If you wish to contact me with your questions or simply to be friendly, please send an email: spappleton@gmail.com
Writing. Fantasy. Sci-fi. Mystery
If you wish to contact me with your questions or simply to be friendly, please send an email: spappleton@gmail.com
I am confused which book follows “Key of Living Fire” How does “Neverqueen” relate to this series? Also wanted to let you know my son and I love your books!
“Neverqueen” is the start of a new series but is in the same story world as “The Sword of the Dragon” books. The sequel to “Key of Living Fire” is “The Phantom’s Blade” which comes out this Fall 2015! You should read “Neverqueen” after “Key of Living Fire” to best understand its place in the story.
I’m glad you love my books and I hope this information helps! 🙂
Hello. I just started following your blog, and I was wondering which one of your books would be the best to start off reading first? Your blog looks interesting, by the way.
Sorry for not responding sooner. WordPress hasn’t notified me of new comments… apparently for a long while😁 I am so pleased you’ve found this blog. Hopefully it will be a real blessing to you!
The first book you should read is “Swords of the Six” because that is the core of the series. But you could also start with “Neverqueen” as that is the start of a different series but still in the world of The Sword of the Dragon series.
Soooo love your books Mr. Appleton!!! XD Any idea when Sword of the Dragon #5 will come out? And, have you given any thought to the production films and/or audio dramas of your books??? You better believe I’d support movies of your books!!!!
Not sure if I responded to this. If not:
IN SEARCH OF DRAGONS (The Sword of the Dragon book 5) is in-the-works. But completing NEVERQUEEN2 is first.
In response to your other question: Oh yeah! *fist pump* I have many productions I plan to enact but first things first I need to finish writing the books. Audio books are the first up as far as media is concerned.
Hi
I was wondering if you could tell me if there are any stores in South Africa that sell your books? I have been dying to read the rest of the Sword of The Dragon series because I bought the first two and they where truly stunning and amazing.
Kind regards
Natasha
Hi Natasha,
There were a couple of stores in South Africa that carried my books for quite a while, however I don’t know if that is still the case and I don’t know what stores they were.
If you email me I’m sure we could set up an international shipment for you. I have inventory for most of my titles and I can grab more. I just have to get the international shipping rate. If this sounds like something you’re interested in just email me at: spappleton@gmail.com
Dear Mr. Appleton,
My name is Morgan. I love your books, but I am having a hard finding your books. I was able to find the first four easily on Barnes and Nobles and Amazon. I am having a really hard time finding the 5th book. What I am wondering is where can i find the book or it not out yet? I really would appreciate it if you would response. Thanks so much.
Hi Morgan,
I am so pleased that you love my books!
I am not sure which title you are looking for, but you are not the first person to get confused as to which titles are available currently, so to make it simple I have added a new page to this website. It lists all of the currently published works:
Just click on the My Books tab
http://authorappleton.com/my-books/
There are more books coming… I just have to finish writing all of them 🙂
Thank you so much for responding. Sorry it is late. In the last book it seemed to end in a cliff hanger. I did some research I went to images to see the if there were different covers for your books and i found a book that was called “In Search of the Dragon”. f i can also remember correctly you mentioned the same title in the “Phantom’s Blade”. The way “The Phantom’s Blade” ended it seemed there was going to be a 5th book. If you look up your books and go to images there is a book called “In Search of the Dragon”. The cover looks like it was Ilfedo with the sword of the dragon.
Oh yes!Iget this question alot. The confusion arose because that is the next book coming out. For now you should read the Neverqueen saga. It is also part of the same fantasy world.
In Search of Dragons is the book I am writing now. It is a direct sequel to The Phantom’s blade. ISOD will be book five in The Sword of the Dragon series 👍 And yes that cover does show Ilfedo weilding the living fire!
Ok, thanks so much. I really am excited that it is coming out. Last question if you don’t mind is, i saw something on cite. Are you going to write a book based on Specter?
Thanks so much for responding, and sorry for my bad typing. : )
Yes, I am. It was supposed to be a short story to be published here, on my website, but it has far too much story to tell. Specter will have his own series of novels.
