"Transit to Scorpio" cover by Josh Kirby
When I first envisioned writing stories in my fantasy world I just seemed to gravitate to novels and trilogies and even longer works that encompassed more story then one book could hold.
One of my favorite fantasy series of all time was the Dray Prescot stories published by DAW in mid to late 70’s through the mid-80’s. A sailor transported to the world of Kregen by a harbinger scorpion that always went out of it’s way to make things difficult for the hero, one Dray Prescott. The novels were written in groups of 3 to 5 books that followed a common story thread as the hero tried to solve problems for the mysterious Star Lords and Savanti, behind the scenes manipulators of the world. By the time DAW was done with the series I had some 38 books in my possession. Later, as the internet came about, I discovered additional books in the series and was able to read them up to #45. The author, Kenneth Bulmer, wrote 53 of them in his lifetime, but the latter ones aren’t available in English, only German.
Another series that grabbed my imagination was Perry Rhodan. Published in America by Ace Books, edited by Forrest J. Ackerman, translated again from German by his wife Wendayne Ackerman, it managed 118 books in the series before disappearing. In Germany, it’s continued to this day and is some 2700+ stories long.
"Enterprise Stardust" cover by Gray Morrow
A total aside, while both my brother Kevin and I were stationed at USMC, Camp Pendleton in the late 1970’s, we travelled up to Los Angeles one weekend and decided to drop in on “The Ackermansion” as it was mentioned in the Perry Rhodan books. Mr. Ackerman was home and was kind enough to invite us in for a tour. What a wonderful place for a long time science-fiction reader like myself. The whole tour was a blur, but the library or rare volumes was impressive, and I saw my one and only original Frank Frazetta of Vampirellahanging on his wall. Even Kevin was impressed with the Ackermansion and he’d never heard of it until I demanded we try to find the place. What a great weekend.
Okay, so to get back onto the main purpose of this post, writing large novels, trilogies, and even longer series have been boiling in my head for decades. As I set down to design the Forgotten Empire it seemed natural is should be a trilogy. And Archer and Hieronymus have a lot more stories to tell as well, so their run is currently planned to last at least 12 books.
Short stories were not really on my radar. I have too many long stories to tell. But then something strange happened, publishing changed out from underneath me.
Publishing used to be a stodgy, slow moving target, one that in recent years have concentrated on “event” books rather than a wide good selling range of writers. Sure, an author could make a living but the entire process was geared to restricting books by the gatekeepers (agents and editors). It was the quarterly results that mattered, not the continuous farming of new voices for future stars. E-publishing has now turned those practices on their head. Authors can make more than a living wage by self-publishing their own books, ones that are no longer in print by their publishers, ones many readers would love to get their hands and eyes on, and most importantly, willing to pay for the privilege.
In addition, the old schedule of an author only writing and publishing one novel a year is no longer valid. The more books one had available to buyers of ebooks, the more ways you have to encounter their eyeballs.
Vampirella pencil art by Frank Frazetta
Author Dean Wesley Smithhas a plan to get more eyeballs on his work. This year his goal is to write 100 short stories, in addition to his normal four novels a year, and self-publish them. Every 5 and 10 short stories are combined into an additional ebook. If he meets his challenge number, at the end of 2011 he’ll have 100 shorts stories, 20 5-story ebooks, 10 10-story ebooks, and 4 novels available to readers that like his work. That’s 134 chances for someone to find his work and buy it.
I love that idea.
So, the latest idea circulating in my head to try my hand at a few short stories set in Bulinnarm and elsewhere to prime the pump a bit before Book #1, An Empire Forgotten, hits the virtual shelf.
Now all I need to do is think a bit smaller then I have for the last couple of decades. It’s definitely a challenge all its own, but one I’m willing to try. So don’t be surprised if you see a short story pop up every now and then. I’m just trying to get my feet wet.
NOTE: I still have all of my Dray Prescott and Perry Rhodan novels sealed and ready to read at the next opportunity.
