Happy Release Day to David B. Coe!
I don't think it will come as a surprise to anyone who's read David B. Coe's work that he's a historian. Yes, he makes up the worlds he writes in, but I think they're so well-realized, so politically complex and peopled with such real characters because he is such a student of human history. THE DARK-EYES' WAR is the final volume of David's amazing Blood of the Southlands epic fantasy series. Always sad to see a wonderful series come to an end, but satisfying too when you get to the conclusions and all the build up leads to a cataclysmic conclusion. Here's David now to tell you all about it from the author's perspective.
RELEASE DAY MUSINGS by David B. Coe
First of all, thanks to Lucienne for letting me guest post here today. Release days are always exciting and fraught with the usual writer concerns: Will the book sell well? Am I doing enough to promote it? How many typos did we miss in the proofs...? But they’re also a bit strange. Not that much actually happens on release day. Yes, the book officially “becomes available,” pre-orders are filled, I set up a few signings and con appearances, and I do a couple of extra guest posts, like this one. And then I get back to work.
The Dark-Eyes’ War, the book that comes out today, is the final book in my Blood of the Southlands trilogy. It’s also the eighth and last book set in my Forelands/Southlands universe. Eight novels and ten years after signing the contract on the first of these books, I have turned the page professionally speaking and have already moved on to new things. And that’s a bit strange, too.
Ten years is a long time for a writer to spend in a world, interacting with a group of characters. Leaving these projects behind is a little like moving to a new part of the country. I will miss my old friends tremendously. I have lived and died with them, I’ve put them through some terrible ordeals [evil grin] and then watched as they struggled through. I’ve rejoiced in their triumphs, and, in some cases, in their downfalls. Some I’ve mourned as if they were family.
But while I’m sad to leave them behind, I’m also excited about the new possibilities opening up before me. I’m stepping into new worlds, meeting new characters, taking on new challenges. Like what? Well, I’ve just written (and revised!) the novelization of the new Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe/Cate Blanchett production of Robin Hood. That will be out in late April. I’ve begun work on a new historical fantasy/mystery project that I’ll be writing as D.B. Jackson. I have a new short story coming out in an anthology in May, a second story that should be coming out later this year, and a third that I’m working on now for another anthology. I have a contemporary fantasy that is finished and ready to be marketed.
Like most authors, I’m always working on something new. By the time one book comes out, I’m working on the next one, or maybe the one after that.
This isn’t to say that those older books are forgotten. Far from it. I’ll be actively promoting the Southlands books at least through the rest of the year, and for some time to come they’ll be “my most recent series.” More than that, every book I write informs the next one in ways both large and small. I learn something about character development, or pacing, or voice, or some other aspect of storytelling with each novel. Again, it’s like a physical move. You can start a new life in a new place, but the history you bring with you helps to define it. In the same way, my new books are shaped, in part, by the work that came before. That might mean that I learn from old mistakes, or it could also be that I expand on themes I began to explore in previous books. Each novel is new and unique, but none is written in a vacuum.
So today I celebrate The Dark-Eyes’ War and the earlier volumes of Blood of the Southlands. Tomorrow I’ll go back to one of my shiny new projects. And through it all, I’ll keep trying to learn from every character I create and every plot I weave.
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To learn more about David's works or to get in on his great contests and giveaways, check out his website here.