Once upon a time...

...a warrior of light defeated an insane wizard, but behind every heroic story lies a truth never told.

A man washes ashore on the island of Arda after a terrible storm, remembering nothing but his name: Krycin. The blue wizard Gladius finds him, takes him in, and is determined to help Krycin regain what he's lost.

The Fates have other plans. Krycin's presence on Galadir is disrupting the fabric of the universe. The solution? Eliminate him, by any means necessary. When Gladius sides with the council, his efforts to destroy Krycin spark a war that threatens all life on Galadir.

In order to save himself and what remains of his people, Krycin must defeat Gladius, but time is running out. Every step Krycin takes to destroy Gladius makes things worse, and now a massive army is marching on Findoor. Krycin must come up with a way to defeat Gladius before it's too late, and forge his legacy for the future of Galadir.

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Continued support for Reglue!

I tossed around the idea of supporting a different charity with a portion of the proceeds from Book II, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Reglue means a lot to me, both for what they do, and what they stand for. Sure, there are other PC giveaway programs out there doing very excellent work, but none of them have Ken Starks at the helm, and he's just awesome. So, as with The Time Weaver, $0.50 from each eBook, and $1.00 from each paperback sold will be donated to Reglue to help keep them going.

DRM-Free, Because I Care

All of my books are released DRM free, which means you can buy it once, and copy it to any device you own, and even convert to to other formats. If you are looking for a great piece of software that will help you do this, Calibre is fantastic, and very easy to use. It's also free and Open Source.

Speaking of Open Source...

I consider myself an avid user and supporter of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). All of my books were written, edited, formatted, converted, illustrated and published using 100% FOSS. In fact, my household has been Microsoft-free for a number of years, and I don't foresee that changing any time soon. Truth is, I find the FOSS tools to be not only adequate, but quite good at doing everything I need them to do - in most cases, better than the proprietary cousins of the programs.

I'd like to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for being a part of my journey. It really means a lot to me that you take the time to not only drop by on my website, but also purchase and read my books. It takes hundreds of hours of work to put a novel together, but you all make it worthwhile. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy Legacy.

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First, The Reviews!

If I said the reception of my debut novel was tepid, I would be drastically understating it. In truth, the reviews I've received have been better than I ever could have imagined. Here's a short selection of my favorites!

"I was caught up in this book from the moment I started reading it. It was so full of action, adventure, magic, mystery, evil, and a twist of romance that I couldn't help but keep reading." - Angela, "Angels are Kids and Furkids"

"It is brilliantly written with plenty of sub-plots for even those who are hard core sci-fi fans." - Jeff Dawson, Amazon.com Reviewer

"It starts good. I enjoyed it a lot. And as you read on, it gets better. And better. There are times when I feared it would fall in clichés, but it doesn't." - Will Knight, "Bibliophilia, Please"

"With unforgettable characters, a unique and action packed plot, and descriptive writing, The Time Weaver is a wonderful fantasy novel." - Megan Monell, "Love, Literature, Art, and Reason"

Okay, okay, enough bragging. I'm awestruck, really. These reviews are awesome. Better than awesome. I can't thank these people (and many more) enough for their kind words. It's seriously inspired me to keep going, to keep writing.

Lessons Learned

I've learned a great many lessons about publishing. The first lesson was never release a book until it's perfect. The Time Weaver wasn't quite perfect when I first released it, and I subsequently released a second revision that fixed up all the issues that early reviewers and readers found.

The second lesson I learned is that publishing is a marathon, not a sprint. My sales have not been stellar, but they are steady, and slowly growing. With just shy of 320 lifetime sales of The Time Weaver, I'm beating the average by a significant amount. (Trustworthy sources tell me that the average self-published book will sell no more than 100 copies over its lifetime.)

Book bloggers are my greatest friends. Readers trust their opinions, and my biggest sales boosts directly corresponded to their review posts. I send my most sincere gratitude out to every book blogger who has accepted The Time Weaver for review. It's you guys and gals who I have to thank for much of my success. Without book bloggers, how else could an indie author like me get the word out about my books?

Gimmicks and paid advertisements just don't work. They really don't. I've tried a number of paid avenues, from giant sites to small focused sites. I have yet to see any kind of return on any of my investments in this regard. If you're thinking about paid advertisements, think again. All you'll do is put money into other people's pockets.

