SPELLMONGER BOOK 15 TITLE REVEAL

 Spring is right around the corner. Promise.

That idea was a big deal to our medieval ancestors. The changing of the seasons wasn’t merely an excuse to change your wardrobe, it was often the most desperate times of the year. The food you put up last autumn was doubtlessly running low, and the winter supplies you gathered were nearly exhausted by this time of year. Most medieval peasants were making do with foraging in the forests, harvesting the last bit of leeks or kale or cabbage from the garden, some hunting and fishing, and a lot of belt-tightening. Getting in a garden wasn’t merely a pleasant pastime, it was the key to not starving in the next few months. Late winter was a desperate time. The promise of spring was the promise of the first crop of peas and beans sprouting, the first lettuces popping up, and the first shoots able to graze a goat or cow. Of course, one untimely frost or endless deluge of rain could wipe all that away in a day’s time, so hope was at a premium.  

I’m reminded of that as I watch the news and hear the dire reports of war and conflict, civil strife and struggle. It is all too easy to forget how only a few brief centuries ago, the common man had little time for such matters, being preoccupied with raising crops and getting the stock fed and tended. Attention to world affairs were a luxury only the wealthy could afford. It wasn’t until we achieved a semblance of food security and then literacy that the majority of the population managed to raise themselves to a state where larger forces were worth consideration.  

I try to keep that in mind as the news provides a constant distraction from writing. It’s not easy. My productivity has been in the chamberpot for the last week or so. Sorry.

It doesn’t help that I’m working on the short story “The Mad Mage of Sevendor,” an interstitial entry into the Spellmonger Series. It’s essentially Minalan’s private journal, chronicling a few weeks after Hedgewitch, as he contends with the chorus of strangers in his head while he’s trying to mount a rescue, plan a war, manage a dysfunctional royal court, and create entirely new kinds of magic and enchantment with his hard-won knowledge. Some of you will be interested to note that I am actually indulging in a little experiment as I write this by actually rolling a 10-sided die to see which character haunts Min’s memory each day. That’s made this a very interesting, not to mention challenging, kind of story to write. It’s also being written as Min would write it, and any good writer will tell you that people write much differently than they speak. The other challenge is to write it without completely spoiling the next book – Book 15. Which I have finally got a title for.

That’s important because I had to call it something, and the first few test titles I tried just didn’t fit the book. But I’ve managed to come up with something. 

The title of Book 15 will be (tah dah!) Marshal Arcane. 

It reflects the responsibilities and duties Minalan undertakes in the prosecution of the war against Darkfaller, among other challenges. 

Now that I have the title, I’m pretty much forced to write the rest of the book . . . which is slowly underway. Not George R.R. Martin slowly, but Mancour slowly, which means it will pick up speed as I go. While I don’t have a definite release date, I can pretty much guarantee that it will be done before the end of the year. While I know that’s not nearly fast enough for most of you, it’s a long book, and I don’t want it to suck. It’s going to take time, energy, and attention to do right.  

That said, you’ll most likely see it before you see Winds of Winter.  

I’m also doing the rewrite on the second Gatina novel, Shadowheist, which is slowly but surely moving along. I’m also reviewing new art that I’ve commissioned and waiting for reports back from beta readers of the German and Spanish translations. And other things that the world is trying to steal my attention away from. It seems that the more I try to invest myself in writing, the more world events try to jerk me away from it, mentally and emotionally.

Case in point: my adorable sister-in-law finally received and delivered to me a very special birthday present, pictured below. She’s been constantly supportive of my career and is a jewel of a sis-in-law. She also loves Etsy. She got me these cool Spellmonger coffee travel cups from there for Christmas. For my birthday she commissioned this beautiful wooden box from an Etsy artist featuring cut-outs of covers for four of my books. She ordered it back in December, but it has just arrived.

It’s a candle holder, and it’s extremely beautiful. But you can’t order one, unfortunately. It was created by an artist in Ukraine named Elena. She is not currently accepting new commissions. She’s struggling just to survive in a war zone.  

When the world hands you poignant coincidences like that, it’s hard to stay focused on fantasy.  

As we all struggle with these difficulties—the economic turmoil, the pandemic, and the uproar in our personal lives—it’s important to remember that most of these events are things we can do very little, if anything, about. Because if you don’t have that mindset you can find yourself going a bit nutty with anxiety and grief over your powerlessness. It’s vital to recall that most of what affects us in our lives is things we have little or no control over, like war, the cycles of life, politics, the economy, and such. We must cling to the parts that we can affect, focus on the bits we can manage, and try not to worry about the looming existential problems of the world. Things are difficult now.  

But spring is right around the corner. Promise.

- Terry Mancour

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