Praise for DARK IMMOLATION

I was scaling through my blog archive, and realized I forgot to post (and finish, for that matter) this! While I stopped keeping track of reviews a while ago (hence, I figure, my forgetting about this), I'll post this anyway, because some good people have said some good things about Dark Immolation, and I think that's pretty cool. :-D

-

"This is a series full of strong ideas, intriguing questions about morality, and solid writing--books I think will appeal to anyone who enjoys my epic fantasy." - Brandon Sanderson, author of the Mistborn series and the Stormlight Archive

"The second book...can make or break a series. In this case, Dark Immolation very clearly makes the series...Husberg keeps everything moving at a solid pace." - MySF Reviews

"Husberg flawlessly glides from the POV of one character to another. Knot and Astrid are as brilliant as ever....This is a series that I'm so glad I picked up." - Strupag

"Dark Immolation is one hell of a sequel, one of the most interesting I've read in a while." - Luke Tarzian Writes

"Dark fantasy of the highest order, telling an expansive story across a truly epic canvass." - Barnes & Noble

"Better than the first book (love when that happens) and I look forward to the next." - Books for Life

"An all-enveloping read that demonstrates why epic fantasy was created." - The Book Bag

"The characters are, in my opinion, the best thing about Dark Immolation (and Duskfall, the first book). It's great to see the relationships developing between the various characters, and although there are a lot of them, you never feel overwhelmed by the different points of view. There's some pretty great world-building in these books, with strong writing, well-developed characters, and a truly fascinating setting. I can't wait to read Blood Requiem, the third installment." - The Bookish Outsider

"5 out of 5." - Abi's Book Reviews

"If the fantastically written characters and intriguing plot wasn't enough to have you desperate to read this series, there's also plenty of countries looking for a fight, some not so friendly demons running loose, and more than a bit of magic flying around. The Chaos Queen series is magnificent." - The Bibliophile Chronicles

"Shit goes down in this book. Amazing shit. Crazy shit. Baffling shit. Jaw-dropping shit. Just a ton of epic and awesome shit. And I have a distinct feeling that Husberg is just getting started." - Erlebnisse

Whitney Awards

Hey folks!

Did you read Dark Immolation this year?

Did you think it was awesome?

If so, please consider nominating it for the Whitney Awards!

Here's a link to the nomination page.

🙏 🙌

Character Description

So I'm currently reading Misery by Stephen King, and though I'm only about 25% through it, I'm enjoying it immensely. It's suspenseful, but it's also fascinating from a stylistic perspective. I'll have to reserve my full judgment until I finish it of course, but right now it's shaping up to be one of my all-time favorite Stephen King novels--and that's saying a lot. (I'm also looking forward to watching the film once I finish the book, which I've also never seen.)

My copy totally has this retro cover btw.

When King's on, he's really on, folks. This guy is a professional that knows what he's doing. Check out one of my favorite sequences so far, the character description of the infamous Annie Wilkes:

That prescient part of his mind saw her before he knew he was seeing her, and must surely have understood her before he knew he was understanding her--why else did he associate such dour, ominous images with her? Whenever she came into the room he thought of the graven images worshipped by superstitious African tribes in the novels of H. Rider Haggard, and stones, and doom.

The image of Annie Wilkes as an African idol out of She or King or Solomon's Mines was both ludicrous and queerly apt. She was a big woman who, other than the large but unwelcoming swell of her bosom under the gray cardigan sweater she always wore, seemed to have no feminine curves at all--there was no defined roundness of hip or buttock or even calf below the endless succession of wool skirts she wore in the house (she retired to her unseen bedroom to put on jeans before doing her outside chores). Her body was big but not generous. There was a feeling about her of clots and roadblocks rather than welcoming orifices or even open spaces, areas of hiatus.

Most of all she gave him a disturbing sense of solidarity, as if she might not have any blood vessels or even internal organs; as if she might be only solid Annie Wilkes from side to side and top to bottom. He felt more and more convinced that her eyes, which appeared to move, were actually just painted on, and they moved no more than the eyes of portraits which appear to follow you to wherever you move in the room where they hang. It seemed to him that if he made the first two fingers of his hand into a V and attempted to poke them up her nostrils, they might go less than an eighth of an inch before encountering a solid (if slightly yielding) obstruction; that even her gray cardigan and frumpy house skirts and faded outside-work jeans were part of that solid fibrous unchannelled body. So his feelings that she was like an idol in a perfervid novel was not really surprising at all. Like an idol, she gave only one thing: a feeling of unease deepening steadily toward terror. Like an idol, she took everything else. 

Wow. That's a character description if I've ever seen one. I particularly love the third paragraph and the description of her "solidarity"--so vivid, so interestingly written.

