O, Shepherd...
"there is but one promise I can make you..." new books and more...
As of but some few weeks past, The Shepherd in Shadow is a book! It is here.
When I first began this newsletter, a bit more than a year ago, I had no idea what was coming for me. If you had asked me to guess what the year ahead would hold, I would not have been able to say, “yes, I successfully finished the Derby and got a second book out before the next year's Derby was complete, and I painted my own cover.”
In any case, it's a strange feeling to already have a sequel complete. It's the story I wanted to tell, it's the story I wanted it to be. It explains some things and obfuscates others, and, most importantly, I think it clarifies Mehren to put him on squarer footing with my darling Vierrelyne. They are two of a kind, and I suspected that unraveling more of Mehren's story would also open up more of the backstory without reverting to deep flashbacks.
The Beating Hearts & Battle-Axes campaign is live on Backerkit and nearing its conclusion!
I’ll be on a livestream tomorrow evening, Friday July 19th, starting around 8PM EDT, with my publisher and some special guests talking about this project. You won’t want to miss it! Head to the Backerkit page to be notified.
I love this project so much and I'm so glad readers are excited for it, too. It's immensely validating to me as the editor to see the demand for this is present in the sword & sorcery space in particular. Romantic fantasy (and not just romantasy, though I do love romantasy too) is having a renaissance, and hey, it’s nice to be a tiny sliver of that.
The campaign is still running but we have successfully funded, so that part of the project is secured! We've also unlocked a bonus digital exclusive story, “Pagan Poetry,” from publisher Oliver Brackenbury AND an exclusive digital-only story from YOURS TRULY!
The only place to get my exclusive standalone story, “By Thieves-Light,” is through this Backerkit campaign.
We are working hard to hit our stretch goal of an international shipping discount in our FINAL 39 hours! If you love sword & sorcery with more than a hint of romance, back BEATING HEARTS & BATTLE AXES now!
SPFBO X is underway, and I'm trying to read and highlight a few books for this big, wild contest, where 300 of us enter and most of us end up on the cutting room floor.
I have some big SPFBO reviews coming up for next newsletter, but this time, I want to remind you of the other Derby books—five in all!—that also entered the Self-Publishing Fantasy Blog-Off!
Soultaming the Serpent by Tar Atore—one of my favorite reads last year, give it a look if you are in the mood for an unconventional adventure fantasy with an unconventional heroine!
The Sunset Sovereign: A Dragon’s Memoir by Laura Huie—a cozy adventure fantasy with a dragon narrator! Another of my favorite reads from the Derby and a real charming tale.
The Light Must Hold by Kriss Gallom—a grimdark odyssey with lush prose and a truly harrowing magic, unrelenting and fierce. I loved this!
The Last Lunar Witch by SF Henne—an urban fantasy with a witch whose magic is broken and a sentient coffee shop—but it’s far from merely cozy!
The Warhog Paladins by Jer Patch—a pacey LitRPG with a wonderful and compelling female protagonist and a hooky central mystery to draw you into the story.
I know I’ve heralded all these books here in the past—Show them some love!
All right, that’s enough from me
Sojourning on—’til Hell won’t have it!
—M.
Congrats! Your cover is banging. I'm so impressed you painted it yourself.