Category: News

Hi everyone! Happy August!! I hope that you’ve all been enjoying the summer as it goes into full swing and that the weather has been great for all of you! Here is to hoping that you’ve had plenty of time to relax and rejuvenate over the last while or if not, are planning to soon! Let’s take a look at how things went for July and what we’ve got next on our schedules!

August 2024 Writing Update

Primary Projects

Scion of Magic (New Series): In Progress – 45% Complete
Starbreaker (New Series): Completed!
Starbreaker Book 2: 15% Complete

Co-Written Projects

Paragon Book 4 – Alex Knight – 25% Complete
Deck of Destiny – Harmon Cooper – 25% Complete

Other News

The Starbreaker and Scion of Magic Web Serials have launched!
Ascend Online: Threads of Fate – Coming to Kindle November 5^th!
Hat Trick: Drop of a Hat is on Sale!

A Month of Small Details

Now that’s a bunch of things on there, isn’t it? To start off – this was a largely a month of small details and projects in addition to the launch of Starbreaker and Scion of Magic in serial format…so busy in fact…that I’ve already fallen behind in my Scion of Magic writing (doh!), but not for a bad reason! In fact, the reason my entire month ended up a little squirreled was because of the awesome feedback that all the awesome serial readers sent my way for both of the two books which resulted in me taking a pause to comb through both stories in a bit of a victory lap to touch it up with clarity and some edits. So thank you all for that! With this last pass done, I am hoping to shift my attention more fully towards Starbreaker book 2 and Scion of Magic again to make some more headway on the both of those for the month of August!

Wait, What Are You Talking About Luke? You Released Two Serials?

If you have somehow missed this news, yes I have! I’ve finally pushed through my backlog of projects to the point where I have a fair bit more creative control over them, and as such I am able to post them early as I write them! (As some of you might remember I did way back when with Ascend Online!) In any case, if you have not seen the two stories and are looking for something to read, then feel free to check them out at any of the links below!

Starbreaker: (20 Chapters Currently Free!)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/starbreaker-1-107075054
My Website: https://lukechmilenko.com/starbreaker/
Royal Road: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/89519/starbreaker

Scion of Magic: (18 Chapters Currently Free!)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/scion-of-magic-1-107075659
My Website: https://lukechmilenko.com/scion-of-magic/
Royal Road: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/89896/scion-of-magic

Happy reading if you choose to give these series a shot! I hope you enjoy them!!

Ascend Online: Threads of Fate eBook Version Finally Has An Amazon Release Date!

I know that we were on a journey with this series and it’s Yonder exclusivity, but I am happy to announce that we finally have a date for when it is going to end – that being November 5^th – which is the day that Threads of Fate will launch over on Amazon for all of you Kindle readers! I am also super happy to mention too that the series will be returning to Kindle Unlimited as well!

However with that transition coming back towards Amazon, I want to say thank you for all of you who followed me over to Yonder to try the platform out there! I truly appreciate the support I got there for the books and it is making me very excited to get into book six as soon as I can!

So I’ve Got Some Vacation Planned

Every year I like to take a chunk of time off to rejuvenate and this year that time is going to be coming up in August and September! For the first half of vacation is going to be some well deserved R&R and for the second half it’s going to be to dive in and enjoy the next World of Warcraft expansion – The War Within.

In general these breaks shouldn’t affect the majority of my overall production save that regarding Scion of Magic, which I’ll be pausing to ‘free’ up some time while I enjoy breaks. Regardless I will make it a point to update this serial as often as I can, but it will likely be as single or multiple chapters dropped at once with no warning or schedule. Starbreaker on the other hand I expect to continue during this second vacation stretch just to make sure we’ve got book 2 ready for you all to enjoy before all of the book 1 chapters run out.

Beyond that – I am toying with the idea of streaming parts of my experience while I dive into The War Within – so if you’re at all interested in seeing that, let me know and I’ll make it a point to post whenever I am planning on going live!

And that’s another month in the books!

That’s all I’ve got to share for this month! I hope that you enjoy Starbreaker and Scion of Magic if you give it a shot! Catch you all again next month! (Or on stream!) I hope you all have a happy, healthy, and super fun August!

Luke

Hi everyone! We made it to July and summer is now officially here!! I hope that you’ve all been enjoying  the change of weather and that all has been going great! But in addition to enjoying the awesome weather, I’ve been busy over here too! So let’s take a look and see what I’ve been up to!

July 2024 Writing Update

Primary Projects

Scion of Magic (New Series): In Progress – 45% Complete
Starbreaker (New Series): Completed!
Starbreaker Book 2: Started!

Co-Written Projects

Paragon Book 4 – Alex Knight – 10% Complete
Deck of Destiny – Harmon Cooper – 15% Complete

Other Projects

My New Website Is Now Available!
The Starbreaker Web Serial Has Started!
Scion of Magic Web Serial Starting July 9^th!

