Are you a fan of the sword Oni-Goroshi? -- 01/10/24: wow, a Blackloak-inspired essay!
 Do you want to learn more about the bitch-blade, the so-called Goddess Of Swords? Good news: there's an entire book series in the works devoted to Her manipulation of a world destined to break. Dark literary fantasy. What does this mean? Dark: Really terrible shit happens. Literary: I write with poetic language as a core technique, rather than simply 'telling the story'. Fantasy: like that voice purring in your head as you wield Oni-Goroshi, it's not real. https://mybook.to/KaefreSeries Both books available at the link above. Get them. NEWS UPDATES 01/10/2024 Holy shit, someone wrote an essay/blog post about philosophy and dark fantasy -- and used Blackcloak as a case study! https://bookviralreviews.com/author-blogs/the-intersection-of-philosophy-and-fantasy-exploring-deep-themes-in-dark-fantasy-literature/ 06/09/2024 I normally don't check my reviews, because I know they're slow in coming due to how long a person should take to read my books, but I looked at Goodreads randomly this morning and someone had just posted this review of my first book, Blackcloak. I had no idea who they were, but they are following me on FB so...I guess the networking is net-working. Here it is in full. ___ Well, this wasn't easy... 😅 The story was so confusing, the writing style is so unique... My mind got tangled in it so badly that I had to step away, breathe, and pick up another read... just to distract it. I hated being in the dark, but it was so tempting. The moment you think that you start to figure it out, you get trapped even more. There are no answers, or maybe I just asked the wrong questions... I have really mixed feelings right now. The only thing I can say... it's brilliant. 🙃 ___ They still gave it 5 stars which kind of blew my mind because that reads more like a 3 or 4 to me. I hope they give Gildenhammer a go because that's a genuine 5 star book, even by my standards. Anyway that kinda made my day. :) I've been getting Book+pet pics too, which is awesome. So far we've had kitties from Missouri, Oregon, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and a dog called 'Terror' from Melbourne who looked utterly adorable. I might get a horse picture from the Rocky Mountains soon. Feel free to post any here that you'd be cool with me sharing to my public FB page. :) That's all for now. I've sent out some PMs to old, first-wave readers of Blackcloak about the second book and a few of you have responded. Cheers for that. I know it's been forever, but I promise it's worth taking the next step. https://linktr.ee/wjameschan -- Everything's here. Reviews, Amazon page links, Facebook page, email, Goodreads, even a link to my Oni-Goroshi voice lines. If it's on the web and it has to do with my work, it's here. Probably.
OLDER NEWS POSTS
03/08/2024
I have just ordered a proof for 'Gildenhammer'. If all goes according to keikaku**, it should available as a paperback next week. (Dumbass me misread the delivery date. This Wednesday, next Wednesday...same diff, right?) I am so intensely nervous, and so intensely excited. Also, since these are so fun to make, here's another one. 
**
Keikaku means 'hopefully shit won't fuck up.'
25/07/2024
The paperback release of 'Gildenhammer' is very close.
It's this close.
Okay, I reckon that's news enough for now. No more teasers. Next time I mention Gildenhammer, it will be to announce its release. Then it'll be about creating the digital omnibus of BC+GH, 'The Siblings Jaydemyr', at a much more affordable price. Naturally I think the paperback is better, and this should look quite nice sitting next to Blackcloak. Almost like they're inseparable. Which, of course, they are. WJC
15/07/2024
A lot happening now. I've just posted the full hardcover collector's ed cover to my FB; oldschool Exile OG superfan and talented AF artist lolozori has posted some surprise fanart of Charan/Oni Goroshi deeper in this thread, which I hope they'll let me share at some point; art for the digital omnibus is getting closer and closer. All in all, I hope to go live with Book 2 in a week or two. That's what this is all about, after all. The proof in the pudding and all that. Anyway, have a look-see.  I believe these links die in like 24 hours so if this isn't working, come check it out at WJamesChan, Author on Facebook. Cool huh?
09/07/2024
So this is kinda cool, a bit pretentious, but I think mostly cool because I didn't buy it for myself. As part of the celebration of book 2 and for promotional purposes, my partner surprised me with this neat little tool. It looks like a stapler but what it does is emboss paper. They're usually used for wedding invitations or personalising one's property, but she figured it'd be a nice way of adding a little flair to signed copies. And believe me: in the cut-throat world of self-promoting one's work, this isn't anywhere NEAR the top of 'cringy' things we have to do to stand out. Christopher Paolini used to get dressed up as his characters and read excerpts to high school kids. Uh...no thanks. 
04/07/2024
I have just ordered a proof copy of the hardcover Collector's Edition of 'Blackcloak: A Man of his Sword'. It looks ridiculously good. Someone reading this will get the first signed copy once I am sure it's all good to go, then I'll make it live, priced at $25 USD I believe. Looking forward to slipping it into a bookstore or two as well. Now some exclusive stuff that I haven't even talked about on Facebook: I just got done with a bunch of conceptualisation for book 3 with the partner (I spam at her, she keeps me at it, I paste said spam into a word doc) -- it's going to be big. Both literally and in terms of where the series is really going. I also know what book 4 will be about, which is good because for a while it was a blank beyond 'Charan and Sariana Jaydemyr take over the known world'. Oh, and I've decided what book 12 is going to be about. I had only a vague idea before: all the short stories that completely change everything that came before. But nah, I got a way better idea. It'll be optional (I plan to end the series proper with book 11) but Unravelling will be mind-blowing. That's a guarantee.
