Thoughts on "Queen of Oblivion"

So it looks like I'll have at least two book signings in Colorado (maybe four). I will post the exact dates and locations as I receive them from my PR agent. What I have requested is Friday, December 5th at the Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch. So for those of you following this blog, mark your calendars. I would love to see you all there! The saga of Brophy and Shara is coming to its culmination, and if you've been following the story, you don't want to miss it.

And if you haven't been following the story, then you really ought to pick up Heir of Autumn, the first book in the Heartstone Trilogy (follow the link on the left-hand side to buy a copy online). It is a rich history in a brand new world, complete with sexy sorceresses, earnest young warriors, deadly gladitorial games, and international intrigue. And overshadowing the clash of three mighty empires, a towering menace in the north that threatens to destroy the world.

Wow. I'm all excited now. I think I'll have to go back and re-read it.

So, I can't decide whether the publishing industry moves slowly, or if I move on quickly, but it already seems like ages ago that Giles and I buttoned up Queen of Oblivion. I can't even remember when we finished the first draft of it. Probably November of 2007. For fans of the series, Queen of Oblivion is the third and last story in the Heartstone Trilogy, and it comes out at the end of this month.

As the publishing date nears, I begin to revisit that rich story all over again. The angst of Shara, the agony of Brophy, the murderous drive of Arefaine. Most fantasy stories are about magic and adventure, about the main character finding his potential and living up to it. In fact, Heir of Autumn (the first book in the Heartstone Trilogy) was very much about that. Brophy started out a naive young man who grew into his strength in a trial-by-fire (literally).

But Queen of Oblivion isn't about magic and adventure, though there is plenty of both to be had. And it isn't about the characters finding their potential, though Arefaine finds hers (and can I say "whooo-boy"). Queen is about redemption. Brophy has lived through the fire, but it burns him still. Shara shoulders the weight of the world, and it constantly threatens to crush her. These characters have come into their full might, and Queen is about trying to choose rightly in using that might. It is about the traps that are laid even for those with the best intentions, and especially for those with the most power.

These characters asked for it. Now they've got it. And the question is: What to do with it. Join me in this fantastical world, and see if you bite your nails, curse and spit, cry and laugh, as much as I did.