Welcome back, everyone! I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted, but it’s been a busy and eventful December / New Year, and I always seem to tail off the blogging around this time of year. I’ll be back in short notice with everything that’s been happening, but for now I just wanted to kick off the new year with a little bit of happy writing-related news: I’ve started getting reviews of The Redemption of Erâth: Consolation, and so far they’re all positive! I’ll share them momentarily below.

The Redemption of Erâth: Consolation was published in July of 2014, and in case anyone’s interested I made a whopping $37 in royalties in the first three months of it being on sale. Hardly the millions I’d been secretly wishing for, but it’s certainly better than a kick in the head. Moreover, though, I received (for me) overwhelming support and great feedback from my giveaways in October, and in fact this is where some of the reviews have come from. (Granted, it means the reviews are not strictly unbiased, but I’ll take what I can get for the moment!)

I still have a lot of work to do on book two, Exile, before it’s ready to be published, and I of course have the rest of book three, Ancients and Death, to write (not to mention the rest of the series). Exile made it to the editor, who suggested some (rather drastic, in some cases) changes and rewrites, which I’m going to have to think carefully about. I don’t want to cut too much from the book (she suggested removing the first fifth of the book entirely), because it is important later on in the series, but I need to find a way to make that a little clearer. I hate editing.

On the positive side, my medication routine seems to be holding me in good stead, and I feel (at the moment) rather positive about the forthcoming year and the work I have ahead of me. I have the next couple of days off before I head back to my day job, so I’m looking forward to spending at least a little bit of time at the keyboard.

I’ll recount everything that happened in our trip to England in a future post, but for now I’ll leave this here with three wonderful reviews of The Redemption of Erâth: Consolation.

“I thoroughly enjoyed this first, [and] am eagerly awaiting the next. The characters are vivid, as is the world in which they exist. I did not want to put it down! It has been a while since a story held my interest so deeply—I really care about the characters and the places came alive for me.”

★★★★★

—Jill Preis, amazon.com

“I won a copy of this book through a good reads giveaway. This has not influenced or biased my opinions.

“I almost did not feel like I was reading a book. Rather, I felt I was being told a story by a traveling bard. The language of this book is crafted beautifully. It was descriptive and engaging. However, at times the way sentences are constructed are different from how you would expect them to be, so I had to re-read the way things were worded here and there. I liked how things were worded. It challenged me but also set the tone for the tale itself. And it fit perfectly with the story line and setting. This book is more description than exposition. Yet the story never lost me or bored me.

“There were only a couple spots where there was an editing error (a period instead of a comma, etc). Otherwise, the book itself was well crafted. I look forward to reading more from this book series. The ending is hopeful yet ominous all at once. I liked the hints at the history of the world too. I very much look forward to discovering more of the Illuen and the world beyond Consolation.

“Good story and well told.”

★★★★★

—J. Else, goodreads.com

“This book starts off what I think will become a great fantasy series. Darkness has taken over the world, and only a small area is unaffected, but Darkness is creeping in. Characters are well developed, and you can never be sure who is good and evil. Can’t wait to see where this goes.”

★★★★

—Jason, goodreads.com

Featured image from http://webneel.com/30-beautiful-new-year-wallpapers-your-desktop.