Author: Richard Parry

How To Fight the Locusts

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I fan emailed me today, asking a simple question: how does one fight off locust swarms? You’ve come to the right place*. Here’s what I said. So, locust swarms: this is tricky, and tbh I’ve given it some thought 😊 There was a terrible movie aways back called something like, Attack of the Killer Bees. In the movie they try all manner of nonsense, like using flamethrowers (effective in bursts, but insufficient against the horde). This got me thinking, how would you deal with it? SCIENCE. Locusts are insects, and insects need to breathe – lots of chemicals solve this problem. Aerosolize some carbaryl or similar agent, and boom, all the locusts die. But wait. That also kills the other insects. Not great. Turns out there’s a vineyard (citation needed) in Italy (citation needed) experimenting with a new system that’s Read More …

Consummate Professionalism

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Rebekah’s hard at work on the cover for Blade of Glass. We have a process, she and I, where I have an idea and then she does what’s best for both of us. She has minted a quick paint of the cover, which is amazing, and no you can’t see it because everything might change. BUT, I thought I could share part of the creative journey. During the exchange, I mocked up this brilliant framing: No one’s more surprised than me that she still takes my calls. Want more? Get on my world-famous email list here.

The Storm Within [REDACTED]

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I finished outlining The Storm Within yesterday. Wait, what? This is the sequel to Blade of Glass, the artist previously known as Prince Boundless. We also have a series name (The Splintered Land), and all three books have titles (which my cover artist will be delighted about, as now she has something to work with). Blade of Glass The Storm Within Three’s Boundless Like the original Blade of Glass outline, all the important parts are missing: Sorry about that. Writing starts … today!

Audio Test – Check One, Check Two…

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Hey y’all. I’m experimenting with audio at the moment. There’s been a few requests for various of my books in audio format. I’d love to do this, but also love to not be bankrupted by the process (audio’s expensive to make!). To that end, I’ve been thinking things like, what if I got a local narrator, or what would happen if I took some acting lessons and tried it myself? One of the big challenges is the New Zealand accent on the untested ear. Most audiobooks I’ve listened to have North American narrators; is this the expected norm? Do people dig our accents from down under, or are we bad to listen to? I’ve put together a quick audio test – have a listen, and give me some feedback on the accent: I’m aware the video’s a bit shit (ancient Read More …

I Wrote an Epic Fantasy 🍾

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You know what this is? The length of the Boundless first draft. Finished it today! It needs a few chunks added, which I’ll finish over the next couple days, then editing (ROUND ONE) begins. But, the story’s code complete. Geneve reached the end, someone died who deserved it, and someone died who didn’t. That’s how these things go. Spoilers: Boundless is a working title. I need to come up with something suitable. Also, to work out where that dragon I misplaced in chapter 25 went… In case you’re curious about length: My Ezeroc Wars books (Tyche’s Flight…) are about 85,000 words long. Night’s Champion (Night’s Favor…) are about 120,000 words. Chromed books (Chromed: Upgrade…) are about 80,000 words. So, this is bigger than any of those. Just sayin’.

The Pursuit of Readers 📚

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I’ve been thinking: how do you find your ideal reader? There’s a lot of advice on this, most of which is using personas. This is an old trick I learned in IT Land™️ Way Back When™️. The idea is you work out who uses your product, and/or who you want to, and design services around those people. If you’re writing a mobile banking app for retirees to check their account balances, you damn Skippy better make sure you take into account their tech familiarity and ability mismatch scenarios, or it’ll crash and burn (…and/or no one will use it). My deep, introspective* thoughts suggests there are two interlinked parts: Who you write for, and Who you market to (or, perhaps, how you market to them). * In the shower last Tuesday. A friend and I talked about the different types Read More …

I survived my vacation 🎉

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Here’s one of my world-famous emails, originally sent June 12, year of our Lord 2019. Get on the list here! The Hawkes Bay had exactly zero zombies. This left me a little disappointed. I mean, you go to a place known for its wine, and you kinda expect a few of the walking dead, but nope: all very civilized. This week: How’d the vacation go? A new release! and An excerpt of said release. If you hate holiday photos, you might want to brace yourself. Let’s dig in. STATUS: VACATION ACCOMPLISHED We stayed in Havelock North, part of NZ’s wine region Bermuda Triangle (the other contributors being Hastins and Napier). Rae and I had a fantastic time – despite it being the depths of winter, we managed to eat and drink our way to heart-disease levels of satisfaction. Here’s a Read More …

Nevernight

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You might remember me gushing about Red Sister. It’s time for me to show you the path to another great grimdark tale: Nevernight, by Jay Kristoff. While Nevernight’s hero is a young woman, that’s where basic framing between the two tales ends. Nevernight’s Mia Corvere hunts murderers: her mission is to avenge the death of her parents. While this seems at first blush a fairly typical narrative arc, what makes Mia’s journey a little different is her dedication. She’s not content to slip a knife in someone’s ribs: Mia joins the Red Church, to follow our Lady of Blessed Murder. It’d be easy for this tale to degrade into a charnel house of body parts at this point, but Kristoff never takes his eyes off the prize. Mia’s not a Terminator-style killer; she didn’t chose this life, but was rather Read More …