In this week’s episode, The Pulp Writer Show returns and answers a lot of reader questions about Frostborn, The Ghosts, and writing in general!
A preview of the audiobook of DRAGONSKULL: BLADE OF THE ELVES (as narrated by Brad Wills) is included at the end of the episode.
TRANSCRIPT:
00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 157 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is June the 26th, 2023 and today we are coming back from podcast hiatus and we’re going to answer a whole bunch of reader questions.
Before we answer reader questions, let’s get caught up on what my current writing projects have been since we did our last episode back at the start of May. Since then I finished Dragonskull: Doom of the Sorceress and that’s now been out for a couple of weeks at all the stores. You can get it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Smashwords, and Payhip, and it’s been selling very well. Thank you, everyone. And it’s gotten good reviews. It’s the second to the last book in the series, and we’ll talk about that a bit more.
My current project right now is Silent Order: Thunder Hand which will be the thirteenth book in the Silent Order series and if my math is right, right now I am about 80% of the way through the rough draft. I am really hoping I can finish it this weekend, though, we’ll see…not this week this week though. We’ll see if life events permit that or not. Once that is out and published, the rest of the summer and early fall of 2023 is going to be the Summer of Finishing Things. In other words, finishing two very long series. After Silent Order: Thunder Hand is out, I am going to write Dragonskull: Crown of the Gods, which will be the ninth and final book of the Dragonskull series, so that will bring that epic fantasy series to a conclusion.
Once that is done, I am also going to write the fourteenth and final book of the Silent Order series as well. I had originally planned for fifteen books in the Silent Order series, but I was looking at the outlines for 14 and 15 and I thought, these are looking kind of thin. I’m going to have to add some subplots and then I thought, you know, why pad it unnecessarily what I can tell the story I need to tell and end it effectively in a single book? So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m hoping….hoping, fingers crossed, I can get Dragonskull: Crown of the Gods out in August and Silent Order the final book out in September. But we will see how things go for the rest of the summer.
In audio book news (today as a matter of fact), Dragonskull: Blade of the Elves is now out in audiobook, as excellently narrated by Brad Wills. You can listen to it at all of the various audiobook stores: Audible, Google Play, Chirp, Kobo, Apple Books, and the others, and I think at the end of this podcast episode I will include a preview from Dragonskull: Blade of the Elves so you can listen to that.
00:02:51 Reader Questions
Our first reader question (and these are reader questions that have come in over the last two months while the podcast has been on hiatus), but our first reader question is from Richard, who says: Hi, Jonathan, do you have any plans on doing the Cormac Rorgan series? I really thought it an interesting and engaging story. Thanks, Richard. I’m glad you enjoyed those two books and in answer to your question, unfortunately, no, I don’t have any plans to continue at the moment. The reason is that in the two weeks it’s been out, Dragonskull: Doom of the Sorceress has made about eleven times more than the last Cormac Rogan did in its entire first month, so there’s only so much time in the day, and it seems like it would make more sense to spend that time working on Dragonskull and other series. But if I can find the time, I would like to continue the Cormac Rogan series. It’s just there’s so much more demand for the other books.
Our next question is from Bob, who asks: Great to see the release of Cloak of Dragonfire. I bought it right away. First, I’m a big fan of all books about Ridmark Arban and now his kid, Gareth. I can’t wait until the next several stories. Second, are you going to come out with any more books about Caina and the Ghosts? I’m a big fan of your work. Please don’t retire yet. Thanks, Bob. I am glad that you have enjoyed the books and glad that you read them all. I am both too young and too poor to retire. So no worries on that front. In answer to your question about Caina and the Ghosts, I am planning to start a new series with Caina this autumn after I finished my Summer of Finishing Things. The series will be called the Ghost Gate and the first book will be called Ghost in the Serpent. More details to come when I start working on it.
Our next question is from JLH, who asks about Cloak of Dragonfire: Bought it, read it, loved it. Do you know how many books will be in the series? Thanks, JLH. I’m glad you enjoyed the Cloak Mage series. In answer to your question, I am not entirely sure how many books will be in the series. I have the later books loosely plotted out, but I’ve been rearranging things. I can say it will be double digits and it will be less than 20 and Cloak of Dragonfire was #9. So double digits, less than 20. So that means it will definitely be more than 11 but less than 19. So that is where we will be with that.
