A New Freebie -- From My Fantasy Series

As most of you know, I consider myself an "Every Genre Author." It's true. I've touched upon pretty much every genre there is, achieving a great deal of success over the last decade as a thriller author.

But when I started writing back in 2003, I was *just* a fantasy author. I had loved reading Lord of the Rings -- my father, who would have turned 77 today, handed me The Hobbit when I was 11 -- and R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms novels, and I decided to start writing about this halfling called Yanos Kingsfoil. A friend of mine called him a halfling with a Conan complex, which tickled me. Over time and with more words on the screen of my old Gateway computer, the story became more about the dwarf king, Radamuck Rosar, and finally about Grumpet T. Paddymeyer. After about a year an a half, I discovered my backstory, which became a set of prequel novels.

Well, today marks a few things: Back in 2013, I had taken the series off the market. I wasn't pleased with the writing. It was amateurish, and I had grown past that stage. In fact, I felt rather embarrassed by it. I didn't want anyone to see it. But with maturity and introspection, I decided in the winter of 2014-15 to go back and re-write/salvage what I could from that six-book series, and even inserted some short stories in that world I had written in 2009 into the prose in order to beef them up. The renewed series came out in a box set on Nov. 2, 2015.

And I had resolved, at some point, to get all the books out as singles, in both ebook and paperback. This past week, I finally did that -- and the first book in the series, The Rise Of The Dark Falcon, is now free on Kindle and iBooks (here's the link from my newsletter; feel free to subscribe to it).

And here they are!

I'm so pleased to have this series back out in the wild as solo books again. It is my genuine hope that readers who like Lord of the Rings, Forgotten Realms, World of Warcraft, etc. dive into these books. Try The Rise Of The Dark Falcon for free, on me. If you like it, move on to The Shadow Looms. In all, it'll be $14.95 for the other five ebooks, which is a rather good price, if I do say so myself. The paperbacks are $9.95 each, all on the Amazon placements.

So that's that. My first series of novels from long ago, re-released, the writing refined and strengthened. I'm so happy that they are finally out -- I still have two more to load up to Nook, with their hacking now resolved -- for single consumption again.

Happy reading.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

A quickie update in the business plan re-evaluation: So far, so good

As you're probably aware, I'm in the middle of re-vamping and re-evaluating my business plan. I outlined my goals earlier this month, and I wanted to use this time with you to give an update on my progress.

So far, so good: I'm through the hard part, a series of deep edits to three books: Turning Back The Clock and A Galaxy At War, which I wrote under my old 00's pen name of John Fitch V, as well as to Royal Switch. When I wrote that initial post, I had already gone through TBTC and chopped some 18,000 words and some change from the original book, removed head-hopping, as well as passive voice. I did the same with Royal Switch and ended up chopping 4,000 words from the original text and massaged some of the prose there. I had intended on re-writing the entire book from scratch, but after review, I think it's better this way. And that opening to the book? Not as big of an info dump as I thought!

Galaxy, though... it was as I suspected. Much like TBTC, there was unpolished writing full of head-hopping, passive voice... just a really unrefined book, if I'm being honest. I've said it before, I'll say it again -- I really wasn't a great writer back then. Great storyteller, sure. I weaved a good tale. Did I execute it properly? Absolutely not.

That is why it pains me to relay to you that I cut over 32,000 words -- more than a third of the book -- from Galaxy's original word count, turning it more into a story the size of Zombie Showdown or Scollay Love more than anything resembling the AGENT series; it's like the old dime novels, with some beef to them. Still, my hope is that the book is better from this exercise, and I will re-read the story around Christmas to make sure it is just that. I will do the same with TBTC and Royal Switch, then re-brand with new covers. My hope is that all three books will be out for public consumption in March.

And speaking of new covers...

So far, Terry has come through with four of the six new covers for Obloeron. I've gotten peeks of what he has done, and it's amazing. At some point this week, I will make the refreshed cover for Scollay Love -- which should just be the old cover, resized for paperback -- and I will get back to my website and make sure I don't have the wrong links for Apple iBooks; some of them go to the Euro pricing, not the American. I've gone through the links in the bookstore to make sure I have no broken links.

Phew.

What's next? In looking at my list, I see there are many things I can do. Copy and paste the AGENT novels into specific three-book files for segmented box sets. I can do that. The same for Obloeron. I can sign up for BookFunnel to distribute my not-yet-written freebie; I still haven't decided if it should be a Jaclyn freebie, or something else. 

I can start doing additional research for Glorious Rise. I can look into more advertising. I can do this. I can do that.

Really, so much still to do!

But the fact that I've gotten most of the really hard stuff out of the way... yeah, I'm happy with that, and my progress.

We'll take the victories, however small, as they come.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

Looking back at 2017, my hopes for 2018

Over the last few years, I've resolved to do this, or set out to do that, as the calendar turns from the old year to the new one. You can look back at my archives for them.

As we enter 2018, I resolve to do none of that. Instead, I look toward hope.

I'll be honest: 2017 was a rather mixed bag for this author. I was successful in several ways. I achieved my resolution of publishing two books during the course of the calendar year, which is usually an assurance from me; accomplishment, sure, but when I'm doing two and sometimes three books a year, it gets to be old hat. I had a successful Plastic City Comic Con at the end of July, where I sold 20 books, many to local friends who had never bought a book of mine before. And I think I prepared well for it. I found several new readers, all of whom I hope I'll keep as 2018 winds it way toward 2019, and so on.

Where did I fail?

How much time do you have?

Many of my failings occurred due to my financial situation. As a freelancer sportswriter, my income is dependent on the amount of stories I write, as well as the newspaper's budget. If the weather sucks--hello, potential Snowicane later this week--and games get cancelled, I'm out X amount for that day. If the paper doesn't have anything for me, then I don't work. And I only work for one paper now exclusively, plus two one-hour appearances on the local radio station. The radio money helps, but it's not enough to devote extra funds toward making my publishing business as successful as it can be.


I'm also responsible for a certain amount of the bills/expenses here. Let's just say that with our expenses, none of which we can really cut, coupled with a limited amount of sports stories and subpar book sales (only 400 this past year, down from 2016 by about a third), I wasn't able to do everything I set out to do publishing-wise last year.

Buy artwork for covers in order to freshen up the backlist? Couldn't do it. The Obloeron Saga, Royal Switch, Scollay Love, and the Furball and Feathers children's series remain ebook only for the time being, and Furball and Feathers are on the shelf until I can get the money for new covers.

Advertise more? Couldn't do it. Reclaim my audience? You're having a laugh.

