• Merlin’s Blade - February 2013
• Merlin’s Shadow - August 2013
• Merlin’s Nightmare - February 2014

So fans will only have to wait six months between releases, and not the usual year. After working since 2006 on the novels, it will be very strange that all of them will be out in a single 12 month window!

The only way I can keep up with that pace is that I’ve already written book 2, and have most of book 3 plotted out.

I thought this would be a good time to give thanks to God as well as to all those that have helped me along the way, not only in my writing, but also through life:

I can honestly say that there are lots of other writers better than myself that also deserve to be published, yet are not. All I can say is—Keep writing! Keep trying! You’re time will come if you don’t give up!

And everyone, make sure you tune in tomorrow to hear about some of my creative plans to promote Merlin’s Blade!

None other than … ZONDERVAN!

Yes, that’s true, and amazingly so. Back when I first began writing, it was my hope that if only I could sign with a literary agent, that one of the big publishers would be interested in my novels.

Back in 2007 I wrote the following on my blog:

Bottom line—I am hoping that out there somewhere in the universe of publishing that an agent and a publisher exist that will look seriously at my work and not dismiss it simply because of its topic.

But I need to be up to the challenge in order for that to happen. I really need to learn the craft of writing. If I don’t present a book that is well written, then I expect it to be rejected.

I really am hopeful that this topic can sell. One author, now forgotten by me, put it this way:

“There are more fans of King Arthur in California alone than in all of Great Britain.”

How can this be? Because his popularity is everywhere.

My thesis (that my books live or die by):

If I write well and have a unique, exciting story and voice, it will sell.

But, after having trouble finding an agent during 2009 and the first half of 2010, I gave up, and began to look toward the smaller publishers where I didn’t need an agent.

Yet here I am, with an excellent agent, Les Stobbe (who I signed with in July) … and with Zondervan really excited to publish all three novels of THE MERLIN SPIRAL!

And here’s my current provisional cover (in full) until Zondervan decides what to do. Note that this has not been approved by Zondervan, and I am providing it only to give you something visual until the time when Zondervan creates a cover.

And on top of this, Zondervan is a division of HarperCollins, which means the books will also be released in the UK… exactly what I had hoped for.

So all of you Arthurian fans out there … hold onto your helmets and pick up your shields! Things will be heating up around here leading up to the release of MERLIN’S BLADE.

And come back tomorrow to find out the timing of the publishing schedule!

The long-awaited announcement that I am very pleased to finally blog about.

I have now officially signed a contract to have all 3 novels of THE MERLIN SPIRAL published!

And I owe a big thanks to my incredible agent, Les Stobbe!

But who is the publisher, you ask?

Well… I’m not going to tell you… until tomorrow!

All the pretty-pleases won’t avail you … you must wait! Here’s the blog schedule. I may amend it as I go, but this is the plan.

At some later date I will give a more detailed story of the long journey I’ve taken to publication—sharing with you the many painful pebbles of insight that I’ve pulled from my boots along the way.

So … same book-channel, same book-time … tomorrow the publisher will be announced!

This is fantastic news, because L.B.’s last book series was finished in 2008 (The Binding of the Blade, see the cover to the right).

Now his fans finally get to taste a new adventure, this one more expansive in scope and adding in a touch of sci-fi to the fantasy world.

The working title for the new series is THE WANDERING.

But I won’t say more, so you’ll have to keep your eyes on his blog for more announcements!

And L.B. is in great company … here is a list of other authors with AMG’s young adult imprint, Living Ink Books:

Many of these folks I know, but none as well as L.B. Graham himself.

Here’s his bio:

L. B. Graham was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1971. He loved school so much that he never left, transitioning seamlessly between life as a student and life as a teacher. He and his family now live in St. Louis, Missouri. They would like one day to have a house by the sea, which he wants to call “The Grey Havens.” He and his wife have two children. Both love books, which pleases him immensely.

L. B. holds a B.A. in Literature from Wheaton College, and an M.Div from Covenant Seminary. He is chairman of the Bible department and teacher of English and ethics at Westminster Christian Academy. He has written several articles in IVP’s Dictionary of Biblical Imagery.

My son, Leighton, portrays the blind Merlin, and my daughter, Adele, with the harp (from a photo when she was sixteen) portrays Natalenya.

So, without further ado, here are the book covers (click to see a hi-res version):

Note that I’d like to completely redo the blue fire emanating from the stone. This might cause many of the other elements to change, either in composition or position.

Anyway, I would be interested which of the two you prefer … to see Merlin’s face (sample 2), or to keep it a mystery (sample 1)?

I began the year with things “in the works” with two publishers … “A” and “B". This was as far as I thought I would get in the publishing world, and I imagined that if neither of them were interested, I would be left with self-publishing. Boy was I wrong!

February

This month I had some communication with Publisher “B", and they said they were going to take it to committee. As you will see in the next ten months, this process was going to stall. I found out later from a friend that this publisher is over-busy and barely has time to communicate even with their signed authors. That “patience is needed in this business” is one of the primary lessons I have learned in 2011.

