A new hero. An ancient enemy. A timeless story – Arthur
Well, folks, I have a new project in the offing. I’ve started writing an epic fantasy series about the legendary British hero Arthur. But I’m going to do this story a bit differently to my other novels.
Firstly, the “novel” The Broken Kingdom, is going to be released as a series of short episodes – about five episodes for each book. The reason I am doing this is that I have two other big novel series on the go and I don’t have the time to write a whole new book right now. I plan to write an episode of the Wormkind Chronicles (as the series will be called) every couple of months, between other projects, so there is a constant stream of them coming out over the next few years. So far I have only written the first episode – Arthur’s Bane. That will be self-published next week. There will be another episode out in the new year, probably at end of January. Each episode will be about 20,000 words long, about 70 pages, or a fifth of one of my usual novels. And each one will probably end on a cliff-hanger. You’ve been warned!
Secondly, I am initially doing this story only as an eBook. When I have the whole of the first novel done and published for Kindle, I will produce a paperback version of The Broken Kingdom, containing all five episodes, and maybe a hardback, too. And I might also, if I can sort this out with a publisher, do an audio book. But I can’t promise anything yet. And to start with – for the next year at least – these stories will only be eBooks. However, they will be cheap. I’m putting each episode out for only 99p. So the whole novel will cost you £4.95. Which strikes me as a very reasonable price for a book in this day and age.
Lastly, this is a fantasy story – not historical fiction. Arthur is a bit like Robin Hood, in that he probably didn’t exist. Or, if he did, we will never know anything about him for certain. Both these heroes are legends, rather than historical characters. I am also making this much more fantastical than my Outlaw Chronicles, which had a background of real medieval history. The Wormkind Chronicles will have dragons, dragon-like creatures, a good deal of magic, Merlin the Sorcerer and his worthy opponent: an evil creature known as The Soothsayer. Lots of fun fantasy stuff that I can’t do in my historical fiction.
So this is my side project. Short episodes, eBook only, 99p, fantasy, coming out every few months. I’m expecting to get some stick for this and if you don’t want to engage with this new idea, I’ll understand. You can always buy one of my full-length Fire Born books – start with The Last Berserker (Fire Born 1). Or wait a bit, since I may have another surprise coming your way . . . (Hint: It involves Mongols. Shhhhh!)
Update: Since I wrote this blog, The Broken Kingdom – Episode one: Arthur’s Bane is now live on Amazon!
Yeah. Spendid
I’m big fan of your writings and have all your books. I’m a hardback collector, small library so have been disappointed having to buy small paperbacks. I’ve stuck it out but planned to fall off after the last Berserker book. I’m a tactile reader and will never read ebooks. A big part of reading experience is sitting down and holding a nice heavy book in my favorite leather chair with a cup of coffee getting immersed in the story. Reading an ebook is like eating a tasteless meal just for nutrition. I’ve read and possess most hardbacks of many Arthurian series, one of my favorite in this genre. Of course I have all Bradley, Stewart, Sutcliff, Cornwell, Whyte, Bradshaw, Hollick, Hume, Wolf, Lawhead, Kristian…… I buy my books all over the world. Now back to you Mr. Donald. I will hold out hope for a hardcover to remain a Donald reader. PSS-One of my favorite series of books was Conn Iggulden’s Conqueror Series (Mongol-Genghis-Kublai). I’ll look forward to yours.