My Newly Refreshed Website Is Live!

To kick things off this month, I am super happy to announce that my website has undergone a full revamp and is now live for all of you to see! Not only is it freshly facelifted, I am happy to announce that my store is back as well! For those of you who have been asking about Posters, prints, and other merch from my series, you can buy them again! However that isn’t the only piece of exciting news I have to share because today I am happy to announce that I am debuting a brand new web serial section to my website where you will be able to read all of my web serials – for free!

That’s Right – It’s happening! Starbreaker Is Finished And The Web Serial Is Now Starting!

Now I know I’d had a ton of hype about this over the last few months, but I am happy to announce that Starbreaker is now polished and sent off for audiobook production! (Release details TBD – but we’re aiming for Feb/March of 2025!) This book was a blast to work on from start to finish and I am so excited to hear what you all think of it – and as it happens that is going to be sooner than usual!

And that’s because starting TODAY the Starbreaker web serial is now Live on Royal Road, Patreon, and my Website with its first 10 chapters – all for free with more coming three days a week every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until the story is done!

Of course, like all running serials these days I also have the option for all who are interested to be able to subscribe either to my Patreon or my Website to be able to read up to three weeks (9 Chapters!) ahead of the free chapter posting.

But Wait There’s More!

I’m sure you know by now that I don’t do things by half measures, and this time is no different! That’s why I am also happy to announce that I have the first 10 chapters of Scion of Magic ALSO available for reading on my Patreon and Website for free with free (and advanced) chapters arriving every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday! Doesn’t that sound awesome? I sure hope so! (Royal Road Chapters for Scion of Magic to start next week on July 9^th for those interested to read there!)

Heck, That Does Sound Awesome Luke! Tell Me More!

Woo! I’m glad you think so and without wasting another moment of your time, let’s get those descriptions, expectations, and links out!

Starbreaker:

“Born of a pyre ten thousand souls strong. When stars are right his home will die.
Hollow of heart; black hunger unending. Eater of light. Vanquishing kings.
Doom in hand; pour loose the sands of time. Ender of hope. Feller of storms.
Twinmaidens blood stains; on sorrowful soles. Fast claimed war’s domain. Glad of war. Glad of pain.
Beast eyes close for him. Vault’s gates open.
Starbreaker, thrice named.
Starbreaker, awake.”

—Prophecy of Aion Origin, date unknown

Sylvas Vail is a big fish in a small pond, the most powerful mage on his planet. But when the doors to the cosmos come crashing open and all the untold wonders and terrors of the universe come pouring in, he is left with only two options:

Ascend or die.

Expectations:

• Space Fantasy Setting
• Military Academy Setting
• Strong, Hardworking MC
• Multiple Progression Paths
• No Harem
• Fast Paced Story & Action Pacing

This series is for you if:

• You Liked Iron Prince, Starship’s Mage, Stargazer’s War
• Want a Space Fantasy Twist To The Typical Academy/Progression Story
• Are Looking For Something Extremely Fast Paced With Satisfying Characters and Progression

Release Schedule: 12PM Eastern Time – Monday – Wednesday – Friday with every 4th week being a ‘break week’ with no chapters. Next Break Week: July 22nd to 27th. Next Free Chapter July 3^rd.

Links To Read This Story:
My Website
Royal Road
Patreon

Scion of Magic:

Death, it turns out, is nothing but a new beginning for Vincent.

Rather than a final curtain call before the sweet embrace of oblivion wipes away his grievous wounds, Vincent awakens in a body that isn’t his and in a city he’s never been in before. With only the cryptic words of a long lost god and the fragmented memories of a life once lived to guide him, Vincent finds himself burdened with an impossible task: to prevent an unknown corruption from devouring the realm whole.

Except there’s one problem. From what he soon discovers, it might be too late.

Far too late.

Expectations:

• Strong But Depowered MC To Start
• Gradual Progression Throughout
• Different Take On Cultivation/Magic/Power Progression
• Rare Blue Boxes To Keep Details Organized
• No Harem
• Slow Burn Story & Action Pacing (Come sit a while and listen)
• Snek Draggo

This series is for you if:

• You Liked Primal Hunter, Bastion, Legend of the Arch Magus
• Want a Slow(er) Burn Reincarnation Story
• Are looking for a deep and wide Power Progression System

Release Schedule: 

Note: This series will be delivered on a ‘Best Effort Basis’ with occasional (but well communicated pauses) as I split my time writing Starbreaker and Scion of Magic.

12PM Eastern Time – Tuesday – Thursday – Saturday with every 4th week being a ‘break week’ with no chapters. Next Break Week: July 29th to August 3rd. Next Free Chapter July 11^th.

Links To Read This Story:
My Website
Patreon
(Royal Road Chapters to Start July 9th!)

