Newsletter - October 1, 2024 (ARC Signup Time)


This is my first day “retired” after 27 years at Intel. Everyone tells me I should have a plan how to spend the first day. I don’t. I'm kinda thinking a beer for breakfast. Set the tone. Maybe ask my wife to bring it to me, so that she understands the tone too. I am sorry to say that Book 2 of Thaumatropic Roots will never be completed after my wife reads this newsletter and drops a toaster in my bath. Rude, right? What did you do, or what do you hope to do, the first day you retire?

Joking aside, now I gotta find someone crazy enough to hire me: I still have to put three kids through college.

It’s time to start collecting ARC readers for Bones of Cenaedth (BoC). My preference is to send out ebooks. It is not only cheaper, it is simpler. Ordering author copies through Amazon (which is how I have to handle paperbacks) takes a chunk of time and followup. Ebooks I can just email you with instructions to upload to your kindle. That said, I’m willing to send some paperbacks. It depends on how many ask. In this case, the more who ask, the less likely I will be to do it. (My variant of the prisoner's dilemma) Ha!

I have a favor to ask - an experiment for me. I'm going to create a FB post with the link to the signup. I will send you to THAT, and you can click and enter your info - put in the same email you've already used for the mailing list, and it will just tag you in the system as an ARC reader for BoC. My request is for you to LIKE and COMMENT on the FB post. In theory, that tells FB that it's worth flashing in front of other fantasy readers with a kind of snowballing effect. Worth experimenting.

This is the FB post to sign up for the ARC (click on it, like it, then sign up).

If you find that's 100% broken for you, here's a direct link to sign up: https://pages.sjmorriswrites.com/bocarc

Why ARC readers? The advantage of ARC readers, from my perspective, is to get reviews on Goodreads, and then when the book officially releases, reviews on Amazon. That’s the social proof other readers look for before buying a book. So if you sign up, please follow through on leaving a rating/review. (Reviews can be very simple: “Fun read”, “I want a dragon”, or “Best book I finished today”, but maybe you can think of something you actually liked and comment on that.) If you can't make it in time for the book release, I get it--life gets in my way too sometimes. But I do appreciate you who are trying to help me get my goods seen.

All books by Steven J. Morris

Indie Author Showcase

The Time Navigator Series

by Axl Blaze

Zoe Calloway is about to unravel the secrets of time travel and her father's mysterious disappearance.

Will Zoe and her team uncover the secrets of time travel and prevent a dystopian future from becoming reality?

"Great new series for young and old alike!" (Amazon reviewer) ★★★★★

New Identity

Identity Saga Book 1

by Tenaya MKD

Does it matter who you used to be if you know who you are now?

Every day she wakes up in a new body, in a new life, with no memory of who she is.

Just as she begins to believe she might be in hell, a charming stranger with autumn-colored eyes assures her the truth is even weirder.

There are others like her who can do the impossible, and a dangerous organization is hunting them all.

Relying on people for safety goes against her instincts, but if she wants to regain control of her life—or at least wake up in the same body she went to sleep in—she has no choice.


This action-packed start to the Identity Saga is what you'd get if The Umbrella Academy recruited Crescent City's Bryce Quinlan. Or if the Reckoners in Steelheart were equipped with superpowers.

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​​May you get lost this week in another world.

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Steven J Morris

If you read fantasy for the magic, the world-building, and the occasional moment of dark humor—I write that. One urban fantasy series, one epic fantasy series, both set in the Fractured Arcana universe, with more coming. My newsletter takes you deeper into the worlds, the characters, and what's next.

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