Back Again!
Alright, so, that move derailed me more than I thought! I am totally out of the habit of doing these updates, and trying to find the time right now is… rough. So, what’s been going on? Well, not much in terms of updates here, but we’ve still got some things to go over! Let’s hop in!
The Lonely Fortress
Harmonizer: The Lonely Fortress is nearing completion, and I mean that in totality. The first editing pass is only a few weeks out from being complete, and the cover art is locked down. This means that Harmonizer should be getting its sequel sometime around the end of May! It’s surreal to imagine the sequel already coming out, so let’s just quickly touch on what’s about to happen, at least one more time!
Following the events of Harmonizer, Vianna and her friends returned to a more normal life. Garrin has evolved as a blacksmith, Feera’s alchemy business is booming, and Vianna can final live like a normal person now that she understands the necessity of letting other people into her life. It seems like everything is going perfect, but everything takes a turn when it’s revealed that Aiya’s illness is unresolved. Determined to save her sister at all costs, Vianna and her friends venture back to the Tower of the Gods to confront Estria, but none of them were ready for the truth.
Estria reveals that the only way to truly cure the Violet Death is to purge the same infection from the planet core, and that means confronting the remaining Guardians in order to unlock the planet’s interior. With no other options, Vianna agrees to Estria’s proposal and sets off to find the Guardian ‘Garondar.’ Setting off back into the mountains of Tan’tria, Vianna and her friends can only hope this journey is more straightforward, but none of them are prepared for the conflict they find themselves swept up in. Will Vianna be able to traverse the frozen clutches of Tan’tria’s north, or will the machinations of the Steel Legion bring her journey to a swift end?!
Compared to the first book, The Lonely Fortress is far more ambitious and finally cracks open the true threat of the Steel Legion. Some of the secrets teased in the final chapter of Harmonizer will finally be explained, and we’ll get a clear look at just what the Steel Legion is truly after as well as a brief glimpse of their full might.
My original plan with Harmonizer was to release these books at lightning pace, but… the move kinda threw things off. HOWEVER, once the Lonely Fortress releases, we will be getting on the schedule I wanted in the beginning! That means that in August, we should be getting our first glimpse of the sequel to Lonely Fortress! I hope everyone is ready, because the Stampede is on its way!
The Sapphire Verdict
As per usual, the Sapphire Verdict is still being worked on. I am extremely close to being done with creating it’s new chapters to finish its refactor, and then I jump into editing. I have not yet decided if I will elect to seek an agent on this one again for traditional publishing or if I will do what I did with Harmonizer. Part of me really wants to get this published traditionally, but the other part just wants to be done so I can finally write the book I wanted to write to begin with! The good news is that, when this is done, the second book is ready to go instantly with no changes. The third book, however… that’s going through some redesign as well.
Though I can’t talk about too much in it, I will say that the third book was designed to be around 100 chapters in length, which would place it somewhere around 300,000 words in total, which… is a little on the long side. Splitting it in half cleanly truly isn’t an option, believe me, so now I’m playing with the idea of bringing a future book in earlier to combine with this one. It’ll mean the Sapphire Verdict will be a little longer, but the overall story will be identical to what it would have been in say five or so years.
Time will tell what I end up doing with this, so keep hanging in there! We’ll get to the end at some point this century!
Art stuff!
I have art stuff to showoff! At long last, I have finished another art piece, so behold! Vianna!
This piece was just designed to kinda showcase Vianna as a person, and she’s defined by two things! Aggression and strength! This piece required me to learn how to do muscle definition, and while I didn’t do it well, I at least did better than I could have done a year ago!
In this piece, there’s a lot to digest. First of all is Harmony, Vianna’s sword. You can appreciate its glow a little better than you could on previous pieces and get a much clearer idea of how it’s designed! Additionally, there’s the environment. This is none other than the Ankilan badlands, though it’s a little more south than what is covered in the book. All that red rock and sand looks positively dreadful to me, but I suppose someone in a hotter part of the world might like it. Then, of course, is Vianna’s outfit itself! With plenty of money to spare, this is more like what she would prefer to wear. She likes showing off her muscles and is a huge fan of showing off her abs, and she likes the rougher design of her smaller coat. All in all, the more violent it is, the more she’s interested!
Conclusion
That’s all I have to update on this week. My plan is to do a much bigger post next week to start building up to the release of Harmonizer: The Lonely Fortress! I’ve also begun work on my next art piece, and… well, it’s worth noting that we may have a big addition to the website soon! Until then, take it easy and have a good one!
Cheers!
The Flying Fennec