Everything must come to an end…
One of my writer friends (the very talented Martin Crosbie) recently blogged about post-publishing depression. It’s not something I normally experience because I usually have so many projects on the go that, by the time I’m publishing one, I’m deep into another, but I have to admit to feeling mixed emotions as I announce the release of Heart of the King, the final chapter in my Khirro’s Journey trilogy.
The first book in the series, Blood of the King, was the first novel I wrote, and the process from its humble beginnings to now was far longer than anything else I’ve written. It was about six years ago a began writing about Khirro and his friends. In comparison, both of my Icarus Fell urban fantasy novels were written within one twelve month period, and this year I’m planning to write and publish at least three fresh novels.
Six years is a long time to live with one set of characters. It is easy for them to feel like old friends you visit often–sometimes every day, sometimes not for a month–but they are always there, eagerly awaiting your return. I won’t pretend it was always easy…there were definitely a few times they pissed me off and I wasn’t sure I’d finish, but I did. Now, on one hand, I’m proud–writing a cohesive trilogy over a long period of time is an accomplishment I can whip out when I feel like showing off. On the other hand, it’s over now, and I won’t get to see my friends again.
On the bright side, I’m a writer…I’ll make new friends.
To celebrate the release of Heart of the King (Khirro’s Journey Book 3), grab a copy of my first Icarus Fell novel, On Unfaithful Wings, free today and tomorrow (Jan 27-28), or the first book of Khirro’s Journey, Blood of the King, for only 99 cents.
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Heart of the King (Khirro’s Journey Book 3)
A king’s spirit. A coward’s heart. Together, a kingdom’s last hope.
Sheyndust, the Archon, desires to be Necromancer and wield dark magic the likes of which the world has never seen. For years, her deadly plan has fallen into place piece by piece, treachery by treachery, death by death. With her enemies on their knees and an army of the dead at her command, nothing stands between her and the ultimate power for which she thirsts.
Nothing except a farmer and a dead king.
The curse that bound Khirro to his task was broken when the blood of the king spilled, but the king’s spirit—a tyger of vengeful flame—burns bright within him. It pushes Khirro through hostile lands to return to his home. It pushes him to be more than he ever thought he could be despite the doubt and fear devouring him. It pushes him in a race against time to save the kingdom, a race he is bound to lose.
As the final pieces of the Archon’s plot fall into place, and her power and army grow, it looks certain that all will be lost.
Unless a coward can look inside himself and find the heart of a king.
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Haven’t started the journey yet? There’s no time like the present!
Blood of the King (Khirro’s Journey Book 1)
A kingdom torn by war. A curse whispered by dying lips. A hero born against his will.
Khirro never wanted to be anything more than the farmer he was born to be, but a Shaman’s curse binds him to the fallen king and his life changes forever.
Driven by the Shaman’s dying words, Khirro’s journey pits him against an army of the dead, sends him through haunted lands, and thrusts him into the jaws of beasts he wouldn’t have believed existed. In one hand he carries the Shaman’s enchanted sword, a weapon he can barely use; in the other he holds a vial of the king’s blood, the hope of the kingdom. His destination: the Necromancer’s keep in the cursed land of Lakesh. Only the mysterious outlaw magician can raise the king from the dead to save them all from the undead invasion, but can Khirro live long enough to deliver the vial?
Can a coward save a kingdom?
Spirit of the King (Khirro’s Journey Book 2)
A shattered vial. A failed journey. Two spirits joined as one.
An army of dead men led by a sorceress with an unquenchable lust for power occupies the kingdom of Erechania. The kingdom’s traitor-king seeks to redeem himself, but the sorceress has stolen his son, his last reminder of the wife he lost. Neither the king nor his enemy can know the importance of the role the child will play.
The Necromancer’s last act of magic joined a fallen king’s spirit with Khirro’s, making him the vessel carrying the kingdom’s hope. But the haunted land of Lakesh, the outlaw city of Poltghasa, and the enemy country of Kanos lie between him and his homeland. Dangerous creatures and murderous men seek to end his quest, but he is also stalked by something far deadlier:
An assassin he once loved.
Bruce Blake 