[10/28/17] Liar King: Tower of Babel Book 2

From the very first hour Cayden had set foot inside the massive, real-life game that was the Tower of Babel, nothing had gone according to plan. A unique skill, a handful of new friends and the wrath of an ultra-wealthy, patricidal lunatic were just some of the complications to his best laid plans.


So why was he even surprised when a special event trapped him, his companions and dozens of other players inside the tower, squaring them off against a murderous army of stone-faced warriors?


If they are to have any hope of survival, they'll have to leverage not only their own personal power, but the power of the Elan as well. There are castles to be built, armies to be raised and one real question to be posed.


How good is a self-proclaimed RPG nerd going to be at turn-based strategy?

***

I love this book, but I'm going to be so happy to see the backside of it... and get immediately onto book three.

Pre-Order is in review at Amazon, so I'll be updating this as soon as they give me the link.

 

Excellent! I've been looking forward to the sequel. The first one was great.

 

Can't wait! Enjoyed the first one and honestly read it entirely through in one sitting.

 

The first book in this series made my top 5 of LitRPG favs, eager for the next installment =)

 

Oh wow. Well, I'm just going to go hide under a rock now. No pressure at all.

 

<3 <3

 

It's out, it's out! /town crier mode

 

Bring out your dead!

 

Where?!?!?!

 

Probably a tad late, but mybook.to/liarking

 

Just finished it and liked it. Could’ve used less time spent on explaining the mechanics of the event though.

I’m looking forward to book 3, especially since this one just kind of ... ended. And is it just me or is the next book you’re writing going to be essentially Stardew Valley in litRPG form, @Adam Elliott?

 

Yeah, my only complaint about this one is pretty much the same as yours, that I spent a bit more time explaining mechanics than I'd expected to. If it helps, it is because those mechanics are going to be used somewhat frequently throughout.

And yeah. It kinda is. Release on that one is slated for Nov 20th since I'm already most of the way done, then right back into book 3 before x-mas.

 

I liked the fact that you showed some 4X love though. That’s one of my favorite game genres. So maybe since I’m so familiar with the genre it just made my eyes glaze over a bit? Or maybe it just came across as awkward because of the advisors, I dunno. Once the book got going and was in full swing it was really good.

The ending was still pretty abrupt though. What happened with that?

 

Short answer is that I felt it was getting unmanageable. Originally book two was going to be titled "The White Knight" and cover the entirety of the event, but I hit a wall at 180,000 words that I'd been banging my head on for the better part of two weeks. I've never written anything more than 100,000 words before, and keeping everything straight in my head and on paper was causing me to melt down a little, at which point my spouse (who pre-reads all my stuff) suggested that, for my sanity, I split it into two books, release one, work on something else, and then come back and round it out when I'm calm.

Long answer is basically all of the above coupled with the fact that I suffer from moderate Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. In day to day the anxiety is manageable, but when it comes to my writing it tends to get progressively worse the longer I work on a specific piece. At a certain point (as happened with this last novel) I tend to get so anxious about its imperfections that I spend all my time rewriting parts that are perfectly fine, rather than finishing it, which in turn causes me to freak out even further about how much time it is taking me to re-write it and so on.

Fortunately I have a supportive partner who is willing to put her foot down and prevent the perfect from being the enemy of the good.

Sorry if that is a little TMI. >.>

 

That’s exactly why I don’t write. I don’t have a grounding spouse like that, so that’s good on you! Or her, rather. Behind every great author is a ten-times-as-awesome family after all.

I’ve read books that were written by obvious perfectionists and they’ve always come across as stilted and ... nyrgh. Just, wonky; something feels off about them and I can’t quite put my finger on exactly why. I mean, sure, they please the obsessive grammar nerd in me (not even joking, one of my hobbies is etymology), but for the rest it’s like reading a politician’s speech, if that makes any sense? If anything it’s entirely TOO slick and polished, and it loses something in the polishing.

I’m available for beta reading if you want feedback on your stuff. Just need it in a file type I can read on kindle or iBooks (Kindle by preference, since that way I can highlight passages).

 

I might certainly take you up on that.

 

I really enjoy your writing, your passion shines through : ) 1 hour left to go! Not looking forward to this abrupt ending everyone is talking about in reviews and whatnot qq. Why must good things always come to an end?

 

Eh, I don't personally feel it is too abrupt. Just that there is more to come.

 

Okay, I eventually reached the end and le gasp, the shiny new book uses Zenni as money tooooooooo. So excite!

I was overjoyed to find the twitter mentioned in your afterword, so I dutifully followed and discovered I'm your first stalk- er, follower on Twitter! Wheee = ) As um, 1st prize, you should TOTALLY follow me back.

Also, welcome to Twitter. You are in good company. Certain american presidents excluded =P

 

Except for 11 minutes last night, apparently.