It's always a good day when we get to announce the next Pathfinder Tales novel, but today is especially important for me, as today I get to announce the November release of Death's Heretic, the new Pathfinder Tales novel by—well, me!
Death's Heretic is the story of Salim Ghadafar, a desert warrior forced against his will to work as an agent of Pharasma. When a powerful merchant in Thuvia is assassinated on the eve of receiving the sun orchid elixir, an elixir capable of reversing aging, few people are surprised—after all, immortality is a risky business. Yet when the merchant's soul goes missing from Pharasma's Boneyard and a mysterious note offers to ransom the man's spirit back to his family in exchange for the elixir, it's time for the church of the death goddess to step in and find out who would dare steal from the Lady of Graves herself. With his unique skill set, Salim should be perfectly suited to the mission. There's only one problem: The investigation is being financed by the murdered aristocrat's daughter. And she wants to go with him.
Illustration by Lucas Graciano
Along with his uninvited passenger, Salim must unravel a web of intrigue that will lead them far from the blistering sands of Thuvia on a grand tour of the Outer Planes, where devils and angels rub shoulders with fey lords and mechanical men, and nothing is as it seems...
This book has been a long time in coming, and I'm obviously pretty excited to finally be able to talk about it. Yet rather than ramble on the blog (there'll be time for that closer to the release date), I'd like to direct you over to the brand new, all-Pathfinder-Tales episode of the Atomic Array podcast! In addition to talking with me about Death's Heretic and the line as a whole, Ed and Rone also interview Pathfinder Tales authors Dave Gross, Robin D. Laws, and Howard Andrew Jones. It's nearly two-hours of hard-hitting fiction questions and anecdotes regarding Pathfinder Tales, so check it out, and feel free to ask your own questions in the comments thread below!
Last but not least, we've also unveiled the final cover art for Master of Devils and Death's Heretic, painted by Lucas Graciano and Kekai Kotaki, respectively. That's all from the Pathfinder Tales front for now, but stay tuned next week for the beginning of an all-new story from Robin D. Laws as part of our free weekly web fiction!
The box on the side of every package of AA clearly states that listening may cause eardrum rupture, gut bust, or inverted nipples smelling of cardamom and curdled milk. We can't be held responsible for any resulting damages from use.
Great job on the show, Rone & Ed: fun intro, solid interviews! Everyone should drop what they doing, listen to the show, and then at some point in the show SUBSCRIBE! I've read them all and they all get the Mairkurion Seal of Approval. The newest one is another proverbial page-turner: Robin Laws is to be congratulated.
Uh I may end up causing some offence with this post so I apologize in advance but I would much rather have the Golarion day blog than something that seems more in place with the Wednesday blog. It seems odd that they went to the trouble of setting out this schedule and then cutting the Thursday article seemingly every other week. I bring it up since the Golarion day blog is the one I look forward to the most every week.
First time listener to the Atomic Array! Wow, terrific episode. It was fascinating listening to each author describe the background of their stories and I especially found Robin Laws describing his mapping technique for Worldwound Gambit interesting. Also, thanks to James Sutter for describing the process of developing the Tales line of fiction. Now I can't wait for Death's Heretic to come out.
I will definitely be listening to future podcasts all while catching up on what I've missed.
In the future, may we hear more beyond the blog interviews like this?
There are no plans at present for another novel. Every now and then I think about pitching a book about Channa Ti, but Channa was created to carry a novella-length story, and I'm not sure she'd be the best choice for a novel's protagonist. I like Channa--a lot--but if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's the importance of paying attention to intangibles. If you're ambivalent about a story, it's probably not your story to write.
Maybe I just haven't come up with the right story idea for Channa, or the right sidekick character to balance her serious demeanor and dark sense of humor.
If I have a great idea, either for a Channa Ti story or another character/story idea that would fit the setting, I'll run it past the folks at Paizo.
As for the podcast, I didn't join in because I'm sort of technophobic. I hate cameras and the idea of doing audio or video interviews gives me a case of the twitching heebie-jeebies. Given the way promotion is going, this is something I need to address. I'm working on it. Sort of.
As for the podcast, I didn't join in because I'm sort of technophobic. I hate cameras and the idea of doing audio or video interviews gives me a case of the twitching heebie-jeebies. Given the way promotion is going, this is something I need to address. I'm working on it. Sort of.
Well when you're ready, please consider coming on Atomic Array. We'll take good care of you and put you at ease. I promise.