Our next question is from Jamie, who asks: Hi Jonathan, currently reading the Dragontiarna series, only on the first one of the series. Is there a previous series with Ridmark in his early years before getting the soulblade or anything? Loving it so far. Thanks, Jamie. I am glad that you are enjoying the Dragontiarna series, and in answer to your question, I am very pleased that I have good news for you. There are many books about Ridmark Arban before the Dragontiarna series. The first series is called Frostborn with Ridmark as the main character and that has 15 books. The sequel series after that is called Sevenfold Sword and Ridmark is again the main character there, and that has 12 books. So if you like the Dragontiarna series, there are 27 other books you can read about Ridmark Arban’s early years.
Our next question is from Mike, who asks about the Ghost series: Are there any symbols for the Ghosts, the Kindred Assassins, or the djinni, like how there is one for the magi? That is a good question, Mike, and in answer to your question. No, there is not. There is not a symbol for the Ghost or the Kindred Assassins, but there is one for the magi. The reason for that is that the Imperial Magisterium in the empire is a public organization, and so…however, the Ghosts and the Kindred assassins are secret organizations and therefore do not have a symbol, as that would rather make the secrecy part more difficult. For the djinn, they are non-material creatures and have no interest in material things and therefore have no symbol. Various cultures in Caina’s world have assigned them symbols at various times, but that would depend upon the regional and national context and so forth.
Our next question is from Robert, who asks: First, I would like to thank you for the books I have read so far. Very good. The reason that I am writing is that I have finished the Dragonskull series and I’m in the middle of the Frostborn series and I am sure I have the order wrong and would like to start from the beginning of the series. As it is, I read like it is like I should have the information from a previous book. Again, thank you for the books. Thanks for reading Robert. I am glad you have enjoyed the books so far. In answer to your question. The reading order for the Ridmark books: The first series there would be Frostborn, then Sevenfold Sword, and then Dragontiarna and then Dragonskull. I intend each one of those series to be stand alone and you should be able to read each series without having to read the others. But people…do not always see it that way, since each reader brings their own interpretation to the books.
Our next question is from Jeremy, who says: I wanted to personally let you know that I have rapidly become a fan of your books. I’m reading both the Dragontiarna and the Frostborn series at the same time. I’m an aspiring writer myself and very motivated from reading your work. The fact you have self published and become such a well-rounded writer just inspires me. Ridmark is easily my favorite character so far. I just wanted to thank you for making the world you created that I enjoy so much. I recommend your books to my brother. He is also a writer. Again, thank you for the world you created. It’s truly marvelous. Thanks, Jeremy. I am glad you have enjoyed the books and thanks for the kind words. And this goes to show that some people do can read the Dragontiarna series first and go on to enjoy the Frostborn books and I hope Jeremy goes well with his writing endeavors.
Our next question is from Juana who says: Just finished Cloak of Dragonfire. Loved it. However I just can’t warm up to Victoria Caro. She wasn’t in this book, so this is a two birds, one stone kind of communication. Something is just too calculated about her. You made her likeable enough by giving her a bad life, similar background to Nadia, et cetera, but it’s just too pat. Nadia better watch her back, both sides, and her front. The undead even warned Nadia. Good plot device, by the way. Well, you have me firmly hooked, anyhow. I gave Cloak of Dragonfire five stars on Amazon. I like Tyth and Shrike’s subplot. Joanna Starkweather is basically a computer. How vulnerable is she to being reprogrammed by an enemy? Thanks to all your time and attention to my communication. Thanks Juan, and glad you have enjoyed the books and in answer to your questions, we shall have to read and find out. I will say that Victoria does have a big, big, big, big secret, which is of course fairly obvious if you’ve read the books and Nadia is going to find out what that big big secret is in the next book, Cloak of Embers, which I am hoping to get to in autumn 2023, so later this year. So as Brandon Sanderson apparently says on his YouTube channel quite a bit, we will have to read and find out.
