Going Forward into the New Year

 A few things going forward into the New Year:

 The Edited & Revised version of Book I, ‘Chronicles of Ardis: Concordance,’ along with Books II (Reckonings,) III (Convergence,) & IV (Dark Winter,) were submitted to the editor of Battlefield Press in March. Aside from a conversation revision in Book IV and a few possible name changes in Book I, I’m satisfied with what’s been written. Hopefully, even more importantly, the readers will be too!

 Once the Crowdsource Campaign begins, I’ll share it in every place possible/permissible, dotting my I’s and crossing my T’s to make sure it’s successful. Accordingly, I have a write-up on Ardan Physiology that’s 85-90% finished that I’ll post here after the books have been officially published.

 Book V’s subtitle will be called Counterpoint. The book will take place 1-2 years after the events of Book IV. I had considered a more linear progression, having things occur through the Ardan year, but felt a time jump would work better. I’ll be taking my time establishing characters, placenames, etc… and possibly be done with the draft by the year’s end.

 Beyond this, I’ve little else to work on. Going forward I’ve some strong ideas for Book VI and one or two for Book VII, I think Book VII will be fun, and IX, X, and XI will probably be fun to write, with the endgame in mind for the last book. Even though I’ve told people I’m going for 11 books, truthfully if I’m sane enough I’d love to do much, much more for this series. 

Revisiting the Map of the Planet

 As I was writing Book I between 2013-2015, I happened upon a planetary map generator that by serendipity gave me the configuration I wanted. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to properly configure it, leaving me with a few inconsistencies, best cleared up by narration. Thankfully, I also have both a Mercator and a rotating version, allowing me to snag shots of locations of interest.

For a bit of explanation, the continents are Teladrin, Shadrelin, & Degna. Gaudna is a combination of two Subcontinents, Alden-Gaudna and Derren-Gaudna. Tifaeanyd (classified on the Mercator map as a protectorate) is part of the Sinseran Empire. Geologically, Shadrelin is rifting away from Teladrin,  Degna is moving southward, and Gaudna northward. Much of this, is in Book I, which was published back in 2017. 

Stellar System & Moon Update; Months of the Year

 Whether this is the last time I do this, I can’t confirm. However, I am far more satisfied with the changes below. Adjustments were done using a slightly modified G5V star, with the following parameters: Mass: 0.98, Radius: 0.989, Luminosity: .90, Temperature: 5,660K. From what I could determine with an online calculator, its lifespan is roughly 10.518 billion years.

 Finding a Planet Habitability Calculator, the next two images show Ardis, followed by Liadrel's location within their star’s habitable zone. Interestingly enough, when Liadrel was plotted, it fits comfortably within the Optimistic Habitable Zone, meaning there is potential for habitability, albeit not humanoid life. I’d already conceived of something akin to life adapted to deserts, possibly discovered in a much later book, of course…

 As referenced by the original novel, Ardis was orbited by two moons. However, I had an orbital resonance issue and felt it could be resolved with the addition of a final natural satellite. The reason behind this stemmed from the nature of Io’s vulcanism as Nersis too is a volcanic moon. Jupiter's immense gravity tugs on and flexes the satellite. And though this plays a significant role, it isn’t the only factor. The other factor is that there is a 1:2:4 Laplace resonance between Ganymede, Europa, and Io. As Jupiter tugs, they too exert their gravitational influence, making Io unable to settle in its orbit causing tidal heating and friction, resulting in the geologic activity we see today. So too is Nersis in an identical resonance orbit with its sister moons. Also, the viewing angles are odd, mainly because Nersis and Kesis seem to be in the middle.

 The last image is the months of the year. Originally, there were 14, but I had an issue concerning Total Solar Intensity. While Ardis was well within Dorastis’s Habitable Zone, I judged the light reaching it too dim, 83%, versus the revision of 91.92%. There’s also the fact that Dorastis is 10% dimmer than Sol (our sun.) To solve my problem, I changed its orbital period from 420 to 393 days, dropping its calendar year to 13 months. Ardis is cooler than Earth. The last time I ran the numbers it was: 48F (8.89C) vs. 59F(15C).

