Call of Brindelier is Free Today!

Call of Brindelier is free today only: July 5, 2018 “There is a place of legend and lore, a tale passed from mother to son and father to daughter and written here for the eyes of innocents. Once carried in whispers on the wind, it speaks of a city like no other. It is the tale of Brindelier, a kingdom obscured by mist and cloud. A palace out of reach, golden and bright. A land of promise and peace, where no wish goes ignored, and no desire is unfulfilled.” Get it Now!

Are you following me on Facebook yet? This month I’m participating in #WIPJoy, a sharing hashtag which gives authors prompts to share interesting things about their current works in progress. I’m having fun sharing all kinds of things about Mya and her story that I’m working on for the first prequel to the Keepers of the Wellsprings series! You should check it out, and while you’re at it, follow me!

 

 

 

Here’s just a small sample of what you’ll find over there:
Day 5: 3 side characters you love:
Cort, Paewyn, Pa

Like all of my books, this one is full of all sorts of characters. Characters always drive my stories, and I love making up different people with elaborate back stories and interesting personalities. My current favorites at this point in the book are (No spoilers, I promise!):

Cort Daborr, a “privateer” (uh, PIRATE!) who befriends Mya aboard the Mark, a privateer’s ship en route from Elespen to Cerion. Cort is a bos’n with a soft spot for young Mya, and watches over her like a big brother aboard the ship. He’s a swashbuckler as well, and hopes to show off his skills at the trials on Cerion Day.

Paewyn (just Paewyn) is Mya’s pa’s current love interest (of which there have been countless others). She’s currently Mya’s guardian while her pa is off doing who-knows-what. A shady character with very few scruples, Paewyn’s main motivations seem to include money, liquor, and getting Mya into trouble.

Pa: Mya’s father is a fun character to write, because 14 chapters into the story, there hasn’t been a single scene with him in it! She writes about him in her journal and talks about him to others, and I feel like at this point in the book he’s a pretty well-established character,  but he’s an elusive fellow. He’s a charlatan and a trickster, and often makes promises he doesn’t intend to keep. Mya loves him dearly, but a part of her really resents him, too. He’s been a great tool to show her personality.

 

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If you want to find out about even more free books, you should visit a friend of mine: Bookworms Discover

Discover great new reads by indie authors on the first Thursday of every month!

 

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I’ll keep updating you in the progress of my latest book, and I hope you’ll keep checking back for news. See you soon, and Happy Summer!

 

It’s Finally Here! Release Day!

I’m so excited to announce that Call of Elespen, the fifth and final book of the Keepers of the Wellsprings series, is now available on Amazon!

All of your favorites are back in the epic conclusion of the series, including:

Flitt

 

Azi and Rian

Tib

 

Celli

Margy and more!

Check out all the illustrations from Call of Elespen here.

Today only, November 29, 2017, in celebration of the completion of the series, I’m offering books 1-4 for free!

Click the pic to visit the series page on Amazon

When I wrote this series, my hope was to capture a world that would enchant my readers and bring them to a place they’ve never been before. To me, the joy of reading is the escape of it. Growing up, I had few friends. I imagined them in the forests where I wandered, as fairies, and I imagined them in the pages of books.

In the Keepers of the Wellsprings, my hope was to create friends that would capture my readers’ hearts, just as those in the books I’ve read have done for me. Finishing the series has been bittersweet. I’m relieved to have been able to tie up to so many strands of the story so neatly, but it’s sad to say goodbye to these characters who seem so real now.

Rest assured, though, I don’t think I’m finished with these folks just yet. I intend to take a break, but there are so many stories to write, yet, from the world of the Wellsprings.

Blog Tour

Special thanks to my friends who have agreed to participate in my blog tour! Please swing by and check out these fabulous authors:

Daniel Layfield, author of The Spellstone Legacy series
https://youlookconfused.blogspot.com/2017/11/call-of-elespen-epic-conclusion-to.html

Owen R. O’Neill, co-author of the Loralynn Kennakris Series
http://www.loralynnkennakris.com/keepers-of-the-wellsprings-new-release/

Joshua Blum, author of The Thirteenth Hour: A Retro 1980s Illustrated Fairytale Fantasy Novel
https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2017/11/27/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-120/

Meg Welch Dendler, author of the Cats in the Mirror series and more
https://megdendler.blogspot.com

Jenelle Schmidt, author of The Minstrel’s Song series
http://jenelleschmidt.com

Joanne Van Leerdam, poet of The Passing of the Night
https://bookssquirrel.wordpress.com/2017/11/29/announcing-the-epic-conclusion-to-the-keepers-of-the-wellsprings-series/

Joshua Robertson, author of the Thrice Nine Legends Saga
https://robertsonwrites.wordpress.com/2017/11/29/featuring-keepers-of-the-wellsprings-call-of-elespen/

M. Ray Holloway, author of Let No Word Be Spoken

https://mrayhollowayjr.blogspot.com

I’ll be adding even more posts to the list as they go  up, so please make sure to check back!