Going Forward

With the launch of the serials, this marks a bit of a transition point as to how things I will be delivering my solo ‘Luke Chmilenko’ content. For my solo series, that being Starbreaker, Scion of Magic, Ascend Online, and eventually ‘Oops, I Was Accidentally Transported To A Fantasy World And Taught Dragons About Capitalism’, they will all be offered as web serials first before being published, allowing those who want to read them far in advance of official Amazon/Audible publishing.

Wherever possible/applicable I will try to avoid stubbing for as long as I can, however with Kindle Unlimited being a core part of my earnings, eventually the free chapters will need to come down to satisfy Amazon’s requirements. I’ll do my best to communicate this as best as possible so people aren’t surprised, but I want to be upfront about this.

I also want to be upfront with my planned ‘break weeks’ for each serial. These are being built in from the start to help manage my mental and physical health long term. Writing at the pace I do isn’t always sustainable, especially with the quantity of projects I have beyond it (and also the fact that I enjoy seeing my family as well as playing video games). These break weeks, staggered for each serial, is to make sure that I can either catch up if I fall behind, or offer me a chance to rest on a story if I need to.

In addition to all of this, I am also going to be trying something new as we go back into web serials, and that is offer native subscriptions on my website for those who like to read advanced chapters, bypassing Patreon entirely. While I am also going to mirror all my serial content on Patreon, my goal in setting up something on my website to make myself as platform independent as possible and give you, the readers, the best value possible in the long term. (And also to offer those of you who do not or cannot use Patreon a way to subscribe to me!) There’ll be growing pains as we figure all of this out, but I have no doubt that we’ll land on something that works out brilliantly in the end.

As for cowritten content – nothing will change in this regard, the books will still be published directly to Amazon and Audible as soon as they are completed and barring special cases, will not be featured on my Patreon/Website.

And That Marks Another Month!

I hope you all enjoyed this month’s mega update and decide to give both Starbreaker and Scion of Magic a shot! I am super excited to hear what you all think of them! For this month going forward my plan is to keep working ahead on book 2 of Starbreaker while keeping up with Scion of Magic in the background as I have time!

Catch you all again next month! I hope you all have a happy, healthy, and super fun July!

Luke

Hi everyone! Happy June! We’ve made it halfway through the year! Woo! (Also can you believe that? Where did everything go so fast?!) I hope that you’ve all been having a super happy and productive month the last month, it’s certainly been the same here! Let’s hop on and take a look what we’ve been up to!

June 2024 Writing Update

Primary Projects

Scion of Magic (New Series): In Progress – 40% Complete

Starbreaker (New Series): In Progress – The Final Stretch

 Co-Written Projects

Paragon Book 4 – Alex Knight – Planning & Outlining
Deck of Destiny – Harmon Cooper – Started!

 Other Projects

Ascend Online: The Comic Series Issue #2 Kickstarter Launching June 4^th!

That’s right! It’s Kickstarter Month!

It’s been a long time in coming, but I am happy to announce that the Issue #2 Comic Book Kickstarter for Ascend Online is set to go this month! It will be launching at 12pm EST on June 4^th and will run for three weeks until June 25^th! Everyone who is interested in helping us back this project and being ready for it’s launch should follow the project here!

 

Starbreaker is Almost There!

For this month the majority of my focus has been on getting Starbreaker polished up and ready for audiobook recording and I am happy to say that I am almost there! I am hoping to have the book wrapped very soon in the near future so we can get it out into the world! Stay tuned for more information – but we’re super, super close!

 

A New Project – Deck of Destiny With Harmon Cooper!

That’s right!! We have a new project on the schedule now and this one is with the legendary Harmon Cooper! After years of talking about it the two of us have finally decided to put our heads together for Card Based Progression Fantasy that I have no doubt you’re all going to love! It’s still a little early for us to toss out too many details on it, but as soon as we have something new and exciting to talk about, we will let you all know!

 

And That’s Another Month In The Books!

And that is that! I know this month hasn’t been all that crazy in terms of big updates, but the work continues onwards! I’m hoping that it’s not too much longer until I can show you all what I’ve been working on with Starbreaker and you can all let me know what you think! Until then though, I hope you have a happy couple days until we’re back to celebrate the Kickstarter launch! See you all soon!

Luke

Hi everyone! Happy May! Can you believe that summer is finally around the corner? I hope that the weather has finally started to turn for you all and that we have plenty of warm days ahead of us! As always this has been another crazy writing month and we’ve got another batch of great news! So, let’s dive in with an update!

May 2024 Writing Update

Primary Projects

• Scion of Magic (New Series): In Progress – 40% Complete
• Starbreaker (New Series): In Progress – Self Edits & Rewrites!
• Ascend Online: Threads of Fate: Audio Releases May 7^th

Co-Written Projects

• Paragon Book 4 – Alex Knight – Planning & Outlining
• Upcoming AMA on r/fantasy – May 7^th!