With certain entities such as Kindle Unlimited/KDP Select limiting single copy ebook sales (I refuse to go narrow and exclusive, as I have fans that use Nook, Kobo, and Apple), as well as Facebook limiting organic reach on my posts (and with Facebook doing more to limit organic reach in 2018) and Twitter sending me emails every day to spend money to advertise with them, sometimes I feel like I'm pretty much yelling into a funnel cloud when it comes to everything marketing-related. You have to spend money to make money, yes, that's a given... but you can't spend what you don't have. Without large amounts of money coming in the door, I'm just treading water.

So...

I hope to get what I didn't get done in 2017 done in 2018. This isn't a resolution, per se. If I get it done, fantastic. If I can't, well... there's nothing else I can say except for people reading this to buy books, review them, tell people about them, buy them as gifts, and keep buying them, since my outside fiction writing income isn't growing by any stretch of the imagination.

But there's plenty more that I hope to accomplish in the next 364 days and some change roll on.

* I'm in the midst of a new men's adventure/historical romance series--the Glorious series--which I'm planning on releasing under the D.L. Boyd pen name. It's Outlander-esque, but not as long-winded, I hope. I'm about 17,000 words or so into the story, and I suspect the first book will take me until the end of March to write. Of course, I'm trying not to rush the story, so I'm writing about a page or so a day (because the early portion of the series is slow-going, too, and I want to make sure it's right; plus my time has not really been my own, between re-learning how to balance my time after this past fall, as well as dental issues which kept me away from my manuscript). I'm also trying to be careful of minutiae, while utilizing a different voice for the story. If all goes well, book one's first draft, like I said, will be done by the end of March. That's three more months. Book two will take me until the end of July/early August, while the third book should take me through the end of the year. Again, if everything goes right. The release schedule is a little more complicated, but we'll see how everything falls into place. Of course, I could get all three written rather quickly, but I doubt that will happen. Just going by the last couple of years.

* If there's time, I hope to get a few other projects revised and out for human consumption, such as a currently not published princess piece I wrote a few years ago involving my cousin's daughters. They are a little older now, so I want to give them something a little older, and possibly edgier. I need a solid cover for it, too... which involves money.

* With that type of schedule planned, plus all of my other commitments between sportswriting and radio commentary (planning the garden, actually carrying out the garden, taking up a great deal of time and preparation, I may be biting off more than I can chew when I say that I want to do other things writing-wise. I would like to plan out the third Ricky Madison novel, and I'd like to write an erotic thriller, like the old Skinemax late-night flicks of the 1990s (don't lie, you watched them, too). Those two thoughts may get pushed to 2019, dependent on how I do with the Glorious series and other projects.

Definitely on the writing/publishing agenda in 2018:

** Write the first Glorious novel, finishing the first draft in late March
** Publish Scouring Agent: A Thriller in mid-to-late February

** Write the second Glorious novel
** Publish the first Glorious novel (fall)
** Write the third Glorious novel
** Possibly publish the second one by the end of the year

Anything outside of that plan, I'm going to consider gravy.

It's a lot, and I hope I and come out of 2018 happy and accomplished.

Happy New Year, 2018.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

A few loosey-goosey updates

Since I don't have much time to spare this weekend--today is an errands-and-laundry day, and tomorrow is the first day of the Clark High School Basketball Tournament and I'm working it all day; and Monday is a travel day--I wanted to go over a few things with you that I haven't mentioned here recently.

First off, Persuaded By The Reflections is finished. The first draft is, anyway. The MS clocked in at a little over 135,000 words, and let me tell you: I'm overjoyed by that total. At it stands, its first draft total is slightly less than what I wrote for Redeemed, but I published that book at 132,000 and some change. I don't expect to make any cuts to Persuaded; if anything, I'm going to enhance the story and add to it. Since I finished it on Feb. 6--the day after my Patriots won the Super Bowl--I'll give it a respectful three months to June 6 before I start editing.

If everything goes correctly, and if the pre-readers I have lined up give me the feedback I need and do so by the end of August/middle of September, I see no reason why this book can't be in your hands by the end of November. The pessimistic side of me says January or February of next year, which would mean nearly a year between releases.

And maybe in hardcover? We'll see about that.

Secondly, the launch of Ticket Agent went fairly well. There was one day this week where I didn't sell a copy, but so far, so good. Would love more eyes on it. I'd actually like more eyes on the entirety of the now-eight book series: I think I've said this before, that if half the people who downloaded Model Agent for free liked it and moved on with the series--it's $2.99 for each digital book, people--I would be a happy miser indeed, and I wouldn't have to cover high school sports again (although there's a part of me feels that I'm being pushed out of that profession right now, but that's another story). That's the ultimate goal, to get out of sportswriting on my own terms. Getting solid sell-through in the Agent series will aid in me achieving that goal.

Third, I have an outline for the ninth Agent novel, Scouring Agent, printed up. I've been thinking about what I'm going to do in Scouring Agent since November--actually, I had an inkling of one scene back in February or March of 2016, and it just built from there--and I've finally put it all together. I made the outline linear yesterday; before, the file was just a jumbled, out-of-order series of notes. Now it's a four-page treatment of awesome, and today I can see the book clearer than I did last year. This novel will have a different feel to it--at least that's how I intend it--and I'm planning on starting it next Thursday, after I get back from Cape Cod. What I may do is similar to what I did for Ticket: write a short story leading into it that I'll give away here on the blog, one that doesn't have the pop of the novel proper but gives the reader insight to what's happening, then start the novel proper.

Fourth, I've already started doing some brainstorming on my next series, which I plan to release under the D.L. Boyd name. Can't say much more on that right now.

And finally... I've lowered the price on The Peg-Legged Privateer's digital version, i.e. Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBooks. I had it listed at $4.99 from its December 12 release until earlier this week, and at that price, I only sold 15 copies. While I am grateful for those who bought it at $4.99, I hadn't sold a single copy in about a month, and let's admit it, folks: this is a volume business. I've expressed misgivings in the past about being able to command a price higher than $2.99 and do so with regular volume, and I think this experiment proves that I can't command a higher price. I feel this book--my return to the fantasy genre--is better than anything in The Obloeron Saga, and should have a chance to perform well, especially if I want to write a second book using these characters. At $2.99, I'm hoping to do volume sales. If you haven't taken Paulina and the Good Queen Bess out for a spin yet, you can do so at this link. A good price for a good book.

Enjoy your weekend, and by all means, pick up a solid read.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

The Paperbacks (well, some of them) Are Coming

You may recall that in the days before last weekend and the turn of the calendar, I posted my list of writing resolutions for 2017. One of my resolutions, right in the middle, was to learn how to do wraparound book covers for paperback books through CreateSpace.

As I wrote in that blog: Honestly, I should know how to do a wraparound.

