Something I’ve come to accept over the past couple of years is that there really are two ways of looking at things. It’s the classic half empty half full scenario. To be honest I’ve spent most of my life in the half empty camp, although over the last couple of years that’s started to change, and the world seems to have become a busier and more satisfying place.
One of the biggest changes has been my own views on my first venture into self-publishing. It was a bit of a lifelong ambition of mine to publish a book, although having done that it occurred to me that it might not be anyone’s lifelong ambition to read it. Happily, though, I thought, the internet is full of stuff that no one’s going to read, so why shouldn’t I add to it.
Despite some good feedback following its launch, which really caught me off guard, I was quick to label it as the book that no one asked for, before jumping headlong into a bunch of other new projects. The thing is though that regardless of how I felt about the end results I absolutely loved writing it. There is nothing like creating your own world from scratch and releasing a bunch of misfits into it to see what they get up to. It’s an amazing feeling, but then to dump it onto some pages, bundle them up with a pretty picture on the front and say you’ve written your own book, well it’s a hell of a cherry to put on top.
Now I have a bit of a confession to make. When I started writing I hadn’t intended to write a series. The intention was to write a single one-off novella set in a suitably generic fantasy world that would focus on the aftermath of a theft. It’s fair to say things got away from me and I ended up with a rather different book than I had envisaged, and far more fun. Unfortunately, the time I had to write in ran out and it was a case of publish or be damned. I didn’t fancy damnation.
I did start writing a sequel at the start of 2023, if memory served, but I couldn’t find the time to work on it properly. The word count increased but I couldn’t find my previous rhythm, the all-important story telling wasn’t there, Amzharr didn’t feel alive. So, I hit the delete button.
Towards the middle of 2024 there was a small run of sales and some more great feedback and it got me thinking – what would it take to get the story finished. I experimented with some different approaches and finally something clicked, I found myself back in Amzharr, at the siege of Tanglehaven. Then a plan got written and the first 10,000 words are in the can, and I’ve enjoyed writing every last one of them.
Last week I received a great review from a reader which mentioned they wanted a sequel, and I thought, as I don’t really do social media at the moment, about popping up a few progress posts here. At least that would mean that if there is anyone trying to find out about the next part of the adventure there would be something out there.
In the meantime, for anyone who isn’t aware, or known where to go, there are a small number of short stories set in Amzharr on this very site (one of them might even be an early draft of the prologue for the next book)…
And finally, if you want to be sure of getting future updates drop your email here.
The Wizard's Bookshelf 
YES!! The long-awaited (by me) sequel!
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