Tag: Selenoth

Audiobook auditions

UPDATE: Narrator D is out because he has too many commitments and was forced to withdraw.  However, there are now two more new candidates, and a prospective third one who will be sending in an audition soon.

Narrator A

Narrator B

Narrator C

Narrator D

Narrator E

Narrator F

It belatedly occurred to me that I’ve been going about this audiobook process all wrong.  Leaping into an area in which I have zero experience – I don’t even listen to audiobooks myself – and doing so with a mammoth project that is larger than most audiobooks out there is a recipe for not only failure, but disaster.

So, I decided to retreat, rethink, and reassess my approach to producing the Selenoth audiobooks.  Since Amazon/Audible’s ACX is an attempt to be the standard offering, I thought I had better check that out.  And since I have a set of much shorter works set in Selenoth, I have the luxury of trying out several different approaches before settling on one narrator and distribution system for the main series.  This is important, because A Throne of Bones alone will make for a 36-hour audiobook.

In the interest of experimentation, Marcher Lord signed up A Magic Broken exclusively for ACX  and two narrators have already auditioned.  I’ve also included a non-ACX audition that was sent to me earlier. As I’ve mentioned previously, my ideal narrator would be Charles Dance, but then, I’m not the one who will be listening to the audiobooks so my opinion concerning the matter is not decisive.

If you’re someone who might be interested in the Selenoth audiobooks, I’d be interested to get your impression of the potential narrators.  Please let me know your thoughts in the comments here. I’ll post more here as they are submitted until Marcher Lord decides upon one.  As for ACX, my thought is to do AMB through their system and one of the stories from TWC through open distribution, then compare the results.

The bronze medal

The results for the 2013 Clive Staples Award were announced last night:

  1. Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl
  2. Liberator by Bryan Davis
  3. The Throne of Bones by Vox Day
  4. Prophet by R. J. Larson
  5. Mortal by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee   

It’s probably not the best sign for a book when the awards committee doesn’t quite get the title right.  But its nomination, to say nothing of being selected as a finalist for the award, was still a nice surprise, given the fact that I didn’t think ATOB was even eligible for any awards.

SE+ now on Amazon

CA writes to inform us that the hardcover for Summa Elvetica and Other Stories is now available from Amazon:

I wrote up a review on SE+ at Amazon (the first associated with the hardcover). It should be posted within 48 hours of my submission. While it isn’t as flowing as your prose, I just wanted you to know that your writing is just flat out awesome. My first exposure to your writing was ATOB and then I recently just finished SE+. Now I am anxiously awaiting Arts of Dark and Light Book 2….

So many cultures, points of view.. and they all feel real. I am just floored by each character I read. None seems out of place. Each culture fits. Each character acts realistically. I loved how you even showed the POV of characters like Speer and Bextor and …ugh I can’t remember the Chui’s name….but the “enemy” cultures. I think that made your world feel all the more real. Anyway, thanks for the wonderful escapes into the world of Selenoth.

This is intended mostly for the serious fans of Selenoth who want the hardcover, as there is nothing in it that isn’t contained in the four ebooks: Summa Elvetica, A Magic Broken, The Wardog’s Coin, and The Last Witchking.  The general consensus is that the hardcover is pretty and makes a suitable companion for A Throne of Bones until such time that Book Two is available.

I’m pleased that many of you are eagerly anticipating Book Two, but it’s going to take a while.  In the meantime, for those of you who haven’t read through what is available to date, there are now 1,436 pages of Selenoth to keep you occupied.

Introducing the orc

Development is proceeding apace on First Sword, as we’ve now got the gladiatorial schools operational in a rudimentary manner, which means that the various gladiator statistics and portraits are now accessible in the game.  In Selenoth, orcs are even more fearsome in the arena than they are on the battlefield, because the superior human unit discipline can usually be relied upon to carry the Amorran and Savondese forces through to victory can no longer be utilized to compensate for the greater size, strength, and sheer aggression of the orcs.

