The wait is nearly over. The Audible edition of Redemptor (Valducan #4) is available for preorder.
R.C. Bray has returned to the recording chair to voice the heroes. It comes to just a little above 9 hours. Release date in January 30th.
You can find it Here.
Paper and ebook editions will follow in 6 months. In the meantime, I’m finishing up the final round of edits on Hounacier’s re-release with Crossroad Press, so that should be coming back soon.
-Seth
I’m very excited to announce that Crossroad Press has picked up my Valducan Series and Tales of the Black Raven.
Currently, I’m finishing up the remainder of my 90-day separation from my previous publisher, which means ebooks aren’t available and they are still selling off the remaining inventory of printed books. Audio is still available. Crossroad Press will be running the titles through a fresh round of edits and then putting them back out there for readers to enjoy.
Future Valducan and Black Raven titles will be published through Crossroads as well.
Established in 2009, Crossroad’s authors include Clive Barker, Joe Lansdale, C.T. Phipps, and even the Stargate novels. I’m extremely honored to be among them.
Re-release dates are not set yet. We still have a month left before we can even release, but it should be soon.
Thank you, everyone. I look forward to getting them back out there.
After three years and five books, I’ve decided to end my relationship with Ragnarok Publications.
I won’t lie. This wasn’t easy. But it had to happen.
I’m not going to go into much detail here. There’s several reasons, some big, some small, but the short of it comes down to business. Writing is a business. Publishing is a business. And Ragnarok hasn’t paid me what they owe me. How much? I wish I knew.
This isn’t a new problem. Other authors have left over the past year for the same reason and more. It sucks. But business is business.
I’m not interested in trash-talk. So don’t expect that. I will always be grateful for Ragnarok being the first publisher to take the risk on me. I’ve made a lot of good friends there and many special memories.
So what does this mean?
Well, it’ll take a few months for the transition to take effect and all rights to return to me on the books already in publication. So, I have until then to figure it out. Hopefully, I will find a new publisher with a solid reputation who wants my Valducan Series (anyone know a good agent?).
What about Redemptor?
Well, Redemptor (Valducan #4) is completely back in my hands. Technically, it never left. Due to a merger and some other reasons, Ragnarok never sent me a contract (Crazy. I know.) So as of this moment, I have the full rights to it.
However, this also means that it will not be releasing this November. I’m terribly sorry for that.
Hopefully Redemptor will find a new home soon.
This isn’t a post I wanted to make. I wanted to post about how Redemptor is coming soon and about how Ashes of Onyx is nearly complete. But business is business. Sometimes it isn’t fun.
-Seth
One year ago today Hounacier hit the digital shelves. In honor of its birthday, and keeping with the tradition that I started with Dämoren’s first birthday, I wanted to share a few fun facts about it.
**Spoilers Below**
1: Originally, Hounacier wasn’t intended to be the second novel. I’d planned to write Ibenus, followed by Hounacier as the third. However, after a trip to New Orleans, the ideas for for the story were too good not to act on, and Hounacier muscled its way ahead in line. (I have a longer blog about Hounacier’s inspirations from that trip over at Singular Points)
2: The killers in the Missouri house with the Mistcat were partially inspired by the real serial killers, Leonard Lake, and and Charles Ng (do not read those links unless you are ready for some seriously dark and horrible shit).
3: The line Malcolm is given about, “I bet I can guess where you got your shoes,” is a real New Orleans street hustle. I lost $20 to it. I have since been told by a friend that his uncle lost $50. I suppose he should have just read Hounacier and saved a few bucks.
4: The picture that Malcolm sets up in his room with Nick and Colin in Paris was a pre-reference to Hungry Eyes.
5: Malcolm was a character that caused a lot of conflict for Matt in Dämoren. The move of taking a conflict character and making them the hero in the sequel was inspired by Anne Rice (I called it, “Pulling a Lestat”). It’s just a coincidence that Anne Rice’s stories also take place in New Orleans.
6: Malcolm is described as resembling a young Martin Sheen.
7: The werewolf, Gulmet, refers to itself as the rougarou. The rougarou is a Cajun folklore monster believed to be a werewolf stalking the bayous around New Orleans.
