Hello there. It’s been quite a while since I’ve talked about this passion project of mine, it’s just that so many things have happened in my personal life over the past two years that have left me worn, tired, and sick. I desperately need a vacation since my last one was in 1999, but now is not the time for that.
I wanted to make a long overdue update to the Vaifen Saga, this planned series of books that I’ve been dreaming about materializing for the longest time. Since so much time has happened, please think of these words as an official relaunch of the entire project.
But first, a wall of text explanation, if you allow me.
I had finished work on Sword of the Nation’s fourth draft back in February 2021, right as a problem in my upstairs neighbor’s plumbing caused moderate damages to my house — thankfully my neighbor covered all of the repairs before fleeing to the United States and quite possibly committing immigration fraud lol.
Anyways, I took that completed fourth iteration of Sword and paused any further work on the project because at the time I was working on a completely different project that, had it materialized, had high chances to open a pathway for me to request a U.S. visa.
Unfortunately, due to a series of circumstances beyond my control, this project fell through towards the end of the year — to make matters worse, a meeting with an immigration attorney that took place that same week basically shattered what little hopes I had left.
Nonetheless, I continued with my efforts towards being able to publish Sword after a short period of brooding and hopelessness.
I got some tax paperwork ready to be able to eventually publish books (at least everything that I could get done from within these borders) and even did the stuff with Amazon Kindle Publishing to be able to publish there. I also found a tax treaty signed between Bill Clinton and Hugo Chávez to reduce the whopping 30% tax withhold rate that the United States keeps from foreigners on every U.S. sale.
At the same time, I had asked friends and acquaintances to help me find an editor, someone highly recommended that I could entrust with my dream. One of my friends put me in contact with a very good one, we had agreed on rates, and before 2021 was over, he began editing Sword for me.
Unfortunately, he was dealt with a series of bad irl events and there was barely any progress made. I could not get a hold of him during the first half of 2022 and I was pretty much left with only the first 14 pages out of 600+ edited — in any case, I was busy at that time with the whole Italian citizenship paperwork marathon, so there’s that.
No hard feelings, c’est la vie.
Even though I still needed to get Sword edited, I began preliminary work on Sins’ first pages in August 2022. By then I had finished and submitted all of the Italian citizenship paperwork at the Consulate, and it was just a matter of waiting a few months for it to be processed by the corresponding authorities.
But, and because such is life. I was forced to assist in a family matter beyond my control that, in retrospect, I should’ve refused to be part of, because it has brought me nothing but problems and headaches for the past year.
Then again, as Chapulin Colorado used to say, “Se aprovechan de mi nobleza.”
I also had to deal with some other stuff, such as fixing the State paperwork to see if we can finally claim ownership of this apartment. Not everything is solved, and not everything can be solved in a reasonable time frame — so I’m just cutting my losses and will be leaving Venezuela as-is.
I also been going through a lot of stress and health complications, I mean, after all, the choices that I’ll be making soon will determine not just my future, but that of my brother’s as well most importantly — no pressure lol
So, that leaves us to May-June 2023. Enough is enough and all family bullshit aside, I believe I have earned the right to once again be able to pursue my own dreams and goals, such as this passion project of mine, to be able to dream of a new life as well.
I will get this published no matter what and my pursuit begins anew today with this announcement. Funny enough, I had intended to do this during May, but I got really sick for over 3 weeks, feeling better now other than a lingering cough that’s slowly going away.
With it, I have officially relaunched and revamped the Vaifen Saga, and with it, comes a new name for the book:
SWORD OF VAIFEN
All the lore entries that I had published over the past years have been updated and revamped to the best of my ability, with new ones on the way!
Please check them out at your earliest convenience. You can find them at Sword’s hub page.
For the time being, downloads of the old Public Preview are disabled until I evaluate what to do.
I need to decide if I should take the 2021 draft and make a fifth and final iteration or continue with the fourth one. After all, it’s been two years, and in those two years my written English has gotten better, or at least I want to believe that it has.
