The Hall of the Wood is getting re-released as a second edition. New cover, new edits, new (extra) content. You can read more here.

As part of the release promotion, anyone who signs up for my mailing list between now and the day of the release will get a free eBook copy (EPUB or MOBI/Kindle) of the new edition of the novel. You can unsubscribe the second after you've downloaded the eBook if you want. Or you can stick around and maybe you'll get a free copy of the next book in The Alchemancer series, The Nullification Engine.

In order to get this re-release started, and since it was leaked a few days ago anyway, here's the new cover for The Hall of the Wood. Tell me what you think in the comments.

The eBook version of The Hall of the Wood is no longer for sale on Amazon, B&N, Kobo, iTunes, or Smashwords. No, it wasn't pulled by those retailers. The reason you can't buy it currently is because I'm making preparations for a book re-launch.

The Hall of the Wood has not gotten the attention it deserves from me or from readers. I'm to blame on both counts. While it actually has gotten some decent reviews, I don't do a lot to promote it. I did the cover myself after buying the base art. It did not get the proper amount of editing. It's suffered more because of that than anything else. That's all going to change.

First, I had a new cover done up by someone who specializes in book covers and who came highly recommended from a multitude of sources. I've got that in-hand now, though I'm sitting on it for the time being. Second, the manuscript is off to an editor whom I expect to send more work to in the near future (the 2nd book in The Alchemancer series is getting close to being don... [More]

It's Read an eBook Week. All the world over, readers of digital content are singing and rejoicing.

Why, you ask? Because, this week only, readers can get some steep discounts on a variety of eBooks. Some of the discounts are so steep prices go down to free!

I enrolled both of my eBooks in Read an eBook Week via Smashwords. This week only, both titles are free. Just use the coupon code RW100 to get the discounted price at checkout.

Here's the Smashwords links:

The Five Elements

The Hall of the Wood

Oh, and if you do take advantage of this offer, please, please, please leave a review on Smashwords, your blog or web site, or another retailer if they'll let you. Honest reviews help your fellow readers out and they also let authors like myself know that someone took a chance on a new author.

Happy reading!

In this post I'm going to list out the 31 chapters (30 chapters plus a prologue, actually) of The Nullification Engine. The Nullification Engine is the next novel in The Alchemancer series. The reason I'm listing out the chapters is because I need to nail down the chapter names. What better way to make myself get it done than in a blog post?

This list is by no means set in stone, but it's pretty close.

So, here goes…

• Prologue (Yep, there's a prologue. It ties in events from The Five Elements and sets the stage for the continuing story.)
• Chapter 1: Arrival
• Chapter 2: Sinji
• Chapter 3: A Funeral
• Chapter 4: Ingrid's Chest
• Chapter 5: What Lies Beneath
• Chapter 6: Lurkers
• Chapter 7: Agents of Cyprica
• Chapter 8: The Griffin (remember the airship from The Five Elements?)
• Chapter 9: A Kingsley Arrival
• Chapter 10: Reunion
• Chapter 11: A Deal Is Made
• Chapter 12: Secret Laboratory
• Chapter 13: True Purpose
• Chapter 14: Misery
• Chapter 15:... [More]

I've talked plenty about the first book in The Alchemancer series, The Five Elements. But I've only really ever talked about the series itself in one post. That post outlined the possibilities that existed for some of the storylines and the characters as I moved into the next book in the series. In fact, those avenues are being explored currently as I work on that very book. It's called The Nullification Engine and it picks up right about where The Five Elements left off. The core cast is the same (there weren't too many left alive at the end, so the core got pretty small) but it expands exponentially right from the start.

The tough part of talking about any book that is still a work-in-progress is that I can't really tell you much. Not because I don't know what's going to happen. Believe me, I know in excruciating detail what's going to happen. I spent months mapping it all out and I'm very satisfied with both the direction our heroes will... [More]

The past couple of weeks I've highlighted two ways in which readers can get my eBooks for less than retail. The first way you get a steep discount. The second, you get a full discount, as in the eBooks are free.

Here's the deals:

1. Get'em for $0.99

The 99 cent method involves heading out to Smashwords and using one of the coupon codes below.

The Five Elements - JJ32F

The Hall of the Wood - EC98E (not for sale currently)

2. Get'em for free

The second way is slightly more complicated because it requires a commitment on your end. But in exchange you get the eBooks for free. The reasoning behind this was discussed in this post, but the gist of it is that in exchange for me sending you either or both of my eBooks in a format of your choo... [More]

As of a while back now my novels are no longer available in any format other than electronic. The reasons for this are many, but the biggest is lack of return on investment. The investment part is more my time than anything else because with modern print on demand (POD) services the overall cost to produce a print book is really pretty minimal. But it takes a lot of time to format the thing properly. Then there's the cover image which needs to be of a higher resolution than the eBook version. And when you make any edits you have to make those changes across yet another document because print format is quite different from electronic.

Aside from that, I just don't think the cost structure of POD works. I'd love to sell my print novels for $5.99 or even $4.99, but you can't. With CreateSpace, for example, there is a minimum sale price they enforce based on the book's page count and some other things. I understand why—it costs them a certain amount to produce the thing and they need to ma... [More]