Reader Question Day #83 – GHOST IN THE MAZE, parallel universe Caina Amalas, and Frostborn prequels

Bryan asks:

Is Ghost Exile different then your choose your own story ghost stories?

Yes. I fear THE GHOSTS has sort of evolved over time. When I wrote the short stories for SWORD & SORCERESS, I had no idea there would be Choose Your Own Adventure, and when I wrote CYOA, I had no idea there would be as many GHOSTS novels as there have been – ten so far, and I’m hoping to start on eleven in April (more on that below).

I tried to keep the continuity of the novels and the continuity of the CYOA stories in sync, but doing so required increasingly elaborate contortions in the novels. So I finally decided the CYOA stories and the SWORD & SORCERESS stories would be a parallel continuity.

Tory asks, concerning FROSTBORN:

Call me naive to this series, but is First Quest like a prequel then?

It is indeed a prequel. I usually do a tie-in short story every time I release a new novel, and for the FROSTBORN books, the short stories have each been about one of Ridmark Arban’s companions – THE ORC’S TALE, THE MAGE’S TALE, THE THIEF’S TALE, and so on. FROSTBORN: THE FIRST QUEST was originally supposed to be THE KNIGHT’S TALE, and it would tell the story of Ridmark’s fateful meeting with the Warden of Urd Morlemoch in the Year of Our Lord 1469. But that was way too much plot to fit into a single short story, so THE KNIGHT’S TALE become FROSTBORN: THE FIRST QUEST, a prequel novel for the FROSTBORN series.

Many people asked:

When is GHOST IN THE MAZE coming out?

Frankly, I’m just glad enough people read to the end of GHOST IN THE COWL that I’m getting this question! 🙂

First I’m going to finish FROSTBORN: THE MASTER THIEF (currently on chapter 6 of 24 of the rough draft), and then I’ll start on GHOST IN THE MAZE, probably in the end of April. So May/June release date for GHOST IN THE MAZE, if all goes well.

What will GHOST IN THE MAZE be about?

Two words: heist novel.

Also, there will be a maze. 🙂

BP asks, concerning the repetition of certain scenes in THE GHOSTS:

Why do you repeat certain descriptions from book to book – Caina putting on her nightfighter clothes and so forth?

I do repeat certain bits from book to book – the nightfighter gear, some of Caina’s verbal and mental tics, and so on. I do that because I’m never sure where people will enter the series. I occasionally get emails from people who started at, say, book number 7 or 8 because they happened to like the cover or the first chapter drew them in, and only then went back and read the rest of the books. So while each book is obviously part of a longer series, I do want each book to contain a complete story for people who happen to jump in at book 5, so I try to have complete descriptions at least once in each book.

Marilyn says, concerning GHOST IN THE COWL:

Only one word – lice I never laughed so hard before while reading a book.

I suppose that’s not really a question. 🙂 But GHOST IN THE COWL had quite a bit of mood whiplash – it veered between very scary, very sad, and very funny.  So I’m glad I hit the funny bits, at least.

Of course, if you want to know why the lice are funny, you’ll just have to read the book. 🙂

-JM