 I'm very excited to announce that Winds of Magic, book 1 of Mage of Storm and Sea, is now available! I started writing this series more than three years ago, and it's been in my mind for even longer; this is a story I've been wanting to tell for decades. It hasn't been easy. I spent pretty much all of last year wrestling with some major plot problems and rewrites, especially on books 1 and 3. Esavas is the most emotionally complicated hero I've written in a while, probably since Roric in The Lost Book of Anggird. It was hard to pin him down, especially in book 3. But finally, Winds of Magic is out in the world, joining its little brother Dreams of Magic, the prequel to the series. After a terrible mistake in his youth, Esavas Daruvias has found peace and belonging at the secluded Tower as a Master of weather magic, vowed to celibacy, self-mastery, and non-violence. Winds of Magic is available at all major ebook stores (paperback coming soon).
Amazon.com AU | CA | UK Amazon International Barnes & Noble | Google Play Apple | Kobo | Smashwords Books2Read/More Stores Dreams of Magic, the prequel, is not available in stores yet; right now, you can only get it as for free as a Thank You gift for subscribing to my email newsletter. It will be in stores eventually. What's next? Right now, I'm on fine-tuning edits on Sea of Magic, book 2. After that one's out, I'll finish edits on book 3, Storm of Magic. Waiting in the wings is Children of the Wildings, the next series in the Wildings saga, which I'm about ready to start drafting once I feel like I can spare a little attention away from Mage of Storm and Sea.
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So I was hoping to have Winds of Magic, Book 1 of Mage of Storm and Sea, out right about now. Then two things happened: the cutoff dates for timely processing before Christmas on one of the ebook distributors I use was a week earlier than I'd planned on, and then, halfway through the final proofread, a plot point in the final battle that had been bothering me bloomed into a full-blown plot hole. It was easy to fix, but involved a partial rewrite of the first part of the battle scene and a number of smaller adjustments throughout the manuscript. So after I did that, I decided to just start the final proofread over again. I finished today, and after this I'll format the ebook and have it ready to release the first week of January! To get release news and a free copy of Dreams of Magic, the prequel, sign up for my email newsletter. In the meantime, I also hadn't gotten around to revealing the cover, but now, here it is!  Art by Yuriko Matsuoka This is Esavas, about thirteen years after Dreams of Magic. His life is quite a bit different now from how it was, and it's about to get a lot more different! Here's what Winds of Magic is about (I'm still fine-tuning this; blurbs, argg): After a terrible mistake in his youth, Esavas Daruvias has found peace and belonging at the secluded Tower as a Master of weather magic, vowed to celibacy, self-mastery, and non-violence. Where's the heroine, you might be asking? Leshi makes a few cameo appearances in Winds of Magic, but she really comes into the story in Book 2, Sea of Magic. I'll start fine-tuning edits on Sea of Magic as soon as I get Winds of Magic formatted. The cover for Sea of Magic is probably my favorite picture of any of my couples! Though there's some pretty tough competition, especially with the new covers Yuriko Matsuoka did for Daughter of the Wildings and some of my other books. So watch for that (newsletter subscribers get to see cover reveals first!) and for release news and updates on Winds of Magic and Sea of Magic.
 It's here! Dreams of Magic, the prequel to Mage of Storm and Sea, is now available! Right now, it's an exclusive free book for subscribers to my email newsletter. Later on, after I've got a couple of books in the series out, I'll put it up for sale in the stores, but if you don't want to wait, hop on over to my email signup page to join my list and get Dreams of Magic as a thank you gift. (If you're already subscribed but haven't gotten the email with the download link, check your spam and/or promotions folder.)
