So exciting to see this!

Just look at the joy in those faces!  This is just one of the many messages (and images) we've been receiving from people whose Age of Legend books have arrived.

Many of these were received because of Kickstarter pre-orders. And if you want to be notified when the Age of Death Kickstarter starts up, you can sign up here.

But we have also opened up orders directly from our website (which provides us with a higher income because we get to keep the retailer's cut.  You can receive either hardcovers (which match the Age of Myth, Age of Swords, and Age of War versions from Del Rey), or DRM-free ebooks (including formats for all devices, tablets, and computers) by going to our online store.

Thanks all for the amazing support. We still have another 3 weeks before the official release, and I'm thrilled people are so pleased with getting early copies.

4-book Giveaway for Age of Legends

Grim Oak Press (the distributor for Age of Legend) is running a giveaway for signed copies of all 4 books of the Legends of the First empire series. You can enter to win here.

Even if you have all the books, this would be a great opportunity to introduce the series to a loved one. Plus, there's another reason to enter. Shawn and Jeff (who run Grim Oak) are also going to be giving away 3 copies of Terry Brook's Street Freaks and one copy of the exclusive Emerald City Comic Con edition of Unfettered III.

Oh, and while we are speaking of giveaways...don't forget we still have two other giveaways for Age of Legend.  

• Goodreads (US & Canada) enter here.
• Riyria Website (All countries) enter here.

Good luck on the drawings!!

Did you miss the Kickstarter but want Age of Legend Early?

Many people have reached out to me indicating they were sad to miss the Age of Legend Kickstarter, and they wanted to get their hands on the book as soon as possible.  Well, I'm here to say there is a way to get it right now!

The books have come off the presses, the warehouse has signed copies, and I've updated my online store to offer ebooks and signed hardcovers.  So, if you missed the Kickstarter you can buy the book directly from me and get the book right now -- a month early.

Buying direct has a number of advantages:

• More of your money goes directly to me since I get to keep the retailer's cut.
• You get signed printed editions.
• You get the books early - the retail chain copies start shipping 7/9/19.
• ebooks are DRM free, and you get multiple formats so you can read the book on whatever device you desire.
• You help rural Virginias earn a living - we use a fulfillment company that is in a part of the country where jobs are hard to come by and the more books we send through there, the more people they can hire.

I hope you'll consider picking up an early copy...and no matter how you get the book - I hope you enjoy the read!

Today Only: Kindle Daily Deal (Theft of Swords)

What a surprise to get my Amazon Daily Deals email and find that Theft of Swords is on sale!  Today, and today only you can get it for $2.99 and save 70% off the $9.99 regular price. And since this is an omnibus edition (with two full-length novels inside including The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha) it's an even better deal.

Pick up a copy for yourself or a friend today!

Audible's Biggest Titles of the Summer

First, it was Goodreads, and now Audible is featuring Age of Legend as one of this summer's biggest releases. Here is a full list of some of the other fantasy picks:

I see some great titles coming out, and I'm especially excited for Evan Winter's release, Anthony Ryan's Wolf Call, and Duncan Hamilton's Dragonslayer. All of these books are available for pre-ordering, so pick up your copies now!

