas.
So, I threw the idea of a talking animal into the pot and looked through my notebook of unused ideas to find what else might go into the stew. Usually a writer needs three ideas to get the ball rolling.
I had the germ of an idea that had been in the back of my mind for some years, a juvenile originally set in a mythical place called Uncanny Valley, Nevada, where four seniors in high school, cousins, each had to do an apprenticeship or internship over the summer with one or another of their mad uncles. Instead of the normal jobs, because some of their uncles were from beyond the fields we know, the kids end up being a squire to a knight, the sidekick to a superhero, a sorcerer’s apprentice, or something of the sort.
A second idea came not from my notebook but from my wife’s Harry Potter inspired role playing game. Like all the games we run, we made up our own rules. In her role playing game, she decided that in addition to buying character stats like strength or scholarship, dexterity and intelligence, you could also buy social stats like fortune, friends, fame, and family. So, for example, an orphan with a vast bank account would have a zero in family and high marks in fortune, whereas a poor boy from a large and supportive family would have the opposite.
One innovation in her rule system, which I had not seen used elsewhere, was that each player had a star he could use to mark one stat and only one he had purchased, and this carried a secret benefit revealed in the course of the game. So, for example, putting a star in scholarship gave the character total recall. Putting the star in family meant you were a member of the largest and most supportive extended family imaginable, the children of the seneschal of Titania, the Moths. This did not give you any magic powers, but it meant that you had uncles and cousins both in the human world and beyond, including royalty, famous scientists, mermaids, and so on. Indeed, my wife had umpired more than one game with these rules, so it became sort of a running joke that I always played a member of the Moth family. My first character was named Dusty Moth, and he was a cowboy from Utah, and an amateur alchemist, who had the blood of elves in his background.
The third idea came from the song ERLKOENIG or the medieval tale of TAM LIN, where a boy is being sold by the elfs to hell. I had noticed that elfs and fairy creatures from the days before Tolkien and Gary Gygax, and indeed from before Shakespeare’s MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, were actually quite spooky and frightening, not the pretty and twee tween girls of Disney’s Tinkerbell cartoons.
I noticed traces of the sulfurous scent of the inferno clinging even to such recent and childish works as DARBY O’GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE, a favorite film of mine, based on an older series of books, where the Leprechauns are terrified by the powers of a parish priest, whose blessings and exorcisms can shrivel them. Even in the lighthearted Disney version, as in the original books, the elfs are angelic beings who neither aided Satan during his rebellion, nor fought on the side of Heaven, and so were cast out of paradise, but not all the way to Hell.
It’s a really good interview. Read the rest of it there. And the books are really good as well. If you ever enjoyed Susan Cooper or Lloyd Alexander, you will almost certainly enjoy John C. Wright’s MOTH & COBWEB series.
Castalia author Peter Grant, the author of the post-Civil War western Brings the Lightning, has just published a new book in his Maxwell Saga, Stoke the Flames Higher. We don’t publish this military SF series in ebook, although I’m pleased to announce that Castalia will be publishing all five books of the Maxwell Saga in print and audio, as well as all three books of Peter’s Laredo series, the third of which we will be publishing in ebook as well. Peter has posted an excerpt from the new book, and I can confirm that you don’t have to have read the four preceding volumes in order to pick up the story here.
Peter had considerable military experience in South Africa and it shows in his writing; he knows whereof he writes.
Also, Peter has reviewed the input of his readers regarding one of his next projects, and he has decided to proceed with the space detective story, which he apparently intends to bring to Castalia. I’m delighted to hear that, since, as QUANTUM MORTIS fans know, I’m rather partial to space detective stories myself. In the unlikely event he would like to situate it there, instead of in the Maxwell universe, he’ll certainly have my permission. But regardless, we’ll be more than happy to publish it. And yes, this is actually how we work, with our publishing decisions not only being made without our involvement, but sometimes without our knowledge.
