Today’s the day, Advent Darkness, The Sword of Dragons Book 4, is available! I’m so excited to finally be able to share this newest adventure for Cardin, Sira, and Kailar!
New worlds, new adventures, and a new (if questionable) ally awaits you on these pages! And since this is the first Sword of Dragons to be distributed by IngramSpark, the print edition is available in more than just the Amazon store! Click the respective link below to get your copy from your chosen venue!
One of the cool parts about writing in a genre like fantasy (and sci-fi, for that matter,) is that things can evolve, change, and grow. And when you’re writing a long series like Sword of Dragons, as the writer grows and changes, so too can the story.
Well, turns out I decided to go for it! And I am so glad that I did, because it has enriched Advent Darkness in such wonderful ways!
A Little Bit of Steampunk Aesthetic
To start with, I’d had it in mind someday that Cardin and his companions would come across a civilization that had used a combination of magic and technology to create something unique, something he had never seen nor heard of before.
That idea was airships. Now airships are nothing new for the fantasy genre, in fact Warcraft introduced them at least as early as the 2nd RTS game, and I think Final Fantasy did as well. But for Sword of Dragons, most of the adventures have taken place on Halarite, where technology is minimal. It’s one of the things that makes Halarite vulnerable – they’ve been ‘stuck in their ways’ for millennia, content with what advancements they’ve had, and otherwise relying on magic to make life easier. Steel is a relatively new advancement, and they’ve only recently begun an age of exploration.
In short, Halarite was only just barely, and finally, on the cusp of sort of renaissance when the series begins. Other worlds out there, however, have not been held back as much.
And in warfare in particular, gaining the best advantage you can is key. One of the greatest advantages, as Obi-Wan Kenobi made clear, is the high ground. The higher, the better. It’s hard to get better than air superiority in a fantasy adventure, and that’s where the airships come in.
One character in particular came to be as part of this bold, brave new steampunk-esque addition – an airship captain. There’s a lot of tropes I could have gone for with her, but in this case, the new airship captain is not a military woman, exactly. Rather, much like many of the characters in Sword of Dragons, she’s a bit of an outcast. Literally a refugee, commanding a crew of refugees.
She was also how I wanted to introduce another, important element to the Sword of Dragons…
LGBTQ+ Representation in Advent Darkness
The other new element introduced in Advent Darkness is a long-overdue representation of the LGBTQ+ community.
I’ve not really brought up such representation before, although keen readers will have detected hints of it towards the end of The Orc War Campaigns. In fact, those hints, and the characters linked to them, show up again in Advent Darkness, but I’m not talking about just hints anymore.
I’m talking about legitimate representation.
As you might have guessed based on the existing Sword of Dragons books, the world of Halarite, for all of its shortcomings, does not ascribe to racism or sexism. So it shouldn’t be a stretch for readers to realize that sexual orientation is also not something the people of Halarite discriminate against. I leave the analogy of such attitudes to the discrimination of people of magic against people that are non-magic.
But before now, there has been no overt LGBTQ+ representation in the books. The new airship captain is one such character that changes that shortcoming. But it doesn’t stop there, either. I don’t want to spoil the journey that one of our characters goes on, but it is an integral part of the journey.
I know that for some readers, this will be difficult to accept. I know that for some other readers, they’ll be disappointed that I didn’t take it further. Basically put, I know that I can’t please everyone. What I can say to any such criticism from either side, however, is that this is the story I’ve wanted to write for years, this is the story I needed to tell.
Why didn’t I tell this story sooner? Why wasn’t there representation sooner? That’s probably a discussion best left for a dedicated article, but to put it succinctly, because I’ve grown and changed, I’ve come to accept parts of myself that I was afraid to, and I’ve come to realize that I was afraid of showing any LGBT representation in fantasy. I was fooled into thinking that fantasy doesn’t have LGBT because ‘that’s just not done.’ I was wrong to believe that, and the people who have pushed that idea were wrong.
And these new elements to the Sword of Dragons? They aren’t going away. Not in future Sword of Dragons stories, nor in any other story I tell.
It’s the least I can do.
Thanks for reading!
-Jon Wasik
Note: the airship featured at the top of this article is from the Unigine Heaven Benchmark Software. They do not endorse nor probably even know about me, my stories, or my blog. The screenshot is used purely for aesthetics.
We’re one week away from the release of Advent Darkness, the fourth Sword of Dragons novel!
I can’t wait to share Cardin, Sira, and Kailar’s latest (and darkest) chapter with you all! There are some unexpected twists and turns ahead!
