Posted by Meg

Books are precious. As fans, avid readers, writers and fantasy geeks we know firsthand how important books can be (and are!). But living in a country where books are literally at your fingertips, we sometimes forget how hard it can be for other people in the world to get their hands on the books they want to read. Or any books for that matter.

Friend and fan David sent Peat this touching story about the power of reading and how ebooks can bring the gift of literature to people worldwide.

Here’s what David had to say:

On a recent trip to Romania ….

At my friend’s house, they had a 10 year old neighbor – Rosianu Ilie Constantin, his nickname is Calin. I did not speak Romanian but he wanted to practice his English which was really good. He was really smart also for his age. Showed him my Google phone, Amazon Kindle, etc etc. Then my friend told him I worked at Google. I already know the influence that the Google name has anywhere I go but I did not expect what happened next … he started to ask me a lot of questions about all the tech.

So I started to think and research and realized how hard it was for him to get a Kindle and access to unlimited books. Romania is full of hackers, that’s well known, and Amazon does not ship anything there and the UK price is ridiculous. After some analysis and testing him, I decided to give him my Kindle and to fund any books he ever wants to buy from now on. Everyone should have access to books. Period. Hacker or not.

I was still reading Desert Spear … cause I work too much. Of all the books on the Kindle, and there were plenty, he chose to read this and finished it in about 1 week. He loved it. I just gifted him Painted Man. He’s excited, it’s now like reading a prequel. He’s looking forward to the third book also.

You should totally buy it.

It’s no secret that Myke and I have been friends a long time. Heck. I remember back in 1991, when he spelled his name M-i-k-e like a normal person.

Yeah, yeah. Like I should talk…

Anyway, Myke and I have a long history of kicking each other’s asses editorially (and with weapons). I met Myke briefly while we were in High School. It was the early 90′s, and we both had crazy heavy metal hair. We didn’t really become friends until college, where we played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons (For those who speak fluent geek, we played Edition 2.0 which evolved into 2.5, Forgotten Realms setting) together.

I’ve spoken before about how Dungeons & Dragons has made me a better storyteller. I used to run friggin’ EPIC games, where I would take the map of Faerun in the Forgotten Realms, pick a spot that hadn’t been explored in any of the novels or boxed sets, and write up a huge, complex story set in that obscure place. I would create plots, sub-plots, characters, backstories, twists, turns, and emotional motivations.

Then my players, Myke included, would just go in and kill everything. And I would have to toss aside my careful plans and dance like a motherfucker to keep up with them, and more importantly, keep them going in the direction I intended. They would deliberately seek out loopholes in my storytelling and try to game the system, or just ignore the boring “talky” parts and get down to dicing and dividing treasure.

Because there are two parts to storytelling: What you want to say, and what your audience is going to hear. Sadly, the two are almost never the same, and the purpose, after all, is to entertain an audience, yourself included.

A year or so later, Myke ran a game, and I gleefully fucked with his the same damn way.

We were also preparing for the pain of rejection letters by ritualistically hitting each other with bamboo swords:

Fast forward to 1998. I have moved to Brooklyn and he to DC. We don’t talk much anymore. Myke tell me he’s been working on a fantasy novel. I say, “Huh. Me too.” I sent him whatever shit project I was working on at the time, and he sends me the first draft of a book called “Latent”.

It would later be renamed, “Control Point.”

In the ensuing 15 years we have relentlessly broken each other’s books, finding tiny weak spots and driving knives into them, forcing each other to improve our craft and pass the other’s gauntlet. We would cover each other’s work in red ink, and call each other saying, “Nice try. Here are the parts that suck, here’s WHY they suck, and here’s my suggestions on how to fix them.”

So there are a lot of Myke’s ideas in my work. The Krasian Watchers, for instance, are laddermen on his suggestion. There are also a lot of my ideas in Myke’s work. For instance, he wanted to call the water sorcerers in Control Point “aquamancers”. I told him tying them forever to the lamest of all superheroes was a bad idea, and suggested he go with “hydromancers”. True story.

Sometimes, we would argue:

So believe me when I say, I couldn’t be more excited about this launch if it was my own book. Because in some small way, it is.

This is not to say that Myke doesn’t deserve all the credit for how awesome Control Point is. The man works obsessively and ruthlessly to make ever second of his books riveting.

Seriously. Stop reading this and go read his reviews. There’s like a million of them already, and they’re all glowing.

Control Point is a military fantasy story set in an alternate version of our modern world where magic ebbs and wanes over the course of every thousand years, much like the waxing and waning of the moon. When it waxes, people with latent magic ability suddenly manifest incredible powers.

They are then drafted, broken down, and trained to fight America’s enemies in the Supernatural Operations Corps. They’re the lucky ones. Those who manifest prohibited powers like necromancy (zombies) are shot in the head.

Lt. Oscar Britton starts as a ‘normal’ human, serving the army in hunting down magical fugitives. That is, until he manifests a prohibited magic himself, and overnight becomes Public Enemy #1.

The fun starts there, and doesn’t stop till the end.

Oh, and I’ve read the sequel, Fortress Frontier. It is even better.

