Ben Spencer's Blog

Hi everyone,

Quick blog post for goodreads. The Prophecy of the Yubriy Tree, Book One in The Song of the Burning Heart series is out now. The ebook and hardcover editions are available over at Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Prophecy-Yubri...

Thanks to everyone who has read the book already. There are quite a few ARC reviews on goodreads. I hope you'll check them out!

Best,
Ben

Hello Goodreads friends!

My forthcoming epic fantasy novel, The Prophecy of the Yubriy Tree, is now available for preorder as an ebook. The hardcover and paperback editions will be available on the release date, October 19th.

Here's the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Prophecy-Yubri...

If you would like to see a cool picture of the book's beautiful cover--designed by the inimitable Catrina Barquist--please check out the latest edition of my newsletter: https://benspencer.substack.com/p/cov...

I'm grateful to everyone who preorders the book! More information will be forthcoming closer to the release date.

Best,
Ben

Hello everyone!

I wanted to let my goodreads followers know that I have released a novelette entitled Last Performance at the Three Dragons Inn. It's available as a free download to those who subscribe to my email newsletter over at https://benspencer.substack.com/.

The novelette is a teaser for my upcoming epic fantasy series. I hope you'll consider signing up! I believe I've created something compelling and unique, and I hope that many of you will join me on the journey to come.

Best,
Ben

First things first. I’ve written a novel entitled Many Savage Moons. It’s available now on Amazon in paperback. You can also read it on Amazon Kindle.
Amazon Link

Curious what the book is about? Here you go:

In the space of an autumn afternoon, Nathaniel falls hard for Winter York, the beguiling, tattooed woman he meets at the local bookstore. The fact that she is avoiding another man only increases his interest. The perfect day ends on Winter’s couch, where a newly tattooed Nathaniel is entranced by Winter’s enigmatic sophistication. But then the man Winter is avoiding invades her home. When Nathaniel fights him off, he is sure the worst is over. Winter, however, insists that the man is capable of a strange and dark magic: once he touches someone, he can write them into dreams, dreams where that person can die. How does Winter know? She is the inspiration for the man’s fantasy book series, and she has seen her friends perish at the stroke of his pen.

Many Savage Moons is an unconventional love story full of literary references and haunting tattoos, set in a world where a writer wields fantastical powers over those who inspire his work. Straddling the literary and fantasy realms, Many Savage Moons is a genre-bending work.

Thanks to everyone who has followed my work over the years. I do plan to update the Goodreads blog from time, but I plan to be considerably more active over at https://benspencer.substack.com/ if you're interested in following me there.

As I haven’t updated the website in a while, I thought I’d drop in with a blog post and give everyone an update on my current writing projects.

For the better part of the past year and a half, I’ve been working on a major epic fantasy novel. The novel is my answer to the question: “If you were going to write a big-ass fantasy novel, what would it look like?” So far I’ve written about 47K words. (I know, I know, I’m a slow writer). I also have a novella (novellete?) in hand that is set in the same world as the major epic fantasy novel. I finished the novella–entitled Last Performance at the Three Dragons Inn–before I ever wrote word one of the novel. I’ve toyed around with the idea of releasing the novella as a stopgap while I finish my current projects, but, every time I give it serious consideration, I know in my heart of hearts that it would be better if I wait until the novel is finished before deciding on how to best introduce both projects to the world.

Does the novel have a working title?

Yes. But I’m going to keep the title to myself for now. It’s had a working title from the outset, but last month I made a small change to the title that I’m quite pleased with. I feel 90% confident that the current title will stick.

What are you willing to share about the project at this time?

Not a lot. But I’ll share a little. The setting is medievalesque, with twists. There are three POV characters. The book indulges my deep love of trees. A lot of the conflict in the book is driven by two separate religions. And yes, there are dragon(s).

Okay, moving on. Five years ago, when I was writing Book One in the abandoned trilogy that shall not be named, I began breaking up the project by working on a genre-busting fantasy novel with literary pretensions. Excepting one year when I set the novel aside entirely, I have continued to work on this book as a side project, and, amazingly, I’m getting fairly close to finishing it. The novel is divided into three parts, and, as of this blog post, I’m perhaps 1/3 of the way through Part III. I’ve written 57K words and I think it will wrap up somewhere between 70K and 80K.

I usually work on this novel one-to-two sittings a week, so it’s slow-going. During the past summer I made quite the dent in it, as I was able to carve out enough writing time to work on both projects once a day, but, when the teaching year resumed, I had to cut back. I tried (for a short time) devoting my energies to finishing this project before returning to the epic fantasy novel, but my psyche didn’t appreciate that particular decision, so I quickly reverted to keeping this novel as my side project. I think there’s an outside chance I’ll finish the novel by this summer, but, if not, hopefully it won’t be too long thereafter.

Does this novel have a title?

