Dear readers,
The fourth draft of Wealthgiver is finally ready.
<ahem><back of the book voice>
Andrei Trifonovich Voropayevski, until recently Military Medic 3rd Rank in the Tsar’s army, wants to stay alive so he can save the lives of others. Throughout the whole Russo-Turkish war, he managed to do both. His court-martial came through only after the peace treaty was signed.
Escaping across the Rhodope Mountains in what might now be Bulgaria, Greece, the Ottoman Empire, or some other state altogether, Andrei spends the night on the wrong hillside and gets himself kidnapped by a cave-dwelling cult.
They call themselves the Good. For more than a thousand years they have hidden, killing all who so much as hear their secret language, worshiping the Host of Many, the Unseen, the grim god they name Wealthgiver.
Now, as the new borders of southeastern Europe are being re-drawn, their prophetess sees her people’s need to establish themselves as a nation. Her high priest agrees. Too eagerly. He sees opportunity in the aftermath of war, and nurtures schemes of conquest and empire.
Andrei was a doctor, but now he must pretend to be a god. Otherwise, his death will be only the first of many.
Wealthgiver is an alternate history romance with Balkan geo-politics and cave-Thracians.
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Some of you might have read earlier drafts, but this is the first one that should work as a novel. It has a beginning, middle, and end, a cast of characters with personalities and problems, and no enormous holes in either…probably.
It is my hope that you will help me find those holes. Tell me where things are missing, where things are too much, and what to change. When we push against each other, who knows where we’ll end up?
So you know what you’re getting into: Wealthgiver is about 90K words long – that’s a normal-sized novel. I’m going to let this draft rest until January 2023, so you have 6 months to read it in.
What do you think? Are you up for it? If you want to read Wealthgiver, tell me and I’ll send it to you in the format of your choice.
My thanks in advance,
Dan