Writing. Fantasy. Sci-fi. Mystery
Finally it’s here, and it looks great! I’m going to start working on the matching edition of Key Of Living Fire next.
Follow these links to get your copy of Dragon Offspring: https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Offspring-Sword-Scott-Appleton/dp/195067701X/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?keywords=dragon+offspring&qid=1579358729&sprefix=dragon+offs&sr=8-8
The Hemmed Land is changing . . . and so is the daughter who was born out of the ultimate sacrifice.
With Ilfedo’s beloved wife buried, the Hemmed Land is destined to change, as is he.
The sea serpents have again invaded the land, and Ilfedo must discover the power behind the sword of the dragon, even as he accepts his people’s call to become the Lord Warrior.
From its original 120,000-words to the expanded 154,500-words, here it as last, the revamp of book two in The Sword of the Dragon series. It released today on Kindle (with an exclusive piece of megatrath artwork) and next week the paperback will be released! Many hours went into revising and expanding this book, and it was worth it.
Follow this link to purchase the Kindle copy of Dragon Offspring.
It’s really hard to believe that my first book was published back in 2009. Over a decade ago this publishing journey begin, and finally I am getting all of my books back on the market. Happy holidays! And, yes, soon to be merry Christmas as well. Let’s talk about fantasy writing during this season of family, generosity, and kindness.
Although progress has been slow this last month my second novel will soon be re-published. The new title is Dragon Offspring and so far it has expanded by an astounding 20,000 words. Much of the story is exactly the same as it was before, with small alterations that greatly enhance the characterization and dialogue. I cannot wait to publish this for you guys! At last the original artwork will be used just as I had originally intended.
In addition to this, you may have seen my announcement that I now have a dedicated home office. I have set up audio recording equipment and started audiobook recordings. My time is so limited and I am trying to manage that better, but my first project is an audiobook of Neverqueen. Some of you might be wondering why I didn’t start with Swords of the Six, but that’s because that is such a large novel and I want to make sure that I get my audio feet wet on a smaller, more manageable project.
There has been much to celebrate this year! Including the publication of the extended edition of my first novel. For the first time I am seeing real growth in my ebook market, which is really exciting. That format of my books has always lagged far behind my paperback sales and I know there is a huge fantasy ebook readership that has yet to be introduced to The Sword Of The Dragon series.
The past four months of this year has been filled with selling our old house and moving into the new one. That slowed down my writing and publishing considerably but has set me up for success in 2020.
My favorite writing tool this year has been my Surface Go. I used it extensively in the rewrite of Swords of the Six, and am employing it with equal effectiveness to Dragon Offspring. It is such a basic little machine but incredibly portable. My only complaint about it has been that it is significantly less efficient where battery power is concerned. I am only getting a few hours of writing in with the keyboard attached before the battery needs to recharge. The solution has been to always keep my charger handy!
I want to thank all of you for your patience as I republish the material that was originally available with the traditional publishing house in Tennessee. This has been a long journey but with every step I have learned what didn’t work and determined what works best to deliver you stories that will inspire our lives.
The best fantasy stories encourage us to be better people than we are now. We need heroes to whom we can aspire, not heroes who we see as more flawed than ourselves. We want to expect a higher standard from ourselves and from others.
Thank you for being a part of this journey!
This has been a crazy busy couple of months for my family and I! We sold our house and are in the middle of buying another one. Our house is not topsy-turvy, but I’ve been doing a lot of moving and preparation work. In the midst of all that I have made excellent progress on the second book for re-release in my primary fantasy series. Dragon Offspring (The Sword Of The Dragon book 2).
Originally I planned to just give the original edition a polish and quickly re-publish it. Dragon Offspring will now release in an Extended Edition like I have done with Swords Of The Six! The story made a couple of time-jumps in its original published form. The jumps did not originally bother me too much, but they were in part a result of the traditional publishing process. The publisher had asked, for the sake of production costs, that I keep it under 120,000-words, which is exactly where the word count ended up.
Now that I have full creative control again, I have decided to flesh out the story as it originally could’ve been. I must say I am very pleased with the results. This expansion is deepening the interactions of Ilfedo, the Warrioresses, and Ombre. Instead of an author narrative it now has scenes so that you can picture the events as they play out.
In my new house I will have a dedicated writing office. Something I have dreamed of for a long time! A spot that I can surround myself with everything that lends to my creative flow. Also, I will be able to set up my audio recording equipment and start fiddling more with that. I have so many projects to do and such limited time to do it each week, but if I chip away at it the work will all get done.
