My novel "Shadow of the Lion"

[jan]

Thanks, Ruthaki, for all the information about your book, and your website and facebook page. That is very helpful and I am very interested. I am so happy for you to have finally reached a point where you believe you can publish your work. Your workshop sounds utterly enjoyable. I will be visiting your webpage and facebook asap.

[ruthaki]

No it would not work as a triology as it covers one period of time: from Alexander's death and the birth of his legitimate heir Alexander IV(called Iskander in my novel), to the boy's murder 13 yrs later, and in between the warring Diodochi all trying to seize power for themselves. It started out to be a juvenile historical just about the boy but it was too political to write it that way.

[marcus]

No it would not work as a triology as it covers one period of time: from Alexander's death and the birth of his legitimate heir Alexander IV(called Iskander in my novel), to the boy's murder 13 yrs later, and in between the warring Diodochi all trying to seize power for themselves. It started out to be a juvenile historical just about the boy but it was too political to write it that way.

No reason why it shouldn't be a trilogy of books, Ruth. All you'd have to do is to work out the best 'split' points.

ATB

[ruthaki]

They way I have written it and developed the characters this would not be possible. It would totally lose the tension and the point of it was to build the character of Alexander IV and show how blind ambition and greed brought down Alexander's dynasty and resulted in the deaths of so many people.

[marcus]

They way I have written it and developed the characters this would not be possible. It would totally lose the tension and the point of it was to build the character of Alexander IV and show how blind ambition and greed brought down Alexander's dynasty and resulted in the deaths of so many people.

Fair enough. But the fact that it covers "one period of time" is no bar to it being a trilogy. From a plotting perspective I can understand if you feel it wouldn't work that way.

ATB

[ruthaki]

As you have not read the novel I have written you can't understand why it would simply not work. Others who have read it agree with me. If I was writing a life bio -- such as Mary Renault wrote 3 books regarding Alexander, Funeral Games which covers his life to 18, then Persian Boy -- the point of view of someone caught up in his campagins; then Funeral Games which covers the point from his death to the death of Roxana and Alexander IV, you'd see my point. The boy only lived to be barely 14 years old. My book covers the same perios that Funeral Games did only the characters and events are much more developed with a strong focus on the boy as he is growing up in his father's shadow.

[lysis56]

Hello to you Ruth,

I was checking out the website re your new novel. It looks fascinating and really got my attention and interest. I look forward to it. I didn't care a great deal for Renault's "Funeral Games." The way you presented the story to the prospective reader is really nice, esp. with the little video clip. May the Gods be with you.

Lysis.

[marcus]

As you have not read the novel I have written you can't understand why it would simply not work. Others who have read it agree with me. If I was writing a life bio -- such as Mary Renault wrote 3 books regarding Alexander, Funeral Games which covers his life to 18, then Persian Boy -- the point of view of someone caught up in his campagins; then Funeral Games which covers the point from his death to the death of Roxana and Alexander IV, you'd see my point. The boy only lived to be barely 14 years old. My book covers the same perios that Funeral Games did only the characters and events are much more developed with a strong focus on the boy as he is growing up in his father's shadow.

Hi Ruth,

No, I can understand why it might not work ... because you've already said that as far as the plotting is concerned yours would not work being split into a trilogy. Fair enough.

But I was responding to your original comment that, because it dealt with a single period of time it couldn't be done. That, in itself, does not stop a book from being split into a trilogy.

ATB

[ruthaki]

The problem with the length is mainly because I wanted to develop the characters more throroughly than Mary Renault did in her Funeral Games which, to me, came out more like a documented version of events and not the rich prose that was in Fire From Heaven. I also wanted to give the point of view of various key characters who met their fate or suffered because of what happened after Alexander's death. And of course, the boy, Alexander IV was an important figure. So now I am cutting out unneccessary pieces of character development and points of view that I had allowed. It's like cutting scenes from a movie, keeping only what is necessary to forward the plot.

[ruthaki]

Just to let everyone know that at long last my novel SHADOW OF THE LION is now on its journey into the publishing world. I'll keep you informed of its progress.

[ruthaki]

My novel "Shadow of the Lion" is in the hands of an agent who is currently reading it and says he's enjoying it. Fingers crossed for the next step. I've had super positive reviews of it by pothos member Scott Oden, writers Stephen Pressfield and Dr. John (Jack) Dempsey. And a special big thanks to Scott who promoted the manuscript for me. The recent discovery of the alleged tomb of Roxana and Alexander IV (whether it can be proven or not) at least brings the focus onto the subject covered in my novel. The events leading up to their murders.

