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I think I stopped around the fifth book in the series that started with On A Pale Horse I know I got to the Devil…think I bought but didn’t read the god one…
Holy Crap! I just went to Amazon to check out dates for that….
On October 21, 2014 Xanth #39 will be released.
AGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
](*,)
I know I joke about 99 book commits or book #36…but please…if I write that many DoA books, everyone come and do an Intervention!
Well, he used to write a LOT of series.
I’m scared to go and check out the other series for fear they are also all in the 20’s and 30’s.
I actually bet that a lot of those books are cowritten by others (or more likely ghost written and they get cowriting credit) and he just takes a big chunk of the cash.
So one moment you are bummed because you are getting too much information and it is spoiling the next book for you
And the next you want to leave because you might not be?
And they say I’m insane? o:)
This is life…this is how you find truth…you experience it, you collect information from various sources, not all of which are accurate, some of which might be deceptive, you then have to put the pieces together and figure out which ones you believe and which ones you don’t.
That’s how science works, that’s also how religion should work…that’s actually how all good stories work. (Of course, DoA being non-fiction, this isn’t applicable here but…)
That being said…this author guy is the one who’s lying. Remember, I am telling him the story, he lives in your world, not mine, nor Astlan. He’s never actually been to Astlan. So I don’t know how he thinks he knows more than I do. He’s just a guy with a hell of a lot of ego.
I wouldn’t believe anything he says.
Trust me. I am the truth, I am the way and the light! I am Tizzy!
I definitely agree with that.
I’m very good at writing myself into a corner…
However, to restate my point: Tizzy, Wylan and other characters, when they post here, it’s no different than a reader posting. Albeit a reader that happens to live in either Astlan or the Abyss, which gives them more knowledge than the typical reader. They are stating their own opinions and beliefs, based on their knowledge.
I am not saying they are necessarily lying (although we all know demons do that) but they may not have all the information. None of the characters are omniscient (not even the gods in the book(s)).
In other words, Tizzy’s answers are not to be considered ‘ex-cathedra’ he is not infallible, he is not omniscent nor omnipresent, he’s a person and he can be wrong.
The only person that can speak, or maybe/might possibly speak ‘ex-cathera’ is me. And I will try very hard not to speak about the plot/history/background in that manner due to a) spoilers and b) writing myself into a corner.
Interesting.
Excellent feedback.
I now think we will also have a cover beta discussion here for both the next book and the 2nd edition of this book.
Sometime before the next book’s release, I am planning on doing a 2nd edition of the first book.
[i][b]No, no revision of “history”[/b][/i]
I will simply get it professionally edited and cleaned up, move the appendices to the rear with links, clean up fonts/tables etc for Kindle.
(there was a sale on Paper Whites a few weeks back and I got one–previously I’d read on my iPad, Asus Memo Pad, or various cell phones which are all color etc–actually the real big bonus is the access to the KLL-there were several books out there on my list to read) [u]
[/u] I may at that time change the cover if I can find an artist I like and who’s available.
I’d reached out to a couple but they were all pretty booked solid. All these guys want long term gigs with card art companies for hundreds of images…or so it seems.
So anyway, I promise that there will be no need to get the 2nd edition if you have the first…although if someone read it on KU/KLL getting the 2nd edition on a Countdown might be worthwhile.
So maybe I should repeat and expand on what I said a little bit ago in another topic….
Tizzy is a demon. He is also insane. I hate to burst his bubble, but he is not omniscient and there is no guarantee anything he says is true.
In fact, if you want a “real spoiler” a lot of characters, in the book(s), in the Library Documents/Appendices, and in the forum are going to tell you what they know to be true, or what they believe to be true. That doesn’t make it so.
So for example, if one character says one thing as fact, and another character says something else that is contrary…that’s not a plot inconsistency just like in real life you have to judge which one to believe by weighing the evidence. The same is true for all the articles/documents you and or Tom have been reading. They are some scholars writings/beliefs/knowledge. They could have some stuff wrong, or all of it.
