Tatto For You

Dear All, My words are gone and I don't know where to find them... As an example, I needed my thesaurus for this post, but could not immediately find it. That has never happened before - I always know where my thesaurus is at. Exhibit b/- I have hardly touched my notebook: last year I filled two, yet as this year as it ticks on to it's end, I have barely made it a 5 th of the way into one. What is going on...? And here was me thinking I had "made it", that I would be immune to such "humanness". Ack ! How does a writer get his words back? Tell what does make me happy though, knowing that Factotum is already beginning to make its way to you all. Now we get to find out if I can really pull off an entire story or not, which was, during the process of the last 6 years, of real concern to me... Still is :/ Is it just me or do seconds take forever to pass; weeks can flash by, but seconds seem to plod along with nigh tauntingly ponderous - even reluctant - leade...

This! did arrive on my doorstep this morning!!! It is finished! Never thought I would see the day of the three spines lined up 1 - 2 - 3. And so you have continuing proof the Factotum is indeed on its way to you all, that every day is another day closer to official release, that the book is done and will soon be in the process of delivery to you local book-pusher.

Hey folks, a bit of an i nternet blackout period for me or what! Great news, having just done the last tweaks on the typeset pages the text for Monster-Blood Tattoo/Foundling's Tale Book 3, Factotum is very very soon for the printers! (You've all had to wait so long I thought every little bit of information might help the wait...) Some questions/points in last post needing to be answered, as I have to shoot off now I will just say of my intention to endeavour to get to them tomorrow.

Here it is, for all you Oz/NZ readers. As you can see, the original vision has not died, just been altered in one part on the world, yet continues elsewhere unchanged. Live on MBT ! Well, time to 'fess up too, and let you know that the release of Book 3 will be delayed a little longer *WINCE* Australia/NZ - October 2010 USA/Canada - November 2010 Other places in this big beautiful world - TBA This has been to allow the editors sufficient time to do their most necessary work and therefore worthy the delay (heck, if blame is needed then it is I who took soooooo long to pen the damn tale). Thank you for all you excellent comments previous post - I will try to get to them, but may not be able to right away. Hang in there folks, we will get there ... eventually.

Well, in the midst of completing the 3rd draft, I shall, with great trepidation, start with the bad - as is customary. There is no way to say it but straight: the release of Monster-Blood Tattoo Book 3 will be delayed until September of next year (2010). *wince* Sorry, sorry, sorry. The fault is mine for the time I have taken to write it. Apologies to everyone for causing any consternation at such a revelation. A silver lining to such a cloud is that it gives it all time to be just that bit better (the flip side of this being, it better be pretty darn good now then, huh?); also it will give you more time, Ms Ventress, to get a Sebastipole costume ready *hopeful face*. Okey dokey, on to the better stuff ... June next year (2010) is when my very first short story - The Corsers' Hinge (see your nearest explicarium for what a 'corser' is) - will be released here in Oz as part of an anthology called, Australia's Legends of Fantasy It will be published by Harper Collins, Au...

You'd better believe it! The impossible has become the possible. Explicarium and character illos to go... (plus further correcting of a 3rd draft - here's hoping that will not be too great a task)

I am feeling pretty good having just handed in the first 20 chapters of the 2nd draft of Book 3 (with about 7 or so to go) to my editor, Celia, here in Oz. This is a tunnel after all, not the ceaseless dark of endless night I feared. Phew! I was beginning to wonder there... I am also feeling rather bemused because here in Australia our government is contemplating the abolition of Parallel Importation Restrictions in our country. This might appear as a good thing, yes? 'Restriction' is a bad word - we should get rid of 'restrictions', it sounds like they are impinging on our 'freedom'. Yet the purpose of Parallel Importation Restrictions (and they exist in the UK and US as well) is to provide a frame work by which an author can make income from the licencing of the copyright of their story within the three major English speaking markets. So these 'restrictions' actually create clear boundaries by which the publishers in each country knows how to behave ...

What we have below is two page layout views of the first few chapters of Book 3 (those who know MS Word will know what this is, which is probably most of you). The first is Draft 1, the second Draft 2 with all the changes tracked in red. ADDENDUM as of 1/7/9 ~ WELL... the above is what you would have seen, but a contractual issue back o' house has me now removing said images - though they were diagrammatic and illegible - from the public space. For those who saw them and were edified by them, glad to be of encouragement. For those who did not, well, wow, they were the most spectacular things you will ever behold in your span of years upon this planet... there was certainly a lot of red on them anyway. You will be able to see them again once Book 3 is out... in a little while... Apologies to my publishers for my careless enthusiasm to share. Sorry folks, more normal transmissions will resume in their usual erratic manner. Happy New Financial Year, btw.

This is an updated, slightly more "polished" design version of a previous rough for Europe's final harness in Book 3. That's all...

