Preorder A Testament of Steel!

Hi everyone,

Long post alert!!! This is a post that’s actually on time for once, and there’s a lot to cover. I’ve got an interview with Dyrk Ashton, author of the Paternus series. I’ve also got information on my newest book, and a little bit about a Kickstarter I’m likely going to offer. So let’s get started!
A Testament of Steel is my latest book, and the first in a new series, Instrument of Omens, releases on July 20th. Why July 20th? Because I’m superstitious (thanks to my mom), and July 20th is the anniversary of the Moon landing. Anyway, here’s the preorder link to A Testament of Steel.

This is essentially my love letter to Wheel of Time and Lord of the Rings. Here’s a little more about the book:

A young man with no past must progress into a warrior out of legend.

Cinder Shade’s life begins on a fateful afternoon at the bottom of a well where he awakens, bruised, battered, and bereft of all memory. His only understanding is a driving imperative—to protect those who can’t defend themselves and become a warrior worthy of the name.
He discovers within himself a peculiar gift, one in which the codes of combat are made evident and the language of steel is made clear. When he earns a place at a prestigious elven warrior academy, Cinder fights to enhance his knowledge and perhaps even humble the proud elves who believe no human is their equal.
His hard-earned skills are put to the test when strange rumblings emanate from deep in the Dagger Mountains. Monsters out of myth emerge. And so does something far worse . . .
An ancient god. The world believes this deity long dead, but he is very much alive. And he remembers his enemies all too well. Even if they don’t remember themselves.

I’m also going to do a Kickstarter for the audiobook, which will be narrated by Nick Podehl. I’ll send out a little more about that next week.

Finally, the omnibus edition of my William Wilde series released on Amazon a few weeks ago, and it has done so much better this time around. I’m grateful that more people are giving it a go. It’s still a great deal with over 1950 pages for only $3.99. Just click here or the cover art for the link.

And this is what the story is about:

William Wilde thought he was simply another high school student, but it turns out he’s much more. And the powers percolating through the world know it. They’ve already killed his family, and if unchallenged, they’ll murder him, too. Even now, they hunt him.
William’s troubles, though, are only beginning. He is drafted into a war that stretches back thousands of years—one involving monsters, evil gods, and resurrected heroes. Those battling want and fear him because William is the most powerful mage born in generations. He might bring victory to either side. But who can he trust? His friends who lied to him? Serena Paradiso, who is as enchanting as she is mysterious? Or the warriors, Rukh and Jessira Shektan, whose faces shine with ancient knowledge?
William isn’t sure where to turn for help. His only certainty is that if he doesn’t master his powers, he’ll only live long enough to see his world enslaved.

And now, here’s the interview with Dyrk Ashton!

Hi, Dyrk. Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the web!

Thank you for having me, Davis!

1. No thanks are necessary, Dyrk. Just pay in Bitcoin later . . . err. Nevermind. No payments are necessary either. What inspired you to become a writer?

I honestly don’t know, but I guess it has to be that I have loved reading and watching movies since I was very young, and became fascinated with storytelling itself early on. Telling stories seemed, and still seems, to be such a magical and wonderful thing, I really just wanted to try my hand at it.

2. Once storytelling gets in your blood, it’s hard to shake. It was the same way for me. What did you do before you became a writer?

I was a filmmaker, mostly. I have a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in film production, and worked my way up from production assistant through grip and to production manager and producer on commercials, then was doing short films and independent feature films. I worked in a lot of positions in Los Angeles, but made most of my living as an actor. I then went back to school to get my PhD in cinema studies and that’s really what I did before I started writing novels seriously (and still do).

3. Dr. Dyrk? Are you serious? Well Dr. Dyrk, you’re known for the world of your bestselling urban-epic fantasy series, Paternus, and book 3 is coming out soon. What was the genesis of this massive, mythic world you created?

I’ve always been fascinated by mythology from many cultures, and the idea of a story told in a cinematic manner that incorporated a kind of universal field theory for the mythologies of the world had been germinating for 10 or 15 years. Paternus was an exploration of theory as well as of narrative and prose style. I also wanted to try to capture the awe of what it would be like for regular folks to come in contact with beings they’d always thought were fictitious. It’s been a hell of a lot of fun to write.

4. Had to go look up universal (unified) field theory. Made sure I knew what you meant. That’s a cool concept: something simple and concrete that serves as the basis for every ancient myth we tell ourselves. So, now that we know what Paternus started, how about a quick summary or blurb about the series? BTW, you know how much I love the books, which I always call an urban fantasy that’s more epic than any epic fantasy.

I’m thrilled you like the books, and love that description, but – you bastard! You know how terrible I am at blurbs and elevator pitches 😀

This is going to be awful, but “Gods and monsters are real, and they’re coming back to finish a war that’s been waged since the dawn of time.” See, awful…

5. I don’t think it’s bad. I like it. BTW your artwork is fantastic. Who are the characters on the various covers?

John Anthony di Giovanni has done all my cover art, and it’s been amazing to work with him. Rise of Gods has The Pater (father of all the gods) and Mahishasura, a buffalo demon from Hindu mythology. Book two, Wrath of Gods, features a character going by the name Kabir, but who’s real name is Zadkiel, and the snakey fellow behind him is Naga, also from Hindu mythology. Book three has Fi Patterson in her Valkyrie armor, and The Prathamaja Nandana in one of her many forms, in this case Kali, the Dark Mother.

6. I love that behind the scenes look you just provided. Also, you recently did a Kickstarter? What was the purpose for that?

I’d always want to do hardbacks, but didn’t like the limitations of going the print-on-demand route. The Kickstarter was to fund hardbacks of book 1, Rise of Gods, to be printed in the way I’d always wanted them to be.

7. I think you mentioned in an aside that you’re also going to be doing a Kickstarter to have excellent hardcovers available for the other books. Speaking of, book 3 just released on June 23^rd, which means you’re on pins and needles about how it will be received. However, there’s something else I’d like to know about: what about audiobooks? Will there be any audiobook version of book 3?

I hope so. The first two books are on Audible. My only hesitation at this point is that sales of the audiobooks have not been great, even though the ratings are good. Book 3 is really long so it will be very expensive to produce and I just don’t know if it will ever make that money back, let alone show a profit. We’ll see. I’ll have to see how sales of book 3 go before I make the decision.

8. Paternus is beloved, but what comes next? Any new stories set in the same world? A new world?

Thank you for asking! What I really want to do, and plan to do, is a series of 4 to 6 books set in the same world as Paternus, but about 20 years earlier. These would be more standard urban fantasy, and much shorter than the Paternus trilogy books. They’d be told from the point of view of an anonymous demon/monster hunter and include a number of characters who appear in The Paternus Trilogy, but will be designed to be read entirely separately from the trilogy. In other words, folks could read this series without having read the trilogy, and vice versa. I’m really looking forward to working on those.

Sounds epic. Thanks again, Dyrk! Here are the links to all of Dyrk’s books:

AMAZON
Book 1: Paternus: Rise of Gods, http://myBook.to/Paternus
Book 2: Paternus: Wrath of Gods, http://myBook.to/PaternusWoG
Book 3: Paternus: War of Gods, http://mybook.to/PaternusWARoG
Art of War: Anthology for Charity (all proceeds go to Doctors without Borders), https://www.amazon.com/Art-War-Anthology-Petros-Triantafyllou-ebook/dp/B078GVVB7T
Lost Lore: A Fantasy Anthology (free!), https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Lore-Anthology-Ben-Galley-ebook/dp/B078YH28M6