That’s actually something of why I have so many different points of view. I know from some reviews the large number of different points of view drive some people nuts. Truth is mutable.
Also, remember Tizzy is a likable demon. he will tell people things to get them to like him. So, who knows? he could just be agreeing with Maou to get him to like him, and pulling stuff out of his pipe storage….
That mechanic may not exist, remember you are talking to Tizzy…
And not to put words in Tizzy’s mouth, heaven forbid, I would never want to do that…
But I don’t think he was implying anything bad about older books. Remember he’s more centuries old than anyone seems to know (or at least care).
I myself am pretty jaundiced on newer works. By the time Robert Jordan came on the scene, I’d been so exhausted by the old archetypes that I’d already started on DoA, just for something different.
Now, there’s been a lot of great stuff since then, but the market has also expanded tremendously and so weeding the garden for the gems (mixed metaphors) is a big chore.
Jane Austen rocks, I think she’s the best English language plot generator since Billy Shakes…and quite frankly neither of them originated their plot lines they just perfected them to the point that everyone thinks they’re the core script for everything since. Sort of like Lucille Ball and the sitcom.
So random hits of old books/authors I really like:
The Faerie Queen (tedious)
Le Morte d’Arthur (tedious)
Canterbury Tales (decent)Jane Austen, Dickens, Shelly, Stoker, Cervantes, Baroness Emma Orczy (Scarlet Pimpernel), Alexander Dumas, Poe: All Great
Thomas Hardy, anyone named Bronte: Bleck….ick ick ick
Jules Verne: extremely original and good adventure (technical writing ~)
ERB (Edgar Rice Burroughs): original and good adventure (technically worse than Verne)
CS Lewis: Decent/light, get over the allegory already.
JRR Tolkien: Why read this guy when you can read Terry Brooks? :^o
Charles L Dodgson (Lewis Carrol): Lot’s of fun!
Frank Baum (Wiz Oz): I enjoyed these books.EE Doc Smith: Totally bogus SF, but what a blast!
Alice Mary Norton (Andre Norton): Probably second to Heinlein in terms of prodigious quantity/quality. Not quite there on overall strength, but pioneering.
Robert Heinlein: The Grokiest and most versatile SF writer ever.
James Blish: Cities in Flight–in my memory that says it all. But he did a lot of other great stuff.
Ursula K. Le Guin: Wow.
Gardner DoZois: Fascinating
Philip K Dick: yes, they do dream of electric sheepAnd with these last masters we are drug into the 60’s/70’s and what I consider modern SF/Fantasy. Add Frank Herbert in there to put some icing on the cake.
I could then go into a huge post on my favorite 60s/70s/80s authors. I think SF (not Fantasy) pretty much peaked during those 3 decades, Dick and Gibson signally the top of the mountains. (see manned space flight and moon landings, birth of computers)
Once we get to the ‘post modern era’ things start to dry up in terms of the greats.
Brom, Stephensen, Gaiman, GRRM…and others I am sure…but the bodies of work just isn’t there yet for me to perceive them at these stratospheric levels.
But I’ll take suggestions!
(in the pre-post modern era: A.Rice, PZB, Storm Constantine, Jordan until he sold out, Modessit until he sold out)
And if we want to talk authors that don’t know when to end a story…I just have to throw in Piers Anthony (late modern), a guy who comes up with (CAME up with) some of the best ideas and greatest first, second and maybe third book, and then drives the story into the ground with a steam pile driver…
PS: And what I mean by sold out is, milking a story/series to death rather than creating new original storylines after the $$ starts rolling in.
PPS: Advanced Warning: If I can get a 99 book deal from some publisher, I may change my definition of sold out, and I may end up being Tizzy’s slave!
@lume
That’s because what you are looking at is the reformatted Kindle version on the iPad. It’s been reformatted and the tables turned to images for the older kindles. i.e. least common denominator.
The kindle format doesn’t support tables very well. it also depends on your translation software, it basically has to turn tables into “spaced” fake tables using space characters. So for best results they tell you to screen capture it to a jpg or similar and include the table as a picture.