And in the arena, there is no ranged combat, which means the human gladiator isn’t merely concerned with the threat posed by swords, axes, daggers, and warhammers, but has to deal with the very real threat of having his face literally bitten off by his opponent.  Not all ludi are willing to feature orcs, as in addition to them being nearly as dangerous in training as they are in the actual arena, the spectators tend to be harsh on defeated orcs and it is the rare orc indeed who is granted missio by the favor of the crowd.

But for the stable owner who is brave enough to accept the risks, the rewards can be significant indeed.

Summa review

Frank Luke reviews Summa Elvetica:

One book that I recently gave a second read to was Theodore Beale’s Summa Elvetica. (Beale sometimes writes under the pen name Vox Day.) When I saw the title, I immediately thought of Aquinas‘ masterpiece Summa Theologia. When I read the blurb, I saw Beale had been going for that very connection. It’s a good connection, and the book makes good on the promised link without being heavy handed in the debate department….

I thoroughly enjoyed how Marcus’ journey from Amora to the Elven lands
paralleled his journey into becoming his own man and making his own
choices. Two other members of the envoy are fellow church men on
opposite sides of the debate. Marcus will be writing his own opinion for
the Sanctiff (though the Sanctiff will make the final decision on the
question of elves and souls).

In very much related news, I’m pleased to say that I’ve received several emails from people telling me that the new Summa Elvetica hardcovers have arrived and that it is a worthy companion to A Throne of Bones on the bookshelf.

Playing in the sandbox

As Digital Book World mentioned, we will be publishing both original fiction and previously published work through our in-game retail store.  Unfortunately, the piece didn’t happen to mention that the system is not theoretical, but is already fully operational; the author bought a copy of The Wardog’s Coin with game coins we’d given him and received an epub on his system in less than two seconds.

We’re open to anything that is likely to appeal to our player base.  But we’re particularly interested in extending the world of Selenoth with the help of talented and creative writers.  Think Thieves World, only with 500 years of history on an entire continent in which to play.  The stories should range between 1,500 words at a minimum and 12,500 maximum; stories that somehow involve a gladiatorial angle will be given particular consideration.  And, of course, they will have to avoid conflicting with canon in any serious manner; I would encourage those interested to focus on small, localized conflicts and to keep in mind that First Sword is set more than 100 years before the events that take place in A Throne of Bones.

We haven’t worked out the contractual arrangements yet, but most likely we will give the author the choice between a conventional short fiction arrangement at SFWA-defined professional rate of 5¢/word and a 25 percent royalty share of the revenues derived from sales of the piece.

We’ll put out information on selling already published novels and short fiction unrelated to Selenoth in the near future.  We’ve already heard from several publishers and authors; so please keep in mind that we want to go out with a catalog of about 50 ebooks, and 10 of the spots are already filled.  In general, we’re interested in action-oriented fantasy, military science fiction, and the sort of SF/F in which the major genre publishers are presently uninterested.

Anyhow, if this is of interest to you, let me know.  We’ve already got two original stories we’ll be publishing through the game, one dealing with the trolls, and another with the mer.

Announcing First Sword

This seems as good a time as any to announce the forthcoming release of First Sword, the first combat management game.  Digital Book World was particularly interested in one of the innovations the game is introducing:

For publishers looking to diversify their ebook sales channels, here’s an idea: selling ebooks through in-game stores. Alpenwolf, a small, international game-development firm is going to test this idea with a game it releases in November this year, First Sword. The game is a “commentary-based management game,” according to one of its developers, Theo Beale, who is also an author, musician, former game reviewer and game journalist.

I find it rather amusing that despite all of the frequent efforts to “out” me, no one ever figured out one of my alternate pseudonyms despite my use of it in one of the game industry’s leading publications for my monthly column there.  I mean, surely you never imagined that Vox Day would be the only one I use….  Anyhow, for those who are interested, here is another screen shot of First Sword in action.

This is a pre-Alpha screenshot of a combat between two equally matched fighters.  There are about 5,000 messages in the commentary system, more than 10x more than the leading game of this type, which allows for a wide variety of complicated narratives in describing the various arena battles.  In this particular screenshot, the stipex, Honorius, has just managed to score a reasonably damaging hit on Trebonius, the hoplomachus.