I'll admit, the habit of extended character descriptions like the one above are sort of out of style these days--many authors, including myself most of the time, favor minimalist descriptions. I personally like leaving as much of my character to the reader as possible, although there are certainly moments when I want more concrete physicality for one reason or another and I spend a bit more time with description. That said, I think part of why they're out of style is people attempted something like what King did above, but failed at it, making it long, boring, repetitive, and useless. I have to say, if more descriptions like this one popped up, I'd be pretty happy about it.

Anyway. Character description. Stephen King. Misery. Good stuff.

 

Here's a great track

So I recently came across the trailer for the first Dead Island video game. It's...wow. It's beautiful. Incredibly well-done. I've never played the franchise, but I remember not picking it up precisely because reviews were not great and it didn't turn out being a type of play style I particularly enjoy. But say what you will about the game...this trailer is objectively good, and in large part because of the soundtrack: a track called "Dead Island Trailer Theme" (what it lacks for in titular creativity it makes up for in quiet, emotional, escalating loops) by a composer named Giles Lamb. I've looked up some of his other stuff, and it's pretty good, but I have to say I love this track and I really enjoy this trailer. It's become a staple in my writing soundtrack. So I'm sharing it with you today. Enjoy!

Signed Books and other Goodies in SLC/Utah Valley!

This one's for the Utah folks out there!

Every single Barnes & Noble in the area has signed copies of DUSKFALL and DARK IMMOLATION, along with some neat BLOOD REQUIEM postcards and other goodies embedded within. Hate coming up with Christmas gift ideas? You're welcome. Or just get them for yourself. Or don't get them at all? Just sayin' they're out there!

Here's list of all the B&Ns that have the signed goods:

Orem University Parkway
Sandy
West Jordan
Midvale (Ft. Union)
Murray
Sugarhouse
Gateway
Gateway Crossing (Bountiful)
Layton

THANK YOU!

In the wake of Thanksgiving, there's one thing that's stood out to me that I wanted to express on the webs, but it'll take me a few paragraphs, so, *TL, DR: I'm grateful to be an author, and I'm grateful for every single one of you awesome folks who have helped, contributed, offered encouragement, and bought or talked about my books!*

I have two books on shelves, and three more in the pipeline. DUSKFALL is still doing very well where sales are concerned (🙌). I'd like DARK IMMOLATION to be doing better, but considering it's a direct sequel I can't be upset at its performance so far at all. And I'm ecstatic for BLOOD REQUIEM to hit the shelves in June! DF is already out in Germany, and DI comes out in Germany in May. DF should be out in Poland in the very near future. There are print, ebook, and audio versions of each of my books available.

Basically, I have a lot to be thankful for on this front, and I'm so grateful to be doing what I love for a living.

But I can't say that without thinking of all of you. So, this post is for you all! THANK YOU! 🙏

Thank you for telling me you've enjoyed my books! That, more than anything, helps me on the days where I wonder what in the world I'm doing and why I'm doing it. That helps me remember the why.

Thank you for talking about my books with other people! That's the single most helpful thing anyone could ever do for an author, I think--just talk to someone about a book, and how/why you enjoyed it.

Thank you for leaving reviews of my books on Amazon and Goodreads! While you may not realize it, that actually helps a lot as well.

Thank you for liking and sharing, or at least putting up with posts about my books!

Thank you, of course, for purchasing my books! Whether for yourself or as gifts, I sincerely hope you enjoy them (and, to those of my friends who have bought them with no intent on reading them whatsoever, of which I know there are a few--I hope you enjoy bragging about how you know an author! 😉 ).

And, most of all, thank you for reading. I'm so grateful I get to tell the stories of Winter, Knot, Cinzia, Astrid, and so many others. I hope you're enjoying their tales as much as I am--and I CANNOT WAIT for you to read what I've written in Books 3 and 4! 😁

So, again, thank you. It looks like I'll be able to do this for a while, and that is, in large part, thanks to you ❤️. I have the best friends, family, and fans in the world, and I love you all!

The Forge and the Flame

Receiving requests to review manuscripts, read ARCs, and give cover quotes is a part of author-life. Unfortunately, if I said yes to every single one of those requests, I'd never have time to write, but I do try to acquiesce as often as I can, because that's part of the business--writers did that (and continue to do that!) for me, and I'd like to pass that on to others. It's a pay-it-forward system, and it's one of the parts of the business I appreciate the most.

Well, along those lines, I recently read The Forge and the Flame by Aaron Lee Yeager, and I'm happy to say that this book is one of the good ones, folks!