Our next question is from Jim who asks: Can you tell me which book Nadia meets the Knight of Grayhold? That would be, if I remember right for the first time, Nadia meets the Knight of Grayhold for the first time back in Cloak Games: Frost Fever, which I believe I wrote back in 2015. So it’s been a while.
Our next question is from EB, who asks: Will Nadia ever find out or is it not important at all who sealed off Earth from the Shadowlands or Earth’s umbra? I forget which, so that Morvilind had to break the barrier to allow the elves to flee to the earth. Also, I like how you included the xortami as one of the races in Cloak Games thus connecting Cloak Games and Cloak Mage with Frostborn and subsequent series. Also, in Cloak of Ashes, Nadia thinks about the difference between a Shadowlands domain and a Shadow lands domain, specifically the Shadow Waypoint and Grayhold. She thinks that the Master of the Waypoint can leave and return but the Master of Grayhold is bound to Grayhold. However, this is untrue since he showed up at the Morans’ house. He talked to Nadia before during her trip to Venomhold, the Cloak Games: Shatter Stone.
Thanks for reading, EB, and in answer to your questions, the reason that Earth was sealed off from the Shadowlands originally was not a nefarious plot or artificial, that was just the natural state of Earth at the time, and that was why Morvilind had to break through. It’s like how the islands are naturally surrounded by water and are therefore harder to get to. So that is why Earth was sealed off from the Shadowlands. In answer to your question about the Knight of Grayhold, he never actually left his domain in the book. The scene you’re talking about where he shows up at the Morans’ house before the trip to Venomhold, he’s actually sending an illusionary projection of himself. So he was physically within Grayhold yet, but he was sending out a projection of himself to, excuse me, to talk with Nadia.
EB had a follow up question to that and EB says: do all planets have an umbra? Like, does Neptune or a gas giant like Jupiter have an umbra or only plants have been inhabited by intelligent species? Also, if you’re willing to spend the time in the deep Shadowlands and could survive like maybe with dozen dragons, could you travel outside of our galaxy? The answer to both questions is yes. Every planet has an umbra. Not every planet’s umbra is inhabitable by oxygen-breathing people from Earth. If you went to like Jupiter’s umbra, you would die swiftly from gas pressure and poison like you would in the atmosphere of Jupiter. You could travel outside our galaxy through Shadowlands. However, there’s 100 billion stars in our galaxy, and most of them have worlds. So traveling outside the galaxy would be quite an endeavor. And I don’t think that’s something that will feature in the books at all, just because the scope of it would be wrong for the series.
CT asks: Can I ask for the site you use to get city names and character names? There really isn’t a website I use. What I’ll do is, I’ll look for sources in ancient and medieval history, find the name I like, and then maybe change around a few letters to make it sound more fantasy-ish. But that is where I get most of my names from, at least for characters in Andomhaim and Frostborn in fantasy settings. When I write the Nadia books and they’re set on Earth, I can have a character named Bob and no one will blink an eye, but if I have a Bob in Andomhaim that would sort of ruin the verisimilitude.
Next question is from JE who asks: Hello. Just wondering if there is a time frame on the next Caina novel. The next Caina novel, as I said earlier on the show, will be Ghost in the Serpent and hopefully will come out this autumn if all goes well.
JE had a follow up question to that and he says: I had a question about the Umbarian Order. In one of your books, you mentioned that there are five provosts for the Order, Rania and Talmania are two of them. One rejoined the Empire and “retired”. Do you have any other two ever get named or something planned for a later book? The reason I never bothered to name the other two is that Rania and Talmania arrange for them to be murdered as rivals to their power, which is one of the reasons why the Umbarian Order could not mount an effective war against the empire once they got past their initial successes was because they spent all their time plotting against each other, which is not conducive to winning a war. I have to admit, I base that behavior off a certain academic departments I encountered in the wild over the years. Just imagine tenured faculty with sorcerer’s powers who don’t like each other. And that’s a good description of the Umbarian Order.
Our next question is from Margaret, who asks about Cloak of Dragonfire: Almost done and really enjoying it. So how many more in the Dragonskull series? And what book will be your #142? More Nadia or something else? It’s all great stuff. Thanks Margaret. I am glad you’re enjoying the books. In answer to your questions, there will be one more book in the Dragonskull series for total of nine and book #142 will be Silent Order: Thunder Hand which should be out in July, if all goes well.
