Hello! So there's been a lot of ups and downs recently in my life, and I apologize for not being more communicative here.
One of the ups, though, is that book 1 of Wizard's Tower has just been released on Amazon!
....Technically it releases on May 3rd, which is like 2 hours from now for me, but I'm so excited I can't wait, lol.
It's available in ...
2022-05-03 05:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostFor tragic personal reasons I won't be publishing new chapters for a while.
I've paused all this months payments. I apologize to everyone who was looking forward to it. Please be assured that when I return I'll return to patreon first.
2022-02-21 17:17:31 +0000 UTC View PostHello! Just wanted to give a quick update for anyone wondering where the next chapter is at. Before that, though, thanks for being so understanding about the break!
Update 1:
Plotting for book 4 is ALMOST done. It still needs to be tightened a bit, but it will take the form of ~seven interconnected short stories that lead to a final bam. (+/- the intro and epilogue). My...
2022-01-25 22:45:18 +0000 UTC View PostAs the spell finished, I floated down to land on the top of Froom’s tower and couldn’t withhold my smile. Alred, though, sighed and shook his head.
“What is it?” I asked with a brow raised.
“Nemon, it’s… I… well, are you certain this is what you wanted for payment?” He asked.
I nodded vigorously. Of course it was! “Come now. I told you that this is the best...
2022-01-08 23:44:04 +0000 UTC View PostMy spell didn’t fizzle out, though it was a close thing. Seeing three large gateways open on the other three plateaus that surrounded the monster was a surprise. Even more so, when soldiers and mages began to emerge from those gateways in quickly-marching formations. Catapults, trebuchets, and mana cannons as well.
To the west of the Heroes, Queen Eistoni’s forces were the first...
2022-01-08 04:04:15 +0000 UTC View Post“I must say I am surprised as such a quick decision.” Crylus held a half-smile.
“Why?” I scoffed. “If the price is to forgive you for breaking your word, how is offering a second chance not worth it? I care for those below.” I answered him, the words coming from my mouth without any forethought. Yet, as soon as I said them, I drew in a sharp breath. I was admitting to Crylus a...
2022-01-07 19:49:12 +0000 UTC View PostIt was four days later, I found myself flying as fast as I could south. Heedless of clouds or wind, I hadn’t flown this fast before without being in a panic. Those fools, the Heroes, had departed without a word and left me behind. I wasn’t certain what they were thinking or why they had gone without me. Certainly, I had secluded myself in my laboratory while I checked on the newest threat f...
2022-01-06 21:53:16 +0000 UTC View PostIt’s a contradiction, of course: wanting to hold someone you care for, but not wanting them to be in enough pain to need it. A conflict of emotions that I had never truly needed to deal with before now. It was a bittersweet twisting of emotions I felt when Lilly calmed enough and no longer cried on my shoulder.
Yet, that was part of yesterday’s problems. An unfinished part, to be cert...
2022-01-06 20:12:35 +0000 UTC View PostAtop the pillar of stone I had created, with the wind whipping at our backs, I wrapped Lilly in a big hug. It was good to see her again, even if the circumstances were a little unusual. She brought me an army? Why? It made little sense, but now that I had found her there was no urgency for an immediate answer.
“Come child, let me get a look at you,” I smiled and held her back. She wor...
2022-01-04 22:02:01 +0000 UTC View PostAs the land the city rested on began to rise, I slowly floated over to the courtyard the spread from the gatehouse between the second and third rings. Along the battlements and towers, I could see cheers erupt from those fighting as the hydra began slipping and falling back. Soldiers and mages ran forward from the various buildings in the city to climb the walls and see what was occurring – o...
2021-12-30 20:06:27 +0000 UTC View PostThe tavern I left was in the center of the third ring, near the walls of the second, but neither the street nor the buildings nearby were left unmarked. The soldiery of different noble houses marched down the street with urgency, and the scent of death, blood, and magic hung heavy in the air. Injured soldiers and mages were being carried back from the wall that separated the third and fourth ri...
2021-12-28 23:25:49 +0000 UTC View PostI donned the robe I wore to the battle of Gold Castle and withdrew my most powerful war staff. The memory of taking my time to reach Laxton Bay burned me, and I didn’t want a repeat of that. The near-loss of an entire city wasn’t something I felt any pride in, no matter how much the locals had celebrated. Knowing I could potentially lose entire clans of dwarves, numbering anywhere from fift...
2021-12-28 02:05:53 +0000 UTC View PostAnother week had come and gone as I struggled to understand Pyl’s decision. It was almost a suicide, in a way, the trading of his soul for the king’s. Pyl had left a bundle of tombs and scrolls that contained his various spells and research on a table in my library, one of which was a fairly emotionless farewell missive. Another was a journal, though he hadn’t written in it consistently. ...
2021-12-22 20:09:30 +0000 UTC View Post“Nemon, I apologize for lying,” Pyl’s voice echoed across his laboratory—a room that had seen significant changes since my last visit.
“Oh?” I had arrived as Pyl was overlooking several open scrolls on the table, and patiently waited for his attention by trying to figure out the purpose of his new design. What had once been a sloppy mess of spare bones and death crystals...
2021-12-20 23:36:24 +0000 UTC View Post“Leslie, that is not a concern of yours,” I shook my head, though I don’t think she was listening to me.
“Master—Nemon—I just want to know what you plan to do with her,” my former assistant whined.
Her eyes were locked on Rhaela the Red, the spy who was currently sitting on the bed in her cell pretending not to hear the conversation. Leslie stood between he...