Like all of the other novels in the series, AdventDarkness will have a character refresher in the beginning, but I thought it would be fun to go a little deeper into where the three main protagonists of this new chapter in the Sword of Dragons saga are at the beginning. And maybe a little bit of behind-the-scenes info to go with it ;)
Spoilers for the first three Sword of Dragons are ahead – if you’re new to my blog and these stories, and don’t want the existing books spoiled, turn back now!
The New Prince of Tal – Cardin Kataar
The very last lines of Secrets of the Cronal left off with a bombshell – Cardin Kataar found out that the former King of Tal had left orders for Cardin’s father, Draegus, to be crowned King. Except Draegus is in a sort of coma at this point, and cannot fulfill his duty.
This leaves it to Cardin to rule all of Tal in his father’s stead! Cardin’s been through quite the transition, from a forgotten outcast, to the Keeper of the Sword, and now ruler of one of the Allied Kingdoms. Except, the kingdom he’s left with is in shambles. He’s no politician, and since Idrill Beredis let it spill to the world that Tal was essentially bankrupt, Cardin must figure out how to make the world work in the current political system, all without money to invest into the kingdom.
Worse still, the Allies view Cardin’s coronation as a breach of the agreement Cardin made in Rise of the Forgotten – he is meant to abide by the voted decisions of the Allies, not be a voting member. So none of them are happy with the situation. It’s an uphill battle for Cardin, and it leaves him zero time to pursue training with the Sword of Dragons. All of this will come to bear upon Cardin and Halarite in the coming days…
Behind the Scenes – The bombshell ending for Secrets of the Cronal was not originally planned! While I had always planned that the Prince would eventually succeed his father, and that his time on the throne would be short, I didn’t come up with the idea of Draegus and Cardin becoming rulers of Tal until I’d already written the King’s demise. I had the idea right as I finished that chapter, and realized just how well it would fit in with my plans for the rest of the series.
A New Country Is Founded – Kailar Adanna
Kailar’s character evolved greatly in Secrets of the Cronal, and in the end, she is kicked out of the Devor Warriors, only to then be asked to advise Councilwoman Reyla as she seeks to unite Devor under a new, single rulership, and found a new country.
In Advent Darkness, the fruits of their labor comes to a head, and the new Devor Imperium is founded, with Kailar as chief adviser to the new Empress. Except one very big problem presents itself before the new Imperium can even breathe – they have no navy, no standing military. This presents a huge challenge for the Empress and Kailar, as enemies new and old threaten the Imperium. So when an opportunity comes forward that sounds too good to be true, they may have no choice but to take the offer.
Except Kailar is suspicious. So, Kailar being Kailar, she launches into an investigation and makes waves.
Behind the Scenes – When I wrote Kailar’s scenes in Secrets of the Cronal, I ended up going back and completely rewriting her first three or four chapters, because I’d broken her off from her character far too much. She was originally far too submissive to the Warriors, and reacted rather than act, which was not who she was. Of course, these rewrites made waves throughout the rest of the novel (she’s really good at doing that,) as well as Kailar’s future role in the series. She warred with who she tried to be and who she truly was, and in the chapter “Kailar’s Choice,” she finally makes her choice. That choice will play out fully in Advent Darkness.
Joined Souls – Sira Reinar
While ultimately triumphant in the end of Secrets of the Cronal, Sira is left with a whole new reality – she now shares her body and mind with the soul of an unborn Star Dragon, one whom she has named Raida. Not only has this left Sira with a permanent ‘tatoo’ of Raida on her back and amethyst-hued eyes, but it also has left her questioning who or what she is. Where does Raida end and Sira begin?
This event has had the unfortunate side-effect of bringing Sira’s promising career as a Warrior to a jarring halt. Viewing her as possibly compromised, the Warriors placed Sira on indefinite leave, and this act has left her in a state of limbo. Not one to sit idle for long, Sira eventually takes it upon herself to leave Halarite with Endri and help track down Nuuldan’s new allies. In the process, she meets someone who makes her question everything she thought she knew about herself. Whether or not this new ‘friend’ is an ally, well…that’s the story to tell ;)
Behind the Scenes – Raida came to be during a brain storming session in which I recognized that some of the best characters in stories aren’t human. Magic Carpet from Aladdin, Baymax from Big Hero Six, the Cloak of Levitation from the Doctor Strange franchise, and Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon are examples I thought of, and I wanted to introduce such a character. Thus the crystal in the village on Stella, and the eventual child-like mind that Sira regularly converses with in Advent Darkness. Once I had the idea, I decided to see where it took me. And it took me on an adventure I never planned for Sword of Dragons, but one that has become woven into the tapestry of the larger picture, and will influence the saga from here on out.