8: Flashback scenes with Gulmet take place in Greece between April and October of 1792, when a pair of lunar eclipses occurred within 6 months.
9: The demon that Ulises kills in Haiti is an asanbosam, which is a vampire-like monster from Ashanti folklore.
10: Gulmet mentions that there is a lamia named Niriffo that rules the Mid-City district of New Orleans with a pack of ghouls. As of the end of the novel, she’s still there.
11: Malcolm kills 8 people while under Gulmet’s control.
12: The original inspiration for the novel was the idea of Malcolm waking up naked and covered in blood in a French Quarter courtyard. The trick was figuring out the story as to how he got there.
13: Being a demonic spirit, Gulmet is sexless, though it does prefer male bodies. Gulmet is referred to as either he or she, depending on the sex of the body it inhabits.
14: Malcolm’s tattoos described in the book are:
He has more, but those don’t have as obvious of benefits.
So there you go.
If you want to give Haounacier a gift for her birthday, she’d love reviews on Amazon or Goodreads (and a huge thank you to everyone who already has). Also, there is a list of Memorable Quotes on Goodreads. Please click which ones you like, and feel free to add any ones that I forgot.
-Seth
The Audio Publishers Association (APA) has released the list of finalists for the 2016 Audie Awards and Hounacier made the cut for Best Paranormal Audio Book.
For anyone not familiar with the Audie Awards, they’re considered the “Oscars of the Audio Book Industry,” so as you can imagine, I’m very excited to have made the list. Dämoren was a nominee in 2015, so the Valducan Series is now 2 for 2 on Audie Nominations. R.C. Bray has done a fantastic job performing (saying he simply “reads” is a vast understatement) my books and I wish him the best of luck. He’s a badass and I’m extremely fortunate to have him.
The awards will by announced in May.
On a semi-related note, Audible had updated to the new cover just in time. I like to think Hounacier has dressed herself up for the occasion.
O
n December 27th, 2013, Joe Martin with Ragnarok Publications sent me a message saying, “Something for you to look at.” It accompanied my very first glimpse of Dämoren’s cover. It was still a bit rough. I hadn’t secured my blurb from Elizabeth Bear yet, the gun had a couple tweaks left to do, but it was the cover. It was MY cover, and it was amazing. After a few more weeks, we had the finished product.
I love this cover.
It graces my business cards, even my mouse pad. As I type this, it hangs on the wall behind my desk inside a shadow box with an engraved bullet. The bloody background became the wallpaper for my website. The image of my very first book plastered my Facebook feed so many times over the months leading to and just after my release that I’m sure many of my friends were so sick of it that they Ignored me.
But I made no apologies. My wife and I refer to Dämoren as our first child, and like any new parent, I wanted to share its pictures with the world.
A year later, Joe sent me my first peek at Hounacier.
Its a perfect companion to Dämoren. I love the symbols, the skull, the blood-splattered blade. It looks wonderful.
Again, my friends and family endured months of seeing that image every time they opened their Facebook. But, as is the case with many second children, it was just a little less than it had been with the first.
Once I received my first copy it immediately went into a shadowbox beside its older sibling.
I cherish these covers. They represent years of dreams, hard work, frustrations, and joy.
However, all things change. With the growth of Ragnarok Publications, their distribution deal with IGP, and the success of the Valducan Series, it was decided that Dämoren and Hounacier will no longer wear those cherished skins.
But don’t worry, my friends. The books themselves are not going away. They are evolving into something more to welcome their newest sibling, Ibenus, into the world. We’re cleaning them up, removing typos, polishing the insides, and giving them a brand new coat of paint.
So in honor of Ibenus’ upcoming release and Ragnarok’s growth, I’m thrilled to present you with this…
My children are growing up.
When Dämoren was first released my good friend Charles got his paperback signed and informed me that he had no intention of ever reading that copy because he knew that one day a first edition would be collectible. I laughed and told him that I didn’t expect multiple editions. I must now admit that he was right. So for all of you out there that own the original red and bloody covers, congratulations. You’ll soon be able to say, “I read Skorkowsky back when, and I have the old books to prove it.” Now, it’ll be a couple months before the change, so if you want to pick up the original covers, you still have some time. I’m told it will probably be March when these versions come available.