Of course, there's a reason why I didn't, and as always, I'll be honest with you: I was scared. Scared to fuck up what is supposed to be one of the most important parts of a book. I can tell you that looking at the specs in order to create a cover--and this was before I discovered they had templates to do your wraparounds--I easily felt my rear end pucker with fear.

So with that known, I decided to outsource my paperbacks to people more competent in PhotoShop. First Trish, then D.W. Bruce gave me an awesome cover to Zombie Showdown. They delivered quality work, and I was proud of what they easily created.

But as my own PhotoShop skills increased, I felt I needed to learn how to do them myself, especially after last year's local Comic Con--July 29th, this year--made me realize that I needed more on-hand product. And as I wrote in early August, I wanted the product out in time for this past Christmas sales, but that didn't happen: the interior files I did that week, but I couldn't do the wraparounds. I sat on them. I decided just before the New Year that I needed to watch a tutorial on YouTube--seriously, there is a tutorial for everything on YouTube--and learn how to do it.

I found some time for the tutorial this past Friday, and right after that, I got bold: I did the wraparound cover to The Lone Bostonian, a book I've wanted to get into paperback for a while. It took me about half an hour or thereabouts, and I managed to create a solid wraparound.

Still, I wanted to puke afterward.

Saturday afternoon, I did the wraparounds for An Invitation To Drink... Or To Die: A Murder Mystery Novella and Scollay Love: A Romance, the latter under my D.L. Boyd pen name. The novella went through without a problem. Scollay Love, on the other hand... I didn't use the .psd for the front cover, since I deleted it a while back, and I found out earlier this morning there were bleed issues on the ebook cover version, which I used. As soon as I can afford to re-download the cover, I will re-do the .psd in order to get the paperback out there. So right now, Scollay Love is on hold for paperback.

And this morning, I did the covers to the Small Town P.I. series' individual books. Those went like clockwork, and probably took an hour of time. I'm expecting those five finished paperbacks, three novels and two novellas, to be available for sale by the end of this week.

I'm holding off on a few of the last books I need to do for now: Royal Switch, like I wrote in the resolutions blog, is on hold until the summer: I want to do a full revision on the story and move a few things around, quite possibly after I write the first draft to the ninth Jaclyn Johnson novel. In addition, I want to improve the cover and see what I can do with it.

In addition, the Obloeron novels aren't ready for singling--i.e., I don't have individual covers yet--so there are no Obloeron paperbacks at present. There are also no Obloeron single ebook versions yet, either. One thing at a time.

Still... getting these five books out is a great relief.

Now... about getting certain books out in hardcover--we're working on that.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

A Look at my post-Convention Progress

Three weeks ago, I posted a blog about my restructured goals for the next 11-plus months, and how it was just part in parcel of rebuilding my audience and all that good stuff.

Three weeks later, I’ve made considerable progress. Let’s take a quickie peek at all I’ve done in just 21-plus days.

Everything needs to be in print

This was first for a reason, as you read in that blog post. In the first few days after I typed it, I started formatting all of my work for paperback. It was tedious and time-consuming. I had to make sure every single book had the proper formatting, things that needed centering were centered, etc. Within three days or so, I had everything formatted.

I also needed wraparound covers. The first three Jaclyn novels all had Trish’s covers on their paperbacks, and as I’ve explained, the newer ones David created follows the branding from Spring 2014.

So how am I doing on this goal? So far, so good on this one: a week ago, I uploaded the following: Model Agent (new wraparound, second edition prose), Rogue Agent (new wraparound), Double Agent (new wraparound), Promises Given Promises Kept, as well as Zombie Showdown for print. All are now available on Amazon, and you can always access Amazon via my bookstore.

That being said: the entirety of the AGENT series is now available in print.

There are still a few wraparounds that need doing, but we’ll get to them in time: I need wraparound art for the Obloeron novels, which will cost a little bit of money. Not a lot, but more than I have right now. I’m waiting on a few others, but like I said I’m not too worried about this until late November and the start of the Christmas season.

More ebook bundles

I took care of one series recently. On Sunday, I uploaded the three-book Small Town P.I. series to Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and iBooks (the last through Draft2Digital), with a nifty cover that I did, with 3D work done by David. I’m just waiting on iBooks to publish before I make the formal release announcement.

(Quick aside: That is a hint. You can search for my name and the Small Town P.I. series at your favorite ebook retailer, unless your favorite ebook retailer is iBooks.)

As for a Jaclyn box set, I’m working on it. I’m thinking about penning a novella to throw on the front of it, with stuff that happens before Model Agent. Just to give readers bonus material.

A new series

I may have come up with an idea for a set of stories over the weekend. It would be a series of romances set in Colonial Boston (because of course it has to be Boston; why else wouldn’t it?) under the D.L. Boyd pen name. Of course, I’m thinking time travel, inspired by Outlander—but trying to not make it like Outlander. I don’t want it to be an Outlander rip-off (and if you think I’ve written the word Outlander three times and now a fourth for the Google hits, you know me too well). You get what I mean? I hope so.

A new action/adventure series is still up in the air for me, but I’m not stressing about it right now. I surpassed 12,511 words in The Long Crimson Line’s follow-up today, in the middle of chapter three.

Getting Furball and Feathers out with new cover art

I’m hoping to take care of that when I can breathe. It’s fourth on my to do list for a reason.

Convention prep

Rome wasn’t built in a day. I’m not planning on doing any conventions until next year at the earliest, and convention season is starting to wind down. During free moments, I’m thinking about certain items, and what I want to accomplish. I have a whole list of things that I need to take care of.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

A look back at my 2015 blogs

I'm going to come right out and say this wasn't my original idea. No, my pal Jim C. Hines came up with this idea the other day, and I thought, "If it's good for Jimmy, then it's good for me." And notice how I get all my excellent ideas from Jim?

Anyway...

In 2015, I wrote 38 blogs prior to this one. I did a hodge-podge of books and food, as well as a trip to Cape Cod. Which ones were the most popular? You'll be surprised.

10. The Obloeron Re-writes: Back at it (69 views)

We can't escape Obloeron! This blog from late June--right after the end of Chemical Agent's first draft and the release of The Long Crimson Line--tackles the start of the second stage of the Re-writes.

9. Inside Travel Agent (72 views)

I answer a few questions about the contents of the sixth full-length Jaclyn Johnson novel.

8. Recipe Wednesday: Crock pot Pork Chops (79 views)

A blog post unrelated to books! I know, it's a miracle. Getting hungry re-reading this particular piece.

7. Cape Cod pictures from Ballston Beach in Truro (84 views)

A nice little photo spread of our trip to Truro back in April.

