Three weeks ago I shared my new cover art for Dark Horse and was blown away by not only the outrageous reception, but the constructive feedback I received – particularly from the community over at r/fantasy.

As the discussion wore on, two things became readily apparent: the titling on the cover needed work, and the blurb sucked. I was surprised at just how deep we got down the blurb trail in particular, and within a few hours we’d crafted not one but two superior blurbs.

You can read both here – there wasn’t enough room on the cover.

Writing the back-of-the-book material is my least favorite activity and, though I think I’m getting better at it, the input I received was invaluable. I couldn’t take all of the ideas tossed my way simply because by the end I would have had to write an entirely new book from scratch. You can’t please everyone. But I did take a lot of the advice I received, if not most of it. In all honesty it was a ton of fun.

Thank You r/Fantasy

As a way of saying thank you for all of your feedback, input, and general excitement over the artwork – and to celebrate the recent availability in paperback – I’m giving away ten free copies of Dark Horse today.

That’s right, this entire stack is going to find its way into new homes as quickly as the post office can adopt them out.

I’ll give you all 48 hours to enter the Dark Horse Giveaway, and then rafflecopter will choose ten of you at random. Ten lucky runner-ups will get ebook copies. The rest of you can get a high-five out of me if we meet at Sasquan.

Double high-fives if you read Dark Horse before then.

Finally: the Dark Horse Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway



You’re able to put up to twelve entries into the digital hat here. If you’ve read Into the Nanten and you leave a comment about why you enjoyed it, or what you’re excited for about Fall of the Arbor King in the comments below (and you win): I’ll include a special surprise with your book.

No snakes, I promise.

Photographic evidence: just in case you wanted to be sure there were actually words inside. Also, in case you were still wondering, the cover art was done by the magnificent Marie Bergeron. Check her work out when you get a chance!

Good luck to you all! And thank you again.