It’s launch day!

Get your copy of William Wilde and the Stolen Life at your local Amazon and Audible stores!

Having survived the deadly Kohl Obsidian, William Wilde had hoped his life would settle down; that he’d finish his senior year of high school and have no further adventures.
But life isn’t so simple for a potential magus, especially one who’s overcome as dangerous an enemy as Kohl. Instead, William has unwittingly earned the raptor gaze of even greater foes. One is someone he thought he could implicitly trust while others are even more terrifying. And all are from the island of Sinskrill. They are mahavans, powerful magic-users bent on humanity’s enslavement. They seek to capture William and bind him in perpetual servitude upon Sinskrill.
William finds himself trapped amongst people for whom deceit and pain are simple coins to be traded, and his best hope for survival might lie with those he thought to be his mortal enemies.
And for those looking for more Rukh and Jessira, you’ll find it here. A few of the characters from The Castes and the OutCastes, manage to make it over to Earth.

My first real newsletter! I’m trying something new, and I can’t promise I’ll keep doing it. Here  goes . . .

WHAT’S NEW:

The most important thing is this: William Wilde and the Stolen Life, Book 2 of The Chronicles of William Wilde releases next week, on June 18th and preorders for the Kindle edition are here: https://amzn.to/2sNna1L

The audiobook can be purchased on Amazon, here: https://amzn.to/2y29YLu

Or on Audible here: https://www.audible.com/pd/Teens/William-Wilde-and-the-Stolen-Life-Audiobook/B079RMLJ7D

And for those wanting more Rukh and Jessira, you’ll find it in this book and the rest of the series. That’s right. Some of the characters from The Castes and the OutCastes, which takes place on the world of Arisa, cross over to Earth. Rukh and Jessira made a limited appearance in book 1, William Wilde and the Necrosed, but they become a more integral part of the story as the series unfolds. Nevertheless, the bulk of what happens is about William Wilde.

BTW, here’s the blurb:

Having survived the deadly Kohl Obsidian, William Wilde had hoped his life would settle down; that he’d finish his senior year of high school and have no further adventures.
But life isn’t so simple for a potential magus, especially one who’s overcome as dangerous an enemy as Kohl. Instead, William has unwittingly earned the raptor gaze of even greater foes. One is someone he thought he could implicitly trust while others are even more terrifying. And all are from the island of Sinskrill. They are mahavans, powerful magic-users bent on humanity’s enslavement. They seek to capture William and bind him in perpetual servitude upon Sinskrill.
William finds himself trapped amongst people for whom deceit and pain are simple coins to be traded, and his best hope for survival might lie with those he thought to be his mortal enemies.

WHAT HAVE I BEEN UP TO?

I went to ConCarolinas and met a number of wonderful people, including John Hartness, publisher of Falstaff Books and all around generous guy, Drew Hayes, author of a series of highly popular superhero novels, Chris Jackson, who once wrote a book in one month while docked in St. Lucia, David Coe, who was a favorite of mine when I was still in the dream stages of wanting to become a writer, and Faith Hunter, who was kind to a newbie.
Also, for anyone who might in the Atlanta area over Labor Day, I’ll be attending DragonCon this year as an Attending Pro, so you might see me on some panels.
Oh, yes. I’m also putting the finishing touches on William Wilde and the Sons of Deceit before it goes out to the editor. It’s the 4th book in the series and book 3, William Wilde and the Unusual Suspects, is already complete and recorded by Nick Podehl.

WHAT DID I ENJOY READING?
With each newsletter, I’m going to do my best to include an item by a fantasy I’ve enjoyed reading. This month, it’s Steve Kelliher’s Landkist Saga. Steve is a former MMA fighter, and so, of course, his battle scenes are absolutely vivid. However, that descriptive skill carries over to his other scenes. He sets the scene so well, and his characters live and breathe. The turmoil they face, the genocide that threatens them—that’s the heart of the book. It’s a dark, mysterious world with a sense of history and filled with conflicted people who struggle to do what’s right, with no one entirely sure what that means.

Me and a bunch of other authors, like Michael J. Sullivan, Phil Tucker, David Estes, David Benem, K.S. Villoso, Steve Kelliher, Quenby Olson, and . . . well, you get the drift.

We’ve got a giant MayDaySale on many of our books that we’re running from May 1st through May 5th. It’s all fantasy, and the books run the gamut from grimdark to romantic fantasy. My contribution, book 1 of William Wilde, William Wilde and the Necrosed, is already discounted to $0.99.

Here’s the link to the entire sale.

I finished watching Lost in Space, the reboot on Netflix. Conflicted on this one. I liked the first six episodes, but then the supposed best and brightest of Earth, especially the Robinson family, made progressively stupider decisions over and over again, and I enjoyed it less and less. Wish I could have liked it more.

When I was kid back in the 80s, I loved a book called Liege-Killer by Christopher Hinz. It’s set two hundred years after a nuclear apocalypse that forces humanity to flee earth, but everyone still remembers the most cause of that catastrophe—the Paratwa, genetically modified killers who occupy two bodies controlled by one vicious mind. The legendary Paratwa named Reemul, known as the Liege-Killer, was the strongest of them all. And someone woke him. I always thought, and still think, Liege-Killer would make a kick-ass movie. Reading that book was important to me.

Anyway, I asked Mr. Hinz if I could name a character in honor of the Paratwa, and he agreed, which I think is pretty awesome. So, here’s the book that inspired a kid for thirty years.

Here’s a recent radio interview I did about my writing career. It sounds weird calling it a writing career, but I talk about The Castes and the OutCastes and my newest book, William Wilde and the Necrosed. It’s a YA fantasy that’s kind of a mix between Stranger Things and Percy Jackson.

Anyway, here’s the interview.

The story is set in the 1980s and is a classic coming of age story.

All William Wilde wants is to get through his final year of high school, survive the terrible cafeteria food, and avoid the bullies. But then comes a beautiful, new girl who seems to know too much about him; friends who’ve all along lied to him, and magic that he never wanted. Toss in a zombie-like Terminator out to kill William, and you have something like Stranger Things mixed with Percy Jackson.

As with The Castes and the OutCastes, Nick Podehl does the narration.

I’m working with an artist to come up with an image of Li-Choke. This is a preliminary sketch:

Gorgeous new pictures of Jupiter as a time lapse video from the NASA Juno probe. This is more like the 21st century I was expecting.