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The Game of Writing

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 So, in my last blog, I spoke about how I was now officially writing for the Kings of War source books and I just wanted to do a quick blurb about what that is like. For starters, it is a very different beast to write something that reads more like a history book than a narrative novel. It makes a word count much harder to achieve when you can't build out descriptions or explore situations through nuanced dialogue. That being said, it was a lot of fun to work almost exclusively on world-building. You know, that thing that we always did when we were sitting in a boring lecture at school instead of paying attention to the teacher? The hard part was making all of those ideas palatable and interesting for a casual reader. The simplest solution was to weave in numerous narrative short stories to help flesh out characters or provide additional perspective on the events as they unfolded. This also gave me a break from the overly formal constraints of writing from a strictly objective hist...
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Sorry for going AWOL...

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 So, after almost a year of inactivity, I have a lot to catch up on. Sorry for not posting for a significant time, I am going to try again at this consistent posting thing... You know how they say, 'Try, try again'? First off, the good news: My next book is about to drop! Here's the cover art! This is a direct sequel to Pride of a King, picking up a couple of months after the events of that book. According to Amazon, it's set to ship on December 16th, but the publisher is saying it may be out a little earlier than that. We'll see! I am super excited to see another of my stories in print! It's always exciting. Click here to pre-purchase the book from Amazon Click here to purchase the book directly from Winged Hussar In other writing news, I've become an official freelance writer for Mantic Games! I have just finished up the process along with a team of talented writers such as Mark Barber, author of Steps to Deliverance;  Scott Washburn, author of Broken Alli...
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Interviews Abound!

 Another podcast has interviewed me about Pride of a King! The Combat Phase is a podcast dedicated to miniature wargames, in particular Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar, but one of the hosts also plays Kings and invited me on to talk about my book. You can find the podcast episode  here. It's always fun to talk about the stories that I have written and how those things can hopefully help others with their own struggles or have conversations about those things that they need to have. I greatly enjoy this work, and am grateful that I have the opportunity to do what I love!
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Reflections and Expectations

 I was looking through some older reviews and came across this interesting article from Dash28, a Kings of War website. It was a touching review that made me feel pretty good at the time. You can check out the article by clicking  here  if you'd like before moving on to the rest of what I have to say, which is mostly ramblings, but I figure why else would you be here if not for that? Now, this is a great recommendation for my book Pride of a King . At the time of its publishing, I was happy to have produced something that someone else was able to enjoy. Now, though, as I sit on the end of the first draft of that book's sequel, I find myself filled with trepidation by that reviewer's praise. What if I can't do it again? What if the book I wrote was my one-hit wonder? My "Eye of the Tiger" or "Take on Me" if you will. What if I can't replicate the things that made the previous book a success?  Doubt is a devious worm that eats away at your innards ...
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Spooky Season and Reflections

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 Well, the month of October has gotten away from me. I apologize that I haven't posted in almost three weeks now, October is always a busy month for me. For starters, it's when the full swing of the school year is finally getting going and we have lots of stuff at work that gets me so that by the time I get home I am exhausted and barely have time for my second job (which is also teaching). All of that is just excuses, though. It is spooky season! In light of that, I have to highlight my spooky story "Home Field Advantage" which can be found in the collected anthology The House on Dominion Street  published through Winged Hussar. I'm rather proud of it because it is a departure from my usual fantasy stories. You can buy it through Amazon  HERE Besides all of that, there is also a season of traditions coming up. The last quarter of the year is always a magical time that is steeped in the memories of the past. It is a time of reflection. In October we see the world ...
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The Best Books That Are Part Of Bigger Universes

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 So recently I participated with a website called Shepherd.com. This site is dedicated to connecting authors with potential readers by having them outline a list of books that conforms to a themed list which the author concocts. For me, I came up with the category of "the best books that are part of bigger universes" which I found fitting because most of my works are part of a shared narrative universe! Thus it made sense for me to show anyone who was interested what I consider to be a good example of tie-in novels, or novels that take place in a bigger setting than just what is encompassed in that singular story. I really enjoy Shepherd's vision for the purpose of this site. There are hundreds of authors that have published their lists on here and I must say that I have discovered some interesting titles to add to my TBR list. I would recommend anyone who likes seeing what other people think of books, or themes, or just likes lists in general to take a look at the site a...
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Pride of a King Book Discussion

 Something that I have discussed with a few other authors is that often times when we have interviews we are asked a lot of the same kinds of questions, and those are generally rather generic things like "Where did you get your inspiration?" or "What struggles did you have while writing this book?" and while those are all good questions, they don't really dig into the meat of the story that you have just spent the last several months/years writing. This is why I appreciate the recent series known as "the Loremaster's Library" from the Coutner Charge podcast. These guys basically have a deep dive discussion into the ins and outs of a story, much like a book club would do, or a deeply invested college English class. They've done a few different books for the Kings of War universe of novels, and they are all fun to listen to.  Here is the episode they did on my most recent book Pride of a King . It's a fun listen and can give you some good ins...
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