[Brent Smith]

I agree with much of what has been said, but I would add that literary agents these days are a dying breed. Some years ago I had an agent; A P WATT, the oldest agency in the world. They have represented, and still do, scores of household names. They worked very hard on my behalf but in hindsight I don't think my work was up to it then. Now it is, but the current crop of agents are a joke. They have lost sight of their function, i.e., to be 'agents' who by definition are the appointed representatives of a 'client', in our case the author. Without the author there is nothing for them to do but go broke, and they have not yet woken up to this simple business rule.
Everyone must be aware of the unseemly greed released by E.L. James' Fifty Shades Of Grey etc., but remember that this book first saw the light of day under the aegis of a small Australian indie publisher.
Fifteen years ago I had a very profitable Insurance Broking business, which I sold just as the industry was going direct, enabled by massive increases in computer power. Nowadays a few struggle on under the old manual systems but they are 'zombie companies', and will not last the decade out. All the old rules are defunct, and the future is unknown except for the one constant that has been with us all since the days of Homer and the Beowulf poet --- if you have a good story to tell, and you tell it well, people will want to hear it. As Terry Pratchett said: "To confuse the book with the story is to confuse the plate with the meal."
The upshot is that when I finished the first book of my Alexander Trilogy 'A WIND FROM THE WEST ' I published it straight to Amazon Kindle, where it has sold better than I thought in its first five weeks. (The second book is complete, but I'm not releasing it yet).
I employed nobody --- no proof-reader, no formatting designer, and certainly NO editor! The artwork --- which I think is very good --- was sketched out by me and translated into the real thing by my next-door neightbour, a website designer, at zero cost (though obviously his two little ones will recieve a few extra presents this Christmas).
In closing, my advice, for what it's worth, is this; continue trying to get your work out in print copy but don't try so hard that it impacts on the time you could spend writing --- the book trade is dying in the 'everyday' market; look at the industry figures, and look at the 70% of trash that makes up the weekly Top Sellers lists. We are lucky to be in at the ground floor of a phenomenon which I equate to be no less important than the transition from manuscript books to the printed version for which we thank Gutenberg.

Have a look at A WIND FROM THE WEST on Amazon and let me have your comments if you can. I promise to reply to every one.

Take care. Be happy.

Brent Smith.

[ruthaki]

Thanks for you comments Brent. My novel was read and received favorable critiques by another published writer who sent it to his agent. My comments recentely from the agent when I contacted him about the recent findings of the tomb near Amphiplis that 'might' be that of Roxana and Alexander IV, was of great interest and he said he is really enoying reading my MSS. I have faith that he will do his best to find a publisher. It was recommened by various people including my editor to go thru print publishing first and that's what I'm doing. If eventually that ends up being a dead end I will definitely consider self-publishing but not until i've given it the chance for print that it deserves.

[brie987]

Hello, just checking for updates to this thread. Ruthaki I am very excited to finally read your up coming book. All the luck to you and you have a customer here whether it be digital or print, I'm looking forward to it. Brent Smith I just purchased your book on Amazon a few minutes ago, I will have my nose in (I suppose it would be "on") my tablet all day tomorrow.
I love reading about Alexander both fiction and non fiction. My last Alexander read was the trilogy by Valerio Manfredi and that was a few years and enjoyed it. I'm sorry I gave those books away I now would like to read them again with all this writing. Again looking forward to reading both your books and I will be back for any updates with this thread

[ruthaki]

Thanks for your query Brie. The update is, the agent loved my novel, thought it was 'wonderful' but decided he didn't want to represent me as he didn't think historical fiction was selling. I was immediately encouraged to sent it to the asst. publisher at Thomas Dunn/St Martin's Press. He has it now and I'm waiting for his assessment of it. It's a long, long waiting game. Meanwhile, I'm working on another historical fiction, this one Iron Age Celts (Brythonic Celts) with a link to Alexander as a youth. It's titled "Dragons in the Sky". It was an old novel I began in the late '70's and set aside in favor of 'Shadow of the Lion' never dreaming that Shadow would take so long to write. This one will be much shorter, is less complex and is a first person narrative with some Bardic verse in place of regular chapters.