March

This month I formally sent my proposal to publisher “A", and they showed some cautious interest.

Shortly thereafter I came into contact with Les Stobbe, an excellent agent with a lot of experience selling novels to the publishers in the Christian market. We began negotiations about signing a contract.

April

I finished writing the first draft of MERLIN’S SHADOW (book 2) this month. It turned out fabulous. Though I definitely have some editing to do, it is ten times cleaner than Merlin’s Blade’s first draft. It’s taken me 13 drafts to get Merlin’s Blade ready for publishing. Merlin’s Shadow will probably only take 2 more drafts.

May

I finished reading some books on the craft of fiction, including Stephen King’s ON WRITING.

I also began the difficult process of cutting Merlin’s Blade down from 118,000 words to as close to 100,000 as I could get. This was necessary, I felt, before I signed with Les, because the major Christian publishers are highly concerned about a book’s size affecting the printing costs.

June

Publisher “B” supposedly took Merlin’s Blade to committee. I began the waiting process … but never heard anything good or bad.

I contacted another small Publisher “C", and sent my proposal for Merlin’s Blade to them. They only open their submissions occasionally, so this was good timing.

In my cutting efforts—success! Merlin’s Blade now stood at 105,000 words. Not below 100,000, but very close, and close enough.

July

With Merlin’s Blade cut down to size, I finally made my mind up and signed with Les Stobbe as my literary agent! Les promptly sent my proposal out to all the major publishers. Note that Les also took over communications with the three smaller publishers I was already in process with.

August

Publisher “A” asked for the full manuscript to Merlin’s Blade. They had only published one fantasy series in their entire history, so I wasn’t sure what they would think.

September

The first day of the month brought quite an amazing email from Les, alerting me that Publisher “D” (one of the big ones) had already gotten approval for Merlin’s Blade from their Editorial Board. Woo-hoo!

Thankfully I was already working on a “Video Proposal” for Merlin’s Blade. Once it was finished, Les passed it on to the acquisitions editor at Publisher “D” so she could use it during her presentation to the Publishing Board.

Later in the month I visited the ACFW conference here in St. Louis and had an impromptu meeting with the acquisitions editor from Publisher “D", and she encouraged me that she was going “to fight for [Merlin’s Blade]". Wow!

My wife and I also had dinner with Les Stobbe, and that was fun.

October

This month was a test of waiting, as well as catching up on some things that I had dropped during filming of our latest book trailer for Jill Williamson.

I did, however, make progress on a new cover for Merlin’s Blade. If anything, this can jump-start a marketing department’s creative ideas for how to put one together.

November

The first day of the month brought big news again! The acquisitions editor from Publisher “D” had gotten approval from the Publishing Board to sign Merlin’s Blade … as long as it could pass a profitability analysis step. Normally this step was a formality, but because I was a new author and the book was Christian fantasy, it was more involved.

Also, a new Publisher “E", whom Les had originally contacted, expressed interest in Merlin’s Blade.

December

Publisher “A” notified me that they were no longer considering Merlin’s Blade. You win some, you lose some. Still no word, yay or nay, from publisher “B” or “C".

Meanwhile, I have also not heard from Publisher “D", so we will begin 2012 with expectant hope of hearing the final word on the profitability analysis. Publisher “D” has a lot on their plate this time of year, so this delay was not unexpected.

I do know this … barring some bizarre twist, 2012 will be a watershed year for The Merlin Spiral. One way or another, a publishing decision will be made, so get on board the roller-coaster, click the safety-bar tight, and hold onto your hat!

So, in my opinion, these two Christian publishers will merge sometime soon, barring the deal falling apart. To see why I think this, click here.

So, when they merge , it is my understanding that the names Zondervan and Thomas Nelson will continue as imprints. But what will the main company be called? If Thomas Nelson were smaller than Zondervan, it might just be absorbed. But since Thomas Nelson is larger than Zondervan, I would think it possible that the main company might get a new name.

What name? In the style of HarperCollins, I would propose either ZondervanNelson, or ZonderNelson. If either of these happens to be the name that is chosen, I have some logo ideas to propose.

Yes, this is a bit cheeky , but the graphic-designer in me came up with a really cool idea—a 45 degree angled “Z” that doubles as an “N". I have also included the HarperCollins fire and water elements, both of which have symbolism within Christianity. (Any logo may be clicked to see a high-res version of it.)

   

I realize that Zondervan might not want to drop the “van”, although I do see a benefit to keeping the two the same number of syllables and number of letters. So, assuming they want to keep the full name, here is a logo presented that way. It is not as symmetrical, but that is okay.

And here is another set, this time with the text horizontal, and the last also including the full name of Thomas Nelson:

   

Zondervan’s current logo uses a special font which I don’t have access to, and I would expect that my standard “Times New Roman” font would be replaced.

Anyway, this was fun to do. Even though I claim ownership of these logo ideas, I would gladly give them free of charge to Zondervan / Thomas Nelson / HarperCollins for use.