Updates From Elsewhere
Ahoy, Fellow Creatures!
I hope all is good in thy woods. Casco and I coming at you today from a journey deep into Elsewhere, where we’ve started really getting back into the swing of this whole writing thing.
I’ve been averaging progress on Sin of the Scarred, book 3 of the Scarred World saga, on a daily basis and making headway into the story. As of posting this, I’m just a little under 44k words!
While I’ve still got around 60k left to go, this feels like a big win to turn the ship around and start heading in the right direction.
As I’ve been saying throughout this journey, I want to share more of where I’m at with book 3, but without book 2 published yet, I’m hesitant to do so, knowing that I may tip off some major spoilers. Needless to say, Requiem and company have gone to some very unexpected places since book 1, and I am afraid that any detail I might share will give something away.
So I’ll play this one closer to the chest for now, and will hopefully have more to share over the coming weeks as I stumble across pieces of the story that don’t give too much away.
What I can give away, though, is my progress on Requiem’s Rise, my prequel novella that focuses on Requiem’s first job as Scarred.
As of this post, I’m about at 6k words with an estimated completion of around 12-15k. I making steady progress here too, and am hopeful that I can have it in your paws shortly… for free that is!
I’m hoping that Requiem’s Rise will be an introduction to the Scarred World saga, and get readers to know a little more about Requiem and the man he was before we meet him in book 1.
If you’re interested in what that looks like so far, here’s a snippet of when Requiem arrives at that first job in the small mining town of Jessifel.
There was a gate built around the town’s entrance. An old iron construction that had been bent and malformed from long years of disrepair. He thought it strange that no one stood guard in front of it, and his coming was as simple as swinging open the door and stepping through.
A man’s voice stopped him in his tracks.
“You a brigand?”
Where it came from, Requiem needed to twist his neck to see.
“A beggar?”
“Neither,” said Requiem, still unsure of who or where he should be talking to.
“Then what purpose does a man arrive newly to Jessifel at such an hour?”
“To help,” said Requiem.
There was a rustling in the nearest tree. A figure clambered down from the highest ledge and sat with both legs over the longest limb. Requiem couldn’t make out the man’s face in the darkness, but he thought he could make out a long beard. “That true? Who sent you?”
“The king,” said Requiem, squaring up to the man. Closer now, he was certain that the man had steel drawn in his left hand. If he meant to use it, Requiem wanted to be prepared.
That was one lesson Dorja thoroughly imparted to him. Small men with weapons have a propensity to want to use them.
“The king?” chuckled the man. “Quite a tale.”
“Did you not send for someone?”
The man spat. “Months ago. Alvek did. A fool’s hope I told him.”
“Well, I’m his answer.” Requiem withdrew Ruse, his blade just enough so that the Scar stone glowed slightly in the moonlight. It looked like the eye of a terrible predator staring out into the darkness.
The man gasped. “A Scarred? Truly?”
“King Larken would like Jessifel to continue its work in haste.”
“Who are you?” The man sheathed his blade and stepped closer. What little light emanated from the town showed the wrinkles on his face, the bushiness of his eyebrows, the disproportionate size of his nose that drooped in the middle like a fruit in need of picking.
“Requiem Balestone.”
“Balestone? The freshest of them?”
“I guess you could say that,” said Requiem. Though he laughed at the term. Fresh was the furthest thing he’d felt. After all that time on the road and all that training. Arriving at his first mission already in need of a rest.
“Well then, that changes thing,” said the man. He clapped his hand to his chest. “Name is Tooths.”
“Tooths?”
“Well, real name is Glayne, but people here get bored easy. Get creative. Thought the name appropriate given what’s in my mouth.”
“Huh?”
“You’ll get it in the light. Come, Alvek will want to see you. Not a moment too soon.”
So there you have it, Fellow Creatures! A little bit of what I’ve been up to over the past few weeks. I am really hopeful I’ll have more to share as the month progresses.
In the meantime, Casco and I are going to return Elsewhere and see what we can find. Spring is in full effect now here in New England, and we’re seeing some 70-degree days sprinkled throughout the weeks.
I’d say we’re finally starting to thaw out from the cold.
I hope the same can be said about wherever you are. A little warmth does the soul swell.
That’s all I got for now!
Stay scrumptious!
-Jeff