All values found are as accurate as I could make them. If there’s something incorrect, please let me know, WITH works cited.  

                                                            

 

They’re Done and Sent

Back in September I finished my modified-rough draft of Book IV and sent a request for resubmission for two reasons. First, and most obvious was that I wanted to include Book IV in with the other three. Second, since the last submission I had found multiple errors and mistakes littering what I had sent in, and this to me was unforgivable. I knew I couldn’t account for and correct every single error in the document, but I could reduce their frequency.

 My publisher replied back with ‘resubmit at my leisure.’  

 Putting aside Book IV, I went through the revised version of Book I (originally published around 2017), Book II, & Book III combing through them for any issues, cleaning up as much dialogue and grammatical mistakes as I could find, and expanding narration in places that needed it. This was especially the case for Book I, which was originally written with word 2007; a combination of the latest Word Software + Grammarly (which isn’t perfect, but it helps), allowed me to clean up over 2,500 issues, errors, and mistakes since its first publication.

 Book III had a chapter deleted because I decided it needed 21, instead of 18 chapters a couple of months ago. The last four chapters were too densely packed, and I was dissatisfied with the ending. Unfortunately, I did this with sleep deprivation creeping up and chapters 19&20 were identical. Before sending it off, I had this hunch that something was wrong, looked back, and was correct in my assumptions.

 Book IV had already received a similar treatment as I edited the work while I was writing it. It was just a matter of going through it with the same tools again and then cleaning up dialogue and narration where I found an issue.  

 Placing everything into a single document, from the first title page to the last cover blurb gave me 621 pages and 366,040 words. What comes next with them is of course… wait. They’re sent off, with nothing more to add or take away. Unless there’s some kind of issue that truly calls my attention from the publisher, I’m not touching them. What will likely take place is that they’ll be looked over, page formatted, finalized, and a Crowdsourced Campaign will take place.

 I’ve no plans to begin Book V until late Summer/early Fall, which will be subtitled: Counterpoint.

 The only other thing for me to do is to update the outdated Stellar System data further down the blog, along with several other things that likely need a good update. And as things move closer to publication, drop the cover blurbs. But… there you go! 

Chronicles of Ardis: Where Things Stand...

 It’s been well over a since I updated this blog. I’d been busy since then, either editing my previous unpublished works or in draft mode. So, below is the update for everything as follows…
 
Chronicles of Ardis: Concordance
First published back in 2017, it was written with Word 2007, and littered with grammatical mistakes which I attempted to rectify. Through a combination of the latest version of MS Word + Grammarly, I corrected roughly 2,000 or more mistakes, ranging from word choice errors to dialogue issues. Scenes were also expanded, rewritten, or had their continuity corrected, with minor retcons also made. Over 94,000 words in length it reads better—more smoothly—than the original draft. Short of going through it line by line, there’s very little I can do with it. As it stands, it’s in a much better place.
 
Chronicles of Ardis: Reckonings
Finished back in 2018, Reckonings had the fortunate chance of being edited by a non-professional editor and then further cleaned up by Grammarly. Over 81,000 words, it was a fun story to write. While I admit I’d like to add more, Reckonings tells what needs to be told without the need to add anything else.   
 
Chronicles of Ardis: Convergence
Finished back in June of 2019, Convergence was initially 18 Chapters. However, being over 88,000 words, I wasn’t satisfied with having packed so much information in the last 6 or so chapters and transformed it into 21 Chapters for better reading.
 
Chronicles of Ardis: Threshold
Finished on September 27, 2022, Threshold was 101,422 words long and has since crawled up to 101,741 words. Originally subtitled Dark Winter, which was a play on words using themes found throughout the book, it felt insufficient. Then again, it may fit. I find myself wanting to reexamine a few spots and have Beta Readers going through it; things could get edited when the time comes.

