Tales of Vatan – JC Eberdt

It does not matter…

jceberdt — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 07:06:01 +0000

…how slow you go, as long as you do not stop.

Attributed to Confucius. No idea if he actually said it, but it encapsulates things reasonably well.

I’m busy editing Dropship Down which is taking longer as real life work gets in the way. I’ve also made a little progress expanding the section of The Value of Nobility (Alagariel II) that I wasn’t completely happy with yet. I still have the ambition to get both books out this year and I’ve asked Daria to start thinking about the cover for Alagariel II.

Sales are still slow. There’s the occasional sale around the world, but it’s obviously nothing like what I want to see. I’m discovering that it’s essentially required to have some sort of visual media for a post to catch on and when you’re a writer that’s not something you have a huge supply of. Daria makes me some artwork to use alongside posts, but she deserves to be paid for her work and is doing art school and all, which puts a limit on that. AI is widely reviled, often beyond reason, and it seems many are more than happy to spew hate on any AI use, so I’m a little reticent there, even though it could add some atmosphere in those few cases when what is generated actually aligns with my vision.

What remains is making more of my own artwork, but I’m not much good and things would be more like technical drawings. For the sci-fi setting that’s fine, but it doesn’t work that well for the Tales of Vatan setting.

In any case, I will soft-launch Dropship Down on itch.io very soon now. That release will be updated as I do more editing, but in the unlikely event that there’s someone who can’t wait to get there hands on my first sci-fi book, stay tuned.

A Droopy in trouble (Cover Dropship Down)

Infinology

jceberdt — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 10:15:26 +0000

I’ve wondered sometimes whether I should be limiting my stories to a set number of volumes. Conventional publishing wisdom seems to hold that this is the ‘best practice’. However, when I think of some highly successful series, such as the Wheel of Time, the author has not limited themselves in any such way. Obviously I’ve chosen this as my example, probably because I simply don’t like finished stories. As a TTRPG player, I always wanted the campaign to continue.

You have settings of course, but that doesn’t really cover things like the Wheel of Time either. Iain M. Banks Culture novels share a setting but they aren’t an extended trilogy or anything. So, I’ve decided to coin a new (or new to me at least) term, the ‘Infinology’. Both the Clausewitz Series and the Alagariel Series are intended to be Infinologies. Those infinologies have already inspired (or even required) tales that fit in the same setting (a number of those are mostly finished) but they aren’t part of the Infinology.

I was wondering for long time what to call my two main series, and, I at least, am pleased that I’ve settled on an answer.

Vatan’s Forests

jceberdt — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:34:22 +0000

by Daria

This is a sketch by Daria. It depicts a dark forest somewhere on Vatan. Obviously I know where, but since it features somewhere in Tales of Vatan: Alagariel IV or V, I’m not telling you where it is yet.

The Half Elven Orphan in Stock

jceberdt — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 08:18:33 +0000

I have enough copies of The Half Elven Orphan in stock if anyone wants to order from me directly. It doesn’t seem worthwhile to put together a whole webshop for just one product, so if you want one, just send me an e-mail (books@jceberdt.eu) or use the contact form (below). Please let me know in the mail roughly where I’ll need so send the book.

I’ll send a Paypal payment request and send you a copy. Currently pricing is 20 euro’s, including shipping (unless shipping costs are crazy for your region but I’ll let you know before you pay anything if that’s the case).

Where-to-buy Update

jceberdt — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 11:28:35 +0000

Just a small update to the Where-to-buy page. Seems to be available all over the world now. Even bol.com now has the print version listed.

Where-to-buy

Publishing Mystery

jceberdt — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 12:11:55 +0000

The Half Elven Orphan is the first book I’ve published and I’ve done it independently, so everything is a new experience. First off, it looks like I’ve actually sold some books. Not enough to buy more than a junk food lunch, but it’s not zero. My primary channel is Ingram Spark and they have a dashboard where you can see where sales have been made. To my great surprise, the first four print books that have showed up there have been sold in Germany. I mean, I do know people in Germany, but them buying more than one or two books when I’ve already told them I will give them copies for free doesn’t make sense. It stands to reason, then, that these must be other Germans. Which is very odd. My website has almost no traffic from Germany that I can’t match to people I know.

Beyond that, I know that there must be some e-book sales too, as the book has a sales rank on some e-book only sites, but they haven’t showed up yet. So, thanks (or Dankeschön) everyone who has bought one. For e-book buyers, there will be another sale over on itch.io starting the 17th of December. I still highly recommend itch if you want the e-book. No DRM, it comes with a pdf with a a Table of Contents and Glossary and files for the artwork and map. Oh, and they give the author a far large proportion of the proceeds.

Organising In-Setting Excerpts

jceberdt — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 12:20:10 +0000

I’ve started the effort of organising my In-Setting excerpts for Tales of Vatan (sections of text written as if they’ve been extracted from some work that exists in one of my settings). I’ll expand this section in future, but there’s some things there already.

In-Setting Excerpts

A Parcel Has Been Delivered

jceberdt — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:58:12 +0000

Despite the best efforts of his superiors, a parcel with some books from Milton Keynes has arrived.

I have yet to understand why I was charged for the privilege of receiving 0% tariff book while I have VAT and EORI numbers, but they’re here and that’s certainly something.

I’ve decided to fulfill direct orders. Obviously, I don’t have to pay the retailer 55% like I do on in-store prices, but I do have to ship it. The book is 349g, which means that with packaging it’s quite expensive to ship individual copies. So, it’s the same price as in stores which is €20, but shipping is free everywhere in the EU.

Itch.io Sale

jceberdt — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 00:41:07 +0000

I managed to forget I joined the black friday bandwagon. Best e-book offer is on sale over on itch.io for only a little bit longer. If you want the e-book I strongly recommend the itch version as it comes with an expanded pdf with glossary and table of contents, cover art and a map. The … Continue reading

Paperbacks Everywhere

jceberdt — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 15:58:33 +0000

Just a small update to the previous post. Paperbacks seem to be orderable off all Amazons, Barnes and Noble and presumably other places. Waterstones does not appear to have added it to their catalogue unfortunately. I’m not sure what I would need to do to achieve that. In any event, many of the sellers on the Where to buy page now offer the paperback. I’m not wild about delivery terms, but hopefully (ebook) sales makes them take a few in stock.