May 10, 2005: The Spriggan Mirror

Lawrence Watt-Evans - author of a lot of good SF and fantasy; if you don't know his name, visit Amazon, spend some money, and thank me later - is trying an experiment in online publishing. I, personally, am a fan of his "Ethshar" series, which started with The Misenchanted Sword. . . and, as so often happens, that series has an enthusiastic following which is just not large enough to induce the publisher to contract him for more books.

So . . . he's inviting the fans to, in essence, pay him his advance on the next Ethshar book, The Spriggan Mirror. For every $100 he receives, he is posting a chapter from the first draft; as long as the money keeps coming in, he'll keep working. The plan is that eventually he'll take it to a small press that can't afford an advance, or publish it himself, and those who have donated significantly will get a special deal on the finished trade paperback.

The story thus far is, of course, on his site.
-- Steve Jackson

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