Yesterday I turned in the third part of the Bitterwood trilogy, Dragonseed. I can't stand it that I have to wait ten more months before the world gets to read it. There's such a strange disconnect between writing a book and seeing it in print. By the time my books see print, I've already moved on to my next project. I'm wanting to jabber on about the book I've just written and can't because hardly anyone is read it yet. But, once the editors at Solaris have their way with the manuscript, I promise I'll start posting sample chapters here.
Dragonseed picks up only a few days after Dragonforge closes. The human rebels who've seized Dragon Forge quickly discover that winning a battle isn't the same as winning a war. Humans throughout the kingdom fall victim to reprisals. The land is in turmoil, full of refugees. In the middle of all this chaos, we follow Jandra's adventures as she attempts to regain her genie, the source of her seemingly magical abilities. Along as her bodyguard is Anza, the mute daughter of Burke the Machinist, trained from infancy as an unstoppable warrior. And, of course, Bitterwood is back... and Jandra has released him from his vow not to kill her former friend, the sun-dragon Hex. Bitterwood versus Hex. You know you want to see that fight. Order now! Oh, wait, you can't. Take heart: July 2009 will be here before you know it.
Speaking of being here before you know it, I have a book signing barely a week away! I'll be at the Barnes and Noble in Cary, NC, on Tuesday, September 9, at 7:00pm. This is a joint SF/Fantasy panel with authors Lisa Shearin, author of Armed and Magical and Mark van Name, author of the Jon and Lobo series. I'll be giving away Dragonforge buttons. Come on out; I promise a good time.
7 comments:
dear james,
(or whoever actually checks this)
Hey, I am a 16 year old female and I absolutely am in LOVE with your dragon age trillogy!! I really dont know if I can possibly wait until july of 2009!! I have so many questions that are in need of answering!! will your book be out in high point NC by july?? will rangar and jandra ever make amends?? will she get her genie back?? what happened to venorex's body?? does pet really remain dead?? ohh my I dont know how I will survive the next nine and a half months without knowing... please update soon! well anyways... good luck on any current projects...
love always,
a devoted reader
Thanks, Dangyankee! You made my day.
For what it's worth, July 2009 is a really long time for me to wait as well. It's tough to think it's not even fall yet and that we'll have to wait through fall, winter, and spring before the book is here. Arg! Fortunately, when it does hit shelves again next year, it should be in High Point at the same time it appears everywhere else.
Without giving too much away: The main driving force of the plot of Dragonseed is Jandra undertaking a quest to find her old genie so she can get her new genie back and solve all the world's problems. Characters who were formerly allies wind up as enemies, and characters who were once enemies become unexpected allies. As for the dead characters, they stay dead. At least some of them. Except for those who turn up alive at key moments in the plot.
I should say no more.
I've gotten story level edits back from Solaris, so I'm doing further revisions this month. Then, the line editor will take her red ink to the manuscript and I'll make further revisions. THEN, I promise, I'll put up a sample chapter or two, at least in time for Christmas.
Thanks again,
James
Well I am So glad I made your day!! I'll be checking your blogs regularly for those updates!!
thanks A LOT<3
I'm a 13 year old boy and your novels ROCK! I used your book to help me in my debate here [http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/24269.page] and it totally turned the tables. I think it would be awesome if the Atlanteans got involved with Jandra and started supporting the new human rebellion. Are there any previews to the book?
Drakonis, thanks for the enthusiasm and the plug in the forum! I went and read the argument going on there and have to say I'm impressed by some of the debating going on there. Deducing what species might evolve civilization should we vanish is pretty heady stuff. When I was thirteen, my debate skills tended to be used to determine who was stronger, the Incredible Hulk or the Mighty Thor.
Atlantis plays a big role in Dragonseed, as does Jandra. By the end of the book, the world is changed forever.
I do have previews of the first three chapters of the galleys. Here's a link:
http://home.earthlink.net/~vendevorex/dragonseed_galley_uncorrected%20chapters%20123.pdf
Galleys are the uncorrected proofs, so there are a few typos and words I've changed for the final draft, but nothing big. What you see here matches the final book about 99.9%.
Hope you enjoy! Keep spreading the news!
Dear Mr. Maxey. I've thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in your Dragon Age series. Will Dragonseed be the last one? Also, i must say i've enjoyed how you made the earth-dragons and their culture. Not counting lizard, will we be meeting any distinguished earthdragons in dragonseed? Including Charkon in dragon forge really gave me a personalia of the earthdragons to relate to. Really looking forward to reading the whole book!
Thanks, Henning!
While Dragonseed concludes the trilogy that began with Bitterwood, I've left some threads for possible future books. Unfortunately, my publisher, Solaris, is currently up for sale by the larger publishing house that owns them. They will continue to put out books through this year, but they aren't currently snapping up more books. However, my books have done pretty well with Solaris. Bitterwood has gone into a third printing, so it's definitely beat expectations. Still, future books in the same universe are on hold until the final fate of Solaris is determined. If someone buys them, I'll pitch more books set in the Dragon Age. If no one buys them, I'll see if another publisher is interested. The most important thing to generating that interest, of course, is for Dragonseed to do as well as the first two books, even though it has absolutely no marketing push behind it at the moment. So, tell your friends! Tell your enemies for that matter. Spread the Dragon gospel!
Finally, if you're looking for a good place to discuss the Dragonage with fellow fans, let me again plug www.bitterwood.net. Not much chatter there yet... I'm just hoping that a critical mass will build soon, especially once Dragonseed hits stores.
Thanks,
James
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