So that’s the first Kormak Omnibus released. It comprises of pretty much everything that has been written so far; the first three novels, the short story Guardian of the Dawn, all my author’s notes for the series and a lovely parchment-style map by Chazz Kellner.
I confess this is an experiment with a new format more than anything else. A lot of indie writers have reported having success with omnibus editions and the various Gotrek and Felix and Space Wolf collections Black Library have put out have always been my biggest sellers. The value proposition for the reader is obvious. I am aiming at a roughly three for the cost of two price point and throwing in the rest of the stuff as extras. If you’ve been putting off buying the series now might be a good time to give it a try.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Kormak books, they follow the fortunes of a monster hunter in a sword and sorcery world. The easiest way of describing Kormak would be imagine if Conan had his family wiped out by demons as a child and was taken in and trained by an order of demon-hunting warrior-monks. He’s a driven resourceful character armed with an enchanted dwarf-forged blade and a variety of magical amulets that protect him against evil sorcery. Each book details his quests and adventures in different fantasy realms as he fights against demons, necromancers, priests of evil gods and all manner of other monstrous beings.
These are tales of adventure in the classic sword and sorcery style I loved in my youth; fast moving, action-packed and told from the point of view of a sword-wielding hero in a world where humanity is embattled by the powers of darkness.
There should be three more books in the series this year. At the end of May/start of June (depending on how quickly I get my act together and revise the manuscript) City of Strife will be available. This is a change of pace for the series, an urban adventure, somewhat in the style of Fritz Leiber that sees Kormak caught up in a war between two great merchant houses while investigating a plague of monsters that is over-running the cathedral city of Vermstadt. It’s a spaghetti western in the style of A Fistful of Dollars with added were-rats and undead gangsters.
By the end of the summer, I hope to release Taker of Skulls. This could best be described as Red Nails set in Moria. An urgent mission on behalf of his order takes Kormak to the haunted ruins of the great dwarven under-kingdom of Durea, a place where the barbaric remnants of the dwarven nation are trapped in a relentless struggle against the invading goblins and the Old One who leads them. Among other things, this features a fairly radical revisionist take on dwarves.
Towards the end of the year, we should see Ocean of Fear. This one is a sea-faring adventure complete with pirates, sunken kingdoms, a beautiful mer-woman warrior and the return of the Quan, the squid-like alien vampires last seen making life miserable for Rik in the Terrarch books.
That’s the plan anyway– let’s see how it goes!
The Kormak Saga Omnibus is available at Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. As ever Apple is dragging its feet a little but the book should be available on iTunes in the not too distant future.
I can find only the Kindle version on Amazon.co.uk, is there any plan for a paper edition? I’d love to get it 🙂
Hey Davide– I am actually laying out paper editions of the individual books right now for Print on Demand but I am not sure I can get the price of the Omnibus edition down to something that people would be prepared to pay and which I could make a profit on. The economics of POD tend to favour shorter books. I would need to charge at least 20 euros for the Omnibus edition. I could give it a try if there is some demand though :).
Well, if the POD Omnibus would be too expensive to be competitive vs the shorter books, you might want to consider some nice hardcover edition, with good artwork and maybe cloth map. You might sell that for higher price but it would be something I’d buy for sure, even around 35/40 euros. After all Fantasy’s about dreaming, and I love to surround myself with stuff that reminds me of those dreams (like some great Warhammer tankards 🙂 )
Anyway, no matter what, worst case scenario I’ll get myself a kindle and get the digital edition
I was thinking the Kindle might be the most cost effective solution Davide. Not that I want to discourage you from buying my print books once I have put in all the hard work of formatting them and producing them :).
Wow, what a great series of covers for the Kormak Saga! And what an aggressive release plan, as I imagine there are other tales in various stages of telling as well.
Yes, a POD omnibus is a bit steep. One way to tighten things up a bit in print is to use columns (like a magazine) – it saved 40 pages in one of my books! Of course, it fails miserably in electronic format though.
Congrats on the releases, current and pending, Bill!
Thanks, Jason :). There are a few short stories I’ll be releasing over the next few months as well. There are a lot of Kormak books coming because I have loved writing them and they are relatively short so I can do the first drafts in concentrated bursts in between doing other things. I’ve also got lots of ideas for stories that have accumulated over the years but which I could not use in more conventional publishing formats and I am working my way through those. I never thought of using columns! Live and learn.
A Leiber influenced, city based story, featuring man/rats. Somehow it sounds slightly familiar. If I ever get round to buying myself an e-reader, I’ll be sure to check it out, though.
I remember greatly enjoying Guardian of the Dawn when it was on the Flashing Swords website and feel I’m missing out now.
I confess I have always been influenced by Leiber, Hal. He’s one of my favourite writers. Hopefully, there will be print versions of some of these books available at some point so you may not need to get an e-reader. That said you can run the Kindle app on a smartphone these days. It’s where I’ve done most of my reading this year.
I thoroughly approve of being influenced by Leiber – he is possibly my favourite fantasy writer.
I might try out the smartphone app. Thanks.
I’ve been using the Kindle app on my phone & desktop for 2 years and have grown quite enamored of it.