Yes, it’s less than two weeks until November 1st when the madness which is NaNoWriMo begins in earnest. My co-Municipal Liaison and I have all our ducks in a row as far as write-ins are concerned. The lounge is up and running with introductory threads and sign-up for the Kick-Off party on October 30th. Four branches of the county library system are working with us to provide write-in spaces and two are holding pre-NaNo plot parties next week. Lots to do on the way to that 50K word count!

So, let me tell you a little about what my novel this year is about.

Most fantasy novels are written in trilogies (or more) these days and I guess mine is no exception. My first story–still unedited and unpublished–takes place on Majere of the two moons, in a time when dragons (called fire drakes) are considered long dead and gone. The main character is a healer-empath who is recruited by a shady character to resurrect a long-dead shape-shifter knight from an extinct order. There are lots of shenanigans, of course, double-crosses, power hungry clerics, mysterious caverns full of unnamed dread–oh, and vampires, werewolves, and merfolk as you’ve not seen them before. The first written story is actually the third in the series and my second written one goes back to the time when the fire drakes invade Majere and how one young woman helps the magical folk of her day to cope with the emergency. She gathers them together and founds the Hex Majestorum, a definite player in the third book.

This year’s book comes chronologically after the first and deals with the founder of that extinct order we learn about in the third book. The hero is a wizard (called majii in the books) but she is more interested in science than her magic and applies to the Covenant, the cutting-edge learning institute of her continent. There, as the fire drakes lay siege to at the western border mountains, she tries to find a way to kill them before they can get past the edges.

Here’s my current summary at the NaNoWriMo site:

The fire drakes are decimating Majere, spreading slowly across the continents, killing majes and commoners alike. In defiance of the Hex Majestorum, Covenant-trained shape-shifter Lucanthea looks for a weapon using the one thing the Hex forbids: science.

In the meantime, the Covenant makes a deal which may save the peoples of Majere–for a price.

So, what do you think? Working title is Rebels of the Hex. I hope I can get an interesting proto-cover for it, too!