Ascend Online Releases This Month!

We’re almost to the big day! As of writing this we are just six more days away from Threads of Fate becoming available on print and audio and I can’t wait to hear what you all think about it! This was by far my most favorite Ascend Online book to write and I’m already itching to get back to it once I’ve caught up on Starbreaker and Scion of Magic!

If you want to be ready for the big day audio-wise then you can pre-order the book over on Audible!

If you’re looking for the physical editions – I am hoping to have them up this week for pre-order, so stay tuned on seeing those! As for the eBook edition – it is available now over on the YONDER app!

As a heads up as well – if you want to stay right on edge of all Ascend Online content for Threads of Fate and beyond, plus be in the loop for all my other projects (such as Starbreaker and Scion of Magic!) I have coming out over the next few months, my Patreon is the best place for that! As I have mentioned before, I am going to be leaning hard back into my Patreon going forward and I’ve built out a huge welcoming package for everyone who joins my page – everyone who joins will get immediate access to almost every book I’ve ever written totaling some near 2 million words, the Ascend Online Comic, as well as never before seen artwork! This is really the place to be if you want to stay on top of everything I’m doing far in advance of it arriving on Amazon!

Starbreaker is now done!

That’s right! I’ve polished another book off and now I’m in the middle of getting shipshape ready for production and it’s eventual serialization on royal road, my website, and Patreon! This book was an absolute blast to write and I really can’t wait to hear what you all think of it! If any of you have enjoyed Spelljammer, Starship Mage, and/or Iron Prince, then this is 200% the book for you!

In any case once this book is finished and off to editing, I’ll be jumping straight into book 2 of Starbreaker while continuing to tinker on Scion of Magic. Soon as Starbreaker 1 is back and in fighting shape from its edits, it will go live on Patreon, Royal Road, my website, and more for all who want to read it!

Ascend Online Issue #2 Kickstarter is Coming in June Now!

I know that our original target here was to get the Kickstarter going in May, but after trying to plan that out – it honestly was too much for Kayla, Jason, and myself to manage! So we’re kicking it a month forward into June! Stay tuned for more information as we get this campaign moving – but in the meantime to make sure you’re not missing anything – be sure to follow the project here so you get the news as soon as it goes live!

I’m doing an AMA next month!

As a reminder – to celebrate the launch of Threads of Fate I will be doing an AMA over on r/fantasy and r/ProgressionFantasy on May 7^th! So mark it down on your calendars! If you have questions you want to ask me, or just want to come by and say hi, I’d love to see you there! But also don’t worry – I’ll be sure to make a post and email announcing the AMA once it goes live!

And that’s a wrap!

There we go! Another month in the books with an even more exciting month ahead of us! I hope that you all enjoy what I’ve got in store for you all this May and love Starbreaker once it starts serializing! In the meantime I hope you all have a happy and healthy month and we’ll see you again to celebrate Threads of Fate launch as well as my AMA!

Luke

Hi everyone! Happy April and happy Spring! I hope that you’ve all had a wonderful month on your ends of things and that the weather has finally begun to take a turn for wherever you are in the world! The past month here has been another fantastic one over on our end of things and I’m happy to say that we’ve got some exciting news! So, let’s dive in with an update!

 

April 2024 Writing Update

Primary Projects

Scion of Magic (New Series): In Progress – 30% Complete

Starbreaker (New Series): In Progress – 99% Complete

Ascend Online: Threads of Fate: Audio Pre-Order Now Live – May 7^th

 Co-Written Projects

Paragon of Shadow: Pre-Orders Now Live – April 2^nd

Hat’s Entertainment: Pre-Orders Now Live – April 9^th

 

Upcoming AMA on r/fantasy – May 7^th!

 

It’s Release Month!

I know we’ve been long waiting this for quite some time now, but the release month is finally here! We’re a stone’s throw away from Paragon of Shadow going live tomorrow on April 2^nd and Hat’s Entertainment following next week! (And of course we can’t forget Ascend Online next month either!)

But if you want to make sure that you don’t miss any of these launches and have them ready on your kindle and phones the moment they release, the best thing to do is pre-order them now!

 Ascend Online: Threads of Fate: Audible

Paragon of Shadow: Amazon & Audible

Hat’s Entertainment: Amazon & Audible 

Of course too as I mentioned last month, if you are looking for a chance to grab some of the books early – namely Paragon of Shadows and the following book – Paragon of Unity, far in advance of their releases on Amazon, then my Patreon is the best place to grab that today! I also have an incredible amount of bonus goodies that have never been seen anywhere else, such as Ascend Online Playing Card Artwork, a short story snippet, and the still WIP draft of The Blood Crown. And is before both Starbreaker and Scion of Magic start serializing there – long before they hit Amazon!

