It’s been a crazy year. I started working on A Dragon for Darius in earnest in late January, 2026. It stood at approximately 8,000 words when I began. As I worked on it, I realized that the story was too big for a single book and I decided to split it into parts and create a series. Today, as I am nearly a quarter of the way through the fourth and final book, it stands at approximately 190,000 words. The final goal is four books of approximately 50K each, so we have some editing to do. It has been the most fun, the hardest, and one of the saddest books I’ve written. I’m excited to share it with readers. In fact, I have never felt more certain that people NEED to read a book than I feel about this one.
Will it be for everyone? Of course not. There’s open door very spicy spice at a time when authors are being berated for writing about such things. There is a Bible verse at the beginning of each chapter in a book about a religious cult that’s killing the planet, at a time when people are being WAY too zealous about all beliefs. It has 2SLGBTQIA+ representation and nonbinary and aroace characters at a time when anyone who dares to be different is being persecuted. Plus, it has em dashes and oxford commas in it, at a time when this is somehow a sign of AI writing. Really? I hope you can sense my eyeroll.
So, yeah, people are going to hate it. People are going to love it. People are going to see themselves in it, I hope, and find strength to carry on.
The fourth book of the series is my tenth novel. To celebrate, I’ve commissioned special edition cover art that I’ve lovingly called the Auspicious Hummingbirds. The first is in hand, and we are working toward a cover reveal in mid- to late-September. Wait, there’s bound to be a joke somewhere in there about a bird in hand. At any rate, the hummingbird artist is Emily Jackson. You can find her here. Follow me on Youtube, Instagram, or Bluesky to be third in line to see each cover as it is revealed. … Third in line? yes. … Oh, the second place to see it will be ReadIndieFantasy.com. Such a great website for Indie work.
But wait, if you’d like to be one of the first to see each of the Auspcious Hummingbirds as they’re revealed, follow the Backerkit Campaign instead. Followers and Backers will get the first peek at each bird.
The goal is to finish the four books by the end of this year. Backerkit copies with the Auspicious Hummingbirds will be sent, if all goes according to plan, summer 2027. After the last of those are shipped, we will begin a pre-order campaign for the Wide Release cover art versions. The Wide Release will drop one book at a time through mid-2028. Afterward, the plan is to release an omnibus edition (all four books collected into one volume) with our friend Drake (the cover that’s been hanging out on my website for years). It’ll be chonky and a strange size because of the word/page count. Print on Demand (POD) services can only do so thick before the glue starts to fail.
For those concerned, you don’t have to wait for all that to roll out before my next work appears. Once Darius is written, I’ll be returning to D’Mique and her adventures in the Northern Kingdoms. I haven’t forgotten that she’s marched off into the Sands with Puko and the Nura. And then Milia is off to New Orleans to find someone else who needs help. It is my intention to work on those books as A Dragon for Darius is released.
