April 7, 2022 by Robert Bishop

Mega Update

Okay, so I suppose it’s time for one of those I’m still alive posts again. I’ll try to keep it short and sweet but there is quite a lot going on these days. (New book here if you want to skip this post!)

The last years have been hard on everyone, and that includes me. At first, the forced isolation seemed like a dream for us writer-types; just being locked in with nothing to do aside from writing. Well, for me that wasn’t the case at all. Not only did I bring a lot of baggage with me into the quarantine, but being holed up inside didn’t give me much in the way of inspiration. Me and my family already felt kind of dead in the water before the lockdown, and basically being stuck together for a year didn’t help matters much. So we got the hell out of dodge and moved halfway across the country, yay! I now reside just outside of Oslo, the capital of Norway, which after a year of isolation was a colossal system shock. Compared to any other town in the world it’s really not that big, but when comparing it to my hometown I might’ve just as well moved to Tokyo or New York. There’s people everywhere! And I love it! I think . . .

It’s gonna be fine . . .

So that’s the boring personal stuff out of the way: New place, new town, new job and new clothes. Same family, same stupid face and same imagination. (And lack thereof, occasionally.) I can’t guarantee anything when it comes to my writing, but I haven’t been completely out of it the past five years either, just way too lazy to post updates about it. So for the three or four people reading this, here’s a three-pronged update on my current projects! I shall call it Bishop’s Trident! Or not . . .

New book

This should’ve been its own post a million years ago! The book was more or less written in 2016 and 2017 I got it printed in 2018 but there were some issues with the cover and some scathing but very welcome feedback from a couple of early readers. I finally got around to editing everything and fixing it up in 2019 and then I just kind of released it into the wild without promoting it at all.

If you’re one of those promotional/self-publish/indie/marketing channels on social media you’re probably choking on your lunch right now. I got . . . sidetracked, okay?

Anyway, the book is called Empress, and is dedicated to an old colleague of mine. (It’s a little different than my other stuff, while still taking place in Noman.) It’s a great first foray into the Noman universe if you find Awakenings to be a little too massive. It’s on Amazon now both as paperback and on Kindle.

S’ilvia has given up hope long ago, certain her disease will be the end of her. She sets out to strike a final deal before that happens, to make sure her empire will survive. Her legate, however, still clings to the faint hope a cure can be procured. Rumor has it there’s one among the ancient ruins and choking humidity of Phran; a secluded H’arian city deep in the mystical jungles of Noman. But the shadows are long in The Wet, and according to the locals, they come alive at night. S’ilvia has to count on a lot more than words if she wants to earn their trust. She might even have to call on something from her dark past.
Robert Bishop – Empress

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December 27, 2017 by Robert Bishop

I’m not dead!

Just wanted to let you know I’m still alive and hard at work! Most of you probably won’t care all that much, but as long as no one is downright disappointed, I’ll take it as a win! Most ‘writer’ sites will have you believe that you need to blog at least once a week if you’re going to succeed in this line of work, which makes me about 59 weeks overdue. Oh well.

I don’t mean to sound sour or anything; they might be right for all I know. I’m planning to post more in the future, but for the time being I have my hands pretty god damn full with other things.

This post/update/newsflash/whatever serves three purposes (purposi?): It helps me get my affairs in order before the new year hits; it gives you all an update on what I’ve been doing and where Frostbites is; and it serves as a kind of ‘new beginning’ for myself and this site. (Did I really just write that? Ugh!)

That’s write (harr, harr, harr) folks! Robert is going to try something he’s never tried before: He’s going to work harder and be more structured when it comes to his writing! (He’s also going to stop addressing himself in the third person.) I have like, two or three readers now, as well as a writing gig on the side, so I need to step up my game. As many of you know, something strange and wonderful happened right around my previous blog post, and that is my sole excuse for delaying Frostbites and everything else:

Scary, wonderful, breath taking and time consuming!

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June 23, 2016 by Robert Bishop

Trailer for Awakenings and updates!

The trailer for Awakenings is finally out! It took a while, but I finally got a look and feel I’m satisfied with. I hope you all enjoy the end-result, and that it might win over a few who are on the fence regarding The Fall of Noman, or just fantasy in general.

In other ‘not working on Frostbites, the next book in the series’, news: I’ve been collaborating with a friend of mine, Magnus Blystad, on a project called ‘Of Monsters’. You can read more about it, as well as an excerpt here! I will probably post more on this later as more is released, but I highly recommend a peak. The world Magnus has created is really a weird, unique and brilliant version of our own.

In other, other news; I’m also working on a short-story/novella called Empress, which I aim to complete over the summer. This one takes a closer look at the inner workings of the H’arians, and one of their main trade empires as they attempt to strike a deal with one of the more secluded clans. I’m also writing a found-diary kind of thing, called Survivor 1, which I suppose is more of a creepy pasta than anything else. We’ll see how it goes. Finally, Fall – the follow up to the sci-fi novella Rise – is still on schedule to be completed this year . . . for some reason. We’ll see.

That’s all for now! Thank you for your patience and your patronage. If you’re reading this and don’t know who I am, for some reason, be sure to check out my book, or my other stories!

– In due time, Bishop

January 22, 2016 by Robert Bishop

A new novella – The Floor Above

New year, new story! Like the previous one, this one is mostly set in the colder reaches of Noman. Enra Vadir, an unsuccessful entrepreneur from the far west, gets a shot at his big break one day when he’s invited to a fancy party way up in the Brend mountains. Sogen Valley, the invitation says, a place he’s never even heard of. Ushered on by his friends, Enra decides to go – but quickly realizes not everything is quite as it seems. As it turns out, the biting cold will be the least of his problems up there.

The Floor Above – click to read!

The Floor Above establishes one of the new characters in Frostbites (book II), and also sets the stage when it comes to the climate and weather. (It’s gonna get cold, if you didn’t understand that from the title) Apart from that, this novella is also an incredibly meta piece of storytelling, packed with references to myself and a few colleagues at work. I suppose in an extreme sense, you could say it’s based on a true story: A friend of mine did indeed get invited to a ‘party in the mountains’ as it were. He also planned on going, and the exchange between the four friends in the beginning is almost piece by piece taken from our own conversations. Thankfully, my friend never left, and Robert didn’t follow – no colleagues were harmed during the writing of this novella!

If you want crime, fantasy, murder and a good dose of comedy – this novella is definitely for you.

Sincerely, Bishop

March 3, 2015 by Robert Bishop

Another novella! (And a few minor updates)

So it seems at this point; I’ll do anything to avoid revision work . . . which means I’m pretty much writing away on anything that isn’t my book.

After a short foray into science fiction, my feet are once again planted in the world of Noman. It all began as a joke with a friend, who has these scrabble pieces on his fridge. Every time I’m visiting, I’m playing around with those things, to the point of absurdity. Long story short, I wrote down eleven silly names, and then said I’d write a short-story about them. And then I did. This time, we follow the life of a young boy named Theden, who after a certain string of events, has the sudden urge not to die. It’s a tale of love, revenge and all those classic clichés, with a heavier Greek tragedy flavor than anything I’ve written. (Click the book to read . . . you know how this works.)

Happy reading, and be sure to leave me some feedback in the comments, whether you like the novella or not! (Minor updates follows below)