Beren Collier is shocked when Master Tannimbaugh--the greatest blacksmith alive, able to forge weapons that can summon dragonfire and call down lightening--chooses Beren as his new apprentice. But Beren, despite his unsophisticated upbringing, takes naturally to the apprenticeship, and quickly shows his quality as both a burgeoning blacksmith and a hero-in-training. But a rival apprentice who will stop at nothing to overtake Beren's coveted place at the foot of Master Tannimbaugh is the least of the young man's problems; dark forces stir in the corners of the world, threatening not only the tightly knit circle of friends and family Master Tannimbaugh has created around himself--of which Beren is now a part--but the entire world.

The Forge and the Flame is genuine in nature, epic in scope, and downright entertaining. I enjoyed the melding of magic with the well-researched, fascinating aspects of blacksmith life--there's a beautifully written sequence toward the middle of the book that had me reading on the edge of my seat as the characters raced to forge a special weapon to save Master Tannimbaugh's business. The characters, especially Beren, are vividly presented, competent but flawed, and powerfully hopeful. They solve complications as effectively as they create them, and that makes for pretty great storytelling.

Aaron Lee Yeager weaves an enchanting, uplifting tale with engaging characters and an intriguing magic system. The Forge and the Flame has the soul of a true classic!

BLOOD REQUIEM Cover!

Aaaaaand it's gorgeous and I love it. I have to say, Titan has done me right when it comes to cover art. I've been very happy with what they've done so far!

Also, I fully acknowledge I've been flying under the radar for a few months, now. That's more or less been on purpose; I've been getting a lot of work done and sort of keeping my distance from the really involved social media stuff, and it's been a very positive thing for me. I'll probably be diving back into things in the next month or so, but it's been good to take some time away and focus on work.

Speaking of work, I've started Book 4 of the Chaos Queen Quintet, currently titled Fear the Stars, and it's going very well. I feel really good about the outlining and pre-writing I've done. I have to say, it's pretty strange to be moving into Book 4 of a five-book series; I'm consciously trying to wrap quite a few things up in this book to prepare for the finale in Book 5, and that's, well...just kind of crazy.

Also, Book 4 is an interesting one, because a few of the key events in this book have been swimming around in my head for a long time, and a couple of them actually inspired me to write this series to begin with. It's really interesting, fun, and actually a bit emotional to be preparing to write some of those scenes. I'll let you know how they go when I get there :-).

So: I have a great cover for Blood Requiem, I'm plodding right along through Book 4, Thanksgiving is next week, and life is generally pretty great.

Salt Lake Comic Con 2017!

Salt Lake Comic Con is this week! And of course I'll be there. Here's the schedj:

Friday 22 Sept 6-7pm - Family Feud, Salt Lake Comic Con Edition! (251A) - If you want to see the coolest, nerdiest, awesomest gameshow panel of all time run by the fantastic Aaron Yeager (thanks Aaron!), you won’t want to miss this one. It’s going to be a blast!

Saturday 23 Sept 12-1pm - Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 20 Years and Counting (255E) - Of course I’m on the BtVS panel, and I can’t wait! We’re going to talk about how BtVS changed the television landscape as we know it today. It’ll be a lot of fun.

Saturday 23 Sept 1-2pm - Christopher Husberg Signing (Shadow Mountain Booth 1807) - I get my very own signing! Stop by to get your books signed, pick up some swag, and chat with me about books, Buffy, writing, or anything else!

I’ll also be hanging out at Bard’s Tower—an awesome traveling bookstore where you not only buy books but also get to meet the authors, get books signed, chat about writing, and so forth. I’ll be one of MANY fantastic, talented writers at the booth, so you’re sure to find something you like.

If you’re already planning on attending SLCC, I hope to see you there! (And if you aren’t, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!)

Gen Con 2017

I'll be attending Gen Con for the first time next week! For those of you unaware, Gen Con is actually a very cool board game convention, but has lately garnered a reputation for having a very strong writing track as well. I'm quite excited. They've been gracious in letting me participate in quite a few panels and other events, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun (and a lot of work for me, but it's work I'm excited and happy to do)!

Check out my schedule (no descriptions for the panels, yet, but the titles should give you a general idea of the content), and if you're attending, hit up one of these panels, come to my signing and/or reading, and come find me in general!

Thursday 17 August at 11:00 AM: "Real Monsters & Vicious Animals" (Capital I)

Thurs 17 Aug at 3:00 PM: Reading (Congress I)

Thurs 17 Aug at 5:00 PM: "Is it Tension? Or Just Torture?" (Chamber)

Friday 18 Aug at 11:00 AM: "How to Know When You Need an Agent" (Causus)

Fri 18 Aug at 12:00 PM: "Writing a First Draft" (Chamber)

Fri 18 Aug at 3:00 PM: Signing (Exhibit Hall)

Saturday 19 Aug at 10:00 AM: "Dark Fantasy" (Chamber)

Sat 19 Aug at 1:00 PM: "Turning Tropes Upside Down" (Cabinet)

Sat 19 Aug at 2:00 PM: "Making Magic New Again" (Capital I)

Sat 19 Aug at 5:00 PM: "Writing a Series" (Chamber)

Sunday 20 Aug at 10:00 AM: Read & Critique - Session C (Cabinet)

Worldcon in Helsinki, Finland!