Mage of Storm and Sea is set in the same world as the Wildings books, in the Islands where Silas's mage ancestors came from, a couple of hundred years before the Wildings books. (Here's a secret - Esavas, the hero of Mage of Storm and Sea, is one of Silas's ancestors!) Dreams of Magic, a novella/short novel, takes place 12-13 years before the main series begins. Here's the scoop: They called him a war hero. The savior of the common people of the Islands. The greatest weather mage the Islands ever knew. But once, he was a lonely, misfit youth with some impossible dreams. Esavas Daruvias wants two things in life - to become a weather mage and to marry the girl of his dreams. But, bookish, awkward, and misfit, his magical power stunted since childhood, he knows that his hopes are completely out of reach and life as a scholar at the remote, secluded Tower is his only refuge from a society where he doesn't belong. Then his father offers him the impossible, an arranged marriage to the beautiful Pirazina, the girl he's always loved - who barely even knows he exists. Determined to win her heart and admiration, Esavas risks everything - his freedom, his future, even his power itself - to become the mage and man he longs to be and make his dreams a reality. Note: Dreams of Magic is the prequel to Mage of Storm and Sea, an epic fantasy series with a prominent romantic storyline in the later books. There will eventually be an HEA for the characters, but they have to work for it first! In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy getting to know Esavas, the hero of the series. Please note: Contains strong language and mature subject matter, including drug and alcohol use and sexual references. Watch for the cover reveal of Winds of Magic, Book 1 of Mage of Storm and Sea, coming soon! Nearly three years ago, on 14 November 2018 according to my writing log, I started writing the first of the four books in my new series, Mage of Storm and Sea. This is actually a story I've been wanting to tell for much longer than that; decades, in fact. It started with the main character in a book I read in high school in the late 70s, who really captured my imagination. I always wanted to know what happened to him next, but there was never a sequel to that book. I thought of writing my own fanfiction sequel, but that didn't feel satisfying. So instead, what I did was I took the seed, the basic concept, of the story and character, a scholarly wizard who is forced into a war because of a personal connection to the enemy and, while he wins the war, suffers a great personal loss, and completely reimagined it in one of my own worlds with a new hero, a whole new background, and all the what-comes-next I longed to know about. The Mage of Storm and Sea series is set in the same world as the Wildings books, in the Islands where Silas's mage ancestors came from, a few hundred years before the Wildings books, and ends with the beginning of the Island mage migration to Granadaia. It's been really fun to explore more of this world and history and magic system. Some of the things I've learned while writing Mage of Storm and Sea I wish I had known while I was writing the Wildings books! And the Island culture has been a lot of fun to play in. For example, I had a lot of fun with the clothing. Check out this article where I got inspiration for the sharwas, the formal overcoats worn by men of the Islands, from the sherwani and other traditional men's clothing from India. As for Esavas... Arg. I don't think any of my heroes have given me this much trouble since Roric in The Lost Book of Anggird (Lost Book stalled out for more than ten years while I tried to get a handle on Roric!) Esavas is very much his own person, and I had to do a lot of digging and trial-and-error and rewriting to finally get him right. But now, finally, he's about to make his debut as a young 19-year-old guy trying to figure out who he is in Dreams of Magic, the prequel novella to Mage of Storm and Sea, set 13 years before the main series. And here is Esavas on the cover!  Art by Yuriko Matsuoka As always, Yuriko Matsuoka amazes me with her ability to capture my characters. And here's what it's all about: They called him a war hero. The savior of the common people of the Islands. The greatest weather mage the Islands ever knew. But once, he was a lonely, misfit youth with some impossible dreams. Assuming everything goes according to plan, Dreams of Magic will be available on November 1. At first, it will be an exclusive free book to current and new subscribers to my email newsletter. Subscribers will also get exclusive bonus scenes, early cover reveals, sneak peeks, and release news about Book 1, Winds of Magic (including notice about the limited time release price, USD $2.99, reduced from the regular price of USD $3.99). After I've got a couple of the books in the series out, I'll put Dreams of Magic up for sale in the stores too.
This past summer, I got the rest of the new covers for the Daughter of the Wildings series done. While I loved the previous covers by Mominur Rahman, I felt like the series needed a refresh to bring it more in line with covers in the epic romantic fantasy genre. I was thrilled with Yuriko Matsuoka's fresh new envisioning of Lainie and Silas! But the problem with being my own art director is that I don't art very good, and I have a hard time visualizing and describing what I want sometimes. Yuriko did great work on the covers of City of Mages and For the Wildings, but as I updated the book files and sent the covers out into the world, I felt like what I had described to her as far as how to present the characters wasn't quite what I wanted. Fortunately, she was able to make time in her schedule to redo those covers, and now, I'm pleased to present the new updated covers for City of Mages and For the Wildings! I'm in the process of updating the images on the site and uploading the updated book files, so they should go live soon.  Art by Yuriko Matsuoka  Art by Yuriko Matsuoka Stay tuned for the cover reveal for Dreams of Magic, the prequel to my upcoming Mage of Storm and Sea series, and info about the release!
 Time for me to share another book I've personally read and can recommend. (These are not book reviews, just personal recommendations with why I recommend them. I don't do book reviews and I don't take book review requests!)