That’s all for today! If you haven’t already, don’t forget to pre-order your copy before next week. Until then!
One of the things I’ve talked about in the past, and something that seems to be common amongst a lot of authors is the idea of a book sountrack. Not necessarily what readers would listen to while reading, but rather what we, the authors, listen to while writing.
But there’s a song I came across this year that has resonated with me and, more specifically, the Sword of Dragons book 4, Advent Darkness, and every time I listen to it, I picture scenes playing out from Advent Darkness like a movie trailer, and it just…fits so perfectly with the mood of the book, the events, the pacing. And I thought I’d share that with you today :)
First things first, the legal stuff: the song is by Audiomachine, and they in no way endorse me and my novels, nor do they likely even know I exist. And since I have not purchased rights to the song, I am not actually going to create a book trailer with this song, despite some of my friends and family thinking I should. I would never be able to publicly post such a video if I did.
What I will do, however, is say that Audiomachine is a fantastic music producer, and I’m so glad I found out about them this year! I think if Sword of Dragons was ever made into either a series of movies or a streaming series (on like HBO or Prime or something,) I’d try to lobby hard to get them to be the music composers for the series!
I’ve never really had something like this come to mind, I’ve never envisioned any of the prior Sword of Dragons novels having trailer music or theme songs, aside from the music I listened to while writing them, so this is really cool! I wish I could show you the images I see in my head in time to the music – it is epic and moving, and that part in the middle of the song when the music almost pauses for a brief, tense moment, I see and hear a certain Darksteel General making it clear to Cardin that Archanon would fall – tonight! It gives me chills every single time!
As strange as it sounds, I feel like one of the reasons I can picture a ‘movie trailer’ for Advent Darkness this time around is just how…cinematic this story feels. More so than anything else I’ve ever written. I can’t wait to share this amazing story with you all, December 3rd can’t come fast enough!
On a completely separate and random tangent, if you’re wondering, I did successfully prep for NaNoWriMo 2022, and come November 1st, I’ll be writing my new YA Sci-Fi novel for the event :D
Hi everyone, just a quick update – for those who prefer a printed copy instead of an eBook, pre-orders for the printed edition of Advent Darkness are now live!
I’m so excited to be able to offer you all this ability, this is the first Sword of Dragons I’ve been able to do this for! For unknown reasons, Amazon’s KDP (their self-publishing platform) only allows pre-orders of the Kindle edition. It’s only in the past year and a half that I’ve come to use IngramSpark to enable not just print pre-orders, but a wider distribution.
In fact, if it isn’t already by the time you read this, pre-orders will also be available through Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, and IndieBound!
Why Only Kindle for eBook?
One of the questions I still occasionally get is “Why is the eBook only available on Kindle?” In order to make my novel available through Kindle Unlimited, I have to keep my books exclusive to the Kindle platform. While that neglects other platforms, approximately one third to one half of my royalties come from Kindle Unlimited reads/borrows. Previously when I sold book 1 across multiple platforms, I had two (yes, just two) sales on Barnes & Noble, and that was it.
I know not everyone is keen to give Amazon money, but the fact remains that Kindle is the most prevalent eBook reader out there, and allows me to reach the widest possible audience of eBook readers. I am sorry for those this negatively affects, but I cannot ignore this, not when I’m still a struggling author. I can’t live off of Ramen all my life ;)
Will the Other Sword of Dragons Be Available Through Other Vendors?
I’ve been thinking about this throughout the year, and I might just try it. There’s one little kink in this, however: when I published books 1, 2, and the Orc War Campaigns, I didn’t purchase ISBN’s and instead allowed Amazon to auto-assign ISBN’s from its own pool, free of charge to me. Unfortunately, this means that their ISBN’s can only be used on Amazon.
I would have to purchase and assign new ISBN’s to the books for publication through Ingram Spark. Not expensive by any means, but I’m also unsure how distribution would work on that – the same exact book on the market with two different ISBN’s? I’ll be reading up on this soon, since I imagine I’m not the first self-published author to run into this issue.
Until then, for now, those first three books in the saga will be available only through Amazon. I’ll definitely let you all know if that changes :)
I’m so excited and proud to show you all this new cover, and to announce the release date is set for Saturday December 3rd, 2022!
Even better, as of today, the Kindle version is available for pre-order! I’m still waiting for all of the processes to finish for the print edition to be available for pre-order, but that is planned to be ready this week, hopefully in the next 24 to 48 hours!
Click here to pre-order your Kindle edition today! Advent Darkness will also be available on Kindle Unlimited for those who subscribe.
Check back here and on my Facebook page to find out when the Print edition is ready for pre-orders!
