originally posted by Htet Htet Aung
Thanks for sharing! We all appreciate your skill, talent, and care necessary in cooking up a feast that is the conclusion story that we are excited and eagerly awaiting for!
originally posted by thomas h. burch
Janny,
Any recent updates? Hoping you are well on your way!
Hi Thomas, nice to see a post, it's been so quiet!
Yes, the story is well along by now. I will post a page count soon - I have the current chapter in bits and scraps that are connecting together, and when they are cohesive, then I'll have a page number.
Also in final polish for the finish out of the language (story is DONE) for Verrain's story - it's a substantial novella - 135 pages in manuscript, and it covers a LOT of ground/illuminate a section of history you haven't seen, yet, and dovetail with the bigger series very nicely. I've been piecing it together for YEARS, and it will come out this summer as 'outreach' to a sector of the readership who has never seen my work before. You are going to like this one - it will be up in the Paravia store with the other stories, too, when all is said and done.
I also hope to get Black Bargain and The Decoy up in e formats as singles - with all new cover designs.
originally posted by Annette
Thanks for the update Janny. Looking forward to seeing the covers for Black Bargain and The Decoy if they come out as e format singles.
originally posted by N Lee Ball
I'm so happy I stopped by 
Thank you for the update and your beautiful work Janny!
originally posted by Auna
Sweet! 
I'm polishing up the language in the last fifteen pages of The Gallant, (Verrain's story). Deadline pressure has that on center until done.
Proud to announce the third and last in the 'trilogy' of short stories upcoming in the next Valdemar anthology has gone through edits (and so is accepted).
Lastly: please, the r/fantasy top list vote started yesterday - you have the next SIX DAYS to put in your votes for your top ten favorite fantasies - standalones or series. For series, just list the first title/and series name to enter them into the list. If you are in that forum, participate if you can. The wider the sampling of readership, the better the final list.
Am smoothing out the last scene in this chapter set; page count shortly.
I promised a page count days ago, but frankly, been writing too hard to total it up.
I am well into main Ch III, and the page count, this morning, is 144.
This book is VERY long game deep, and there are a lot of balls in the airā¦test readers will be ticked because they are nowhere near up to where I am (to the minute) in the draft: this is because I may yet have to adjust a few details/timing corrections. This book is geared to a very very fine tolerance.
Meantime, you have the novella, The Gallant to chew on, it's out. If you haven't followed the thread in the short story topic/Verrain's Story, go there for links and details.
Eventually I'll have that novella up on Paravia with color cover art, but that moment's pending.
Anyone going to DragonCon - you will have the chance to vote for the content of the READING that is scheduled. May be a sneak peekā¦I can only say :X - what is coming is EXPLOSIVE. When Song of the Mysteries is completed and in your hands, you will hear me say this till the ground shakes: YOU HAVE TO FINISH THE BOOK.
I promised a page count days ago, but frankly, been writing too hard to total it up.
I am well into main Ch III, and the page count, this morning, is 144.
This book is VERY long game deep, and there are a lot of balls in the airā¦test readers will be ticked because they are nowhere near up to where I am (to the minute) in the draft: this is because I may yet have to adjust a few details/timing corrections. This book is geared to a very very fine tolerance.
Meantime, you have the novella, The Gallant to chew on, it's out. If you haven't followed the thread in the short story topic/Verrain's Story, go there for links and details.
Eventually I'll have that novella up on Paravia with color cover art, but that moment's pending.
Anyone going to DragonCon - you will have the chance to vote for the content of the READING that is scheduled. May be a sneak peekā¦I can only say :X - what is coming is EXPLOSIVE. When Song of the Mysteries is completed and in your hands, you will hear me say this till the ground shakes: YOU HAVE TO FINISH THE BOOK.
originally posted by Melanie Trumbull
Aha!
This begins to sound like the final book in
Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles.
The fellow gets shot right off the back of his horse
and confusion and mayhem ensue,
and one devoted reader throws the book across the room.
Weeks later, said reader grouses to a fellow reader.
Who says gently,
"I think you should finish reading the book!"
Actually, that is a true story, but it happened on a trainā¦the young lady reading threw the book OUT THE WINDOW and a gentleman on the platform picked it up, read the title, handed it back and said, "You really want to finish this book."
I am closing in on the finale of chapter set III, will have a page count for you shortly.
Voting is up for r/fantasy's big list STANDALONE NOVEL - if you want your favorites counted, have at it.
And if you have not read the novella, The Gallant yet, it covers Verrain's backstoryā¦
I've been quiet due to hard work - mother being moved to assisted living and her ENTIRE house to be emptied by end of this month - it's been an ongoing labor since August/with siblings in and out of town, working on the process. All is well.
originally posted by Joy
I'm so out of touch with posting that I messed this up twice - here's hoping third time's the charm!
First up; Janny, you have my sympathies with your mother moving to assisted living and clearing out her house - that's not easy for anyone involved. Good to hear the 'all is well' at the end of your post but still, not easy.
Secondly; thought you may like to hear of one of your newest readers.