Hey alls!

In case you don't know, I'm currently in Sweden, and getting ready to cross the Baltic Sea tomorrow night for Worldcon in Helsinki, Finland later this week!

Before I share with you some decent photos of cool stuff we've seen so far, let me first share with you my official Worldcon schedule, which includes one panel this year, on one of my favorite topics of all time:

Saturday 12 August at 11:00 AM: "Legacy of Buffy" (203a)
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show premiered 20 years ago in 1997 and brought with it an unusual mix of supernatural horror, comedy, and interesting characters. Supernatural elements are very commonplace in television these days, but what is the real legacy of Buffy and the Scooby Gang?

Hey. I'm excited about this panel, ya'll. If there's one thing I love more than BtVS, it's nothing, and you can take that to the bank. (?) But really, though, I like the show a lot, and I think all of us on the panel will have a lot to say about the legacy this program left behind, particularly in relation to what many are now calling the "golden age" of television we're experiencing right now.

Other than that, I'll just be hanging around the convention center, talking to folks, and probably resting up a bit from our rigorous travels around Scandinavia! Speaking of which, here's a teaser photo for some more images to come, that I'll share in a later dedicated post:

Scandinavia is cool.

Signing in LONDON at Forbidden Planet!

ATTENTION ALL LONDON-AREA FOLK!

I'm excited to announce (again, and with more detail) that I'll be appearing at Forbidden Planet in two weeks for a book signing in London. If you're in the area, do stop by, say hello, and get books signed!

🔮🔥🖋📕📗📚📖

Check out Forbidden Planet's official event page!

And here's the general info:

What? Duskfall and Dark Immolation book signing!

When? Wednesday 2 August 2017

18:00 - 19:00 GMT

Where? Forbidden Planet Books

• 179 Shaftesbury Avenue
• London
• WC2H 8JR

I can't wait!

Happy 4th and photos from the DARK IMMOLATION launch party

Happy 4th of July, ya'll! 🇺🇸 💥

I hope, if you're in the USA, you're having a delightful Independence Day. (And if you're not, you know what, you go ahead and have a delightful day anyway!)

In other news, we had a pretty phenomenal launch party for Dark Immolation a few weeks back. For the full video of the reading and Q&A sections of the event, check out the live Facebook video below!

And for those of you who don't want to spend an hour, you can just check out these awesome photos from the event, courtesy of my awesome sister :-).

I read publicly from Dark Immolation for the first time.

The good word was received well.

Indoor lamp posts are a thing, apparently.

We had a pretty awesome turnout.

Folks got their books signed.

More folks got their books signed.

One particularly eccentric fan got his chest (hair) signed.

I had a good time, and I hope everyone else did, too. I'm looking forward to another event next year for Blood Requiem, and in the meantime if you're looking for me or more info on the Chaos Queen Quintet, check out the Dark Immolation Blog Tour, the Witchy Eye/Dark Immolation Book Tour, and my general schedule for 2017!

The WITCHY EYE/DARK IMMOLATION Book Tour!

Hey folks!

Let's talk about some more tour-related stuff. First of all, if you haven't already, check out my post on the Dark Immolation Blog Tour. Some cool stuff coming your way via the interwebz.

But, for those of you more physically-minded, I'm SO FREAKING EXCITED to announce the joint Witchy Eye/Dark Immolation Book Tour!

Some of you may recall my praise of D.J. Butler's flintlock American epic fantasy novel, Witchy Eye. (I've also recently placed it on a "top 5" list of fantasy novels--trust me when I say it's an awesome book written by a brilliant author. For those of you wondering, if you're enjoying the Chaos Queen Quintet, chances are high you'll love Witchy Eye. It is, in a word, delightfullybrilliantandspectacular.)

Well, he and I are officially going on tour together, beginning July 10th! We'll start in San Diego, work our way up the west coast to Seattle, then head inland to end our tour in Boise.

Seven stops, six cities, four states, three of the coolest people you'll ever meet*, and two top-notch fantasy novels make for one freaking awesome book tour. Prepare yourselves, world. The Witchy Eye/Dark Immolation Book Tour is coming.

