Tales Update, and What’s to Come

We have not done a general update since before the first of the year for “Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga.” There are a few changes to come, though they will not affect our current readers.

One thing noticed is that though these privately published short stories and novellas are doing fairly well, their readership is pretty limited to fans of the Noble Dead Saga. We would like to see Tales reach a slightly broader audience. We do our best to make them accessible to anyone, including those who have never read any volume of the saga. And so, some changes will be made to Tales “packaging” where coming works are concerned…

One strange thing is that the organization of the Tales project has sort of backfired, or so we guess. Perhaps it was too much information about its structure. Hard to believe, but there it is.

People see the umbrella of “Tales…etc.” and think of a whole series all in one. That the explanation of it all is in each work’s listing on all product pages at vendor sites has not appeared to matter. So that will be removed in the coming weeks. Instead, we will add a brief explanation as a “Foreword” inside all future Tales.

In addition, numbering for the “sequences” will be removed from the cover images, so potential readers will not think they have to be read in numbered order. Also, the term “sequences” will be replaced with thematic “collections” instead. Hopefully that sounds better, and we live and learn.

When one or more Tales chain together, we will add “Sequel to [Insert Previous Title]” right below the new work’s title. Again, we explained that order on most Tales does not matter; again this did not appear to help. The concept of reading in numbered order is too deeply engrained in the fantasy fiction market. The whole structure of Tales presentation at NobleDead.org will remain as is (with some terminology and explanation changes) for those wanting to see the order in which they were “released” (not to be “read).

As to previously released Tales, soon we will begin editing the product listings a vendor sites to match these changes. This will not affect the Tales you have already purchased. Should we edit any previous covers, this also will not affect you; the next time you sync ebooks in your ereader, you might see the new cover. Content of the Tales you own will not change.

With some vendors, the cover might not change either when you next sync your ebooks.

For the Future…

J.C. is bogged down in all of the above and other non-writing work, including reordering and restructuring the layout of NobleDead.org and BarbHendee.org. Some changes in the banners and style of the sites are still in progress. His next tale titled Puppy Love is in the works and will start a new collection called “Sagecraft.” No release date has been scheduled as yet, but we will let your know.

Also remember that Barb’s new series “The Mist-Torn Witches” debuts this coming May. Another of J.C.’s “to dos” is to reinitialize excerpts at our two sites. And yes, that means before the end of the month you will be able to drop into either of our sites for a taste of the first MtW volume, aptly titled The Mist Torn Witches. Watch for an update on this within a week or two at the most.

Now it is time for us to get back to work!

Oh, and do not forget about the ongoing sixth and final Noble Dead Raffle, where the prize is a signed, hardbound first-edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark.