This is still technically a mock-up, as I might do some minor tweaking to the lettering, but the final cover for Son of a Dark Wizard will look something like this:

For comparison, here is the rather crude illustration I drew to let artist Jonas Akerlund know what I was going for. My drawing is bad, but all the elements are there: the main character, his raven, the owl, the moons, the castle, the airship. The awesome artist Jonas was able to take this and a written description and turn it into the fantastically epic illustration above.

I’m currently eyeing January 2nd, 2015 (two weeks from today) as the release date.

I recently commissioned an illustration for my forthcoming book Son of a Dark Wizard from artist Jonas Akerlund. I’m not revealing the cover illustration in this particular blog post, but I’ll post it here soon; I just have to work on the title lettering for it. You can rest assured, though, that it looks appropriately mysterious and fantastical. I’m very excited to have it as the cover! I’m hoping it will generate some “hmmm-that-looks-interesting” thumbnail clicks. Since this will mark my first foray into wildly-competitive world of indie-publishing, I’m hoping it will help make a good first impression with book browsers.

The book itself will be officially released some time in January. (It’ll be mostly the same as the draft posted now on Morrowgrand, with some minor edits. I’ll remove that draft when the book’s released, though, especially since the whole Morrowgrand website needs to be redesigned. As it really only needs to host product information pages, I don’t think a full-blown WordPress installation is necessary.) As I’ve said before, as the first of a series, the book will be free. (Well, at least free on Smashwords; Amazon’s Kindle publishing won’t let you make it free.) My intent with this novel is not so much to make a profit as it is to help me start building an audience. I know earning a regular income from indie-publishing will take time.

As for the accompanying soundtrack, it might take a bit longer. I have all the main themes written, but I want to do more experimentation in terms of harmony and orchestration and really try to expand my musical palette. Not sure how successful I’ll be, but I figure it’s worth taking my time on.

So check back soon to see the cover! In the meantime, enjoy the holiday season!

I have started posting my upper middle grade fantasy novel, Son of a Dark Wizard (previously referred to as The Dark Wizard) over on Morrowgrand.

Summary: Thirteen year old Prince Sorren may have survived the vicious attack on his castle, but the young wizard’s life is left in ruins. His father’s been assassinated, he was forced to flee his castle, and he lost his left arm. But after using his powers to build himself a fully-functioning mechanical arm, he’s ready to take back his throne. He doesn’t care if his father’s assassin is a boy believed to be the Chosen One, or if the prophecy that foretold his father’s death also calls for his own death at the same boy’s hands. He steals an airship and sets sail in search of the boy, eager to battle the Chosen One face to face.

But when he’s almost killed by the weapon the Chosen One possesses, Sorren realizes even a dark wizard’s powers are no match for what he’s up against. Pretending to be a powerless traveler, Sorren explores a forest called Owl’s Grave, where lives the small community of outcasts that raised the Chosen One. With the Chosen One determined to fulfill the prophecy by killing Sorren and taking over the kingdom, Sorren will have to look beyond his power if he’s to have any chance of defeating the boy who destroyed his life. And the answer he’s looking for is probably right under his nose, there in Owl’s Grave, if only he can find it before the Chosen One finds him.

I don’t expect many (if any) readers to actually read the novel as I post it to Morrowgrand, but if by chance anyone does and finds any typos, grammatical errors, continuity issues, etc., it would be awesome if you could email such feedback to me at seanthebest(at)gmail(dot)com. If you do, I’ll acknowledge your name in the ebook / physical book, and mail you a free copy of the physical book along with a CD of the score as a thank you (when they’re ready for release).

My current plan is to release the entire novel on Morrowgrand, chapter by chapter. Then I’ll release a free ebook to places like Smashwords, followed by a companion musical score, which I’ll upload to bandcamp and release a physical CD (probably through Kunaki or a similar low-run CD replication service). Finally, I’ll release a physical copy of the book through CreateSpace.

I will post a chapter on Morrowgrand every day until all 27 chapters are posted. So the last chapter should be released on Saturday, December 6th. I’m going to try to have the companion musical score ready to release at that time, but it may take some extra weeks. (I just got a new part time job, and I’m putting in an application for a full time job, so I’m not sure how much free time I’ll have. Plus, November to December is holiday and birthday season here.)

Enjoy!