Ben Stoddard: Author

 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 ...

 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 ...

 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...

 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...

 As you likely know, my publisher is a small business run out of New Jersey. It is a father-son duo that runs/owns the business, and they deal primarily with tie-in media revolving around other peoples' IP that they will then market out to authors to write novels within those universes. Vince, the dad, has a background working with Games Workshop's Black Library, and his son has grown up under that influence. Both are excellent human beings who have been a pleasure to work with and I can't recommend them enough. One of the projects that they introduced to try and help out their authors was a podcast where they were able to interview their authors and get some more in-depth questions about those writers' deeper inspections of the stories that they have created. I was able to go on there for a pair of episodes to talk about my own writing and I feel that they would make excellent additions to anyone who is looking to get to know me better (scary though that may be). Here ...

 Alright everyone!  Welcome to the new blog... or rather the only blog as I've never really made one before now, at least not for my author profile. This is where I'm going to keep updates for my books and other published activities. I'll probably talk a lot about gaming and painting and other things that interest me.  I beg you to be patient with me as I produce content for here, but I promise that I will strive to make regular posts. For today, let's start with an oldie. Here is a story that I wrote for Kings of War that was turned into an audio drama; this was back in 2017. It was produced by the guys working between the Counter Charge Podcast and the Deadzone Podcast, and I think they did a pretty good job. Give it a listen by following the link: Listen to "The Godstone Wars!" here . Hopefully you enjoy that! I'll post some more stuff in the future, but for now, sit back and relax. Try not to judge too harshly, I wrote this without an editor and in som...