Kip Ayers has finished work on the first cover for me. I think it fits the idea of “fantasy quest” much better.

One of the things that I’ve not done for Tanyth Fairport is map out her world. As I’m working on Book 2, Zypheria’s Call, that lack has bitten me in the behind and I found that I needed to get the map fixed. There will be more, but here’s the map of the world as I know it right at the moment.

I’ll be making some detail maps for each book in a bit.

Except for Korlay and Zypheria, I’m not bound by any of these other names. If you’ve got any suggestions for alternatives for the other two continents or the bodies of water, let me know in the comments.

You can now order paperback versions through Amazon.

Ebooks are also available at a variety of places including the Kindle Store at Amazon and Barnes and Noble and even Smashwords.

I’ve got a case of books on the way here, but they won’t be here for another week. (I picked cheap shipping. sorry).

They’re here and I’ve added a “Buy Direct” Page up there. Who want’s to be the first brave person to try it out and tell me how/if it works?

Well, I think it’s mostly just treat. There are no tricks involved.

Ravenwood is now live in the kindlestore at Amazon.

I’ve uploaded it to Barnes and Noble and I’ll be making ebook versions available here in a few days for those people who just can’t deal with either of those.

The paperback should be coming online in a day or so as well. The files are in review now.

And just to kick this out early:

1. Yes, you will be able to order signed, limited edition hardcovers sometime in January.
2. Yes, you will be able to order signed paperbacks sometime in November.
3. Yes, you will be order the ebooks direct from my site.

And in other Tanyth Fairport news, my younger daughter is going to do NaNoWriMo next month. Her teacher has offered extra credit at school and I’m going to attempt the sequel to Ravenwood. I’m not sure what the title will be yet. I’m thinking it might be “Lammas Wood.” We’ll see when the characters tell me, I guess.

When I got the galley back, a couple of things showed up in the cover design.

1. The title sat too close to the edges.

2. There wasn’t anything on the cover that said “Fantasy” to me. It could have been horror, or even mystery.

3. The back blurb was too large. It filled too much of the back cover and looked pasted on.

So, here’s the new one. I think it’ll work better.

If you’ve not been following the news over at The Solar Clipper Diary, then you’re not aware that I’ve decided to release Ravenwood on my own. With Samhain coming and my science fiction delayed, this seems like a good time to get people interested in the world of Tanyth Fairport and her special brand of magic.

That’s the full wrap cover for the print version. I’ll use just the front (obviously) for the ebook. We’re getting the proofreading done now and I hope to kick out a galley proof this weekend as soon as I get all the changes incorporated. Once I see that, I’ll pull the trigger on paper and ebook formats including – for the first time – selling ebooks direct from here.

I’m shooting for a release date that makes the books available around the end of the month so you’ll have a little something extra this Halloween.

The hits just keep on coming!

I just finished KC May’s “The Kinshield Legacy.”

KC is another person I met over on the Kindleboards and when her second book in this series came out last week, I went back and looked at the first one.

Wow.

Great story, fun characters, real villainy, and a magic based on gemstones to amplify human talents. This is a classic epic fantasy with a hidden king, evil wizards, and the whole bit. If that’s your thing, you should grab a sample and give it a try. It’s only 99 cents at the moment and a huge bargain.

Let her know if you like it. Tell her “Tanyth sent me.”

Blessed be.

Merry Meet!

For those of you waiting for the next part of Tanyth Fairport’s story, it’s coming. Just not right away. I’m hoping to get it done before the end of the year so I’ll have two novels out this year. Fingers crossed.

While you’re waiting, lemme recommend Debora Geary’s “A Modern Witch” series. If you missed book one — A Modern Witch — you really owe it to yourself to go pick it up. She has a great touch with dialog, wonderful characters, and just the right amount of magic and mystery to keep you engaged all the way through.

I bring this up now because she’s just released the second book in the series — A Hidden Witch — and I’ve enjoyed the heck out of it. Her magic system is very cool and right up to date. I particularly like the way she’s woven the online gaming world into this magical realm. Programs as spells? Okay! I’m good with that.

I can’t recommend these books highly enough. If you’re looking for a great light read … grab a sample and see for yourself.

Blessed be.

Merry meet!

With all the stuff that’s going on with the earth these days, it’s certainly a time to count our blessings and look forward to the next cycle of flowering, even as we all try to recover from a dark winter. With the vernal equinox behind us, here’s what I’m looking forward to.

Cape Grace now and the Ravenwood sequel this summer. That should leave me room to write a third book by year end as I get out from under my prior commitments from last year.

I’m really looking forward to getting back into Tanyth Fairport’s universe and seeing what kind of mischief she gets up to next. Unfortunately, it’ll still be a few months before I can do that.

In the meantime, Debora Geary has released her next book “A Modern Witch” and it looks pretty good. I haven’t had a chance to dig into it too far yet, but if you like fantasy — and I think you do — here’s a little contemporary fantasy to tide you over until I get my act together.

Thanks for staying with me on the trek, people. I’m very grateful for your continuing support.

Blessed be.

I’m assuming that most readers here are also following along at the Trader’s Diary, but in case you’re not, Debora Geary has offered free copies of her novella Matchmaker 2.0 to up to three of my readers.

If you haven’t been following then you probably haven’t heard that I’m going to be filling in some of the gaps with some novella length pieces that we’re calling Novel Nibbles. These will be about 20k words long and offered for 99 cents on the kindle and smashwords stores and listed on the Novel Nibbles catalog site as well. I left a post over on the Trader’s Diary with more information but I’m really looking forward to getting more writing out faster than I can do in novel formats alone.

The Ravenwood sequel is on my plate for release in late summer of this year so watch for more stories about Tanyth coming soon.

Thanks again.