It’s been a while since I had a novel out. This is a book I’d written years ago and in 2016 I began shopping it out. Yes, 6 years ago. The last four years, this novel has sat on the desk of two presses consecutively with the ‘we’re considering it, please don’t send it to anyone else’ note. And so, I followed the rules. After the second rejection, I was terrible downtrodden. Was the book not good? Well, I was told the book was good but “we had another book we planned to publish that was similar” and “it didn’t fit our publishing goals for that year.” So, I got a professional editor on it, got a lovely cover, and now I’m self-publishing it.

Honestly, I would have loved to have another book traditionally published, but I don’t want to wait another two or more years. I am writing other novels, in fast I’ve written one other novel that has also been rejected that I plan on self-publishing once I finish the series I’m planning for it. That is a superhero novel, of which I am told ‘there is no market’. And well, I liked the novel. I LOVE the characters, and there might be a reader out there who adores it too.

But back to what’s going on now. I’m self-publishing Awaken. The release date is July 30. I am here to tease you with it and to give you some background on the history of this novel.

Awaken

Balin stands between two great Powers. One will shatter his mind; the other will destroy his soul. Only one of them can save his people.

Fort Resonbirg, a Norse stronghold in the New World, is besieged by the evil sorcerer Ursulard the Dreamspinner. Though their fields are scorched and homes destroyed, the residents and refugees do not worry, because Fort Resonbirg is Awakened with the power to provide, protect, and grow. But not all is as it seems when a wall of impenetrable mist surrounds the fort, and within the mist hunts the dragon, Nidhogg. Nidhogg hungers for more than flesh and bone. It instills nightmares on its prey, feeding on fear and pain, inevitably taking lives.

Balin Tremore, a commoner bound for the militia but hoping to stay by his noble love’s side, never expected to amount to grand things. When the great power of Cradleweaving is awakened within him, Balin unknowingly becomes the one person with the power to pierce the wall of mist and banish the deadly beast within before it destroys them all—if he can master the new power in time. But to master the power, he must sacrifice much. The question is, will it be his position, his Lady, or his very soul?

The Mist meets Nightmare on Elm Street in this classic tale of personal sacrifice.