Oh yes. I love the title. It’s one of my favorite things about the book. But I’m not going to share it. Not yet.

One last bit of business. For those of you who are fans of The Deer King series, I want you to know that I do intend to return to the series at some point. But, for the time being, I’m giving my heart and soul to the two projects above. Once they’re finished, then I’ll make a decision as to whether it’s the right time to jump back into the world of The Deer King.

Okay, that’s it! Thanks to everyone who keeps up with my writing life. I hope you are all doing well in this crazy, topsy-turvy world we live in.

Goodreads friends,

I have a new short story up on the website. https://benspencerwrites.com/2020/07/.... There's also some cool artwork that accompanies the story. I hope you'll check it out.

In other news, I'm about 2/3 of the way through a novel-in-progress. :) I hope to have it complete by next spring at the latest.

Happy reading,
Ben

Click https://benspencerwrites.com/2020/01/... to read the blog post (with links, correct formatting, etc.) directly from the website. This blog post is not formatted for Goodreads.

“Nothing hurts me more than saying what I don’t mean or saying mean things.” — Exquisite Mariposa by Fiona Alison Duncan

Dave Chappelle, addressing his fellow comedians: “You have a responsibility to speak recklessly.”

Read, Reading

Exquisite Mariposa by Fiona Alison Duncan

Skunk Train by Joe Clifford

Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Baker (This book was a Christmas present from my wife; she does her best every year to find a book that I’ve somehow missed that she thinks I’ll enjoy. It looks like a fantasy home run. It’s next on my reading list after I finish Skunk Train.)

The Plantaganets: The Warrior Kings and Queens who made England: by Dan Jones.

An excellent profile on N.K. Jemisin by the New Yorker: N.K. Jemisin’s Dream Worlds

Writing

Two weeks ago I finished a 12,000 word (let’s call it a novelette) that takes place in my newly created fantasy universe. The novelette is entitled Last Performance at the Three Dragons Inn. I’ve also been working on a novel set in the same universe. The novelette is of a length that isn’t accepted by most fantasy magazines, so I don’t have many options publication-wise. I’m targeting three publications that I respect. If it’s not accepted, I intend to publish the novelette through my publishing company, Knock-Knee Books.

The novel is, without a doubt, happening. I’m 13,000 words in and I have a very clear idea of where the story is heading. It’s going to take time (likely two to three years), but it will be finished. I am extremely excited about what I’ve written so far, and I hope that one day you’ll be able to see why.

The Deer King Series

What about The Deer King series, you ask? After finishing Last of the Baronites, I started novella #4, only to decide about seven pages in that I had taken a wrong turn at the outset of the book. It was then that I decided to take a short break from the series, which freed me up to work on my recently finished novelette. From day one I knew there was a strong likelihood that I would branch off to work on other projects before completing the series. I view The Deer King as a lifelong project; I envision the series containing twenty-five novellas when it’s over. Now that I’ve finished my novelette, I’m in the process of deciding whether to begin work on novella four in The Deer King series or whether to knock out one more short story.

As a full-time public school teacher, husband, and father (and part-time volunteer political activist), my writing time is subject to certain constraints. That being said, I have a nighttime writing block that I honor six days a week, and I can often scrounge up three or four additional hours during the week for writing time. In the past I would work exclusively on one project at a time, but I’ve recently discovered that working on two projects simultaneously has its advantages, and I hope to make that a staple of my writing life going forward. At some point (perhaps as early as the next week), The Deer King series will once again become a part of my writing life. We’ll see.

Music

The Foals: Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost: Part I

The Foals: Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost: Part II

I’m partial to Part I. Both albums are a little messy and a little grandiose. Both are chock-full of fantastic tunes. Pitchfork tells me that I shouldn’t love these albums, but I do.

The Foals: Syrups (Live)

Alright gang, Last of the Baronites: Novella Three of The Deer King series is now available! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07....

Writing Update: Novella Four of The Deer King series: 2K. It does have a working title that I’m keeping to myself for now. I will go ahead and share that the fourth novella is told from the POV of Emmaline Rain.

I’ll return sometime in September with my regularly scheduled blog post. Until then, thanks so much to everyone for reading and supporting the series.

Writing Update: Last of the Baronites: (Finished! Out at the end of August)

In the song “Aaron Burr, Sir,” from the smash Broadway hit Hamilton: An American Musical, Lin Manuel-Miranda takes creative license in imagining Hamilton punching the bursar at Princeton College. Ron Chernow, the author of the excellent Hamilton biography on which the musical is based, reportedly blanched at this historical leap, pointing out that “Alexander Hamilton wasn’t needlessly violent,” and encouraged Miranda to rework the lines.

Miranda left it unchanged.

Why? Because the line in the song is friggin killer, that’s why.

