Seeking input on my cover and blurb

Hey folks! I'm preparing to release my next book, The Maze of Mist, which is part of the Chronicles of the House of Itxaron series. It's set in the same world as my novel Roots Run Deep but it's not a sequel. Both are standalone books.

Anyway, I've whipped this up on Kindle's Cover Creator. I'm not 100% satisfied with it so I could use some input. Too gray? What other colors could I use that go with the picture? I'm new to the cover design game.

Also, here's a draft of the blurb. Any input will be highly appreciated!

When the heir to the throne is treated as an outcast, he has to prove himself before he can rule.

Prince Metis Itxaron is the son of human father and a goblin mother. As heir to the Twin Thrones, he will some day bear the responsibility of ruling two peoples while protecting the kingdom from the vicious armies of the Bandit Queen and the Elves of the Great Forest.

Instead he spends his time getting drunk and sleeping with the few women willing to look beyond his mixed heritage.

In a desperate attempt to make a man out of him, his parents send him on a secret diplomatic mission to prepare for an upcoming war. What they don't expect is that he will come upon visitors from an unknown land beyond the Sea of Mist, a strange labrynthe of fog that has baffled navigators for all of recorded history. Metis sees a visit to these new lands as an opportunity to escape his responsibilities and prove himself on his own terms.

Then he discovers that representatives from his kingdom's enemies are coming along for the voyage. . .

Coming in July: The Maze of Mist!

Last month I finished my latest fantasy novel, The Maze of Mist, a sequel to my fantasy novel Roots Run Deep. The action takes place twenty years later and follows the adventures of Metis Itxaron, son of the human King Roderick and goblin Queen Kip, as he discovers an unknown continent and struggles with accepting his mixed heritage.

I've been busy with edits and beta reads for several weeks now. The book should be ready to go up on Kindle, Smashwords, etc, in late July. I'm still looking for cover art, though. If anyone out there knows of a good Creative Commons or inexpensive image of an old-style sailing ship sailing through the mist, please mention it here.

This sequel is a standalone novel and you don't have to read the first book to understand the second, although I certainly won't complain if you do! I like loosely knit series like that.

My next fantasy novel coming soon!

Here's the cover for At the Gates, the next in the Timeless Empire series. It picks up where Hard Winter leaves off and continues Recorro's quest to learn his past while struggling with the dangers of the present. Below is a blurb. I'd love to get some feedback on this blurb before I upload it late this week or early next, so please tell me what you think in the comments section!

In the thirtieth year of my life, I found myself a soldier in two armies about to go to war with each other, and already at war with a third.

We marched across an endless plain, we soldiers of the Baron, loyal human subjects of the Dragonkin and their Timeless Empire. Loyal, I say, but only in name. For within that great army intent on crushing the rebellious cities of Haadsted and Ryksierde marched another army, a secret army, the army to which I owed my true loyalty.

Busy working on three different fantasy fiction projects

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm preparing two more fantasy novels for publication. Hard Winter and At the Gates, books one and two of the Timeless Empire series, are edited and ready. The covers are being designed at the moment. The artist is incorporating some medieval art into the covers that really sets the mood. Both books will be released in June.

I'm still chugging away on The Maze of Mist, a sequel to my fantasy novel Roots Run Deep and the second book in the House of Itxaron trilogy. It will be out in late 2012. Each book in the trilogy is a standalone novel but can also be read as a series.

My third project involves fellow archaeologist and blogging buddy Sean McLachlan. We're working together on a collection of short stories tentatively titled The Witch Bottle and Other Tales of Black Magic. That will be out sometime this year but I can't be more precise than that. We both have busy schedules!

Upcoming fantasy releases

It's been some time since I've given you an update on my writing. I'm hard at work on The Maze of Mist, a sequel to Roots Run Deep and the second book in the House of Itxaron trilogy. While all three books in the trilogy will be standalone novels, The Maze of Mist continues the tale of the House of Itxaron into the next generation. It will be released in the autumn of 2012.

You won't have to wait until then to read more of my work, though! I'm publishing the first two books of another fantasy series, the Timeless Empire series, within the next month. More news once I have it! The first two books are titled Hard Winter and At the Gates. Book number three, tentatively titled Occupation, will come out two months later. Here's a teaser:

His past has been erased, his future is uncertain, but he knows one thing—in the coming revolution he must choose which friend to support and which to betray.

The Dragonkin, magical beings that are half human and half dragon, have ruled the human race for centuries through cruel caprice, but now their authority is being challenged. The eastern territories have broken away, and a grain blight has left thousands of humans destitute. Assassinations and riots plague the cities.

While the empire’s future is in peril, one man struggles to reclaim his past. He is Recorro, a human scribe whose wife has been taken by the Gatherers, shadowy beings that prowl the streets during moonless nights. No-one knows where the Gatherers come from, or what happens to the people they take, but those who witness their passing are forever changed. Recorro can remember nothing about his wife beyond the fact that she existed.