Here are all of our official stops:

Monday 10 July 7:30 PM (PDT) - Mysterious Galaxy Books
San Diego, CA

Facebook Event Page (San Diego)

Tuesday 11 July 7:00 PM (PDT) - Borderlands Books
San Francisco, CA

Facebook Event Page (San Francisco)

Wednesday 12 July 3:00 PM (PDT) - Reader's Guide Bookstore
Salem, OR

Facebook Event Page (Salem Afternoon)

Wednesday 12 July 7:00 PM (PDT) - The Book Bin
Salem, OR

Facebook Event Page (Salem Evening)

Thursday 13 July 7:00 PM (PDT) - Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
Portland, OR

Facebook Event Page (Portland)

Friday 14 July 7PM (PDT) - University Bookstore
Seattle, WA

Facebook Event Page (Seattle)

Saturday 15 July 7PM (MST) - The Rediscovered Bookshop
Boise, ID

Facebook Event Page (Boise)
Rediscovered Bookshop Event Page

If you're in the area, do come say hello, bring a friend, buy a book (or two!), etc. We'd love to see you!

Also, Rachel and I are working on Phase 2 for the Dark Immolation book tour, and those plans should come to fruition in September. That phase will include more of Utah, the Mesa/Pheonix area, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, so stay tuned for news on that front.

Basically: awesome things are happening and life is good.

* We'll have a stowaway of sorts accompanying us :-).

BabyB (is no longer a baby...)

Baby B* says to buy my new book, Dark Immolation! And according to her shirt she'll be patrolling tonight, so you'd better do as she says...😆

* Also "Baby B is clearly no longer a baby anymore...I might have to advance her moniker to "Little B"...😢

Check out the DARK IMMOLATION Blog Tour!

As part of the promotion for Dark Immolation, I'm making the interwebby rounds! Keep your eyes peeled for the following posts on Dark Immolation and the Chaos Queen Quintet!

Also, check out these other guest posts that didn't quite make the banner in time:

Tor.com: The Reapers are the Angels and the Dynamic Utility of Prose

Mary Robinette Kowal: My Favorite Bit

I'll be posting links to each of the blog tour sites as they're published, so stay tuned for those!

26 June: The Tattooed Book Geek

27 June: Titan Books Extract*

28 June: Books for Life

29 June: Laura Patricia Rose

30 June: Alice R. Dempsey

3 July: Bookish Outsider

4 July: Angel Wings and Petticoats

5 July: Abi's Book Reviews

6 July: Japan Reviewer

7 July: Literary Wisdom



* Book Mood Reviews unfortunately had to bow out of the tour due to some personal matters that arose, so Titan Books stepped in and posted an extract from Dark Immolation in place of this review.

DARK IMMOLATION

Here we are, folks! Dark Immolation, book two of the Chaos Queen Quintet, has been unleashed upon the english-speaking world! (It was technically unleashed two days ago, but I've been so busy I forgot to post about it! Hopefully you've been following me on all other forms of social media and have kept up 😁.)

The book is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats, so choose your preferred format and have at it!

Overall I'm quite happy with this book, and I cannot wait for all of you to read it. Check out the synopsis:

A new religion is rising, gathering followers drawn by rumors of prophetess Jane Oden. Her sister Cinzia--once a Cantic priestess--is by her side, but fears that Jane will lead them to ruin. For both the Church and the Nazaniin assassins are still on their trail, and much worse may come.

Knot, his true nature now revealed if not truly understood, is haunted by his memories, and is not the ally he once was. Astrid travels to Tinska to find answers for her friend, but the child-like vampire has old enemies who have been waiting for her return. And beyond the Blood Gate in the empire of Roden, a tiellan woman finds herself with a new protector. One who wants to use her extraordinary abilities for his own ends...

And, of course, the phenomenal cover:

Thanks, everyone! Now please excuse me while I continue revising book 3!

 

DARK IMMOLATION Launch Party!

Hello awesomes!

For those of you who don't know, Dark Immolation, the sequel to Duskfall and book 2 in the Chaos Queen Quintet, comes out next Tuesday (20 June). I'm SO excited for everyone to read this book. A lot of work went into writing it, rewriting it, and smashing it all up only to then cram it back together, and I'm very happy with the final product. I think it's a worthy sequel to Duskfall, and, again, I just can't wait for everyone to read more of the CQQ!

For those of you who might be in the Utah area, you're cordially invited to the launch party! We'll be holding the event at Weller Book Works again--they did a fantastic job hosting the launch party for Duskfall last year, and I'm happy to be working with them again.* Here's the general deets:

Dark Immolation Launch Party
Tuesday 20 June, 6:30 - 8:30 PM
Weller Book Works
607 Trolley Square
Salt Lake City, UT

We'll start with a sneak-peek reading from Dark Immolation, and then roll into a Q&A session. After that, we'll get to the signing! We'll have swag, including t-shirts, and of course lots of books. It's going to be pretty great.