If all goes to plan, I should be officially submitting by December 31^st, 2022, or depending on the feedback I receive, sometime in January.  I also plan on adding slightly updated maps, stellar system data, and other figures, possibly in the coming days or weeks. 

What’s in a Name: The Subtitle of Book I

“Is this a religious book?”
“Uh… no, why?”
“Well, your subtitle seems to suggest it.”
“I don’t write theology, I write science fantasy. I believe you need to avail yourself of a dictionary.”
 
As I was nearing completion of the first draft of Book I back in 2015, I began mulling over an appropriate title. Originally, I was considering something whimsical, such as ‘The Saga of Ardis,’ when an idea struck me to turn one book into multiple. With this in mind, ‘Chronicles of Ardis,’ felt like a working main title, leaving me in search of a catchy subtitle. After a few weeks, one word started to hit just write, a word which felt almost like a bane.
 
If you recognize the word ‘concordance,’ then you might know it to be synonymous with a ‘Biblical Concordance’ (of which I do own.) Which by definition is ‘an alphabetical list of the words (especially the important ones) present in a text, usually with citations of the passages in which they are found. However, this isn’t the only way that the word is used. With a modest bit of research (and search on Wikipedia,) you also find a bilingual concordance which is simply ‘a concordance based on aligned parallel text.’ Scrolling down a little, you also find that concordances are frequently used in linguistics when studying a text.
 
Wikipedia aside, there’s also the definition of the word, taken from the online Miriam-Webster Dictionary:
 
Concordance (noun)
 
1: an alphabetical index of the principal words in a book or the works of an author with their immediate contexts
 
2: CONCORD, AGREEMENT (Note: both words have definitions as well.)

== 

A simple Google search will also show:

noun: concordance; plural noun: concordances
 
1: an alphabetical list of the words (especially the important ones) present in a text, usually with citations of the passages in which they are found.
"a concordance to the Bible"
a generated list of instances in which a particular word occurs in a digital corpus, typically with the context also provided.
"clicking on any word in the source text produces a concordance"
 
2: FORMAL
agreement or consistency.
"the concordance between the teams' research results"
 
3: MEDICINE
the inheritance by two related individuals (especially twins) of the same genetic characteristic, such as susceptibility to disease.
 
Origin: Late Middle English: from Old French, from medieval Latin concordantia, from concordant- ‘being of one mind’
 
I think it’s safe to assume that I went for the second option found in either of these definitions. Nevertheless, it has brought a degree of wry amusement over the years. For instance, at one point, if you were to go to Amazon and put into the search box “Chronicles of Ardis: Concordance,” not only would it not come up, but it would bring up a search of over 700 books not even remotely related to my own, but said books were theological. I suspected the reason behind this was the subtitle.   
 
Lastly, I’ve heard more than one person ask a variation of the question written back at the beginning. Funnier still are the people that argued with me about the use of the word, as though it was locked into one thing alone. While that might be initially understandable, considering how it’s mostly used, it should come as no surprise that this word by itself had more than one meaning and can be used in other contexts. As for my own use of it, it stems from the idea that those gathered had ‘reached an accord being of mind in their thoughts and deeds.’ I had considered other words, such as harmony, accord, and the like. However, they failed to grab my attention as the word concordance did.  
 

Memory Excerpt, Book II

A few weeks ago, I did an Author's Spotlight interview with the local Library. Toward the end, I was asked to read a book excerpt. Rather than drawing from the one that was already published, I went for something out of Book II, Chronicles of Ardis: Reckonings. 

Admittedly, a few things did come to my attention as I read it; both dialogue and narration felt a little off. Therefore, I sought to rectify that issue with a few tweaks. Thankfully, my publisher at the time hadn't begun working on my trio, so I was able to send it to him without issue. 

