Since the website launch 18 months ago, Song of the Elves has acquired a steady weekly readership. During that time the website has evolved into a focus for the world of Rhoderica. Short stories leading up to the plot of A Shadow Falls, and tales set well before the invasion of the elves seem to be as much a focus of reader visits as the main plot itself.
This has been both a great surprise and delight. I am learning an awful lot about the process of engaging with the audiance. I have a yearn to get to the second three book cycle of S.O.T.E., but the background tales are such a glorious disrtaction from the main task.
Moreover, writing The Wolves of Winter series and exploring the history of Rhoderica is allowing me to improve the quality of my manuscripts. I’m hoping that by the time The Wolves of Winter Part Two emerges, and The King’s Blades (Book Two of S.O.T.E.) is published, that you will notice that the stories have gone to another level.
Writing is a funny old business. One learns as much from the bits that get discarded and rejected as from the intermittent hallelujah moments.
Finally for this week, I want to say best wishes again to one of my all time heroes – Ronnie James Dio. According to his official band website, he is coping admirably with his battle with stomach cancer. I’m sure all his fans will join me in willing Ronnie to slay the dragon!
Until next time, up the Elves!
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This entry was posted by David Shepherd
on Sunday, March 14th, 2010 at 10:08 am and is filed under Song of the Elves.
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About The Author
Writing has been my main form of escape since a child. Before teaching, I earned a living on a little known national newspaper, before discovering I also had a calling for the classroom.
The first embryonic scribbles for Song of the Elves emerged in 2000. I began writing the first trilogy as one continuous manuscript entitled The Summerlands, which I finally completed in the Winter of 2007. In the intervening years, I've been transforming this first draft into three distinct instalments of the saga. "A Shadow Falls" and "The King's Blades" have already seen the light of day. "Sins of the Father" will follow shortly. There will be a second trilogy to complete the saga, which I intend to commence work on in 2012. Book four is entitled "The Lost, The Lonely and the Damned".
I have also written a series of short tales entitled The Wolves of Winter, set in Rhoderica before the elves invaded the continent. This is now available through lulu.com as a paperback and via amazon kindle as an e-book.. My second, 'Tale of Rhoderica' will be a fantasy version of the great John Ford western - The Searchers. Entitled, To the Ends of the Earth', the novel will be out for Spring 2016. I am also half-way through a manuscript for a science fiction novel, entitled The Mirror of His Soul. Time and health permitting, these will all eventually see the light of day.
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