#risd-ce

The Dragon Kaseraak Series

Here’s what I’ve been up to the past few months. As some of you may know, between 2007 and 2012, I wrote a series of books, ones that I thought my daughters would like. The first one, The Dragon Kaseraak, was originally published by PublishAmerica (now known as AmericaStar Books or something like that). For various reasons I think that was a mistake, but I don’t want to get into that.

The second book, Runaway Necromancer, was self-published through Lulu Press. I have no complaints about Lulu; they were great.

One of the things I had been wanting to do for a while in my RISD-CE Graphic Design Certificate Program was to redo these books and give them new covers. At some point this spring I made the crazy decision that I wanted to actually publish all of the books. This time, I’m using Blurb Books, and the only complaint I have with them is that, in my experience, they wildly overestimate the shipping times for the books. These books I ordered after 8PM on Friday, May 1; I was promised that they would arrive before May 21. They arrived this morning, four business days after they were promised. Not bad for self-publishing!

Blurb’s books are fantastic in quality, equal to or better than any other trade paperbacks I own. The paper is fantastic, 50 pound weight, which although being labeled “economy”, is in fact far higher quality than most of the books I own. These are quality paperback books.

The books generally follow the fire mage Jana Aliston and her newly acquired apprentice Jamie on adventures through the land of Greater Westvalia and beyond. While I wrote them with a young adult market in mind, I think anyone over the age of 12 could enjoy these. They are pretty fast reads at about 50,000 words each.

The Dragon Kaseraak tells the story of Jana’s pursuit of the Pendant of Solanche. The Pendant of Solanche is guarded by the ancient dragon Kaseraak (go figure!). Also pursuing the pendant is Jana’s treacherous former apprentice Isabella, on behalf of Westvalia’s tyrant King Tybilt.

Runaway Necromancer tells the story of Jana’s attempt to inspire a revolt against Tybilt’s rule in the formerly independent city of Hockessin. She gets assistance in her pursuit by the fearful necromancer Sycosina Soulbane, although that help comes at a cost that may be too dear to pay. The book also provides a long backstory for Sycosina. Based on feedback from people who have read one or both of the published books, she may be the most popular character in the series.

Dying Cry of the Ursidae tells the story of Jana’s further attempts to inspire a revolt against Tybilt’s rule. Jana and Jamie uncover a brutal plot against them that shakes Jana to the very core — and the way that plot is resolved reframes the entire series up to that point.

The Taconite Problem tells the story of Jana’s investigation of the sabotage of mining operations in the inaptly named outpost of Jimburgh. Jana uncovers a plot that may lead to war between humanity and the ancient dragons. She finds herself questioning her loyalties to magic, her kingdom, and humanity itself.

Return of the Flutterbee tells the story of Jana’s quest to return flutterbees, insects that radiate magical energy, to their native home in the southwestern plains. Doing so may avert a war between humanity and dragonkind, but it requires confronting the dangers of a lost and hostile civilization.

At times I’ve thought about these books rather humbly, thinking that they couldn’t possibly be any good because of how I was feeling at the time I wrote them. In reading them again for this project, that belief went away. I really like these stories, and I’m proud that I wrote them. I think if you like casual fantasy, you’ll find these quite engaging.

Now to the business part of this.

Blurb charges me a certain amount of money for each book based on its page length. It also allows me to sell these books to the public at a markup through either their private bookstore, or through public book distributors. Blurb is very generous about the former; it requires no additional fees to sell the books, which allows me to sell them relatively cheaply on their site. The problem is that it’s a private bookstore and no one goes there to look for them.

The other option is to sell it through a book distributor. This would make it available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any bookstore that wanted to order it. For obvious reasons, I’d like this. The distributor, however, charges 55% of the list price for their service. (I am not complaining about this.) The upshot is that the absolute minimum price I could set for these books when distributed widely is $10 — a little more than $4 would go to Blurb, about $5.50 would go to the distributor, and I’d get about forty cents profit for each book. Another downside of this route is that once I activate it, Blurb has to match that price on its bookstore; I can’t offer it at a less expensive price on Blurb.

So here’s what’s going to happen. I have a few more edits to make on these books, but I’m confident that they will be ready in about a month. (The due date for the RISD-CE assignment is May 28, and June 2 is my graduation.) At that time, I will make them available on Blurb for $5.99 each. I think that’s a fantastic deal for some really good books. Fair disclosure: at this price point I will be making about $2 profit on each book, and my hope is that I’ll sell enough books to make back the money I’ve explicitly spent on this project, which so far totals around $300, which does not include anything for the thousands of hours I’ve spent writing and editing the books. I have no explicit hope that this will turn into a profession rather than a hobby.

