Adam Stemple.com - Steward of Song

Steward of Song was very challenging to write. Though it is a sequel to Singer of Souls, it is a very different book. It has two viewpoint characters instead of one, and represents my first full-length foray into the third-person limited point of view. Additionally, I suffered a bit from the "sophomore curse" in writing a second book, and the death of my father in March of 2006 rendered me incapable of writing for 6-8 months.

As of this writing, I have turned in the first draft. but not yet heard back from my editor at Tor, the very capable, but not overly speedy, Patrick Nielsen-Hayden.

One of the fun things about this book for me was the experimentation I was able to do. Every two chapters I threw in little 800 to 1k interludes from many of the side characters viewpoints. As some of the side characters were faeries, witches, vampires, native spirits, and more, I got to play with a lot of different writing styles. And since the sections were short, I could get pretty far outside if I wanted. Hopefully, they've worked and serve to enhance the main storylines rather than detract from the flow. We'll see.

I have gone over the copyedit of and sent it in. I'm always excited as things roll toward actual publication. The wee germ of an idea I had a year or two ago is going to be an honest-to-god book! Again! It still amazes me when it happens, and I hope that it still will many years from now. Seeing as how my mother seems as amazed that she wrote and got published book number two-hundred and eighty(or whatever she's up to) as she was with book number one, ten, or twenty, I assume I will continue to be joyful and astonished.

Got the advance proofs and everything looks good to go. Release date is March of 08.

Readers have left 3 comments.

1. Greatest Comment Ever
Kat, Registered

Mr. Stemple, Amazon has the wrong cover for this book. I'd like to add it to my website, so I'll look around your website for the correct cover.
~Kat
www.FantasyLiterature.net

Posted 2007-12-11 01:22:40

2. Steward of Song
jere mullen, Registered

I seen your new book in the library and noticed it was a sequel, they sent off and got Singer of Souls for me and I just finished both. Awesome! I liked the way both were written differently. You've done a great job and I would love to see another with Scott & Fletcher's story. I am a book nut and I am ordering them both off Amazon. Great stories need to be kept, shared and talked about. Again, Great job.
Jere

Posted 2008-06-26 15:29:54

3. Thank you for this
Mark Shawley, Registered

Adam,
I wrote before that my sons and I enjoyed Singer and it's gritty reality. I bought the sequel and gave it to my son Phil. Since he is in Oregon, it took awhile, but he brought it back.
His first words in the door, after a 5 month absence, were "Read Steward, and we will have something to discuss for the rest of our lives".
Taking up the gauntlet, I read it while I was stranded in Seattle airport [smiley=angry]

. I am as entranced with this as I was with Singer. Phil and I have already talked for at least 12 hours about it.

Thank you again for giving us works that can enthrall our jaded youth!

Posted 2009-01-06 20:47:46