Title	Author	Narrator	Series	Release Date
Age of Legend	Michael J. Sullivan	Tim Gerard Reynolds	Legends of the First Empire	07/09/19
Way of Gods	Rhett C. Bruno & Jaime Castle	Luke Daniels	Buried Goddess Saga	07/30/19
The Rage of Dragons	Evan Winter	TBA	The Burning	07/16/19
Take a Thief	Mercedes Lackey	Paul Woodson	Heralds of Valdemar	06/12/19
The Final Days of Magic	J. D. Horn	Sophie Amoss	Witches of New Orleans	6/18/19
The Wolf's Call	Anthony Ryan	Steven Brand	Raven's Blade	07/23/19
Empire of Grass	Tad Williams	Andrew Wincott	Last King of Osten Ard	07/02/19
Dragonslayer	Duncan M. Hamilton	Simon Vance	Dragonslayer	07/02/19
Knife Children	Lois McMaster Bujold	Tim Campbell	Sharing Knife	06/25/19
Elven Queen	Bernhard Hennen & Edwin Miles	Michael Page	Saga of the Elven	06/11/19
Spine of the Dragon	Kevin J. Anderson	Fleet Cooper	Wake the Dragon	06/04/19
Hateful Things	Terry Goodkind	TBA	Children of D’Hara	08/08/19
The Spirit Ring	Lois McMaster Bujold	Grover Gardner	N/A	07/16/19
Turning Darkness into Light	Marie Brennan	Barrie Kreinik & Raphael Corkhill	Series	08/20/19
The Silver Gryphon	Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon	Gary Furlong	Mage Wars	06/04/19

Age of Legend Giveaways

Age of Legend books will be coming off the presses any day now, so it's time to do some giveaways!  We'll have three ways for you to win.

• Goodreads (only open to US and Canada residents). I'm not sure why Goodreads limited the giveaway to just these two countries, but they did, which is one of the reasons why I've got two other ways to enter. There are 3 books being drawn on June 30th at 11:59 PM EDT.
  
• Reddit's /r/Fantasy sub (open to all countries). Reddit can be a divisive site filled with people with very strong opinions from all facets of the spectrum, but the fantasy sub is an oasis of civility among the chaos. If you've not visited it before, this would be a good time to check it out. I'm sure you'll find reasons to stay.  To enter, you just have to add a comment to the thread and I'll send you a message via the Reddit site. I'll be drawing 2 books on June 5th at 11:59 PM EDT. This drawing is open to people from all countries.
  
• Private giveaway (open to all countries). In today's publishing environment, there is always some "big entity" between the author and the reader (Amazon, Barnes and Noble or the publishers). I like having a direct relationship with readers such that if these other people ever get "wonky." I can still reach out to my readers and tell them about sales, giveaways, and Kickstarters. Entering here will require an email address (so I can notify the winner), but you can opt out of being added to my email list. I don't use it often (I think 6 times in the last 3 years), so don't worry about being bombarded. But I like having the safety net of being able to reach people if the "big boys" are getting in the way. There are 2 books being drawn on June 30th at 11:59 PM EDT.

All books will be signed (and can be dedicated if you wish). If you haven't read the other three books there are spoiler-filled recaps available on this site.

• Age of Myth recap
• Age of Swords recap
• Age of War recap

I hope you are as excited about the next release as I am, and good luck on the drawings!

Goodread's Hottest Books of the Summer

So, with all that's going on, I'm terribly late about this post (which was originally announced on May 5th), but I couldn't be happier that Age of Legend was picked by Goodreads as one of the Hottest Fantasy Books of the summer!

Here are all five of their picks:

I'm thrilled that so many people are anxiously awaiting the release. I'm also pleased to see Evan Winter's book make the list...I know Evan just a bit, and I'm anxiously awaiting his re-release of a previously self-published book.  I've heard that whole self-publishing thing works out well for authors...and I have my finger's crossed for huge success for him.

Here are links (and data from Goodreads if you want to check out the full list of titles.

Title	Author	Series	Rating	# Ratings	Shelved by
Magic for Liars	Sarah Gailey	N/A	4.05	254	20,337
Age of Legend	Michael J. Sullivan	Legend of the First Empire #4	4.42	389	10,705
Rage of Dragons	Evan Winter	The Burning #1	4.43	2,430	12,964
Gods of Jade and Shadow	Silvia Moreno-Garcia	N/A	4.21	125	13,384
Dragon Republic	R.F. Kuang	The Poppy War #2	4.30	187	14,929

Goodreads also did a post on various fantasy author's picks for summer reading, and I was included!  I'll post on that soon.