I went on a short story writing binge in December. I published six short stories earlier this year, most of them in SFWA pro magazines. Currently, I have three more stories pending publication. I hope the ones I'm writing now can find a good home in 2013. I hadn't written any new short stories for a while, because I spent most of my time working on two novels: Rogue Knight and Tunnel at the End of the Dark.
Most of my finished novels have been for young adults. I would not be uncomfortable with thirteen-year-olds reading any of these novels. If they were movies their ratings would likely be PG with just a suggestion of the low-end of PG13. Even the curses tend to be mild and suitable for tender ears. Sometimes the subject matter is more mature, but probably not as explicit as an after 7:00 TV show.
On the other hand, my novel-in-progress, Rogue Knight, is at the upper end of young adult. If it were a movie, I would rate it a solid PG13, with tendencies towards an R. The shift up is due to several factors: violence, language, and sexuality.
The violence should be expected. The novel begins in 816 AD, a few years after the death of Charlemagne. This is the beginning of the decline of the Carolingean Empire. People argue over myth versus substance in the Arthurian Legends, but history makes clear that Charles the Great (and his grandfather, Charles Martel) established an extensive empire that saved Christian Europe from Saracen invasion and promoted Christianity in the northern parts of Europe. Naturally, the "Vikings" pushed back in Northern Europe and in the British Islands where Charles had influence but was not in charge.
The main character in Rogue Knight is Roger (Some believe that the word rogue is a variation of Roger). Captured as a child on the English coast by Danes and sold into slavery, he is raised by one of Charlemagne's knights to become a warrior. After Charlemagne's death, the Empire declines under the poor decisions of his son, Louis the Pious. One of those decisions, puts Roger in a battle that leaves him shipwrecked and injured in Northumbria in the British Isles. Disillusioned by Louis and other liege lairds, Roger pledges allegiance to himself and swears never to serve another king. However, an encounter with an old "wizard" and his Saracen friend who have traveled to the far east and studied a discipline they call science redirects Roger's ambitions.
The language is not coarse with the usual profanity found in modern stories. Instead, I've tried to use explicit words that were likely used in the ninth century. However, the context makes clear the bodily parts and functions referenced. The sex scenes in the second chapter use these archaic terms to describe the action, but I have no doubt that the most casual reader will understand the terminology.
Rogue Knight does not paint the Middle Ages as a time of filth and ignorance. This is a dark time following the fall of the Roman Empire, and Europe struggled to find a form of government to replace the solid structure of Roman law. The Carolingean Empire expanded the development of feudalism which ultimately flourished in the ninth through fifteenth centuries in Europe. Although Charlemagne promoted scholarship, the lack of an established bureaucracy made it difficult to make and keep detailed records, and so the age was dark because we have little written history to understand it. Understandably, old knowledge and technology was lost as the years passed. However, many in the Middle Ages enjoyed some Roman traditions such as public baths.
I intend Rogue Knight to be a book for adults, blending adventure in the dawn of chivalry into a strange mix of scientific wizardry based on knowledge available before the darkness of the Middle Ages.
I am about 20,000 words into Rogue Knight which I project to be 100,000 words long. In my next blog, I'll discuss Tunnel at the End of the Dark, the young adult sequel to The Princess, the Knight, & the Knave. If I stay on schedule, Tunnel should be available in February 2013.
Most of my finished novels have been for young adults. I would not be uncomfortable with thirteen-year-olds reading any of these novels. If they were movies their ratings would likely be PG with just a suggestion of the low-end of PG13. Even the curses tend to be mild and suitable for tender ears. Sometimes the subject matter is more mature, but probably not as explicit as an after 7:00 TV show.
On the other hand, my novel-in-progress, Rogue Knight, is at the upper end of young adult. If it were a movie, I would rate it a solid PG13, with tendencies towards an R. The shift up is due to several factors: violence, language, and sexuality.
The violence should be expected. The novel begins in 816 AD, a few years after the death of Charlemagne. This is the beginning of the decline of the Carolingean Empire. People argue over myth versus substance in the Arthurian Legends, but history makes clear that Charles the Great (and his grandfather, Charles Martel) established an extensive empire that saved Christian Europe from Saracen invasion and promoted Christianity in the northern parts of Europe. Naturally, the "Vikings" pushed back in Northern Europe and in the British Islands where Charles had influence but was not in charge.
The main character in Rogue Knight is Roger (Some believe that the word rogue is a variation of Roger). Captured as a child on the English coast by Danes and sold into slavery, he is raised by one of Charlemagne's knights to become a warrior. After Charlemagne's death, the Empire declines under the poor decisions of his son, Louis the Pious. One of those decisions, puts Roger in a battle that leaves him shipwrecked and injured in Northumbria in the British Isles. Disillusioned by Louis and other liege lairds, Roger pledges allegiance to himself and swears never to serve another king. However, an encounter with an old "wizard" and his Saracen friend who have traveled to the far east and studied a discipline they call science redirects Roger's ambitions.
The language is not coarse with the usual profanity found in modern stories. Instead, I've tried to use explicit words that were likely used in the ninth century. However, the context makes clear the bodily parts and functions referenced. The sex scenes in the second chapter use these archaic terms to describe the action, but I have no doubt that the most casual reader will understand the terminology.
Rogue Knight does not paint the Middle Ages as a time of filth and ignorance. This is a dark time following the fall of the Roman Empire, and Europe struggled to find a form of government to replace the solid structure of Roman law. The Carolingean Empire expanded the development of feudalism which ultimately flourished in the ninth through fifteenth centuries in Europe. Although Charlemagne promoted scholarship, the lack of an established bureaucracy made it difficult to make and keep detailed records, and so the age was dark because we have little written history to understand it. Understandably, old knowledge and technology was lost as the years passed. However, many in the Middle Ages enjoyed some Roman traditions such as public baths.
I intend Rogue Knight to be a book for adults, blending adventure in the dawn of chivalry into a strange mix of scientific wizardry based on knowledge available before the darkness of the Middle Ages.
I am about 20,000 words into Rogue Knight which I project to be 100,000 words long. In my next blog, I'll discuss Tunnel at the End of the Dark, the young adult sequel to The Princess, the Knight, & the Knave. If I stay on schedule, Tunnel should be available in February 2013.
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