Friday, July 27, 2018

Writing Fantasy Podcast: Dead Robot's Society #503



The Dead Robot's Society is a podcast that I've been on several times in the past, and I've enjoyed each visit. They recently had me back again and you can listen in here:


I'm joined by Terry and Paul to discuss what "fantasy" is and how to write it. This is episode 503, so a big congrats to DPS for breaking the 500 barrier. Here's to the next 500 episodes!

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Historical Fantasy Bestselling List


Today's Daily Deal for Theft of Swords got that book to the spot of Amazon's  Historical Fantasy Bestseller list. When Robin told me this, I was of course thrilled. What I didn't expect was to find out that I actually have 10 titles on that list of 100!  These include:

  • #  1 Theft of Swords (Kindle)
  • #  5 Age of War (Audio)
  • #10 Age of Myth (Audio)
  • #13 Age of Swords (Audio)
  • #22 Age of War (Kindle)
  • #54 Age of Myth (Kindle)
  • #61 Rise of Empire (Audio)
  • #76 Age of Swords (Kindle)
  • #83 Rise of Empire (Kindle)
  • #87 Heir of Novron (Kindle)
So a big thank you from Robin and I for all the support of both Riyria and Legends of the First Empire. We're thrilled that so many people are picking up the books...and if the ratings are reflective of public opinion, it looks like you are enjoying them!

Theft of Swords Daily Deal - save 66% just $2.99 today only


It's happened again! Theft of Swords is a Kindle Daily deal and discounted to $2.99. That's a savings of 66% off the regular $9.99 price.  If you haven't started the series yet, now is a good time to start! And if you have read the book, consider gifting it to a friend you've been trying to get hooked on Riyria.

Need some convincing?  Well,  its sold several hundred thousand copies, is liked by 96% of the Goodreads readers (of which 42,000+ have given it a 4.2 rating with more than 34,800 4- and 5-star reviews). Plus there are 845 Amazon reviews and an overall rating of 4.4 over there.

So, grab a copy and enjoy the savings, and as always, we thank you for your support.

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Age of War hits bestseller list

It's always nice to find yourself in the New York Times on a Bestseller list. No, it's not THAT list (this one lists the top audiobooks for the week), but, hey, I'll take it! Age of War hit #3 and shares the list with the likes of James Patterson, Bill Clinton, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and J. K. Rowlings.

Here's the full list along with some information about their authors, narrators, release dates, ratings, and # of ratings/reviews.

Title
Author
Release Date
Narrator
 Rating 
#
Something in the Water
 Catherine Steadman 
  06-05-18
Catherine Steadman
4.4
8,086
Neverwhere
 Neil Gaiman
 04-11-17
 Neil Gaiman
4.4
 22,514 
Age of War
Michael J. Sullivan
 07-03-18
 Tim Gerard Reynolds 
4.8
708
The President is Missing
 Bill Clinton &
James Patterson
 06-04-18
Dennis Quaid
4.1
3,846
The Outsider
Stephen King
 05-22-18
Will Patton
4.6
15,411
Super Powereds:
Year 4
Drew Hayes
 07-03-18
Kyle McCarley 
4.9
466
Spymaster
Brad Thor
  07-03-18
Armand Schultz 
4.6
378

The Testament
of Mary
Colm Toibin
 09-10-13
Meryl Streep
4.1
1,061
The Troop
Nick Cutter
 02-25-14
Corey Brill
4.1
2,272

Harry Potter and
the Sorcerer's Stone
J.K. Rowling
11-20-15
Jim Dale
4.9
58,518

Monday, July 9, 2018

This is probably the geekiest thing I've ever done


So I'm a geek, which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone (after all I do write fantasy books for a living). But when Robin and I were editing Age of War we would sometimes get into arguments about the placement of various aspects of the layout of Alon Rhist. Now part of that was because the city change a bit during the writing and some earlier sections of the book weren't updated. So, it was good that Robin challenged me on these things and it allowed us to fix any continuity errors that had crept in.

But after all was said and done I started thinking about whether I could build Alon Rhist in 3-dimensions. You know, a kind of Lego Land model if you will. Well, I don't possess the number of Lego blocks to make that possible but luckily there is a Minecraft map builder that allows for unlimited blocks. So, yeah, I built Alon Rhist in Minecraft and made a video as I walked around the area. Geeky, sure. Fun? Well, I thought so. And because there may be a few people who are interested I'm posting the video here for your amusement.



Monday, July 2, 2018

Age of Myth on Sale, Age of War releases tomorrow!

I'm pleased to announce that Age of Myth has been included in Audible's July 4th Sale. Great timing considering Age of War (Book #3 of the series) goes live tomorrow!  And if you are getting ready to read Age of War, and want recaps for the previous two books, don't forget you can get them here.


All books are just $5.95 and I've gone through the sci-fi and fantasy category to show you some other books that are available.



Here's some information about each title from Audible to help you decide what to pickup for the great price of $5.95 each.
Title
Author
Narrator
 Rating  # Reviews 
 Neil Gaiman 
 Neil Gaiman 
4.4
 22,137
  Michael J. Sullivan  
 Tim Gerard Reynolds  
4.6
 9,285
  Laini Taylor  
 Steve West  
4.5
 2,140
  Alice Hoffman  
 Christina Moore  
4.2
 1,247
  Joe Abercrombie  
 Steven Pacey  
4.x
 2,810
  Nnedi Okoafor
 Robin Miles  
4.x
 1,355
  Harry Connolly
 Christian Rummel 
4.x
 410
  Dakota Krout  
 Vikas Adam  
4.x
 7,028
Fated  
Benedict Jacka
Gildart Jackson 
4.x
 5,143
Marked  
  P.C. Cast &
 Kristin Cast  
Caitlin Davies  
4.x
 372
  Jay Kristoff
 Holter Graham  
4.x
 1,518
  Ian C. Esslemont  
 John Banks  
4.x
 241
  Drew Hayes  
 Kyle McCarley  
4.x
 6,419
  Stephen R. Lawhead  
 Simon Bubb 
4.x
 164
  N.K. Jemisin  
  Robin Miles    
4.x
 7,021
   Stephen R. Lawhead 
 Tim Gerard Reynolds  
4.x
 9,285
  Richard A. Knaak 
 Scott Brick  
4.x
 1,198
Andrzej Sapkowski 
Peter Kenny
4.x
7,057

The sale is only running for a few days so you'll have to hurry. I hope you find something great to listen to.