Similar to last year, we'll be broadcasting the reading and Q&A live, this time via Facebook Live on my official Facebook page, so if you're not in the area but still want to participate, you can!

For updates on the event, it's best to stay tuned to the Facebook event page.

I'll see you on Tuesday!



* Incidentally, while we had an extreme shortage of books last year, we should have plenty this year!

Fyrecon Schedule

Fyrecon is a science fiction/fantasy conference in Utah making it's debut this year, and I'm excited to be attending and participating! Fyrecon places a bit more emphasis on classes over panels and refining one's craft (as you can see in their banner above), which I think is a great idea. It'll take place at the Davis Campus of Weber State University next weekend, 8-10 June. Check out my schedule below.

Fri 9 June at 4:30 PM - "Comic Books as Literature" (Building D3 Room 203)
This will be a class I'll be teaching solo, and I'm very excited about it. I love comics, and I think it's clear they have every bit as much "literary" potential as conventional prose. Here's the description:

Comics, even today, too often carry with them connotations of immaturity, laziness, and low-brow writing. That could not be further from the truth! In this class we'll discuss why comics are important and powerful. We'll look at a few specific examples of fantastic comics and see what we can learn from them.

Points the Class Will Cover:
a) Comics as Literature 
b) Maus and Watchmen 
c) What can we learn?

Sat 10 June at 11:30AM - "Understanding Story Archetypes" (Building D3 Room 307)
As many of you know, story structure is something I've taken great interest in. A few years ago I wrote a number of blog posts detailing my adventures through story structure, and I've slowly been developing that (and doing more research) and developing a presentation of sorts. So this will be a two-hour presentation where we talk about numerous versions of story structure, why it's important in general, and what we can do with it.

We'll explore a few different archetypes of story structure, and then apply our understanding of those structures to our own stories, hopefully coming to a deeper understanding of the stories we are trying to tell.

Points the Class Will Cover:
a) The Hero's Journey 
b) The Virgin's Promise 
c) Dan Harmon's 8- Structure 
d) Foolscap Method 
e) What can we learn? 

Sat 10 June at 1:30PM - "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Breaking the Tropes with Style" (Building D2 Room 110)
Well, it's a BtVS panel, so of course I'm on it, and of course I can't wait!

Sat 10 June at 5:20PM - "Is the Ultimate Evil Dead: What Are We Losing by Justifying Bad Actions? (Building D2 Room 110)
I'm looking forward to this one--it should be an interesting discussion. I have a lot to say about good, bad, shades of gray, and the differences between empathy and justification.

They're heeeeeere...

First of all, today is the last day to vote for Duskfall for the David Gemmell Morningstar Award. If you haven't yet, you totally should (just go here). If you already have, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your support! You folks are amazing 🙌!

In other news, look what I recently received in the mail:

Shiny!

The release date is getting close, folks--June 20th! Check out the Facebook event for more information on the launch party!

BLOOD REQUIEM (CQIII)

As you can tell by the progress bar to the right, I've finished the first draft of Book Three of the Chaos Queen Quintet, Blood Requiem!

I'm quite happy about this--not only because finishing a draft of a novel is always a pretty awesome feeling, but also because this one realized itself much more smoothly than Dark Immolation. DI took me, all things considered, more than two years of writing time--about a year for that first draft, and more than a year for subsequent revisions. Two plus years was far more than I'd intended to spend on that draft, but, well, life happened, and turns out my first sequel was a pretty beastly undertaking.

That said, as difficult as DI was to write, it was a pretty phenomenal learning experience, and BR would not have  been nearly as smooth without that. That's life in a nutshell I guess, huh? Anyway, the process went so well that I've more than made up for how far DI put me behind schedule. A revised draft of the book is due to my editor in August, and two months is more than enough time to make that happen (and might just mean I'll have time to work on a different project or two before I start work on Book 4).

So, I usually do a little rundown of my process and the production itself when I finish a book (check out the one for Duskfall--the first thing I ever posted to this blog!--and the one for Dark Immolation), and of course I'll do the same with BR!

