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My wife and I had a nice little long-weekend trip in the middle of what is otherwise a very hectic and stressful juncture of our lives. I spent one amazing day fishing with my buddy, Bobby off of Anna Marie Island, FL. Other than quick, and much needed, breaks, we’ve been tackling family medical issues, helping with hurricane recovery, and prodding our oldest (often kicking and screaming) toward all the college application stuffs. Bit of a madhouse these days. I'm expecting the structural feedback on Bones of Cenaedth any time now. I don’t have it as of writing this newsletter, but I bet I get the feedback before the newsletter actually gets sent. Bottom line, I plan to switch back to working on Book 2 in August. Ironically, my fishing adventure was a nice but unintentional immersion technique for the reality of being out in the ocean with the sun beating down. 🤣 (Yes, we take to the seas with the Salts in Book 3). There was a freebie on Amazon Ad school since my last newsletter, and I spent time learning a little more about marketing/advertising my books (and slightly less time writing). If you’re interested in what I’m taking away from the Ad School lessons, I’ll have that in a separate email for writers. Send me a note if you’d like to be added to that and don’t already receive it. My wife has a comfort movie, You've Got Mail. When things get too rough, that's often her go to. When I hear it playing in the background, I know she needs a break. (Incidentally, Red's mother did the same in Book 1 of The Guardian League). I have a go to book -- Mirror of Her Dreams. I started reading it last night when I couldn't sleep because I was too worried about all the things. Do you have a go to book or movie that helps you de-stress? Okay, I am hesitantly slipping a short story into this newsletter. I'm pretty overwhelmed right now, but I sometimes turn to writing as a release. As I drove down to Houston, I was thinking about short story ideas for the Thaumatropic Roots series. I wrote something quickly over the last couple of days that I am calling (for now) "Blood Bound." It's the origin story for a character named Trentius, who you met briefly in Mother of Trees (bonus points to anyone that remembers who Trentius is and what "his thing" is... before reading the short story). What, you may ask, will those bonus points get me? Street cred. Massive street cred. Trentius continues on in Book 2 (unless the structural editor cuts him, and I don't think she's going to), and this story ties in nicely. Cut me some slack -- I didn't so much as run it through a spell-checker, must less the more advanced proofing tools I use. I'll clean it up when I get more time. Blood Bound.epub <-- On an iphone, if you have kindle, you can get this to your kindle by downloading it, then clicking it from whatever tools you use to look at downloads on your iphone and share it to kindle. It takes a few minutes, as I think it uploads the file, sanity checks it, then pulls it back into your kindle. Indie Author ShowcasePrevious Newsletters
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Hi! If you enjoy fantasy with snarky humor, I've got some books for you. My newsletter takes you along the creative journey, and keeps you informed of what's brewing.
Ten days until the end of Thaumatropic Roots. Ten days until the threads you’ve been following since Mother of Trees pull tight. Since “peace broke out like a plague.” Ten days. That’s all that stands between you and the end. I won’t overtalk this. If you’ve been waiting to see what becomes of Elliah, Hughelas, the dragons, and the fragile cage holding back the Father of Stones… It’s here. Every book has been tightening toward this. Mother of Trees. Bones of Cenaedth. Secrets of Deara. Every...
Elliah was never meant to carry this. She was born without magic in a world built on it.She was told what she could not be. Very few asked what she would become. And yet here we are. If you came to my work through The Guardian League, this is where the deeper current begins—the prison that holds the Father of Stones, the fracture in magic that echoes forward into Red’s world. The modern story stands on what happens here—even if it doesn’t know it yet. And Elliah’s world was not built for...
Before we finish this, let me remind you where we left off. The world is fraying. The Father of Stones presses at the edges of the cage.Dragons carry memory like a wound.The elves gather for a final strike at the trolls, while mutual distrust keeps them apart.And the cost of holding the line has only grown heavier. Shepherds of Truth does not introduce a new conflict. It answers the one we’ve been circling since Book One. Here’s a brief moment from early in the book: He lay curled on the...