A Delayed and Secret Meeting

“Something’s happening, something’s wrong,” he whispered into her ear. “When everyone’s here, don’t wait for me. Take them all back to our camp. Tigano couldn’t talk, but wants to meet me later. I’ll make my own way back after I’ve talked to him, but it’ll be late. He’s set the eleventh hour as the time.”

“Bring him with you afterward,” Dexya said grimly. “He’s risked enough on our behalf.”

“I will, if he’ll come.”

“If he won’t come willingly,” Dexya said, “then whack him over the head and bring him anyway.”

Quibell chuckled at her proposed solution as he moved away from her position and melted into the darkness. (From Fabric of the World by Scott Ashby) http://tinyurl.com/ophfp6u

News from the World

“When will the others be back from their exercises, and more importantly, do you know when I’ll be able to see Amityn? I’ve news for him from the world.”

Dexya smiled into her cup of tea.

“What?” Quibell demanded.

“Nothing,” she said, and then broke into a small giggle. “It’s just…do you know how pretentious that sounds?”

“Pretentious?”

“‘I have news for him from the world.’” Dexya mimicked Quibell. “I mean, I know you communicate directly with the Heart of the World in ways no one else is able to, and honestly, you’re the least pretentious man I know. It just comes out that way!” She dissolved into giggles, and Quibell, seeing it from her point of view, joined in her laughter. (From Fabric of the World by Scott Ashby) Read more about this book here.

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.

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.