 

Starfall is now Starbreaker!

Along with getting ready for the new releases in the next couple months, I have been working away on Starbreaker, which is the new name for the Starfall series! I am super excited to get both this and Scion of Magic out into the world for you all to read and enjoy! Right now the plan is to wrap Starbreaker this month and send it off into post production, then plan out and dive into book 2 soon as possible!

 

I’m doing an AMA next month!

To celebrate the launch of Threads of Fate I will be doing an AMA over on r/fantasy on May 7^th! So mark it down on your calendars! If you have questions you want to ask me, or just want to come by and say hi, I’d love to see you there! In any case, don’t worry – I know this date is really far out, so I’ll be sure to remind you all once we get close!

 

Back into the word mines I go!

And that wraps another month! It’s been a super busy stretch here as we get ready for the next batch of books but I am super excited to hear what you all think about them once they go live! That goes double for Starbreaker and Scion of Magic which I hope to continue getting ready for you all to enjoy too! Hoping that in the meantime you all have a happy and healthy month and we’ll see you again to celebrate this month’s launches!

Luke

Hi everyone! Happy March! We are making our way through the year and hopefully this month we’ll start to see some of the warm weather coming in to help us look forward to spring! In the meantime though I hope you’ve all been having a great last month! Now let’s start this new one off with our monthly updates!

 

March 2024 Writing Update

Primary Projects

Scion of Magic (New Series): In Progress – 20% Complete

Starfall (New Series): In Progress – 50% Complete

Ascend Online: Threads of Fate: Audio Pre-Order Now Live – May 7^th

Co-Written Projects

Paragon of Shadow: Pre-Orders Now Live – April 2^nd

Hat’s Entertainment: Pre-Orders Now Live – April 9^th

 

First off – The releases are coming!

Now as you can all see on the update list we officially have full pre-orders up for everything! You can find them all here as follows:

Ascend Online: Threads of Fate: Audible

Paragon of Shadow: Amazon & Audible

Hat’s Entertainment: Amazon & Audible

If you’re interested in reading the books then now is the best time to grab them before they come out on release! However that said if you are looking for a chance to grab some of the books early – namely Paragon of Shadows and the following book – Paragon of Unity, far in advance of their releases, then my Patreon is the best place to grab that today!

That’s right – my Patreon is going to be coming back to life!

I know that I’ve let the place lapse over the last couple years – but unfortunately I just couldn’t keep up with it all – that’s finally changing now! I am in the process of giving the place a whole new facelift and freshening up all the content available on it. Going forward, the Patreon will be ‘the place’ to get all of my works long before they hit Amazon, as well as the place to get special, never-seen-before art work from the Ascend Online series!

But beyond just bringing back the Patreon, I am planning to go back to my web serial roots that I originally started from. For those of you who originally started reading me with Ascend Online, you might remember that the story first started off on Royal Road before making it to Amazon, I also serialized both Hell to Pay and Legacy of the Fallen there as well for early access chapters. More recently as well, I had the really fun experience of serializing Threads of Fate on Yonder, it made me fall back in love with the web serial format, especially now that my time is much easier to manage than it has been in previous years.

So with that said, my plan in the near future is to rekindle that and I will be posting both chapters of both Starfall and Scion of Magic for free on my blog and various other serial websites, then having advanced chapters on my Patreon for those who wish to read ahead. If this proves to be a good system, I will do an advanced chapter model for book 6 of the Ascend Online series as well (though this one will be exclusive to Patreon). However right now I do need to get some work in for the other two series and there are some exclusivity pieces still outstanding with Yonder and Threads of Fate. So they will be taking priority first.

In any case if you are interested in rejoining us on the Patreon – check it out here! There will be plenty of goodies coming starting April and onwards – in addition to the never before seen content here already!

But that’s not all the good stuff we have – We’re giving away Issue #1 of the Ascend Online Comic!

That’s right! In celebration of putting the finishing touches on issue #2 of the comic series – we want to give away Issue #1 to everyone who hasn’t had a chance to see it yet! Me and the team have had such an awesome time in getting this next issue ready for you all and we just can’t wait to see what you think! Which is why we are also announcing that we are getting ready for Issue #2’s kickstarter and that you can follow it today so you’re ready for it’s launch come May! We are super excited to be able to show you what we’ve been working on all this time!

So first thing’s first – Grab your free comic of Issue #1 here!

Then second – Follow Issue #2’s Kickstarter here!

And we’re done!

As you can see it’s been a big and busy month and I expect that this one will be no different! We’ve got so many exciting releases coming for April – to say nothing of Starfall and Scion of Magic, which are flying along awesomely as well! I am super excited and eager to hear what you all think of these books once they’re in your hands! Until then though, I hope that you all have a happy and healthy month and we’ll see you again soon!