In other book news, I experimented with Amazon’s new KDP paperback system yesterday, and a paperback version of On the Question of Free Trade was the result. I chose it because a) we were never going to get around to doing it via our normal system, and, b) it struck me as the sort of book you might want to give someone or carry around to use as a reference in an economics course. I have to confess, I was VERY disappointed to learn that the system is nothing more than an integrated version of the CreateSpace system, as I thought it was going to auto-generate a print layout from the Kindle file. I expect that’s what Amazon ultimately has in mind, but they certainly aren’t anywhere near there yet.
Since some of our authors will no doubt be curious about it, here are the pros and cons I observed.
PROS
It’s pretty easy to use and the Cover Creator’s limitations should ensure that you can’t screw up the spine placement very easily.
It’s fast. It takes about one week to get a published book up on Amazon through our usual system. This took only 12 hours. However, it doesn’t automatically connect to the Kindle edition any more automatically than non-KDP-published books, which is a little odd.
The printing price is pretty good. $2.15 for a small book like that one, and eighty-five cents plus 1.2 cents per page for up to 828 pages.
You can upload your own cover images and use them in a variety of ways in the Content Creator.
It doesn’t cost anything and it’s integrated with KDP. This will take yet another chunk out of the mainstream publishers, and in combination with Kindle Unlimited, will probably cause the Big Five to shrink to four, and possibly three.
Although you can’t just use the Kindle file, you can provide either a formatted PDF or an unformatted Word document for the text.
They give you a free ISBN.
CONS
The 40 percent slice that Amazon takes in addition to the print charge is pretty hefty. This will preclude most independent publishers from using it. We’ll probably use it for some books, like On War and some of our less popular books that aren’t even on the print production list, but it will never be our primary option.
I’ve never heard anything good about the quality of the CreateSpace paperbacks and there is no reason to believe these will be any better. There was a reason we looked for a better alternative from the start. I’ll be very interested to know what people make of now On the Question of Free Tradeturned out because I have absolutely no idea. So, please consider yourself warned in that regard.
Distribution is limited to Amazon. CreateSpace tried to claim otherwise, which wasn’t really true, but Amazon isn’t even bothering to try. Amazon is the big dog, but it’s not the only market out there and an increasing percentage of our book sales are print books sold though other resellers. Although we still tend to think of ourselves as an epublisher, and barely half our books are even available in print editions, 40 percent of our sales are now in print.
The ISBN is only good for use on Amazon.
There is no way to identify the publisher or imprint.
Conclusion: absolutely great for self-publishers, of minor interest to authors with publishers, a potentially useful second option for low-margin independent publishers, and a complete nightmare for high-margin traditional publishers. I expect most successful authors are going to increasingly gravitate to the Peter Grant approach, and making publication decisions based on a series-by-series basis. As for me, I think I will use it to publish all of my collected WND columns in a two-volume paperback set, which will be useful for my own reference, if nothing else.
And finally, in case you missed it over the weekend, Back From the Dead by Rolf Nelson is finally available in paperback and hardcover editions. Don’t think you’ve seen the end of the book shilling either, because we have no less than FOUR (4) big announcements to make before Christmas.
Speaking of which, I would like 10 volunteer reviewers who are familiar with ATOB. If you’re a) interested in reviewing ASOS and b) you’ve already reviewed ATOB on Amazon, please send me an email with ASOS in the subject and a link to your review on Amazon.
Helton Strom is just a guy between contracts when he runs afoul of both planetary officialdom and space pirates. He is left with nothing but the clothes on his back, and not even a citizenship to his name. Is the ancient, broken-down military surplus starship and the young lady living aboard it the key to a bright future, or will his repairs and new mercenary friends reawaken the demons lurking in the ship’s murky and lethal past?
