Now, on to the matter of the title. Brightwill is my first foray back into fantasy after years of writing science fiction. Fantasy is a genre I wrote many novels in before Spinward Fringe. None of those old, formative works will be published, or re-published. They were the books I made mistakes in, penned during my teens, and twenties, when I was still learning how to tell a good story. I’m still learning, any story teller must continue learning from the stories they tell, the world around them, and whatever else comes along.
The first novels I wrote, the ones that shall forever remain in the closet, led me to Spinward Fringe, and to Brightwill, which is the best fantasy novel I’ve written. I believe in the book, and I know I’ve learned a great deal from writing it as well, things that will help with Spinward Fringe and other projects in the future. I can’t emphasise how proud of Brightwill I am though, and I’m happy that I finally have a fantasy novel out there that I’m pleased with.
Fantasy is a tough genre to get noticed in, even though I have Spinward Fringe out there. I’m surprised at how little crossover there is between science fiction and fantasy readers, I’ve run into countless people who read one or the other, and almost never read both. One one hand I'm surprised, on the other, I'm glad I can offer something to both sides of that coin.
In the spirit of getting Brightwill in front of as many people as possible, I’m going to put it out there for free. Not just for a week, or a special weekend, or with the use of a coupon code, but forever, just like I did with Origins years ago.
There is another reason why I’m making it free, and I know there are people hoping for this….
Once I finish work on my next two projects, I’ll be diving into writing another Brightwill novel. I will be getting started on that sometime this year. It will be set in the same world, and I’ll be writing a test chapter when I have time, approaching the beginning of this book in a new way. That’s all I can tell you so far.
With my focus on Spinward Fringe for the time being, you shouldn’t expect much from Brightwill for a few months, but there will be previews from Broadcast 9 coming soon, so there will be stuff popping up here before you know it.
Until bits of the new Brightwill novel surface, you can go download, or tell people about my free work, with now includes Origins and Brightwill. The reach of Brightwill has not been long, it's not a very successful book in terms of sales, but the positive feedback I've gotten is near overwhelming, much like the response to later Spinward Fringe books.
I’d like to say a special thank you to everyone who bought copies of Brightwill, I hope you loved it, and I really appreciate your support.
RL
[Check your favourite online bookseller for a free copy of Brightwill. If it isn't free right now, it will be shortly, it takes some companies (such as Amazon) time to adjust their pricing.]
