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Rand

Dragon Gate Series Update

Dec 232020

With The Dragon Gate (The Dragon Gate Series, #1) released this month, I now have titles for the next four books in the series. The order of these may actually change and already has once:

The Light Bringer
The Silver-Tongued Rogue
The Majestic Magus
The Dragon Slayer

Each title is the nickname of one of The Ellorian Champions that the main characters are impersonating. The intention is for each to feature that character more prominently on the cover, anyway, and they may play a bigger role in the book, but the intention is to still split point-of-view between all of them.

I’m currently working on outlining books 2 and 3 and will be writing book 2 by January. Being realistic, the release is probably February. I just ordered covers!

The Dragon Gate Released

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Dec 012020

The Dragon Gate (The Dragon Gate Series, #1) has been released! It is available in eBook, paperback, and hardback. I’m not sure when and if audio book will be done, so stay tuned.

Buy Now!

The Dragon Gate Scheduled

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Nov 022020

The Dragon Gate (The Dragon Gate Series, #1) is now scheduled for release on December 1, 2020. An updated blurb is now up, but my temp cover is slated to be replaced in mid-November.

I hired a conlanger to create the magic system language and I just got my first sneak peak the other day. It is looking great and is called Nu’Eiro. You’ll have to read the book to see it in action.

You can pre-order the book now!

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World Building Webinar Replay

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Jul 152020

If you missed the first World Building Webinar, the replay is now live! Here’s what we covered, with time stamps to jump to the relevant parts:

– Organizing world building notes – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=22
– Do I start top down or bottom up? – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=212
– Making #maps and commissioning artists – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=288
– Are magic portals best for crossing worlds? – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=333
– How much #culture to develop for a foreign character – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=495
– How to give backstory in stages https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=686
– How to know when introducing irrelevant world building https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=1178
– How to add depth to three cultures – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=1417
– How much is too much and when to stop – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=1687
– Promo clips about free resources detailed below- https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=2126
– #writingtips throughout!

YouTube Channel Launch

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Jul 012020

I’m excited to announce the launch of my YouTube channel for world building. The first video is the channel intro, which you can watch here. It talks about my experiences, endorsements, and is an overview of what you can expect from the channel’s videos.

Please subscribe to be notified of all releases. I need 100 subscribers before I can customize the channel URL for branding. I’d really appreciate your help. Comments on the videos and likes are also awesome!

What’s in the video:

– The Art of World Building book series – https://youtu.be/onAGTPvkcP8?t=85
– About me and my world building expertise – https://youtu.be/VooN96ndv5I?t=242
– Endorsement from bestselling author Piers Anthony – https://youtu.be/VooN96ndv5I?t=325
– Endorsement from Ed Greenwood, The Forgotten Realms inventor – https://youtu.be/VooN96ndv5I?t=391
– About my writing career – https://youtu.be/VooN96ndv5I?t=425
– About my music career – https://youtu.be/VooN96ndv5I?t=452
– Some disclaimers on terminology – https://youtu.be/VooN96ndv5I?t=511

New Book(s) in 2020

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Mar 062020

The headline is slightly misleading, as The Dragon Gate was written over a decade ago, but the book is scheduled to be published in fall of 2020. I’ll be reviewing it soon and doing the usual activities: ordering a cover, (re)writing the blurb, and having my editor JJ work on it, then formatting and release.

Why the delay on this? Well, back in 2007 or so when I wrote it, I was still in the traditional publisher frame of mind, trying to get an agent/publisher. But I’ve since joined the legions of self-publishers and am no longer held back. I started publishing in 2016 with The Ever Fiend (Talon Stormbringer) and meant to follow that with more fiction, but the successful The Art of World Building series took over my writing life. The final books in that series are now done and it’s back to fiction!

I know some of you are waiting for the next Talon Stormbringer book, The Screaming Moragul, and that is next to be written this summer. Since The Dragon Gate is already written, it should be a quick edit and out the door, so I took a pit stop on this.

There are actually a slew of books going out in 2020, the first four already done:

185 Tips on World Building (Jan)
Cultures and Beyond (April)
Cultures and Beyond – The Podcast Transcripts (Oct) – all episodes already recorded, processed, transcribed, and scheduled
The Complete Art of World Building (Nov)
The Dragon Gate (Nov)
The Screaming Moragul? Okay probably 2021!

Writing Update

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Dec 262019

For those of you following my fiction writing, I’m sad to say I haven’t been doing it much for a few years now but am returning to it in 2020. I didn’t know when I released The Ever Fiend in 2016 that I’d be side-tracked with The Art of World Building three book series (non-fiction) and then some serious personal issues for several years. All of this is about to be behind me and I’m looking forward to a return to Talon Stormbringer and the partially planned book, The Screaming Moragul.

There will be at least one fiction book released in 2020 as The Dragon Gate is cued up for the fall; I’ve already set in motion some promo for it. This book was written way back in 2007, so I just need to give it the “old once over” and then start getting it ready for publication (editing, cover, blurb, other stuff). One reason I’d been waiting was a plot hole in the series idea and I accidentally thought of the solution a few weeks ago, and now I know that solution won’t affect the first book, so it’s a go.

I actually wrote a fiction book and published it under another name this fall, but it’s a secret! I also drafted another non-fiction book in my car while commuting this summer, at about 50k words, and I need to tighten that up. But that’s going out as yet another alter ego of mine (I now have three pen names besides my actual name).

So if it looks like I’m not writing, it’s not true! Things are picking up and I”m excited for 2020 and beyond.

-Rand

185 Tips Book Published

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Dec 242019

Subscribers to The Art of World Building newsletter receive world building tips in their inbox (along with downloadable templates), but now you can have them all in one place in a new, short book, 185 Tips on World Building. This has all tips from all three volumes, including those not yet sent to subscribers.

The eBook is on pre-order at Amazon and will be released Jan 14, 2020. It makes a great gift for anyone thinking of diving in.

30,000+ Downloads!

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Sep 102019

You guys are amazing! Just a year after reaching 10k and six months after 20k, I’m up to 30k in downloads! I thought things would slow with me not releasing new episodes most of this year, but I guess not!

On that note, I’ve recorded a half dozen more shows but am saving them up for the release of volume three later this year, when the show will resume. Stay tuned for a new release date!

Vol 5 Published

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Jul 092019

Volume 5 in The Art of World Building series has been published! More information on Creating Places – The Podcast Transcripts can be found at the official site. It’s a collection of transcripts from the world building podcast, and each episode included in this book is based on a chapter from volume 2, hence the title.

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