So about now I assume that my readers are thinking, “OK, Seth, that’s pretty awesome. Those covers look great and all, and thank you for sharing your emotional journey and blah, blah, blah. But you led us here under the promise that you were going to show us Ibenus’ cover. Did you lie to us? Where is Ibenus? Show us the goods!”
All right, all right. Sheesh, I was just getting to that.
So without any further dramatic buildup, I’m proud to present Ibenus.
Joe Martin and Shawn King have done an amazing job. I’m thrilled to see Ibenus for the first time and I can’t wait to hold it and its newly re-vamped brothers in my greedy little hands. As far as release date, I’ll let you know once we have it.
Thank you, everyone. This wouldn’t have been possible without you and getting the word out on my books. Because of your support for a fledgling author from a small indie press, we’ve grown into the next level.
And to my Facebook friends and family, I apologize in advance. You’re about to see these beautiful covers many, many more times.
-Seth
This year has been incredible. In the 10 years since my first sale, 2015 was the first time I openly referred to myself as an author. Before that, it felt sort of weird, like I was some wanna-be pretending I was something that I wasn’t. Even after Dämoren released in 2014, I was apprehensive about throwing that title out because I remembered some opinion piece that said to be called an author, one must have two published book. It’s silly, I know, but I was never able to really put my chin up high, walk up to a total stranger and say, “I’m an author,” until this year.
Hounacier was released in March with a wonderful reception. I’d been very nervous about it because it was so drastically different than Dämoren. But for the most part, readers have loved the sequel.
After years of close calls and false starts, the Black Raven made his literary return with Mountain of Daggers in March and Sea of Quills in September. Reception has been mixed, but most readers appear to enjoy it. We always knew it was going to be a niche-market, but Black Raven is my baby. They’re my popcorn adventure fiction and I couldn’t be more proud to have him out there.
Dämoren was an Audie Finalist for Best Paranormal Audiobook. It was my first major award nomination and while we lost to M.R. Carey’s The Girl With All the Gifts, I’m honored that my little debut got to rub elbows with so many great works. I got to go to my first award ceremony and meet R.C. Bray in person. He’s now narrated four of my books, and I’m terribly proud to get to work with a narrator of his caliber, and he’s also a great guy, which makes it even better.
My first anthology release in five years happened with The Serpent’s Army. I have two more coming in 2016.
I gave my first Guest Author presentation at All-Con 2015, soon followed by FenCon 2015 and the TCC Library. Evidently those went very well because I was contacted by the DFW Witers Conference and asked to come speak as a Guest Author for 2016. It’s a huge honor. The last time I attended the conference I was an unpublished author desperate to sell Dämoren.
I enjoyed many great books this year. In fact, I read more in 2015 than in any other year. My favorites include:
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. I loved this series so much that I have a blog about it.
The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey. After losing the Audie to it, I had to check it out. Great book. It’s also the only book told in Present Tense that I didn’t find distracting or awkward.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Fantastic and fun book. The audiobook was read by Wil Wheaton, who not only gave a perfect performance, but was beautifully appropriate as the narrator of the greatest nerd-culture book I’ve ever found.
The Martian by Andy Weir. Absolutely lived up to the hype. And while my opinion of R.C. Bray might seem biased, believe me when I say that he absolutely killed it with this performance. Awesome audio book.
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. I listened to the audiobook read by the late, great Frank Muller. Muller was hands-down my favorite narrator ever and I picked this book up just as much for him as I did in my interest in the novel itself. As someone who has seen the movie-version uncounted times, I was amazed to see how wonderful the source material was. Highly recommend it.
In addition to book releases and a ton of reading, I wrote Ibenus. While we’ll have a lot of editing and polishing to do, it feels so good to finally have that story out of my head.
With one novel release, two short story releases (and a likely third that I’m just waiting on the contract for), and Ragnarok’s recent distribution deal, 2016 is poised to be another great year.