If you want to hear us discuss writing and our history of alpha reading, you can check out our recent podcast interview with The Functional Nerds.

I realize I’ve been promising this post for a very long time. Frankly, I’ve been putting it off because it was causing me a bit of anxiety. I needed to focus on actually writing the book, rather than writing about the book. Thankfully, Meg has really stepped up and kept the blog running in the meantime, posting all the amazing things people send in.

But it’s the start of a new year, and I want to set the record straight as I move into the home stretch, so let’s get right to it…

Not a Trilogy!

First off, the Demon Cycle is not a trilogy. The third book, The Daylight War, will NOT end the series. It was always intended to be a series of five books. A quintet.

This is a confusing point, though, because the series was widely marketed as a trilogy in the early days. It’s an understandable error that isn’t really anyone’s fault, but one that has caused me an ongoing headache these past years.

When I initially sold The Warded Man to Del Rey, they asked about my plans for sequels. I did a treatment for the series showing the full story arc. That treatment was for five books. I noted that while the arcs for all the main characters would resolve in the fifth book, I might continue to write further stories set in the same world with different characters or at different time periods (like The Great Bazaar and Brayan’s Gold).

But I was also realistic, and at the end of my presentation, I noted that if I HAD to close it out in three books, I theoretically could, but really didn’t wanna.

Del Rey hedged their bets (a totally fair move on their part), offering to buy the first three books and see how it went. Several other markets, like the UK, Australia, France, Germany, Poland, etc., quickly followed suit and bought three books as well.

Happily—and thanks especially to you, my fans—the series took off and I never had to worry about what I might need to do to force the story into three books. However, since the initial contracts in so many countries matched the length of the original Del Rey contract, the book media and some internal marketing teams assumed (not unreasonably) it was to be a trilogy. It was widely reported as such with the viral speed of the internet, and has caused wildfires I’ve been trying to extinguish ever since.

I have since signed contracts in the US and UK for another three full novels after The Daylight War. The first two if these will be the final books of the original quintet. The last will be a standalone novel set in the same world with some shared characters. It is plotted out already and I think it will be a kickass book that will appeal to both fans of the series and new readers.

But even with six books to spread out into, the Demon Cycle has grown with the telling. I don’t think this is a bad thing. However, instead of changing my five book plan, I have started doing some spinoff books for the more standalone storylines. These are not necessary to enjoy the main series, but do expand the world and give insights into the characters and their motivations.

In between writing The Warded Man and The Desert Spear, I wrote a novella for Subterranean Press about Arlen during his pre-warded Messenger days called The Great Bazaar. It was meant to appeal new readers, introducing them to my world, while also giving those who had read Warded Man a great bridge into Desert Spear. It also had some deleted scenes from The Warded Man along with my reflections on the writing process that caused them to be cut, a Krasian dictionary and ward grimoire.

I love that little book. After writing The Desert Spear, I wrote a second novella entitled Brayan’s Gold, gorgeously illustrated by Lauren K Cannon, about Arlen’s first (extremely dangerous) Messenger run. Again it was meant for both fans of the series and new readers.

These novellas have gone on to be translated into German, Polish, and French, most of them released in 2011. All are beautiful, illustrated editions that are a great fix between the novels. The original Subterranean Press books are pretty rare and expensive now, but easily available as eBooks in both the US & UK, and a new UK edition combining them both into one book will be printed this year.

I intend to continue writing one novella between each novel. The next, Mudboy, will have a storyline that introduces a wholly new character. It started as part of Daylight War, but got too big for its britches. It’s already mostly written.

The full Demon Cycle bibliography now looks like this:

Novel Quintet:

Book One: The Warded Man (First published 2008)

Book Two: The Desert Spear (First published 2010)

Book Three: The Daylight War (Forthcoming)

Book Four: The Forest Fortress (Forthcoming, working title subject to change)

Book Five: The Core (Forthcoming, working title subject to change)

These five books will close the storylines for Arlen, Jardir, Rojer, Leesha, Renna, Inevera, Abban, etc.

Standalone Novel:

Book Six: Tibbet’s Brook (Forthcoming, working title subject to change)

This book will mostly be about Selia Barren from Tibbet’s Brook, showing her life story and how it affects her decisions in the present as she contends with corelings, Krasians, and the growing power of Southwatch, all while wrestling the demons of her own past. It is mostly plotted and I am very psyched to write it.

Standalone Novellas:

The Great Bazaar (First Published 2010)

Brayan’s Gold (First Published 2011)

Mudboy (Forthcoming)

Others TBD

Pub Date

The next thing I would like to clarify is the publication date. As of this moment, The Daylight War will probably be out February 4, 2013.

This 2013 date has been rumored for some time, and prompted a lot of “Say it ain’t so!” messages from fans via facebook, twitter, email, and the like. I know it comes from a place of enjoyment for my work, and the VAST majority of messages have had a tone of excitement and exuberance that brings joy to my heart. But on some occasions, the exhortations have been… ruder, implying that I should be doing nothing but sitting chained to my desk cranking out manuscripts.

