Dorothy was right: there’s no place like home.

A long time ago, I built a fantasy world and penned countless adventures across many of its locations and time periods.

I eventually wrote a series of sword-and-sorcery novels set in Altaerra and, much later, published them, releasing Rebels and Fools, Heroes and Liars, and Martyrs and Monsters on an otherwise unremarkable Tuesday in 2016.

Then I moved onto a new series, not anticipating a return to Altaerra anytime soon.

Neither did I expect that returning home to my story about a wickedly brilliant witch would feel so good.

Backstory

I mentioned Magic’s Daughter briefly last month, listing it among my upcoming projects. To start at the beginning, I wrote the first draft of Magic’s Daughter immediately after finishing the final book of The Renegade Chronicles in 2005.

The goal was to write a story that could serve as a bridge between The Renegade Chronicles and a new series that focused on spell-casters, including Selena Nelesti, the titular character of Magic’s Daughter. Worst case scenario, Magic’s Daughter would be a standalone novel.

But even though I completed a first draft of the book, I never truly finished it.

I read the completed manuscript, took notes for editing, and then didn’t touch it again for years. I simply couldn’t get motivated to work on it. For one thing, it was a very different from The Renegade Chronicles (more on that later), and for another, I was eager to write what happened next.

Which I did.

In fact, I made it halfway through the sequel before stalling out. It felt like I was connecting the dots between the two series and, truth be told, I was feeling burned out. I had been reading and writing sword-and-sorcery fantasy, exclusively, for a dozen years. Nothing felt fresh anymore.

Could it be that I was—gasp!—tired of Altaerra?

Plot twist

Before I explain why I picked up Magic’s Daughter again after 14 years, let me expound on the differences between The Renegade Chronicles and this “new” book:

  • Magic’s Daughter starts well before the Renegade War and only tangentially touches upon the political strife in Continae.
  • Whereas The Renegade Chronicles features an ensemble cast with multiple point-of-view characters scattered across Capricon, Magic’s Daughter focuses on a single protagonist (Selena) in Superius.
  • Because it functions something like a biography, Magic’s Daughter favors drama and intrigue over fast-faced action. (Think of it as a slow burn rather than a barrage of flashy fireballs.)
  • While a few familiar names from The Renegade Chronicles pop up in Magic’s Daughter, Selena’s story introduces people, places, and concepts that stretch far beyond the rebellion and the wars that follow.
map of Western Arabond

Whereas The Renegade Chronicles primarily took place in Capricon (that small island south of the mainland), Magic’s Daughter is set in Superius.

For these reasons (and more), I’ve been reluctant to rework Magic’s Daughter, though I never stopped thinking about it. In fact, I reread it shortly after The Renegade Chronicles were released. Since then, I had earmarked it as a story more suitable for some other storytelling medium—such as a comic book or a serial novel, perhaps released chapter by chapter on my own website.

When I stumbled onto an article about a popular app for publishing serial fiction, I knew I had to give it a shot.

A happy ending…hopefully

Radish (https://radishfiction.com) puts thousands of serialized stories at readers’ fingertips. It’s built on the premise that people like reading on their phones or tablets during their commute, while on break, or in some other small pocket of time.

Quick and easy—kind of like magic.

Authors can choose how they want to release (and monetize) their fiction on Radish. Here’s how it will work with Magic’s Daughter:

  • The first seven chapters of the book will be released on Radish in early September.
  • The first three chapters will be free. Readers can pay virtual coins (that equate to real-world money) if they want to read ahead.
  • New chapters will go live every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday thereafter.
  • Eager readers can spend coins to read the new chapters immediately, while more frugal fans can wait for them to become free a few days later.

Once the book has been published in full on Radish—and after the statute of limitations has expired—I will publish the entire novel in paperback and ebook, likely in May 2020.

Work in progress

As I write this, Magic’s Daughter is in the process of being proofed, and a few beta readers are paging through it. I hope to have the teaser as well as more information about the characters and plot ready to share in August.

Expect a cover reveal in the next couple of months, too.

In September, I’ll share the link and instructions for accessing the free preview and, if you like what you see, additional chapters.

I can’t wait to introduce the readers of this world to Selena, Superius, and the Assembly of Magic. If I owned a pair of ruby slippers—or some other means of trans-dimensional teleportation magic—why, we’d already be home!

Want to learn more about Altaerra?