Josh Erikson
Author/Narrator
Book 3 Progress and Short Stories!
You and I are both busy, so I’ll keep this short. Book 3 is shaping up nicely, with a crazy plot and some new and returning characters, and my plan is to get a solid draft done by mid-summer. The intention is to have the whole thing edited and recorded and released by early winter, which keeps me on track for something like eight or nine month between books. It’s an aggressive schedule for something I’m writing, narrating, and mastering myself, but I suppose I have to be aggressive about at least one thing in my life.
The reality is that my books are longish for the genre, and I probably make them more nuanced than they strictly need to be. And I definitely fuss over the audiobook narration way more than is recommended… But I just can’t do it any differently, you know? I like writing layers into the story, and I love letting the characters grow across the pages. And for me, that takes at least 130,000 words per book…if not way more. Could I make them shorter and faster? Sure. And they’d probably sell better for the quicker release times. But I wouldn’t be happy about it. And the stories wouldn’t be the same.
So to keep things rolling while you wait, I’m also working on a few short stories to fall between releases. And once those are done and polished, I’ll be recording audio versions to send to newsletter and website followers. (Like you, right?) The first one is about James, and it falls during the events of Fate Lashed to let you know what he’s been up to. And the second one goes back a bit to fall between books 1 and 2 to expand on the time Gabe and Heather spent in the cabin. There’s no firm release date on those yet, but keep an eye out in the coming months. I’ll try to get them recorded as soon as book 3 goes in for edits.
Oh! I should also let you know that Fate Lashed finally became available in Whispersync mode on Amazon a few weeks ago. So if you already picked up the kindle version, you can get the audio at a sweet discount.
As always, thank you for being around and being interested. I’m having a blast with this series, and it’s nice to know some of you are too!
Josh Erikson 
Thanks for the update Josh. I personally prefer a longer book and your narration is on point. If it takes more time to get an epic story with excellent narration then it takes more time. Just don’t pull a Robert Jordan on us and I’m sure no one will complain lol.
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Hey, I appreciate that. I like having a deadline to keep me honest, but I also want this story to be as awesome as it can be. So it’s great to hear support for quality over speed. And I definitely hope Brandon Sanderson doesn’t have to finish this series for me!
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Second the longer books. I like to feel like you didn’t rob me of my money and ran away before I even got into the meat of the book. Mind you as long as it isn’t just filler. Don’t like to start skipping pages to get to the interesting stuff. Keep him learning, I like the introduction of new magic, like the Hex stuff. Magical artifacts are always cool and just a thought, It would be interesting that with each orb collected he got a side affect good or bad or one of each.
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That’s awesome to hear. I hate filler stuff too, and I’ve had to bail on books that were pretty good otherwise just because I couldn’t stand the needless padding. Anime is super bad about that and it drives me nuts. One of the nice things about doing the narration myself is that I can’t get away with filler scenes because they’re too boring for me to read over and over again. They usually end up on the chopping block pretty quickly. And I’m glad you like the new magic stuff! The idea is that we learn about magic at roughly the same speed Gabe does, so the world will slowly iris open as the series progresses. Who knows if it’ll work as intended, but so far it’s been fun to write! Thanks for dropping in and for the vote of confidence!
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Hey again, was wondering who you like to read. I compared your books to the Sandman Slim and Dresden stories but I was curious
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I haven’t read Sandman Slim yet, but I’ve heard great things. And I’ve seen it compared to Green’s Nightside series, which I’m a fan of. I also love Dresden, Rivers of London, and a bunch of other assorted Urban Fantasy. Regular Fantasy too, if I can squeeze it in. But my absolute favorite author is Neil Gaiman. That guy is basically made of magic, and he’s who I’m chasing career-wise. Distantly, distantly chasing. 🙂
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Josh I completely love your series and as a fan I love the dedication it takes and amount of love that you put into someone that we as listeners and readers let into our lives. It is like listening to the stories of our best friend and his shenanigans which make it a delicate for someone like me. I wish you the best ans hope all is well. Having said that having Brandon Sanderson fill in or help isn’t a terrible thing lol. Keep up the tremendously great job and thank you so much for the series.
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Ha! I mostly meant that if Sanderson had to finish the series for me, it’d be because I wasn’t able to for some horrible reason. I’m a huge fan of his, so I’d count myself lucky if he even knew my series existed! Fun fact: He’s from the Lincoln, Nebraska area like me, so he holds a special place in my admiration for that reason alone.
And thanks for the kind words! I can’t tell you how much it means to hear that stuff. I always try to write my books to be accessible to as many people as possible, but my favorite thing is to add little details and fun twists that’ll only get picked up by people really paying attention. I think of you guys more as friends I haven’t met yet, and that makes the process even more fun and rewarding. Thanks for being awesome and giving me a shot of motivation this morning!
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Didn’t know that location fact but that shoots both of you up exponentially. I have a family farm and lots of family in the Council Bluffs IA area and have been a fan of the Huskers for as long as I can remember. Keep doing a spectacular job and the fans will definitely follow. I think Brandon will definitely find out about you and become as big of a fan as the rest of the Ethereal earthists as I have taken to calling myself.
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Thanks Josh, I enjoyed your books from the multiple angles that weird and weltschmerz enchanted nerds are bound to see wether willingly or not. My girlfriend sees this differently so I’m guessing that the ‘slow progress’ with your third book in this series either saved my relationship for now, spoils Xmas and my relationship at the time of its release or makes me a slightly better person which she will probably never thank you for. Possibly not mutually exclusive. Thank you for the added glamour and resale value of my pocket dimension. You’ll give Neil good chase and please contact him to find out if you can co-author something nice. He seems capable of that. Other big shoes to fill and so on. I’m raving again. Your fault. 😉
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I really appreciate that! Book 3 is ALMOST done now, and hopefully it’ll be just as layered to give you and your girlfriend plenty more to talk about. 🙂 One of these days I’ll figure out a way to get anywhere near Neil Gaiman and I’ll shout that suggestion to team up on a book. Hopefully he’ll give me a nice smile or wave in response.
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