• Title: Blood Requiem. I'm quite happy with this title, actually, and for how it ties into the events and themes of the novel. Can't say much more than that at the moment, obviously, but suffice it to say I think it's a solid title!
• Version: 1.0, which means this is the first full complete draft. I'm trying something a little different with my process this time, which is to send version 1.0 to my agent and get some preliminary feedback (the first version of Duskfall my agent saw, for reference, was, like, 3.4 or something, and the first full version of DI he saw was 2.4). My preference is to do one pass on the novel myself before letting anyone read it, but that's what I tried to do with DI, and that's part of what got me into the hole I was in for so long with that book--I wanted to make it perfect, more or less, before anyone else read it, which was and is a complete impossibility, especially when only going at it with my own brain. Turns out, with the sort of release schedule I'm on for the Chaos Queen Quintet, I simply don't have time to do that. I'm okay with that now, however. While BR 1.0 is certainly rough around the edges, I think the story is pretty much all there, and I know a lot of what I need to do to trim, polish, and beef it up where necessary. Things are looking good, folks.
• Total Word Count: 127,091 words, as you can see in my Scrivener screenshot above. This is an interesting one. 127k is by far the shortest draft of a novel I've ever written. The first draft of DF was 184k, and the first draft of DI was a whopping 265k--twice the length of the BR first draft! I attribute this mostly to the fact that I did much more outlining for BR than I ever have in the past, and in doing so cut out a lot of the tangents I'd often pursue when left to my own novel-writing devices. In fact, I know of numerous things that I'm going to expand and others I'm going to add when I start the revision of BR. I'll usually expand a few things when revising a novel, but most of the time I cut far more than I insert, and I don't think that will be the case here. In fact, I'd estimate that when I turn in a revised draft to my editor in August, it'll be closer to 145k--roughly the same size as the final drafts of both DF and DI.
• Chapters: 48, not including a Prologue, an Interlude, and an Epilogue.
• Viewpoint Characters: 9 major points of view, with another four or five minor. Yikes. I'm going up by about two major viewpoints for each book--we'll see if that trend continues. (I sort of doubt it will, at least not at that pace, as 13 viewpoints for Book 5 just sound ridiculous...but we'll see!)
• Start Date: This one depends. I started pre-writing in November of 2016, but took December and January off to do the final revision of DI. I did some more prewriting in February, and technically started writing some of the novel in February, but ended up scrapping much of what I'd written towards the end of March and more or less starting from scratch. So, depending on how you look at it, I either started in November 2016, February 2017, or late March 2017. I personally prefer the latter of the three, as that most accurately represents the time I spent writing more or less uninterrupted prose for the novel, from beginning to end.
• End Date: 30 May 2017, and two days before the deadline I'd set for myself! I'm pretty happy about that. I'm also happy about the fact that I basically wrote an entire novel in two months, especially considering the first draft of DF took me about six months, and the first draft of DI took me more than a year.

And, well, that's the gist of it. Long story short, I'm happy to be done with a draft of Blood Requiem, and feel very good about the story at this point in time as well as where I think it will go in revisions.

Stay tuned for some stuff on the two writing retreats I participated in that helped me plow through Book 3 in so short a time, as well as information on the Dark Immolation book launch, and more!

Morningstar Award Short List!

Duskfall has officially made it as a finalist on the David Gemmell Morningstar Award ballot!

That means Duskfall is considered by many to be one of the best debuts of 2016, and it's in great company--overall pretty stellar stuff, if you ask me. I'm flattered and very happy that the book has gone this far.

If you're interested in helping it go a little bit further, go vote for it now! Before the end of the month!

The winner will be announced on Saturday, 15 July at Edge-Lit 6 in Derby, UK. I will, of course, keep you posted on how that goes.

Thank you to all of you who have voted, and who will vote in the near future! I'm grateful so many people are enjoying the book, and I can't wait for all of you to get your hands on book two in just a few weeks.

🙏🤞😁

Authorpalooza at Orem Barnes & Noble

Hey Utah folk!

I'll be at the Orem Barnes & Noble THIS SATURDAY from 2-5 PM for their Authorpalooza event. Come get signed books and other swag from myself and my ilk (if I can call awesome authors like Jessica Day George, Dan Wells, and Christopher Paolini my ilk...which I shall...). I'll be on a panel at 3:30 on "Adult Genre Writing," and will otherwise be hanging around signing books! It's gonna be great, so come check it out.

Passing Time

My daughter holding an ARC of Duskfall, roughly one year ago.

My daughter holding an ARC of Dark Immolation, roughly one week ago.

In other words, time advances PDQ, and I'm treasuring every moment.

Morningstar Award Long List

ICYMI, Duskfall has made the long list for the David Gemmell Morningstar Award!

The Gemmell awards are, of course, inspired by the legendary (see what I did there?) fantasy author David Gemmell, and recognize general awesomeness in the fantasy genre. They give out three awards each year: the Legend award for best fantasy novel, the Morningstar award for best debut fantasy novel, and the Ravenheart award for best fantasy novel cover art.

