Pre-Series Short Story: The Lay of the Land

Posted on June 29, 2020 by

Due to work schedule adjustments, my pace on editing Book 6 has become pretty slow.  (Doesn’t help that it’s 400+ pages, of course.)  On the days where I don’t have a big chunk of time for editing, though, I’ve been picking at short stories — again.  Specifically, Firkad Sarovy stories set before his summons to the Palace and subsequent exile into the west.

They’re surprisingly fun to write.  He’s…an interesting kid, to say the least.

I have two others also written and currently being edited, both with him younger than here, and plan probably two more for after this one, to wrap up its particular storyline.  They don’t include any spoilers for the series, though might raise some questions in the minds of series-readers.

Continue reading →

Posted in Stories, Writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Book 3 Short Story: Five Fuses

Posted on May 10, 2020 by

As I’m still working on Book 6 edits and don’t have a new culture composite prepared yet, it’s time to post my second Book 3 short story!  Again, this is a spoiler-thick tale which requires a lot of foreknowledge to understand, but I’d rather have it out here than languishing in my Story folder.  It’s another That Bastard Enkhaelen one, but I promise that the next short story (currently being written!) will not involve him.  And really, this might be the last Enkhaelen-focused short story that I write for a while, since it patches the few gaps in his timeline that I don’t plan to cover in other material.

Also, I promise I’m putting the read-more in here properly this time, and not a week later.  >_<

Continue reading →

Posted in Stories, Writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Culture Composites: Gejara

Posted on April 22, 2020 by

Even though the Imperial Heartlands culture composites are just one step from finished, I’ve decided to pass beyond the borders to write up the independent nation of Gejara instead.  The last Imperial province, after all, is Daecia and the Palace…

Continue reading →

Posted in History, Magic, World Info, Worldbuilding | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Book 3 Short Story: Metastasis

Posted on April 6, 2020 by

Earlier this year, I wrote two short stories that probably require a knowledge of Book 3, since most of the material won’t make sense otherwise.  While I work on editing Book 6, I figured I’d post them anyway!  This one is the second I wrote, but the most self-contained, so it seems like the better one to read first.  It deals with how That Bastard Shaidaxi Enkhaelen ended up starting his metastatic mage program.  Read on if you know what that means — or if you’re just randomly intrigued.

Continue reading →

Posted in Stories, Writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Free! Cheap! New! Amazon Promos for Books 1-5

Posted on March 25, 2020 by

Tired of watching TV and surfing the internet? Read a book!

Bored of all your old books? Read a new one!

Looking for an escape from reality’s troubles? Immerse yourself in an imaginary world with entirely imaginary concerns!

Seriously though, it took me what feels like an age, but Book 5 is now out.  To celebrate somewhat haphazardly, I will be running some Free and Discount Day promos through Amazon.  I say haphazardly because I ran an entirely random promo a month or so ago, not thinking I would be ready to release the book any time soon — so two of the three discounts are for Amazon.co.uk only, not Amazon.com.  Alas for my lack of foresight.

Okay!  Here’s the breakdown.

Book 1, The Light of Kerrindryr, will be free from March 25-29 for all markets.

Book 2, The Splintered Eye, is on discount from March 25-April 1 for both the US and UK markets.

Book 3, The Living Throne, is on discount from March 25-April 1 on just the UK market (but go check it out if you’re in the US, too!)

Book 4, The Drowning Dark, is likewise on discount from March 25-April 1 on just the UK market.

Finally, Book 5, The Bloodied Army, is too new to be eligible for discounts.  Like, brand new.  Fresh and warm and new-book-smelling, if only through your digital screen.

It seems I have no control over promotions for other markets, so I apologize in that regard.  I will be running a better US promo this summer (when my Amazon timers reset), so look forward to that!

The sixth-and-final book is still being written, but at the moment it’s comfortably on track.  So!  Please enjoy the free-and-cheap stuff as you like, while I work on making more.

