First Preview: Finest Hour

Hi everybody! How's it going?

My next story, A Hero Past the 25th: Finest Hour is now slated to begin on November 6. This brand new web serial of 35 chapters will be released exclusively at Royal Road, picking up on the same page where the previous tale left off. 

The century nears its end, and the remaining time of the world perhaps along with it. 

Adjusting to her heavy responsibilities as the new Empress of Tratovia, Yuliana has one major obstacle to tackle on the way to salvation: the pirate Confederacy that rules the sea. 

In search of allies against the cutthroats, her majesty departs for a state visit to the Principality of Luctretz, which soon brings her at odds with the king of corsairs, Cartognam.

Going down the list of topics to explore in a new fantasy world, you just can't skip this one. So, yeah, it's YARR, SHIVER ME TIMBERS and all that this time. The international "Talk Like a Pirate"-day came and went last week, but we're going to be reefing sails well into next year. 

In all seriousness, I tried to avoid the well-known pirate cliches the best I could and go for a more realistic approach to swashbuckling.

Now, I'm a hopeless landlubber myself, who has barely ever seen the sea from a distance. But I read a lot of books, including Richard Henry Dana Jr's excellent Two Years Before the Mast, which I wholeheartedly recommend to everyone interested in the topic. And Moby Dick, The Treasure Island, the mandatory classics. I also replayed Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag from start to finish, studied sailing ship anatomy, watched relevant movies, and all that, to the point that I tasted sea salt in my mouth and had calluses in my hands for pulling the sheets (ropes not bed sheets). 

The point was not to show off with pointless trivia and drown the reader in a sea of nautical jargon. Just, as mentioned in the previous post, it'd be pretty pathetic to write a book about old-style sailors while being unable to tell spritsail from a jib. It'd be like one of those lame scifi-stories, where the solution to every conceivable problem is, "divert engine power into the main thrusters!"

The bottom line is, once again, that if this were to be the last book I ever write in my life, I could be happy with it and say I did my best.

The title of the story is not so much to say this will be the best part in the series (which it is), but refers to Churchill's legendary speech from 1940. It's in the darkest moments of our history when people rise up to show the best of them, and that's the core theme and message of this book.

Naturally, this means also some dark moments. Yikes.

 As you can tell by the promotional image and the synopsis, we give Izumi a break this time (lol not really) and the central protagonist of this part is our princess-turned-empress.  

Going by the comments posted to the previous stories, I understand Yuliana is somewhat divisive as a character. Some readers have missed her, some can't stand her. So whether this story is a hit or a miss for you, overall, will likely depend on which side of the fence you stand on. 

Honestly, if this part doesn't get me any hate mail, then nothing will.

Of course, if you went in as a hater and came out saying you grew to appreciate the character more, I'd be very, very happy. 

But Yuliana's not the only one in the spotlight. If you've been wanting to know what's happening on the Imperial side of things in general, then I think you're in for a treat. Many familiar faces reprise their roles, and all get their chance to shine.

I've also seen comments saying that if a new chapter is posted every day, then there's no time to comment or discuss it, so we're gonna try a more relaxed posting schedule this time, with only three chapters per week. 

New chapters would be posted on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Wanting to wait longer between chapters is an altogether foreign way of thinking to me, but it will definitely make my job easier and leaves more time for other things. It also means the story will be longer on the recent updates list and maybe bring the work more visibility and new readers. Let's see how it goes!

If you're the type who wants to wait and read the full story in one go, then my condolences!

As usual, my patrons get to see exclusive character profiles, designs, and concept sheets nobody else knows anything about. If there's anything else you'd like to see here, then feel free to let me know. 

Thank you again for your patronage.

But that's all the news for now! I'll keep on polishing the tale all the way till the release date, so that my readers will get to enjoy a ride as good as possible. 

See you again in November!