What a Way to End the Year!

Well, I wanted to get my writing back on track, and here it is. As of right now, my first published book in over two years is being processed by Amazon. I'm not sure if I'm going to count it as 2022 (since I finished writing and submitting it prior to the New Year) or 2023 (since it won't be approved and ready for sale until then). I'll probably wait to make that decision until I see how well I'm maintaining my yearly goals. Is that cheating? Only if I get caught.

So, what exactly is the book? It's the first book in an ongoing fantasy series. The series is 'The Shadowmage Saga'. The first book is titled, 'Apprentice'. Here's the cover:

It's not the snazziest cover, I know. But it is an excellent representation of the Forbidden Lands, a locale in the book (obviously). Since I have to rely on stock images for the moment until I can afford to pay a decent cover artist (shout-out to greyghost at Fiverr!), this will have to do.

The book is, at the moment, only going to be available as an ebook. I'm going to hold out on the paperback until I can hopefully get a proper cover done up.

So, what's it about? Well, there are a couple of hints on the cover. It involves saving the world, and saving children. Saving them from what? Bad things. Very, very bad things. But don't worry, this is a fantasy aimed at intelligent young adult readers. No sex, no bad language, reasonable levels of violence (and no gory stuff). As you know, I want to write stuff my kids and grandkids can read without needing parental advisory warnings.

The basic idea is this: Jandar, an apprentice to the Shadowmage, is sent on a mission of great importance to rescue some tribal humans from their magic-wielding oppressors. Why him and not the Shadowmage? Because master wizards are always too busy for that sort of thing, that's why. Jandar gets the short-end of the straw and gets to go save everyone while putting his own life in terrible peril. Because if he didn't, then the book would be really boring.

It's not a Harry Potter style book. It's a bit different from my Meterra books as well, although it's very much of a pulp style, with the action being pretty continuous throughout the book. I had the idea for this book years and years ago, and now it's a reality. I'm excited, and I hope you will be as well. I will post the link to the book as soon as it gets approved by Amazon. The book will be available for the very reasonable ebook price of $4.99 US, and it will be available in all Amazon markets around the world.

So, there it is. What a way to end 2022. I feel good about 2023, I really do. It's going to be a great year. Happy New Year, everyone!