The Broken Shield Chronicles

Where I’ve Been – Writing Updates

The latest writing news from P. H. Solomon.


Hey everyone!

Just taking a bit of time to share some updates today. First, what’s happened – I’ve been dealing with my maladies for the last several months and making slow progress. There’s too much to discuss here other than saying I’ve gotten one diagnosis that got me into some therapy which is helping. I’ve also pursued some other treatments which may bear some fruit soon too.

Lately, I’ve re-organized my catalog into four main series: The Bow of Hart Saga, The Cursed Mage Case Files, Doors of Fantasy, and The Bow of Hart Saga Cycle Bundles. Additional series are waiting in the wings for publication as soon as I can further develop them. Here’s more about my recent work.

Doors of Fantasy

Regarding books, the end of February saw the latest edition of Doors of Fantasy published entitled What Lies Beyond. It’s a short fantasy and science fiction anthology. I’ve re-organized my short fiction so you can start the series for free with The Black Bag which has an updated cover.

Door of Fantasy Short Fiction Series

Website Updates

What’s going on now? I’m in the process of a site upgrade that will continue in several phases. At the moment, I’m adding pages to match how I’ve re-organized my book catalog which is currently in four main book series: The Bow of Hart Saga, The Cursed Mage Case Files, Doors of Fantasy, and The Bow of Hart Saga Cycle Bundles. In the future, I plan to update the theme as well as do some behind-the-scenes clean-up of the site. You should see some improvements over the next couples weeks that are noticeable.

The Cursed Mage Case Files

What’s coming up? I’ve been held up with new publications for The Cursed Mage Case Files. The series has had a few changes while I’ve been slogging away between health issues and editing. Soon there will be a new release entitled, Assassin’s Dark Rose (also known as ADR, no cover yet) which will be a short, misadventure case which should prove rather dramatic. I also plan to include some bonus content to this book which readers will like.

The Unseen Hand will arrive as soon as possible after this short book is published (I’m hoping for the next few weeks with this one). I intended ADR to arrive by the today but I’ve been delayed with some all day appointments. Anyway, the hope is to complete work on TUH by the end of March thought it’s more likely it will be in April.

I hope another short case will arrive in April with a working title of The Lost Palace which presages The Nine Jewel Heist to finish out the first set of volumes for CMCF. NJH is on-tap for May.

When I get a chance, I’ll get all the upcoming covers together and show them off, but I think I may look into a full overhaul for series artwork. Overall, it’s important to complete publication of CMCF volumes since it’s been in a holding pattern with the post-Covid issues since late 2020. It’s time to push these books into publication.

What’s Waiting for Publication

Beyond those titles, it’s well known I have several drafts of series starters hanging around. While those books are in solid shape for release this year as long as I improve, I want to take time to work on each series so there are at least a prequel, a series starter, and a second book ready for release.

Series titles include:

  • The Black Glove Assassin – Book 1 is entitled: A Charm in the Hand
  • Treasure Stolen – Returned: Book 1 is entitled: All Things Forgotten
  • The Broken Shield Chronicles: Book 1 is entitled: The Hopeless Knight

I also intend to complete some additional short stories for several more volumes to add to Doors of Fantasy.

I’ve been making plans for the next series saga for The Bow of Hart Saga Cycle. There’s nothing written for this yet, but I want to start outlining in the coming months and begin some composition ASAP.

I’ll take time to write more about specifics of each upcoming book and series. There’s even more than these rattling around my head that need writing too.

Other Changes

A few months back (I don’t know exactly when) my job situation changed while I was on leave. Now that change is official so I’m now a full-time author whether I’m ready for it or not. What it means is dedicating as much time as possible to writing projects. It also means publishing as much as I can this year just to attempt to make a living from writing.

This change of employment also means I’m pushing some other elements of my writing career to the forefront as I’m able. Archer’s Aim Press will become a reality in the coming months. This will be my publishing imprint and serve as my writing flag ship in all things. The fun part will be the opportunity to distribute print bookstores and libraries.

I’m also looking at running a Kickstarter campaign or two this year. I just haven’t decided what I’m going to use for the campaign. I’m able to create special print editions as well as look into funding my work for the next year or so with all the books and series mentioned further up this post. Word about this likely event will be forthcoming as soon as more is decided. If you have input, feel free to leave a comment or contact me with your ideas.

Aside from those considerations, I’m currently developing premium content fans. I’m using Buy Me A Coffee at the moment and building in all the special content. If you’re interest in what that looks like, the link is just below by clicking on the logo image.

That’s all for now. I’ll try to be a little more timely with posts, but I’m putting a priority on books and other related projects. If you have a chance, please share about my books and such. Please leave a comment in the section below and I’ll get back to you ASAP.

