It has begun

ByJohn Brown

The very observant will note that the progress bar for draf 4 of CURSE OF A DARK GOD has moved. Here’s the opening, although I’m sure it will change. We’re on our way, folks.

It was well past midnight, and they were deep in enemy Fir-Noy territory.  There were eight of them: Talen, Sugar, River, and five of Shim’s soldiers, all of them staying back in the deep moon shadows at the edge of the wood, crouching low in the dry autumn weeds that had not yet been eaten down by the village livestock.  They had to be careful.  Talen, Sugar, and River all had sizeable Fir-Noy bounties on their heads.  And even though they wore weaves of might, being multiplied didn’t make their flesh impervious to arrows and blades. 

This vulnerability had been made abundantly clear to Talen in his training.  In addition to his many fine bruises and the finger which had recently healed from a break, he wore a bandage around his arm where a soldier had cut him in practice two days ago with a spear. 

The night shadows of the clouds played over the moonlit fields and houses and road that ran through the village of Plum.  The village where Sugar’s father had been killed and her mother taken and beaten.  The village where the Fir-Noy had burned her life to the ground.  The village that was their destination.

Purity, Sugar’s mother, had hidden valuables there.  Weaves and maybe a codex of lore.  Talen and the others had been tasked to steal into the village and retrieve the items, right under the noses of the sleeping Fir-Noy.

Except this wasn’t right.  They were supposed to have come out across from the ash ruins of Sugar’s old house.  “I think you’ve brought us to the wrong end,” Talen whispered to Sugar.

“No, I’m just coming to get what’s mine first.”  Sugar pointed up the road to the entrance of the village.

Talen followed her finger.  The Fir-Noy here had begun to build a wall around their village.  A wooden palisade atop a mound of dirt.  But she wasn’t pointing at the half-finished wall with its timber supports still showing like bones.  She was pointing at a tall pole that had been erected at the gate of the village.  Something had been fastened to the top of the pole.  Talen peered closer and saw a skull shining pale in the moonlight. 

“That’s your father’s, isn’t it?”

“You’re going to help me,” she said.  “He deserves better than that.”

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  • NEWS: Book Updates

    ByJohn Brown

    I finished draft three of BAD PENNY last week and have updated the progress bars.

    I’ve given the book to my agent, but because there are some contract terms that I’m unwilling to sign going forward, I need to make sure she’s comfortable representing me on it. I don’t want her doing a lot of work and bringing back what she thinks is a good deal only to have me refuse it. I’d rather discuss these up front and make sure we’re both on the same page. I hope to have her response back this week.

    I am now turning my focus to SERVANT and CURSE. I need to re-read both of them and then write up an outline of what I need to revise. I hope to finish SERVANT in June and CURSE in July. I’ll post my progress on the side bars as I go.

    The cover artist I’d hoped to use for both of these is unavailable at this time, dang it! So I’m currently reviewing candidates. If you know of an up-and-coming artist who you think would be good, click on the Contact Me link under my photo in the sidebar or post it in the comments.

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  • CONduit report & some interesting numbers

    ByJohn Brown

    CONduit is a conference for speculative fiction writers. This year’s conference was great. I was able to see and talk to a bunch of writer friends (Dave Wolverton, Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, Howard & Sandra Tayler, Eric James Stone, Ami Chopine, Darren Egget, Skipper Ritchotte, Mette Harrison), make some new ones (Lee Modesitt, James Dashner, Julie Wright, Aprilynne Pike, Larry Correia), plus chat with a multitude of others who are trying to break in. I also got to record with the Dragon Crawlers Radio guys. Nothing better than spending a weekend with a swarm of friendly and talented folks.

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    • Depending on the time of year, 4,000 – 5,000 hardbacks sold in a week will put you in the top ten, even the top three, on the NY Times bestseller list.

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  • Servant of a Dark God galley edit finished

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  • Boom–And I’m A Dean Koontz Fanboy!

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    PIC03011So after finishing The Husband I wrote a letter to Dean Koontz. I never expected a reply. Today I got a package in the mail. I picked it up, thinking it was a book from Amazon. The sender was Mr. Dean Koontz. What? Dean Koontz?!

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    Dean

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    For what it’s worth, the signature below is mine. I don’t use legions of monkeys trained to forge my name, in part because they don’t seem quite smart enough to learn what’s wanted of them; and although dolphins are no doubt smart enough, they don’t have hands.

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    To John–WOOF. Dean Koontz 12-18-09

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    Thanks for the thousands of hours you’ve put into writing that have allowed you to deliver these kinds of stories and characters who are interesting, funny, and, despite some flaws, deep down good. I appreciate your view of the world, a place where great evil can exist, but also people like Mary, Tim, and Pete.

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    John Brown

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  • Update on CURSE OF A DARK GOD – just finished numba 50

    ByJohn Brown

    I just finished chapter 50 and am heading into the climax sequence.  I have only 9 chapters left, and they should go fast. Right now I’m at 170,000 words. I’m going to finish a little over my target word length, but I don’t think it’s anything I can’t edit back down. 

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9 Comments

  3. Awesome.

    How much time has passed between this book and book 1? Or is that a secret?

  5. Nice! An interesting change from the draft of one of the versions I read. Out of curiosity, how much are you going to be able to salvage from v.3?

  6. Steve,

    Interesting question. The opening dance/festival is out. The bits with the orange-eyed priest of Mungo are gone as well, as are all of the scenes with the skirwolves. Eresh kept some of his, but his role has changed. Moon is gone. She’s passed away in this version. That cut really hurt, but that’s life. Still, I think this version will work just as well. Maybe better. The attack on Legs is gone and possibly the major event that occured with him towards the end (avoiding spoilers), but not sure yet. His role had to be reduced. The seabattle is gone. The final battle takes place in a new venue and changes in some significant ways, although you’ll recognize much of it. Same with some of Sugar’s episodes. And even though I’m keeping many of the scenes, like this opener with Sugar in the village of Plum, they have to be rewritten because the structure has changed. I’m planning on writing 130k words for this draft. So I slashed 70k, will rewrite about 130k (I think), that leaves probably about 40-50k that I should be able to simply cut and paste. I liked the previous draft a lot. But I think this should give the whole thing more velocity.

  8. This sounds great. I finished Servant a few months ago and have been waiting anxiously for the sequal ever since. I’ve been keeping myself occupied with college, work and other books in the meantime.

  9. Tony, all the more reason for me to get it done. Glad to hear you enjoyed book 1

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