It is fair for people to be annoyed about the current pub date, as the book was briefly available for pre-order on several major bookseller sites with a release date of Spring of 2012, leading many to set their hopes on that date. The shift of almost a year is a pretty big one. Even now, I say “probably” for the 2013 date because in publishing few things are set in stone. Several countries are trying to coordinate a worldwide release date, and it can be a complex thing.

Especially when the author misses their deadline.

Ahem.

Oh, I have my excuses. Early this year my part-time assistant (deservedly) went on to a full time publishing job, leaving me with a lot of administrative work that ate away at my writing time. Around the same time I also had major shoulder surgery that left my arm in a sling for months. I’m told it went well and I will be back to full strength without pain at some point, but six months out I’m still only at 75%, and prolonged or strenuous use leaves me in a lot of pain.

And I spend a lot of time with my three year old daughter Cassie. I know I could put her in daycare or hire a sitter as many people do, but these years before she starts going to school all the time are precious, and I don’t want her to ever feel like daddy didn’t have time for her. We do arts and crafts and build marble runs and train sets. We practice her reading and watch Pixar movies. We argue about what she wants for dinner, bathtime and bedtime. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

But also, in fairness to me, the deadline was not realistic. When I first sold the books, there was pressure from the publishers to turn in a book every year. At the time, I naively told them I could do that, because even though it took me seven years to write The Warded Man, I did that writing part time. Now I would be full time, and should have the sequel out much more quickly.

Eh. Not so much.

I’ve talked about this before. My writing process is a very slow, meticulous one, and sometimes it requires me to stop and unravel a story knot before I can continue. Whether this method is right for everyone is debatable, but it is what works best for me to deliver a level of quality I am satisfied with. I take a lot of pride in my books, and don’t want to knock them out half-assed. I ended up delivering The Desert Spear close to a year later than originally promised, and The Daylight War has proven to be much the same.

That said, I have gotten my focus back, and am knocking out Daylight War chapters left and right these last few months. I am finishing up chapter 19 out of an estimated 27, and I expect to deliver it to the publishers in the early spring, so they will have plenty of time for editing and making sure everything is ready for the ’13 release while I get a head start on book four.

I am getting faster, I think. Warded Man took me seven years. Desert Spear took three. Daylight War is looking closer to two. I don’t know that I’ll ever do a book a year, but I hope you’ll have a shorter wait for the 4th book than for the 3rd.

I can assure you, though, The Daylight War will be worth the wait. Here are a couple of previews:

First up, the excerpt from Inevera’s storyline that was included with the eBooks and UK paperback of The Desert Spear is now live on the Excisions page! Throughout The Desert Spear, Inevera’s motivations, and what she really saw in the alagai hora she cast, remained a mystery. The Daylight War takes you back into her childhood to see her humble beginnings. Read it here.

Next, my spontaneous reading at NY Comic-Con this year, where I gave a peek into Arlen’s newly leveled up powers, and how he and Renna are getting on after the… incident:

We sometimes don’t know how what we do can affect other people. I think that one of my favorite things about reading books is that I am, in a sense, sharing a whole dreamt up world with the author and all the other people also reading it. It’s a shared experience even though it feels very close and very personal. Such are the joys of reading.

Over the summer, Peat got a really touching email from a woman named Penny and wanted to share it with everybody. This is what she had to say.

Hello,

I am the mother of a 23 year old son with Tourette Syndrome and OCD. His name is Levi. We live in a small farming community in Indiana. He has been basically housebound for close to 8 years. A few weeks ago I picked up one of your books at K-Mart. He loved your book so much … he could barely sleep. He asked me to get all your books and I’ve ordered what I could afford. I run a Licensed Daycare Home because I always had to be home with him. I homeschooled him from the 9th grade up. I was sad to see The Great Bazaar was so out of reach for us. We live on our own and money is pretty tight. Do you know if there will be a time that it will cost less? He just sits around holding your book, feeling the cover, like it is the most precious thing in the world.

I just got through ordering all the Raymond Fiest books the Riftwar Series three weeks ago, after he read the first two books … while he was waiting on the rest, he read your book and now he won’t touch the others until he can read all of your books. I try to do what I can to make him happy and anything that I can possibly do to make his life better I try to do. He never asks for anything special. He has been going through a rather rough time right now and he has been really sad and withdrawn for months. It was really good to see him so excited about something. I’m still on Amazon searching for the rest of your books that I can afford. He read The Warded Man and I have already ordered The Desert Spear. I saw where The Great Bazaar and the Brayan’s Gold are related to the other books. I don’t know how many you have, but I will be hunting them down tonight and hopefully I will be able to find the rest of them. I’m new at searching for things online and I was hoping to find a list of all your books in the order they need to be read.

I want to thank you for giving my son an escape from his own Demons. He is such a good boy and you have given him something to look forward to. Believe me, I was trying everything to get him to open up. He talks to me about your book and I will be looking forward to reading them myself if my son ever lets your book out of his sight. Just wanted to let you know you made a difference in someone’s life and that’s pretty special!

Thanks,

Penny

Thank you so much to Penny for reaching out. We sent Levi a signed copy of Brayan’s Gold last Monday.