Posted by Today Josh Waltzing asked, “Isn’t the Song of Lagrandil a trilogy?”
Not hardly.
When I was in my early 30’s I laid out 8 different novel possibilities to my ideal reader, the guy I tell the stories to.
He picked for me to tell the whole story of the Ranger Prince novels.
ME: “You realize that would be the size of the Wheel of Time books, right?”
HIM: “I don’t have a problem with that.”
So, he went to Iraq and I went to the keyboard and started pounding away.
I had to take a brief pause to go back to college and get a degree. And another brief pause to get a different degree when the Physics program closed at BSU. English degree started and completed Cum Laude in 2 years, baby!
Then I had a brief pause to work on fulfilling my word about the martial arts school. It turns out it takes a bit of focus and effort to try and reach 4th dan in 5 years’ training.
I’m potentially on track for that, and then I can slow down.
Now I’m looking at my other life goals and options. Among them, is to fulfill my word to my old friend. And speaking of current projects, let me lay out what I already have on my plate.
(You will notice that I’m very relationship oriented in my life goals.)
For Nathan Peske, I will finish up The Song of Lagrandil before I kick the bucket. I have 10-15 books planned, total, with 3 done. I hope to finish by the time I turn 60.
For Dave Kiser I have a total of 7 books planned in the Trials of Adrian Campbell, that will culminate in mankind reaching the stars. If I write them quickly and well he promises not to shoot me anyplace that won’t grow back. (Kiser, for the record, I’m not a lizard. Nothing grows back but my pride.)
For Evan Hartshorn I have another 8 shorter books in the Hyperspace Web trilogy, which will deal with MOST of the people stranded in a particular galaxy trying to find their way back to Earth.
For the sons of John Ahola and Sarah Wurdeman I’m thinking of at least a trilogy that’s a mix of Power Rangers, Animorphs, and The Last Starfighter with a dash of Beggars in Spain. I will have to work on that quickly, though, since boys grow up much faster than books do.
Then for keysministry.com a series about the first Gray Wanderer on the face of Lagrandil, which I short-hand as my “Semi-steampunk ex-gay Zorro” series to throw a lot of martial arts, swords, and airships at questions about the Biblical church and the LGBT movement from a position OTHER than one side or the other frothing at the mouth. I didn’t even think about that at first. I thought it would be a ton of fun to stick a politically correct Star Trek-style starship captain in the head of a true-believer knight of awesomeness and listen to them knock heads while they solve crimes and change the world. Then I thought… what would be the most terrible way to get someone kicked out of a hyper-conservative religious order… hmm….. And suddenly I have an LGBT _main_ character instead of just a supporting one, which is true for every one of my books. (Play that guessing game all you want.)
Finally I’ve got a theory for a series about a dragon apocalypse and zombies plus psychic elves in the modern world I really want to play around with.
So… Let’s just say that if my dreams came true and I got to write full time and teach martial arts as my side job, I still might not get everything I already have planned written before I kick the bucket. That’s not even touching the vampires vs. werewolves trilogy and the High Fantasy DnD world meets Professional Sports novel I have planned out as the answer to a Codex Alera-style dare from a certain Anglo Saxon former roommate of mine…
I hope to pass away like Robert Parker, who in the words of Jim Butcher, “Died at his keyboard writing his next novel, like a man!”
#amwriting
While I’me writing, feel free to start to follow along in my journey. Here’s a great starting point!
Lagrandil 