So October just sort of blew by, and I suddenly realized two things: I had forgotten to blog about the new Fatal Empire novel I had released, and the World of Lasniniar had turned 10! (It seriously doesn’t feel like it’s been that long.) Anyway, here I am with an update on Fatal Empire, plus a deal on the first three novels in the Lasniniar series. Better late than never, right? Continue reading →
I’ve spent a lot of the past few months in the Dharakmeni Empire–a dark realm, filled with deadly intrigue. The core books follow Raziel’s journey as he attempts to navigate treacherous politics and forbidden magic as an assassin apprentice. It was a bit of a challenge to pick up the narrative where I had left off at the end of Keeper of Secrets back in 2012/2013 (even though I always intended to come back to it), so I decided to give a shorter adventure a go and write a prequel story.
Writing a prequel adventure from Raziel’s foster-father’s point of view (Admon) for ‘Keeper of Knowledge‘ was an easy choice. Admon is an established character from Keeper of Secrets, with an implied backstory I enjoyed fleshing out. But what I really wanted to do was try something from Raziel’s mother’s perspective (Moriah), which was quite a bit more intimidating. She doesn’t appear in Keeper of Secrets, and much of her backstory is unknown by the other characters. What little the other characters do know about Moriah is a mystery.
I knew it would be challenging to write a story about her past that revealed more about her, while not giving away too much and spoiling the main books. At this point, Moriah only existed as a character sketch, and in the memories of the other characters. So I started off by throwing her into the deep end to find out what she was made of. Then she dragged me down with her. Continue reading →
Over the past few months, I’ve been picking up the threads of the Fatal Empire fantasy series, which I started waaay back in 2013-ish by publishing the short novel Keeper of Secrets. It’s been ages since I first started writing the series, and it’s taken on a bit of a different shape in my mind since then. But I’ve finally gotten around to it again, with a renewed sense of excitement of where it might go.
Last summer, I put out A Visitor’s Guide to the Dharakmeni Empire, just for my subscribers. This was a short, tongue-in-cheek traveler’s guide to the main setting of the Fatal Empire series, written in the voice of Yarden the Wanderer–the Shining Kingdom’s foremost adventurer and devotee of the Keeper of Wonder. (Yarden also appears in a cameo role in “Legends of Lasniniar: The Wanderer,” just for fun. [Well, for fun, and to introduce him to Lasniniar, where he can have the opportunity to write more guides, lol.])
I recently wrote a second book along the same lines, A Visitor’s Guide to the Shining Kingdom, which will be the setting of a future project in the series. This month, I’ve publicly released both guides for $0.99 each. Paperback formats will also be coming very soon. (There was a weird issue about the apostrophe in the titles that created a holdup with the paperbacks. An apostrophe! I kid you not.)
Since I was putting the Dharakmeni guide out on the market, instead of giving it away to subscribers, I wanted to swap it out with something new I could send to my subscribers instead. This month, I’ve started offering “Keeper of Knowledge” to all new and existing newsletter subscribers–a short story prequel from the Fatal Empire series that explores some of Admon’s backstory and isn’t available anywhere else. (If you’re not a member of my adventure squad newsletter list, it’s totally free to join, and you can unsubscribe any time.)
Another short prequel will be coming out in August, which explores Moriah’s backstory. Keeper of Wonder (Fatal Empire Book 2) is currently in the revisions phase. It’s turned out to be twice as long as Keeper of Secrets, and will likely be coming out in September. On top of all that, the overall look of the series has gotten a bit of a facelift. Here are all the details for both guides and “Keeper of Knowledge”: Continue reading →
Like so many people, this year started off filled with struggles for me. (Let’s just say that seasonal mental health issues, plus insomnia, plus major construction involving jackhammers in our building are not conducive of any kind of productivity—writing or otherwise.)
But now it’s June somehow, because time is still a thing (even though it really doesn’t feel that way since 2020 happened). And despite all the challenges, I’ve actually gotten some writing done, especially since the weather has gotten better, and the jackhammers have been laid to rest. (Yay!)
I got back into the swing of things with a new Legend of Lasniniar—a fun misadventure story featuring Barlo and Iarion, called “The Wanderer,” which takes place after Harbingers (Book 8 in the Lasniniar series):
A hidden obstacle in the tall grass. Between the human zealots, demons, and other dark creatures roaming Lasniniar, Barlo never expected to get taken down by some stupid piece of wood.
But the dwarf and his elf friend Iarion always seem to attract trouble, turning even a simple camping trip into an unexpected adventure.
And the strange staff that tripped him becomes only the first of Barlo’s problems…
A stand-alone misadventure story from the World of Lasniniar epic fantasy series by Jacquelyn Smith.
Buy ebook direct from the author
I’ve also been doing a lot of work on expanding the Fatal Empire series, which really got its hooks in. When I first came up with the idea for this series (waaay back in 2012 or something), I envisioned it as a set of four short novels. In 2013, I published the first one, Keeper of Secrets. The voice and tone are quite a bit different from my Lasniniar series, and a bit more of a challenge to write.
After putting out Keeper of Secrets, I promptly went back to writing Lasniniar, telling myself that writing the rest of the quartet was Future Jacqui’s problem—which I was confident she would get around to working on… eventually. Continue reading →
