Warm Wishes for Yule: Updates, Announcements, and a Little Romance

 

Winter is coming. Well, actually, it is here. I apologize for the lack of newsletters of late, but I will plead that I’ve been too busy with a clear conscience.  While I try to keep the banalities of my personal life to myself, the last few months require some explanation of why I’ve been relatively quiet online.  So this one is going to be a little longer than usual. Of course I’ve been busily working on a number of professional projects, almost all of them Spellmonger related: working with my cartographer on maps, my artists on art, my children on getting Shadowmage into print, not to mention, y’know, furiously writing The Talon and the Flame, setting up The Golden Goblin, and sketching out the notes for Book 18, Seamage.  So I’ve been spending an awful lot of time behind the keyboard, as the gods intended. But Real Life™ goes on, and mundane events have sucked up all of my spare capacities.  For one, my dear 80-year-old neighbor, Sonja, had emergency surgery while out of state and required our assistance in her treatment and recovery.  To refresh your memory, she’s the Mother of the Mountain where I live, the lady who sold us our lot. and our cherished next-door neighbor.  She boards my daughter’s donkeys (because we really needed a pair of rescue donkeys), and we help her with her horse and chickens now that she’s unable to tend them quite as well as she could when she was just 78.  Sonja has become my children’s bonus grandmother.  She’s also deaf as a post, heavily armed, and highly suspicious of strangers, so tending to her has been quite a challenge.   And then there is the matter of my sister-in-law, who has been stalked by a mentally ill neighbor, leading to some vandalism and an alleged case of arson.  She and her son have been enduring this ordeal for months, but it culminated recently with the involvement of the police in a big way.  It forced her and her son to relocate, and that transition has been challenging, involving the entire extended family. Thankfully, she recently got some good news when her boyfriend flew in by surprise and proposed to her spontaneously.  She said yes and we couldn’t be happier—I’ve known the dude for more than 30 years, and he’s one of a half a handful of guys I actually approve of.   That doesn’t mean I won’t still beat him up if he screws up with her, but I’ll feel really bad about it.   There has been more, as my children prepare to launch and the Yule season is here. My Christmas tree is up but not yet decorated, and my living room looks like a particularly poorly organized Amazon warehouse. Then there is the matter of the election and its fallout. In general the list has just grown to near my capacity to contend with it, so I haven’t done as much in terms of public interaction, and for that I apologize.  I just wanted to explain why, so you wouldn’t think I was being purposefully aloof or brooding or otherwise out of sorts. All of that said, here are a few things I think my fans would be interested in. First, I want to call attention to this magnificent rendering of Sevendor that was published on YouTube last month:

It’s rendered in Unreal Environment, which the dude taught himself just to do this project.  I think it looks splendid, and I invite you to enjoy it.  Give a like and sub, too, as I anticipate more goodies from Spellmonger universe.

Work proceeds on The Talon and the Flame and it’s been . . . interesting.  Writing romance is different from writing adventure or political intrigue or war stories.  In some ways, I feel like Jack Kirby drawing Archie comics. (My comic book dudes will get that reference.)  But the challenge of telling a convincing romance story in addition to telling an interesting fantasy story has been worthwhile, I think.  A lot of the work is psychological, as the heroine confronts both her own feelings and the feelings of those she’s interested in.  And deconstructing the psychology of a character like Dara, who has been through A LOT, is fraught with danger, from my perspective.  Not to mention the complex social structure of a magical-feudal world in which love is secondary to the practical considerations of marriage.   That’s not to say that I’m not having fun—it’s a blast, and a little dirty in places—but it leaves me wondering how it will be received.  I’m writing it as a new entry point in the series—an introduction to the Spellmonger universe for those who are encountering it for the first time.  Therefore, some of it will sound repetitive to long-time readers, especially the first few chapters.  But bear with me.  The beta readers have had mixed reports about it, thus far, but then, they don’t know how it ends.  And figuring out a successful Happily Ever After in Dara’s case that is both believable and compelling is what ultimately makes the book a success or a failure.  So . . . stay tuned.