SF asks: I just started my journey on Frostborn, on book three now, so I have a ways to go. Are there any other Frostborn omnibuses other than just the one of the first three books and prequel? Thanks for reading, SF, and in answer to your question, no, that’s the only omnibus edition I put together as sort of a loss leader to help people find of the series but I not planning to do any other Frostborn omnibus editions.
Our next question is from RS, who asks: Did you get the idea of Singularity from The Big Bang theory? I first heard the concept of the Singularity, which is this philosophical idea that eventually processing power of computers will go off the charts and computers will become these, like God-like artificial intelligence. I first heard of that idea in the 2000s when I was studying for various text certification exams and some people, you know, go on like forum boards and look at and, you know, look at the posts of other people who had taken the test and some of them were very excited about Singularity. So that’s where I first heard the concept. Later in the mid 2000s/2010s, around 2015, 2016 years after this, I first started watching The Big Bang Theory. It was on syndication and would turn up on reruns at night. And I was I was amused when they were talking about the concept of the Singularity, so that was funny.
Our next question is from RA, who says: First off, thank you for your books, they have given me hours and hours of pleasure and escape for many years. Now I have read and still am reading your books. I would love to buy them all now, but I just have to wait till I can afford them. Disabled pensioner-me and motorbike plus kangaroo…bad combination. I usually buy them two or three at a time. Second, your master reading order could possibly do with updating. Sorry to be the nag LOL. I went to look at the order so I knew which of the Dragonskull’s next but could not find it. I’m pretty sure it’s not there, but I’ve been known to do a manual search ones right in front of me, but I still can’t see it. I would appreciate the copy of the order if you can spare the time. Thank you. And answering that question, Thanks RA. I’m glad you are enjoying the books. Sorry about your unfortunate encounter with the kangaroo and I hope the books have been comforting in the years since that. And in answer to your question, yes my website is drastically out of date and it needs urgent updating. However, I have hired someone to take a look at that problem and they are going to be starting in August, so hopefully my update…my website will be much more up-to-date in the future.
Our next question is from Jacob, who asks many years ago I read your Frostborn series as you released the novels, but my life got busy (trust me, I understand) and I had to stop around book 8 and I’d like to get back into them, but I don’t think I have time to read the first eight books, get reacquainted with the story. Are there any good summaries anywhere that you know of? I also heard you wrote more books about Demonsouled. I’ll have to look into those, too. Thanks, Jacob. I am glad you are able to….I’m glad that you have enjoyed books and that you have time to get back into them again. It is funny how reading comes in phases in people’s lives.
I know someone who finished a master’s degree and during that time she didn’t read any fiction at all for like two years. And when she was done was so burned out with reading she didn’t want to read anything at all. But you know, a couple of months passed and now she’s reading 5-6 books a month over the summer. So really is one of those things that comes and goes in phases in people’s lives. In answer to your question, I don’t think they’re super good summaries anywhere. I could suggest reading the Amazon ads for the books….I mean….the Amazon reviews for the books you’ve already read that might trigger the memory, though I have gotten reader complaints that the characters refer back to previous events that happened too often, so maybe this is for the advantage of readers like Jacob who can read the book and be like, Oh yeah, I remember that happened back in book 4, that thing that they’re talking about.
Our next question is from Andrew, who writes to ask: I am merely writing to say that I have enjoyed your work, though your terrifying productivity means I have sampled only a fraction of it. Dragonskull is the only series I’m close to caught up on, and a few books into to the Frostborn and Sevenfold Sword. I did have a question which you have probably answered elsewhere, for which I apologize. What made you decide to have Andomhaim be Christian? This is not criticism. I think it actually works well, as disorienting as it was when I first encountered the expression baptized orc in both your work and others. The Red Knight by Miles Cameron, for example. The behavior of knights and other medieval folk make a lot more sense in a Christian context than in either areligious or vaguely polytheistic environment that is more commonly found in fantasy these days. It is just that it is not a common decision by authors, whether for fear of actual Christians or for the prejudices of the chattering class who tolerate religion only insomuch as is foreign. And I’m curious what led you to it. Thanks Andrew. I am glad that you are enjoying the books.
