Story Chronology
The Giovanni Salzano the Traveling Mercenary collection of books has its origins with the No Tears series, specifically Book One, No Tears (Northern Company). This 2021 Northern Company book was a soft reboot of the series originally envisioned with the 2016 A Story of the Beginning (out of print as a stand-alone book). With this reboot, Northern Company was considered the new canon standard for all books going forward, overriding the original story where such conflicts in story or characters conflicted.
At the time of Northern Company's release in 2021, I still had the 2016 original as part of the story. All of that would change when I revisited A Story of the Beginning in 2022 with A Story of the Beginning (Revised Edition). With the 2022 Revised Edition, I sought to bring the new canon of No Tears (Northern Company) in with the original character-focused book and revamp the story & fix the historical inaccuracies of the 2016 original. With all of that said, however, I kept the spirit of the 2016 original while bringing an expanded and historically accurate story to the 2022 Revised Edition to connect with the canon of No Tears (Northern Company). To avoid any issues with the No Tears 2021 reboot, I labeled the Revised Edition Book 0 (or Prequel) to the No Tears series; furthermore, the spine of the book is white verses No Tears' red spine. Ultimately, the 2022 Revised Edition is a stand-alone prequel book to the No Tears series and can be read out-of-order of the other books in the Giovanni Salzano the Traveling Mercenary collection.
After the rewrite of A Story of the Beginning was done, I turned my attention to my most highly reviewed and praised work yet, the 2023 No Tears (Inheritance). Book Two of the No Tears series was by far my biggest endeavor to date, capturing not only the longest book in the series yet at 588 pages but also my best writing. The praise by Online Book Club illustrates with Book Two of No Tears (Inheritance)----see review here---that my storytelling and in particular writing had taken the next step since 2021's early beginnings and 2022's refinement. Personally, and professionally, Inheritance is my favorite book from a storytelling point of view: the added depth to both the story & the characters, the realistic consequences for them both (story & characters) from Northern Company to Inheritance, and the "larger world" expansion of The Traveling Mercenary's world was all priceless and near perfect. 4 stars out of 5 starts from Online Book Club would support this conclusion in an honest way, if highlighting alternative strengths of the book verses my personal favorites.
After writing Inheritance, which had to answer for and payoff to the story of Northern Company, I went about writing No Tears (Reckoning). Releasing in the summer of 2024, Reckoning had the challenge of being the "bridge" book from the start of the No Tears series and towards its end. Reckoning had to not only answer and payoff to the story elements of Inheritance, but it also had to set the stage for the final book in the No Tears series. All current story elements, characters, and any & all other "loose ends" in the No Tears series had to be wrapped up or---at the very least---set up to be concluded with the 2025 release of No Tears (Parabellum).
Read in order, the books should be read as follows for the best reading enjoyment and story experience:
At the time of Northern Company's release in 2021, I still had the 2016 original as part of the story. All of that would change when I revisited A Story of the Beginning in 2022 with A Story of the Beginning (Revised Edition). With the 2022 Revised Edition, I sought to bring the new canon of No Tears (Northern Company) in with the original character-focused book and revamp the story & fix the historical inaccuracies of the 2016 original. With all of that said, however, I kept the spirit of the 2016 original while bringing an expanded and historically accurate story to the 2022 Revised Edition to connect with the canon of No Tears (Northern Company). To avoid any issues with the No Tears 2021 reboot, I labeled the Revised Edition Book 0 (or Prequel) to the No Tears series; furthermore, the spine of the book is white verses No Tears' red spine. Ultimately, the 2022 Revised Edition is a stand-alone prequel book to the No Tears series and can be read out-of-order of the other books in the Giovanni Salzano the Traveling Mercenary collection.
