originally posted by Ben Crofts
Also, I can't stress how good it is being able to get info on where a volume is up to.
Fantasy SF seems to be notorious for authors starting a series then, after a volume or two, it all goes deathly quiet.
Now I'm very much open to the fact that things happen, the best laid plans go awry, no plan survives contact with reality etc, but what helps massively in those situations is an author being willing to talk about it. I think people will be understanding but in order to be so they have to know about it.
That Janny does this is a major credit to her.
Ben - absolutely, I try to be transparent about where things are, and it lets the readers know the project is moving forward.
I have 'paused' this month to complete two Athera related short stories - which will (all going well) publish pretty fast - easing the wait for that Sept 7 17 pub. date.
I have the artwork to go, cover and interior - you'll get previews and status as I finish out those stages.
And when I get that part of production DONE, the folder for Song of the Mysteries will be opened up with a status thread for the start of that draft. The speculative threads and commentary will stay locked until Destiny's Conflict's release - but you will be able to see where I am during the year running up to pub date for this one.
There are very real factors messing with writing schedules: cost of living has quadrupled!!! while writers' incomes across the boards have fallen. I write EVERY SINGLE DAY, but the attrition of cost vs income means sometimes I have to do other things, freelance (painting pictures to sell, teaching riding) to make ends meet. The train wreck of the rights dispute for Empire's e rights has sucked a vacuum in those royalty checks - very drastically, in fact - and I have a mother in her 90s.
There is no lack of commitment HERE, not a whit. The 'set up' for the grand finale, and the pacing of Destiny's Conflict - where there is no room for slop - all had to be precisely right, and there are other factors (inside detail, re, the industry) all playing havoc. I've had to spend a ghastly amount of time doing 'marketing' related stuff to keep this series moving on the internet marketplace.
It all adds up. So your note here, that it matters - really matters to me.
If I've said it once, I'll say it again. I committed to this series 20 years before VOL I was even sold. And I am just as committed to it, today. Destiny's Conflict will bear that out.
When you get to read it, we can all discuss what went into the making of it.
originally posted by Ben Crofts
Oh wow, that's cool.
Belated thanks, been a busy week.
I suppose I should be older and more jaded about this by now, but this sort of communication still remains very cool for me.
The completed manuscript for Destiny's Conflict is officially into the first stage of production: in the copy-editor's hands, and quite well along.
So the words are making their way through the process well in advance of that Sept 7 17 pub date.
originally posted by Annette
Any news yet of a interest in doing a hardback version?
I haven't heard that there won't be a hardback; when I turn in the artwork, I will prod and see. though god knows, I was blindsided by the shift done on publication of Stormed Fortress. We are a year out, and press runs, etc will always be determined by numbers and the going climate of book sales. No telling what the backwash from Brexit will bring, or how shaky the British economy will be, recovering from the shock. I could ask, now, but honestly, I think it's too early to have a defining picture, so far out.
My hope is that we'll get an expansion of readership off the two shorts going into the two upcoming anthologies. That could boost the picture quite a lot, if they draw in a new audience.
originally posted by Gill
Thank you Janny, the idea of two anthologies is wonderful. Though I have the back stories of "Curse…" on my Kindle I hope they will be included in these books.
The backstories you have on your kindle were originally printed in three other anthologies.
These will be the same: they'll appear, one each, in two different anthologies (alongside other authors' stories).
The invites to participate have expanded the opportunity - for you, to get more Athera material that opens certain areas in greater depth, with reveals you may not have expected, and for outreach: readers who've never heard of the series will get a peek into the Wars of Light and Shadows universe.
So the stories you have on your kindle won't appear here - these stories are new material.
And at least one of them is going to blow the lid off a whole packet of assumptions.
originally posted by Gill
Thanks for the explanation. If it's not too much trouble could you tell me the title of those anthologies and the new ones if you know
Original anthologies (in print, not sure if they are e book available or not)
Child of Prophecy appears in Masters of Fantasy, edited by Bill Fawcett and Brian Thompson, published by Baen Books.
Reins of Destiny appears in The Solaris Book of New Fantasy, edited by George Mann, published by Solaris.
The Sundering Star appears in Under Cover of Darkness, edited by Julie E. Czerneda and Jana Paniccia, published by DAW books.
All of these three shorts, also, in e format in the www.Paravia.com/catalog store.
The new anthologies, upcoming:
The Decoy is completed and accepted for Unfettered II, edited by Shawn Speakerman, Grim Oak Press
Black Bargain is in progress, and targeted for Evil is a Matter of Perspective - edited by Adrian Collins, and launched via Kickstarter.
originally posted by Gill
Thank you Janny. That was extremely quick and detailed. Did not mean to push you into replying so quickly but thanks anyway.
Gill
originally posted by Dorothy
Fab!
originally posted by Mark Stephen Kominski
On track to get Black Bargain (Kickstarter participation in the EIAMOP effort and all), but have to turn my attention now to The Decoy. You do keep me on my toes, Madam Talespinner. 
originally posted by DarthJazy
Who here thinks Janny, our favorite author, should give us a snippet for my birthday?
originally posted by Julie
I do!!
originally posted by Annette
I am always ready for a snippet, especially for a special day. 
originally posted by Maurice Peter Vialle
Missed my birthday too
originally posted by Julie
A major decade is coming up for me in November. Was a young adult when started reading Janny's tales WAY back in the day (hint: books were printed, people wrote letters). A snippet would be lovely!
Snippet - I have been BURIED working on the two short stories that relate to Athera. They are ten times harder to write than 'just any' short, set anywhere - I have to X reference ALL of the surrounding history, and ALL of the connections to the main sequence of the novels/
The deadlines for both of these were VERY tight after the finish of the novel, and I've literally been nonstop working/no sidewards glance for anything.
The payoff: you get two shorts (the first is in production, the second, into final polish phase before submission.)
The INSTANT I get this one out the door, I get to clean the office and then - bliss - consider a snippet of the novel to whet your appetite.
So very soon, now…
originally posted by Annette
Thanks for the reply Janny. Looking forward to reading a snippet, when you have the chance to find one for us.