Aimless and struggling with despair, Recorro joins the army gathering to crush the rebels. His unit is a motley band of desperate commoners, including Granja, a dispossessed farmer, and Ignazio, a holy man in a world that has more faith in magic than the gods. Their unofficial leader is Silone, a charming trickster who turns out to be a member of the Syndicate, an anarchic secret society that has infiltrated the army in order to overthrow the ruling class. Silone lost a son to the Gatherers and presents Recorro with convincing evidence that the Dragonkin are behind the disappearances.

Recorro’s best friend in the unit is Labertino, an aspiring mage who was kicked out of school for lack of talent. Early in the campaign he saves Recorro’s life, which makes Recorro feel protective of the weak and bookish youth. Soon Silone and Labertino come into conflict as the former student shows his loyalty to the Dragonkin and tries to keep Recorro from joining the Syndicate’s revolution.

Fighting against disease, starvation, the rebels, and their own differences, the unit tries to stay alive while everyone around them begins to take sides.

More places to buy my books!

In the past few weeks the number of places to buy my books has dramatically expanded. My fantasy novel Roots Run Deep has always been available directly from Double Dragon Publishing, and the various Amazon incarnations such as Amazon and Amazon UK. It's also available at Barnes & Noble, and 8for those of you who like using Paypal) Fictionwise.

My mystery/thriller Murder at Mcmurdo is available direct from LL-Publications, Amazon, Amazon UK, all the other Amazons, and Barnes and Noble.

My latest book, a short story collection of RPG-inspired tales called Down in the Dungeon, was released by Writers Exchange Ebooks, and is now available at Amazon, Amazon UK, all those other Amazons, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

So now there are more ways to read the stuff by yours truly! More books coming soon!

Upcoming releases

I've been a bit too quiet on this blog lately. I've been very busy at work and finalizing two upcoming releases. One is Down in the Dungeon, a collection of my short stories inspired by classic RPG gaming. So many fantasy authors are inspired by roleplaying games and try to hide it. Well, I don't. I revel in it! This ebook has a wonderful cover designed by Laura Shinn. It will be coming out within a month from Writers Exchange E-Publishing.

I also have a short story titled "The Witch Bottle" in the upcoming anthology Love and Darker Passions. This will be published early next year by Blood Moon, the horror imprint of Double Dragon. It's based on some research into a real item of folkloric magic called, you guessed it, the witch bottle.

If you haven't sampled my fiction yet, I already have two books available. My fantasy novel Roots Run Deep follows the adventures of a female goblin struggling her way out of a slum in a human-dominated world and becoming a leader for her oppressed people. My mystery/thriller Murder at McMurdo tells the tale of flawed man trying to make things right for his wife and himself while trying to solve a murder.

So while I've been a bit quiet of late, I haven't been sleeping! And you're getting a medieval post later this week, so stayed tuned!

More Medieval Weapons in the American Civil War

Earlier this week we had Sean McLachlan blogging about Medieval Weapons in the American Civil War as part of his virtual book tour for his new Civil War novel.

He didn't have enough space to say everything he wanted to, so he's done another post over at his own blog titled Lancers in the American Civil War. Go on over and check out this interesting post!

I didn't realize there were lancers in that war. The term "lancer" brings to mind the cavalry of the Napoleonic Wars, like this French lancer I nabbed off of Wikimedia Commons. I bet the Texan Confederates didn't have such snappy uniforms!

Medieval weapons in the American Civil War

One of John Brown's pikes. Credit: Hugh Talman (Smithsonian Institution)

Today I'm proud to host the first stop on a book tour for A Fine Likeness, a historical fantasy novel set in the Civil War. It's written by Sean McLachlan, a historian who guest blogged here before about medieval handgonnes. Today he tells us how the American Civil War still saw the use of some very medieval-style weapons. Take it away Sean!

When the Civil War started in 1861, most Americans had no experience with warfare and were completely unprepared. This led them to use some weapons that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Middle Ages.

This started even before the war, when radical abolitionist John Brown raided the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry in 1859. His wanted to steal the weapons to arm a planned slave insurrection. Before the raid, Brown had a blacksmith make 500 pikes like the one pictured above. They had a 9 ½ to 10-inch long double-edged blade of forged cast steel and a 4 ½ inch wide iron guard fitted onto a six-foot ash handle. Brown and his followers used these pikes (as well as some more effective guns) to take the armory, but were soon captured by troops commanded by Robert E. Lee (!) and the planned insurrection never happened.

Once the actual war started in 1861, volunteers showed up with whatever weapons they could get. A report from the Battle of Lexington, Missouri said one rebel carried a corn scythe. At the Battle of Athens, Missouri, that same year, the rebels had a cannon made from a hollowed out log. It blew up the first time it was fired.

