Big News in Empire of Blood land!

I have some bad news and some good news. Now most people like to tell you the other way around. "Hey, let me tell you the good news so you'll be happy and maybe won't even feel the blow of that terribly nasty bad news I'll then unveil upon you with the cold chill of my sharpened claw." Me, that's not how I roll... Hell who am I kidding? I don't roll. Logic is typically my friend and hereby my reason for reversing the standard order of good news/bad news. So, on with it, here it is...

The Bad News...

Fading in Darkness: Empire of Blood Book Two will not be ready to publish by the end of this month as I had so strongly tried and hoped for it to.

*Cringes and backs away into a corner*

The Good News...

Fading in Darkness: Empire of Blood Book Two will be ready soon... and although some of you are sharpening your daggers and polishing your swords, loading the chambers of your muskets, testing the weight of your maces, and tempering the tension of your bowstrings, I have a truce of which I call to you!

What if in waiting for Fading in Darkness, I offered you something more than just a peek into the story? What if I could offer you an extra exclusive peek? One not everyone will get to see... What if I also offered for a very few the chance to step within those pages? To dwell in them for a time? And lastly, what if I also offered a chance at plucking someone from those pages and inserting them into other pages just for four solitary readers? Any character from the story... Because that is indeed what my good news foretells. The chance at opportunities like the ones I just referred to.

Although I am working hard on the novel, I've also been working on other projects. Some of which I have talked openly about, some of which I have not. Some time ago it came to my attention that there was a character within the pages of both SIC and FID who had a long past yet to be explained, possibly never fully explained within the story line of the full novels. From this loose thread the story started to weave itself before I could catch hold of it and return it neatly back to where it fell from. Before long I had way too much of a story to let go of. And a novella was born:


The Rise of Caesar: An Empire of Blood Novella.

But I wanted this novella to be something special. Something far different than the novels that gave birth to it. So, I decided it would be at least for now a bit of a limited affair. A limited exclusive hardcover to be more exact. Hence one of the biggest reasons for what I unveil today:

The "Fading in Darkness: Empire of Blood Book Two and more" Kickstarter.

The following perks can be earned based on how much you donate:

• A pre-release ebook copy of Fading in Darkness: Empire of Blood Book Two
• A signed paperback copy of Fading in Darkness: Empire of Blood Book Two
• A signed limited hardcover copy of The Rise of Caesar: An Empire of Blood Novella exclusive to this Kickstarter.
• The opportunity to have one of ten vampires in Fading in Darkness: Empire of Blood Book Two and possibly future Empire of Blood novels named after you or a name of your choosing.
• The opportunity to become one of several new major characters introduced in Fading in Darkness: Empire of Blood Book Two. Your name, your likeness, aspects of your personality, etc.
• Finally, I offer as a grand prize for up to four people to be given the opportunity to choose a character, any character from the series, and have a unique short story written including this character as the main character to be printed in a single bound chap book just for them and no one else.

And for those who have no clue what the hell I've been talking about this entire time--"Empire-of-what-the-fuck-are-you-talking-about???"--I will be setting the Kindle version of the first book in the Empire of Blood series, Shining in Crimson: Empire of Blood Book One FREE for three days during the Kickstarter (Friday through Sunday May 25th, 26th, and 27th). Speaking of dates, this Kickstarter started today and lasts until May 31st, 10:23AM EDT. That's only 14 days.

So there it is... the bad news and the good. I only hope that the good news was so awesome as to protect me from you throwing many, many rocks at me upon your reading the bad news!!! Thank you for wasting your valuable time reading my ridiculously long-winded over-explanatory blog post and good day.