Magebane galleys are here!

Which means I get to spend the next few days re-reading my own book, and hoping the only errors I see are little ones that are easily corrected, and not major “what-was-I-thinking-aargh-it’s-too-late-to-fix-it-now!” ones.

Here’s the title and byline from the title page. I love the little airship logo, which appears at the start of each chapter:

And here’s the inside-front-flap copy, a small excerpt from fairly early on in the book:

CLOSER AND CLOSER DREW THE WALL OF FOG.

Periodically Anton lit the burner to keep them at five thousand feet. Finally the Professor said, “I think it is time to ascend.”

Anton pulled back on the throttle. The flame roared, and the airship began to rise through the cold prairie air.

Five thousand . . . six thousand . . . seven . . . eight . . . up and up they went, and still they could not see over the Anomaly. At nine thousand feet their rate of ascent slowed, and the Professor, frowning again at the rock gas tank, said, “I believe we will release ballast, Anton. If you would open the tank?

“Yes, Professor.” Anton bent down and turned a knob protruding through the floor of the gondola at his feet. The airship lurched, then rose much faster than before.

Ten thousand feet. Eleven thousand. Twelve, and they were slowing again. They were almost to the wall of fog marking the Anomaly, and still it rose above them, an impossible cliff of white, swirling vapor. Was it his imagination, or could he feel the chill from it even through his warm leather flying gear?

The Professor peered up into the fog. “I think we need another two to three thousand feet,” he said, his voice grim but determined. “Release the sandbags, please, Anton.”

The ropes dropped from the side of the gondola, the sandbags slipping off them to plummet toward the prairie below. Suddenly, it felt like a giant had grabbed them and hurled them, spinning, into the sky. The world whirled through Anton’s vision, wall of fog, sunlit prairie, wall of fog, sunlit prairie. The spinning, mercifully, stopped, but hard on its heels came the unmistakable sound of tearing silk. . . .

So, whaddya think? If you read that as a teaser at the front of a book, would you buy it?

Permanent link to this article: https://edwardwillett.com/2011/07/magebane-galleys-are-here/

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