Thank you, everyone, for you support. May you all have a healthy and prosperous New Year.
This week Audible released the audio version for Hounacier. I’m very happy to say that R.C. Bray has done a spectacular job bringing it to life.
It’s a very strange feeling getting to listen to your book for the first time. Scary. Bit exhilarating. You wonder how certain characters are going to sound or the pacing of specific scenes is going to play out. Then the worry starts to go away and you just listen. It might sound crazy, but the audiobook is the only time that I actually get to enjoy my own story. Normally, when ever I read it or re-read a specific scene, I can’t see it the same way a normal reader can. I’m still editing in my head, or I’m remembering old ways things were written in previous drafts, or I’m just being critical of it in only that way an author can criticize their own work. But with the audiobook, my critical eyes aren’t invited to the party. I can just sit back and enjoy the ride in the closest way I think a reader can experience it. It’s a great feeling.
In speaking of audio books, R.C. Bray is wrapping up his recording for Mountain of Daggers. I can’t wait to hear Ahren speak for the first time. No word yet on release date yet, but I’ll share it once I know more.
In the meantime, here’s a little something that makes me smile:
And by smile, I mean smile ear-to-ear like a madman. Artist Alex Raspad has done another great picture of Ahren. The image is from Washed Ashore,” one of the nine stories. Sea of Quills will be coming out this October. And for you audiobook lovers, yes, R.C. Bray will be narrating for it as well when the Audible version comes available.
That’s all for now. Hope to have some new updates coming soon.
-Seth
Last week I attended the APA’s annual Audie Award Gala. While Dämoren lost Best Paranormal to M.R. Carey’s The Girl With All the Gifts, I had a fabulous time.
I met Dämoren’s narrator R.C. Bray, who was also nominated for several other awards and did win the Audie for Andy Weir’s The Martain. R.C. will also be reading for Hounacier as well as Mountain of Daggers.
Speaking of Hounacier, Audible’s editors have selected it for their Summer Preview of their most anticipated upcoming releases. It’s set to release 7/21. I don’t have a date yet for Mountain of Daggers Audible release, but R.C. told me he should be recording it soon after he’s finished with Hounacier. Hopefully with 2 new audio books in 2015 I might make it back to the Audies soon.
I’d really like to have another medal to go along with the one bestowed on Dämoren.
In other news, Bloodshot Books has just signed my Valducan short story The Serpent’s Army for their upcoming Not Your Average Monster Anthology. The story will follow Clay and Schmidt in the 1980’s. Expected publication date is late September 2015.
In the meantime, I’m still plugging away on Ibenus and have a couple more stories out there waiting acceptance. Hopefully soon I’ll have updates on those.
When I was writing Hounacier and seeing all the wonderful feedback and praise for Dämoren, I started getting a little worried that my drastic change of style for the second book was going to disappoint some readers and reviewers who might have been looking forward to something much more like Book 1.
So far, it looks like everyone has been very happy with the change of themes for Hounacier. Mogsy at the BiblioSanctum gave it 4-Stars. Same rating she gave Dämoren, and trust me, four stars from Mogsy is no small accomplishment. The reason she’s so respected as a reviewer is because she’s frugal with those stars.
She wrote: “If you like your UF dark, brutal and completely unflinching about the fact, then Valducan is the series for you.”
You can read the entire review here.
After reading it, she asked to interview me about the series, where it all came from, and why I chose to switch protagonists for Book 2. It was a great feeling to go from “Man, I really hope she doesn’t hate it,” to “She liked it so much that she wanted to find out more.” You can read the interview here.
Finally, I’ve been asked several times about the Audiobook for Hounacier. Well, I’m happy to report that I spoke with R.C. Bray earlier this week and he’s signed on to narrate it. Unfortunately, the price of using such a talented and successful narrator is that he’s in high demand and his schedule is loaded. So he’ll begin recording in June. But they say good things come to those who wait and I’m thrilled to have him back for Hounacier. With the Audie awards coming up this May, and R.C. Bray’s three nominations (including Dämoren) chances are pretty good that he’ll be getting a whole lot busier very soon.