It may sounds daft, but I’m celebrating the first paperback sale at a craft fair of Chronicles of Marsh.
I generally assumed that most people would start at the first one, the fourth at a pinch, and then… well some may be continuing to work their way through, and some have probably switched to ebooks, since they are cheaper and readily obtained. But I have reread all the books in the last year, doing my best to imagine coming to them with no prior experience. I concluded that if you are happy with jumping into a series in the middle, you can start with any of them.
At Lymington of Saturday, I had several conversations about the series, taking my potential buyers from start to finish in about ten breaths. I did that in Lyndhurst too, a couple of weeks earlier, but the only ‘odd purchase’ was when I realised that buying books 1,2,3,4,and 6 was a more logical choice of five from the series (five attracts a discount) than including book 5 (Talent Seekers). The 1234-6 group cover most of the key Hugo/Mariusz elements. There’s a small matter of book 10 to finish his involvement, but he’s the main link for those books. (Well 123 is the trilogy, which is its own link).
So what would make someone start with book 9? It was an older person, who liked the idea of seeing the timeline through Fred’s eyes, as part of the introduction to his reign. Of course, it maps the downward spiral of contentment in the Realms against the uptick of technology. I’ve wondered whether the two are necessarily connected, or whether it’s just one of those things. Do people just aspire to new technology, whatever the cost to their happiness? Anyway, I think it will probably work, and if he wants to go back and see ‘how it unfolded’ he can do so.
I suppose it’s a bit like seeing the third Lord of the Rings film without seeing the first two.
I’m sure he’ll enjoy it, and that’s the main thing.
But I’m really happy to have sold a copy of Book 9 at a fair in person. The only one still to be treated to that honour is The Princelings of the North, book 8. I have hopes that one of the younger readers might jump straight in there after Messenger Misadventures! Time will tell.
In Book 6: Bravo Victor, our simple bartender (Victor) has grown up and is trying to make his way as a business guru. He encounters a shady traveller selling a banned drink, and seeks advice from King Fred at Castle Marsh. Victor is sent on a mission to aid the mysterious Sundance and his beautiful accomplice, and to find Fred’s brother, George, overdue after a visit to a flying festival in the Rhinelands. Victor tells how he uncovers a tangled web of lies and deceit, and an old friend from the past, or is it his future?