A Note from the Author:
Are you having fun yet?
We’re beyond the halfway mark now. If you’re reading this, I want to extend my most heartfelt thanks. You don’t read three novels out of impulse. You read them because you enjoyed them, and that’s all I can hope for. I hope Death of Promises didn’t disappoint.
Things probably look pretty dark at this point. I’ve sent my characters through hell, I’ve killed those close to them, and I’ve only been able to offer them the tiniest glimmers of hope. Aullienna especially haunts over everything. No one was glad for her death, not even me. I cried writing it, and I cried editing it. I see my real daughter in her, and no matter how hard I try, I will never portray Harruq’s suffering great enough to match what I myself would feel in his place.
Perhaps it seems odd, then, for me to ask if you’re having fun. One of my goals was to make sure the deaths of loved ones meant something. I would not bury a character without tears shed, graves dug, and hearts broken. More will die. It’s not some sick promise. It’s fact. The rough draft of the fourth book, The Shadows of Grace, is already finished.
I don’t view myself as a novelist or fantasy writer or self-published author. I see myself as a storyteller. This story, these brother half-orcs, have a tale I’m dying to tell, and it won’t be blunted. I wrote in the back of The Weight of Blood that this was a tale of redemption. By this point, you might think me a liar, although Harruq should appear a far better man than he was. There’s not much I can do except ask that you trust me.
You’ve given me three novels worth of time, time precious to you and precious to me. Thank you.
Other than that, I hope to see you soon. I’m sure I’ll be yammering in the back of The Shadows of Grace, a grin on my face, wondering if you’ll be able to believe what just happened.
A quick sidetrack…my current work in progress is a combination of novels focusing on Haern the Watcher, his childhood, and the creation of the Eschaton Mercenaries. The first should be out in September, 2010. So please, I hope you enjoy a taste of what’s coming in the first book, A Dance of Cloaks.
David Dalglish