Let me know what you all think of the new cover :)
One of my favorite parts of writing a long series is tying everything together later on, and the Sword of Dragons is no exception! I get this incredible feeling of elation when I start to pull on strings from earlier stories and weave them into the complex tapestry of later stories.
In my old fan fiction, Star Trek Dragon, much of the 7th and final season was all about that, and it was by and large my favorite season to write (and also was when STDragon enjoyed its greatest popularity!)
For the next Sword of Dragons novel, Advent Darkness, a lot of what we’ve seen in previous novels, things that might have appeared to have dropped off in importance, come back full-force.
Including characters and events from The Orc WarCampaigns.
What Was The Orc War Campaigns?
Original Orc War Campaigns cover, pre-2018
Back when I started on this crazy self-publishing adventure, I had intended to release books 1 and 2 six months apart.
That didn’t happen.
When I realized I was going to fail to deliver on-time, I wanted to have something to give readers. So, leveraging my experience in rapidly writing episodic short stories from my fan fic days, I conceived of an ‘in-between’ story, something to bridge the narrative gap between books 1 and 2.
I immediately knew that Cardin, Sira, Reis, and Dalin would take a back seat in this story – this was to showcase characters outside of the mainstream tales.
I thought of the sweeping impact of Prince Beredis’s controversial laws that were later rescinded, and thus Amaya was born. I thought of children and teens suffering through war, and thus Zerek was born. And I always wanted to portray the orcs as more than the mindless monsters that Cardin thought they were, and I wanted to introduce their homeworld and their connection to the overall story arch of the Sword of Dragons. Thus, General Arkad was born.
Artwork by Vuk Kostic.
The Orc War Campaigns showcases the first three months of the war mentioned in the beginning of Burning Skies, told through 10 short stories, and within each story, the narrative perspective switches between those three characters. In the first couple episodes, Cardin, Reis, and Dalin ‘guest star’ to kick things off and hand the reigns to the new characters, but otherwise it’s largely in those three newcomers’ hands.
Originally, the stories were posted on a semi-regular basis for free on the internet. However, when I decided to re-brand the Sword of Dragons saga with 2nd editions of books 1 and 2, I also decided to publish the episodes of Orc War Campaigns as an anthology, which can be read or purchased from Amazon.
Which Characters Are Returning in Advent Darkness?
I always intended that at least some of the characters would come back, but only when it made sense. Bringing characters back ‘just because’ wasn’t good enough, they needed to serve an important part in the story.
So it is perhaps easier to say who isn’t coming back – Zerek. A teen miner, turned servant, turned soldier, turned thief, he underwent some of the greatest change and growth in the anthology. Enduring tragedy right in the beginning, Zerek reverted to a more child-like state, until he was able to cope with his trauma. His story was important to show the effects of the conflicts in Sword of Dragon on ordinary citizens, but ultimately, he has no role of importance in the main narrative of Advent Darkness.
The other two primary characters, along with some of the secondary characters, return.
Amaya and her team of Guardians were deployed shortly after Burning Skies on a secret mission, and were not present for the events of Secrets of the Cronal. Not only does this prove fortuitous for her (after all, the Prince threatened to execute her,) but it’s important for other reasons. She, her second in command Elic, and the Wizard Nia all make an appearance in Advent Darkness, with Amaya’s role fairly significant.
General Arkad, the shaman Tana, and Arkad’s second-in-command also return in a very significant role. In fact, you might say the future of all free people depend upon them…
Do I Need to Read The Orc War Campaigns To Understand Advent Darkness?
No, that isn’t necessary.
While I recommend it, readers who have not yet read The Orc War Campaigns will not need to read it to enjoy or understand Advent Darkness. All parts of the anthology that are relevant in the new novel will be summarized, explained, or otherwise referenced to ensure a seamless reading experience. For that matter, Orc War Campaigns was published over 4 years ago. Even those who have read it will probably be glad for reminders of characters and events!
That said, to encourage readers to immerse themselves in these characters and their stories, I’ve set the Kindle eBook version of the Orc War Campaigns to $0.99! Click here to see it on Amazon!
When Will The Cover Reveal for Advent Darkness Happen?
…Soon (TM).
Or better still, When It’s Ready (TM)
All kidding aside, I’m still working on some proofreading and details, which in turn could change the dimensions of the final product. Once that’s all completed (hopefully very soon,) I’ll get the ball rolling on making pre-orders available.
The good news? For the first time ever for a Sword of Dragons novel, pre-orders will be available for both eBook and print, just like it was for the Chronicles of the Sentinels trilogy!
So ‘stay tuned,’ there’s definitely more to come ;)
Hello, there!
A Writer at Heart 