You might be wondering what the new poll asking about a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure [TM] style story is all for. Well, I was reckoning that when Book 3 1st draft and maybe edit passes are finally done we could embark on a project together where I write an entry upon a certain Half-Continent character, list a poll of options for their next action, give you a week or two or three to choose which way next, write that, give you more options to choose for the next bit and so on (am I making sense?) and maybe build story together. So I have put up a poll to start and we shall go from there. Thoughts anyone? To add a little spice to the entry I am also including some sneak peak appendices proposed for Book 3 (though constraints of book length might mean some do not make it in... we shall see) Until then, I hope you enjoy these. If you find any errors (such as the one for "parry" on the sabrine adept image) don't fret, these have yet to go under an editor's scrupulous eye.

Well, 2008 has come and nigh gone again (indeed, it is gone!) and all the while I have been wrestling through some book I am supposed to write *rolls eyes* ;P The previous two books of the Monster-Blood Tattoo series so far has been a distinct journey and this third is now different - as another author once said you never learn how to write your next book, just the one you are currently working on. How true that is. Book 3 - the infamously long-to-wait-for Factotum - has been a process all its own, with its own momentum, its own surprises. It is frightening and wonderful to go out in the story on a hunch that it is the correct direction and have it rewarded with an unexpected unfolding of whole unforeseen and richer moments in the tale. One of the hardest things has been facing the finish the text, fear fear fear; is this story good enough? Does it do what it needs to do? Will folks like it? The great thing is that now it is not even 18 months to release folks, so hang in there. A re...

So, I am thinking I shall keep up with this blog (indeed, that was my hope and intention) - I very much look forward to a forum happening though (hint hint - am I allowed to do that...?) - probably a powerful benefit I see is having some kind of section where questions are asked of me so I can clearly see what I have and have not answered. I am afraid to think of the number of questions that have gone unanswered here at Monster Blog Tattoo because I lose track of them in all the comments. Sorry to anyone who feels a bit snubbed by such an oversight, please, if you dare, ask again. In light of this contrition I shall now attempt to answer a question. Dear portals was axing a quekstion ... "So far all the Haacobin Empire's armies seem to all be made up of foot soldiers and suchlike. from what I know about history, cavalry always seems to be a great asset to any army, so why does the Empire have none.Sorry if they do have some, but with the definition for the Armies of the Empi...

Should I tell you..? Do you really want to know? ...Want to know just how long you will have to wait? Well... Monster-Blood Tattoo Book 3: Factotum (English language editions) will be released ~ MAY 2010 Please don't be too dismayed or beat up on me; it is a bit of a wait yes, but it will be worth it... he says in faith... =/ In the meantime I found this very cool bit of "fan art" - if I may call it that - by a young soul by the name of ponkkaa . I hope they do not mind me send folks their way. Also there is the wonderful work of our very own E.N.Reinmuth - both MBT and non; I dig you work very much ma'am! - and yes, I shall attempt to put up just how a vialimn works some day soon (certainly between now and the release of Book 3). Anyone else got a bit of MBT related (or not) stuff they want to show off? Last but not least, a new poll, in an oblique response to portal's excellent question. (please be seeing the text to the right)

So much commenting goodness with the last post! I was going to respond there but thought maybe it might work just as well here... (given I am feeling a tad stuck with post ideas right now because a certain 3rd book has most of my attention). Amongst all the excellent ideas batted forth and back I wanted to answer two things: Firstly, to fulgars using swords : well, the idea is feasible - it has certainly crossed my addled thoughts (especially the reverse, ie. the dangers of using a metal weapon against a fulgar). The conclusion I am running with is that most fulgars would regard to use of a sword as some kind of admission of weakness - that their ability with their eclatics is not quite up to rigours of the stouche. It also strikes me that the more sword using pugnators (sagaars, sabrine adepts) might look a little darkly on such a practice - a kind of "demarcation dispute", that's our technique! Get your own! - and in return a fulgar would never stoop to admitting tha...

Two possible thoughts for further Half-Continent stories: - roving the vinegar seas hunting pirates and kraulschwimmen and any other tasks required in the Emperor's service = sea battles, vinegaroon life, wider politics; - some kind of expedition ( ala . King Solomon's Mines H. Rider Haggard - a most excellent book!) for lost and longed-for secrets in monstrous places = monsters, history, more monsters. Should I be telling you all this? Given certain revelations of admiration for a certain leer and lamplighters' agent, should he have a story of his own, too? Maybe I should just get on with finishing Book 3 of MBT - enough with this presumptuous whimsical dayfancying! Back to ADWC (see previous post) ...

... writing... writing... writing... writing... writing...

I have been aware of this review of Monster-Blood Tattoo: Foundling by Elizabeth Bird for a little while now and, happy to find it as the Review of the Day over at Fuse 8 on the School Library Journal site, thought some might like to head on over and see. She has also posted a review of Lamplighter for those who are interested. They are both astounding in its breadth and the level to which Ms Bird understands and appreciates the whole Half-Continent thing, and also very helpful to encourage me as I wrestle with some tough bits in Book 3. Thank you, EB! Speaking of Book 3 , I received this email from Conner Ernst : "A few people at my school have read book two and they like Numps and I am trying to convince you to have Numps in the third book and make Europe have more hatred." Hmmm , very pertinent notions, Conner, and things I am tackling with even as I blog to procrastinate. What do other people think? What to do with Numps ? Should Europe be meaner? more of an invidi...