Goodbye 2013 and A Look Ahead at 2014

2013 was a big year for me writing wise.  First, it was my most productive year in awhile at 180k words written and second, and even more importantly, I went from a nobody with only a handful of fans to at least a Double AA Writer with a few thousand fans.

Even, even more importantly:  I think I released my best novel to date in FM3.

It was a great, if hard fought year.  I feel like I'm on the cusp of breaking through into a more recognized status as a "real" author and not one struggling away on the fringes.  It helps that you Foul Mouths continue to be awesome with the honest reviews and the emails of encouragement and the blackmailing of family and friends into reading the series.  I sold 200ish short stories this month, that's crazy!  And people keep comparing me to Jim Butcher, that's even more crazy!

So, where are we heading next?

2014 is going to be a HUGE year.  Two novels at least, maybe three.  FM4 and "Rockets" are a sure thing.  Both books have 12 chapters finished at the moment, FM4 needs 9 more and "Rockets" needs 7 more.

For those not aware, FM4 is fully called "The Foul and the Headless Hunny" and as the name suggests, it's an Annie B focused novel.  It's also a vampire focused novel.  I'm pretty proud of how it's going so far, especially the continued disgustification of vampires from as far from sparkly goodie-goodies as I can get them.  The "school" timeline is also really fun, following Ceinwyn and King Henry on a recruiting road trip.  Hi-jinks ensue...

"Rockets" is a very different beast than the King Henry novels.  First of all, it's not character based, it's plot based.  It's basically me fucking with you and yanking your expectations back and forth for 300 pages.  Hope you guys enjoy it when it comes out, I'll probably post an unveiling of the title, the cover, and it's blurb in a few months leading up to the releases soon incoming.

The other possible novels that might make it into the year are FM5 (tentatively called The Foul Mouth and the Mancy Martial Artist) and Gush.  If I have a really good writing year either of these books could slip in by December, if not then 2015 will have another double release at the beginning of the year.

Woe is you, the fan base, might only get 2 novels this year.

Also, I'm finally, kinda, half-assedly looking into creating Print On Demand versions of the Foul Mouth books through Amazon Createspace.

Big year incoming!  Wish me luck!  Back to writing!

Barnes and Noble, iTunes Novella Links

Well, that took awhile...

iTunes

Second Take by Richard Raley

Griefing by Richard Raley

Barnes and Noble

Second Take by Richard Raley

Griefing by Richard Raley

"Griefing" Novella Released

The beta readers finished early.  So, thanks to the glory that is Digital Publishing, here's "Griefing" a week earlier than I intended.  This is the first "short" (not so short this time at 20 thousand words) to completely be in King Henry's POV.  While not in the "Tape" format, it still has plenty of his character, I assure you.

I do mention it in an author's note but I'll also mention it here, that this story takes place during the School Timeline after FM3, so make sure you're all caught up if you don't want spoiled.  Also it takes place immediately after Session 6 in FM1, so if you want to refresh the mind on the situation, go reread that one.

Finally, let me say this:  if you are going to read one of the King Henry Shorts and only one of the King Henry Shorts, then read this one.

Cover:

Blurbage:

King Henry Price has just endured a horrible loss in his life. He returns to the Asylum adrift, unsure how to process the situation. But one thing is a constant: he's the Foul Mouth, he won't be grieving, he'll be GRIEFING, and it will be up to Ultra Class '09 to bear the brunt of the onslaught.

Linkage:

Griefing by Richard Raley at Amazon Kindle
Griefing by Richard Raley at Smashwords








As usual, the Smashwords process can take a few weeks to get the files out to Apple and Barnes and Noble, so I'll have those links when they're available.  Along with the Second Take links...which are taking forever...

"Second Take" Welf POV Novelette Released

Hey King Henry fans, I finally did it and got around to writing the long mentioned Welf POV story.  It comes in at about 14k words (or about 2 or 3 chapters worth of writing).  I'm pretty happy with it, it's got a few really good jokes and writing from a POV outside of King Henry is always a nice mirror to the experience.

Hope you guys/gals enjoy it and have a wonderful Thanksgiving...perhaps saving the story until after Thanksgiving dinner for use as a survival tool might not be a bad idea.  Especially if they throw you on Kiddy Table Orderkeeper Duty.

Cover:

Blurbage:

Most would say that for a fifteen-year-old just starting his second year at the Institution of Elements, Heinrich von Welf has the perfect life. First in his year, from a wealthy and influential family, his future prospects in career and in the heart are unmatched.

But he made one rather large mistake in his life: he made King Henry Price his rival. When Heinrich's younger sister Victoria joins him at school as a new student, King Henry is ready and waiting to make Heinrich's life one of constant terror about what the Foul Mouth is planning next.

Linkage:

Second Take by Richard Raley on Amazon Kindle
Second Take by Richard Raley on Smashwords

As always the Smashwords distribution process takes 1-2 weeks to get all the files out to Barnes and Noble and iTunes, so I'll have those links for you later.

Pre Holidays Update

We're heading in to the bestest, most awesomest time of the year and I thought I would update you lot since my last bit a few weeks ago was a wee dramatic about how the series would be changing.

So far, so good with the change.  I've already caught up with my word total from before I made the cut and have 10 and 1/2 FM4 chapters finished, which means we're exactly at 50% in the first draft.  Once again I must say I'm insanely positive about this book, in a way I'm usually never positive about books when I'm halfway through with them (usually there's rending of garments and smashing of heads against desks and walls and whatever flat surface is at hand).  Finally being able to take all the vampire inner workings from concept and placing it into a story has been very enjoyable and now that I'm working on the New New School Story with some non-filler Ceinwyn Dale focused goodness...well...you'll see.

I am a horrible tease, yes I am.

If you pay any attention to the status bar area of the blog you'll noticed that both KH Short 4 and KH Short 5 have disappeared, that's because they're mostly finished and will be sent off the betas next week.  "Second Take" the long planned Heinrich von Welf POV novella will be published some time before Thanksgiving, while "Griefing" will come out in December.

Writing as Welf was a nice change of pace, especially since he's the hero and King Henry is the villain as far as Heinrich is concerned.  It's also a proper introduction for his sister Victoria, who was briefly mentioned in FM3 but not fleshed out.  As for "Griefing", I think removing the weight of being a 8 chapter story across from what's coming in FM4 really improved it and let it be a solid 4 chapterish sized novella.

I'm currently working on "Rockets" since writing King Henry has the very bad effect of making me talk like King Henry and I actually have to have a full blown extended family Thanksgiving this year and I don't want to teach my littlest cousins new words.  So we'll stick with human on steampunk robot violence instead for the next couple weeks.

Again checking the status bar you'll notice I've put up a new work called "Gush" and listed it as a Fantasy Young Adult novel.  It's VERY much a Fantasy novel with required "cool" magic system and it is a Coming of Age novel with a 17 year old girl as the main character but it will be a Richard Raley written YA novel, so...make of that what you will.  I won't get very serious on it until after "Rockets" and FM4 are both well into editing so don't get too freaked out, please.

Anything else?  I'm writing REALLY well...33k already this month, so yeah.  If I can keep this up you guys will have lots of books from me in your future.