The Heart of the Sands is finished

Book 3 of The Gods Within is finished.

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Jim

Today I finished the manuscript for The Heart of the Sands, and I am really pleased with the way it turned out. Several times during the writing the characters took over and did things I wasn't expecting, one of those moments in which I had to pause and say to myself, "Whoa! Wait a minute. Where did that come from?"

I've come to learn that that means the characters have become so real in my mind that they take on a life of their own. I hope that in my writing I manage to do that for my readers as well. No plot-spoilers here, but a bit about the story:

Everyone thinks Morgin and Rhianne are both dead, and they each think the other is dead. Traveling with the Benesh'ere, and fighting beside them to fend off attacks from Kulls, Morgin's sense of the steel increases daily. And he becomes, as the whitefaces say, ". . . close to the steel." Rhianne hides among common folk in a town near the Lake of Sorrows. She disguises herself and makes a modest living as a simple hedge witch, a healer. But the malevolent blade that Morgin brought onto the Mortal Plain has focused on her, and her power must grow, or it will overwhelm her.

So what happens next: editing, proofing, then formatting for publication. Editing and proofing are critical. It's a really crappy manuscript without it. For example, I know the difference between lose and loose, and peal and peel, but when I'm deep into the story and cranking out the words, I frequently type the wrong one. And the old adage that one cannot proofread their own work is so true. I could read the manuscript a hundred times and not catch a lot of those mistakes. For example, in The SteelMaster of Indwallin, Morddon kept knocking arrows, not nocking them as he should have done.

At this point the whole process is pretty mechanical, so I don't anticipate any further delays. But I do apologize to everyone for not meeting my original schedule.

Book 3 should be available near the end of September or in early October. The cover artwork should be done in the next week or two, and when it is I'll post it here. If you want me to keep you informed, send me an e-mail and make sure I've got your e-mail address so I can put you on my e-mail list. Stay tuned . . .