Rebel with "knife" (Library of Congress)

Soldiers also carried swords and long knives that often saw use in hand-to-hand combat. Notorious rebel guerrilla Bloody Bill Anderson, who is a character in my novel, carried a tomahawk and a Bowie knife; the latter he used to scalp his victims. In the Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma) and the Far West, native Americans fought on both sides. They also operated independently, taking advantage of the war to raid white settlers. While many had guns, some still used tomahawks, spears, and bows and arrows.

The Civil War was a savage conflict, and the savagery of the medieval battlefield, with its fearsome weapons, was part of that grim reality.

A Fine Likeness is available as an ebook at Amazon, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, and Amazon FR and will soon be available in print and on Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. the back cover blurb is below:

A Confederate guerrilla and a Union captain discover there’s something more dangerous in the woods than each other.

Jimmy Rawlins is a teenaged bushwhacker who leads his friends on ambushes of Union patrols. They join infamous guerrilla leader Bloody Bill Anderson on a raid through Missouri, but Jimmy questions his commitment to the Cause when he discovers this madman plans to sacrifice a Union prisoner in a hellish ritual to raise the Confederate dead.

Richard Addison is an aging captain of a lackluster Union militia. Depressed over his son’s death in battle, a glimpse of Jimmy changes his life. Jimmy and his son look so much alike that Addison becomes obsessed with saving him from Bloody Bill. Captain Addison must wreck his reputation to win this war within a war, while Jimmy must decide whether to betray the Confederacy to stop the evil arising in the woods of Missouri.

 

Medieval Mondays: Heraldry on shields

Heraldry has always attracted me. The designs are so beautiful, even though I know very little about what those designs actually mean. They were the sign language of their time. With most of the population illiterate and knights anonymous under heavy armour, heraldry made sure every knew who was who.

Sean McLachlan, who has guest blogged here before, sent these shots over. They are from the Alcazar castle in Spain, which has a big collection of medieval cannon. I'm not sure why blogsmith insisted on putting these photos sideways! Anyone know the answer?

Sean says, "I don't know the date or provenance of these shields, but they are very large, almost the size of pavises although not the right shape. They may have been purely decorative."

Pavises are large shields used to protect archers or medieval handgonners while they reload. You can see an example below. This is actually a model soldier, but you get the idea! They made for a nice canvas on which to paint some heraldry or religious art. As you can see, pavises usually had flat bottoms and a spike so you could stick it into the ground.

Sean has written about medieval warfare in books and magazines, and is also an expert on the American Civil War. He has a blog called Civil War Horror and is coming out next month with a Civil War novel. Sounds interesting. I hope he doesn't abandon the Middle Ages!

Roots Run Deep fantasy novel reviewed!

I got a nice review of my fantasy novel Roots Run Deep over at Croft Fantasy reads.
Go check it out!

You can also judge the book for yourself by nabbing it at Amazon or Double Dragon Publishing.

Murder at McMurdo is out!!!

My second novel (actually a novella) has been released by LL-Publications! Called Murder at McMurdo, this mystery/thriller is very different from my first novel, a fantasy titled Roots Run Deep published by Double Dragon.

Here's the back cover blurb:

Mark Collins came to McMurdo Antarctic Research Station to study ice cores, cut down on drinking, and patch up his marriage to his wife Rachel.

He’s failed on all counts. His equipment arrives broken, and he’s having an affair with Svetlana, a coworker who drinks as much as he does. When Mark and Svetlana witness a murder and the wrong man gets blamed, they must either solve the crime themselves, or reveal their affair to the entire camp in order to prove the suspect’s innocence. The only clue is an Alcoholics Anonymous token. Mark must infiltrate the station’s AA group, where he faces not only danger, but some hard truths about himself.

So instead of a goblin going on an epic quest to liberate her people, we have a very flawed man fighting sexual addiction and alcoholism while trying to solve a murder. Kip Itxaron had her flaws, but Mark Collins makes her look downright normal!

I've always liked flawed characters. They're so much more interesting to write (and read) about than cardboard heroes. Currently Murder at McMurdo is available direct from LL-Publications. Soon it will be available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and several other online vendors.

Medieval Mondays: Female Knights in the Middle Ages

Today we have a guest post from fantasy romance author Nicole Zoltack, who is working on a trilogy starring (you guessed it!) a female knight. Check out her website for lots of information on the Middle Ages.

When you think of knights, you imagine a tall young man wearing armor on the back of a noble steed. Although most knights were male, there were some female knights in the Middle Ages. Some wore armor, others commanded troops, some were members of an Order.

