This was never planned to any great extent. I was thinking late last year about launching my newsletter, and I thought about what I could provide people interested in subscribing to my list. I then decided to write up my notes on a period in Rumithia’s history – The Giant Dynasty – up as an ebook. I set myself a limit of 20k words (I did go slightly over). I published it as an attachment to my newsletter initially. However, I’ve since gone on to publish a revised version on Amazon, you can click the link below to purchase it, or if you are Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can read it for free:
The Giant Dynasty eBook on Kindle
What started out as a labour for strategic purposes soon turned into a labour of love. I wanted to write this. I wanted to open up this world, decide what I wanted to show the reader and what to keep hidden. I certainly had an outline of what I wanted to write, I knew the beginning and the end. I had a good idea of what I wanted to include, but there was so much that I didn’t plan. Characters that were born out in the process of writing, changes that I made to the skeleton outline in my notes. I became immersed in it and wrote pretty much every single day. I finished it in about 6 weeks, and I was delighted with it. I sent it off to a couple of beta readers who really enjoyed it also.
I’ve written three books before, and I know two feelings when the labour is complete – I think this is really good, I’ve passed my own test of standards that I want to meet. I also know what it feels like when you write something that is not ready, something is not right. The feeling I got with The Giant Dynasty was the former – In fact I think it’s some of my best writing.
The Two Versions
The first version of The Giant Dynasty was circulated to my newsletter subscribers, and is still available to read for free to anyone who wants to sign up for the newsletter, which you can do so here:
So, why would you buy The Giant Dynasty as a Kindle when you could get it for free if you sign up to my newsletter? Well, they are not quite the same version. The version that is available to my newsletter subscribers is the original version I published, the one available on Amazon is a slightly different version, with some added details after reviewing it myself and after receiving feedback from beta readers. It includes a few more descriptive details that makes the book more complete and more accurate in conveying what I wanted the reader to envision. However, I would say there is very little between the two versions – there is no additional section or element of the story. If you read one version, you’ll get exactly the same storyline. The two versions are 95% the same.
What’s next?
After publishing this eBook, my focus is very much on getting the Traitor’s Eye ready for publication, hopefully this year 2026, but not definite date set yet.
Having published my first two chapters on my blog previously, I’ve decided to go back and revise the beginning to make some changes to the initial chapters, so once I’ve done that, I will go on another round of beta-readers as well start looking at professional editing and doing everything needed to publish the book.
The Giant Dynasty is a prelude to The Traitor’s Eye, and so Traitor Eye’s really picks up where the Giant Dynasty ends.