Posted in Writing | Tagged ,

Book 5: The Bloodied Army — Published!

Posted on March 20, 2020 by

As of right now, The Bloodied Army (Book 5 of the War of Memory Cycle) is available on Amazon as an ebook!  It’s wearing its temporary cover for now, and I don’t have an ETA for when it will receive its full cover or a print version.

About the series: The War of Memory Cycle is a post-medieval high-magic multicultural dark fantasy, with touches of both science fiction and horror.  (Yay horror!)  It’s continuing through its ‘epic’ phase, with the gods now directly meddling in affairs.  It includes strong themes of identity, trauma, imperialism, religious conflict, LGBTQIA, and some serious body horror.  I enjoy writing that last part maybe a bit too much.

If you haven’t read any but think you might be interested, check out the pages for Book 1 (The Light of Kerrindryr), Book 2 (The Splintered Eye), Book 3 (The Living Throne), and Book 4 (The Drowning Dark)!  There will also be some free/discount days for the early books coming very soon.

Posted in Writing | Tagged ,

Culture Composites: Averogne

Posted on February 21, 2020 by

Second-to-last of the Imperial provinces and protectorates is this quiet little place, sited in the shadow of the Rift and a vassal of the Empire for decades before the Empire invaded any other western territory.  Averogne yielded easily to the Empire’s advances and accepted its troops without fuss, though it refused to cut down any of its woodlands to build garrisons.  It was happy to sell wood to the Empire, however, and let Imperial troops man the protectorate’s current defenses.

And maybe marry into the population.

Or disappear into the woods.

Many invaders have disappeared into the Averognan woods.

Continue reading →

Posted in World Info, Worldbuilding | Tagged , ,

Culture Composites: Muria

Posted on January 30, 2020 by

Continuing the Culture Composites series, this will be a short one!  And require the use of a rather haphazard map.  The target this time is Muria, the hidden homeland of the silver elementals (or Muriae) and their Primordial, Brancir.  Muria can be thought of as an autonomous zone within the protectorate of Kerrindryr, existing mostly underground but also encompassing the external area of one particular large mountain — Ratrangas Garta, or Howling Spire.  The human city at its base, Thul Rei Tenko, is a part of Kerrindryr but considered under the protection of the Muriae, and is known to have a certain amount of infiltration from the Silver Folk.

Continue reading →

Posted in Religion, World Info, Worldbuilding | Tagged , ,

Culture Composites: Darronwy

Posted on January 18, 2020 by

Six years later, I return to the Culture Composites series!  I’d always planned to make more, I just…never did.

With this installment, we’re only one step away from finishing up all the Risen Phoenix Empire’s vassal provinces and protectorates.  Darronwy joins Riddian, Trivestes, Wyndon, Amandon, Corvia, and Haaraka, all located in the Imperial Heartlands (even if they don’t agree that they belong), plus the conquered lands of Illane and Kerrindryr.  Beyond the Rift with the latter two, Jernizan is the only free land shown so far, but it won’t be the last.  (I swear!)

Continue reading →

Posted in Religion, World Info, Worldbuilding | Tagged , ,

Best Reads 2019

Posted on December 25, 2019 by

Since I failed to do a Best Reads for 2018, I am making a point to do one this year!  Arghh!  It’s probably been clear from my minimal posting that doing blog-related things is at the bottom of my list right now — which I wish wasn’t so, since I’ve enjoyed this.  I just haven’t had the brain-space to devote to it.  I hope to get back to it once I have the full rough draft of Book 6 hammered out and can stress a bit less.

Anyway!  Since I skipped last year, I’ll add a few highlights from it, since some of them (series- or author-wise) do continue onto this year’s list.  However, this was also the year where I saw some of my previously-favorite series, both old and new, trail off into things I didn’t like so much.  I don’t really want to go into what I didn’t like and why, just to note this background feeling of dissatisfaction with a lot of the authors I used to favor.

Continue reading →

Posted in Review