In honor of the upcoming holidays, I've decided to put together a contest, and I've even added extra rewards for those of you who've already chosen to back The Children of the Forest! 

With gift-giving season upon us, I thought it was fitting to pull something from my store for all of you readers out there. To that end, I've picked up a $250.00 Amazon Gift Card. You can cover all of your holiday needs with this one handy item! Or, simply splurge for yourself and pick up any number of great items to keep you busy for months!

The way the contest will work is simple. Everyone who purchases one or more copies of my book will receive X amount of entries, based on the purchase level. An E-book-only purchase, for example, will give the buyer X 1 ticket, a hardcover sale will award X 2 tickets, and so on and so forth.

For everyone who has already backed my book, you will receive DOUBLE the normal ticket value of your support level, as thanks for choosing to back my story without incentives!  

I will be running this campaign until December 10th, at which time, I will announce the winner. If you've been on the fence about picking up a copy of my book, now is the time. Every single purchase awards you with a chance to win this great prize!

Hey all:

Getting ready to fly home for Thanksgiving to experience the four F's: Family, food, football, flatulence. Dad, have the Scotch ready.

New chapter is up. The final chapter of Part Three. Can you guess what happens? I'm not one of those writers who think a fantasy story requires endless twists and and turns to be effective, and I'm not a huge fan of the "predictable swerve"--you know, that BIG moment you know is coming, when the hero is charging toward some kind of climax or apotheosis and the story takes an abrupt turn. Someone dies unexpectedly; someone betrays someone we care about; someone you thought was a lowly cowherd turns out to be a god walking the earth. Stuff like that. The moment (and it is a moment, often taking up no more than a page or two) isn't telegraphed, exactly, but nor does it fall from the sky. The best of these--like the Red Wedding--can be a clincher, propelling the action forward while drawing the reader deeper into the tale. But the worst--which are far more prevalent--can bring the story to a dead halt and cause the reader to shake his head and wince at the author's inane compulsion to sacrifice verisimilitude for shock value. I prefer to build up to a key narrative moment slowly, not just over pages but chapters, and then let it unfold naturally (and I value when other authors do this as well--George Martin, Mervyn Peake, Diana Gabaldon, along with Melville and Dickens, are/were masters of this technique). No swerving, no twisting. So, if you've read this far, you've probably already guessed what happens to Richard at the end of Part Three and have a pretty good idea of the kind of place he is going to and what he will need to do.

As always, thanks for reading, and thanks for your support.

-M. 

Happy Friday everyone! How is everyone's week going?

Things are moving along slowly but nicely here at Dax HQ. Earlier in the week, I reached out to my fellow authors for some campaign advice. That said, I would like to give a shout-out to the lovely and awesome A.C. Weston and the totally radical Vincent Lim, who responded with some kind words and cool ideas! If you haven't already, you most definitely should check out their own books, She Is The End and The Cora Chronicles: Genesis, ASAP!

So in an effort to light a fire under my campaign, let's put one of those ideas in effect right now, shall we?

CONTEST! Many of you have said you love the cover art on the book. To which I have to sadly inform you that the art is only temporary, as I don't have the exclusive rights to go slapping it on paper and re-selling it. What I CAN do, however, is slap it on some giveaway gifts out of my own pocket! So as of this morning, the next 10 people to order the book will be entered to win a super groovy DAX HARRISON COFFEE MUG!

It holds 11 ounces of your favorite beverage and looks stylish as heck while doing so. Should this prove to be a popular idea, then I may just keep this party going with the next 10, and the next 10, and so on until we hit that magic pre-order goal!

Also, with every purchase of a paperback copy, I will be including a commemorative souvenir postcard as a token of my appreciation!

Don't fret if you already ordered previously. I plan to throw one of these babies in with every paperback. You can use it as a fancy bookmark if you like! Or stick it on your fridge as a decoration. Or actually use it as a postcard and impress your friends and relatives with your good taste in postal stationery!

What do you say, guys and gals? Give that gorgeous pre-order button a click! And tell your friends to do the same!

-Tony