Work has also begun, in a small way, on the book after that, The Golden Goblin.  For those who don’t know, this will be a Tyndal and Rondal joint, and a straight up dark adventure tale.  With some funny bits.  And some tragic bits.  I mention this only because I want to make certain that everyone understands that these are spinoff novels, not part of the main, Minalan-focused series.  Sure, Min is there in the background and even appears occasionally, but despite his interest in both stories, he is not the main character, and things are told through very different perspectives.  I plan on doing more of these in the future, by the way, and no, they are not “filler,” despite what some say.  These are stand-alone adventures set in the same universe.  They are complete in and of themselves and aren’t there just to make me more money.  They’re there to tell part of the story that compliments the main storyline in an enjoyable way.  I’ll also keep doing more YA, because it’s fun, people enjoy it, and it’s gateway fantasy.

I don’t know if Love Is In The Air, there is a particular conjunction of Venus and the Moon, or Ishi is just being a bitch, but I’ve had three more-or-less spontaneous proposals of marriage emerge in my immediate circle in the last week—WEEK—as well as some solicitations for personal messages for fans who are planning nuptials.  That’s a heady thing.  Love, romance, and marriage are particularly on my mind as I finish up The Talon And The Flame, but I didn’t expect the sudden outpouring of romance.  Not that I object—I enjoy romance tremendously.  But the conjunction of all of these proposals with the fact that I’m writing a romantasy at the moment is . . . disconcerting, at best. Yet I don’t mind.  After loving the same woman for more than 30 years (Laurin and I celebrated our 32nd anniversary of our first date last August 1, on the Queen Mary as we were going to England) and being even more determined to see her happy as I was on the day that I made my solemn vow, I feel I have a certain credibility when it comes to picking the right spouse and understanding what that entails.  We have endured poverty, hopelessness, abject terror, and death over the years.  As the solace of the Yule season approaches, the importance of finding your true love and committing to that becomes ever more evident.  This is a hard life, no matter what advantages you are handed at birth.  The human condition is inherently afflicted, and life is, alas, all too often nasty, brutish, and short.   There are few remedies to that, and those that exist are fraught with peril.  Yet I can propose, with little fear of contradiction, that finding that one special person who can elevate you beyond the pettiness of mundane life is a noble and fulfilling goal.  If romance (and romantasy) have any value, it is to teach us that our lives are improved by some other poor sap who is just as desperate for a better life as you and thinks you don’t smell too badly.   I often remark that I married my dear wife because she was exceptional.  That is, she’s an exception to the regular and mundane.  We were both very cautious about allowing another person to become so important to our lives, but ultimately—with thorough and rigorous testing—we were satisfied that even if our chosen person wasn’t the blazing hero/heroine we might imagine, they were willing to try.  Sometimes, that’s all you can ask for, and frequently it proves more important than actual success.  I’d rather have Mrs. Mancour rooting for me as I fail than a hundred nubile cheerleaders urging me on to victory.  She is my constant, and I will forever count the day I met her as the most fortunate day of my life.  And I’m saying that after 30+ years in the trenches.   Writing a romance novel has made me reflective on this.  Find your person.  Find your constant, if you haven’t already.  Life is too short to play around with self-delusion and conceit.  And it’s far too brutal to go through alone.  Don’t waste the chance to get your constant.  It will be the most important thing you ever do. Coincidentally, I proposed to her Christmas morning.  She said yes without hesitation.  She continues to say yes without regret.  What a lucky bastard am I?  Moving on.

New interview up on YouTube!  I returned to the Terrance Layhew podcast for an hour-long interview on Practical Adept and the series in general.  You can watch it here:

I had a great time—Terrance is a great interviewer—and I look forward to going back in the future.

Lastly, I want to wish all of you a sincere Merry Yule season and hope you enjoy it to the fullest.  Hopefully, the chaos and catastrophe of the last few years is waning now that the political situation has settled, and I’m even more hopeful that the year ahead will be prosperous for all.  I’ve been blessed with the advice, counsel, friendship, and fellowship of some remarkable people, with the Garden Society (my beta readers and senior Spellmongrels) at the top of the list.  My family continues to be a blessing, from the young folks getting married and having babies to the old folks winding down their careers and entering retirement or rehab, depending on their inclination.  It’s a great time to be alive. Indeed, it’s always a great time to be alive.  It beats the alternative. Wishing you all a Happy Yule, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!  I can’t wait to see what 2025 may bring. — Terry