6. Cover reveal and pre-order links for The Long Crimson Line (86 views)

Pretty self-explanatory. I revealed the cover design--which was much better than my original idea, which was a rear view of a leggings-wearing woman holding a knife--for The Long Crimson Line, and gave folks to opportunity to pre-order it.

5. Sample Sunday--Travel Agent: A Thriller, Chapter 1 (94 views)

Again, pretty self-explanatory: Chapter 1 from what was the newest Jaclyn Johnson novel, Travel Agent.

4. The Obloeron Re-writes: A snippet of change (106 views)

One of the blogs I wrote back in January--OK, a few of them I wrote in January--dealt with the first stage of my re-writes in The Obloeron Saga. This particular blog showed how I improved one particular passage in The Quest For The Chalice.

3. An author, re-assessing his business plan (121 views)

In what was my longest blog post of 2015, I rambled about the current state of affairs in book-selling, as well as how I'm going to tackle it. I really still haven't tackled it, but we're getting there.

2. Have you pre-ordered The Obloeron Saga yet? (127 views)

Our second most popular blog came in late October. And while you can't pre-order it any longer, it is still available at 99 cents... for now.

1. Coming soon--The Long Crimson Line: A Thriller (156 views)

Amazing: my most popular blog was a snippet of Chapter 1, and it came on my birthday, to boot! Happy birthday? HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

And there you have it: A look back at my 10 most popular blogs of 2015.

Will I match my blog output in 2016? Will I surpass it? You'll have to come back next year to find out. Keep reading.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

Happy Book Day--Remembering the last 13 years of Obloeron

Update: The Nook link is at the bottom. -- SMS


When I was in the closing stages of this renewed edition of THE OBLOERON SAGA, I had promised myself that I wouldn't cry. I didn't cry when I finished the final edits (both times). I didn't cry when I finished the first drafts, save the first one--and there were plenty of emotional moments during those two-plus years, let me tell you. I don't cry often (at least that's what I tell you here).

So you may be a bit shocked to hear that I cried the other day. Yup. I did.

I was in the office upstairs, getting everything finished and nice and tidy for you. I had all of my files, all four of them, formatted. I had inserted Deborah Levinson's wonderfully written Foreword into all four files. I had the blurb and all the details about the SAGA ready. The cover? Ready to go.

I uploaded to all four simultaneously (Nook, however, wouldn't process until this morning). Kindle and Kobo went straight to publishing for pre-order.

Smashwords... ah, Smashwords. It was while Smashwords' famed "Meatgrinder" went about its business of getting the book out there that all the memories of the last 13 years came whizzing through my mind......

The memory of wanting to write a simple story about a halfling. I had percolated in my mind for a few months while I sold cell phones at the mall. I then recall sitting down in my bedroom on Jan. 4, 2003, my first Gateway computer fired up. I had named the initial file YanosKingsfoil.doc. The first four chapters came formed, and I wrote them in a few weeks. I had the first line of what was then chapter five written... and then I stumbled.

I eventually finished chapter five some six months later, in between dad's funeral and his burial.

Dad, I hope you're watching. I hope you're proud of the author I have become. I did it.... and I miss you.

I had put those first five chapters on the shelf afterward and let the story marinate a bit. It wasn't until I heard R.A. Salvatore speak at the Westminster Public Library a year or so later did I decide to return to the novel--I had told my mom as we left the library that I would finish that book after I heard Bob say that "There is no such thing as writer's block." Less than a week later, I had my brainstorm about Krampel Paddymeyer. It was just an idea and didn't come fully formed at the time. I pressed myself to write those last 80,000 words or so in THE QUEST FOR THE CHALICE; I celebrated hard when I made it to 100 pages of manuscript.

I had wept Christmas Night 2004, when I thought I had lost the entire manuscript (friggin' 3D models of the save icon). I breathed a sigh of relief when I had recovered it.

I worked and worked and worked until I had my manuscript. I got right to work on book two.

I wrote book two a little faster than book one. I wrote book three, and I had my trilogy. After a few other books, I started writing my prequel stories. I wrote a series of short stories in 2009. I remember family of friends taunting me for my weird-sounding character and places names.

I published the original trilogy shortly thereafter. I felt so proud of what I had done. I did the same with more books, and more books. My skills improved.

I recall re-reading it in 2013 and discovering that it was crap. I shelved it. I removed it from sale.

I didn't want it to see the light of day again.

And then... I decided, with my present skills, to return to Obloeron. It was time. I took the short stories I had written and figured how to weave them into the story. There was a question of taking one and attaching it to the end of the third--then unreleased--prequel, but instead I decided to use it as a connecting piece. I took another, polished it up, and attached it to the start of my first novel from nearly 13 years ago.

I started re-writing the novels where they needed re-writing. That took a few weeks, before I started to salvage (and as I've already noted, that was a good thing).

I let them sit for a while. I returned to them in July of this year, then again in September.

And now... they're back. Six books, including the previously unseen third prequel novel, KRAMPEL'S REVENGE. Happy Book Day, Sean. Happy Book Day.

If you pre-ordered the box set, thank you. If you're thinking about buying it for only 99 cents, know that you're buying a project that has touched my heart and my life more than any book series ever should.

If you're new here, enjoy the ride.

At the moment, this is the only available edition of Obloeron: On Friday, I took down the two existing individual prequels for the time being: I need to update the covers and re-brand, and right now is not the time, financially-speaking, to do that. Besides, you're getting all six books for .99 cents instead of paying $2.99 each. Doesn't exactly make sense to have them all up right now, does it?

Here are the links:

US Kindle
UK Kindle
Nook
Kobo
Smashwords

***

And now, a quick word about the future of this particular world:

The last short story in this series was intended, in 2009, to be the jumping-off point for a sequel series; obviously, I took the George Lucas approach with this entire saga, writing the second three books first, then go on to write the first three books second, then drop the series entirety. It was completely unintentional.

Once I started writing the AGENT series some seven months later, I put the sequel series of Obloeron on the shelf. I started enjoying a great deal of success as a thriller author (I still do), but there is a part of me which would love to go back to that world and cause a little damage. And seeing that I'm currently in the first draft stage of an unrelated fantasy novel (more on that next week, I think), there is a desire in my heart to go back to Obloeron and write a few new books in the world.

But--and this is a pretty huge but here--I will only do so if there is a call for it. If the SAGA sells well and it is well-received, I'll start brainstorming next month. We'll get a cover made, and we'll get the book out.

Only if there's a call for it.

Let me know.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

#SampleSunday--THE OBLOERON SAGA

A first glimpse into THE OBLOERON SAGA. I give you the opening to THE QUEST FOR THE CHALICE, my first novel and (chronologically) the fourth story in the SAGA.

***

No matter where he went in his kingdom, Radamuck Rosar had difficulty escaping the whispers.