Books by PH Solomon

About the Author

Archer’s Aim Weekly Writing Updates – 11/8

The latest developments for The Bow of Hart Saga, The Cursed Mage Case Files and more…

Today starts my second week back here on the blog. Restarting the blog and managing some of the business of writing took up much of last week. I’m kind of trying out this weekly update post for readers to be able to find specific information about my writing projects.

Here are my latest updates from the last week by series:

The Bow of Hart Saga is the current Denaria Cycle series.The Bow of Hart Saga – Sequel:

I’ve done a little more outline work and reviewed some of the parallel series, Empire’s Deception. There’s no expectation of starting any serious work on either project for a couple of months but I am working on general outlines and ideas to be ready to work on them when the time comes.

As indicated last week, I’ll begin work on the sequel of The Bow of Hart Saga in earnest with a few months. There will be at least one more saga, but I’m open to one or two more beyond this next one. But let’s worry about the next one first (see below for a bit about each possible saga).

Because there will be another saga, here’s the over-arching series title that I’m adding when the time comes:

The Denaria Cycle.

The next series title will be:

The Heir of Hart.

Here are the working titles:

Book 1: The Fires of Hart

Book 2: The Cursed Bow

Book 3: Hope of Hart

Book 4: Shadow of the Dragon

Book 5: The Broken Ties

Book 6: Dragon Rising

Book 7: The Goddess Rises

As for a further series in the Denaria Cycle, I’m thinking about a saga that heavily involves dwarves. This is another topic in which many readers have expressed interest. I think there is plenty of material for such a series. My series idea after that one would involve an invasion from a sea-faring people who use piracy as their main weapon.

I hope that gives everyone an idea of where I’m headed, just don’t expect anything from The Heir of Hart too fast. There are other books already in line for publication, actually very close to ready…

The Cursed Mage Case Files:

Volume 2, The Unseen Hand:

My current book project is still moving along at a steady pace in a final revision. The process is in the middle of re-writes at this time, followed by revision to bring each case up to consistency with The Order of the Dark Rose and each preceding case in this newest volume.

After all these changes, I expect to put the manuscript through three line edit process sandwiched between a mid-revision read-thru and a final one. It sounds like a longer process than it is as I expect to get through the revision part quickly if I can get some time to focus on it.

The line edits actually progress faster than you think and a read-thru can be done in less than a week, really a few days. However, my target date is sliding past the end of this month into December. I haven’t landed on that date yet, but then, the cover art has not arrived either.

When The Unseen Hand arrives, expect to find it in paperback, hardback (Amazon only) with merchandise available.

Regarding audio for the series, I haven’t approached an audio publisher yet, but if nothing works out with a traditional one, I’ll likely go with something like Findaway Voices. I’ll be in contact with a publisher or two and get some idea what to expect. Depending on those answers, there may be some audio appearing for this series during 2022. Of course, Volume 3, The Nine Jewel Heist, is due out in 2022 (fluid target date of late February or early March). Subsequent titles exist in my plans but have not been drafted as of yet.

The Cursed Hand Adventures (working series title):

A Charm in the Hand:

I’ve worked on this book off and on for the last couple of year and it is very close to going to my editor. I’m polishing it up for that next stage, although I’m still toying with putting into the Inkshares system (a crowdfunding publisher). I do have more of the series planned at this so I can begin drafting additional titles whenever I’m ready. Charm is pretty well developed so I don’t expect a long development time for it. This book is trending May of 2022.

The Lost Treasure Adventures (working series title):

All Things Forgotten:

Already through an initial editorial review, this book is well along in the process, but the world-building requires some work. I don’t expect this first in series launch before next summer if then. Subsequent books require more planning but I’m toying with ideas.

The Broken Shield Chronicles:

Working title: The Tower of Secrets

A work in progress, this series is in much the same shape as The Lost Treasure Adventures, needing some work on the world-building. This one is not quite finished in rough draft, with less than twenty pages needed to finish it. However, this BSC has a more complete plan. Both this series and the previous one are forms of LitRPG, so the extra work needed relates more toward the gaming part of each world. Again, this first in series launch should not be expected until the last half of 2022.

Other works:

There are other ideas which I have not even been touched aside from a very basic idea. However, one has been waiting for years with more development and a rough draft already started. The Denaria Cycle will come ahead of these and will likely elbow in past some of the other books. The goal with several series is to present readers with some different fantasy content.

