Straightening up the bookshelf

I recently did something that we all have to do on occasion: straighten up my bookshelf (which of course has far more books on it than the designer of this piece of furniture ever intended it to hold, hence the bowing shelves).

As you might imagine, my bookshelf is heavily dominated by fantasy, horror and sci fi with some smaller doses of classic literature. Herman Melville and John Updike stand alongside J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin and my three favorite Steves: Stephen King, Steven Erikson and Stephen Donaldson.

But it also contains many of the books that I read to research my own series titled The Death Wizard Chronicles. All together, I counted 74 nonfiction books. (And these are only the ones I've saved.) Some of the titles include Palaces That Changed the World, The Medieval Fortress, Dragonology, Body Armor, The Art of Warfare in Western Europe, The Idiot's Guide to Martial Arts, Horses for Dummies, The Field Guide to Geology and The Ultimate Desert Handbook. Back while I was writing the series, I was like an athlete in his prime in terms of my contextual knowledge. If there ever were to be a book 7, I'd have to get back in shape!

Here's a pix of the cleaned up bookshelf! Not perfect, but it passes muster, don't you think?

On the verge of something big

It's a strange time in my life. It's been 10 months since I was laid off and I still have no job, which is a first for me in so many ways. I've never even come close to being laid off or fired or even disciplined in the 40-plus years that I've worked. I started mowing yards at 12 years old and never looked back. I fried chicken, bussed tables, parked cars, cleaned movie theaters -- and that was all before I turned 13. (Okay, a bit of an exaggeration). I worked at the St. Petersburg Times for 25 years, took 3 years off to write my novels, then worked at the Greenville News for 3 years before being laid off. Considering I averaged 55 hours a week at the G.N., I feel like that should count for 4 years.

But good times appear on the horizon. My series is coming out Aug. 1, for one thing, which is huge for me, to say the least. I've also decided to take a real estate course at the local tech college and explore that line of work. And there has been recent interest from some employers that might pan out. Regardless, despite a rough past year, there's hope that things will end well.

So . . . fingers are crossed.

A taste of what's to come

I have finished writing three short stories that will accompany the six-book series either as teasers leading up to Book 1 or as stories to run between books to keep things active. This hasn't yet been decided, but I'm pleased by the stories -- and I believe that fans of epic fantasy will enjoy them, even as stand-alones.

Torg's First Death describes my main character's ascension to the title of Death-Knower, as he achieves death and then returns to his body filled with magical powers.

The Black Fortress tells the tale of a horrific war between the forces of good and an army of monsters led by a creature called a Stone-Eater, who derives his magic, literally, from eating stone.

Rise of the Sun God describes the ascension of Invictus, the ultra-powerful sorcerer who was raised by a demon.

Of course, many of the characters in the shorts also will appear regularly in books 1-6. For readers who love epic fantasy, these stories will give you a taste of what The DW Chronicles is all about.

Got it all covered

Talked cover ideas today with my editor. This is one of the fun parts, as you might imagine. We're going with original illustrations from an excellent artist. I'm very excited.

The editing process for each book is going to be extensive. Which of course is great. I look forward to it.

I'm hoping to debut the series at this year's DragonCon in Atlanta. Should be a blast. Only about seven months away from opening day.

Can't wait!

August 2012

I'm in the void right now, floating along at near light speed toward the life-giving planet I will call my new home.

The name of the planet?

August 2012.

That is when book 1 of The Death Wizard Chronicles will be released by Bell Bridge Books. Editing and cover considerations already are under way. But many light-years (at least it feels that way to this author) lie between now and then.

So I'm waiting. Waiting. In the void.

My plan is to again become active on this blog -- probably around May or so. I know this doesn't mean that thousands will return just because I've deigned to post again. It only means that I'll reawaken once I've reached the outskirts of the galaxy that is home to August 2012.

Some time over the next several months, three short prequels will be released by my publisher to advance the series. I guess I should consider these prequels to be outposts where I'll be refueling my starship. Maybe I can hit the bar while I'm there and hobnob with the natives. Until then ... I stare out the distant stars .....

 And tap my foot.

Tap tap tap tap tap.





 

A timely novel worth checking out

In the near future, a large weather satellite is going to crash into the Earth, spreading debris for 500 miles between Canada and South America. A good friend of mine, Chris Stevenson, has written a clever novel called Planet Janitor that is about shipmates who travel the galaxy cleaning up space junk. For fans of sci fi, it's a really fun book, and it's now on sale on Kindle for only $1.99. http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Janitor-Custodian-Stars-ebook/dp/B004IASH8K/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1316221525&sr=1-1

My own personal web site

In addition to my blog, I have created a personal website called www.jim-melvin.com. I built it in WordPress with DirectNic as the host. Before I did this, I had never heard about WordPress and wasn't exactly certain what a host was. :) To say that this was a learning process is a bit of an understatement.

On the tech/geek scale of 1-10, I'm probably about a 6. There certainly are people a whole lot more clueless -- but I'm no wiz, either. It took me about twenty google searches to finally understand how to build the site, and even then I needed tech support from DirectNic several times

This is all in preparation, of course, for the launch of the series in August 2012. There already are a lot of plans in the works between myself and Bell Bridge Books in terms of marketing and exposure. I'm very excited. And I have high hopes that this time The Death Wizard Chronicles will really make an impact.

www.jim-melvin.com will be a place to make announcements and post updates, but it will not replace this blog. I will continue to post blog items here, and with much more frequency over the next several months. In many instances, I'll probably post items in both places.