=============

“Well, Kemlir, did you, do it?”
            “You know he did, Sarnas, why bother asking?”
            “The question was a matter of formality, little brother,” she lightly chided. “there’s no real harm in asking. So… you did transform, right?”
The sixteen-year-old blondish-haired teenager glanced up at his eighteen-year-old sister, who was joined abruptly by their ten-and-a-half-year-old brother in a flash of orange light that flickered vividly like a flame. Kemlir raised a brow briefly toward the smiling kid and then looked back at his perceptive sister as if she already knew the answer. The middle child of the trio lingered on her face a few more seconds in thought, glanced one more to their brother, and then turned away.
            “No,” he swallowed. “I couldn’t. I just… I know I can, I can feel myself trying to change, but each time I do, I overthink and it just… it fails.”
            The three stood quietly in the courtyard of Wuldred Fortress. Around them, soldiers and other personnel went about their daily routines, some stopping briefly to take note of the Ice Fang siblings, with an occasional nod and gesture before wandering on. A few caught Kemlir’s pained expression, hesitating at first before continuing on their way, even speeding up out of the courtyard in due haste. His siblings were there, they reasoned, there was no need to approach, much less bother them, unless something was required. And being who they were, it was reckoned that they were reasonably self-sufficient enough to handle whatever came their way.       
            “Then, you’ll do it again next week.” Vordril decided.
            “And you’ll succeed.” Sarnas nodded confidently.
            “Wait, what?” Kemlir almost stammered. “I’ve tried three times already—and failed each time!”
            “Because you’ve anticipated it,” his sister intoned gently. “you need to let it happen; don’t bring the transformation about forcefully, just allow it to take place.”
            “But you also need to take everything you’ve learned from those attempts, reflect, set yourself aright, and you’ll succeed on the next go around.” Their brother added in an almost sing-song fashion. “Simple as that!”
            “Well, if you think it’s so easy, why don’t you do it!?”
            “Actually, Vordril’s incapable of the transformation.” Sarnas glanced toward their little brother thoughtfully. “Mother said he possesses the trait but is unable to utilize it. However, if he were to marry and father any sons, there’s an almost certain chance that they could.”
            “He can’t because he’s Thashinir… like you, Sarnas.” Kemlir half-whispered enviously and glanced over at the young Degnan off in his own little world.”
            “Wait… me… married!?” The hazel-eyed kid wrinkled his nose at the thought. “Ewww, you can’t be serious! Aren’t girls covered in weird diseases and carrying like seven kinds of plague?”
            Kemlir chuckled.
            “Yeah,” Sarnas lunged forward with full intent on putting Vordril in a headlock, only to find him on the other side of the courtyard with his tongue sticking out. “I can do that too you know!”
            “Is that so?” The boy grinned wickedly. “Seems I recall someone being too busy for such ‘childish games.’” Vordril intoned in a mock-serious fashion. “Or was that too old? Anyways,” he smirked. “You never could catch me, why, I bet Kemlir could do a far better job than you!”
            Sarnas’s eyes narrowed. A smile slowly crept across her face as she glanced back at Kemlir who nodded, and then back at Vordril. “You’re on little brother; ready or not, here we come!”
            The sounds of laughter echoed throughout the courtyard and the game was afoot. Edrim, joined by his wife Alceris, watched quietly from the window, smiles playing lightly on their faces. Flashes of fire—a combination of deep yellow, orange, and reddish-orange flame—signaling translocation events, danced lively across the courtyard as the intermittent teasing continued. Though comparatively a novice to his translocative-adept siblings, Kemlir was demonstrating marked improvement after the formal lessons he received. Reflecting, the High Chief of the Southern Wastes concluded that his eldest son would inevitably succeed in taking on the semblance of their totem animal. He too took a little longer than expected after which it became as natural as breathing. Let time work its perfect way; there was no reason to rush into things right now…