Ok, thank you so much for you time Mr. Appleton. I can’t to read the rest of your books. Thanks again
Have you ever thought about writing a series on wolves, like what Bryan Davis did with dragons in the Dragons In Our Midst multi-series?
Hello David,
No, it’s not really my style… But maybe you will? 🙂 I have an abundance of projects in-the-works, representing years of writing yet-to-be-done. There certainly are plenty of good stories to follow.
So I’m writing this fantasy series, and I have this question. How do you put God in fantasy? I’m a Christian, and I really want to write books for God’s glory, but I can’t seem to Him into my stories. I mean, my stories don’t have any bad language in them, and while it can have dark things I most certainly don’t glorify them. However I just can’t seem to put God into the story. I’ve tried adding an Aslan figure, or just putting in the religion Christianity in general, but it doesn’t work. In my stories, it seems fake or made up. Like a cardboard cut out. And that’s not what Christ is to me, He is very much real, and very much alive. But I wish I could make Him real in my stories.
Amanda, I commend you for approaching this problem you see in your story. Let me see if I can answer this satisfactorily:
We exist as a part of creation and all of creation speaks to the fact that it has a Creator. Nature itself instructs us that we are a microscopic blip in the universe. If we look at the collection of books that compose the Bible, two of them do not mention God: the books are Esther and Song Of Solomon.
Your writing is an exploration of how you perceive the world around you. How you interact with it and how it affects you. Your experiences shape the stories that you create. It is not a disservice to God to write things that do not mention Him. However, it is inevitable that as you progress in writing your fiction you will develop deep characters who feel and see the world as you do. Each character is a study in how you might act in certain situations, or what you might do if certain opportunities afforded themselves.
Remember in James 1:27 pure religion is “to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” It is the actions that your characters choose and the decisions they follow that dictate their perception of your storyworld.
In my third novel (Key of Living Fire) I included an atheist and it worked well. A fictional world should operate under much the same rules as the real world, including variety of beliefs. The true and the false beliefs then manifest themselves when the story shows the consequences of those beliefs, and God is honored when your stories do this. Why? Because the Creator’s hand is shown in the whole of His creative work and his creatures, including us.
Do not force something into the story. Instead, follow where it takes you. Enjoy the wonder of exploring your characters and your fictional world.
One other thing: experience and knowledge bring about wisdom. The more you read, the more knowledge you acquire, the more wisdom you will bring into your writing. With wisdom you will find your writing naturally lends itself to deeper interactions among your characters, and this can point to God.
Let me know if this is helpful!
Thanks, this means a lot.
Their might be hope for my stories after all. I might not be able to always recognize if Jesus is in my story, all I know is that He’s the one that put that story into my head, and if I meant to write it then I’ll write it.
p.s. when is ‘Searching for dragons’ coming out?
🙂 Glad to be of encouragement!
IN SEARCH OF DRAGONS is still in-progress. I do not have a release date yet. Did you read NEVERQUEEN and NEVERQUEEN 2 yet?
I have the first book, ( I believe I bought it at a homeschool conference ), and I just bought the second. I’m right now rereading the first, and then moving on to the second. I’m so excited! Btw I love the new cover for NEVERQUEEN.
Keep writing, and if you need to take it slow, then do so, cause I would know better then anyone that writing a story is not something that happens with a wave of the hand ( my own story has taken four years so far : P Still working on it. I’m still learning and getting better ).
is your fifth book of the sword of the six seris out yet,????
Currently the books available are: Swords of the Six, Offspring, Key of Living Fire, The Phantom’s Blade, Neverqueen, and Neverqueen 2. The next book is a sequel to The Phantom’s Blade and is titled In Search of Dragons, but it has not been released.
My creative time is limited due to other responsibilities and before completing In Search of Dragons the republication of my first three novels must happen. Here’s where I talked more on that: http://authorappleton.com/announcement-the-sword-of-the-dragon-series-rebrand/
I was wondering if the fifth book to the Swords of the Sic is out yet???
