You know us foreigners! Football of the European sort is the governing aspect of our lives, and the European Championships have been eating up my mornings like Yogi Bear into a picnic basket! How on earth did the Dutch manage to lose that game? Though I was raised English South African, my heritage is split with the Dutch, and I’ve always favoured the Oranje! Anyhow, you haven’t stopped by to hear me whine about Arjen Robben’s finishing or RVP’s chocolate leg.

The first book of the Eidylon series is finished and I am working on revisions. I’m targeting July, which is a big window, but first half of the month for release. I know lots of you have asked about it, and many of you have told me to take my time. I appreciate all of you who take a moment to contact me and encourage me.

I’ve found it interesting that this past week I’ve heard from several different sources that many who enjoyed The Scion of Abacus did not at all like The Ossian Chronicles. This is understandable, I suppose, as they are very different books, and The Ossian Chronicles were written off the back of a few unpleasant experiences in my life that prompted me to explore the nature of faith a bit closer. One of the criticisms of the books (at least the first two) has always been that they end in deus ex machinas, which kind of spoils them for many. I think this, as much as anything, is eventually why I began suggesting they were Christian fantasy novels rather than mainstream. My faith comes out in them much more forcefully and openly than in anything else I’ve ever written.

Well, I’m not going to whine about that. I have moved into a more mainstream fantasy direction, showing more and more of an influence from Brandon Sanderson and other contemporaries, though I doubt I will ever take much influence from Martin, Abercrombie, or Lynch. For any of those who were at all wondering, the new series, Eidylon, kicks on from Scion rather than regressing to Ossian Chronicles. I’m excited by the work, by some of the neat things I’m trying to do with the characters and the magic, and by some of the topics I’m looking to explore: loyalty, determination, good and evil, personal redemption. In a way, all my books are about redemption, about people righting their wrongs, owning up to mistakes in their past. Eidylon is no different.

Lastly, if you’ve been waiting in the wings to dive into The Scion of Abacus, I released an omnibus of the six parts this past week. I hope you check it out or recommend it to your friends. It will be on BN after the last serial volume is released in a few weeks.

Cheers!