Deadlines are meant to be broken. Or at least that's what I told myself when I missed the goal of having The Blue Gem self-published in early March.
Being my own editor, I suppose missing a self-imposed deadline happens on occasion. I didn't miss the deadline by too many days, there was no advance of money to get it done by a certain point, and certain edits needed to take place before the novel was ready.
I finally reached that point last weekend.
The Blue Gem is the follow-up to my first fantasy novel, The Dragon Princess. The process of writing this novel started about 3.5 years ago, shortly after the release of the first novel. Working my way through research for the book and finding spare minutes to scrawl out words as often as time permitted, I finally finished the first draft, which looked something similar to this:
Multiple edits later, plus the re-formatting of the manuscript to fit what was needed for Kindle Direct Publishing, and we have arrived at the electronic publication of The Blue Gem.
The Blue Gem is the first book in the Magic of Crieo Series. It is now available for download from Amazon via the Kindle Store. Don't have a Kindle? Not to worry. The Kindle app is available on most cell phones, tablets, and other electronic devices, including for your personal desktop. The book is recommended for ages 11 and older. For reference, think of the novel as an epic fantasy similar to the worlds created by J.R.R. Tolkien and Terry Brooks, among others.
The Blue Gem is currently priced at $3.99 and can be purchased here or by returning to the books section of my website. The Dragon Princess is also available, for the low price of 99 cents.
A brief synopsis:
The Blue Gem, book one in the Magic of Crieo series, takes places thirty years after the War of the Lands. Buoyed by the heroics of the Dragon Princess, Riyana, the lands have settled into a time of peace. A Council of Races, led by Druid Stelart and King Rion of Thurston, has helped return a sense of normalcy to the nations. Safe trade routes have been restored and Stelart, along with Belark and Nikkon, has begun the initial stages of training new Druids.
An unexpected attack on a Druid leads Stelart back to one piece of unfinished business surround the War of the Lands: the destroying of the Blue Gem, the magical gem imprisoning the Demons.
Along with a young Elvin Druid, Rion's son, and a collection of others, Stelart leads an expedition to the City in the Clouds to retrieve the hidden Blue Gem before it falls into the wrong hands.
Racing against time and chased by Black Knights and other outlaws, Stelart's group aims to retrieve the Blue Gem before a gathering, unknown power gets there first. If Stelart fails, the unknown force will unleash the Demons to wreak havoc on the lands, possibly ending the peace and smooth sailing once and for all.