Hello, readers mine! I’ll keep this short because I’d like to take it easy today–through the link in the end of this sentence, The Necromancer and the Revenant: Resurrected Edition is now available on Smashwords! As per Smashwords policy and my own preference, I’ve made the first 15%, or somewhere close to 33,000 words, available to read as a free sample. Please, give it a look–you have nothing whatsoever to lose!
Among many other supported formats, the ebook comes in .mobi format. That means, among other things, that you can transfer the book to your Kindle* if you have one. You’ll need to purchase a USB adapter for that, mind you; I’m sorry, I would use demonic power to manifest it straight onto your devices, but I’ve been informed that this is probably illegal.
Otherwise, you can grab it in formats ranging from .epub to .pdf if you just love that “I’m reading this for a college course” experience. Smashwords also features an online reader, so it’s not as if you won’t have your pick of devices to read on!
For those who missed the last post or aren’t quite sold, here’s a brief list of some but by no means all the new treats included in this edition:
-Enough new content to send the word count soaring from 168,000 to 227,000 words
-Two new major characters: the devil-matrons Azukai and Wozhao, respectively serving House Lin and House Sairo. Both were written into the existing story wherever it made sense to do so, and receive several all-new scenes apiece filling blind spots in the wider tale
-Courtesy of our new friend Azukai, many smaller and/or implied plot holes have now been sealed for eternity
-Rewritten character arcs for Gratai, Divari, and several other major characters I won’t name since most of you never got to read the first edition–spoilers, no?
-Sweeping enhancements and additions to story-related worldbuilding ranging from the workings of the titular Revenant to those of demons and the gods themselves
-An entirely new sex scene (it’s an orgy near the end of the first act, and that’s all I’ll say here)
-Partial or total rewrites to many existing scenes that don’t necessarily reflect in the word count, yet nonetheless mean even more new material. For example, most of the action beats for the last stage of the final battle were entirely replaced. This excludes the final scene of that chapter which is mostly brand-new.
I could keep going like this, but at this point I feel I’ve said enough. It’s time I let you, my dear readers, mull my enticements over and decide whether all this is worth $4.99 to you. If you decide that it is, whether you’re able to foot that for yourself at the moment or not, I ask this much–please, share this post with any friends you believe might be looking for some high fantasy reading.
I hope to finish up and publish The Necromancer and the Reaping Spear, the direct sequel to this book, by the end of June. You might follow me here or on Twitter if you want to be absolutely certain not to miss it.
Otherwise, as I said, I do believe it’s time I took a well-earned rest!
* For any Kindle users who might wonder why I refuse to release my books on Amazon, I must answer as follows: The company’s treatment of its workers, even before deciding to union-bust in the midst of a global pandemic, was simply too abhorrent for me to be comfortable selling through them. I am fully aware that even if I became a runaway success, my lost business would make no impression on such a large corporation. Suppose we discard my own moral compass: I would nonetheless go mad from the simple cognitive dissonance of selling a novel with messages such as “even the smallest good is worth doing, no matter how futile it seems” through one of the world’s most abusive employers. I hope this addresses the question.
Ashenvein Gate: Stories & Dreams 