That was Miranda’s reasoning, at least. And it’s true. But the line also works because it underscores Hamilton’s intense temperament. Hamilton might not have been needlessly violent, but he was also a self-professed warrior who didn’t mind mixing it up in the public sphere, and from there it’s not too far of a leap to imagine that he’d resort to punching a bursar if said bursar was thwarting his academic ambitions.

Which leads me to my forthcoming novella, The Last of the Baronites: Novella Three of The Deer King series. If you consider yourself a fan of historical fantasy, well then, by golly, this is the novella for you. If you’ve read the first two novellas, you’ve likely noticed that the setting is a fantasized version of America at the end of the colonial era/dawn of the United States. But what you haven’t seen are characters inspired by historical figures.

That’s about to change.

The protagonist of Last of the Baronites is my re-imagining of a young John Quincy Adams. You’ll also see appearances by figures loosely based on John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and, anachronistically, Thaddeus Stevens (Stevens was a U.S. Representative during the Civil War).

(Side Note: Emmaline Rain is also back. She’s not inspired by a historical figure, but, for those of you who have read The Deer King, you know it doesn’t make her any less important.)

Like any truth-sabotaging novelist, I’ve taken the liberty of altering both the personal histories and the temperament of my characters as needs be to fit the story. Some hew closer to their historical counterparts, while others are radical departures. But what I hope you’ll find is the same grain of truth that runs through Miranda’s decision to have Hamilton ‘punch the bursar’: the nodding-your-head-saying-“Yeah,-I-could-see-him-doing-that” grain of truth, whether or not it ever actually happened.

Notes:

My next blog post will announce the arrival of Last of the Baronites, which will hopefully take place at the end of August, if not earlier. Thank you to everyone who has read the first two posts since my decision to start blogging on a more regular basis. I’ve written for nearly two decades now, but blogging is a different art, and, after reflecting on my last post, I know there’s room for improvement. What I’ve tried to do since putting out my work is to look for natural ways to promote my writing without it feeling forced, hackneyed, or too much like a sales pitch. I’ve decided that blogging and posting links to social media is a much more natural fit for me than posting on social media.

If you’re visiting the site and would like to follow the blog, please look to the right hand side of the webpage ———–> and click follow the blog. After entering your email you will receive an email anytime I post a blog (no more than once a month) or when I put out a new release.

Book Recommendation: Fate and Furies by Lauren Groff.

Song Recommendation: “Dead in the Water” by the one and only Noel Gallagher.

Until next time…

Hello all.

After years of struggling to settle on the best way to develop a consistent author platform, I’ve decided to have a go at a monthly (or bi-monthly? Yeah, probably bi-montly) blog post. I’ll then share the link to the blog post on various social media outlets, where my tens of followers can read their fill.

As I’m not much for giving writing advice or engaging in soul-baring confessionals, my monthly blog post is going to touch on the same four or five topics each time. I’ll provide a writing update, divulge an interesting piece of Deer King trivia, offer the odd historical insight, recommend a book (yes, please!), recommend a song (oh no!), and then…well, that’s probably it, but no promises.

So, here we go.

Writing Update: I’m 26K words into Last of the Baronites: Novella Three of The Deer King series. I should finish up in late July or early August, and hopefully have it out in the world by late August. I’m 40K words into my novel-in-progress (does it have a title? Yes it does, but I’m keeping it to myself for now. I’m very happy with the title). Hope to wrap it up by Summer 2020. It’s contemporary fantasy, with what I believe is a novel conceit. Quite a bit different from The Deer King.

The Deer King Trivia: Edward Drey was the first Harrolander to reach Tsadanali. He forged a peace with the Torquecan people (in the name of King Charles Penrose) shortly after one of his soldiers murdered the Torquecan ruler Chineyaco in 11 A.D. The peace lasted until his death.

Odd Historical Insight: The first U.S. president to have his photograph taken was John Quincy Adams, in 1843. (It might have been William Henry Harrison in 1841, but we’ll stick with popular legend). Adams, who left the presidency in 1829, was elected to the House of Representatives in 1830, and served there until his death in the Capital Building in 1848, two days after suffering a stroke in the House chamber. He spent his latter years as a representative railing against slavery, receiving numerous death threats. As a seven-year old boy he watched cannon fire from the Battle of Bunker Hill from a hilltop ten miles away, and then lived to the eve of the Civil War. A character loosely based on a young John Quincy Adams features heavily in Last of the Baronites. Here’s the picture:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/ar...

Book Recommendation: Daniel Polansky’s A City Dreaming. It bothers me to no end that Polansky’s genius isn’t shouted from the rooftops of every bookstore in the country. This particular book is a genre mashup that blows the top off what imaginative literature is capable of. So very good.

Music Recommendation: “City Looks Pretty” by Courtney Barnett. Amazing lyricist, amazing songwriter. My favorite song off her latest record. Have a listen if you’re so inclined.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42XXZ...

Alright, that’s it. Until next time…