2023 Year in Review

Intro

I typically don’t do a formal year-end post, but this year has been incredibly eventful, so it feels like now is the right time to change that. 2023 was one of those years that flew by yet took forever at the same time. It marked the beginning of some major projects for me and some major changes. But that’s for the rest of this post to cover!

Intros are boring, so let’s move into the fun stuff.

2023

The Frostmarked Chronicles

Speaking of being forever, it’s hard to believe I started writing my first epic fantasy back during COVID lock-down in 2020. It was a different world, and when A Dagger in the Winds came out a year later, I was a different author. This series has reminded me that fantasy is my true love with reading and writing, and two years and sixth months after A Dagger in the Winds, I’m still loving these books. My research, posts, and now books with Slavic mythology have allowed me to meet so many amazing people and spread tales that haven’t been heard by many English speakers. That alone has been incredibly rewarding.

Now, onto my writing for this year.

With book 3 of The Frostmarked Chronicles, The Daughters of the Earth, coming out at the end of 2022, I knew it was going to be difficult to release two full-length books in 2023. The result was one novella in The Lady of Rolika (March) and one full-length novel with book 4, The Deathless Sons (November). The latter of these marked my tenth published book (novellas included) and one-millionth published word. The Frostmarked Chronicles so far is around 677k words, and with one more book coming, it alone will finish at over 800k words.

I especially enjoyed writing The Deathless Sons this year, as it allowed me to finally use many of the seeds I’ve planted throughout the series so far. For the first time, many things are resolved, but many things are still broken too. It’s hard not to include spoilers in here, but writing a certain new realm was my favorite part. That and the fight with a certain three-headed beast.

If you’d told me when I started writing in 2018 that I would have written that many words five years later, I’d have thought you ridiculous. Maybe it is ridiculous, but I’ve loved the journey so far. Every book has taught me something about writing, publishing, and marketing. It’s a constant learning journey, and I’ve been honored to have all of you along as part of it.

I’m not done with Wacław and Otylia quite yet, though, so don’t you worry. More on that in the 2024 section.

The Realm Reachers

Part of learning about the publishing process came the realization that I can’t keep writing the next book in a series while editing the previous one. It worked with my old series The Prism Files, but fantasy books have too many interwoven plots and facts to be changing previous things while writing new ones. That meant that while editing The Deathless Sons, I had to start something new.

Cue The Realm Reachers.

I’ve been inspired for a while now to write a series of connected worlds, each with a basis of a certain force/power. Drawing roots from D&D’s realms and an old dark fantasy mod for Civilization IV called Fall From Heaven 2, I decided to depart from the common “material” realm. Instead of there just being one material realm, I wanted each realm to have inspiration from its connected power, yet still be recognizable as a world. The first of these realms, Zekiaz, is the spirit realm, which hosts The Realm Reachers and book 1, The Crimson Court.

If you haven’t seen my constant posts lately about The Crimson Court, I have finished writing it, and it will be coming out in April of 2024 along with a Kickstarter. More on that release in the 2024 section. For now, know that it is dark (not grimdark) fantasy with flintlock guns, Victorian era technology, a diverse cast, and a revenge plot with a mystery at its core. This isn’t a sales post, though, so check out the book’s page if you’d like to read the full description.

I also have plans for future series in these realms that can be read together with The Realm Reachers or separately, but I’ll go more into that in the 2024 section too.

SPFBO

I also went out on a limb this year and entered A Dagger in the Winds into the Self Publishing Fantasy Blog Off (better known as SPFBO), which is the largest fantasy book competition in indie publishing. Along with 299 other others, A Dagger in the Winds would face reviewers steeped in the genre to see which of the bunch is the best.

To put it simply: no, I didn’t win.

But I didn’t expect to either! This was my first fantasy book ever, and the reviewers over at Queen’s Book Asylum (my assigned group along with 29 other books) advanced my book to the semi-finals of the group. Top six out of thirty is not bad for my first fantasy book, and it actually finished fourth out of the six semi-finalists with an rating of 7. You can read their reviews of the book HERE if you’re interested.

I learned a lot through this process, and critical reviews are… well… critical to improving. The feedback I’ve received from them and the over hundred other reviewers for the book have helped me learn a lot for my upcoming series The Realm Reachers. But that’s getting ahead of myself. I’ve also met SO MANY fantastic people through the community around the competition. That alone has been priceless.

I plan to enter SPFBO next year as well with The Crimson Court, so I’m excited to continue with this journey.

Comic Cons and In-Person Events

As much as SPFBO was huge for increasing my digital network and marketing, attending comic cons has exploded my sales in a way I had not anticipated. I literally doubled my book profits this year by attending nine comic cons and other in-person events. That is huge for a new author, and it has helped me refine my marketing and gain more confidence in selling. The people I’ve met at these cons have been awesome, and I’m excited to continue.

I’m also super grateful to my friends Alex Kujawa, who got me into the cons in the first place, and Justin Rose, a fellow author who went to over twenty cons this year. Without them, I would never have managed to do this cons as much and as well as I have, and I’m glad to see them as friendly faces at the cons I attend.

I would also be remiss not to mention that my wife, Andrea, has been fantastic to support me on these. She’s always dressing up with me and helping run the table, which is a relief for full day events.

More on my comic con plans for next year in the 2024 section.

