Hello!

This month, I have a lot to share with you. Not in the matter of writing progress (that has been very, very little, but you can check out all of my WIPs – short for Works In Progress – here), but in other regards. At least, it feels like a lot.

It feels like dreams come true. Or are about to. But let’s distract from that for a moment, to share something else with you.

This is the first day of the #IndieAugust NarraTess weekend sale for speculative fiction. This time around, there are 90+ books in the sale, most of them fantasy, all of them free, $1.99, or 99cents. This is the first sale on my release from two months ago, Kindred of the Sea, which is $1.99 USD (or equivalent). So you can grab a story about two men in an asexual relationship who desert the army and eventually end up on an ocean world with magical dolphins. And some of my reviews have come in, so it also appears that it might be the book for you if you’d be interested in slice of life fantasy that’s stylistically reminiscent of 80s-90s high fantasy. Or you’d like something that’s a bit of a twist on most conventional portal fantasy tropes (though that was an accident I didn’t notice until a #WritingQ provoked the thought).

And, this is the last time DragonBirth will be on sale for $99 cents (or equivalent), at least on Amazon Kindle (though I’d prefer it if you buy from another store, like Kobo, if it’s no difference to you, since Amazon takes such a huge cut out of my prices when they’re under $2 USD). All three Return of the Dragonriders novels will remain available singly at most places except for Amazon and as paperbacks, but I will be withdrawing them from Amazon shortly in order to make way for my Omnibus Edition to become available there. Which brings us to that “a lot” I mentioned earlier. And the dreams part. But first let me distract from that for just a moment:

It isn’t just DragonBirth and Kindred of the Sea you will be able to find in the NarraTess sale. Those are my only books there, but there are other fantasy books by some lovely authors that I’ve really enjoyed as well, including Between Starfalls by S. Kaeth and The Last Prince by E.G. Radcliff.

All right. Now that I have said all of that.

It feels like dreams come true.

I’ve always been as much a visual artist as a writer in my own head. I’m not sure if I ever really dreamed I would be releasing an illustrated edition, but I am (incidentally, I’ve got a lot better at using GIMP, though I’m sure there’s still even more room to improve). But the omnibus edition of Return of the Dragonriders will include an exclusive short story set several years after the last chapter of DragonSword. And I said it will be illustrated. The following two illustrations are examples of some of what you will find, along with more than fifteen exclusive digitally hand-drawn illustrations by none other than myself, the author. These will feature all the dragons who bond to my semi-primary characters, along with some of the settings and … like you can see … interesting or magical items. And at least one scene – the most epic of them all – spread across a page! (Plus, there will be some not-so-hand-drawn – and not-so-exclusive – images in there, too.)

Of course, the illustrations in the paperback will be black and white, but I will be happy to send anyone a PDF of the full colour illustrations (and there … might be other plans, but at this point they’re too tentative and I’m too overwhelmed, so I don’t want to offer something I might not be able to follow through on). The ebook will have most of the illustrations in full colour, but I don’t think it will be as pretty, as I can’t make them interact with the text and the page in the same way. Sometime, maybe, I will be able to do a full colour print book, but that’s to consider later.

When? Probably you all are wondering that, and I didn’t answer yet. Partially that’s because I forgot. Partially that’s because I don’t have an exact date yet. But I am very hopeful that the Return of the Dragonriders illustrated omnibus edition will be available in two weeks, but while I’m pretty sure that’s doable, it is slightly ambitious – I haven’t even finished all the illustrations yet! So they are likely to be more glorious than I know, since I get better every time!

I’m going to be revealing the cover for Return of the Dragonriders when I have the date (that is, when it’s days away, or even now!) and let me tell you: it is beautiful! It is truly, truly beautiful, with a back cover as wonderful as the front cover, and, skies, I think this book is going to be so beautiful! I’m hopeful that it will stand with the very best! – And this is one of the best things about being a self-published author. What trad author gets to make her own illustrations and publish an illustrated omnibus on a whim (even if it is a lot of work and dedication)? Or gets to insert the illustrations to make them and the text stand out? I wouldn’t give up any of the control, and I’m treasuring more and more of the work.

All right then. So check back in two weeks if you’re interested in the omnibus edition of my debut trilogy. Or grab DragonBirth at a steal right now, and then check back to see the cover (and maybe get that short story sequel and the exclusive art!).

Can you tell how excited I am?!!?!!

Oh … and somehow I forgot to mention other things as well.

I joined a Noblebright Alliance Discord (yes, me, and depending on which of my book reviews you’ve read, or which of the books I’ve reviewed you’ve read, you’ll either understand exactly, or wonder how in the world. Because, yes, I love some very not-noblebright books, but what actually appeals to me is something that seems to be undefined by and to cross and defy almost all genre descriptions – I should write a post on this!) Anyway, so I was introduced to that term, and I have decided to run a Spotlight series on my blog featuring noblebright authors and books, so check out this post if you would be interested in that, either as an author, or to offer feedback and ideas as a reader!

And – one other thing (which I just referenced, sort of): I have started writing and publishing posts about my approach to fiction – writing, reading, marketing, and anything and everything in between or none of the above that’s fiction related in my head, at least. The plan is to publish them once every other week or twice a month, on Mondays. Here is the first one. And here is the tag to browse through all of them, once there are many of them: Raina’s Fantastic Ramblings!

All right there. I think that’s it. It will have to do at any rate.

And, don’t forget!

#IndieAugust NarraTess Fantasy Sale

And I have an omnibus edition coming soon, so check back in two or three weeks! If I don’t have an update or an announcement that it is out in two weeks, I will make sure to have one in three weeks – an update, at least, if for some reason something unexpected happens, and the book isn’t out yet!