The Hope of Memory [Update 25] Wilders Finalized

I'm finally done with Wilders.  It took a lot longer than I had anticipated (writing on it began on 6/6/2012), but I'm happy with the final product.

The final word count came out to 153.5K words, which is 15K shorter than Book 1, The Distant.  This means with less page count and so I'll have to tweak the spine of the cover, since it will be thinner.  Shouldn't be an issue... but I could probably pad the text a little to inflate the page count and make the graphics work easier.  But I'd rather not do that.

Anyway, the novel should be out on trade paperback and Kindle eBook by next month.  Then it's on to the finale, Rom Tar.  Yay me!

The Hope of Memory [Update 24] Back Cover Summary

I'm wrapping up my final draft of Wilders before formatting it for publication, working through a few minor consistency details, and after a bit of toying around I finally came up with a summary for the back cover (which will also be the summary for Amazon, etc).

It's a pain to write these things sometimes... you want it to grab someone's attention and not give away too much, yet it has to be short.  For this series I'm keeping them under 100 words.  It took a long time to figure it out.  I probably wouldn't be a good marketing copywriter... I can't come up with these things fast enough.

Anyway, for Wilders, this is what I've got:

The Uses of Kutad

"Kutad should only be used as a last resort for sedation, prior to a mercy killing or breeding.  Some houlves will try to resist.  Kutad is necessary in these circumstances to relax them, make them pliable."

- from Keryca's Treatise on Breeding


The Moon Star has disappeared, and the winds have come, an omen to those who remember.

To the north, the winds glide across the waves of a narrow sea, where a houlf is waiting for her friend to return.

To the east, the winds whistle through the yawning holes of a crashed starship, where wilders are growing anxious.

To the south, the winds skip along the road between human cities, following an unlikely alliance.

And to the west, the winds dance over a mountain lake, where a beast has found a new purpose.

Like The Distant, it features one of the Tenets from Keryca's Treatise on Breeding, along with a vague summary.  There might be a few minor changes before final publication, but thought I'd share something to make it look like I'm making progress.