What's Coming for the New Year & Thoughts about author David Drake

Coming next month will be my first Kickstarter, which will launch Knight’s Blood, Book Three of my Knights Tower Series. The promotional announcement can be found here. In effect, I’ll be promoting all three books in the series, the first two will become available in revised editions (and Knight of the Broken Table will have a revised cover as well), and if I surpass the modest goal of the campaign, I’ll be offering hardcover copies of the series. None of my books have been available in hardcover before. So, that’s just part of what is going to make this Kickstarter something worth checking out.

Forthcoming in 2024 will be Bigfoot versus the Four Horsemen, Book Three of The Apocalypse Knot, and Children of a Lesser Dragon, Book Two of Bred in Captivity. Children of a Lesser Dragon is the sequel to my YA superhero novel, Lessers Not Losers. They should begin being released mid-year through the end of the year.

Now, on a sader note, in December I learned of the passing of one of my favorite authors, David Drake. I first began reading his Hammer’s Slammers series about mercenaries on other planets who got themselves in all sorts of trouble, including with their employers from time to time. I was hooked. I love military sci-fi—and David Drake’s characters were gritting. There was one book of his, Forlorn Hope, which I found myself reading and re-reading. It was about five or six years ago that I met David at a con and got his autograph of that very book. I got the impression my asking him to autograph that particular old paperback was a surprise to him.

I mentioned I’d always hoped Forlorn Hope would have a sequel and he told me it was planned to be the first book in a series, but the publisher changed their mind. So, it was left as a standalone.

That’s another reason there are times I’m glad I’m an Indy writer. My first publisher didn’t want the sequel to Highmage’s Plight, then at the end of my three year contract didn’t want to let the contract lapse because my book was suddenly their bestseller… By then I’d published three more books in the series, one with another publisher, which is why Plight was doing so well.

I’ll never forget meeting David… and him talking with me for a few minutes. I was so sorry to hear he’s passed—or that he’d retired from writing a few years ago. His books are definitely worth checking out, if you haven’t before.

So, interested in free stories? My Apocalypse Knot novella trilogy (basically a complete novel), Apocalypse Knot, Little Apocalype, and Apocalypse Night are featured in Free Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads.

Dare to Believe!

D.H.