Conclusion

I’ll be back with more updates next week and develop an updated WIP page to better express longer range plans with each series. Hopefully, all the behind the scenes information is interesting to readers and lets everyone know what to expect. The sequel to The Bow of Hart Saga will grow in importance as I complete the next several projects. Future posts in this series won’t be so extensive and focus on immediate project updates rather than long-range plans, though I’ll include the latter from time to time as developments arise.

Thanks for stopping by today to read more details about my writing updates. Feel free to share this post wherever you like. Also, leave your thoughts in the comments section where I’ll respond as soon as I’m able.


Looking for more about my books?

Visit the The Bow of Hart Saga Series Page

Or See These Related Pages:

Visit the Archer’s Aim Press Online Store

Discover the World of Denaria

Read the series FAQ

View the series maps and read how they were created

 

Upcoming Fantasy Titles by P. H. Solomon

Hey everyone! It’s been a while. I’ve taken some time away for health reasons, but I’ve begun work on books for the rest of the year so here’s the latest news.

The Bow of Hart Sage/World of Denaria:

  • The Bow of Hart Saga:
    • The White Arrow – I expect to release this book in print on 3/15/21 or thereabout. This will complete the series in print and I hope to make all three print books available as a bundle at some point. I’ll announce this development if it is possible at a later date, probably late in the year.
  • Empire’s Deception Trilogy (parallel to The Bow of Hart Saga)
    • Face of the Goddess: This book is in rough draft.
    • Monk’s Gambit: This rough draft is almost finished.
    • Deception’s Veil: This final book of the two series is in planning stages
    • This series is not on the schedule for release this year, but book 1 could make it onto the 2022 schedule depending on time available and the same could happen during the latter part of next year.
  • The Bow of Hart Saga (sequel, series title pending): This series is in planning stages and will follow the events of The Empire’s Deception Trilogy series. I do have some development ideas written about this series but it is likely a 2023 release depending on other projects already on the schedule.

The Cursed Mage Case Files:

  • The Order of the Dark Rose – print is underway. I had intended to publish this format in November but I was sick and really had not time to complete this. It’s underway and I hope it will be ready in April. I’ll announce the date as soon as I can.
  • Book 2 of the series is titled The Unseen Hand. I’ve started revision work on this book to get it to my editor for March. My intended publication date is late April or by mid-May if all goes well. There’s quite a lot to do so this date may slide some.
  • Book 3 of the series is not titled but I’m thinking of something like, The Infernal Plot. While book 2 is with my editor, I’ll revise this draft and hopefully have it edited in April with a release date during the summer. Again there’s a lot of work to be done to get this to publication so this target may slide to close to Labor Day as necessary.
  • Books 4-6 are roughly outlined so I hope to begin writing them within a few months as time allows. My intention is to publish these during 2022 but there’s no set schedule yet.

Black Glove (series title pending):

  • A Charm in the Hand – this book is drafted and it’s revision almost complete. I’ll send it to my editor by early April with hopes of publication for this first in series novel in the Fall of this year. My fingers are crossed to get this in this year but it is well along in the process, it’s just a matter of my editor’s schedule.
  • I’m working on a rough outline for the entire series which is why it is behind the books of The Cursed Mage Case Files. I have some good ideas for several books including book 2. Work on these next books will begin later in the year.

Lost Treasure of the Airship Pirates:

  • All Things Forgotten – this book is drafted and has been reviewed by my editor. Since it is a LitRPG-ish series, the book requires some further development, but I hope to complete revision to hand it back to my editor late in the year. My expectation is to have the series outlined this year and this first book ready for publication early in 2022.

The Broken Shield Chronicles:

  • Tentative Title – The Lost Princess – This book has an almost completed rough draft which will require some revision. It’s also a LitRPG-ish series that will have more books. I intend to outline the series later this year and prep the release during 2022, but no date is set just yet.

Anthologies:

  • I might squeeze another anthology in addition to Curses Dark and Foul into the mix this year depending on my available time. I’ll announce anything development with these as the year progresses.

That’s all I have in development or scheduled for this year and 2022. It’s a good thing I’ve got so many rough drafts ready and I can dictate others as the year moves along. Much of my schedule beyond those already written is fluid and based on demand/popularity. I’ll be working on early reviews more with the next releases than I have in the past so let me know if you are interested in an ARC when the time comes for The Unseen Hand.

That’s a lot to share at the moment, but I have not been active here on the site for a while so I felt it was important to let everyone know what’s coming up. I’ve been under the weather a lot for several months so I’m just now getting back in the swing of things. My blogging schedule is not set at this point but I hope to keep a regular schedule to 1-3 weeks since I’m busy with a number of book projects. The blog may be more active than that if I have time but I’m not sure I will unless it’s close to a book release.

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