Announcing a Kickstarter for Rise of Gods Hardbacks!

On Tuesday, October 29, I will be launching a Kickstarter for hardbacks of Paternus: Rise of Gods, Book 1 of The Paternus Trilogy!

A whole lot of folks have asked me about hardbacks for Paternus, and author friends have been pushing me to do a Kickstarter for ages, so here it is! If this Kickstarter goes well, I'll be doing this for all the books in the trilogy.

Why Kickstarter? Production and printing of good quality hardbacks is expensive, and print-on-demand services like Ingram just don't provide the quality I'm looking for. This way, the costs are covered and we get really classy books - it's a win-win for everybody.

These will be cloth bound, foil stamped, with slipcovers, using the original paperback artwork with a few changes. I'm most excited, though, by the possibility of including a piece of interior art by the amazing Ed Binkley. Ed is world renowned for his fantasy illustration, one of my very favorite artists, and I got to meet and chat with him at DragonCon this year. Not only is he extremely talented, he's also a very friendly guy. You can check out Ed's amazing work at edbinkley.com.

Depending on the level of funding, we'll have a b&w sketch, a finished b&w drawing, or (fingers crossed) a complete finished color piece. And the character we've chosen is none other than The Prathamaja Nandana herself.

The hardcovers aren't the only cool items that will be available. Other levels and bonuses include:

  • Receive a Paternus: War of Gods eBook one month prior to release

  • Rise of Gods posters

  • Signed Rise of Gods paperbacks

  • Official, signed ARC paperbacks of War of Gods, received by release date

  • Rare and out of print original-cover paperbacks of Paternus from before it was even called Rise of Gods (quantities extremely limited)

  • and more!

I'll announce this again when the Kickstarter launches. I hope you're all as excited about it as I am :D

Finally, an official release date for Paternus: War of Gods!

I'm finally at a point where I'm comfortable announcing a firm release date for the final book in The Paternus Trilogy: Tuesday, May 19, 2020.

And yes, I know, that still seems like a long way off, especially considering my earlier overly optimistic projections. My sincerest apologies for that. My eagerness to get it out into the world got the better of me, overwhelming the reality of the task.

Why so long? A good question that deserves an honest answer.

First, this project is a beast. This book will be significantly longer than the first two, and even longer than I imagined. There are so many threads to continue and wrap up, story arcs to complete, crazy characters to keep track of, reveals to be made, story elements to finally explain, and so much other fun stuff I want (and need) to include, it's proven to be an even bigger job than I ever expected - and I knew it was going to be huge.

Between the day job and life and managing the business of self-publishing, I also only get between 2 and 4 hours a day to actually write.

But the most important reason is, I want this book to be good. I want it to be the story I want it to be, and that you, the readers, expect and deserve. That means not rushing and cutting corners. It pains me that I can't write faster, like many of my author friends can, but those are the realities for me.

Besides all the writing, the editing and publishing processes are pretty big and time consuming tasks in themselves. I've provided the schedule as a pic accompanying this post so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. And that doesn't include everything that has to be taken care of prior to a book release.

All that said, I am getting close to completing the first draft. I know exactly what's going to happen, and when, in this massive final battle between the Deva and Asura, and I'm very happy with the story. I hope you will be too.

‘Cry havoc, and loose the gods of war…’

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My Review of The True Bastards by Jonathan French

Our favorite Bastards are back, now lead by Fetching, and are in a bad way. With the Kiln gone, the True Bastards (renamed from the Grey Bastards), fight starvation and terrifying threats, old and new. How will they survive? With grit and sheer determination, that's how!

I loved The Grey Bastards, and Jonathan French has done it again. This is a stellar second novel, terrifically unique and exciting. It moves at breakneck speed, with brutal action and epic battles. The worldbuilding just keeps getting richer, deeper, and more unique in this series—and you are in for some shocking, wonderful, and terrifying surprises.

French has dug deep with this one, creating connections to events and characters from the first book that I never saw coming, some of which I wouldn't even have thought possible, but he makes them work in the most amazing ways.

If you liked The Grey Bastards, you are going to lose your shit with this incredible follow-up. I sure did!

My review of The Cracked Amulet by R.B. Watkinson

A wonderful story with very cool magic and great characters.

I've had this book for a long time and feel terrible for taking so long to read it. I really liked this. Great classic fantasy, and though there are dark aspects to it and great action sequences, it also feels like a comfort read to me. The protagonists and their allies are just really likeable, good people, trying to do the right thing in a world where blood magic threatens all and wielders of the Wefan are few and far between. Sit down and relax with this one, I don't think you'll regret it :)

My review of Twilight of the Gods by Scott Oden

This is one of my favorite reads in the last ten years! I really liked A Gathering of Ravens, the first book in this series, but Twilight is even better, in my humble opinion. Oden draws on multiple mythologies, though most heavily Norse, as well as Christianity, to create one of the most creative and compelling stories I've read in a very long time. An amazing tale of a clash between the old gods and the new. Dark, action-packed, with unique characters that will scare the shit our of you, but you can't help rooting for. Very highly recommended!