The Jollyfoot’s Journey has been revised, and the revision – of Books One and Two, and of Books Three and Four (a separate volume), and of the Kindle edition of all four books – should be available on Amazon in a day or two. And guess what? The price of the second paperback has been lowered by a dollar! (I did try to lower the price of Books One and Two, but Amazon said I couldn’t.)
I’d call them sci fi, but as they’re a lot more fi than sci, I call them space operas. There’s some cross-over in them, too, with Mere Mortals’ Magic. Who knew that holograms, who need projectors in our space (and even in our future), would be sustained by the electro-magical currents of the Oldeven Core? I certainly didn’t know it until Kester and Makepeace, the aforementioned holorgrams, discovered it themselves in the first book of the Jollyfoot series.
The revisions are mostly cosmetic, so you’re not missing anything except a few typos if you already have your copies. But as I was rereading them myself, I realized that I have to write more about Brinn Rhodry and Lafe Reardon.
On their way back from the Middle Lands (the dimension of Earth in which we live), they need to stop in Oldeven and visit with Lord Jon Weldon and his wife, the princess of Glennore, and their new baby before they head back to their own dimension and time to spend some time with Lafe’s brother Renz and his new family. (I can just about hear the Reardon brothers trying to explain themselves, but I’m not sure I’m ready to hear about their escapades yet. I am prepared to be completely sympathetic with Renz’ wife, though.) And whatever happens there is just the prelude to their longer journey to Alyth, Brinn’s mother’s home planet, where they’re going to do the bonding ceremony that’s been a long time coming.
After that, they’ve hinted that they might be interested in a race for charity – but first, Brinn has to confide in Lafe about the existence of the group she wants to win for, and convince him that the planet where it’s headquartered really does exist. If that’s what they decide to do, well, then, ha! I know something they don’t know: they’ll come in second. The first prize winner is Rozenn Cîela, the Auberplene assassin who until recently was trying to kill Brinn. I hope they enter the race: it’s the only way they’ll find out how Cîela turned the tables on the underground commerce lord who wanted Brinn dead.
But then …. Well, then I have to write at least two more stories about Oldeven. I’ve drafted one, and am “cogitatin’” on another – and then I have to sort out what happened when Merlin (yeah, that Merlin) gets to spend some 21st-century time in the Middle Lands. See, without their knowing it, he tagged along with Brinn and Lafe when they visited the Middle Lands to explore Lafe’s human heritage, and then he couldn’t resist “exploring” the persona Lafe assumed when he and Brinn had to rescue Rozenn Cîela from the “men in black.” I am hopeful of having whisky good enough to get Merlin to tell me more of that story than I can guess.
And that is how what should be a simple revision of a book series turns into five more stories, any of which might turn themselves into whole books. Sláinte!