Luke

Hi everyone! We did it! We made it through January! I hope that the first month of the year was great for you all and that February is even better! We are getting back into the writing side of things over here after a nice long break for the holiday season, so let’s take a look at where things find us for this month!

Whoa, that looks different doesn’t it?

As you can see, we’ve moved on away from our update card graphic as we start refreshing things for the year. It’s been quite some time since we had a cosmetic face lift to things and we’ve started off on making a few small tweaks across the board to spruce things up! Hopefully you all enjoy it!

It’s Release Time!

Now looking at our new update list, I’ve no doubt that you can see we’ve got exciting news to share — Release Dates! So without any further delay, here is what you are all going to be able to look forward to in the coming months!

Paragon of Shadow: April 2^nd

Hat’s Entertainment: April 9^th

Ascend Online: Threads of Fate: May 7^th

Top Hat: August 27^th

And that’s all that we have set dates for so far! There are a couple of other projects that are still in the works without publishing dates or haven’t quite yet been finished yet in the case of Starfall and Scion of Magic. But as soon as we do have dates set in stone, we will make an announcement!

And That’s Another Month Wrapped!

So back to the word mines I go! For this next month I plan on devoting a heap of my time to both pushing forward on Starfall and Scion of Magic, as well as prepping and drafting outlines for co-writes and other projects for the year. In the meantime, be on the lookout for the Threads of Fate Audiobook pre-order, which should be available early next week, if not sooner!  In any case until the next update — I hope that you all stay happy and healthy! See you again next month!

Luke

Hey everyone!! Happy 2024!! Can you believe that we’ve just flipped over a new calendar year already? I don’t know about you all, but I have no idea where the last couple months have gone so quickly! I sort of remember it being November, then I blinked, and here we are now! But despite that blinding speed, I do have a few small updates and a look back on the year to share…so let’s see where we’ve been, and where we are now.

 

 

That’s A Lot Of Finished Things!

As you can all no doubt see on our awesome monthly update card – the huge glomp of projects are largely done and delivered to wrap up last year and kick this one off! Everything from Ascend Online, to Hat Trick 2 & 3, to Paragon 3 have been completed and handed off to the publishers for their magic touch to get ready to go out into the world. That tally also doesn’t include, Hat Trick 1, Immortal’s Ascent Book 3, and Paragon 2, which we finished earlier in the year and either have already been published or are further down into the release pipeline coming up for 2024.

As of writing right now – the only release date that I have to share for you all at the moment is the release of Hat Trick 2 – Hat’s Entertainment! Which will be coming out on April 9^th, 2024! If you’re looking for a fun, satire fantasy comedy, then this is the series for you! For all of the others, including Threads of Fate, I’m afraid they are all TBD at this moment until I get more information from the various publishers. So as soon as I know, so will all of you!

Now I’m Sure You’re Thinking, What’s Next Then?

Well, for the first thing – it’s still going to be rest on my part. After having finished working on such a huge amount of projects to close out the year, I’m planning on having an easy January to start things off. But that being said, it’s going to be a January of planning and outlining as I set myself up for all of the projects to follow.

As you can all see on the update card, we’ve got Starfall and Scion of Magic back on the table – both of which series already have a fair bit of content already written for them. Now that I’m free of my more time crunched projects, I am going to be turning my focus back towards them, refreshing myself on where I left off, and eventually getting back to work. Past those two series as well, I am looking to spend a little time planning out a few unannounced projects that will be started later this year to make sure that I know what I’m doing once I get to them. (And yes, if everything pans out, I hope one of those to be book 6 of Ascend Online, which will be the final Lazarus side story before returning to Lyrian in book 7!)

Speaking of Ascend Online Though…

There will be another comic issue coming out via Kickstarter soon! Kayla has been very busy over the last year in creating the next chapter of the comic series, and I am happy to say that we are almost ready to share it with you all! So please stay tuned over the next month or two for the Kickstarter announcement! We’ve no doubt you’ll love it when it’s ready!

And That’s It!

I know this month doesn’t have much in terms of new stuff – but it’s the next best thing – finished stuff for you all to enjoy soon! I know it’s been a long time since the last batch of releases, so I hope that you all enjoy the new books to come out this year! In the meantime as we get closer to their eventual release, I hope that you all stay happy and healthy! See you again next month!!

Luke

Hi everyone! It’s the last month of the year! Happy December! I hope that you’re all doing great as we enter the last bit of the year and finish off 2023! This last month here on my end of things has been a finishing month and I am happy to say that a bunch of things are done! Let’s get that card up and see where we are now!

 

 

Threads of Fate Is Finished!

Yes! That’s right! Threads of Fate is finished and the remainder of the story will be up on YONDER before the year is out! This was a super fun book for me to write and it practically flew every single step of the way, I hope that you all enjoy it when you have a chance to read it yourselves!

