Fantasy Short Stories, Book Three

I just got the word that Fantasy Short Stories Book Three is out in print now. It can be bought from Amazon. I posted about the release of the ebook version the other day.

Like I said, “The Assassination of Stonewall Jackson” is a favorite of mine, out of my own stories. It’s also the second story I’ve sold that had something to do with the Civil War.

The editor threw together a little video.

https://youtu.be/rzb9vVKjjsU

The Assassination of Stonewall Jackson

I feel like I’m moving up in the world when I see my name on the same cover as Gustavo Bondoni’s.

Fantasy Short Stories Book Three is out. The ebook version, anyway. The print version is not out yet, but hopefully it’ll be out soon. My story “The Assassination of Stonewall Jackson” is in this anthology.

“The Assassination of Stonewall Jackson” is one of my favorite stories. I had fun writing it and I’m thrilled that it’s been published.

That’s a wrap

Just wrapped up the first draft of a new novella. It’s a fantasy set in the early 1700s. Has to do with sailing and pirates. This draft is 102 pages and 22,299 words. I’m going to let it sit for a while, and then I’ll start the edit process.

I’m still working on the medieval themed epic fantasy novel from fifteen years ago. I now have 571 pages and 114,982 words. I try to work on it every day, but sometimes that doesn’t happen.

I did a stupid thing

Between 2002 and 2004, I was writing an epic fantasy novel. I had 491 pages down, and then I just stopped in early 2004. Over the years, I would pull up the manuscript and do some edits here and there, and try and fail to get back into the story. I had not moved the story forward since early 2004.

About a month ago, I started reading it again, and refrained from editing. While reading, I made lists of character names, cities, towns, castles, kingdoms, etc. Anything that had a name went on a list.

I finished reading a couple weeks ago and I’m moving the story forward again. I now have 525 pages down. I’m still not as connected to the story as I was fifteen years ago, but having the lists of names helps.

I had crude maps of the kingdoms, but at some point I threw them away. I just bought this big sketch pad. I’m going to try redrawing the maps from memory, so I can keep track of what’s what and where.

I had also written several spinoff short stories and novellas that were connected to this novel. But I threw those away too. Some of those stories had received positive feedback from editors.

I can’t believe I developed so much self-doubt and threw out all that work. I’m going to finish this novel and the entire series before I start the editing process.

No Writing Tonight

Guess I’m not getting in any writing tonight. I’m tired and I want to be up early tomorrow. I’m thinking about using my old break-action 20-gauge tomorrow morning instead of the 12-gauge pump-action. Because until I get that tree cut down, the farthest I can place the bait in that direction is 20 yards out, and that might too close for the powerful scope on my 12-gauge.