And in answer to your question, it’s two parts. The first half is the reason that Andomhaim was Christian was because it was the least amount of work for me at the time. I was setting up Andomhaim as a fantasy setting and I thought about doing the traditional fantasy setting that’s polytheistic where you have all the different gods running around and I thought, no, no, that just seems as stilted and artificial and very like, you know, fake fantasy. I mean, it’s not to say that can’t be done well. But I thought, you know, I don’t want to do this. It would make more sense and feel verisimilitude again (that’s one of my favorite words for fiction: verisimilitude) would feel more real if it was based off medieval Christianity instead of some sort of made-up polytheistic religion like the typical Dungeons and Dragons fantasy. The second half of it is you’re entirely right, knighthood, as we think of it, was an invention of the Middle Ages. It was hugely influenced by Christianity, sort of grew out of the medieval…the early medieval barbarian war bands, the companions of the chief or king. And because of the endemic violence in like medieval France in the, like 800s or 900s A.D., the church undertook various efforts to try and Christianize the ideal of knighthood, with movements such as the Peace of God, which tried to determine the only places and the people that were valid targets for warfare. For example a true knight according, to the Peace of God, would not attack peasants. He would not attack priests, monks or nuns. He would not burn down monasteries and that and another movement called the Truce of God, which tried to establish that no fighting would take place on holy days.
Now these two movements in the medieval period tended to be more successful in the symbolic sense instead of the actual sense. But they did create the ideal of a Christian knighthood where that, a true knight, unless a true knight was only a true knight if he was, you know, a pious son of the church and followed the tenants laid out by the Peace of God and Truth of God and all these other rules that grew up to codify knighthood because in the early Middle Ages, knighthoods were basically a bunch of thugs employed by lords to keep order in their territories and to make war against their rivals. Early medieval knights had much more in common with essentially mafia enforcers than we think about. In the modern age, when we think of knights with, you know, King Arthur and the Round Table, that was an invention of the later Middle Ages as the ideal knighthood became more Christianized and sort of a tamed compared to its more brutal origins in the early medieval period.
As this digression may have proved, I was a graduate student in European medieval history for a while before I realized there was absolutely no money in that and went into IT instead. But it did turn out to be useful for later in my life, when I became a writer and provided a good source for inspiration for stories such as Andomhaim and making the knights be Christian. Now I want to emphasize that it is possible through a very good fantasy setting with polytheistic deities (like the first one immediately off top of my head, that I think of is Robert E Howard and Conan and that’s a very polytheistic setting). Like J.R.R. Tolkien was famously a devout Catholic, but he managed to have his cake and eat it too. In the Lord of the Rings, there was a one creator god overall Iluvatar, but to govern the world in his name he created the Valar who were kind of like the Greek gods without all the debauchery and also kind of like archangels. So I do want to emphasize that you can create a very interesting fantasy setting using a polytheistic pantheon. It’s just not what I chose to do for Andomahim and given how popular Frostborn has been, I think the decision was the right one and it worked out pretty well.
And now our last question this week is from Ryan, who writes to ask: I have always wondered how you have exact percentage of your progress in a book. Do you always have a fairly definitive endpoint that lets you calculate your progress? Every time I write, I have rough ideas of where I’m at, but I can never say 58%, just saw that and it made me curious. He’s responding to a post I made where I said I was 58% of the way through Silent Order: Thunder Hand. In answer to that question, I’m never exactly sure how long the book is going to be, like I usually have a good estimate at this point, it’s going to be like 80,000 words, 90,000 words, whatever. But I do chart out….excuse me….not chart out, outline out and plot out the chapters in advance so I have an outline I’m working from and so I know in advance that each book is going to be like 20 chapters, 24 chapters. And so if I’m 10 chapters through a 20 chapter book, I know that I’m 50% of the way through, even if the actual length may vary.
So that is it for this week’s show. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful, or at least interesting. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week. I’m hoping to be able to do weekly podcasts again for a while unless something goes wrong.
