52 Fantasy Titles are on Sale for $4.95 at Audible.com...

and Theft of Swords is one of them. If you've thought about getting to know Royce and Hadrian now is the perfect time, but you have to hurry as the sale ends December 2nd, 2014.  All the Riyria books are narrated by the amazing Tim Gerard Reynolds, and he is well worth a listen. In fact, his recording of Theft of Swords received an Audie nomination when it was released.  But don't take my word for it, 5,375 people have rated or reviewed the book they share my enthusiasm for Tim's remarkable narration.

But even if you're not interested in Theft of Swords there are 51 other titles on the sale and here is a link to the complete list

• Steelheart: Reckoners, Book 1  by  Brandon Sanderson
• Hexed: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 2  by  Kevin Hearne
• Theft of Swords: Riyria Revelations, Volume 1  by  Michael J. Sullivan
• Spellbound: Book II of the Grimnoir Chronicles  by  Larry Correia
• The Bone Season  by  Samantha Shannon
• Airel: The Airel Saga, Book 1  by  Aaron Patterson
• Night Broken: Mercy Thompson, Book 8  by  Patricia Briggs
•  Nine Princes in Amber: The Chronicles of Amber, Book 1  by  Roger Zelazny
• The Black Company: Chronicles of The Black Company, Book 1  by  Glen Cook
• The Dragon's Path: Dagger and Coin, Book 1  by  Daniel Abraham
• A Kiss of Shadows: Meredith Gentry, Book 1  by  Laurell K. Hamilton
• A Modern Witch: A Modern Witch, Book 1  by  Debora Geary
• Throne of Glass: A Throne of Glass Novel  by  Sarah J. Maas
• Split Infinity: Apprentice Adept Series, Book 1  by  Piers Anthony
• Rogue  by  Gina Damico
• Friday Night Bites: Chicagoland Vampires, Book 2  by  Chloe Neill
• Bitter Seeds: The Milkweed Triptych, Book 1  by  Ian Tregillis
• Moon Dance: Vampire for Hire, Book 1  by  J. R. Rain
• Shadow and Bone by  Leigh Bardugo
• The Becoming: Anna Strong, Vampire, Book 1  by  Jeanne C. Stein
• Dead but Not Forgotten: World of Sookie Stackhouse by multiple authors
• Prince of Thorns  by  Mark Lawrence
• Night Watch: Watch, Book 1  by  Sergei Lukyanenko
• Hero  by  Perry Moore
• Touch the Dark: Cassandra Palmer, Book 1  by  Karen Chance
• The Wretched of Muirwood: Legends of Muirwood, Book 1  by  Jeff Wheeler
• Bloodfire: Blood Destiny, Book 1 by Helen Harper
• Feast of Souls: Magister Trilogy, Book 1  by  C. S. Friedman
• Dead Spots  by  Melissa F. Olson
• Troubled Waters: Elemental Blessings, Book 1  by  Sharon Shinn
• Imager's Intrigue: Book 3 of the Imager Portfolio by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
• The Merchant of Death: Pendragon, Book 1  by  D. J. MacHale
• Phoenix Unchained: Book 1 Enduring Flame by  Mercedes Lackey, James Mallory
• The Summoner: Chronicles of the Necromancer, Book 1  by  Gail Z. Martin
• The Thousand Orcs: Hunter's Blade Trilogy, Book 1  by  R. A. Salvatore
• Half-Blood: Covenant, Book 1  by  Jennifer L. Armentrout
• The Pride of Chanur: Chanur, Book 1  by  C. J. Cherryh
• Sanctum: Guards of the Shadowlands, Book 1  by  Sarah Fine
• Red-Headed Stepchild  by  Jaye Wells
• Blue Moon Rising: Forest Kingdom, Book 1  by  Simon R. Green
• Moonheart  by  Charles de Lint
• Frost Moon: Skindancer, Book 1  by  Anthony Francis
• Dark Descendant: Nikki Glass, Book 1  by  Jenna Black
• Magic Casement: A Man of His Word, Book 1  by  Dave Duncan
• Thief's Magic  by  Trudi Canavan
• This Case Is Gonna Kill Me  by  Phillipa Bornikova
• White Plume Mountain: Dungeons & Dragons: Greyhawk, Book 1  by  Paul Kidd
• The Curse of Wendigo: The Sequel to The Monstrumologist  by  Rick Yancey
• The New Watch, Watch Book 5 by Sergei Lukyanenkov
• The Paths of the Dead: Book 1 of the Viscount of Adrilankha by Steven Brust
• The Clockwork Heart  by  Dru Pagliassotti
• Aladdin Relighted: Aladdin Trilogy, Book 1  by  J. R. Rain, Piers Anthony

Traditional & Self-Publishing Via Rocking Self-publishing Podcast

It's been an exciting time to be a novelist...so many changes...so many opportunities. If you're on this blog, then you are probably familiar with the fact that I discuss my experience and the changes in publishing on any number of sites including:

• Reddit Write2Publish Sub
• Amazing Stories Magazine
• Hide & Create Podcast
• The Advice Section of my Blog

I don't mind doing this...in fact, I enjoy helping fellow authors in any way I can, but it does take time. Time I sometimes have problems making room for.  Over the summer, I was taking a bit of a break from writing. My concentration was on training for the Ride to Conquer Cancer and recharging my batteries after writing the first three books of the The First Empire Series.  