This time I'm featuring No Man Can Tame (Book 1 of Dark-Elves of Nightbloom), fantasy romance by Miranda Honfleur. Normally, I'm not into elves. Not sure why; partly it's the pointy ears. I just don't do pointy ears. But on occasion I'll make an exception, and I made one for No Man Can Tame because it's an offshoot of Miranda Honfleur's Blade and Rose romantic fantasy series, which I really enjoy. And I was really glad I gave it a try. Though I got a little frustrated with Aless at the beginning because she clearly had a lot of growing up to do, she really came into her own later in the book. And I thought Veron was awesome from the first moment I read him. He was forced into a political marriage with Aless, but he's willing to do his duty and do what's best for his people (a real hero does what's right even when it's hard), and he recognized that Aless was in his same position and had sympathy for her. That was one of the things I especially liked about this book, was that the hero and heorine didn't resent each other for being forced into the marriage but quickly accepted that this was their lot in life so they would go forward together and make the best of it. Another thing I liked about No Man Can Tame is that the "beast" doesn't change his appearance. My sister said about the Disney Beauty and the Beast, when Belle kisses the beast, "And then he turns into a handsome young rock star." 🤣 And I guess in the original versions, he changes back into a handsome human prince. But in No Man Can Tame, he doesn't change his appearance; what changes is the heroine's perception of him. Because, of course, beauty is what's on the inside, not on the outside. No Man Can Tame is available on Amazon for $4.99 (or the international equivalent), though if you're in the US or UK (I think) you can get it for 99 cents through 31 August 2021. The second book in the series, Bright of the Moon, is also out now.  I'm part of a giant indie fantasy book fair going on right now, in connection with the Indie Fantasy Addicts Facebook group summer reading challenge. The challenge and the book fair go through the middle of September, so there's still time to join the group, join a team, and start reading. Discover more books, make new reading friends, play games, and maybe even win prizes! Or you can just browse the book fair and discover books by a whole bunch of indie fantasy authors.
My personal recs from the books in the book fair are the Witch of the Lake trilogy/Feast of the Mother (Witch of the Lake Book 1) by Miranda Honfleur and Nicolette Andrews, Blade and Rose by Miranda Honfleur, and No Man Can Tame also by Miranda Honfleur. But there are also a slew of books I haven't read yet that I want to! There's something for almost every fantasy taste, from epic fantasy to fantasy romance to urban fantasy, dragons, Asian-influence, GameLit, and more. A lot of the books are Amazon-only, but if you're looking for books available at other ebook stores, here's a list I made (not 100% guaranteed; sometimes authors move books in and out of Amazon exclusivity): Gatebreaker - Michelle Wilson; Gisela's Passion - Astrid V.J.; Prophecy Tested - Shannon Pemrick; Finding Fae Artifacts - Isa Medina; Rogue Legacy - Jeffrey L. Kohanek; The Priestess and the Dragon - Nicolette Andrews; The Ancient Realms Collection - A.J. Flowers; Prophecy of Convergence - Shannon Pemrick; Dawn Rising - Lisa M. Green; Celestial Downfall boxed set - A.J. Flowers; Diviner's Prophecy - Nicolette Andrews; Dragon Lake by R.L. Davenor; Rotten Magic by Jeffrey Bardwell; Dorelle's Journey - Hannah Steenbock; Divinity's Twilight - Christopher Russell; Kitsune - Nicolette Andrews; Og-Grim-Dog by Jamie Edmundson; Destiny by Shannon Pemrick. What new book or author will you discover? I used to do a lot of book reviews. But I stopped several years ago because for various reasons I got more and more uncomfortable with publicly reviewing fellow authors' books. Now, I don't even mark them as "currently reading" on Goodreads any more. But, I still want to share books I'm excited about and enjoyed, so that's what this feature is going to be about. This will be books I've read and enjoyed and personally recommend, not reviews but just a few words about why I recommend them. (And, btw, I do not take book review requests! This is strictly my own organic reading for fun.) I'll be sticking to my main genres of epic/high romantic fantasy (fantasy with strong romantic subplots) with some fantasy romance (romance with fantasy elements), standard epic/high fantasy, and some weird western mixed in. Mostly indie authors, but also some traditionally-published authors as well.  So, with that intro, my first Reading Rec is the Coilhunter Chronicles by Dean F. Wilson. Weird western in a low-tech steampunk science fiction setting with some elements almost verging on magic.