 

Inspiration for Elespen…

If you’ve read my books, you know each title refers to the place where the book is set. The series starts with Call of Kythshire, which focuses mainly on Kythshire and the wide variety of fairies who live in its enchanted glens, forests, and mountains. From there we have traveled to Sunteri, Brindelier, and Hywilkin.

The Known Lands, as I call the world of the Keepers of the Wellsprings, are as vast and varied as our own. Like ours, so are its people, geography, and creatures. Look at the map above, and you’ll notice one continent which has been largely ignored in the series up until now: Elespen.

I’m not sure I’ve made an official announcement yet, and so I’ll take this opportunity to do it. The fifth and final book in the Keepers of the Wellsprings series will be titled Call of Elespen!

Elespen is a land of jungles and deserts, geographically inspired by areas of Africa and India.  I love the idea of long forgotten ruins, overgrown with lush jungle plants and inhabited by stealthy, mysterious magic.

You can see a few more inspiring images on my Elespen Pinterest board.

Elespen has been mentioned a few times in my previous books. Mya was born there, and Tib sailed down its Jairun River on his way to Cerion in Call of Sunteri:

(AUTHOR’S NOTE! Don’t be afraid! The following excerpt is spoiler-free!)

We sail into the mouth of the river they call Jairun. I don’t like it. We move slower here through the center of Elespen. The jungle creeps into the water on both sides of us. Days more of this. Days of watching jungle become village and jungle again, and then sand and only sand as far as I can see. An ocean of sand. Too much like Sunteri. Too much like the home I never wanted to see again. I feel the panic rise in me. I don’t want to be in the desert.

“Sleep.”

Yes, sleep. I curl up in the safety of the fore nest, and when I wake the stars stretch out endlessly above me. Noise. Lapping and chatting. Laughing and shouting. Bargaining. Unloading. The thud of the hull against the pier as they tie it up.

“Boy!” Cap shouts. I slip down the ratlines and drop to his side. The deck is deserted except for the pair of watch guards at the gangway. I stand straight and look Cap in the eye, as he has told me to do. It keeps a man honest, he says, to meet his crew’s eyes.

“Sir!” I shout. He taught me to do that, too.

He tells me I’m a hard worker. I have earned five copper, which he jingles in a pouch. I like the sound of it. I have never held coin before. It has more weight than I expected. He tells me I can go ashore if I want to, and then he goes back below. I peer out at the city. Cresten. Capital of Elespen. It’s different from Zhaghen. Cleaner. Brighter, even in the starlight. Noisy, but the noise is happier. They don’t have towers here to watch and rule over them. Just a castle, low and sprawling. Music drifts merrily from the taverns into the street. People in beautiful colors dance in the glow of torchlight. Others toss coin at them. Even in the night, merchants in booths cook and sell. The aroma is exotic and flavorful. My mouth waters.

I hope you’re as excited as I am to finally get to Elespen, where tribes of elephant riders lurk in the dense jungle, and even the vegetation itself can’t be trusted. I won’t say any more here, you’ll just have to wait until the end of the year when Call of Elespen is released, and read for yourself!

Check back soon for more updates, and be sure to click here and join my mailing list for upcoming contests and promotions!

Call of Hywilkin: The Paperback Cover Reveal

As an artist and a visual person, it’s really difficult sometimes to just leave things be, visually. Because of that, the covers of my books have undergone a few changes since the series began. Admittedly, there were more changes than there probably should have been.

It’s because of this that my paperback covers vary slightly from my ebook covers. When I first designed the cover for Call of Kythshire, I fell in love with the curly Respective font, which reminded me of Mage Mark:

Since I first published my paperbacks with this cursive font, I have felt the need to keep it consistent throughout the series whenever I release a new paperback, even though later versions of my ebook covers look like this:

I changed the title font of this cover so it reads better in a thumbnail on a webpage like Amazon. I’d love to change my paperback titles to this font as well, but I understand that my readers prefer consistency across all of their copies. For that reason, the Call of Hywilkin paperback cover looks like this:

Tada! Isn’t it pretty?! I’m so excited about this book, I’m going to tell you a little secret. It’s available now for pre-order! Click here to grab it!

March 3 is the official release date for Book 4, and I’m planning a big promo for that day. Check back here for details, coming soon!

Book 4, Draft 2 Finished!

I’m excited to announce that I’ve finished my second draft of Call of Hywilkin! That means all that’s left to do is some proofreading, formatting, and making sure my illustrations are spaced through the book in a way that makes sense.

I’m hoping to have a release date for you soon, and I expect that date to be in early March.

Book Four was a real challenge for me to write.  There were many stops and starts which made me worry that the plot was stilted and choppy. I was so relieved during my read-through to find the opposite to be true. There is so much action and emotion in this book. It’s packed full of all of the characters you’ve grown close to, and a few new ones you’re sure to love. I truly can’t wait to share it with the world!

Here’s a preview illustration of Flitt, who’s as cheeky as ever in this book.  If you like the image, I have a whole line of products available for sale on redbubble.

Finally, I have a favor to ask. If you’ve read any of the books in this series and haven’t written a review yet, please consider reviewing them on Amazon. I’m especially grateful for reviews of Call of Brindelier, book three in the series. Thanks so much, and check back for more news coming soon!