It’s almost half-way through the year. As if anyone cares about these things. Also assuming you counted from January. I’ve always thought Spring was a more sensible place to count from, and I have one culture that doesn’t count the year either by the stars or by the moons, but by the first real rain!
So – for the updates and news. I launched Heart of Fire, Book One of the Dragon-Mage series, in April. You can get it here, and if you want to use Smashwords, you can get 35% off on the ebook with code YMGG6 (at least for the moment; it’s only got 100 claims on it). You can also check it out on Goodreads.
My plan, hopefully, is to launch Book Two, Scars of Fire, sometime in the Fall, probably late Fall, but if the Summer is too overwhelming to get that done, then it will come next Spring, and maybe I’ll be able to get Book Three out that Fall. I probably will not be publishing Epoch of the Promise: Darkness Bright this Fall, since I already have too much on my plate, and I can’t see that I have much readership or interest in that series. If anyone who’s reading that series is here, and would like to see Darkness Bright soon: let me know! Just a comment from one person means a lot to me, so if I know you’re out there, even if it’s just one person, that will get a bit more priority!
Also, don’t miss this: if Amazon is your preferred ebook retailer, they’ve finally price-matched my little novelette, Gryphon’s Escape, to free! So you can pick that up for free practically anywhere now!
For the writing updates … well, I have so many books I’m working on at once it is hardly funny, and you can check them out on my Works-In-Progress page. But I finished the write of Dragon-Mage Book Three and am onto Book Four, as well as starting yet another independent story (in the same world, of course).
As for blogging … as you can see, my reviews are still pretty consistent, and we’re coming up on a year and a half now! The reviews themselves aren’t always the same, of course! But I’ve been pretty consistent about posting them. I seem to be having a hard time with my planned “Fantastic Ramblings” series though, and I’m shifting that to whenever I’m in the mood to write it, as I’m really not enjoying writing much that’s non-fiction, even if it is about fiction … with the exception of reviews, which are kind of different.
And on the art side … right now I’m still running through the Anidril System series, with art I made for each of the orbits and small introductions to the various planets, even though that will never support what we’d be able to see as life! We’ll see what more I have after I’m done with that, but I am working on a few other pieces, so I probably won’t have new art to share every Saturday forever, but I’m hoping to have new pieces semi-regularly!
And there … I think that’s it for the major updates, though stay with me, please, as I have some other things to share …
C.J. Brightley is a Noblebright Fantasy author I met when I joined the Noblebright Alliance on Discord. Her The Wraith series is on my To-Be-Read list (or at least looked into further), and she’s releasing the third book, The Frost and the Flame, on May 18th.
The Frost and the Flame
Lord Willowvale’s icy heart has begun to thaw, but it will take a fiery Fair maiden to melt him.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single fairy in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
Lord Ash Willowvale is wealthy and eligible, albeit famously disagreeable, but he is hardly looking for a wife, and the Fair maiden who catches his eye certainly wasn’t hoping to. She is merely doing her job as bodyguard for the Fair ambassador, who has been imprisoned in Aricht.
When Lord Willowvale is tasked with extricating the Fair delegation, his difficulties are only beginning. His task seems impossible, his past is deeply offensive to the Fair maiden he quickly grows to respect, and his own guilt threatens to crush him.
Friendship broke down his prejudice; will love break his legendary pride? Will he ever be able to tell the lovely maiden who captured his heart how ardently he admires and loves her?
A clean, noblebright fantasy Pride and Prejudice reimagining in the world of The Wraith. Come for the Jane Austen+magic feel, stay for the redemption arc!
Amazon | Direct from C.J. Brightley | Kobo | Barnes & Noble
As usual, here are the BookFunnel selections and giveaways for you!
Epic and High Fantasy Free Book Giveaway
This is a collection of over 30 free books in epic and high fantasy genres. “Anything with cool worldbuilding, strange places, or alternate worlds.” My novella, Gryphon’s Escape, is included.
Magical Worlds and New Beginnings
Browse this collection for over 60 YA-appropriate fantasy novels that focus on magic and new beginnings as key elements of the story. You will Heart of Fire, Children of the Dryads, and Sorceress of the Dryads included here.
These are all first-in-a-series fantasy novels without romance. Heart of Fire and Children of the Dryads can be found here.
Noblebright Fantasy Creature Feature
This is a selection of Noblebright “Creature Feature” fantasy from the Noblebright Alliance. All titles or samples here are free. (You can find a sample of Heart of Fire to try out, or get Gryphon’s Escape here.)
If you’ve got anything you would like to share, I’d love it. Comments on what kind of art you’d like to see next (if my muse cooperates)? Which of my series gets your interest most? Updates of your own? I’d love to hear even a few simple words!
Enthralled By Love 