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2016 Editing Commissions and Client New Releases

It's been a hectic start to 2016. Already in the bag:

Literary (content and copy) edit of The Far Side of Creation (Vanx Malic 7) by M.R. Mathias, and The House by P.M. Prior.

Currently working on a content and copy edit of The Engine Woman's Light by Laurel Anne Hill.


Here's the cover and blurb for The House, which was released today:

AMAZON

It was meant to be a place of safety. Their home. Her sanctuary. 

When Prue Bridgewater first glimpses the abandoned old house, it's love at first sight. Her husband Ray is not so sure. 

The property has been neglected for decades, and Ray can’t help wondering why. But with Prue on the brink of a nervous breakdown, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her sane, even if it means he has to live there. 

Once ensconced in their new home, Prue begins fixing up the place while Ray is away at work. And then a series of disturbing discoveries makes her fear she's losing her mind. 

She hears things and sees people who couldn’t possibly be there, and she can’t shake the feeling she’s being watched. 

As Prue’s hold on reality begins to disintegrate, along with her marriage, she struggles to tell truth from delusion. But things go from bad to worse, and soon not just her sanity, but her survival hinges upon the long-buried secrets of THE HOUSE. 

Busy, busy, busy!

I've recently worked on edits for Valmore Daniels. Mitchell Hogan, and M.R. Mathias:

Valmore Daniels:

Seed of Creation -- the excellent start to The MoonWar Cycle, and possibly his best book to date. It's good to see Valmore return to SF. Seed of Creation is tightly structured, fast paced, and very engaging.

I also provided a copy edit for an older work aimed at children, due to be released under a new title.


Mitchell Hogan:

First off, I provided a number of rounds of editing for Mitchell's foray into SF, Inquisitor, an accomplished novel that manages to be fast-paced while displaying Mitchell's trademark world building skills.

I was also involved with final edits for the revised Blood of Innocents, and for the yet-to-be-released conclusion to the Sorcery Ascendant Sequence: A Shattered Empire.

M.R. Mathias:

I've just finished a literary edit for Paragon Dracus, the latest installment of The Legend of Vanx Malic series.

OTHER NEWS

While working on the above, I've managed to finish my own Return of the Dwarf Lords (Legends of the Nameless Dwarf book 4), and have written approximately half of Legends of the Nameless Dwarf book 1: Carnifex. I've also started work on book 2: Nameless. Book 3 is already written (currently The Complete Chronicles, but to be re-released as Bane of the Lich Lord). There are seven books planned in all.

I've now signed with Fuse Literary to represent the books, so I'm working flat out to get the first four books ready in the next few months.

EDITING SERVICES

To make sure I reach my deadlines, I'm having to close to editing commissions for the time being. The good news is, Quills2keyboards editing services has agreed to consider all referrals from this site. I've worked with Paula on a number of commissions, and she's also edited two of my novels, and provided content feedback on virtually all of them. She's one of the most diligent and knowledgable editors I've worked with, and if you're a new writer, her First Draft Triage service is about the best thing I've seen.

Dragons, SF, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and Steampunk

Over the past few months I've been fortunate to work with some terrific writers, some new, some established.

I'll be taking new bookings from February, but for now, here's a bit about the authors I've been working with, as well as a project of my own that's nearing completion:



M.R. Mathias


Blood and Royalty by M.R. Mathias

Always a pleasure to work with, M.R. Mathias continues to put out crisp, vividly imagined, fast-paced fantasy, and he keeps getting better. M.R. has his Dragoneers books down to a fine art now, to the point that the characters probably write themselves and generously allow him to take all the credit. My work gets easier with each new Mathias book.


Mitchell Hogan

Mitchell keeps going from strength to strength. He's now following up his massively successful A Crucible of Souls and Blood of Innocents with a science fiction novel that has yet to be named. I've provided developmental and copy editing, and have recently completed a second edit after Mitchell's extensive redraft. The book is carried by tight, focused point of view, compelling themes, and a very satisfying story arc.

Laurel Anne Hill

I provided developmental and copy editing for Laurel's forthcoming steampunk novel Engine Woman's Light. I don't want to say too much about the novel for risk of giving away the plot, but I was impressed by the use of language and voice, mise en scene, and most of all by a couple of scenes that were breathtaking in their brilliance.

Jessica Henwick

I provided developmental and copy editing for the first part of Jessica's debut novel Beneath the Jade Throne. This novel was one of those rare books that got my attention early on: not only does it have a unique setting and an astonishing depth of characterization, but the prose was fluid, measured, and very readable. This has the potential to be a genre classic. 

