I was lucky enough to snag the talents of Stefanie Verish to draw the map insert to my upcoming Valandra YA fantasy book.

You can find her work online at: http://sverish.wixsite.com/artwork

Without further ado: The land of Valandra!

I've been writing in one form or another since 2000. I've mainly been blogging and writing articles about Japan and movies reviews.

It wasn't until 2012 that I wrote my first novel. It was a non-fiction work that I decided not to publish. I was so dissatisfied with it, I wrote another book immediately after to improve upon. It was slightly better. But only just. I didn't publish that one either. 

By 2014 I finally grew confident enough to publish my first non-fiction book. At that same time I was just finishing up work on my post apocalyptic zombie series BITTEN. It would be my fist non-fiction work.

By the end of the 2014 I signed with Winlock Press, an Imprint of Permuted who graciously snatched me up and re-published the first two installments of the BITTEN series. It was my first published work by a traditional publisher. 

Needless to say, ever since I started writing fiction I've decided that's what I want to do with the rest of my life. Be a full time writer. 

Back in 2014 I made the personal promise to myself to have completed at least 50 novels by the times I turn 50 years old. That's two and a half novels a year, at least.

If I can keep my current pace up, then I'd say I'll be ahead of schedule.

Since I began writing and publishing full steam ahead in 2014, as of this year, 2016, I have published 4 fiction and 5 non-fiction books. I have three more non-fiction ready and lined up for release in the next few months, including BITTEN 3 (the continuation of my zombie saga), Valandra The Winds of Time Cycle (my fist foray into YA fantasy lit), and Robotica (my first cyber punk sci-fi work).

That leaves the question as what I have planned for next year and beyond.

Well, in short, I have two more installments of The Winds of Time Cycle lined up, plus BITTEN 4 for later next year, and a sequel to my Tokyo's Lost Souls novella. The sequel will be called Tokyo's Lost Souls: The Girl Who was Accidentally Triggered. If you have read the first novella, you'll have a good idea of what the title implies.

Additionally, I have an unrelated zombie story in the work, Romeo & Juliet VS the Undead. Like the popular parody novel Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, I'll rewrite the Romeo & Juliet story to include a post apocalyptic setting with zombies. It'll be fun to write. I intend to do in in full Shakespearean verse. Time allowing.

After that (or perhaps before depending on where my mood takes me) I'll be completing my steampunk fairy tale Little Red Gauntlet. Originally it was a short story I wrote for an anthology which never got published and which I've decided to turn into a full length novel. 

It is exactly what it sounds like -- a take on the Little Red Riding Hood fable set in a steampunk fantasy world. 

I have plotted the story of BITTEN 5 and will get around to that as time allows. But for now, I'm going to focus on the above works for next year. BITTEN 5 may be a year off yet given the amount of work I have lined up for myself. 

I know it sounds like a lot. But it's a challenge I put to myself. And one I intend to keep.

If the amount of novels I've been able to publish this past couple of years, I think it's doable. After all, my motto is sleep less, write more.

I guess only time will tell if I'm successful in my endeavor.

Well, I better get back to it. Cheers! And stay tuned for more updates.

Sincerely,

​TRISTAN VICK

                                                                             ***

“I am no peasant,” I inform him. “I hail from the northern kingdom of Bellera. My people have no caste system. No hierarchy to divide us. Social status is quite meaningless to us. Everyone is treated as an equal and everyone learns to fight like a warrior. We are an ancient and noble race, and even though the likes of you have gone out of your way to disgrace us and mock our ways, we will never be intimidated.”

Shocked, Dathrium’s eyes grow large and one eyebrow crawls to the top of his head in an inquisitive fashion. “Ha!” he bellows. “A barbarian girl?!”

“Why do you laugh, Lord Dathrium?” I ask him. “Have I said something to amuse you?”

“Indeed,” he sneers, his nostrils flaring with disgust. “I should have guessed by your lack of etiquette that you were a mere barbarian girl. But perhaps I can teach you a thing or two about social standing, and of kneeling before your king, after I beat the insolence out of you! Then maybe, if you’re lucky, I’ll spare you the dungeon and make you one of my concubines.”

Growing up in the highlands, I was painfully aware of the prejudice against my peoples. Something which was all too common among the noble lords of all the kingdoms of Valandra. Only Valandra, the capitol, and Urhuhlin, the dwarf kingdom, traded with the northern tribes of Bellera and Yulandra. That is, until Lord Dathrium took power.

“Funny,” I say, mockingly, “that you would resort to the barbaric custom of asserting your dominance over me by confining me to a life of sexual slavery yet have the audacity to call me the barbarian. It seems the only barbarian here is you, Lord Dathrium!”

“Gah!” Lord Dathrium balks, angered by my continued defiance. “I will have your head for your insolence!”

Sure enough, he takes the bait and lunges at me, swinging wildly as he lumbers toward me.

Our swords spark and sing again with the song of fire and clashing steel. But his clumsy blows are no match for my disciplined hand, my youth, and my stamina. In fact, it is quite apparent that Lord Dathrium hasn’t had to fight any of his own battles in quite some time. Not that he’d have to with the entire Royal Guard at his disposal.

I use my sword like a staff, taking it in both hands, I thrust forward and slam it into Dathrium’s chest. He staggers back, his garish black armor rattling like old pots and pans as he tries to catch his footing.

                                                               ###END SAMPLE###

In addition to writing full-length novels (about one a year) I have decided to release a series of novellas too. My decision to focus on novellas is two-fold. First, it will let me experiment with genre and storytelling, allowing me to branch out and simultaneously challenge myself. Second, writing a full-length novel takes a lot of time and energy -- and there is very little financial return. Novellas are less costly, save time and, like short stories, more can be produced more quickly without sacrificing quality.

The truth is, even a best-seller will barely net a livable wage -- and unless you get extremely lucky to stay up on the charts chances are you're like 90% of all the other authors out there and your books just won't keep their momentum.

This forces writers to try and produce multi-part series... in the hopes of generating a renewed interest with each new installment of the series... but even so, full-length novel series, like my BITTEN novels, take a lot of time to plot and write well. They are detailed storylines epic in scope, and I can only write one novel like that in a year (at the most two).

This leaves me with either publishing short stories in anthologies or writing novellas. I have personally chosen to go the route of novellas since I am a creator at heart and a storyteller. I always have 3 or 4 ideas bopping around in my head and this way I can get more of my story ideas down onto paper. Furthermore, it becomes easier to produce ongoing series, or serial episodes so to speak (which is hugely popular in television right now), and I hope to experiment with genre and styles to find something that cliques with readers.

Also, it's worth noting that in this age of digital publishing, readers want instant gratification. Digital publishing has, to an extent, forced novels to become even more disposable of a medium. People download a book, read it, and then want the next one ASAP!

In the end, it just makes more logistic sense to write short, fast, installments in novella form instead of writing a 100K novel that takes over a year to produce and which is only capable of making enough back to cover production costs. Writing a series of novellas over the course of the year -- each 17K to 20K -- and each quicker and cheaper to produce than your standard novel ensures that the author can make back production cost. At least that's the hope, anyway. It's worth a shot.

So, that said, here's my next planned novella: Valandra: Vera Causa. My goal is to have it ready for a November release, after which I will clamp down on getting Robotica finished.
​