To-Come in 2024

The Crimson Court Release and Kickstarter

Like I hinted at above, The Crimson Court is coming out on April 23rd of 2024. I wanted to make this release as special as possible, so I’ve worked with amazing artists Kateryna Vitkovskaya and Joni Matoz to add additional art to the books. Kateryna has done an amazing cover that will be revealed January 10th as well as art that will go on the case hardcover of the book and the inside covers of the paperback. Joni, meanwhile, has created character portraits of three of the major characters in the book. The first of those is the main protagonist, Kasia, which I recently revealed.

These art pieces and custom interior chapter headings, great house emblems, and maps that I’ve done will all be part of the Kickstarter release of the book. Not only is there this awesome art, but the Kickstarter includes full color interiors for the art, designs, emblems, and maps. It’s going to be awesome!

The Kickstarter starts in February, but you can follow the campaign now to be the first to hear when it launches. The follows are super helpful for algorithms, and you’ll also make sure you don’t miss the early bird specials I’ll have on the first day or so of the launch.

If Kickstarter isn’t your thing, you can also pre-order the eBook HERE from stores around the world or pre-order the physical books from my store. More physical stores coming closer to release.

There will also be a companion prequel novella to The Crimson Court called The Amber Dame, but I’ll talk more about that soon. It’ll be released to newsletter subscribers for free, so yet another reason to subscribe for updates!

I can’t wait to share this book with all of you. I’ve learned so much over the million words I’ve written, and this series is hopefully going to be the culmination of that, sparking the beginning of my own universe of novels.

The Conclusion of The Frostmarked Chronicles

The Crimson Court allowed me to write more productively while The Deathless Sons was edited, and now, as I finish The Amber Dame, my attention turns to the final book in The Frostmarked Chronicles. I haven’t officially named it yet, but I anticipate it being called The Way of Souls. There’s a hint of what that means if you read book 2, The Trials of Ascension.

I’m both excited and sad to be almost done with this series. Writing this world and characters has been so fun, along with discovering more about the Slavic mythology that comes with my Polish ancestry. I may return to mythology stuff more later, but for now, this is my last planned book in the series.

That doesn’t mean that The Way of Souls won’t be exciting in itself. There is so much still to wrap up. After all, who’s going to stop a rogue goddess’s endless winter?

Look for this one in autumn or the start of winter for 2024.

Comic Cons and In-Person Events

Along with the nine events I attended this past year, I am planning to increase the number of comic cons I attend in 2024. The most significant of those is that I will be attending the massive comic con in Chicago, C2E2, in April. It will be just a week after The Crimson Court‘s release, so It will be awesome to be marketing my new series alongside The Frostmarked Chronicles there.

A full list of events I’m attending will be released throughout the year. Mostly, I still to driveable places from my home in Rockford, Illinois, but I will definitely be in Rockford’s events as well as Chicago (IL), Madison (WI), Milwaukee (WI), DuPage (IL), and Oregon (IL).

I’ll also be holding a launch event for The Crimson Court‘s release at Rockford’s awesome indie bookstore Maze Books in probably April. More details on that soon.

SPFBO

The Crimson Court releasing in April is perfect timing for it to be entered into the 2024 edition of SPFBO in summer. It’ll be exciting to see how this new story does. I’ve grown a lot, and I believe my writing has grown with me. Anything is great, though, and it’ll just be fun to be part of the competition.

The Future

Assuming AI doesn’t kill us all past 2024, I’ll be continuing to work on the world of The Realm Reachers. After The Way of Souls, I’ll be turning to book 2 of The Realm Reachers and then the first book in a Realm Reachers adjacent series. I have some ideas around a water realm pirate fantasy epic, but I haven’t decided anything yet.

Beyond that, who knows? I’m hoping the fifteen realms of The Realm Reachers provide plenty of story opportunities for me to write in, but the success of the series will have a major impact on whether I try to branch out somewhere else. Regardless, any series written in the world will be able to be read independently of each other or together (think like Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere). I have no plans to stop writing. I have one million words published, and I hope that someday that’s ten million.

Conclusion

I want to end with a thank you to all the amazing people who have supported me throughout this journey. My wife, Andrea, has been my backbone through this process throughout the years, inspiring me to write in the first place and ensuring I have a fan no matter what. I’m so grateful that she finds time in her busy schedule to be the first to make notes on my chonky books.

I’m also so grateful to my incredible beta readers. You all ensure that the story gets to where it needs to be, as we writers are blind to our mistakes sometimes. Without you, these books would be messes, so thank you!!!

The books would just be text without the incredible artists that bring them alive, so I want to express my thanks to Mariia Lytovchenko (cover and interior artist for The Frostmarked Chronicles), Kateryna Vitkovskaya (cover artist for The Realm Reachers), and Joni Matoz (portrait artist for The Realm Reachers). Marichka literally drew some of the covers and interior art for the Frostmarked books while in a bomb shelter during Russia’s horrific invasion of Ukraine. She’s been incredible (and incredibly brave) and I cannot thank her enough for the passion she’s put into these projects while enduring the trials she has. On a lighter note, Kateryna and Joni have brought The Crimson Court alive in awesome ways, and I can’t wait to share more of their art with you soon.

Lastly, I’d like to thank all of you. I couldn’t do this without all of your support. I love every reply I hear about the book, critical or positive. It is an honor to share these stories with you. There are so many who say that they dream of becoming an author, and because of you, I get that chance.

That’s all for this year folks. Enjoy the holidays, and stay safe out there!