"Out Of Ambit": Diane Duane's weblog#114069083471800451

"Out Of Ambit": Diane Duane's weblog:

A lot of people offered to send money up front, which was nice, but per se was a suggestion I preferred to resist: I'd rather there be something concrete on the barrelhead for people to put their cash down on, as it were. A lot of the people who mailed me knew about, and mentioned, Lawrence Watt-Evans' celebrated approach to his own version of this problem, in which he 'serially' self-published his Ethshar novel The Spriggan Mirror, posting a chapter every time the PayPal donations from interested readers reached a certain point. (And afterwards, his book found a publisher, too.)

Diane Duane is the author of the popular Young Wizards series of books. My wife is a fan of her work. Diane has just announced on her blog that she's going to publish the next volume in her current trilogy serially on her blog. This is exciting to me too since as you can tell, I'm interested in serial online publishing.

The evidence is that the publishing industry has been broken for a while. If you're a new writer of speculative fiction just starting out, you've probably experienced how unrewarding it can be to try to get your stuff published. Even if you do get published, the pressure to produce a blockbuster every time is intense. A moderate success isn't enough to guarantee you'll be able to get your next one published. We need alternate channels for distribution, like what Diane is doing.

On the other hand, sometimes I feel like I'm a cop-out for publishing my beta version online. Maybe I should be out there grinding away at getting more of my stuff published into paper.

Chapter 18 is a Short One

This is a little short one, but the next one is humdinger, I promise.

Chapter 18 - Sometimes a Tale.pdf

Chapter 17 - Tangle Vines

Swords, magic, and nasty predators. It's what fantasy is about.

Chapter 17 - Tangle Vines.pdf

Chapter 17 - Sometimes a Tale

Did I say we were in for some longer chapters? I guess I lied, because this one if probably the shortest one yet, and perhaps one of the most annoying. :)

Update: FTP is down for some reason. You'll have to wait to be annoyed. :(
Update Update: You know, I'm not ready to post this chapter just yet anyway. I've got some other cool stuff to get out of the way first.

Chapter 16 - The Swordsmage

"The pirate lifted his blade to parry the attack, but Za’dar twisted the point of his rapier underneath the pirate’s saber, sliding three inches of steel into the pirate’s left shoulder. His opponent cried out in anguish and fell to his knees."

Chapter 16 - The Swordsmage.pdf

Part II in one PDF

Here's part II of the novel in one PDF.

War of the Gyro Part 2.pdf

Last night I was hanging out with Philaros, and the topic of "Talislanta adventures we'd like to see" came up. I suggested "Talislanta Winter Olympics", which led to speculations about sporting events around Talislanta (Duneship regatta? A marathon across the wilderlands? Dung digging in Maruk? Speed skating through Ice Giant territory?) Philaros made the observation that every event boils down to "don't get eaten". That raises a point that may not be entirely obvious - the wild lands of Talislanta are ridiculously lethal. They're crawling with Kra, Vasps, Exomorphs, and demons of all descriptions, any one of which could finish off your standard hero in one bit. This is apros pos because in the next section we're going to see some of Za'dar's adventures in the wilderlands.

Chapter 15 - Za'dar on the Rocks

This is the start of the Za'dar section where the story will follow the adventures of Za'dar for a while. Feurid's adventures (and there are quite a few of them) will have to wait for a bit. This is a short one, but they get longer after this for a while.

Chapter 15 - Za'dar on the Rocks.pdf

Chapter 14 - Waterspout

I've got a spare minute so.... chapter 14!

Chapter 14 - Waterspout.pdf

Update

I had a good session yesterday morning going over the next few chapters and getting them ready to publish. I hope I'll get a chance to post them pretty soon, but it's going to be a busy day today. After this there's a section that has a few gaps, so unfortunately, posting may slow down a bit more. But after that comes the final section of the novel, the grand finale, the war, and all that sort of good stuff!

Chapter 13 - Parting

Some of these chapters are very short, I realize. This one is only a page long. In practice, they may be unified into larger chapters. I seem to think in short scenes for some reason. I makes things easier to organize in my head.

Chapter 13 - Parting.pdf