Seraphina’s Lament Release!

This absolutely incredible cover was created by Pen Astridge and everyone should hire her because she’s amazing.

If you’ve followed me over the years, you’ll notice that the past year or so I’ve been slower with posting here, and in general, I’ve been posting less. There are a few reasons for that. First, I started editing a few years ago, and when I edit I don’t generally read books in the genre I’m editing so I don’t mentally cross streams. Secondly, I’ve been writing a book.

Seraphina’s Lament started out about two years ago. I ended up going to the library one day and checked out a ton of books on Russian history. It happens that the first book I read was about the Holodomor, which was a genocide in Ukraine that is largely still not recognized or known by the western world. In 1932-1933, Stalin passed a bunch of policies as part of one of his five-year plans which transformed Ukraine. The result was anywhere between 3-10 million people ended up starving to death and dying in other, horrible ways.

No one was ever brought to justice for this crime. There was no happy ending, and the fact that almost everyone who I say “Holodomor” to looks at me like I just appeared from nowhere and have tentacles for eyes or something, is horrible (“Holo-what?”). This is something we should know about. This was a tragedy, a crime against humanity, and it should be widely recognized as such.

Anyway.

I read these books and I was transfixed. Then I started reading about the events that led up to the Holodomor, and I was equally engrossed. I didn’t know much about that area of the world and its history.

And the plot for Seraphina’s Lament unfolded in my mind.

I wrote my first draft (which was terrible) and then submitted it to agents. My book ended up ultimately getting derailed by absolutely horrible management by an “agent.” I figured that this book was burned on the traditional marketplace so I should just let it go. However, the story never really stopped circling in my mind. I realized that yes, Seraphina’s Lament might be burned on the traditional marketplace, but there is always self-publishing. So, when all the doors seemed closed to me, I decided to punch a hole in the wall and blaze my own trail.

Anyway, two years and a lot of drama later, Seraphina’s Lament finally hits the marketplace today. Currently, I’m just keeping it on Amazon. It’s in Kindle, paperback, and Kindle Unlimited. (I should also add that I’ve told Amazon to link the pages for the Kindle and paperback books and they haven’t, so right now the Kindle version is on one page and the paperback is on another and I’m just sick of arguing with Amazon about it so I’m going to see if it miraculously fixes itself over the next day or so.)

If enough people complain about this being Amazon only, I will send it wide in a few months.

So, long story short, that’s why I’ve been slow with my reviews recently.

Now, I’ll list all the nitty gritty details of my book, including where you can buy it, and where you can find other interviews, reviews, and articles I’ve written.

I’ve got stuff scheduled on various websites all week, and reviews still coming in, so I’ll update these links as things appear. Later tonight I’ll probably make a page for all this information rather than a blog post, but this will suffice for now.

About the Book

The world is dying.

The Sunset Lands are broken, torn apart by a war of ideology paid for with the lives of the peasants. Drought holds the east as famine ravages the farmlands. In the west, borders slam shut in the face of waves of refugees, dooming all of those trying to flee to slow starvation, or a future in forced labor camps. There is no salvation.

In the city of Lord’s Reach, Seraphina, a slave with unique talents, sets in motion a series of events that will change everything. In a fight for the soul of the nation, everyone is a player. But something ominous is calling people to Lord’s Reach and the very nature of magic itself is changing. Paths will converge, the battle for the Sunset Lands has shifted, and now humanity itself is at stake.

First, you must break before you can become.