So you are not seeing the original kindle version in with the appendices were nearly unreadable on the b&w and older kindles.
I kept downgrading the formatting to get it where it is today.
I am hoping for initial beta testing at end of year. Full regular release at the end of Q1 probably.
I just haven’t had the time to work on the book. The three month contract I started in mid-April is still going and will go at least until end of October. It could continue after that, and since it’s very good money, I’ll want to continue if I can.
So I’m reduced to weekends and evenings, and that of course gets split by normal life.
Super!
Thanks, this is great. I’m collecting typos for a new update.
I don’t like to do lots of little ones because not sure how well they roll out to ereaders. Or how often people update their copies (if not automatic–it seems to depend on the kindle or kiindle app) So fewer bigger ones seem like the best shot.
I fear there still be a big one out there with a clearing instead of clearly. And I know there are some who’s that should be whose…
A lot of people don’t like the inset appendices in the middle of the book (where I think the topic at hand is relevant)
In the e-Book, online now, should I move these Appendices to the end of the book and place links to the appendix entry or leave them the same?
Rosver, are you asking about normal “Links” the umbilical cords, or the demon to Abyss link.
The normal links are pretty well understood in all the various forms of magic. I have several articles on them that will make their way out.
One big problem I have is that I’ve lost a lot of my old writings (or stored them somewhere I can’t find).
The original stuff was mostly in AmiPro and later maybe some Word Pro…so just extracting the text is a bit tedious.
One big loss was a thing called the Wizard’s Appendix. I haven’t been able to find an electronic copy, yet. However, I did find a printed copy of it that I scanned to PDF last night. I’m not sure how complete it is.
That has stuff on Links, Mana Pools, Arcane Devices, more on Demons (from a Wizards point of view).
As far as the link to the Abyss, that may or may not make it’s way out. Probably will by the end. It’s tied to the nature of the Abyss and that other discussion in the forums about the Abyss not like other planes and the river Styx.
Not a bad theory for a ‘non-expert’ Maou! o:)
Clearly losing weight like that really is Magic.
But I guess there are some limits to my ability to believe in fantasy.
I mean, can you imagine being able to:
1) Eat anything and everything you want and as much of it as you want.
2) Be able to lose the weight you build up within a matter of hours and be svelte
3) Be a very powerful wizard able to cast magic spells.I mean, isn’t that just too good to be true?
that would be like my ultimate fantasy…
It was meant to be a shocker.
That was very much intentional, I’m actually a bit surprised more people haven’t commented on it.
It shouldn’t really add up or make a lot of sense. The demons have some [i]tricks[/i] up their sleeves (Exador isn’t the only demon to know how to use Abyssal Switch spells) Very little of what you see was built, stuff that’s built tends to be more medieval or older. And as I’ve said some is just crappy facade, some illusion.
The thing to keep in mind is that these higher level demons are OLD, thousands of years old. They make most the vampires in other fiction look like children.
They’ve had a lot of time, a lot of minions and a lot of planes of various tech and magic levels to raid.
Gods don’t usually venture to high tech realms because of the lower mana and too many atheists to bother recruting, but demons that’s another story.
So anyway: lets assume demons are making concrete, they’d make it on some other plane/planet, create prefabricated blocks and zap it in.
Although I really don’t think this happens that much.
Actually you know there is a very real strain of thought in ritualistic magic (here, on Earth) that sex and sexual activity drain one’s powers and thus the most power wizards/witches etc should remain celibate.
This also similar to the line of thought that magic takes lots of energy and that a fat wizard is a powerful wizard and a skinny wizard is a dead wizard.
Meaning, a wizard should eat a lot of food, store up energy in the form of fat, and as they cast spells, they burn the fat for energy.
Thus you start a wizard battle at 300 lbs and end the battle having lost 200 lbs.
I’m pretty sure I’ve read books with this sort of theory, I just can’t think of which ones.
Although, to be honest, Trisfelt insists to everyone that this is true for Thaumaturges, which is why he’s so portly. However, I don’t think too many people believe him.