First Sword is a free-to-play game available for Android, iOS, Blackberry, Facebook, and web-based browser in November, 2013.  In directly related news, I will soon be posting a call for authors interested in selling ebooks of all lengths through the in-game retail medium described in the linked article.

The gatekeepers strike again

I’d previously made some allusions to the interest of a European publisher in putting out the Arts of Dark and Light series in audiobook and paperback next year, however, after being informed this morning that the publisher changed their mind about publishing it, it has become clear that I have reached the point where I am officially unpublishable by conventional publishers.  C’est la vie.

It’s the usual political gatekeeping of course.  I was told that some of my public statements would make it hard for them to defend the decision to publish with me, despite how much they liked the first book in the series.  The annoying thing is that this is the SECOND time this has happened with this particular publisher; I was assured that this time, my idiosyncratic opinions would not be an issue….

What it comes down to in the end is that I haven’t sold enough books or built enough of a readership to be deemed worth the criticism that comes with my level of notoriety.  The risk/reward balance is too high. Orson Scott Card’s views are every bit as offensive to the gatekeepers as mine are, but Tor Books isn’t about to stop publishing their bestselling author on that basis.  At a mere one million pageviews per month and paltry sales of around 12,000 ebooks annually, the controversy that comes with my name simply isn’t worth it to the publishers.  Now, once I reach 5 million pageviews, I expect they’ll suddenly start sniffing around again.  At 10 million and a top 100 Amazon rank in the Fantasy category, even the most liberal gatekeeper will magically cease to have any problem with my public statements.

Will it take a while for me to get there?  Sure.  But I will.  Fortunately, this is precisely the “that which does not kill me makes me stronger” sort of thing that gives me the motivation to surmount my natural laziness and get things done.  Whether I’ll still see any benefit to working with conventional publishers is a question I’ll consider when the situation arises. In the meantime, my first order of business is to find a reader for the audiobooks I will be publishing next year.  My second order of business will be to begin finding authors who would like to publish electronically through in-game stores with direct access to millions of players.  And my third order of business will be to formally announce the new games we are presently developing.

I would have preferred to take the easy way and turn the book distribution aspects over to a publisher so that I could focus entirely on the writing and game development.  But that’s no longer an option for me due to the political correctness that pervades the publishing industry throughout the English-speaking world.  Since the traditional channels are closed, I’ll simply have to create new ones.  Necessity, after all, is the mother of invention.

I’m not whining or complaining; this is the path I chose.  I’m not looking for sympathy or support.  And I’m not upset with the publishers; they are certainly free to make their own choices and render themselves increasingly irrelevant to various demographics if they like. Yes, it’s certainly irritating to AGAIN find out that a publisher who knows perfectly well how controversial I am when they start talking to me, and who assures me that my notoriety isn’t a problem, ends up getting cold feet before the deal closes.  (Or, in two cases, AFTER it closes.) Still, other than being a minor waste of time, it’s not an actual problem. I’m only irritated with myself because I should have known better; Spacebunny was openly skeptical from the start.

But this isn’t merely a problem for me. The suspicions that publishers have a political agenda and refuse to publish writers solely due to their politically incorrect views are well-founded and are based in absolute, well-documented fact.  Most writers won’t talk about this because they hold out hopes for one day being allowed through the gates and they don’t want to burn any bridges.  However, one advantage of discovering one has already inadvertently nuked all the bridges is that one has carte blanche to speak the truths that would otherwise remain unspoken.

To quote Standout Author Sarah Hoyt: “Like most pioneers, you’re being forced onto it by circumstances and
by the status quo becoming untenable.  But it doesn’t mean you can’t
take the opportunity to build something better. Now go and do it.”

And that is exactly what I intend to do.

SE+ is shipping

I’ve been informed by Marcher Lord that the new Summa Elvetica hardcover is now shipping to the preorders.  If you receive it, please let me know how it looks; it will be a while before my copies get to me.