This post first ran in 2012. Obviously, the second Tyron novel mentioned in it was published the following year.
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 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 long-defunct first publisher. 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 another 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!
But 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.
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. The eBook and the trade paperback are available on Amazon (as is the sequel, The Quest of Tyron).
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.