The taunting voices, all filled with sadistic vitriol, chased him throughout the realm of Lowbridge, the rock walls failing to absorb the echoes. Even a great grumble from the dwarf king’s gut, whether through his mouth or from his arse, couldn’t silence them.

In the fifty long years since Radamuck returned from the seemingly ancient wars away to the south, there had been no sign of a coming heir to the great dwarven kingdom, the one he now ruled as its 24^th King. He and his wife had tried desperately to produce a male child, one who would take over the kingdom once Radamuck, like his father Ricanack before him, went to the Great Void Beyond.

For his part, though, Radamuck had ensured the day-to-day operations of the kingdom would continue by someone of royal blood and not a steward: upon his return, he immediately named Aidan, his nephew, as the heir presumptive to the Throne of the Golden Mug. Even so, it clearly gnawed on his nerves that he still did not have a son. He was now up there in age, and he knew that his best breeding years had passed far behind him.

If I do not have an heir soon, a true heir o’ me own loins and not me dead brother’s, he thought, the blame would lie with me.

Radamuck walked the corridors alone at night while the rest of the kingdom slept. It was a haunting thought, not being able to produce an heir. It attacked his nightmares and, at times when he was not busy, his daydreams. He wondered how he would solve this problem—he absolutely forbade himself to see a cleric about this; he knew their lips were a tad loose, even though the entire kingdom already knew what haunted Radamuck’s steps—when the idea struck him. The thought made the echoes that crept along his path cease, and instead the whisperings in his mind grew louder with each beat of his heart.

Immortality will embrace yeh, Radamuck Rosar, he heard.

He grimaced and grunted. He shook his head once as he resumed his pace.

Immortality may be the answer, he thought, but it would come at a price, a sad price: I would continue living while me beautiful wife, the Lady Rosar, would perish. I would go on in this world without her.

Another grunt poured from his lips, as if he tried to dull the sounds of his heart shattering against his ribcage.

It was a debate, a debate that he had never given heed to before: In order to produce an heir, he needed no stress at all.

He snorted.

I am always under such stress, he thought. The pressures of ruling me kingdom, the pressures o’ producing an heir, all on me broad shoulders. He shook his black beard. But should me loins not do the job with which they were tasked to do in the first place…

His thoughts trailed off with a tight grimace and a deep breath through his large, pockmarked nose. He made his way to his royal bedchamber, walking along the twisting passageways with his head down.

Radamuck didn’t even look up as he entered.

“It’s about time you got back from your stroll.”

He stifled a cry even as he jumped. He looked through the darkness until a tiny burst of light appeared near his bedside. The smell of cordite lingered.

“Yeh made me heart shoot into me throat. What are yeh still doin’ awake?”

“I could ask you the same question, dear.” Lady Rosar’s retort was sharp.

Radamuck grew silent; his left cheek twitched near the corner of his mouth.

“Ah, yeh know,” he said, scrambling for the words, his eyes darting around the room and not meeting his wife’s eyes, “just the affairs o’ the day; some thin’s that be on me mind ‘bout the direction of me kingdom.”

“You’re lying to me, Radamuck, and you know that I know you’re lying to me.”

“I’m not lyin’ to yeh.”

“You just did it again.”

The stern look she gave him, he saw, was as powerful a stare as he ever gave an underling. Radamuck’s throat went suspiciously dry.

“What do yeh want from me, love?” he said softly.

“The truth would be a nice start.”

She had said it so simply and without anger that he felt his burly, dwarven façade crumble under the weight of her words.

Lady Rosar slipped out of bed and walked toward him. He was defenseless now, and he knew this. She wrapped her arms around him. He felt the tension in his body evaporate under the heat of her flesh.

“What is it, my love?” she asked as she ran her hands across his back. “Tell me.”

Radamuck’s grunt filled the room. His mind kept whirling, the incessant vortex of thought—the thoughts that plagued his footsteps and his day-to-day life for the last decade—not shifting aside, not even for his wife.

 “Don’t tell me now. Tell me later today; you need rest. Summon Aidan to you in the morning, and tell him he’s in charge of the kingdom for the day. You and I are headed out into the fields for a day of relaxation, and that means no axes,” she whispered; Radamuck slumped. “Then, you can tell me everything you need to tell me, because if you don’t tell me, I’ll hound you until you tell me.”

Radamuck snorted.

“OK, love. I’ll tell yeh then. Until then, I need some sleep.”

“Of course you do,” she said with a smile. “Come to bed, and we’ll sleep until the sun rises.”

Once in bed and his head hit the pillow, Radamuck was out.

But the thoughts—oh, those thoughts. The thoughts remained entrenched in his subconscious. The nightmares filled his mind with visions of what he thought would come to pass; the disembodied view of his corpse slowly consumed by magical flames without a son to mourn him, the kingdom run by one of his steward’s bastardy as they went after, captured, and killed Aidan. Sweat poured down Radamuck’s face as every image made his flesh tingle with unseen tremors.

Radamuck’s eyes eventually sprang open, the sweat dropping in and stinging them as he lurched upward with a heavy gasp. His lungs burned as he tried to suck the sweet air clinging to every crevice, every nook and cranny, even from the stone itself. He wiped his wrist across his brow; the tiny hairs were damp.

The king looked to his right, where his queen slept soundly, seemingly undisturbed by the fear gnawing at her husband’s insides. He took a deep breath and tried not to grumble; he didn’t want to wake his wife with troubles he felt were his and his alone. He returned his head to its soft mooring before finally falling into contented sleep.

Like what you've read? THE OBLOERON SAGA comes out TOMORROW... Monday, Nov. 2, 2015, on all ebook retailers.

Pre-order your copy for Kindle or Kobo at the links indicated and get it before everyone else!

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

Kobo doing it again with a 50 percent off sale

I've mentioned before how we authors are a pretty obsessive bunch, especially when it comes to our book sales. I won't re-hash it, but you can find my obsessive-compulsiveness in my archives.

This weekend, coupled with the release of THE OBLOERON SAGA and the need to increase the pre-orders in the days prior to Monday's release, the good folks over at Kobo are going to have me and many other authors doing a frantic F5 every waking minute over the next six days or so: they are running another 50 percent off sale on all books published through Kobo Writing Life, and thankfully, I'm one of those authors who do this, and only use Smashwords for iBooks and other reading entities; I upload to Kindle, Nook, and Kobo separately.

This means that for you Kobo users out there--you can pre-order THE OBLOERON SAGA and get it for something like 48 cents.

Read that line again.

Really? Six books plus three short stories for only 48 cents?! Seriously? My other books from $1.50-$2 each? I have two words for that, ladies and gents, and that is LEGAL THIEVERY.

And I love it.