BACK FROM THE DEAD is the first book in The Stars Came Back series. It is a space western, the story of regular folks just trying stay alive, seeking work to earn money for repairs to get to the next job, with no shortage of action and adventure along the way. It is military sci-fi, featuring a company of mercenaries, spaceship combat, mortar and rifle combat, spear-and-shield battle, and post-traumatic stress disorder. And it is a philosophical investigation, pondering everything from the lessons of Achilles to how one stops a bar fight with earplugs.
The space liner’s lounge is sparse and spare, dim with the faint, reddish light that indicates the night shift. A few round ports and several screens line the walls above solidly mounted furniture. Helton slouches at an angle, half-facing Art, an elderly businessman with a dazed expression on his face and a drink in his hand, looking absently out one of the larger viewing ports. His coat is in a heap on another chair, and his bag supports his feet. “By the time it was over, virtually all my assets were forfeited on the spot, I’d been stripped of citizenship, and searched by the Blue Gloves way more personally than I’d like. How?” He shakes his head slowly in disbelief. “How did we get here?”
“It could be worse,” the old man says quietly. “You are here, yes?”
Helton stares at him, incredulous. “Well, yeah, but–”
“Not in jail. Not in uniform.”
“They wouldn’t–”
“Still breathing.”
Comprehension dawns on Helton’s face. He takes a drink, then says, “But I don’t understand. Why?”
“They get a percentage of any fines or forfeitures they assess, as an ‘incentive’ to be attentive to the letter of the law. Likely you were put on a list some time ago, and this was just the easiest opportunity to make you go away. If they hadn’t gotten busy with that bomb on Level Eight, you might still be there.”
“Wha…? Bomb? Nobody said anything about a bomb.”
“The disturbance that called them away?”
“But that was some sort of transformer explosion in an electrical vault…”
Art looks as him with a slight shake of his head and a knowing, apologetic smile on his face. “Always buy a round trip ticket. Always have the appearance that you have good reason to come back, and no plans to do otherwise. Terrorist, separatists, false flag — makes no difference.”
“You…?”
“You are just now realizing what’s been going on these last months and years?”
Helton says, feebly, not even accepting his own excuse, “Been busy.”
“People have had to flee on a moment, packing light, for thousands of years. The warning signs of collapse are always the same. The debt. The scapegoats. The lies. The ‘temporary emergency measures.’ I cut it closer than I should have.” Art shrugs and takes a drink from his own glass. “My family is all safely away, and everything else shipped ahead for us by others.” A small, sympathetic smile crosses his wizened face. “It looks like you won’t be returning, either.”
Helton looks at him in disbelief, frowning, brows knit. Quietly, in shock, he says to himself, “Homeless.” He turns his gaze back to the port, staring blankly.
“You are lucky, though,” Art says.
“If this is lucky, I’d hate to see unlucky.”
“They picked you clean, but they let you leave.” He looks intensely at Helton. “Think. What do you have? Where are you going?”
He shrugs, waves to his coat and bag. “My sister’s.”
“And?”
Helton shakes his head, still not sure what Art is asking. Art taps his temple, then his chest. Then waves to the room around them, at the glass in Helton’s hand. Slowly, forcing himself to think positively, Helton taps his temple. “I have … useful skills … and knowledge.” He touches his chest. “I’m heading for family … who will welcome me. Work. I’m not sucking vacuum or” he holds up his glass, “dying of thirst in a desert. Better off than Odysseus meeting Nausicaä.”
A big smile spreads across the old man’s face. “A man of education.”
“Not enough. Didn’t see this coming.”
“It will serve you well. Never forget your assets, just because you acquired some new liabilities. Have faith in yourself, and you’ll be okay. God works in mysterious ways.”
Helton looks at Art silently for a long moment. He drains his glass, unconvinced.
Castalia author Peter Grant, of Brings the Lightning fame, is polling people about his next open project slot:
The book for the second quarter of 2017 is where I’m looking for your input. I have the following possibilities, all of which are partially written or plotted out already.
A heroic fantasy novel. Sword and sorcery in the classic tradition, with good triumphing over evil (of course!). The first draft of this novel is about 45% complete.