Right now our plans is to get the book up onto YONDER for those who are following the book there, with Luke Daniels to start recording of the story early in 2024! From there I am hoping we will have the book out and ready to be published early in the spring! Soon as I have some firmer timelines I will let you know what to expect!

Hat Trick: Drop of a Hat Releases This Month!

Just as I announced last month I have my new series with GD Penman, Hat Trick releasing December 5^th in both Audio, eBook, and Print formats! So if you’re interested in trying something new and hilarious from me, check out this blurb here, and grab the pre-order now!

 

***

Absalom Scryne, the greatest wizard of his generation, has been murdered.

There’s no other explanation for why his consciousness now resides in his well-worn but perfectly pointed hat.

Well, he isn’t going to take that lying down . . . or hanging from a branch, as the case may be. Instead, he’ll hop on the head of the first foul-smelling kobold that comes along and convince it that it’s in everyone’s best interests for them to undertake the epic journey through the Badlands—past horny necromancers, rustic werewolves, and rampaging ogres—back to the shining city of magic at the heart of civilization, where he will promptly kick the backside of whoever it was that finally managed to stab him in the back.

Assuming, that is, he can teach a kobold how to use magic, survive all the roaming adventurers who consider a kobold to be a very minor payday, and prevent anyone else from claiming the wealth of arcane knowledge that is now bound within the rather handsome piece of haberdashery that he has become.

***

If you’d like to check it out, please hop over to either Amazon or Audible for the pre-order information!

Now It’s Time For Rest!

With the last few books of the year being finished off, I am now officially on vacation for the next few months to relax and recharge. This year has been record setting in every sense of the word with me writing and or editing somewhere between 1.5 to 2 million words (I don’t really want to count right now for fear of my sanity) and after that stunning achievement, I am looking to slow down a while.

Of course, I’ll still be tinkering away with some fun ideas and stuff here or there, but it will all be piecemeal day to day administrative stuff rather than being fully on the writing grind. I also hope to make great use of this time to start planning out the next crop of books for 2024 and beyond so we are ready to jump right back into the swing of things once its time to do so again. In the meantime, I hope you all take the time to relax yourselves as the year comes to an end and that you all stay healthy and happy for the holidays! See you all again in 2024!!!

Luke

Hi everyone! We are back again! Happy November! I hope that you’ve all had a great end to the spooky month and a very, very happy Halloween! Now that the last big holiday is out of the way we can start the Christmas countdown!!! (Haha – please don’t hurt me!)

Impending seasonal festivities aside, it’s been an incredibly busy month on my end of things to wrap up the year, so let’s go and take a look at what I’ve been up to and where things are going from here!

 

 

 

Threads of Fate Is Nearly Wrapped!

Look at the wordcount jump this month! This last month has been an absolute frenzy as I’ve been finishing off Book 5 of AsO, and I am happy to say that I am expecting to wrap this book within the next week or so if I don’t hit any surprises along the way! (Yaaaay!) If any of you want to read the book immediately, the best place to do that will be over on YONDER where the whole book will be available for you to binge before this month is out.

For those of you who are interested in the Audiobook version, I am happy to announce that this book will be going into recording with Luke Daniels early next year, and we will do our best to have it out ASAP afterwards. It is still a little too early to peg a date as to when it’ll be as I have a ton of books coming out next year, but I think it’s safe to say that spring sometime is a good time to expect its arrival! Soon as I know more, I’ll let you all know!

New Series Reveal – Hat Trick: Drop of a Hat!

So this one has been a long time coming, but I am happy to formally announce a new series with GD Penman and myself called Hat Trick, and even better, it’s available for pre-order on Amazon and Audible already! Both will be live at the same time come December 5^th!

So if you’re interested in trying something new and hilarious from me, check out this blurb here, and grab the pre-order now!

 

***

Absalom Scryne, the greatest wizard of his generation, has been murdered.

There’s no other explanation for why his consciousness now resides in his well-worn but perfectly pointed hat.

Well, he isn’t going to take that lying down . . . or hanging from a branch, as the case may be. Instead, he’ll hop on the head of the first foul-smelling kobold that comes along and convince it that it’s in everyone’s best interests for them to undertake the epic journey through the Badlands—past horny necromancers, rustic werewolves, and rampaging ogres—back to the shining city of magic at the heart of civilization, where he will promptly kick the backside of whoever it was that finally managed to stab him in the back.

Assuming, that is, he can teach a kobold how to use magic, survive all the roaming adventurers who consider a kobold to be a very minor payday, and prevent anyone else from claiming the wealth of arcane knowledge that is now bound within the rather handsome piece of haberdashery that he has become.

