I
have been puzzling over this for months. My old lycan series, Lycan
Blood, is selling very well; yet my new lycan series (Lycan Pride) is
not?
I have several possibilities here.
DOES ANYONE EVEN KNOW THAT I HAVE A NEW SERIES OUT THERE?
Maybe people are more interested in the Sinclair family than they are the Dohertys?
So
the second book is out in the Lycan Pride series and I am working on
the final one. It might be time (or past time) for me to discuss this
whole situation.
Old
series, Lycan Blood, started with Serpent's Quest, which is told mainly
from the POV of the antagonist, who is handsome, intense, loyal,
courageous, and excitingly malevolent. The ladies are drawn to seriously
bad men? Meet Malthus. Read Serpent's Quest free on
Wattpad. Or wait and buy the print edition with six illustrations by Anne Stone.
The
90s and the early 00s were dominated by long series, such as the Wheel
of Time. Taste changed and another author, Terry Goodkind, started
reducing his long series to linked groups of trilogies. Now more people
just want standalones.
Now where does that put my own work.
When I wrote the Lycan Blood series, we were still considering long series to be the IN
thing. I am in the midst of finishing The Dark Brothers of the Light
series (11 volumes with 2 remaining) and the Lycan Pride trilogy with
one book remaining.
What the hell am I doing with my lycans?
Well,
I have three more trilogies coming from my lycans along the current
thread and a new ten book series, Banes of Killcaldy, coming up
These books are in chapters, scenes, and partials and notes, and just a mess.
Okay,
here's the point. I set out back in 75, to write a set of novels that
covered all of the aspects of WW 2 and subsequent conflicts in a
metaphorical setting. It was heavily influenced along the way by
Masterpiece Theater, Nikolai Gogol, and Shakespeare, as well as news
reports on various on going conflicts, such first Vietnam and then
Afghanistan and Somalia.
For
the lycans, the center of the darkness started when they tried to rebel
against their masters, the Sa'necari. The Rebellion of 997 was put
down harshly and many noble families perished. The various lycan
kingdoms, Like Red Wolf and Silverpaw were forced to relinquish sections
of their territory in the surrender agreements.
But my books are a family saga at heart.
The
first series is about the Infiltrator, Malthus, and the Sinclair
family. It is a war time family saga at it's core. Todd Sinclair, a
legendary armsmaster, mercenary and patriot raised four strong sons,
although he claimed them all as his own, one was not of his blood and he
knew it. Branduff Maguire was the illegitimate son of Prince Tarrant
Redhand and Cahira Sinclair, Todd's wife. Tarrant had been Todd's
apprentice and Todd knew that Cahira was carrying Tarrant's child when
he went in search of her. He raised their son, Branduff, as his own.
The
Lycan Blood series could just as easily be called "The Sons of Todd
Sinclair" as anything thing else (and the first one to get the reference
I'll give them a coupon for a free copy of my novel of choice)
The
new series, Lycan Pride, could easily have been called The Cousins
Doherty (and the firs to get the reference will get a free copy of any
Daverana book of their choice).