One female knight to wear full armor into battle was the Duchess Gaita of Lombardy, who rode beside her Norman mercenary husband. Another was Petronilla, Countess of Leicester. Wearing a mail hauberk with a sword and a shield, she defended her lands from Henry II of England. She and her husband participated in the rebellion in 1173 against Henry.

In 1149, the men in the city of Catalonia had been called away. The Moors knew this and attacked the supposedly defenseless town. The women defended the town and forced the Moors away. Raymond Berenger founded the Oder of the Hatchet. Although the women were not called knights (they were called dames), the women were granted many rights that only privileged men had during the Middle Ages, including exemption from taxes. The Order most likely died out with its original members and the women most likely never saw combat again, but if they had never taken up weapons against their enemies, the town of Tortosa would have fallen, and instead of being given privileges, their lives may well have ended in slavery or even death.

The House of Dudley's coat of arms is of a woman with long hair wearing a helmet. The woman is based on Agnes Hotot. Her father had a disagreement with another man and they agreed to settle the matter over lances. But her father grew ill, and Agnes disguised herself and took his place on the field. After she unseated her foe, Agnes removed her helmet to show her hair and showed her chest so he would know he had been bested by a female.

Agnes wasn't the only woman to compete in tourneys. Many noble ladies hunted with hounds or hawks. Women, on occasion, pretended to be men to partake in tourneys, as Agnes had, and some, it's believed, even fought in the crusades.

The most famous female knight of all was Joan of Arc. At seventeen, she remains the youngest person in history to command a nation's army. Patay was her greatest military victory on June 18, 1429. More than 2,000 English knights were killed while few of the French died. Twice Joan suffered injuries on the battlefield, but she remained with her men on the field.

Female knights fought for honor, freedom, and their land. They fought with the determination and heart of knights. Whether known as dames or knights, these brave women are a source of inspiration for us all.

Learning about the Order of the Hatchet inspired me to write Woman of Honor, about Aislinn and her journey to knighthood.

Aislinn of Bairbhe dreams of becoming a lady knight to honor the death of her fallen brother. To her mother's horror, King Patrick grants Aislinn's wish and she begins her long years of training.

Despite the mockery of the other pages, and the disdain of Prince Caelan who also trains to be a knight, Aislinn commits herself to her dreams and embarks on a journey of self-discovery and bravery. Through the years, Aislinn and Caelan grow from sparring classmates to good friends. They both know that someday Caelan will marry for the sake of the kingdom, but even that cannot keep them from falling in love.

The threat of war with the Speicans is a constant threat, and one that grows more frightening as she and Caelan train toward their eventual knighthood. Aislinn has committed herself to serving Arnhem, and has promised herself as King's Champion when Caelan claims the throne. She is willing to give up everything... her childhood, her life, even her heart for Arnhem. No matter the pain it brings.

Be sure to leave a comment to be entered to win some signed postcards and magnets. Each comment during the Champion of Valor Blog Tour gives you an entry for the grand prize: a copy of the entire Kingdom of Arnhem trilogy - Woman of Honor, Knight of Glory, and Champion of Valor.

I'm interviewed on Midlist Author!

I just did my second interview. Since Roots Run Deep is my first novel, being interviewed is a new thing for me. It's nice that some people are paying attention to such a brand-new name in fantasy fiction.

Fellow archaeologist and adventure travel writer Sean McLachlan interviewed me on his blog Midlist Writer. I talk about what it's like to finally have my first novel published and some of the research and ideas that went into Roots Run Deep. Check it out!

I also have a third interview in the works and some reviews that should be coming out pretty soon. Check back here for more news and for my regular feature, Medieval Mondays!

Welcome to my blog!

Hello, I'm A.J. Walker, a medievalist by day and writer by night. Double Dragon Publishing has just come out with my first fantasy novel, Roots Run Deep. I also have a couple more books coming up, a thriller/mystery and a collection of fantasy short stories.

Don't worry folks, this blog won't just be for tooting my own horn. I'll also be reviewing books and ebooks, interviewing authors, and hosting guest posts. I'll even throw in regular posts about Medieval history, which is my work and love. That said, I would be remiss not to talk a bit about my first novel. Below is the back cover blurb.

She fought her way up from a shanty town to a palace in order to change the world, but her hardest challenge was to change herself.


When a small-time goblin gambler falls in love with a deposed human king, the least of her worries is his vengeful usurper. Kip Itxaron has to follow religious visions despite having lost her faith, unite her squabbling people, find the fabled Lost Tribe of Goblinkin, overcome her fear of battle, and somehow be a leader to a people who have never had one.


But that’s nothing compared with loving someone who reminds her of every man she’s ever hated. Human men can barely be called male. Pasty skin, weak bodies. . .they don’t even have tusks! Not to mention that when he was in power he treated her people just as badly as the rest of them. Kip can see he’s changed, but has he changed enough? Can she change enough?

That's all for now folks! See you tomorrow!