The Big Book
I received a proof copy of the
hardcover edition of DONZALO’S DESTINY yesterday and it all looked
pretty good. Not fond of the default typeface used on the inside
‘linen’ cover but otherwise nothing to complain about. And, after
all, I designed everything else!
So I went ahead with a paperback
version. The proof for that should be on the way shortly and then it
can be distributed pretty much everywhere (the hardcover is only
available direct from Arachis Press and can be purchased now). These
are pretty big books, coming out to 716 pages, 205,000 words.
Perhaps I could have reduced the font
size by a point but I found other ways to slightly reduce the length
— otherwise it would not have fitted the printer’s 740 page
maximum! Reduced the margins just a teensy, did not use separate
title pages for each ‘book.’ Yes, book, for this volume included
all four of the previously published Donzalo novels: THE SONG OF THE
SWORD, THE SHADOW OF ASAK, THE SIGH OF THE ARROW, and THE HAND OF THE
SORCERER.
I thought a year ago that I would not
be able to do this. My attempts to combine all four into one great
unwieldy file were inclined to bog down — to some degree I would
blame that on my slow hard drive (which also makes it difficult to do
much music recording on my ‘office’ computer). I found, though,
that it worked better when I did that much-maligned upgrade from
Windows 7 to Windows 10. The newer OS has been better for me in
almost every way. I also went with keeping the file on a separate
(but not faster) drive. Anyway, I got it to work.
Note that DONZALO’S DESTINY really is
one novel that was broken down into manageable chunks for
publication. The original four books will continue to be available
separately, both in print and as ebooks. I did note enough little
typos and such (the great bulk of them in the first book, THE SONG OF
THE SWORD) to warrant putting out new editions, when I can get around
to it. Next year, most likely.
And eventually, a semi-sequel will
appear. Lot of other writing projects before then, however. I’d
best get busy on them!