So go on, Kobo readers, go on and do it. STEAL MY BOX SET. I double dare you to. Do so for half the price this weekend, using these coupon codes at checkout:

Canada users, from Oct. 28-Oct 31: CA50SALE
United States/Australia/New Zealand users, from Oct. 28-Oct 30: GET50SALE
United Kingdom users, from Oct. 30-Nov. 2 (RELEASE DAY!): UK50SALE

Here's the link to all of my books on Kobo. HAVE AT IT!

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

Have you pre-ordered THE OBLOERON SAGA yet?

We're just under a week away until the triumphant return of THE OBLOERON SAGA to all eTailer shelves, and I just have one question--have you pre-ordered your copy yet?

You haven't? Oy, vey, what am I going to do with you lot?

Yup, you guessed it. I'm going to inundate you with a bunch of links.

For those of you with Kindle, click here and simply fix the URL to your particular country/Amazon shop. For those of you with Kobo, click here. I don't have a link for Nook's placement yet, but you can always sideload on Nov. 2 through Smashwords, or you can wait for Nook's placement to pop up; in related news, Nook should allow for pre-orders. It will only cost you a measly--A MEASLY--.99 cents for six books, plus three short stories which tell you the full story of the goings-on on Obloeron.

Not only that, but remember--the prose has seen a bit of an upheaval, too. I've embedded two other short stories into the existing prose to beef up the story a bit, to give a little more additional context to it. You may have read the TRILOGY before. You may have read the first two books in the prequels.

You don't know the entire story.

In one week--Monday, November 2, 2015--you totally, totally will. It's almost here. Pre-order today.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

COMING SOON--THE OBLOERON SAGA

When one man puts aside a great destiny, it falls on another to pick it up.

This is the full, six-book THE OBLOERON SAGA bundle, which first appeared in 2009 under my old pseudonym, John Fitch V. The first five fantasy novels were published before 2013, and now the series comes together with the previously unreleased third novel, KRAMPEL'S REVENGE.

In addition, there is previously unseen prose in the form of three short stories the author has weaved into the tale, and gives the full look at some previously unanswered questions from the original three novels.

Starting with the short story The Creation of Flad-rul, the SAGA tells of Krampel Paddymeyer’s journey from that of slave to bounty hunter, from bounty hunter to war hero. Then the original trilogy picks up with Krampel’s grandson, Grumpet, his heir, as well as the tale of Radamuck Rosar’s journey with these two great men. Add in a halfling with a warrior complex, a bit of love, and plenty of orcs, and you have a fantasy story set to stand the test of time.

The Saga includes:

The Creation of Flad-rul (short story/prologue)

The Rise of the Dark Falcon (prequel one)

The Shadow Looms (prequel two)

Krampel’s Revenge (prequel three, previously unreleased)

Krampel’s Flight to Kayiko (short story/interstitial)

The Quest for the Chalice (original one)

The Return to Lowbridge (original two)

The Fall of Myrindar (original three)

Grumpet’s First Day (short story/epilogue)

Coming SOON to an eTailer near you! Join my mailing list (the form is at the top of the blog) to find out when it's available!

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

The Obloeron Re-writes: Dark Falcon done, on to The Shadow Looms

The last third of The Rise of the Dark Falcon took me about three hours to read through and fix Thursday morning; there was a little bit to fix, and when it was all said and done, I had removed about 2,000 words--needless words--from that book. I feel the book is better now.

(*gulp* I hope.)

After a little bit of a break and some errands, I started work on The Shadow Looms, the middle book in the prequel series and the second book in the series proper. I did a little re-writing in the opening page, as I felt that it didn't flow properly.

Of course, why didn't I realize this three years ago?

I really don't have an answer. Consider this as author-ly maturity on my part. Really.

In all, I did about 16 pages--the first two chapters in this book--before I called it a day and settled in for the Patriots game. Back at it this morning? You bet. I figure that I'll get a third of the way through the novel (about 45 2/3 pages, so about 29 pages today) by the time I have to eat and leave for my football game--high school football coverage starts tonight; on Saturday, I may get in a couple of hours work done in the late morning as I have a soccer game to cover in the afternoon, as well as a hay and grain run before that. Ponies have to eat, too.

Sunday, though... Sunday I should get quite a bit done, maybe to the two-thirds mark, while I have soccer on in the background before I settle in and watch football. I figure that I'll finish up The Shadow Looms before I head to my afternoon soccer game on Monday, which means I'll be a third of the way through The Obloeron Saga in just less than a week.

Exciting stuff over here.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

The Obloeron Re-Writes: Finishing up Dark Falcon

This morning, I plan to get started on the final third of The Rise of the Dark Falcon. It's a wicked big deal, folks.

So far, I've spent the last two days removing passive voice I had missed during the last edit, as well as tightening certain sections and deleting extraneous phrasing that, as I see it now, is either redundant or unnecessary to the story.

The hope is that by 1 p.m. this afternoon, I will be done with Dark Falcon and can move on to The Shadow Looms. 

At least that's my plan.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Moving right along.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

The Obloeron Re-Writes: The best laid plans, they need a-changing

I think the title of today's blog says it all.

*looks up*

OK, maybe not. I'll explain.

As you read Tuesday, my whole plan was to get started on the final read of The Obloeron Saga. I was pumped and ready to curl up with my Kindle and get reading, all to make sure that the entirety of the book is ready to go in time for its Nov. 2 re-release. Reading it in September means I have a month to fix it if it isn't ready.

However, not everything goes to plan, and my second emotion from yesterday reared its ugly head.

As I laid in bed reading in the air conditioning--yes, it is friggin' hot here in Massachusetts--I had a legal pad next to me as I jotted down some notes regarding changes for the first chapter in The Rise of the Dark Falcon. I got through the chapter relatively unscathed, until I found some dreaded passive voice lingering in the tail end of the chapter.

Wait, what? Didn't I take care of that this summer? Apparently, I missed a bit--and yes, this time, it's on me. I'm a little upset and a little frustrated, but I'm persevering as I put my nose to the ol' grindstone.

In addition, as I sit here a third of the way through yet another draft--what is this now, draft No. 10?--I had to clear up some befuddled sentences in the next few chapters. I chose to speak some parts aloud to make sure they make sense. Again, I hope that with this full look-see is done, all 811 pages or thereabouts, it will be DONE. Complete. Finito.

I also realized something yesterday. Obloeron is, without a doubt, my personal Dark Tower series, ladies and gents. Much like King, you'll find that this is the defining series of my early career, and it will, I'm sure, read like an early career series. My hope is that when it is all said and done, you will feel a mishmash of early and now as you read it.

More reading on tap for today, another forty pages or so. Can't you feel my excitement?

