The Blood Dimmed Tide is out in the world. This is my 10th traditionally published novel in 9 years. That still feels weird to write and say when I talk about it. I always wanted to be a published writer, but to be talking about my tenth novel since I debuted is a little bizarre and slightly unbelievable.
Looking back, I can clearly remember my unbridled excitement when, after years of rejections, I got a full manuscript request from an agent in London and then I travelled down to see her. I remember hearing my mobile phone ring when I was driving home from work, which was weird because no one rang me at that time. I didn’t have hands free, and fearing the worst, I stopped in a car park to check my voicemail, only to hear my agent tell me there was good news. I called her back and she told me over the phone that I had a book deal for a trilogy. I can picture that first event for Battlemage when it was published.
And now, book number ten is here (which you can order from here). Book eleven for next year is written, and is already in edits, and I’m working on something new – news about that on August 1st. My current series has been my most challenging, weaving fact and fiction together wasn’t easy, and I’m enormously proud of it. But I’m not done yet and there’s a lot more to come.
There are other writing projects and different types of stories I want to tackle. Thanks to changes in the publishing landscape over the last ten years I now have opportunities that didn’t exist before to experiment. Self publishing or indie publishing, whatever you want to call it, has changed enormously and a lot of writers just make their living via that approach. Kickstarters and other fundraising companies have also helped people launch creative projects they couldn’t have done by themselves.
So this year I’m part of a kickstarter too, Whispers in the Earth, 20 stories about folklore. And on October 1st I will be launching my first indie published project. The cover reveal for that is coming on August 1st, and thereafter I’ll be talking about a lot, and telling people where they can go to pre-order it.
More news soon.
Stephen Aryan 