A couple months later, I will then set it to be available to the distributors. At this point the price of the books will rise to $11.99. I still think that’s a fair price for what a person gets, but it’s obviously not the great deal that $6 would be. And my personal profit will drop at that point, so I’d much rather people buy it at the lower price, but there’s only so much exposure I can get from the Blurb Bookstore.

I am hoping to be able to make the books available in e-book format, but I’m not sure how complicated that would be or what price I would set there. I haven’t looked into it.

This project has been a lot of fun and I hope that, if you do decide to buy one or more of these books, that you enjoy reading them and tell your friends.

This is a story I hope to tell in one of my designs for my Final Studio class. If you are in my Final Studio class and don't want the story to be spoiled until it inevitably is, please stop reading now.

I also am not entirely set on the protagonist's name but for now I am calling her Melora.

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there lived a king and a queen. The queen was very beautiful and the king was very handsome, and for a while, all was fine within the kingdom. But as time passes beauty is known to fade and eyes are known to wander. In this particular instance, it was the king's eyes that wandered first.

Within the kingdom there was a young woman named Melora, whose beauty was unparalleled. It was to her the king’s eyes wandered, followed by the king’s attentions. The queen became jealous and sought to punish both the king and Melora for whatever indiscretions that, up to that point, were solely in her imagination. She went to a witch.

“Place a curse upon this woman,” the queen said to the witch, “so that my dear king’s eyes will never wander her way again.”

"I will do better than that," whispered the witch quietly after the queen left. She had been itching to use a good curse and, like most witches, didn't care for royalty who only paid her mind when they wanted something cursed.

The witch told the queen to bring the young woman to her. With a bit of subterfuge involving peppermint hot chocolate and a lovely plate of cheese and crackers, the witch lured the young woman into her house.

“The Queen would have me make you ugly to ensure her king’s eyes do not wander,” the witch said, “but I will have mercy on you.” The witch laughed an evil witch laugh that signaled that “mercy” was either not present within the witch’s dictionary or it was horribly misdefined.

Melora, whose only crime was her beauty, looked aghast. “I have offended the queen? Please, tell her I’m sorry. Whatever I did, I won’t do again.”

“I have no doubt that you did nothing dearie,” the witch said, “but this is too good of an opportunity to take over the kingdom, so I’m sorry you had to be mixed up in this.” 

This was a lie. The witch was not at all sorry.

“What are you going to do?” asked Melora, now completely ensnared by the hidden toxins in the chocolate, cheese and crackers.

“I will give you eternal beauty,” the witch said. “But to the men who would claim you as their own, I give a gruesome death.”

Melora fell into a slumber, after which the witch cast her spell.

Later that afternoon, Melora woke up in her home. She was able to convince herself that it was a bad dream, though she was as radiant a beauty as ever.

Soon enough the king’s wandering eyes gave way, as they inevitably do in these sorts of stories, to the king’s indiscretions. Melora was summoned to a private room where the king greeted her. The king's lustful intentions were obvious.

“What about the queen?” Melora asked nervously. She thought of the witch.

“It doesn’t matter. I must have you,” replied the king.

Melora, like most, lacked the strength of character to refuse a king that which he wanted, at least not immediately. When the king pulled her into an embrace and planted a kiss upon her lips, she made no effort to stop him. This is not to say that she did anything to encourage him. He needed no such encouragement.

The king stumbled backwards after the kiss. “What foul beast are you?” he said with a choking voice.

Melora watched in horror and dismay as the king died before her very eyes.

In our fairy tale kingdom, like others, one does not kill a king without consequence, even if the act was unintended. The guards took Melora prisoner and locked her in a high tower, as was typical for beautiful young women of the time.

The story of the witch and the queen proceeded interestingly, though our story focuses on Melora. For decades she remained imprisoned in the tower, and soon she came to accept that imprisonment willingly, for her life fell into a pattern that tormented her soul.

Once every month or so, drawn by rumors of Melora’s beauty, a young adventurer was brave enough to try to rescue her. Once every three months or so, that adventurer was strong enough to overcome the physical obstacles protecting her. Once every year or so, an adventurer was clever enough to overcome the puzzles and traps the witch had put in the way to guard the tower.