I know I'm probably light years behind everyone else, but when I Googled Jessica to see if she had an author page, I only found her iMDB entry and the Wiki entry linked to her name above. Seems she might be a little busy with Game of Thrones and Star Wars Episode 7 for a while! 

In the months ahead, I will be working with Rakesh Gupta, J.R. Tomlin, Michael Karner, and Mitchell Hogan.

I'm also finishing the second draft of my own novel The Archon's Assassin (Shader 4), which has been a long time coming. After I self-edit a few times, I'll be sending it to my editor Paula  at Quills to Keyboards. Paula worked on some of my Nameless Dwarf books and the first two Shader books. It's good she's finally quit the day job to run the editing business full-time.

The Falcon's Eye by S. Nathan

I'm happy to announce that the debut fantasy novel of S. Nathan, The Falcon's Eye is now available for pre-order on Amazon and will be released on Friday 12th September.

The Falcon's Eye is a monster of a book, and it's gone through many drafts and revisions. My involvement over almost a year was as content and copy editor. What struck me about the book is the depth of the world building and characterisation, coupled with the creation of a culture that is a far cry from the usual medieval European setting. The attention to detail and the labor of multiple redrafts really shows, and the result is a compelling protagonist (Ava Noface) through whom the reader is led piecemeal into a world as tangible as the one around us.

Here are some reflections from the author:

I grew up with Ava Noface. 

She started out as a sketch in the corner of my notebook while I was supposed to be studying for a Maths exam. Within an hour, she had a name and a past, and her story evolved over the seven years I spent writing it. What started out as a hundred pages of scribbles and drawings grew into a complete story, and Ava was always there to give me reprieve from the daily grind. 

I learned how to be a storyteller from her, and once I actually got around to editing and publishing, I learned how to be a writer from a lot of brilliant people. Participating in writing workshops and NaNoWriMo gave me the discipline to write every day, and my background with science, history, and architecture helped me build the world that Ava lives in. I had the support of my family to pull me through my slumps and keep up my ambition and optimism. Writing ‘The Falcon’s Eye’ wasn’t easy, and it involved a lot of hard work, late nights, and frustration, but I wouldn’t have traded it for the world.

All in all, it’s been a journey–a wild, wonderful journey–and it’s only just begun.     

Mitchell Hogan Wins Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel

Homunculus client, Mitchell Hogan, has just won the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel for his debut novel, A Crucible of Souls. Aurealis Award Winners

The book received editing input early on from John Jarrold, and then was copy edited by me. It has subsequently been thoroughly re-edited by me for style, content, and further copy, and Mitchell has redrafted significant amounts.

The story has an astonishing breadth of characterisation, intrigue, and world building, and the good news is that book 2, Blood of Innocents, is not far from being released.

I've completed the stage one literary edit and am now working through Mitchell's redrafts. It's a lengthy, but extremely rewarding, process that seeks to tighten structure, clarify prose, and enhance dramatic tension. In every respect, Blood of Innocents is a worthy sequel to A Crucible of Souls, and really ramps up the action, taking the story in a compelling direction.

A Crucible of Souls by Mitchell Hogan

I'm pleased to announce the start of a very promising new fantasy trilogy, A Crucible of Souls, by Mitchell Hogan. For a debut novel this is more than a little impressive. Mitchell has redrafted multiple times and the effort really shows. Characters are vividly drawn, multi-layered, and in one or two cases, compelling.

Crucible is recognizably epic fantasy, with an orphaned protagonist who is apprenticed and discovers exceptional skills whilst also uncovering an intriguing family history that may have serious implications for his future. But in additional to the standard epic tropes, Hogan joins with the new wave of fantasy authors in his use of morally ambivalent characters, distinct and tight points of view, believable world building, an intelligible magic system, and some edgy, gritty content.

Mitchell engaged fantasy legend John Jarrold for the first round of story editing and after that passed the book to me for copy editing, plus some additional content notes. After some judicious cutting and sharpening of the prose, he let me have it back for proofreading.

It's been a great project to work on for me, particularly given the author's work ethic and willingness to do whatever it takes to make the book as good as possible.

A Crucible of Souls should be available as an ebook within the next few weeks, and will be released as a paperback shortly afterwards.

If any of you reviewers out there would like an ARC, please send me an email and I'll forward it to the author.