I’ve written about this being my third writing career, with a gap of about seventeen years since my second writing career until starting up again in 2011. One constant, as I’ve come to realize throughout a span of over three decades, is that the majority of publishers, both large and small, offer little support to their writers. Unless you’re an A-lister such as Dean Koontz, Patricia Cornwell, or James Patterson, you can expect to be relegated to what they call the midlist and do nearly all of the marketing and promotion yourself. Over the last couple of years I’ve heard many horror stories from disgruntled writers who, at one time, were overjoyed to see their first novels published. Thank the Great Spirit for self-publishing, which is giving many new and talented writers a chance at success.
Which leads me to this story about my first publisher, the long-defunct Manor Books. Back in 1978 they published my sword & planet novel, The Prisoner of Reglathium, the first of what would become a five-book series. Wow, five contracts, and five advances! Then they agreed to publish a sword & sorcery novel, Berbora, and its sequel, Flight from Berbora. Wow, two more contracts, and two more advances! (Okay, I had to hire a lawyer to see them make good on the advances, but that’s only part of the story.)
I didn’t know it going in, but this was the same publisher that once published part of a novel with the type inside out—you had to read it in a mirror. With another book—a mystery, no less—they left out the last four pages. Okay, I’ll admit that, even had I known this, I likely would’ve overlooked it, because—hey, I was getting published!
By the time Berbora was published, I’d had it with the publisher. They did no editorial work and did not send authors any galleys to proof, so the five sword & planet novels were published with countless typos. (I’m sure the poor author of the inside-out book would’ve caught that error, given the chance.) With Berbora they outdid themselves, to the extent that I did not even open a copy of the book for over thirty years—until early 2012. Why now? As some of you know, I’ve been revising many of my old titles and publishing them under my own imprint, Atoris Press. Still, I hedged at even looking at this one, remembering the past. But finally, I did. My first impression: I didn’t remember the story AT ALL. It felt like I was reading a novel by a stranger. Second, the typos were too numerous to count; at least one or two in every paragraph. Third, my writing sucked. I’d only begun writing novels in earnest a year earlier back then, and I had a lot to learn. Fourth, the cover had been ripped off from the work of a famous artist. (See my post, A Frazetta Cover? For Me?)
And fifth, despite all of its issues—BERBORA WAS A DAMN GOOD STORY.
This is the cover for Flight from Berbora. What’s missing?
So a few months ago I undertook the most grueling do-over of my third writing career. What once was called Berbora is now titled, The Sword of Tyron. What once sucked, now shines—or so I hope. You be the judge. I just put the eBook live on Kindle, as well as the trade paperback on Amazon.
The sword & sorcery story is in the vein of Conan the Barbarian. A quick synopsis: Tyron, a young mountain man in ancient times, hears stories of a once powerful and splendid city-state called Berbora, which inexplicably crumbled a thousand years earlier following a deadly plague. Obsessed with seeing the ruins, Tyron undertakes an arduous journey to the site of Berbora. There, he meets an old magician named Zathras. As Zathras leads him amid the rubble, Tyron wonders why he feels that his destiny seems inexplicably linked to Berbora. Zathras tells him, “Your destiny was—is—linked to Berbora, for it will be your actions, your deeds that will determine whether Berbora remains here to molder in the dust or whether its 
splendor is to be restored. It will be you, Tyron, who will see to it that the Great Plague is prevented so that Vhalin can carry out his design and restore Berbora to the greatness it enjoyed under Tahresk and his descendants!”
Yep, that’s the plan. Utilizing the mysterious Stone of Vorhashekkh (you wouldn’t believe how many times that was misspelled in the old version), Zathras will send Tyron back to Berbora of the past. This is where most of the story’s action takes place.
I won’t tell you any more than that. If you read The Sword of Tyron, enjoy—and let me know if you think the do-over worked.
Inspiring! If you can go from sucking to shining in your writing, hopefully we can, too.
I’m sure you can. This one took me forever, but it was worth it–I hope. 🙂
While I have absolutely no doubt that you’re representing the situation accurately, I’m having a hard time reconciling it with anything resembling logic. The promotion issue is one thing, because it would cost them money. (I guess they never heard the axiom, “You have to spend money to make money.”)
But publishers are in the business to make money, at least for themselves, right? So, how does taking a good thing (the story) and shoving it into a shoddy package (a crappy typesetting job) help them do that? Why bother? They just threw away their original investment. It would seem that somebody is operating on a less than optimum number of brain cells.
You said, “If you read The Sword of Tyron, enjoy—and let me know if you think the do-over worked.” Well…
It’s actually possible to fulfill your request, as copies of “Berbora” are still out there and one of them is on its way to my place. I already have the Kindle version of “The Sword of Tyron”. Putting the shoe on the other foot is going to be fun, for a change.
You found a copy of Berbora?! Yikes! Does “the difference between night and day” resonate? I look forward to your thoughts…and thanks for subjecting youself to the old version.
Does “the difference between night and day” resonate? You know very well that it does!
You’ve seen loads of my dirty laundry, so to speak. It’s only fair that I get a peek at yours now.
All in good fun, of course. 🙂
Dear Mike
I read Berbora 1 & 2 in my youth about 20 to 25 years ago, and I think I still have them in a box in my loft.
I thought they were imaginative and engaging at the time, and have intermittently spent the last quarter of a century trying to find a copy of the 3rd book in the trilogy.
The creativity rather than the typos is what I always remembered about these 2 books.
I look forward to reading the make-over, and will also be buying it for a friend I lent the books to a generation ago.
Thanks to you and to the internet for finally resolving my own personal and painfully drawn out quest…
Alex (UK)
Wow, thanks for the kind words, Alex. Sorry about your fruitless quest for Book Three. It never happened, as by that time I’d figured my publisher out and never wrote it. I’ll be putting the second Berbora book out within the next six months or so, and I’m also rewriting many of my older novels. And who knows? Maybe there will be a third Berbora book someday…
I’m just happy to find out you weren’t run over by a bus or something.
Glad to hear there might be a book 3, there’s still the last evil of hope left in the jar then… just don’t make me wait another 25 years please!
Naah, I’ve gotten run over by a few things in the past, but the bus missed me. 🙂
You’ll be among the first to know if Tyron’s adventures continue. Thanks again.
Just tonight, I pulled out my dusty, 35-year-old copies to re-read them. Alex isn’t the only one who kept looking for the potential third every few years, and my re-read reminded me to look again. This time, my search found your update here, and I’m so glad to see it! Thank you ever so much for not letting this story linger in the wastepile of defunct publishers.
You’re welcome, Michael. And thanks for remembering some of my dusty old books. 🙂
I’ve just finished reading both versions simultaneously, which was an educational experience. My first response is that it appears we are all our own worst critics. The original isn’t nearly as bad as you made it seem. As Alex said, I found the story engaging and absolutely worth the effort to update it. I’m definitely looking forward to book two and sorry to hear that book three never happened.
The biggest change I saw is a skill you have been working to instill in me: stopping once you’ve gotten your point across. As one would expect after all these years, you have a more graceful command of language and sentence structure. Fewer adverbs and dialog tags are also the evidence of a more professional sensibility. But none of that stood in the way of the storytelling.
It was interesting to see the passages where you changed more than just the choice of words, but there weren’t that many of them. By that, I assume you agree that the story itself stood the test of time.
I hope others give Tyron’s adventures the opportunity to entertain them as much as they entertained me!
Thanks for doing that. Be assured that Tyron will ride again for at least one more book.