It goes without saying that all imagery, color schemes, and logos are still absolutely 100% placeholders until I’m in a position to hire artists to get actual dope stuff — for now, these non-commercial free to use stencils will have to do, I’m afraid.
Why the name change?
tl;dr nothing against the old one, but since 2020 I feel like U.S. politis have inadvertently tainted the original planned title for the third book, Soul of the Nation.
And then Joe Biden gave some lameass muh BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF THE NATION in September 2022, that was the last straw that made me change the whole nomenclature.
So for now, the planned titles for Sword is Sword of Vaifen, with Sins, Soul, and the sequel trilogy that I haven’t yet talked about sharing the same naming convention.
Different name = different plot?
Absolutely not, nothing is going to change plot wise. This saga is still about the exploits of Bastiel Isthal and the Gestalt team as they fight and protect the Nation of Vaifen.
My goals continue to remain the same: I want to create memorable characters that people get to like, enjoy, and identify not because they fill a list of demographic check marks or are part of a group, but because they do cool stuff and save the day in their own way — flawed as they may be.
I don’t seek to fill “representation” or diversity quotas of any kind, I just want to make cool characters in a cool setting doing cool stuff, that’s it. Whether you deem that as “ultra nationalistic” as someone once told me some time ago, is something that is not of my concern.
I want to create timeless characters that resonate with future readers thanks to the foundations and nurture obtained through the fictional heroes of my solitary and atypical childhood.
Cool, you revived and relaunched your project, what’s next?
That’s the million Bolivar question.
I am on the verge of starting a new life in a country that, despite being a citizen by right of jure sanguinis, its culture and language I was not allowed to be a part of by one side of my family. So I’m a swirl of emotions right now because what I do and choose over the next couple of weeks will determine my future and my brother’s — and I’m a bit scared and overwhelmed.
The same goes for this project.
If I take the self-publishing route I will have to redo the Amazon paperwork as an Italian citizen, which means getting my Italian tax paperwork done once I’m in Italy.
I spent one year solving 35+ years of my father’s lack of due diligence and as a result I’m now an Italian citizen, might as well start actually being one — without ever forsaking my Venezuelan roots — right?
Anyways, I may have relaunched my dream project, but I am still at the same position that I was back in February. I need to get an editor to polish this very much ESL 600+ page draft into something more presentable and readable.
I also need to hire someone to do the cover art, I’m very dead set on what I want for it, just need to find the right person.
If you know anyone that might be able to give either a go, please get in touch with me.
HOWEVER
My financial resources are quite limited, and since I presently cannot sell my mom’s apartment due to a currently near-impossible to solve paperwork conundrum that means I don’t have much money right now to begin with.
(two cousins will be staying here, so at least the place won’t be empty, which reduces the chance of it being invaded or seized by Venezuela’s socialist regime because that’s a thing that happens here)
My escape funds are rather tight, and I most likely won’t be able to hire anyone right now while having to purchase x2 plane tickets while finding an affordable place that I can rent with my current job — but that’s a completely different problem (this is where I’m at right now with regards to leaving Venezuela, last things left to solve).
That’s why, at the very least, I’d like to be able to get in touch with people who will be willing to edit Sword’s draft and work on the cover art not now, but in the near future — with the intention that they begin working on that as soon as I am in a position to commission and pay them and not a moment before, of course.
I think that, in a way, this post marks a new chapter of my dreams now that I’m wrapping up my life in Venezuela, and I get ready to head into an unknown future abroad.
I’d like to end this post by thanking everyone for bearing with me and putting up with my bs for all these years.
Who knows, maybe I publish Sword and it hits the big leagues — I pray to God every night it does, because it’d be a way for me to have the resources I need to help others and pay forward all the help I received during the darkest time of my life.
Keep on being cool, see you soon with more content!
-Kal
