Raina Nightingale interviewed me about Fatal Shadow and other stuff. You can check it out here.
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Category Archives: News
Greater Evil is Released!
A lie made Drinith one of Gyre’s rulers. It secured the city state’s support against her enemy, the tyrant Magian the Infinite. Now it threatens to destroy her.
Drinith voyages to Gyre’s bitterest rival, Ophigee, to convince its rulers to join the fight against Magian. But her audience with her hosts turns into an ambush.
Quick thinking wins her a reprieve from the execution block, but the route to salvation may well prove more treacherous than anything she has faced before. Everyone who attempts the journey she must undertake vanishes without trace. Can she succeed where they failed and uncover the secret that threatens not only Ophigee but her adopted homeland?
Greater Evil is the second book in the Champions of Fate, an epic fantasy series with fast-paced action, intriguing characters, and imaginative world-building. The ebook (Amazon only) and paperback are available HERE
The first book in the series, Fatal Shadow, free until 4th March, can be found HERE.
Fatal Shadow is published!
Long ago, magic cracked apart the world and suspended great continents between two suns. But the ebb and flow of human history continues. Trade and war cross the void on dragon wings. Great empires rise and topple…
As the rightful heir to one such fallen state, Drinith has known only exile, dashed hope, and constant threat. She has so far eluded the murderous intentions of the tyrant Magian the Infinite thanks to the prophetic visions of the oracle, Quiescat, but his power is failing. All he can glimpse in the future now is his own death.
An assassin’s blade forces her into a desperate gamble. She takes her one final chance to secure the ally she so desperately needs. But at the end of her journey, she’ll find deceit, betrayal, and murder. And she’ll learn Magian isn’t the only threat to her people.
Fatal Shadow is the first of six books in the Champions of Fate epic fantasy series for those readers who enjoy fast-paced action, intriguing characters, and imaginative world-building.
The ebook is now available on Amazon HERE. Check out the prequel short story No Escape.
Interested in reviewing Fatal Shadows? Here’s how to get a copy of Fatal Shadow For Free!
Fatal Shadow is part of the Fantasy Reviews Promotion on StoryOrigin along with several other interesting Fantasy works. Check it out HERE.
You can check out some sample chapters HERE.
December Progress Update
I got my edits from my editor for Fatal Shadow. It’s a slow and painful process working through them. Even though the draft was quite clean (I had already put it through Prowritingaid and Grammarly) it came back with quite a few edits! I must say my editor did a fantastic job. I did a quick sweep through them to eliminate all the no-brainers and now I’m going through the remainder, chapter by chapter, page by page, line by line, word by word. It’s a painfully slow process, because there’s no next draft (aside from a final typo hunt) so everything has to be just right.
For example, I spent a full hour looking at medieval shoes last night to stick a little extra detail in one sentence. I also did some research on weave types on early upholstery. To be honest, I prefer to firm such detail when I know it will be in the book rather than plough a load of time into research that ends up getting cut.
Not all the edits need research, but they all require thought. They need to be carefully balanced and massaged so they fit seamlessly into the story.
However, there are no insurmountable issues so I should have the final edit finished by Christmas. This is certainly the best book I’ve written so far. I can’t wait to publish it.
Cover Reveal – A Bright Power Rising & The Unconquered Sun
I feel like a pirate lowering my flag of convenience and hoisting the Jolly Roger! Below are the two new covers for A Bright Power Rising and The Unconquered Sun. They have a much more epic fantasy feel!
The ebooks are already available on Amazon and Kobo with the new versions appearing on the other stores in a couple of days. The paperbacks are to follow soon.
Fatal Shadow, Book 1 in the Champions of Fate Epic Fantasy Series
It is three years and seven months since I began work on this series. For all those years, on the rare occasions I posted about this series, I’ve spoken about it in code, not even referring to the books by name. (To be fair, many of those names changed multiple times.) There’s a long road ahead for me, mountains of story to climb. But the first milestone in this journey is very close and I’m more excited by this book than anything I’ve written in the past.
Finally, I’m in a postion to share with you some of the details. This book follows on almost nineteen years after the events of the short story No Escape. If you haven’t read it, I strongly suggest you do. You can download it for free at the moment.
Long ago, magic cracked apart the world and suspended great continents between two suns. But the ebb and flow of human history continues. Trade and war cross the void on dragon wings. Great empires rise and topple…
As the rightful heir to one such fallen state, Drinith has known only exile, dashed hope, and constant threat. She has so far eluded the murderous intentions of the tyrant Magian the Infinite thanks to the prophetic visions of the oracle, Quiescat, but his power is failing. All he can glimpse in the future now is his own death.
An assassin’s blade forces her into a desperate gamble. She takes her one final chance to secure the ally she so desperately needs. But at the end of her journey, she’ll find deceit, betrayal, and murder. And she’ll learn Magian isn’t the only threat to her people.
Fatal Shadow is the first of six books in the Champions of Fate epic fantasy series for those readers who enjoy fast-paced action, intriguing characters, and imaginative world-building.
The ebook is available on Amazon for preorder HERE. It will be published on 22nd February 2021.
Last Chance to get Old Version of Paperbacks for A Bright Power Rising & The Unconquered Sun
I’m sending this as a warning for those who have the paperbacks of A Bright Power Rising and maybe want to complete the set or like the old covers but never got around to buying them.
Those covers will be changing (I like to think for the better). I’ll reveal them soon, but in the meantime, you have only have until 23rd October to buy paperbacks with the old covers guaranteed. After that, the paperbacks won’t be available at all on Amazon for several days while the new covers go through the review process for the new versions.
A Friendly PSA to Kobo Buyers of My Books
Edit: This issue has since been resolved, thankfully.
Hi all. Just a quick warning that some of my books appear to be currently duplicated on the site. I priced them the same as all the other stores. Three of them are free (No Escape, The Fate Healer and The Parting Gift) while one of them (The Murder Seat) is at €0.99. The duplicates are at €5.33.
While I certainly think they might be worth that :), I have never charged that much for them. I’ve sent a query to Kobo about this and hopefully, this situation will be resolved soon. In the meantime, here are the correct links:
September Update: So Close
Last week a lot later than I had intended, I finally sent Book 1 to my editors. I had planned to send it just before my holidays in august but some valuable comments arrived just too late for me to process properly and I decided to finalise the fifth draft after I came back. I hate delays. It makes me feel like I’m swimming in molasses. However, there was no point rushing these things and making snap decisions I’d regret later. After this last draft, I’m satisfied that it’s ready to go. I found myself quibbling over smaller and smaller details.
All in all, it’s about six months since I started the 2nd draft. Hopefully, Book 2 will go faster. Things with respect to Covid restrictions have eased here somewhat. My daughter has gone back to school which pretty much gives me the mornings to work. My office moved upstairs out of the kitchen just in time for our puppy to figure out how to get on the kitchen table if the chairs are left a little out from it. She’s a good dog but she would have seen my computer set up as an exciting range of chew toys.
I had already gone about halfway through the 2nd draft of Book 2 in between revisions of Book 1. However, I need to refamiliarise myself with what I’ve done. Plus, I may have a surprise traitor on my hands from Book 1 (It was certainly a surprise when I thought of it) so I need to work that into the story.
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