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.

Jenny's Daughter

On April 23, Jenny's Daughter, by Jaqi Wade was published.

I feel privileged to have been one of the editors during its publication. As an editor, not only was I looking for spelling and grammar problems, but I had quite a bit to do with shaping the manuscript. Some bits were moved around to put them in a little better order, to make the book easier to read. Some bits of the original manuscript were cut, because the memories meandered into essays on social or political subjects, and the book was meant to be a memoir. Mostly, the editing was simply polishing the uncut gem that had been presented, and making it sparkle in its present form.

Jaqi Wade grew up in California, the daughter of a farm laborer and a nurse. She lived through the Great Depression, and was fortunate enough that although they moved often as her father sought work, they were never starving or homeless. She lived through the fear that stalked all Californians during WWII; that there would be mainland strikes similar to Pearl Harbor.

Later in her life, she and her husband joined a missionary group headed for Brazil. They packed up their three children and very few of their possessions and moved to South America. She coped with her new language and culture. As her husband was the mission's pilot, she often had to function as though she were a single parent, raising her children, working, and adjusting to her new home on her own.

Meanwhile, the United States was consumed with the social turmoil of the late sixties and early seventies. She read about the events as they were presented by international news sources, but never really experienced the changes with the rest of the citizens. By the time she returned home, the language, culture, and technology were utterly foreign to her, and she found that the reverse culture shock of her return was harder to deal with than her initial move to Brazil, not least because she was completely unprepared for it.

Come read the remarkable story of a woman who's lived life on two continents. Meet Jaqi Wade, Jenny's daughter.

Exciting! And a little Crazy!

Publishing is a strange world to live in. It's a world of hurry up and wait.
You send the manuscript back and forth between the editors and the author. When it's your turn with it, you work like mad, then wait several months until it's your turn again. There are sometimes delays because, well, life happens. And sometimes there are serendipitous moments when you realize you can bring a project in ahead of schedule.

Take April for example. We're publishing three books at or near the end of April.

Inherit My Heart, by A M Jenner, is a romantic suspense about a woman who's running from an abusive relationship, and what happens when a lawyer inadvertently leads her husband to her.

Inherit My Heart was originally intended to be (re)published in February, but some family funerals and unexpected travel delayed its release.

Jenny's Daughter, by Jaqi Wade, is a nonfiction memoir of a fascinating life. Jaqi grew up in depression-era California. At the age of 40 she and her husband packed up their children and went to live as missionaries in Brazil. The culture shock of moving there was nothing compared to the shock of moving back "home" again twenty years later.

Jenny's Daughter is being published right on time.

Fabric of the World, by Scott Ashby, is a fantasy novel about a young man who accidentally kills the Archmage on his seventeenth naming-day, the day he becomes a legal adult. By the end of the day he's been forced to abandon his plans for his life and flee the city...and he's been kidnapped by a band of nomads, to boot. As he tries to find a place in the world, he has two choices: stay with the nomads, marry the chieftain's daughter, and become fabulously wealthy as his adopted heir; or return to Turpan and fight the rest of the corrupt mages who rule the city to bring freedom and justice to all the city's inhabitants.

Fabric of the World was scheduled to be (re)released in June, but the work went faster than expected in every phase of development, and it's ready now.

All three books have been sent to the printer, and we're waiting for the proof copies to arrive. In the meanwhile, we're putting information about them on the website as it becomes available, and working hard to prepare the ebook versions.

Meet Jeffrey Von Glahn

Join us at The Electric Scroll's Author Chat on May 2, when our guest will be Jeffrey Von Glahn, Ph.D. author of Jessica: The Autobiography of an Infant  and Jessica, his client.

In her therapy as an adult, Jessica remembered in vivid detail many experiences from the earliest weeks of her infancy. She had always feared that the unthinkable had happened when she had been "made up." She had no sense of herself as a needing, wanting person. Every day she expected to be dragged into court and found guilty of impersonating a real human being. In her therapy, she discovered that the difficulties she experienced in being born and the inattentive, hurried behavior of her mother in the ensuing weeks made her feel that the needing, wanting part of her was "dangerous" and that she "had to stay away from it."

Both Jeffrey and Jessica are eager to share their experience: He as author (and therapist) and she as an articulate spokesperson for the emotional care of infants.

Jeffrey invites questions ahead of time: jeffreyvonglahn@gmail.com.