Guess what? Anyone can vote! And you can actually vote for Duskfall for both the Morningstar award and the Ravenheart--just go here to the voting section of the Gemmell awards website. The first award listed is for the Legend, but you won't find Duskfall there, although there are some really fantastic books on that list as well (and the long list for the Legend award is, indeed, long this year). Just scroll down on the same page, and you'll see the Morningstar and Ravenheart awards. Easy peasy!

It's honesty a huge honor to even make the long list--to be associated with David Gemmell in any way, and to be on the same list as every author who's been nominated this year, is pretty incredible. I'm happy to have made it this far!

If you enjoyed Duskfall, consider voting for it!

DARK IMMOLATION ARCs

They're in, folks--and they look fantastic! I'll probably be doing a giveaway of one or two copies in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled for that :-). In the meantime, you can of course pre-order the book over at Amazon, Powell's, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble--it'll be released on June 20th!

Also: it has a map! :-DDDDDDD

Book Launch Day for WITCHY EYE!

Happy book launch day to brilliant author and friend Dave Butler! Everyone, and I mean EEEVVEERRYYYOONNEEE, should check out his latest novel WITCHY EYE. I've already talked about it on my blog, but basically it's a flintlock fantasy set in Jacksonian America with deep, meticulous world building and awesome characters. If that strikes your fancy (and, honestly, whose fancy WOULDN'T it strike?), you should check out the book. Like, now!

Upcoming (and tentative) 2017 Schedule

Hey folks! Figured I'd post a schedule of all the conferences, conventions, books tours, etc. I'm hoping to do in 2017. A few things are still up in the air but once I have those nailed down I'll get it up on my website as well. I'm excited for the year--there's some really cool stuff ahead!

16-18 February  |  Life, the Universe, and Everything - My Schedule  |  Provo, UT

2-5 March  |  Emerald City Comic Con - My Schedule  |  Seattle, WA

8-10 June  |  Fyrecon  |  Layton, UT

20 June  |  Dark Immolation Release Party!  |   Weller Book Works - SLC, UT

July  |  Dark Immolation and Witchy Eye Book Tour!  |  PNW

Monday 10 July - Mysterious Galaxy Books
San Diego, CA

Tuesday 11 July - Borderlands Books
San Francisco, CA

Wednesday 12 July - Reader's Guide Bookstore
Salem, OR

Wednesday 12 July - The Book Bin
Salem, OR

Thursday 13 July - Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
Portland, OR

Friday 14 July - University Bookstore
Seattle, WA

Saturday 15 July - The Rediscovered Bookshop
Boise, ID

2 August  |  Reading/Signing  |  London, UK

9-13 August  |  Worldcon  |  Helsinki, Finland

17-20 August |  Gen Con  |  Indianapolis, IN

September  |  Dark Immolation Book Tour Part 2!  |  UT, NV, AZ, CA

Details and Locations TBA

21-23 September  |  Salt Lake Comic Con  |  Salt Lake City, UT

2-5 November  |  World Fantasy Convention  |  San Antonio, TX

Emerald City Comic Con!

I'll be at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this weekend! I'm on one panel:

Thursday 2 March at 4:00 PM: "Inconceivable! A Game of Nerdery and Nonsense" (WSCC 617)
Inconceivable! is a game that tests panelists’ knowledge of the nerdy, the useless, and the obscure. Two teams face off to answer diabolical questions about TV shows, comics, movies, books, games, and more. Watch our players bluff, pun, and rack their brains for the ultimate prize: bragging rights.

Other than that, I'll be spending most of my time at Bard's Tower selling DUSKFALL and other awesome books (as well as signing, doing photo ops, etc.). It'll be awesome. If you're in the area, come check it out!

GraphicAudio Version of DUSKFALL!

Hey everyone! For those of you who aren't aware, the audiobook version of Duskfall has been available since the book's release date last year (on Amazon/Audible, iTunes, and pretty much anywhere audiobooks are sold). The audio version of Duskfall is fantastic--Adam Verner does a wonderful job with the narration (and says some nice things about the book on his blog)--and if you're into audiobooks at all, you should definitely check it out!

Great news, though--another audio adaptation of Duskfall was released TODAY, and this time it's from GraphicAudio! GraphicAudio does some pretty cool stuff--their tagline is "A movie in your mind," and they basically produce dramatic adaptations of books, a la the radio dramas of the early 20th century, with soundtracks, a full cast, and sound effects. I've already listened to the first bit of GraphicAudio's Duskfall adaptation, and it is awesome. If you like audiobooks, if you like Duskfall, or if you're just looking for something different, you should definitely check out this version. You can purchase the digital version of Duskfall from GraphicAudio for $13.00, or the CD version for $19.99. If you want a sample, here's a 5-minute sequence from the middle of the book (slight spoilers, of course, but nothing huge). It's pretty intense, and very cool. Enjoy!