1/7/2024
Sometimes when things go wrong, you just gotta make sure you do it right. Those following my page will know this, but Amazon are all sorts of prickly about duplicate content so my plans to make a collectors ed paperback with new art for book 1 faceplanted pretty hard. So I guess we'll try a hardcover instead. Not the biggest fan of hardcovers, especially not with how portable books are now, but I'll say this: they look great on shelves and last longer. So yeah, lemons, lemonade, all that. It doesn't always go that way. Sometimes you fuck up and that's that. But the better you get at something, the less these things look like 'mistakes' and more like 'opportunities to do something different and maybe better'. Oh hey, speaking of Eric Johnson, listened to one of the many versions of Cliffs of Dover lately?
26/06/2024
The first real proof copy of Gildenhammer arrived today. Here's a photo of the placeholder spine next to Blackcloak's placeholder spine for comparison.
Spines
 Heftier but still has a nice feeling of 'solid yet not chonk' about it. Aiming for July release of both Gildenhammer as a paperback and The Siblings Jaydemyr as a kindle ebook. If there is some weird demand, I may do a physical version of TSJ, the chonk of which you can easily imagine by pretending the above image shows only one book.
24/06/2024
I have already started book 3, because it responds to all the things hinted at in books 1 and 2 (mostly). So something unusual is I do different 'resources' for each book, according to that book's demands. Blackcloak had two: a glossary and a pronunciation guide Gildenhammer has one: a timeline of events (both real and simulated/remembered) for books 1 and 2 Primahriel & Hawkstorm, as mostly a prequel to books 1 and 2, will have at least one new resource: a dramatis personæ at the front. I expect my readers will appreciate this almost as much as I do.
23/06/2024
A few of you asked, a few of you bothered to track me down on Facebook (you know who you are and I love you), a few others just sort of hinted at it. So okay. Yes, Book 2 is finished. It's called Gildenhammer. It's 500 pages printed, give or take.
I'll pop the blurb here.
GILDENHAMMER
Little brother’s dreams were psychological torture. Big sister’s reality will be much worse. Gildenhammer is the companion novel to Blackcloak, set in the Night-ruled world of Kaef’re. There, the daughter of a forgotten Noble clan, Sariana Jaydemyr, grapples with being the only person to remember anything about it. There, three distinct roles of the same woman are teased, tormented, excluded, exempted, and eventually reabsorbed into a whole of unforeseen significance. Only one woman knows Sariana’s secret suffering and revels in it: Vachaelle Nightsong, who has clearly not exhausted her malice and cunning in wielding Charan Jaydemyr as a sword of her own. Blackcloak was a distorted, egocentric mirror. Gildenhammer is the unrelenting reality unable to look away from the reflection. It is at once Blackcloak's sequel, a prequel, and its unrelenting answer. I'm waiting on the cover art but the text itself, the formatting, all that, it's done. It is not a sequel to Blackcloak so much as it is a companion. For this reason, I will be digitally publishing Blackcloak and Gildenhammer as one omnibus, The Siblings Jaydemyr, for as cheap as possible (without giving it away -- I'm not crazy), but there were requests for a physical version so I've just cooked that up today. If you enjoyed Blackcloak, I can safely say you will fucking love Gildenhammer. https://linktr.ee/wjameschan -- everything I've ever done worth talking about, and even that is debatable. Huh. My mace dude is now an actual cultist of Chayula. That's kinda wild. Last edited by Foreverhappychan#4626 on Sep 30, 2024, 9:16:00 PM Last bumped on Dec 17, 2024, 2:15:24 AM
|
|
|
:)
😹😹😹😹😹
I do not and will not use TFT. Gaming Granny :D 🐢🐢🐢🪲🪲🪲 |
|
" <3 https://linktr.ee/wjameschan -- everything I've ever done worth talking about, and even that is debatable.
Huh. My mace dude is now an actual cultist of Chayula. That's kinda wild. |
|
|
+1. I love both books, and am glad to have had the opportunity to read Book 2.
I know I pestered FHC about it long enough :) Edit: https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Oni-Goroshi#Voice_lines is the link to use for the correct wiki. ~ I have selective hearing, and today, you have not been selected. Last edited by DoubleU#7266 on Jun 24, 2024, 8:05:09 AM
|
|
|
I have fixed the link, thanks.
Now I have friends and old RP buddies saying they want to play PoE and I'm like...yeah, maybe not. (They're not ARPG nuts.) Progress into book 3 is solid already. Not that much writing but I have 3 pages of 'things I need to do' and...yeah, it's a lot. https://linktr.ee/wjameschan -- everything I've ever done worth talking about, and even that is debatable.
Huh. My mace dude is now an actual cultist of Chayula. That's kinda wild. |
|
|
Nice !
Grats for your new baby. Forum pvp
|
|
" i like going into arpgs blind and doing my own thing. i look at build guides with great disdain. i would give poe a passing mention to my friends. i d only recommend it to them if they like blindly following builds. i dont know how people find being stunned out of a slow ass melee animation at level 2-4 as a fun experience. [Removed by Support]
|
|
|
Oh, this is super cool. When it gets closer to winter and I start to read a bunch I'll have to check out the first book.
|
|
" I plan to release 1+2 together digitally for as cheap as possible (same price as 1 alone if I can swing it). 2 is only getting a physical release for now. https://linktr.ee/wjameschan -- everything I've ever done worth talking about, and even that is debatable.
Huh. My mace dude is now an actual cultist of Chayula. That's kinda wild. |
|
|
I'll check it out. I'm not a prolific fantasy reader; Howard, Lieber, and some newer writers I can't remember. I read a lot. Different genres.
I hated Wheel of Time. Read 2 pages on Amazon and the style (just from that short sample) reminded me of Thomas Harris. Don't get mad! Not meant as an insult; he's better than some think. His style isn't for everyone. Is it hard to get a book published nowadays? I have one done, years ago, and several in various states of completion though I don't write much anymore. I did a lot at university. Censored.
|
|
