Laura Jo is making excellent progress on the first book of the "Orbs of Rathira" series. I'm calling it 85%, more or less. She is certainly working very, very hard. Seriously, I've known and worked with writers before and I have never seen one work as hard or generate as much output as Laura Jo. With this new book, she will have published six 100,000 word plus novels in less than a year. That is a creative output that stands alongside some of the most prolific authors of history. I don't think Isaac Asimov, who is probably the most productive author who ever lived, published a book every two months. Of course, he had to devote a lot of energy to those epic sideburns of his, but I digress.
Needless to say, I am unspeakably proud of her achievement, not just in terms of the quantity, but in the sheer creativity and right from the soul heart of these books.
We are looking at a release date in something like two or three weeks. This sort of thing is hard to forecast precisely, as the creative process goes by fits and starts sometimes, but based on my prior experience with Laura Jo's books, that is what it is looking like to me. It is certainly not out of the question that release might be later, or even sooner, but my guesses about these things are generally pretty good.
Of course, we could do what lots of major publishers do, and tell you that the book is slated for Christmas release and hold publication until December 15 even if it is finished on September 9, but you know we don't do that. We always release the book as soon as it is ready, and don't hold release for marketing reasons.
Well, I have read several dozen chapters of the new book and I can tell you a little bit about them. I think that female readers will really like this hero--yes, he is rippingly masculine, but there is a real mind and heart under that bronzed skin and defined chest. Both hero and heroine go through several levels of interesting development--the ripening of their relationship, their own discovery of latent abilities, and the blossoming of the courage to give themselves fully to their love. It's going to be a great book.
And, in case I haven't mentioned it here (I also write about this stuff on the Facebook page and I sometimes have trouble remembering what I say here versus what I say there), this book is Karma's story. Like all of Laura Jo's heroines, she is her own person--clearly drawn and made from different stuff than the heroines in the other books. Karma has a wonderful sense of humor, as well as a lovely blend of strength and fundamental humility that I find really appealing. Of all the heroines in these books, she reminds me the most of Laura Jo.
Something else about this book that readers may want to know--it is set on Rathira. As many of you remember from Gryphons' Dream, Rathira is a low-tech world. It functions in a level of technology roughly equivalent to Egypt at the time of its conquest by Alexander the Great. Karma, the product of a technologically advanced culture in which interstellar travel is commonplace and people routinely travel much faster than the speed of light must adapt to a world in which most inhabitants never leave the village in which they were born and people travel at about 5 miles an hour.
And, as I have mentioned, the love story (or love stories) are all of the more familiar one man and one woman variety. So, while there are things that set this series apart from the Soul-Linked Saga, there is a lot to attract its readers to the new books. They are set in the same universe, there is continuity of story and character with the other books, a connection exists between Rathira and the clans of Jasan (and, no, I'm not telling you what or how), and there is a mix of romance, fantasy, shape-shifting, magic, mystery, love, genuine emotion, and compelling sensuality that readers will recognize.
