After a long, contemplative silence, it’s time for (overdue) book news!
Where do we start? Let’s start with a new release. I talked about Oathgold a little while back. It's escaped the Osprey Games publishing vault (one assumes they have a publishing vault, or possibly a publishing nest of some kind, but I digress...) and is now available for you to purchase via the usual channels. And if it's as warm where you are as where I am? Stepping into a world full of snow and ice would be a blessed relief right about now, yes?
Kazran is a pursuer, a member of an ancient bounty-hunting order. Wielding the magics of the mythical Court of Crows, he has lived a life dedicated to bringing justice to the wronged, without fear or favour.
But when circumstance forces him to accept commission from a notorious crime lord, Kazran becomes entangled in a web of deception and betrayal. As he scours Frostgrave's ruins in search of a young woman and her stolen magical treasure, he finds more questions than answers. Who is she? What exactly did she steal? Why did she run? And just where does Kazran's mysterious benefactor stand on the matter?
In the end, the greatest question remains - does justice have any place in the Frozen City?
But Oathgold's only half of this week's news. I'm also going to talk a bit about the upcoming release of The Game. If that name sounds at all familiar, it's probably because you got your grubby little mitts on a copy inside the Grimdark Magazine anthology Evil is a Matter of Perspective. If you didn't, and you like to see dubious fellows and fellowesses doing their worst in a variety of fantasy worlds, you should probably check out a copy now - it was a Kickstarter back in the day, but is now available via Amazon.
That said, if you're here because you voraciously consume everything I write (I'd like to offer my thanks to both of you) and just want to get stuck into another tale of Aradane, then you can now pre-order The Game on its lonesome.
"Throw off the shackles of mortality as soon as you're able. Become a legend."
A gathering of ne'er do wells. A concord waiting to be struck. In the city of Tressia, the leaders of the criminal underworld stand on the verge of an unprecedented alliance - one mortared in the blood of their greatest enemies. An age-old game of ambition and misdirection beckons... But who are the players, and who are the pawns? And what's really at stake?
Lord Solomon knows. Or at least he thinks he does. But the same holds true of each of his rivals. As the pieces begin their slow, intricate dance, Solomon has to face the possibility that, just for once, he might have been outplayed...
As a tale of Aradane, The Game is set in the same world as Shadow of the Raven and its various sequels and prequels. If you've read any those stories (and if you haven't, there's plenty of time to correct that aberrant behaviour by clicking one of the links below) you'll likely spot a couple of returning characters - though not necessarily quite how you recall them. The Game is set a couple of decades before Shadow, and neither the characters - nor Tressia itself - are quite what they'll later become. As usual, knowledge of the setting and characters is unnecessary - you can dive right in and go on from there.
The Game releases Friday July 13th. Lucky for some? Well, I guess we'll find out.