***

 

Hopefully that sounds super fun for you all! If you’d like to check it out, please hop over to either Amazon or Audible for the pre-order information! And even more exciting – Gray and I are happy to also announce that Book 2 of this series is already finished and that we are both expecting to wrap book 3 by the end of the year! That means you’ll all be able to enjoy the whole series without any long delays!

Also – since Hat Trick is a brand-new series for us, Gray and I are looking for ARC readers to help give it the best launch possible! If you’re interested in helping us out – please take a look at this ARC Form for more information!

Paragon 3 Is Done!

Adding onto the book frenzy, Alex and I are also happy to announce that book 3 of the Paragon series is now in editing as well and we will be submitting it to Audible as soon as we can for recording along with book 2! We’ve had a bit of a delay here with how busy Travis is to record the book, but we know that it will be both it! Especially when we can get both of these books out back-to-back for you all this coming year! As soon as we have more details on when to expect it, we will let you all know!

Taking A Break To Finish Off The Year

As I am sure you can all tell from my updates, it’s been a crazy hectic end to the year and with all of these projects coming to a close, that means it’s soon time for me to return to a primordial ooze state for the next little while to regroup and recharge. My plans right now are to finish off and deliver all of the above manuscripts then take some desperately needed time for rest and relaxation – as well as to prepare a pair of fun Kickstarter Projects we have coming up soon! So stay tuned for those announcements still to come! I have no doubt that you will want to get your hands on both of them! In the meantime, I hope you all stay healthy and happy for the month and see you all soon!

Luke

Hi everyone! The spooky month is here!! Happy October! I hope that you’ve all had a great month and that you’ve all been doing well this last stretch! It was great to see so many of you down at DragonCon this last month! Thank you so much for those who came out to see me and my panels! It was such a huge heap of fun!

Past the convention it’s been a crazy busy month as per usual here and we finally see the light at the end of the tunnel here for a crop of our projects! So here we go with our update card!

 

Keepin it short and sweet this month!

So as you can see things are ripping along! I know there hasn’t been a word count update on AsO this month, which namely because we’ve been doing some cuts and reinserts on prewritten content that I’ve had banked in the past. This has largely resulted in a net neutral amount of words despite us moving closer to the end of the story. As things stand now, I think I am roughly 12-16 chapters away from the end, and I am super excited to get there!

Past the AsO news, I am happy to announce that GD and I have finished another one of our secret projects and have handed it in for production! I know all of this is pretty vague since we haven’t formally announced even book one of this project yet – but we will next month! So stay tuned for that awesome bit of excitement!

Last but not least is Paragon 3 – Alex and I are absolutely blazing through this next book and if things continue to go well, we expect to have the first draft wrapped up mid-month or so, which will then have us ready to yeet the book into editing and then to audible! It’s still a little too early to say as to when to expect these books to release, but as soon as we have a timeline, we will let you know!

 

Back to work!

And that’s all we’ve got again before we dive back into the word mines! We’re building up for another one of those huge release cycles before we vanish back into the void again and I am so excited to hear what you all think about all these books as they launch! Until then, I hope you all stay healthy and happy!! Catch you all again next month!

Luke

Hi everyone! HAPPY DRAGONCON MONTH!! Woooooooo! It’s finally September time for the long awaited gathering down in Atlanta! I hope that I’ll be seeing many of you down there for the convention this year! I have no doubt it’ll be a blast! But before we get into some exciting convention scheduling – let’s get on into our monthly update card!

 

 

Knocking out chapters!

Much like we promised last month, this month was another fast and furious month of writing as we ripped through Ascend Online, which has finally blown past the 100k mark in a definite-won’t-be-edited-out-later state. Even better too – we’re gearing up to finally start diving into the final story arc, which means that the story is in its final legs and we’ll hopefully be wrapping it up soon!

I’ve been working super hard on keep the pacing for this entry super tight and fast moving, and because of that it’s been an absolute pleasure to write! I am hoping that I can keep this zooming pace up for the rest of the month (and somehow avoid Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield) so we can be knocking on the door of finishing the book by the end of the month!

DRAGONCON IS HERE!

But of course before we can dive back into the work we are going to be flying down to the biggest LitRPG Convention there is – Dragoncon!! I am down there at the convention right now as you read this (assuming that you’re reading this exactly through the days of September 1^st to 3^rd) and will paneling all throughout the weekend! In fact here is where you can find me!!

 

 

For this convention I will be more than happy to sign anything and everything that you have for me, and if you don’t have something on hand, I will be down with a huge stack of bookplates too for the Signing Showcase on Sunday so you can take my signature home with you anyway! Past all of this, I’ll be wandering around the convention, so there’s a good chance you’ll be able to catch me on the fly too!

 

See you next month!

And just like that we’re done again! This has been a huge month in the making and we are super excited for all of the Starfield DragonCon goodness this month! Looking forward to seeing you all down there!

Luke