So most of you now know (because I won't shut up about it) that Sofawolf has decided they would like to publish the novel I've been working on for more than two years, God of Clay. Originally supposed to be one book called The Fire Bearers, the story got too big for one book... and then too big for two. So now the plan is to release three books: God of Clay, Forest Gods, and God of Fire. My admittedly ambitious hope is to release one a year, starting with God of Clay, which is tentatively marked for release at Rainfurrest 2013. It's completed except for whatever final edits Sofawolf sends me, and we're looking at artists now.
In addition, I'm about 25% of the way through the first draft of Forest Gods, which is far bigger and more complex. It's the first time I've ever completely outlined a book from beginning to end before writing. I was warned by some people that outlining is a terrible idea; that it stifles creativity and prevents the story from growing organically, but I've found that exactly the opposite is true. Without worrying as much about the structure of my story, I'm freer to let the characters grow and develop and find their voices. It's an exciting process, and every day that I sit down to write, I'm glad to be doing it. I'm hoping to have the first draft of that done by April, and my beta readers are already getting the first look at it.
I am so, so excited, you guys. Sofawolf isn't strictly a narrow-niche publisher anymore; they've got recognition in the broader scifi/fantasy arena now, what with their artists receiving multiple Eisner nominations and Ursula Vernon's Digger winning a Hugo. They're looking to branch out, and so am I.
So what's it about?
God of Clay and its sequels are set in an ancient world, long before modern civilization rose and spread across the planet. On the edge of the great forest, straddling the edge of the savanna, a village struggles to settle their lives. They have been pushed ever southward by drought, fire, and the advance of the Firelands, the massive, uninhabitable desert that crawls inexorably southward. Clay, the middle son of the King, reveres the gods and seeks to serve and obey them, just as the stories of the people prescribe. There are older, stories, however---forgotten stories.
The leopard god, Doto, is the son of Kwaee, god of the forest. He remembers the stories of the fire bearers, the furless, apelike minions of Ogya, the fire god, and how they led his advance a thousand years ago, burning the forest to feed his insatiable hunger. They were defeated and scattered to the far reaches of the world, but now they have returned, and made an encampment on the edge of the forest once more, and they have brought with them the terrible flames of old. Commanded by his father to bring back a fire bearer, he makes his way to their nest and capturesone, a weak and despicable thing that calls itself Clay. But on the journey back to Kwaee, he will learn that nothing is what he thought.
Their two worlds are spiraling toward a terrible conflict once more, and invisible to all, Ogya kindles his own malevolent plans.