I also had some events that I was scheduled to speak at (such as the 2014 Writer's Digest Annual Conference). So I set my date to start writing book #4 after that and planned on doing so in a  "heads down" mode where I cut back on just about everything else.  Unbeknownst to me, my wife was in the process of setting up a podcast interview with RSP (Rocking Self-Publishing) to be squeezed in right before I started...then I moved up the date.  

Robin came to me with a fair amount of nervousness. She had a few problems.  

1. I was burned out on educational activities and wanted to pour myself into my creative stuff. 
2. The podcast host is "across the pond" so it would have to be in the AM - my writing time.
3. I had "just" started the book - a critical time for me
4. She knew I wanted to focus on book #4 and even a brief podcast would be a disruption.

Long story short, I didn't bite her head off and the interview went ahead. I must say, it was one of the best run interviews I've seen. The host was (a) knowledgeable (b) did his research (c) really knows the state of the industry.  Since that interview, I've listened to a number of the other ones on his site and I'm continually impressed.

Which brings us to today...or more accurately yesterday, as the interview went live.  While cooking dinner my wife was listening to it and mentioned that, "You sound like you knew what you were doing."  High praise from her...let me tell you. Hearing it, reminded me exactly what we had covered and I do think it turned out to be pretty informative. So I'm posting today to draw some people's attention to it and Simon. Listen to my interview here, and check out the back episodes as well.  Lots of great information coming out of this podcast.  Enjoy!

Book #4 of The First Empire is done!

My goal was to finish Fhrey by November 15th, and I finished a few days early (November 11th).  Please note, the cover to the left is a mock-up only and it will no doubt change.  I learned a lot about this series writing the fourth book, and was faced with an important decision. Do I stick to my original concept, or when I came up with what would be a way to up the series in a whole new way, should I go for that?

This isn't the first time I've been faced with such a dilemma...my planned conclusion for Riyria was much different than the published one, and it took about 6 - 9 months of cajoling with my muse for her to give up that piece of information...something I thought was well worth waiting for.

So as I was nearing the end of Book #4 in this series, I faced the same sort of crossroad...and I took the path less traveled.  Rather than taking the easy way out, I've decided to once again expand the series and now it will be five books.  It's decisions like this which is why I want to write the entire series before publishing any of the books. I can now make some minor adjustments to book #1 to account for incorporating that "really cool idea."

Will this set things back again?  Yeah, it will. But not too badly. I have a clear idea of where it is going and another 3 - 4 months in the grand scheme of things is not much of a wait.  Weighing the pros and cons I think this is the right thing to do.  So, good news and bad news...Book #4 is done, but I'm still not finished with the series as a whole.  I'll keep you updated as the saga continues.

Hollow World is a Goodreads Reader's Choice Award Nominee

For the fourth time, I have a book nominated in the Goodreads Reader's Choice Award. This year it's Hollow World which is nominated in the Science Fiction Category. Here is the full set of nominated books:

• Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
• Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
• Apolonia by Jamie McGuire
• Better World, a by Marcus Sakey
• California by Edan Lepucki
• Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey
• Earth Awakens by Orson Scott Card
• First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, the by Harry August
• Flight of the Silvers, The by Daniel Price
• Heaven's Queen by Rachel Bach
• Hollow World by Michael J. Sullivan
• Influx by Daniel Suarez
• Lines of Departure by Markos Kloos
• Lock In by John Scalzi
• Long Mars, The by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
• Martian, the by Andy Weir
• Out of the Black by Evan Currie
• Sand by Hugh Howey
• To Honor You Call Us by H. Paul Honsinger
• World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters

I'm doubly honored.  First, by being included with an incredible array of Science Fiction from some amazing authors, and second, because it is the readers who select who is nominated.  In the past, my other three nominations came in the first round, determined by rankings and number of people who have shelved the book.  This year, I was thrilled to get an email from both my agent and publisher indicating that Hollow World was one of the five write-in nominees.  I really hadn't expected that, and I'm so grateful for all the people who worked to get it on the ballot.

Second round entries never win...they miss out on a ton of votes that occur during the first round, and even if I didn't have that handicap working against Hollow World, I have no illusions about it's widespread appeal.  Still, it truly is an honor just to be nominated and I couldn't be happier about that.

If you would like to add your vote to the more than 1,800,000 people who have voted this year. You can do so by clicking this button.