Such as it was that Melora would receive a yearly visitor. What happened next wasn’t always exactly the same, but it rarely differed in any meaningful way. The adventurer would tell her that he was there to rescue her, and that she was even more beautiful than he could have imagined, that he loved her at first sight, and so on. She would warn the man that she had no desire to be rescued, but one of the flaws of knights at the time was that they could not accept the idea of a woman accepting her own imprisonment.

Invariably the men would profess their true love, and over Melora’s objection, would pull her away in an attempt to rescue her. Upon first contact, however, the witch’s curse did its thing, and the would be rescuer would die a gruesome death before Melora's eyes.

Centuries passed, well beyond the stories of the witch and the queen. Melora’s torment and legend continued. At times she attempted to disfigure herself to dissuade rescuers, but she could never beat the witch’s curse. Inevitably her beauty returned quickly.

For these centuries she remained one of the most beautiful women in the world, trapped in her tower with the knowledge that any man who loved her would die horribly.

One day, an adventurer approached the tower. The adventurer passed through the physical and intellectual challenges (which had only gotten more difficult with time) and soon was standing before Melora.

“I have come to rescue you from your torment,” the adventurer said.

“Please no,” Melora said. “Many before you have come and all have died before my eyes. For your own sake, adventurer, please turn around and leave.” She had said these words many times before.

“I am not here for my sake,” the adventurer said. “I am here for yours. Your tale is well known and your torment is plain for me to see.”

“You are among the most polite about it, but this is nothing I have not heard many times before,” Melora said. “I am cursed, cursed to kill any man that would dare love me. Please leave. I have no wish to see another brave knight fall victim to this curse.”

“I know all this,” said the adventurer. “But I would gladly risk my life for your sake, for I do love you, and wish to end your torment.”

Melora had heard these words before, however polite this adventurer had phrased them. Reluctantly, she extended her hand to the adventurer.

“Many before you have said similar things,” said Melora. “All of them have met their end here.”

“Perhaps I will not,” the adventurer said, taking Melora’s hand and offering a gentle polite kiss. It was unusually subtle, but not unprecedented. Melora deeply regretted the death she expected would swiftly follow.

This time, however, the adventurer remained before Melora, completely healthy. The curse did not seem to take its usual course.

“Can it be?” Melora said. “Centuries ago, a vile witch cursed me with ever lasting beauty that would kill any man who dared show me affection. Have you brought me a cure?”

“Indeed I have,” the adventurer said, sweeping Melora into an embrace and offering a warm kiss to her lips. Still, the curse had no effect and the adventurer seemed completely healthy.

“How have you done this?” Melora said. “How have you managed to survive the curse that has killed every man before you?”

“Because,” said the adventurer, “I am no man.”

The adventurer removed her helmet to reveal a head of long, luscious dark hair that would be the envy of any woman. She was a woman, and Melora realized with delight that the witch's curse applied only to men.

The two embraced again warmly and shared their affection for each other, which is best left to the reader’s imagination.

This will just be a short post.

Had my last class for Professional Identity last night. I don't know if I've talked about the class here before. What it is involves the creation of a system of personal documents to represent oneself to the world: a resume, a cover letter, a business card, an envelope, a portfolio and a website.

In previous classes I've felt like I could leave the things behind in that class; that I was done, that my final project worked to some degree and that I didn't really need to continue working on it. This one, though… sigh.

The biggest problem is a symbol. I've gone now in several different directions to try to find one that works for me. I went with a few pictoral things with dragons, but they didn't work and they were too fanciful to represent myself to a more serious business. I tried a few things before deciding on the first part of my signature. I developed that and developed that to the point where it was yesterday, where I thought it was good and worked and represented me…

Except it didn't work. People looked at it and saw Arabic. I suppose there's nothing in particular wrong with Arabic symbols (it's a beautiful looking language) except I'm not Arabic in the slightest. I know just about bupkis about Arabic culture and I'm not particularly inclined to learn. The point is: I can't exactly put something out there that looks Arabic as something that represents me, because it doesn't.

Which means it's back to the drawing board. My instructor and one other person in my class suggested using my complete signature, and despite my fear of it being used by someone to forge my identity, I'll try that next. I also think it's a little vain; the people who I associate brands with signatures are all incredibly famous and were arguably the best at what they did at some point. I'll never be that way about anything professional.

The upside is that an expectation that I would be finished at this point was apparently unrealistic. No one in the class was. The project is not in the nature of having a final solution, and apparently it's not one that can be really completed in six weeks.