Over the past few months I’ve dropped little hints here to suggest that something good might be on the horizon for me. Well, now it’s begun to happen and I can finally talk about it. My novel, Swords of Talera, has just been released by Borgo Press and is available on Amazon. This is the first of a trilogy. The follow-up books will be Wings Over Talera and Witch of Talera. Both are scheduled for publication but I’m not sure exactly when that will take place.
I’m very happy. It’s been five years since Cold in the Light was published, and nearly eight since “Swords of Talera” ran as a magazine serial. This version has been substantially revised for book publication, by the way. Those of you who have read Cold in the Light should know that this is a very different kind of book. “Cold” was a horror/thriller. “Swords” falls into the “Sword & Planet” genre (often called “Interplanetary Romance”). This type of book originated with Edgar Rice Burroughs and his John Carter of Mars series.
Swords of Talera has a convoluted history. I wrote it when I was 24, then revised it around the age of 29 and started sending it to the bigger publishers. DAW and Del Rey passed on it, although I got good commentary from both places. DAW was cutting their Sword & Planet books to the bone about then, and Del Rey had moved much more into fantasy that was heavy on magic and dragons. I then sold it to a small publisher, who never published it, sold it to a second small publisher that went under when the owner absconded with the press's funds, and finally offered it to Tom and Ginger Johnson who ran it as a serial in their Startling Science Stories mag, where it won their readers’ choice award.
Last year a pro writer friend of mine named Charles Nuetzel, who has written Sword & Planet fiction and a lot of other stuff too, suggested I try my Taleran books on Robert Reginald over at Borgo Press. Rob liked the trilogy, accepted it, and then did a thorough editing job on all three. My special thanks go out to Charles (CAN) and to Rob. Much appreciated, my friends. Your names are gold with me.
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