I bumped into this guy recently that I worked with more than 15 years ago. One of the first questions he asked me when we were catching up was what was the name of "that" author. It was a source of fascination in the office at the time that I got the books couriered directly from the publishers to the office and had an arrangement with my boss that I could then go home for a couple of days to read it. It was part of my annual leave agreement and they all thought I was nuts that I wouldn't wait for the bookshop to stock the book and just buy it then.
Anyway, it turns out it's been bugging him all these years that he didn't pay attention to my recommendation. On reflection, he figured that a book series that inspired such devotion should be worth checking out, but then he couldn't remember any of the details I'd given, and had lost touch with me. It annoyed the hell out of him; hence the abrupt questioning when we reconnected.
Well, it's safe to say you've a new reader in the mix but I'm also hoping he passes along the story as well as the recommendation and inspires a few more readers to discover what they've been missing. After all, the timing is good to get on board as they'll have a short wait to the final book!
Joy
originally posted by Clansman
Janny, my sympathies on the hard work of moving your mother into care. My siblings and I just had a long chat with our octogenarian parents about what decisions they want us to make when they can no longer make them, which is something that I recommend to everyone with aging parents. Setting up the meeting was a lot harder than actually doing it (we had a lot of fun, actually), as the trepidation of speaking to your parents about the possibility of them not being able to make basic decisions for themselves was palpable for all of us. Hope all went as well as possible.
Joy, thank you for the touching story and the new reader, that's golden!
Clansman, great to hear from you, your family sounds so very sensible and forthright - helps to have the sibs all on the same page (our problem was there are five of us! and there was disagreement on how/when to proceed.)
My mother is 94 and pretty healthy, she's moved into an assisted living apartment and is an EXTROVERT so all the company at meals and the activities are exciting to her. She just had a lot of family stuff (my grandad was a big on family history/ancestry) and he had collected so many family items and antiques from family estates, it was a NIGHTMARE to settle them out/get them out of Florida, cost of shipping being crazy. But you just can't let things in the family since 1700 or earlier fly to the wind. Plus, there was SO MUCH STUFF to toss and sort.
It was mostly physical work and a lot of it. Mom's settling in nicely and we had taken great pains to set her apartment up to 'look like home' even to keeping her closet arrangement the same.
Clansmen/or anybody at the SF Chrons forum - could you please update it for The Gallant? Thanks. I'm not a memberā¦
originally posted by Clansman
Yes, I can do that. I haven't been on the SF Chrons in a loooooong time. I'll pop in for a visit.
originally posted by Matt Harris
Hi, We've chatted on reddit a few times (/u/famoushippopotamus) - glad the chat is up and running.
Glad to hear your mom is doing well (the cats too).
Anyways, wanted to say I've been a fan of yours since I was living in Melbourne, Australia (I'm from Pittsburgh) and found Curse of the Mistwraith as I was trawling the shelves from Z to A.
The blurb hooked me. I'm a 40-year D&D player and the premise just grabbed me. Then I started reading.
Wow. I mean, like WOW. The magic, yegods, it was interesting, and ancient and here I am, seeing Prof. Tolkein and all his spawn crumbling before this work and world that was nothing like I'd seen before.
The Seven intrigued me. The "broken" tropes reeled me in and the narrative depth kept me coming back for more.
I read Vastmark next, not being able to find Merior for ages, and finally read it 5th, I think, and then got confused and had to start over lol.
While waiting for books I read Hell's Chasm and I knew I was going to be a lifelong fan. Surprisingly I didn't love Empire or Whitestorm. Not sure why. Maybe it was too "traditional fantasy" after the heady soup of WoLaS.
Anyway, that's my story. I adore you, Ms. Wurts. Never change. I carry your banner to all who claim to love to read and I've made some converts, and they have spread the word too.
I hope you find much happiness in life, and I'm sad and excited and nervous and curious about how it all ends, and to see what comes out of your noodle next!
I really wanna know if my predictions about how it all ends comes true, and I know I won't be, but damn its been fun.
Thanks, Janny!
Hi Matt Harris, welcome here, and what a lovely, encouraging and happy making post - thank you for making my day! Let me say, all of your efforts matter so very much, if not for the posts of vocal readers like you on prominent forums, interest in this series would be at a standstill - new readers are happening because of word of mouth, and that matters more than you may know.
I definitely see the results of your mentions and any review posted.
So thank you for the tremendous backup and boost. LIfts my effort to no end.
Clansman: thank you for updating the log at the Chrons. That is also work I can't do as author.
STATUS UPDATE - page count at 188, and chapter III draft is in the bag today - I am refining the one liners to wrap it, then it's on to ch 4 set.
The early chapters are always the hardest, these more than ever. Ch IV has some fun action coming up/with groundwork now laid for the bigger stuff and the bold strides that will make this volume remarkable.
My mom is settled in; now it's just routine stuff and visits/outings and to get her to doc's appointments etc. she's doing well/she likes having company at meals and activities with friends. Her house, too, is emptied, and wrapped, thanks to heroic effort the last weekend (we were away) by my brother to finish it out.
I'll be mulling over a preview bit, soon.
Status Update: The page count in draft is 190, after some revision and fleshing out of the final scene in Ch set III, which also required some Paravian translation.
I am now starting into CH set IV.