After the rewrite of A Story of the Beginning was done, I turned my attention to my most highly reviewed and praised work yet, the 2023 No Tears (Inheritance). Book Two of the No Tears series was by far my biggest endeavor to date, capturing not only the longest book in the series yet at 588 pages but also my best writing. The praise by Online Book Club illustrates with Book Two of No Tears (Inheritance)----see review here---that my storytelling and in particular writing had taken the next step since 2021's early beginnings and 2022's refinement. Personally, and professionally, Inheritance is my favorite book from a storytelling point of view: the added depth to both the story & the characters, the realistic consequences for them both (story & characters) from Northern Company to Inheritance, and the "larger world" expansion of The Traveling Mercenary's world was all priceless and near perfect. 4 stars out of 5 starts from Online Book Club would support this conclusion in an honest way, if highlighting alternative strengths of the book verses my personal favorites.
After writing Inheritance, which had to answer for and payoff to the story of Northern Company, I went about writing No Tears (Reckoning). Releasing in the summer of 2024, Reckoning had the challenge of being the "bridge" book from the start of the No Tears series and towards its end. Reckoning had to not only answer and payoff to the story elements of Inheritance, but it also had to set the stage for the final book in the No Tears series. All current story elements, characters, and any & all other "loose ends" in the No Tears series had to be wrapped up or---at the very least---set up to be concluded with the 2025 release of No Tears (Parabellum).
Read in order, the books should be read as follows for the best reading enjoyment and story experience:
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Writing CHRONOLOGY
It should come as a logical conclusion after reading the Story Chronology that there would be a writing quality difference between several of the earlier books, specifically between No Tears (Northern Company) and A Story of the Beginning (Revised Edition).
With Northern Company written first in 2021, in regard to the 2016 original, the writing in "Part I" of the 3-Part book has often been constructively criticized as slow and less polished than the later Part II & Part III of the same book. The slowness can be contributed to the world building I was doing, laying the groundwork and building The Traveling Mercenary's world (in addition to the historical background & characters). Intended as a soft reboot, I originally had no plans to rewrite the 2016 original in 2022. As in regard to Part I being less polished---rightfully and constructively so---Northern Company was written over a course of 5 years (from 2016 to 2021) with multiple drafts and the book does show a progression in writing over the course of that time. Is it horrible? A course not! The book did receive a 4 out of 5 stars from Online Book Club! It can henceforth be concluded reliably that writing not only improved, but mistakes were limited with each successive book installment with a giant leap being made between Northern Company and A Story of the Beginning (Revised Edition) as I refined my writing and developed healthy and sustainable habits with my book writing and storytelling.
As of 2025, No Tears (Northern Company) has received an Updated Edition! In addition to grammar and punctuation corrections, the Updated Edition includes extended & added chapters to enhance depth to the overall story but does not change the basic story principles of the 2021 original book.
With Northern Company written first in 2021, in regard to the 2016 original, the writing in "Part I" of the 3-Part book has often been constructively criticized as slow and less polished than the later Part II & Part III of the same book. The slowness can be contributed to the world building I was doing, laying the groundwork and building The Traveling Mercenary's world (in addition to the historical background & characters). Intended as a soft reboot, I originally had no plans to rewrite the 2016 original in 2022. As in regard to Part I being less polished---rightfully and constructively so---Northern Company was written over a course of 5 years (from 2016 to 2021) with multiple drafts and the book does show a progression in writing over the course of that time. Is it horrible? A course not! The book did receive a 4 out of 5 stars from Online Book Club! It can henceforth be concluded reliably that writing not only improved, but mistakes were limited with each successive book installment with a giant leap being made between Northern Company and A Story of the Beginning (Revised Edition) as I refined my writing and developed healthy and sustainable habits with my book writing and storytelling.
As of 2025, No Tears (Northern Company) has received an Updated Edition! In addition to grammar and punctuation corrections, the Updated Edition includes extended & added chapters to enhance depth to the overall story but does not change the basic story principles of the 2021 original book.
BOOK QUOTE
"A man of low company keeps the company of low men in equal measure. Such is the life of a mercenary."
(Hilario, AD 1515)
---Chapter 9; No Tears (Reckoning)---
(Hilario, AD 1515)
---Chapter 9; No Tears (Reckoning)---