I wanted to give you guys and gals an update on my planned projects, so here goes:
The Sword Of The Dragon series: After I publish the Extended Edition of Dragon Offspring, hopefully in time for Christmas, then I will start polishing Key Of Living Fire. Followed immediately by The Phantom’s Blade. Finally with all of those books re-published, I will delve into finishing the next book, the one that everybody has been clamoring for for the last five years. “In Search Of Dragons” will pick up where TPB left off.
Neverqueen audiobook. I really want to produce audio versions of each novel, but the production costs are prohibitive at this time. If I can manage to record and produce it myself in a professional manner then that will greatly expedite the process.
Besides these fantasy projects I will get back to writing my YA sci-fi series Star Train.
Q: Feel free to offer feedback or your hopes for what comes next!
The other night I was sitting down on my couch just enjoying a few books. One of them was my collection of marvel Star Wars comics. As I was leafing through the story of A New Hope I started showing my three sons a couple of scenes that were not included in the movie. As soon as they acknowledged that I was correct, I pulled up the deleted scenes of that original movie. They were quite fascinated to see that the concept was based on unused footage from one of my most loved films.
Have you ever wondered why Luke Skywalker greeted his friend Biggs as if he was an old friend at the end of A New Hope? Well originally Biggs had a larger role in the film, specifically a rather detailed interaction with Luke Skywalker while he was on Tatooine. But all that was removed in the final cut and never included in the 1998 version. But you can still find it in the old comics and of course in the deleted scenes on the Blu-ray.
I think this offers an excellent example of the superiority of written story over a film. You can include so much more detail because your screen time is not limited. It offers greater character development and a vaster universe.
Star Wars bridges every media now. Whether it is video games, books, movies, tv shows, audiobooks, or comic books Star Wars is represented. It is fantastic! It offers a view into that story world that is the envy of many a creator, including myself. But it also serves as a model of success.
For fans of all the older Star Wars content I am thrilled to enjoy it in its many forms. I will admit that I have played the games, watched the movies, read some of the comics, and of course I have read many of the books!
Depending on which media a new fan finds Star Wars through, their perception of the story will be different. For someone who picks up the comic from the original Star Wars they will understand the whole story of Luke Skywalker and Biggs. But for someone like me, who first saw the movie, I was missing the opening of that story. Once I found it it was like seeing the story again for the first time.
Eventually I plan to do similarly with The Sword Of The Dragon series. I would like to add comics, audiobooks, and who knows?
The variety of material now available Star Wars makes it a vast fictional universe. With the addition of the Mandelorian live action television series I am curious to see what happens next. Personally I’m anticipating the Obi Wan Kenobi series also. Not all of the material has been excellent, but the originals were and it gives me hope for the future of those stories.
Q: Which storyworld with several media types do you get absorbed in?
At last it is here! A substantial 500-pages of epic fantasy to open The Sword of the Dragon series. Swords of the Six (the Extended Edition) brings you a more intimate perspective of your beloved characters and reveals more fully some of the events that the original edition glossed over. You can purchase your copy on Amazon. Click here: Swords of the Six on amazon.com
It’s here! At last the extended edition of Swords of the Six is up on Amazon, and priced at just $2.99 as an easy intro to The Sword of the Dragon series. Purchase link for Swords of the Six extended edition.
A warrior from the distant past is brought back to protect the daughter of the dragon prophet.
In a time when wizards are growing in power, a fabled warrior will return to bring about their downfall by protecting an innocent child.
The world of Subterran has been torn apart by the war of the Trantureen, a trio of deadly wizards who arrived out of nowhere. Only the prophets can guide the world back into a lasting peace.
The dragon’s life is in his blood. In a world torn apart by betrayal, Xavion is tasked with protecting what is most precious to the prophets: the human daughters of a dragon.
With the life of the dragon flowing in her veins, Dantress holds the future of mankind in her womb. But for a daughter of the dragon to fall in love and give birth to a living child, she must be willing to give up her own life.
The world’s fate hinges on Xavion’s steady loyalty to the prophets and Dantress’s love for an unborn, innocent life.
The rewrite of my first novel is 50% completed with edits! This is a much more meaty book than the original. It has jumped from the original 85,000 words, to now a staggering 130,000 words.
Specter figures more prominently in this than he did the original book, and Ilfedo is introduced far earlier. You will get a glimpse of his relationship with his father.
In preparation for publishing Swords of the Six (expanded edition) I have been preparing an Encyclopedia (of sorts) for The Sword Of The Dragon series. Everyone wants a pronunciation guide but I want one that is more flexible for expansion as I write more of these books, adding new characters and places.
You will now find two new pages on my website. The first is for The Sword of the Dragon series enyclopedia with pronunciation guide, and the second is for Maps. Maps were the second most requested item from my fans.
Some of the content on these pages will inevitably be incomplete, but I believe this will be a lot of fun for people to look through.
I hope you enjoy this idea, and if you have suggestions feel free to comment!