I’ve been pretty quiet recently on the blog front, to free up some much-needed writing time. I’d always intended to get book #4 of The Five Kingdoms series out before the end of this year, but with signing the contract on my next equestrian book, the pressure was on!
I set myself an end of September deadline for the novel, and I made it by around 4 hours.
So now I’m starting work on the dressage book, while editing THE PRINCE’S HEIR
Over the next few weeks I will share some snippets from the new book, and here is the first:
“Your drink, my liege.” Tivol held a goblet out towards him. As Marten reached for it, a rush of cold air laden with sea salt blasted over them, ripping the awning from its frame. Part of the framework caught Tivol across the back, tipping him and the drinks over Marten before the fabric smothered them all. Rustam’s swearing echoed what Marten would have uttered had he not been fighting his way out from beneath the smothering cloth, tangling around his limbs with almost sentient determination.
A strange, rushing sound filled Marten’s ears and fear sliced though him: there was more to this than a freak gust of wind. He clawed the awning away from his face and drew a breath of tangy air. His mind whirled with confusion: how could this be? The city was too far from the sea for such taint.
“Goddess!”
Marten’s head swivelled as he searched for the threat Rustam had identified, and felt his eyes grow wide even as his brain struggled to process the sight.
From the direction of the coast, a huge swell of frothy white water rushed towards them in opposition to the natural flow of the usually serene river, expanding its regular width by at least ten times. All manner of detritus bobbed in and out of view: branches, whole trees, what might have been walls and roofs of buildings, and sickeningly, small dots that Marten guessed to be bodies.
I hope that whets your appetite, more coming soon…
deborahjay 
HUGE congratulations, Debby! You are my inspiration, for sure! (Trying to finish A Need to Burn, my 4th Riverbend novel, and moving slower than a gopher tortoise! I’m so glad you’ve got this one coming up, and I’m planning to read the whole series straight through, so I can savor the entire tale! (My favorite way to read a series is non-stop, total immersion.)
Here’s wishing you enormous success with this one. Hope you sell a kajillion copies, my friend! You ROCK! 🤗💗
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Thank you Marcia, and I’m so thrilled you’re planning to read the whole set 😀
I do have more planned in this world, just not with this set of characters, so I think I will indulge in doing the same before I set out on the next one, although I have a couple of other projects to get through before then…
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Deb, you’re a machine! So happy for you getting this book finished, and the cover is gorgeous!!!!! Go you! ❤ xx
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Lol, thanks Deb ❤ A slow and steady machine, perhaps, it's taking me around 18 months to write one. Mind you, they aren't small!
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No kidding!!!!!!!!!!! You rock my friend! ❤
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Congratulations! What a wonderful accomplishment. I’m pondering a Book 4 of a trilogy. There’s something special about that sort of book, like the story is telling itself, forcing you to write the pages. At least, I suspect yours is that way also!
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Thanks Jacqui. Yes, my characters had far too much story to fit into a conventional trilogy, and as I wrote the books, they kept expanding! Books 2 & 3 were supposed to be the middle part of the tale, which is why book 3 goes back in time at its beginning, to part way through book 2. I’m so pleased I did split them though, or the middle book would have ended up at around 260K words!
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Do you think it’s done? Or is it still prodding you?
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Oh this set of characters is done, but I’m already plotting out the next several books, following the next generation, not to mention a couple of spin of novellas from this set…
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Novellas and stories are a great idea. I see a lot of popular authors I follow doing that.
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It’s one of the greatest advantages of indie publishing – I use short stories associated with each of my series as loss-leaders, to gain people’s interest in the main books.
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Congratulations, Debby. What an achievement. I am in awe…truly. ❤ xX
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Thanks Jane, I’m feeling a bit at a loss, not having to drive my mind to keep coming up with fresh plot and dialogue!
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Ahh, Debby, ‘the void’…. Much ❤ to you. Xxx
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❤
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