Hey everyone!

For several months, I’ve been teasing a secret project – and it’s finally time to reveal it!

Behold, my Audible Original LitRPG novella: How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps, coming April 30th!

(The amazing artwork is by LuluSeason, by the way.)

So, what’s this story about?

Here’s the quick blurb:

For thousands of years, there has been a cycle: a Demon King rises and conquers, and a Hero is reborn a hundred years later to defeat him. Each time, civilizations are ground to dust beneath the Demon King’s hordes, but humanity has remained secure in the belief that a Hero of legend will always save them. There’s just one slight problem. It’s only been 23 years since the Demon King’s latest rise, and this time, he’s already conquered more than half the world. If humanity simply waits for the Hero’s return, there may be no world left for him to save. And so, Yui Shaw sets out with an ambitious plan. A 10-step plan. She’ll find a way to obtain the Hero’s legendary sword. She’ll earn obscure classes, gain levels, and increase her skills. She’ll travel to the meticulously-crafted dungeons that seem designed for one specific Hero to complete. And, if she’s truly (un)fortunate, she might even find a fairy. She might not be a Hero – but if she can fake it long enough, she might still be able to save the world.

In the synopsis and the artwork, I’m sure some of you already can see that I’m drawing heavily from JRPG tropes here again – and perhaps even more directly than usual. This story is a very clear homage to Zelda and Dragon Quest, but with our protagonist dealing with a difficult problem: How does one save the world when it’s been rigged to be saved by someone else at a later time?

Anyone who enjoy my usual dungeon crawling and lateral thinking antics will probably enjoy this one, especially if you like the more comedic elements of my work. This is a sillier story, more akin to Six Sacred Swords than any of my other works.

Oh, also probably important to mention – if you’re an Audible subscriber, it’s free for the first few days after launch (starting 4/30) as an Audible Original. So, if you’re not already using your Audible Original slots, pick it up while it’s free! It’ll be cheap for other people as well ($7.95, I believe), but you can’t beat the price of free.

To answer some other inevitable questions:

No, it’s not in the Arcane Ascension universe. This is brand new.

This is a novella, not a full novel. It’s about 46,000 words, or about five hours of recorded time.

It’s mostly a stand alone, but I may do more with it if people like it enough. We’ll see.

It’s an Audible exclusive for a certain period of time; I’ll do other formats when the publisher allows it.

Yes, Arcane Ascension 3 is still in progress and the main thing on my plate. I wrote this quite a while ago, it’s just taken a long time to come out. No, I don’t have a release date for AA3.

Thanks, everyone, and I hope you enjoy the book!