2021-12-17 19:24:08 +0000 UTC View PostAs plans go, I was especially proud of this one. While the children had certainly crafted that horrendous hat as a gift to me, a whispered discussion with Kine had concluded that for all practical purposes, it was [High Priestess] Shaelra that had led them to their new homes and cared for them along the way. She certainly warranted it more than I did—in fact, I was pretty confident that I was...
2021-12-15 19:47:10 +0000 UTC View PostHello! I had some ideas for patreon exclusive chapters / POV interludes / etc, and was considering additional chapters such as one where Nemon attempted to rebuild his destroyed couch from book 2.
Yet, the more I thought about it the more I thought I wasn't certain if that would be something you all might want, or if there were other things that would appeal to you more. ...
2021-12-14 23:50:03 +0000 UTC View PostCothram, the 5th Tier [Dark Blade] who the king sent to assassinate me dodged the strike by leaping to the side. The man was agile, I’ll give him that. That wouldn’t save him. When we last met, he destroyed my only couch! I had that couch for seventy-five years! I had been forced to use Mirtallean long chairs! I went couchless because of this miscreant, the rogue, this—this—I couldn’t...
2021-12-14 21:51:28 +0000 UTC View PostThe [Lesser Hydra] twisted and curled in useless anger against the tight grip of my 5th Tier elemental. The spikes on my elemental’s tentacles scraped away deep gouges on the iridescent scales of the monster. Its regeneration was quick to replace the flesh even though the scales took longer to regrow. I watched on with my mind adrift, even as the creature was pinned against the wall of the pl...
2021-12-14 00:17:48 +0000 UTC View PostAfter a full day and a half of much-needed sleep, I awoke to an excellent breakfast of eggs, sausage, fruit, and freshly-baked biscuits. After nearly a week of eating travel rations, I may have eaten more than I should have, and it lay heavily on my stomach. Afterward, I quickly changed to a fresh robe of green and blue before standing for a long moment. It was a great feeling. I breathed deepl...
2021-12-10 21:25:39 +0000 UTC View Post
Surprise! Let me know what you all think!
2021-12-09 18:19:40 +0000 UTC View PostMy words, of course, warranted no reaction from the soldiers. These weren’t normal soldiers, mercenaries, or adventurers – they were Mirtallean slave-soldiers. Regardless of any fear they might hold or risk to themselves, the magic in their collars would force them to follow orders. I could see in their eyes, how they tensed their muscles, and in their ashen complexion on tightly drawn face...
2021-12-08 21:38:24 +0000 UTC View PostThe earth magic spell I used to draw plateaus wouldn’t work well with Laxton Bay. It could lift the city, but the bay itself would spill out. Then the city would follow, being as it wasn’t built on firm ground but rather sandy beaches. I knew from past travels here that some of the wooden buildings had poles mounted deep within the sand, but those few buildings weren’t enough to call rais...
2021-12-06 23:10:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe young messenger from the duchess stayed with me at the tower for two days, waiting for me to pen my response to the duchess-turned-queen. An amenable lad, though he had a penchant for going to the additional cell I created for the King’s messenger and taunting him. Apparently, they’d waited beneath the plateau for three contentious days, and he’d had to take grave insults from the man...
2021-12-03 23:00:25 +0000 UTC View PostLeaves fell around Pyl and me as we walked the curving path that circled my plateau. Some of the trees near the edges of my plateau weren’t taking well to their new elevation and had begun to drop leaves as though it were Autumn already. The wind carried them in curling loops, fluttering about like a flock of silent birds.
The path was well made by my apprentices. The stone path was mad...
2021-12-01 18:40:13 +0000 UTC View PostI rose from the couch I sat, carelessly knocking down the bottle of wine. For as much as I chastised Alred for taking to his cups to alleviate his grief, I was little better. I had tried burying myself in my research, something that had worked all too well in the past.
I found breakthroughs in combining [Finger of the gods] and [Heaven’s descent], making my first truly sixth-tier ...
2021-11-29 22:34:58 +0000 UTC View PostI sat on my stone chair in the first-floor greeting hall watching the merchant spy Honest Broom depart. He had just returned from his trip north and urgently requested an audience to tell me his findings. The shady brown-haired man was still annoying to deal with, but he must have passed through Gold Castle and reported to his mistress before coming here. This meant that anything he told me was...
2021-11-27 02:02:43 +0000 UTC View PostI was stunned by the magnitude of the spell I had cast. It hadn’t happened since I learned my first fireball spell and the explosion from it scared me. The mages beside me at the time had faces of excitement and thrill at their newfound ability to cause such explosions, but I was instead frightened at the power at my disposal. I don’t think I had felt that feeling in a long time. The bolt o...
2021-11-24 22:42:00 +0000 UTC View PostWe spoke more as we traveled back towards the gate to my home, casual topics such as slow growth of the plane and transporting earth as well as people. His plan to increase the speed seemed to be the grant of permission to build a tower and hold lands for each mage that contributed a certain amount. Likewise, druids would be granted forests and the like. I managed to speak to him about the incl...
2021-11-22 21:46:55 +0000 UTC View PostIt was a slow, meandering walk back towards his crystal tower, but one that I quite enjoyed. Mostly because the exertion left Alred sweaty and out of breath. It was a petty joy, certainly, but one that was easily added towards the tally of vengeance for his wizard tricks. Skelt joined us, silently walking behind and to the right as soon as we left the forest proper, Alred giving the man only a ...
2021-11-19 19:20:42 +0000 UTC View Post