Another fantasy novel, less in the ‘heroic’ tradition, but including sword and sorcery in a more formal military setting. Think late Middle Ages or early Renaissance in a European-style country. First draft is about 30% complete.
A space detective novel, set in the Maxwell universe and tying in with the Maxwell Saga from time to time (i.e. characters from both series will get together). First draft is about 30% complete.
A mil-sci-fi novel set in the Maxwell universe, but with completely new characters. The idea would be to establish a backstory from which the character might meet and/or work with Steve Maxwell in future books. Plotted out, but not yet begun.
If you care to weigh in, you can do so at his blog.
Christmas has come early for John C. Wright fans, with the publication of the third and final book in THE GREEN KNIGHT’S SQUIRE trilogy, SWAN KNIGHT’S SWORD.
Gilberic Parzival Moth is a strange and lonely boy who has grown up without a father, raised by a single mother who moves from town to town in fear of something she will not name. His only friends are animals, with whom he has always been able to speak. And after surviving his bewildering encounter with the two kings of Elfland and their many strange and wonderful and terrible subjects, as chronicled in FEAST OF THE ELFS, Gilberic finds himself honor-bound to travel to a house of living death called the Green Chapel.
Accompanied only by his faithful dog and following the directions of a talking horse, Gilberic must go against his beloved mother’s wishes and go in search of the Green Knight, the mysterious giant who is said to dwell in the chapel, and whom he had previously beheaded. SWAN KNIGHT’S SWORD is the third and final book of THE GREEN KNIGHT’S SQUIRE, the first volume of MOTH & COBWEB, an astonishing new series about magical worlds of Day, Night, and Twilight by John C. Wright.
John C. Wright is one of the living grandmasters of science fiction and the author of THE GOLDEN AGE, AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND, and IRON CHAMBER OF MEMORY, to name just three of his exceptional books. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award, for the Hugo Award, and his novel SOMEWHITHER won the 2016 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel at Dragoncon.
SWAN KNIGHT’S SWORD is now available on Amazon for $4.99. It is 180 pages and DRM-free. It is old-school fantasy of the very best kind, more in the mode of Lord Dunsany, C.S. Lewis, and Lloyd Alexander than JRR Tolkien and GRR Martin.
THE GREEN KNIGHT’S SQUIRE trilogy is now complete.
The next trilogy will begin with the first book in the DARK AVENGER’S SIDEKICK, the fourth in the Moth & Cobweb series, DAUGHTER OF DANGER. THE GREEN KNIGHT’S SQUIRE will be available in omnibus paperback, hardcover, and audio editions next year.
If you’re kicking yourself for missing out on the Black Friday deal, don’t, because Amazon has another nice offer on the table:
▪ To use this promotion, you must enter “HOLIDAYBOOK” at checkout under the “Gift cards & promotional codes” section to receive $10 off any books purchase of $25 or more.
▪ This offer is valid on print books only. Excludes eBooks and Audiobooks, Book Rentals and Amazon Gift Cards.
▪ The promotion is valid for a limited time, on orders placed between November 24, 2016 at 12:01am EST and November 28, 2016 at 02:59am EST. Amazon reserves the right to modify or cancel this offer at any time.
▪ Offer only applies to products sold and shipped by Amazon.com.
▪ Limit one promotional code per customer and account.
▪ Each code may be used only once and may not be combined with other offers.
▪ The maximum benefit you may receive from this offer is $10.
Want to get Mike Cernovich a birthday present and thank him for the yeoman’s work he put in to ensure the Ascension of the God-Emperor Trump to the Cherry Blossom Throne?
Give it to a friend or family member or teacher or professor to read. Tell them: this is why Donald Trump won the election.
Tweet their reaction to @cernovich on Twitter or Gab.
It’s a gift that keeps on giving. In the meantime, Mike is gearing up to be the target of another hit piece. This is to be celebrated; the media only writes hit pieces about people who alarm them in some way.
