Hi, everybody. I’m Martha Wells, and my first novel was The Element of Fire, published back in 1993, and I’ve had nine novels published so far, as well as some short stories and a couple of non-fiction articles. My most well known book is probably The Death of the Necromancer, which got a Nebula nomination.
My new book is The Cloud Roads, and it will be released by Night Shade in March of this year. It’s been five years since my last published fantasy novel, three years since my last published book. I feel like I’ve been away a lot longer than that.
In 2006, even though I had two novels coming out (the paperback edition of The Gate of Gods, and my first Stargate: Atlantis novel Reliquary), three short stories, a non-fiction article, and a reprint I did myself of my first novel which had gone out of print, I was told that my career was pretty much over except for the death throes.
I gave up writing a prequel to the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy because my then-agent didn’t think there was any hope of it selling. (Parts of it have since been published in the wonderful Black Gate Magazine). I published another Stargate: Atlantis novel in 2007 — both media tie-ins were labors of love, and gave me a creative break from fantasy, but didn’t get as wide an audience as they could have due to distribution problems. And that year I started writing about five other novels that all died on the vine. Then one of the dead novels was resurrected as The Cloud Roads.
It was different from pretty much everything else I’d written. It was a fantasy, but wasn’t based on any historical time period, or even a combination of historical time periods. It went back to when I first started reading fantasy and SF in elementary school, the old Ace and DAW fantasies with the pulp covers tucked away in a corner of the Fort Worth Public Library. It was set in a world with multiple races and species and a bizarre ecosystem. There was gender role reversal, and characters who were non-human shapeshifters, and could fly, and looked mostly like demons and sort of like dragons, and there was a little bit of sex and an unusual romance. I thought it would be hot property. Wow, not so much.
I left my then-agent while I was writing the book, because we had been growing apart for years and I thought it was time for both of us to move on. I spent seven months looking for a new agent, and had one agency turn me down because they were “only interested in seeing submissions from established authors.” (I still don’t know if I just wasn’t established enough for them or they had never heard of me and assumed I was lying about the nine published novels and the Nebula nomination.) That was pretty depressing. Then my friend Rachel Caine consoled me and recommended a couple of agents to query. One of them was Jennifer Jackson. She knew I was really a published writer, and more importantly, she really liked the book!
I finished writing The Cloud Roads early in 2008 and it went out for submission that summer. And nobody wanted it. Time crawled on, and I wrote a sequel, The Serpent Sea, because I loved the world and the characters too much to give up on them. I also wrote a YA fantasy, set in a sort of steampunkish created world, with a non-white female protagonist who does not fall in love with a vampire or a werewolf. (Yeah, it hasn’t sold yet.) And I thought about what I was going to do with my life if this was it. I knew of writers who had career crashes that lasted much longer than three years or even five years, and my income from writing had slowed to a trickle, and my husband had been laid off. Then he found another job, so I gave it a bit more time.
Then in the summer of 2010, the impossible happened, and Night Shade bought both The Cloud Roads and The Serpent Sea. I think I was less excited when my first novel sold. I got off the phone with my agent and cried a little from pure relief.
So that’s the story of my new book. I’m still really excited about it, and I’m glad I wrote it, and I can’t wait for other people to read it.
You can find out more about my other books and The Cloud Roads over at www.marthawells.com and my regular blog is at http://marthawells.livejournal.com/.
Bill Crider on January 9, 2011
I’m looking forward to reading both of them.
Martha on January 9, 2011
Thanks, Bill!
David Watson on January 9, 2011
Martha: You write wonderful stories. Don’t ever stop! If need be, we’ll pass the hat around. Iolo
Stuart on January 9, 2011
I’ve been watching your blog and hoping quietly.
I read City of Bones, oh, seven or eight years back, and quickly worked my way through the rest of what’s available. I’m sure it’s much worse when you’re the creator of a work that just won’t sell, but it’s also modestly torturous to be a fan, know that a favourite author has other work written, and know that you might never have the chance to read it.
I look forward to the new books. (Well, new to your broader audience, anyway)
Joe on January 9, 2011
Also looking forward to both of them. And I’d pay cash money for a steampunkish YA fantasy sans sparkly vampire romance.
Kater Cheek on January 9, 2011
Thanks for sharing this. I get frustrated shopping around novels that don’t get picked up, so to know that even MARTHA WELLS has this problem sometimes makes me feel not so alone.
I love your work. I’m glad to hear about The Cloud Roads, and I look forward to reading it.
Edith on January 9, 2011
I’ll read anything you write and buy all your books in hardback. I get pb’s to share the love. I *loved* your Ile-Rien trilogy and grieve over the unwritten prequel. I subscribed to Black Gate just to get those stories.
I’m so excited that your books sold and have preordered the first. Can’t wait!
Martha on January 9, 2011
Thanks very much, Iolo, Joe, and Stuart and Edith, thanks for hanging in there and waiting.
Thanks, Kater. I wanted to talk about it because hearing about other writers who have the same or similar problems in the last few years really helped me hang in there.
Jessica Reisman on January 9, 2011
Very much looking forward to having my copy of The Cloud Roads in hand.
kat on January 9, 2011
There was a prequel to Ill-Rien? That now won’t get written? Excuse me, I need to go scream in frustration somewhere (yes, I have the Black Gate issues, but it’s not nearly enough!)
Good luck with Cloud Roads. I for one will be buying it as soon as it comes out, and pimping it to everyone I know — for the purely selfish reason that there need to be more Martha Wells books in my future.
J. Kathleen Cheney on January 9, 2011
I’m waiting for the novel with great anticipation ;o)
Martha on January 9, 2011
Thanks, Jessica and Kathleen, and thanks very much, Kat. I appreciate the pimping a lot!
Courtney on January 10, 2011
I’ve always been bummed there aren’t any more stories with Khat from City of Bones – that book’s probably my favorite, though it’s hard to say since I’ve loved all your books! I am delighted beyond all reason that I’ll have a new Martha Wells book to read come March – even if Night Shade hadn’t bought my series, I’d still love them forever for buying yours.
Martha on January 11, 2011
Thanks, Courtney!
happy release day | Et in arcaedia, ego. on July 10, 2011
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