The Coilhunter Chronicles starts with Coilhunter, and I fell in love with the series right away. Nox the Coilhunter is everything a bounty hunter should be, and more. Tragic past, thirst for justice, quick on the draw, follows a strong code of honor. Plus he's quite a tinkerer and inventor, with lots of awesome gadgets. He has some sidekicks, Mr. Quacky (I don't remember if that's the official name, but that's what fans of the series call it) the mechanical duck, and Porridge, the pilot and scavenger. He's flamboyant, to say the least, but he's also clever and heroic. Lots of great action, suspenseful stories, laugh-out-loud moments, and moments that get me all up in the feels or rip my heart out and stomp on it. I just finished the latest book, Sixshooter (book 5), and I've loved every book in the series and can't wait for the next book. Each book is its own story, but for optimal enjoyment, I recommend reading them in order. There's a related series, The Great Iron War, that's concurrent with the Coilhunter series and events in it are referred to more often as the Coilhunter books go on, and it's also on my reading list. Coilhunter: Welcome to the Wild North, a desolate wasteland where criminals go to hide—if they can outlast the drought and the dangers of the desert. Or the dangers of something else. Meet Nox, the Coilhunter. A mechanic and toymaker by trade, a bounty hunter by circumstance. He isn't in it for the money. He's in it for justice, and there's a lot of justice that needs to be paid. Between each kill, he's looking for someone who has kept out of his crosshairs for quite a while—the person who murdered his wife and children. The trail has long gone cold, but there are changes happening, the kind of changes that uncover footprints and spent bullet casings. Plagued by nightmares, he's made himself into a living one, the kind the criminals and conmen fear. So, welcome, fair folk, to the Wild North. If the land doesn't get you, the Coilhunter will. Last year I got new covers for Beneath the Canyons and Bad Hunting, the first two books of Daughter of the Wildings. I still love the old art, but I have a better understanding now of what makes an effective book cover image, and I really needed to get those two books more on-genre for epic fantasy and epic romantic fantasy, to communicate better exactly what kind of books they are to readers who are looking for that genre. I love what my artist, Yuriko Matsuoka, came up with, and especially her fresh envisioning of Silas and Lainie. She nailed the characters perfectly. Finally the time has come to do the rest of the series covers to match. We just did The Rancher's Daughter and To the Gap, books 3 and 4, and hopefully Yuriko will have room in her schedule in July to do books 5 and 6. These covers have just gone live; check them out! (And yes, that's Silas without his duster coat on book 4!)   Watch for the new covers for City of Mages and For the Wildings, hopefully coming in July!
In the meantime, Mages' Home, Sarya's Song, and Heir of Tanaris are still on 99 cent special through June 30. If you haven't read these yet, don't miss this deal! So while I've been working hard on revisions on the Mage of Sea and Sky series, I've also been updating the covers on some of my older books, that I thought needed a cover refresh. Two of them, Sarya's Song and Heir of Tanaris, already had custom cover art, and there were things about it I loved and things that weren't working. The third book, The Lost Book of Anggird, has never had custom art. So I put my artist, Yuriko Matsuoka, on the job, and I love what she's done! Check these beauties out:  Art by Yuriko Matsuoka  Art by Yuriko Matsuoka  Art by Yuriko Matsuoka And while I'm at it, adding the new covers, I've also been refreshing the formatting on these books and the rest of my catalog, and re-doing the lettering on the other covers (except for the Wildings books, which got this treatment last year), to get a nice consistent look all across my catalog. And I did a re-edit on Heir of Tanaris, to polish up a few things with the writing. The project isn't quite done yet, I still need to update Urdaisunia and my short story collections A Cure for Nel and Mistress of the Mirror.
And I'm not done yet! I'm also getting new cover art for The Rancher's Daughter and To the Gap, as part of updating the Daughter of the Wildings series's look. And once I've finalized the titles for the Mage of Sea and Sky books, I'll start revealing those covers. (Hint: the art, also by Yuriko Matsuoka, is gorgeous!) (Also, subscribers to my newsletter get to see most of these goodies first! Except the Lost Book cover; we just finalized that and I couldn't wait until after my next newsletter to upload it and show it off!) Finally, Sarya's Song, Heir of Tanaris, and Mages' Home (Defenders of the Wildings Book 1) are all 99 cents through June 30. Don't miss this great deal for some summer/winter reading! Click the titles to go to the book pages and find links to buy at your favorite ebook store. |
AuthorI am Kyra Halland, author of tales of fantasy, heroism, and romance. Sign up for my email list
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