New Fantasy Novel

So, the next book in the pipeline, assuming several things, since it's a spec-novel, i.e., not one for which we have a contract, is Eilandia: The Dreadnaught, with my collaborator.

Hereabove, a peek at the world map, more or less.

The assumptions here are mostly concerned with what paying work might get in the way, since this one, while we hope it will eventually be lucrative, won't be marketed until we finish it. There are good reasons for this, not the least of which is that a big fat fantasy -- a technical term in the publishing biz, fat fantasy -- is more likely to bring in a good advance if the publisher can see up front exactly what they have to work with, as opposed to a few chapters and an outline. Reduce War and Peace to three chapters and an outline, it's not as impressive as having the monster manuscript in-hand. Not that we are in any way comparing ourselves to Tolstoy here ...

Um. Anyway, we are hoping for a draft by this summer, and aiming for something in the neighborhood of 175,000 words, which would be a substantial book, but not a doorstop footbuster.

And, of course, it might be but the first tale in the Eilandia Chronicles, which could run three, or five, or twelve volumes -- depending on how much money our publisher wants to bestow upon us.

And for the silat crowd, yes, there will be much of that art herein.