Currently the books available are: Swords of the Six, Offspring, Key of Living Fire, The Phantom’s Blade, Neverqueen, and Neverqueen 2. The next book is a sequel to The Phantom’s Blade and is titled In Search of Dragons, but it has not been released.
My creative time is limited due to other responsibilities and before completing In Search of Dragons the republication of my first three novels must happen. Here’s where I talked more on that: http://authorappleton.com/announcement-the-sword-of-the-dragon-series-rebrand/
Hello I just wanted to say that I love your books. I meet you a long while back when you where first releasing Swords of the Six and actually still have the book that you signed for me back when i was a little kid. I fell off your trail after finishing the first book and didn’t realize that you published more books after the that one. I was unable to find you for years, but i’m glad that I have found you and will be able to read much more of your great writing.
Welcome back then, Joseph!
I’m so pleased that you found your way here! I was behind in my writing projects up until this year but now I’m back on track. I highly recommend that you get back into these novels by buying the new edition of Swords Of The Six. The original does not have nearly as much story content as this Extended Edition. In the next few months I will be publishing an Extended Edition of book two.
There are a lot more books coming!
Is the In Search of Dragons book still going to come out or is that project dropped? Also will there be a third book in the NeverQueen series?
Thanks,
Micah
Hi Micah, absolutely that book is still going to come out. It was delayed because of everything that happened with the previous publisher, but if you read my most recent updates you will see that In Search of Dragons is mentioned several times. I actually have already written the opening, but I have the meat of the story to finish. Read my new blog post this coming Monday for an exciting update!
Mr. Appleton,
My 75 year old father loves your writings and actually says he met you at a book signing once! Can you tell me if there is a Neverqueen 3 that can be purchased? He has all of the books listed at the top of the screen and I would like to keep getting him the next written. He is not a technology person and would much rather have a book in his hand. Thank you for blessing him with your gift.
Sincerely,
Lisa D. Bradley
Lisa, I love receiving feedback like yours. That is so encouraging to hear about your father. I did used to do a lot of traveling for book signing events, so I’m sure he did meet me!
Neverqueen 3 is the next book that I will be writing this year, but first I am publishing Sword of Tears (The Sword of the Dragon series book 5) late this Summer. I’m wrapping up the final chapters for that novel right now… So I guess you can tell your father he’ll have something new to read in a few months. And, yes, it will be available in paperback as well.
Thank you for sharing this with me. It made my day.
I just realized that I forgot to ask: does he have a copy of By Sword By Right yet? It’s a collection of my short fiction and he would probably get a real kick out of it while waiting for the next novel. https://www.amazon.com/Sword-Right-Scott-Appleton/dp/0615410898/ref=sr_1_14?keywords=scott+appleton&qid=1623701902&sr=8-14
On the home page under ‘Books I Have Written’, the Swords of the Six is labeled Dragon Offspring and the book Swordmaster’s Glory is labeled the Swords of the Six.
LOL You’re right… It should be fixed now. Thanks for pointing that out.
Hello Mr. Appleton
I was reading your swords of the six book for the third time and I noticed that Kesla’s son is given to Specter who then gives it to someone to raise. To whom and where the child is taken is unknown. We never hear of him again. 🙁 Was that plot dropped or will we here of the boy again or will you write a short story on him?
Hi Eli,
You picked up on THE most important element teased in Swords of the Six. The Sword of the Dragon Series is all about two babies, or rather who those babies become. One baby is Oganna, of course, the granddaughter of the Albino dragon… The other child disappears for a long time, but he is growing up to become the most important figure in the series.
So, in answer to your question: No, that plot element will not be dropped. You will see the boy again in “Sword and Savior,” which it looks like will be book nine in “The Sword of the Dragon series.”😎
Have you already finished the latest releases? Sword of Tears, The Swordmaster’s Glory, and Shards in Belial?
Thank you
I have read the sword of tears and I have the shards of Belial but I haven’t read it yet. The sword of tears ended really suspensefully and I love the water skeels. Does Omber have the sword Caritha gave him or not? I was slightly confused on that. I also really like how you incorporated God into the series.
