Fabric of the World

On April 25th, Scott Ashby's Fabric of the World was finally republished. I know there's been a lot of people waiting very patiently for the editing to be completed and the book to be available once more.

Although the story is largely the same, the presentation is much improved. What changes were made? For one thing, the first five chapters were removed completely. Most of the writing was tightened up and made a little less formal. And this time, I think we got it right, because Scott says his characters now trust him enough that they've started talking to him about the next part of the story. Yes, there will be at least one other story set in this world.

Also those chapters that were removed are awesome short stories on their own, and the possibility exists that other short stories may be written and the lot of them released together.

For those who haven't met Quibell yet, I'll tell you a bit about him. His unwed mother was thrown out of her wealthy household because of her pregnancy. When Quibell showed all the signs of being mageborn, she was Burned at the stake for the crime of sleeping with a mageborn man. Quibell was then raised in an orphanage.

On his seventeenth naming-day, the day he officially became an adult, Quibell left the orphanage for the last time. He'd arranged an apprenticeship, and was on his way to learn to become a Healer. His life would have been unremarkable had he not passed through the square where there was yet another public Burning, so like his mother's. Overcome by his emotions, Quibell lashes out with his untaught power, and the executioner ended up in the flames with his victims.

The murder of a Mage is a capital crime. Having used magic to do so made it worse. Quibell runs for his life, fleeing the city of Turpan forever. By the end of the day, he's fallen in with a tribe of nomads, though he's not sure whether he's a prisoner or an honored guest.

He has an important choice to make, though. He can stay with the nomads, marry the chieftain's daughter, and become a nomad prince...or he can try to find a way to return to Turpan, overthrow the evil Mages that run the city, and free his people. Either way, the choice he makes has the possibility to change the world.