Monthly Archives: April 2012

Honest Thieves

Friday, April 27th, 2012

This is the continuation of Thieves Abroad. Previous entries can be found here

“Náhte, why is there a net on your head?”

“I needed a hat.”

“Náhte, it’s a net. It lets the sun shine through. And doesn’t keep off the mosquitoes either. Also, it smells of fish. Dead fish.”

“I know. I’m hoping fish will jump into the net and I can eat them. I’m hungry.”

Butan just sighed.

They’d been in Át?san a week now, and had, for once in their lives, honest employment. Neither of them liked it very much.

“Kagdor didn’t bring any food, did he?”

“He brought me more nets to wear. Draped them over my head when he left.”

“That was probably because he doesn’t like you. You cut up one of his nets and used it as a fishing line.”

“He wasn’t using it!”

“Náhte, we’re supposed to be repairing the nets, not breaking them.”

“Oh, is that what this job is? I thought I was just a clothes rack.”

“You just might be.”

“Do I get more money as a clothes rack?”

“No, less.”

“Then I don’t want to be a clothes rack.” Náhte thought for a moment. It was a long moment. “I don’t want to be honest any more, Butan. Honesty is kind of dull.”

“You mean there’s nobody shooting arrows at you? Or trying to sell you into slavery?”

“Exactly!”

“You want people to shoot at you.”

“I think so.…
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Chloddio is Done!

Friday, April 20th, 2012

I’ve finished the rewrite. The story now clocks in just a shade under 104,000 words. And it’s a hell of a lot better than it was before this whole process started. For the first time in a while, I’m looking forward to editing it and getting it out the door, because now I think I have a story that’s worth publishing. Of course, I’m sure I’ll turn into a pessimist as soon as I go back for another round of edits, but that’s a long way off.

For now, I’m just going to spend the weekend basking in the fact I’ve ‘finished’ another novel. But before I go, here’s the opening page.

Chloddio’s hammer crashed against the shield of his instructor, a muffled thud as the training weapon impacted solid metal. Chloddio followed with a sweeping strike, coming in high and from the right, aimed at the side of Cavrel’s head. The instructor’s shield rose as he ducked slightly, and the blow glanced away, momentum carrying the warhammer above his helmet. Chloddio threw his strength into reversing the strike, pulling it into a backhand aimed at Cavrel’s skull. A frown spread across the instructor’s features as his weapon came across, the cloth-swathed head slamming into the haft of Chloddio’s weapon, knocking it flying.

“You are a dead man Chloddio. Again. A sweeping side-arm blow with a warhammer? I could have stepped inside and gutted you.


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Bloodaxe is Free!

Friday, April 13th, 2012

Bloodaxe, my Viking-based fantasy short, is free today only through the magic of Kindle Select. It takes place in a northern fantasy kingdom, and the main character is the deposed former ruler of that land. He’s a villain with a wicked sense of humour, and a mum who’s even more skilled than he is, so Bloodaxe lets her rule while he goes a-conquering.

Reader Quotes:

It’s not often that we get to revel in the villain. Bloodaxe is a delightfully misogynistic cad, whose observations about life and people are surprisingly direct and spot on.

I love reading fantasy but I’ve never encountered anything like this. It’s a quick read, under an hour, but is so full of win!

Bweeheeheehee! This is the best book summary I’ve read in a while. Mr. Tallett, please take my dollar. :D

And with that I shall leave you with the blurb itself, and a link to download Bloodaxe for free!.

Bloodaxe thought he was in for a nice relax. He was, after all, dead.

And then some jumped up prick of a god told him he had to rescue a kingdom. His own kingdom, in fact. So Bloodaxe grabbed his, well, axe, and leapt back into the fray.

First, though, he had to be born. And learn not to crap his pants. Then he could get to the killing. Lots and lots of killing.


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100,000 Down

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

Chloddio has passed over the 100,000 word mark, as of this morning. Or, I should say, passed it again. The first draft of the novel was 106,000 words long, but after a long round of edits, I cut it back to 68,000 and have been writing new material to better flesh out the story.

It’s been a long process getting to this point, but the story feels a lot better for it. Beforehand, there were stretches of writing that described beautiful scenery, and left the plot mired in a sand trap. Those are all gone (or almost all), and the story is now much tighter, and with a lot more action in it.

The changes are going to necessitate another heavy round of edits, this time to make sure the old material merges in well with the new, but there are already readers going through the material to see if they can catch continuity mistakes. Hopefully, I haven’t written in too many.

So, now that I’ve added in over 30,000 in new material, where does the story go from here? Well, it gets an ending. A new one that suits all the new material. That will take another 10-20,000 of new material, but I’m sure I can do it before the end of April. And boy will that be a good feeling. Even if it means I need to start editing again.…
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