Wow, has it really been that long since I’ve blogged on the site? The year certainly has been busy. First, I want to assure anyone who reads this that the Verdan Chronicles has not died, nor did it even go into hiatus over the past several months. It’s been more a “slow down” period.
So far, three books are published and available at lulu or amazon. I’m excited about that. The promised 4th book, Broken Circle, has actually been done since January. I know it seems to take forever to get it published, but seems it's a matter of priorities and finding time.
So what’s gone on this year? Life in general; but here and there I’ve found time to scribble a few pages. The fifth book, tentatively titled Against All Gods, is a work in progress that I hope to finish on or about year end. Since I’ve had periods of inactivity it takes some time to get back into Verdan, but I’m pretty happy with the most recent chapters.
So how long will the Verdan Chronicles continue? Well, when I started this I mapped out an outline for the story I wanted to tell. After several revisions I settled on nine books. That’s still where I’m at. I think there is enough life in the series and the characters to “stick to the plan”. I hope to continue at a pace of 1 to 2 books per year until it’s complete. So if you get on board, prepare for a lengthy, but hopefully satisfying journey.
If you’re reading your first blog on the site, you may be asking, “Just what is the Verdan Chronicles?” It’s a fair enough question and one I’ve tried to answer in earlier blogs and in other sections on the site. But for the uninitiated, let me make another attempt at. It’s an epic fantasy series that will take you to a mythical world of Verdan where you will meet just about every type of creature found in these types of stories. Yes, there are humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, goblins and even dragons. I’ve left out orcs, because I can’t get Lord of the Rings out of my head when I think of them.
So is this story just another version of Lord of the Rings? I hope not. At least that’s not the intent. Certainly you will find familiar Tolkien elements in the story, but I was just as influenced by TSR’s Dungeons and Dragons source books and even Star Wars. Having recently watched Game of Thrones, you will even find some of those elements present, although everything to this point was written before I saw the show. Everything in the story represents my version of how I see things in this particular world. If anything, you should be able to draw parallels to every day life.
Are there monsters besides dragons in my books? Of course there are. You’ll find numerous, some familiar and some hopefully new. Is this another series about vampires? Not at all. They are present in my world, but the story is not specifically about them. I assure you none of them sparkle in the sunlight, nor do any of them spout lumpy foreheads when they prepare to feed.
Above all, I strive to make my books character driven. I’m trying to tell their story. So in that context you will find love, jealousy, greed, betrayal and other human emotions prevalent throughout literary history. This just happens to be my version. On top of that I’ve dropped my characters into an epic time in their world’s history. And so they will face cataclysmic events at a planetary scale, just to keep things interesting.
The characters in my world will also deal with many of the issues facing our own society, war, famine, disease, environmental disaster, terrorism, political upheaval and religious extremism. How they deal with these issues may involve solutions born in magic, but I think you will see enough similarity to draw parallels to our own lives.
So in a nutshell, the Verdan Chronicles is about life, a narrow perspective perhaps, but told through the eyes of the characters living in a very broad world. I can’t emphasize that enough. If nothing else I hope you find the characters of Verdan interesting and become as attached to some of them as I have. Although maybe not too attached, because I assure you that not all of them will make it to the end.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at 7:16PM
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