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

The Obloeron Re-writes: Time to read

The day I've waited for has arrived: the day I start my final re-read of THE OBLOERON SAGA. Today, I'll curl up with my Kindle and just read. Read and drink coffee. Drink coffee and read. With nowhere to go today, my hope is that I'll get most of THE RISE OF THE DARK FALCON read; I'll probably only get half of it read, which isn't a bad thing. I want to pace myself. I read the lead-in short on Sunday night, and it needed a little tweaking; I took care of that yesterday. Now, I jump into the saga proper. I'll take notes if anything jumps out at me.

I'm going through several different emotions here. The first, of course, is that I really can't contain my excitement. I'm uber-excited, shall we say, to dive into the series and look at it as one entire story, not just as six individual parts. I believe that the story is so much better for the work I've already put in since last December, and I believe you'll feel the same.

The second feeling is that I'm nervous that there is still loads more to do, a fear that I have forgotten to do something over these last ten months. My hope is that I have not forgotten anything, and that the read is relatively smooth. Cross your fingers for me!

If there is any edits that need doing, they'll get taken care of before I finalize the project and move on to CHEMICAL AGENT's first read-thru and edit.

I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, gang.

I can't wait to get there.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

The next twelve months or so for this author

Even though I’m under no obligation to do so as an indie, I like to set goals and—even more importantly, from my point of view—deadlines for my work. It’s something that not only keeps me sane, but also keeps me focused on the writing.

With the Summer of Edit finally in the rear view mirror, it’s time to take a look at the projects I’m working on over the course of the next twelve months or so. Be careful: your eyes may spin by this somewhat absurd, breakneck pace. Keep in mind, these dates are all tentative, and are subject to change without notice. Publishing dates, though... we'll do our best to hit those.

Mid-August to Oct. 1—Beach Blanket Bloodshed: An Alex Bourque Mystery.

I haven’t decided if this will be a novel or a novella; I'm kind of writing this one from the seat of my pants. I have some ideas of how this story will go, but no idea as to the length. Much like Cold Altar and Voir Dire, I will tell it in first person. The hope is that I can have a full first draft done by Oct. 1; if it’s a novella or a short novel, then that date is no problem. Anything longer than 60,000 words may push it, but we’ll see.

In addition, I’ll brainstorm a project later in the fall, as well as the subplot for Chemical Agent.

Oct. 1 to Oct. 21 or so—Final read of The Obloeron Saga.

This will be the final time I ever read this series before I re-upload it. I’ll read it on my Kindle, and my hope is that if there is anything wrong—misspelled words, passive voice—that the change in font will point it out to me for correction. Then I’ll format and get it ready for publishing.

Oct. 22 to Oct. 27—First read/edit of Chemical Agent: A Thriller.

Oct. 19 will mark four months since I completed the first draft of the seventh Jaclyn Johnson novel, so I’m hoping that I’m fully free of the story by then. That way, I’ll see any problems and correct them. In addition, I’m going to add a few thousand words to the existing story as I work on the subplot.

Immediately after that until the end of January—Working on the first draft of a project I don’t believe I’m allowed to speak of just yet. I’ve been invited into a shared world, and that’s about all I can say on this for now.

Nov. 2—Publishing The Obloeron Saga.

Self-explanatory. A reminder that the entire saga includes the as-yet unreleased third book of the prequels, Krampel's Revenge, along with never-before-seen prose..

Christmas Week—Second read of Chemical Agent.

It would have been about two months or so since I had finished the first round of edits by the week of Christmas. I’ll look at it again at about this time, changing the font on the manuscript to see if anything sticks out. Then, the hope is to send it off for a proofing by Christmas morning. That is if everything goes well. Cross your fingers.

End of January—Final read-through of Chemical Agent, start brainstorming the eighth Jaclyn novel, first read-through/edit of Beach Blanket Bloodshed.

Feb. 1-May 3—Working on the first draft of a D.L. Boyd romance novel/novella involving a sportswriter.

End of February-early March—Publishing Chemical Agent.

End of March--Second read/edit of Beach Blanket Bloodshed, send to editor.

May 4—First read-through of secret project? Then start the first draft of JJ8, which should take me up through the end of July.

Memorial Day—Publishing Beach Blanket Bloodshed. Timely.

Early August—First read-through of the D.L. Boyd romance, then start brainstorming Cedar Junction, a standalone thriller that I will write in the fall of 2016. The romance will be published around Thanksgiving, maybe Christmas.

The hope is that I'll stick to the schedule. Of course, if I finish anything early, I’ll get to work on the next thing right away. Lather, rinse, repeat. And again, everything is tentative, and I reserve the right to make changes if necessary.

Stay tuned. It's going to be a great year.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

Summer of Edit 2015, done and dusted

Over the course of the last seven-plus weeks, when I wasn't headed to Cape Cod or busting my rear end in our vast vegetable garden, I've been at my computer doing what I call "The Summer of Edit 2015." As it is a rather big deal, allow me a few moments of your time to explain.

Earlier this summer, I wrote about how I'm in the process of reviewing my business plan and, at the same time, altering it. Starting some time this fall, I'm going to take out Facebook ads and possibly even Twitter ads. When I wrote the business plan blog, I explained that I had given away upward of 103,000 copies or thereabouts of Model Agent, but when it came to selling through the rest of the Agent series, I had only sold about 7,000 copies of the others up through the end of June. Some of the newer books, which have great writing if I do say so myself, hardly sell save to my die-hards. I've come to the conclusion that either a. Some people didn't like the story and have since abandoned me (which is completely in their purview), b. Some read it and liked it, but didn't look for more books (which is, again, in their purview, but it may be my fault, too), or c. Some people read it, liked it, but are now in a different position in their lives and don't have the same amount of time with which to read like they did a few years ago. It's an either/or situation, I think. Who am I to truly say what the situation is?

The Facebook ads, I hope, will help build my mailing list as well as reclaim some Model Agent/Rogue Agent/Double Agent readers that had liked the story, but didn't know about the other books. The ads should point people in the direction of my bookstore, where readers will find that, indeed, I have plenty more books out there, and that I haven't gone away. Now...

Some of those books, as you'll know by the painstaking edit work that I did of The Obloeron Saga earlier in the year, were supposedly edited by a grad student prior to publishing a few years ago. As I've said, they weren't. And some of the other books that I had also released, such as Scollay Love and Zombie Showdown, were also supposedly edited by this particular person. Again, they weren't. Shame on me for not checking their work, and shame on them for screwing me over.

