This weekend, July 16-17, I’ll have a booth at Comicpalooza in Houston. If you’re in the area, come on by and say hi! I’ll be selling autographed books and 3d printed lithophanes of the book covers.
I was reading The Two Towers to my daughter last night and paused when I hit this sentence.
Look at it. It’s brilliant. From the two separate uses of alliteration to the gorgeous metaphor at the end, it’s an absolutely masterful sentence.
“Disheveled dryad loveliness.” Who thinks of such incredible words and then buries them at the end of a long paragraph of description? JRR Tolkien, that’s who.
I looked up the passage in question in Christopher Tolkien’s History of Middle-Earth. There’s no indication that his father spent any extra time revising this particular sentence or even this paragraph. It flowed from his pen, as naturally as anything.
Many modern readers complain that The Lord of the Rings is too slow, full of way too much description and history. I contend they’re not reading carefully. This sentence, regardless of anything around it, is flat out breathtaking.
That, my friends, is why JRR Tolkien is the master.
I am making excellent progress on my new epic fantasy novel, tentative title Bloodless.
As an aside, I’m not completely happy with that title. I’ve explored five or six more so far, but haven’t been able to decide. I probably won’t settle the question until the first draft is done, at least. Bloodless may end up being the title of the series.
I’m starting to think of this book as Gladiator meets The Name of the Wind. The protagonist’s life story is being told in lengthy flashbacks, showing how he ended up an arena fighter slave with an unusual magical ability. That ability has the potential to threaten the entire power structure of the Empire. But our protagonist is not interested in anything other than earning his freedom. He’s not the “chosen one.” In fact, to win his freedom, his final arena duel is against this world’s “chosen one.” What will he do?
The progress bar over on the right showed the book almost halfway through yesterday. Today, it’s dropped to 42%. That’s because I’ve realized the book is going to be longer than I originally estimated (and may still be longer than my new estimate!). Right now, I’m aiming for a length similar to the Heart of Fire books.
If all goes according to plan, you’ll be able to read this by the end of this year or very early next year.
Keep reading!
Onyx, book 4 of Dragontek Lore, is available today!
(Ebook only. Paperback is running a day or two behind at the moment)
Behold Onyx, the fourth book in the Dragontek Lore series (and the fourth dragon to get his name and likeness on the cover – they’re all such egomaniacs). This guy is terrifying. Austin DeGroot went above and beyond with this one! Pre-orders available now!! Official release date: May 23.
I realized I hadn’t updated this blog in a while. The image above is one of the reasons.
Brainstorming! I’ve had two big sessions lately with two other people – one a writer like myself and one who can’t string a good text message together… but is a genius at finding holes in magic systems, economics, and so on. That’s in addition to all of the brainstorming and research I’ve been doing myself for almost a year now.
This is obviously not the Dragontek Lore series. That’s still coming along. Book four, Onyx, will show up late next month (exact date coming soon). Book five is moving into the revision phase, and I’m only a few pages away from finishing the first draft of book six.
But at the same time, I’m preparing to start a new epic fantasy. The scale is personal and huge at the same time, full of battles, magic, gladiators, unrequited love, a Chosen One who isn’t, and also blood. Lots of blood.
Curious? Stay tuned. Better yet, join the newsletter. They get updates much more often and quicker than this blog.
That’s right! The first two books of the epic Heart of Fire series are absolutely FREE this week. Don’t wait! Go snag Until All Curses Are Lifted and Until All Bonds Are Broken, and find out what all the fuss is about!
Behold the glorious cover of Dragontek Lore, book 3: Auric.
Austin DeGroot knocked this one out of the park!