Sorry it’s the opposite, I have have the sword masters glory but not the shards of belial.
Oh my word! As a teenager I read some of your books and I have always wanted to come back and finish them, but I couldn’t remember what they were called! I have literally spent years looking for you after I lost your books! After many, many hours of googling and asking all of my friends, family, and acquaintances I am almost in tears now that I have finally found this series! I can still remember the plot, characters and everything of what I read. Your books gave me some light in a very dark time in my life. I simply cannot wait finish what I started and finish reading your books! This all might sound dramatic, but thank you so much for writing and God bless you!
Hi Gabriel,
Wow, I am so humbled and encouraged by this. Thank you so much for sharing. Writing can be a very lonely experience, and to know that you fell in love with this world and characters means more than I can say.
Funny thing is, the original publisher of the series dropped it after book three, which left many readers hanging. It took me years to reacquire the rights and get everything rolling again. But now there is the prequel novel Shards In Belial, six books (so far) in The Sword of the Dragon Series, and two in the offshoot series Neverqueen.
Did you already sign up for the email list? That will give you the origin novella The Swordmaster’s Glory 😎
Thank you for giving me what I needed today: Encouragement! I’ve been in a slow spell with writing these past few months after a big job change.
Funny story- I started reading your books when I was around 15-16 years old. I read the first three books and fell IN LOVE with the world you had created. But for some reason I couldn’t find the next book(I believe you hadn’t published it yet, and since I wasn’t super tech savvy back then- I didn’t know this website existed that gave your writing updates+ for some reason it must have slipped my mind that it takes writers actual TIME to write quality stories/books) With that being said, I had been so upset thinking that the author of my favorite books series had decided to abandon his readers by not continuing the series that I donated ALL three books because I couldn’t handle the idea of the series just stopping right in the middle.. But as of a year ago I just happened to have been thinking about this beloved series and was curious to see if there had been any updates… and low and behold there are now 6(7 now on the way) books to this series that I love so much!! I finally made my way to repurchasing the first three books and added on the fourth. (They got delivered today and I am OVER THE MOON)
I’m BEYOND excited to reenter into this series that I loved so much, and I look forward to your future works!
Welcome back to the series, Dallas! And thank you so much for sharing the details with me. It made my day to read that, and gave me a smile at the “donated” part. I can’t wait for you to re-read Swords Of The Six and get into the rest of the series. Did you notice that your new copy of Swords Of The Six is almost twice as long as the original? 😎 Years after writing it, I realized that it needed expanding and revising, and the result is a fuller, more emotionally charged novel. I’ll be eager to hear what you think after reading it!
I have a significant portion written in In Search of Dragons… But if you haven’t visited this series in a while, there’s a lot of content in that world now.
Again, thank you for encouraging me with your story and reminding me how many people love these characters and world.
I recommend reading in this order:
The Swordmaster’s Glory
Shards in Belial
Swords of the Six
Dragon Offspring
Key of Living Fire
Neverqueen
The Phantom’s Blade
Neverqueen 2
Sword of Tears
Among Broken Gods
Hello sir I am currently deployed and have been listening to the sword of the six audio book. It’s just as good as I remember from when I was a teen and picked it up in my local book store because it had a cool dragon on it. I’ve been a long time fan but I have never been able to finish the series and when I saw the sword of the six on audible I though it would be amazing to jump back into your world. The trouble I’m running into is it seems that audible no longer has the second book or any others for that matter. I was wondering if the audio book is region locked or if the title is no longer available. If that is the case I would love to purchase the audio file directly from you or another source if that is an option. I would buy the physical copies but I don’t really have time to sit down to read just to mearly listen. Aswell any books I did have delivered I would worry about them getting absolutely destroyed due to the rough conditions around here. Thank you for your time and I hope my post wasn’t too long winded.
I got your email and replied! Thank you for your service, and I’m thrilled you have found my books again.
Audiobooks is the toughest media to produce, but I do plan to do all of the books.