If I'm going to alter the business plan and reclaim readers, I had to make a hard choice: There are some who think I should just let the older work stay in its older form, letting the stories speak for themselves. I'm not doing that--and I haven't. This was something that I need to do if the readers are going to take this indie seriously as an author. I'm going to be here a long time, and there are plenty more stories in me. I just need readers, keeping my fastball tuned so the readers stick with me. That meant I had to go back into my files and do some revisions to these stories and bring them in line with my current skill level. It was time-consuming, but I stress that this was needed. I've improved as a writer to the point where passive voice no longer infiltrates my writing from the get-go. Meanwhile, the older stories, the supposedly edited ones that weren't, had tons of it.

That is no longer the case.

In the past few weeks, I've worked on cleaning up Zombie Showdown, Scollay Love (under my D.L. Boyd pen name), Cold Altar, and Voir Dire. I've cleaned them up--in the case of ZS and SL, I've re-written a few parts to improve on the story and have deleted some lines to tighten the story--re-formatted, and I've now re-uploaded them to Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords (with the exception of Scollay Love), and now to Google Play. These were solid stories, but didn't really sell: that may be due to what I see as sloppy, amateurish writing/editing. And with me about to go back into the world of Alex Bourque--Cold Altar and Voir Dire are in his world--later this week, those two books needed to be sharp without any serious dilution to the story. The passive voice, which the editor should have taken out, is now gone.

The question, of course, is how much left is there to do? I will be re-reading The Obloeron Saga in October; I do not foresee any additional changes to that series, and it will be re-published on Nov. 2, 2015--two years to the day that I took it down. The Agent series continues as my best-selling series, and there are no changes to those existing books scheduled. The stories are solid, the writing crisp. The same with the recent stories of Redeemed, The Long Crimson Line, and The Lone Bostonian. Royal Switch, I may look into changing up a little (the opening is slow, but it serves a purpose), but probably not this go-around. The John Fitch V books of Turning Back The Clock, One Hero A Savior, and A Galaxy At War, no, I'm not going to change those.

It is my hope that if you do take a chance on me from this point forward, I will have gained a reader that appreciates my writing, one who knows that I have now put forth an impeccable effort--one better than I had before. I also hope that the reader will join the mailing list and keep picking up my new books.

And speaking of that, I must dash. I have a new book to write.

Take care.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

The Obloeron Re-writes: Done, Done, and DONE!

When I finished the first draft for the manuscript that became The Quest for the Chalice in early February 2005, I remember a weight seemingly leave my shoulders. The manuscript was, I thought at the time, completed. I had just finished writing my first novel, and the emotion of the moment took over my body. The fact it took me just over two years to write that particular novel and all the issues surrounding it, dealing with writer's block and not knowing where to take the story a few times (and then discovering my backstory in Kayiko), dealing with the death of my father and life without him, and then nearly losing the entirety of the manuscript in a Christmas 2004 disk problem, and then typing those two little words... yeah, you can say I was a little emotional that evening.

And while I've felt the finality of writing novels in the last 10-plus years--the weight leaving, the feeling of "Oh, thank Cthulhu that's over!" and then following that up with "OK, what do I do now?"--I've grown to the point where there is no need for tears when I finish writing a book. It's my job now, and there is no crying at work.

On Sunday, I didn't cry when I finished this read-through and revision of The Obloeron Saga, even though I felt a bit of an emotional tug around 1:30 p.m., when I saved the file to The Fall of Myrindar.

Yes. After 12 years, six months, and 15 days after I first started writing about a little halfling known as Yanos Kingsfoil, I can safely say that Obloeron's six-book saga is now completed.

There have been some changes, as I've mentioned before. I've tightened the story from front to back. Passive voice is gone; it littered my writing a decade ago. I've deleted whole sections that slowed the story down. I made a few character changes to fit continuity and canon. From what I can see, the story, as a whole, reads much better than it did two years ago. It simply feels better, in my opinion.

Of course, there are some spots where it drags a bit; the whole exposition coming back from Statuary Tower at the end of Quest... there's not much I can do, and I really cannot cut it; it's just a really boring section, the action done. The exposition builds up to the ending, where Grumpet tells his Jessica that he must go south with the dwarves. But the rest of it is pretty darn good; seriously, I still get chills at the end of Fall, when Aidan Rosar makes his first appearance in a while--and I wrote that scene in 2006!

Now, the next thing to do is to compile the multiple book files into a single compendium and read it again, this time on my Kindle. I'll do that in October, right before it's time to re-publish, as well as upload the finished files of the single books. And yes, there may be a few tears, too.

I can tell you that the final quarter of 2015 will be pretty darn exciting as I say good bye to Obloeron one last time.

www.seansweeneyauthor.com

The Obloeron Re-writes: Back at it

Now that the first draft of Chemical Agent is done and dusted and The Long Crimson Line is with readers, it's time to settle the focus back on The Obloeron Saga re-writes. If you'll remember, I took the original trilogy off sale in November 2013 because I felt the writing from more than a decade ago was poor, and last year I thought it would be best if they never saw the light of day again. Since then, my thinking has changed and, as I have weaved a set of short stories into the original trilogy and kept two aside for freebies and such, I'm proceeding with getting them to a better state than they were two years ago.

And that includes the prequels, too. The first two have been out, and starting yesterday, I dove into a re-read and, ultimately, a revision--the final revision--of The Rise Of The Dark Falcon. After a little more than 24 hours of work, I'm a little more halfway through the book. I expect to be done with Dark Falcon by the time I go to bed on Thursday, and I may even get into The Shadow Looms. In other words: Don't buy those two books until I give you the go-ahead.

I'm pacing myself with this revision, breaking it up into manageable sections and revising as I go. Right now, I've broken Dark Falcon up into quarters--the manuscript without page breaks is 133 pages, but with what I've done to it so far, I've added a little more than a page or so or prose; the opening was a tad thin, in my opinion, and I've bulked that up. I'm sure with the new prose that I added to The Quest For The Chalice in December and January, I'll have to split that book into fifths in order to make it manageable and not seem as daunting as a 100,000-word book sounds.

Now remember: this is six books we're talking about here, and I fully expect that with two books a week, this project will be done by the end of July; of course, I sit here saying that knowing it's approximately a 500,000-word behemoth of a tale and I'm currently 36,000 words into it. I'm not taking into account my weekend chores here on the farm, game coverage, or going back into the chronology for exact detail of how things went down, so it may be that in order to meet that goal, I'll have to be scarce from the Internet, which for me is rather difficult. I may have to do thirds a day instead of quarters (I gave serious thought to reading another 15 pages today, that way I'd be two-thirds of the way through instead of only just above halfway, but again, I don't want to rush it), but I will do my best to meet the goal I have set for myself. By July 23, I should be done, if everything goes to plan.

Either way, the entirety of this series will be better for it, however I break the books down in order to make them perfect for the reading eye.

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