Why my Wife is Awesome

The other day, I got very, very excited when I took a look at my Amazon data and saw that someone had bought two copies of each of my fantasy novels, in paperback. These are the first paperback sales I've had, so obviously it was a thrilling feeling. Of course, I celebrated with my wife, because she's a big part of my writing, even if she doesn't read it.

A couple of days later, we got a package from Amazon that my wife told me was from the boys, for Father's Day. They'd gone into my wish list and bought something, apparently. Cool, that's awesome, and I couldn't wait to see what they'd picked up (since I couldn't remember what was on my wish list, anyway).

But the brain is a funny thing. I saw that the sales had come from Amazon Canada. Yesterday morning, I called my mother to let her know that I'd have the new book ready for her to read by this morning, and I idly wondered if it had been her that ordered my books. But she doesn't like fantasy. That's when the light bulb went off, and I put the obvious clues together. To her credit, she didn't crack, but she's learned that I am very good at figuring out her surprises, so she wasn't exactly shocked.

This morning, when I came to the computer to do my morning entry on the Traveller Let's Read, I saw, sure enough, these, sitting on my keyboard:

Now, I was excited last week when I saw that someone had bought them, but actually feeling them in my hands? Holy crap, that was an awesome experience. I can't even describe the emotions I was feeling. Fantastically awesome doesn't even come close.

And I wasn't the only one; my middle son, the twelve-year-old who loves fairy tales and fantasy, was so excited he brought it around to the neighbors to show them that his dad is an actual published author. He is absolutely psyched. And now, he's reading them himself, and loving them. He hasn't read them yet, since he's not allowed to read on my computer, and I'm not printing them out here. I don't need to; Amazon did that for me!

For those who care, by the way, the knights on the covers are not the same person. And that armadillo-thingie in the Devil's Playground? That's a monster I invented, and seeing it visualized by a professional artist feels great. The whole thing feels awesome.

Anyway, I'm just going to stare at these for a while, because it's still hard to believe it's real. I am married to an absolutely awesome woman, who wanted to support her husband's dreams and aspirations, and knew how much this would mean to me. How I managed to get by without her all those years is beyond me.

If you'd like to order your own copies, they're available on Amazon right now. Arrival and The Devil's Playground. Paperbacks isn't the only option; check out the e-books, as well.