The reality is, there just isn't anything out there that will sell your book better than the book itself. Write the best book you possibly can. Take the time to find truly honest people who will tell you how truly good or bad it is, then keep working at it. If your book isn't selling, the chances are good that no matter how good people around you say it is, they are probably lying. I'm not saying it's bad, but it may still need some work. Your best mode of advertisement is word of mouth, and you won't spark a reader's interest with a mediocre book.

Where Do I Go From Here?

It's been a wild year. I've finished writing my second fantasy novel, Legacy, and sent it off to my editor. It's currently on-track to be released on January 31, 2013. I'm hoping to have advance reader copies ready for the beginning of January, but I'm not going to rush it. It needs to be perfect.

November marks my third annual NaNoWriMo. If you're participating in this great event, please let me know. I'd love to connect with you and watch your progress. I plan on winning again this year, and will be getting the jump on my third and possibly final installment of The Time Weaver Chronicles. I'm super-excited to get started on it, and am looking forward to working with some of my favorite characters again.

29 Days of Fantasy, 2013 is right around the corner. Things will be a little bit different this year, with open submissions, a short story contest, and more. Stay tuned for the coming announcements.

Thanks for Everything!

I'd like to offer my gratitude to everyone who has stood by me. Not just this past year, but during the course of this entire adventure. I'm looking forward to many years to come with all of you wonderful people. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's all of you that have brought me my success so far. I owe you all so much.

There's one person in particular who I owe more than anyone. I refer to her as my editor, my graphic artist. She's the woman behind the scenes who is always there to correct my spelling and grammar, and who really brings my books from OK to GREAT. She has a place in the credits of my books, but that's not nearly enough. Not even close. My loving wife Claire. You are a genius. Without you, I wouldn't have the confidence to publish my work. Without your patience and tolerance, I wouldn't be a writer. I love you.

If you haven't already, you can pick up a copy of The Time Weaver from Amazon.com. Subscribe by email to my blog, and don't miss a single post!

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is based on a principle: Software Freedom. It is given away under a license that allows you to do with the software as you please. You can modify it, redistribute it, and never pay a penny for it so long as you abide by the terms of the license. This model has worked very well for FOSS. But this model doesn't work for everything.

Amazon's KDP Select allows you to give your book away for free for up to 5 days out of a 90 day period. Taken at its face value this seems like a good promotional tool, but I don't think so. Consider this: How many indie authors out there have made it big because of KDP Select promotions? How many have maintained a good sales rank for any significant length of time after the promotions are done? How many of those free giveaways actually get read?

Ask around, I think you'll be surprised.

Some report decent sales bumps when the promotions are done, but those don't last. They are bumps in the road. Many are okay with this, happy to be "good enough". To each his own, but I've never been willing to settle for "good enough".

There's a second side effect of this program, something that not many people thought of. Not even Amazon themselves, at first. If people are always scheduling books to go on sale for free, eventually you breed a culture of consumers who expect everything for free. I'm positive this isn't what Amazon wanted, and their actions appear to reflect that.

If you're going to give your work away for free, I highly recommend you do it for the right reasons. I'm simply not willing to give away 10,000 books to sell 100. That doesn't make sense to me.

I want to see my books at the top of the bestseller lists. That's best "seller" list, not best "free" list. The only way that's going to happen is through hard work, perseverance, and constant work on my craft. I would suggest the same thing to all indie authors out there.

I believe I have a good product, and they're only going to get better going forward. This is what will drive my sales. My exposure comes from you: the people who believe in me enough to keep coming back, the people who enjoy my writing enough to share my posts, and the people who refer others to my books so that I might win over more readers. I love you people. I want you to know how much I appreciate it every time you click the tweet, +1 and stumble buttons, or otherwise share my work.

But don't take me at my word. I do free for the right reasons. The first chapter of my debut novel, The Time Weaver, is available to read right here on my website, and for the first time, I'm going to offer the first chapter in a downloadable PDF, Kindle Format, and ePub format. Grab it, read it, and then pick up the whole book for a measly $2.99. That's less than a cup of coffee at certain coffee shops, and don't forget, a portion of that money is donated to Reglue, a charity that distributes computers to underprivileged children.

PDF Format

Amazon Kindle Format

ePub Format

If you already think you'll enjoy my book, you can pick it up in the following places with my full appreciation:

Amazon Kindle eBook

Kobo Books ePub eBook

Paperback