Greetings! Time for an update! Wizard World 2016 Wrap up!

Last weekend I had my first booth at Wizard World in Chicago, and I’d like to give a thanks to everyone who was a part of that. Particularly BaconMooseComics for allowing me to share half our corner booth. 

If you want to see all our pictures of the amazing cosplay we found and our booth set up, go ahead and click :Here: go ahead and hit "like" on that page if you want. 

In other news, Inkshares has been hard at work figuring out the best date to release the book, and that means things got changed. 

The book’s official release date is now 1/17/17. If there were 17 months in a year, I really would of tried to get it there.. 

Either way, this extra time allows me to conjure up some more conventions, articles, and start writing the sequel, Dystopia. 

Until next week!

’Faith: Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.’ - Oxford Dictionaries (finally, a legit dictionary - web version).

So, the aim of this week was to hit either 30 followers or 5 pre-orders. 

Overnight, with the help of some amazing people, I hit (and went past!) both of those targets! So thank you so much, you are all awesome, and as promised - this is my character art-in-progress for Nia, one of the protagonists of Spectrum.

Next target: either 50 followers, or 15 pre-orders and then I’ll put up the character art for Assassin. Please share, please keep following and put in a pre-order if you haven’t already and modern-day dystopia with magic sounds like something you might enjoy!    

Map!!!

Okay, maybe my initial excitement was overblown as I’m clearly not the best cartographer.  I hope that one day my topographical sketching/watercoloring skills improve, but that is not today.  At least this time its a map that none of you have seen before.

The bulk of this map covers the western half of the Zaltruscan empire.  They control most of the Sea of Serpents, the exception being the Isle of Karpa which is controlled(mostly) by Pentaz’ home country - Thierdenvolgenlund.  Pentaz’ journey first takes him south along this sea and onto the plains near the river.  During an ordeal on these plans he meets Buscidia who guides him safely around the swamp and to the city of Jacirst(you can read more about these events starting at this collection of chapters).  She continues acting as his guide and bodyguard afterwards, doing her best to improve his knowledge of the mainland and its languages on their way to Llanchland.

Llanchland(near the left edge) is also not part of the Zaltruscan empire, being an independent city-state ruled by Llargas Llanch II, son of the city’s founder Llargas Llanch and one of a long line of Llargas Llanch’s who will rule over a city which has a far larger part to play in the future of the world than one may suspect from such a seemingly insignificant city-state.  Buscidia and Pentaz go through another ordeal while under the employ of Llargas Llanch II, growing closer to one another in the process(you can read more about Llanchland and the ordeal starting at this collection of chapters).

From here they sail around the unnaturally circular island(which you can find out more about in this collection of chapters), and south off of this particular map.  They eventually find their way back to this map, heading north along the purple road you see winding through the mountains to the Calden barony, home to the Magus Baron Caldus whose family crest graces the book’s cover.  Pentaz makes his way north out of the Calden barony, into the foothills then mountains of the Frozen North, eventually reaching the tip of the Dragon’s Head Peninsula for the book’s conclusion.  The Zaltruscan empire also claims the Frozen North as their territory, but this is an entirely unenforced claim as the landscape is too treacherous and the environment a bit too hostile to easily field/garrison an army with which to truly hold the area.

Beyond this you may be able to make out the circles drawn on some of the coastlines, these being some of the more significant port towns.  There are certainly more settlements than I’ve marked on the map, but I tend to only mark those which are included in my books in an important manner.  Naming some of the unnamed features(rivers, lakes, bays, forests, etc) is among the list of "wild card" rewards that I would be willing to honor for anyone winning the referral giveaway or the preorder giveaway.  Hopefully by next week’s update I will have made a more reader friendly, bullet pointed list of rewards and how to win them.

I hope you enjoyed the map and my very abbreviated textual trek through it with you.  Keep reading, enjoying, and recommending!

Dear Readers,

Or should I say...Listeners? For behold, thanks to the magic of Inkshares and Drew Campbell’s British accent...

An Unattractive Vampire is on Audible!!! 

Thank you to everyone at Inkshares, Audible, and Mr. Campbell for making this happen. 

So I know you’re all thinking: "Jim, I need this for my sound holes, but money has decided (literally) to see other people right now." Well, here’s a thing: Audible sponsors just about every podcast in existence. They offer so many deals and promos, it’s kind of ridiculous. For example: Lore podcast, Hardcore History, and Blurry Photos all offer trial codes. So yes, listen to awesome inspiring podcasts and when you’re done, listen to my book as well.

Also, just a reminder that the Dragon Awards are quickly approaching, so time is running out to VOTE for Inkshares/Sword and Laser books including The Life Engineered, Asteroid Made of Dragons, and, of course, An Unattractive Vampire which also all happen to be available in e-book for the special low-low price of 99 cents until the end of the month. (Completely coincidental, I assure you. *WINK*) So please, vote for An Unattractive Vampire because what could be better than mixing vampires and dragons?