Black Glove

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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And a Few Steps Forward

Good morning everyone! Last week had a few setbacks but this week saw a few steps forward. I finally purchased a new vehicle but I’m still going through all the changes of information with insurance and the registration. Nothing big, just a few details to cover. Aside from that, there were some other nice developments.

First, a new feature on this site was started named Fantasy Friday. For now, it’s nothing major while I develop where it will go so I’m starting with some re-posts about my published books. I have quite a lot of material by now so I can cover several weeks and those when I just don’t have time to write something new. But I hope to share new content soon enough.

Print for An Arrow Against the Wind is well underway. The print cover is complete – well, mostly. The final version will be adjusted for the number of pages in the print format. My formatting specialist has the manuscript now so it shouldn’t too long until the final versions are available. The print book will appear first on Amazon and then later on Barnes & Noble. Here’s the current cover version which was share last week if you missed it:

Maybe I’ll have a preliminary print cover for The White Arrow done in a week or so to share in an upcoming post.

I’m still up in the air about several events. There’s semi-interest on my part in attending the SFWA convention this summer. I’m still considering a local SF&F convention at a local library that draws well. With print coming along, I expect to be positioned well for an appearance there if I’m interested. I will attend a local writers conference and visit with a few people, maybe make a few pitches to an agent. All these are a goals this year in various degrees of importance. I’m also considering entering The Bow of Destiny in a print contest for Writer’s Digest. Who knows what could happen with that last one, but a friend suggested I give it a try.

Also in the past week, there were other developments. I made some steady revision and editing progress on Reformed Mage. It’s nice to move forward there even while the week was full of distractions from the new(er) car purchase. I’m hopeful that I can get something done to publish the book in June but that will be dependent on my editor’s schedule and cover art. Still, progress is progress. I really want to get some cover art so I can share that development too but I’m holding off a while until I can settle the concept more, then see what my artist thinks.

I’m mainly itching to release to the next books in the series as well as the first book of Black Glove. The latter has been in solid development stages for a while but it’s waiting for more series development. I don’t want to publish it too soon without more books planned and at least one in finished first draft status. Then there are some other books which have been pushed aside for a while that are clamoring for attention and publication. There’s quite a lot to do. Here’s something of my expectations based on the amount of material I have written:

Publication of Reformed Mage, Book 1
Publication of Reformed Mage, Book 2
Publication of either Black Glove, Book 1 or Reformed Mage, Book 3. Whichever comes first, the other one will be released afterward.
Publication of Broken Shield, Book 1.
Publication of All Things Forgotten, Book 1.

Along that publication schedule, I’d like to start dictating new books for Reformed Mage, Black Glove, The Bow of Hart Saga sequel, Broken Shield and All Things Forgotten. Just making progress is the overall interest, but my main goals are for Reformed Mage, Black Glove and The Bow of Hart Saga in that order. The others are much further back in development and publication so they will have a much lower priority. It’s a long list but I hope to make some serious progress over the course of the year, publication first and then new drafts. The publication calendar is at least a year and a half long, probably more. Some of the drafts that are completed during that time may will elbow their way into the schedule ahead of others based on reader demand. Nothing is set in stone at the moment and I don’t expect to release more than two books this year at the rate I’m going. I might even throw in an anthology of fantasy short stories I already have written, just for fun.

Regardless, I have to focus on the immediate and keep moving toward the goals. It’s demanding and fun. Thanks for reading today. Please share this post with others on social media or re-blog it as you see fit. Leave your thoughts in the comments and I’ll respond as soon as I’m able.

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Progress Report on New Books

Good morning to all the Archer’s Aim readers. Taking a break from my fiction writing today to share some of what I’m working on with my newest books. There’s quite a lot to do so it’s sometimes difficult to parse it all out well. Even now, I’m beginning my plans to release the book and I haven’t even completed the edited version for my editor.

First, I’m going back to complete as much of the world-building for both Reformed Mage (aka RM) and Black Glove (aka BG). My main focus is on RM at the moment but BG will soon have my focus too. I’m using World Anvil and Notebook.ai which are development services which can be used for free or pay. I can keep my notes there and play around with the details as well as record what I’ve already written down to very specific levels. The main problem is that I wrote these originally at a very fast pace such that I never spent enough time on the world-building. Now I’m going back to fill-in the proverbial blanks.

In addition to the world-building, I’m working to split my initial book for RM into three books. Yes, it was that long and required I make the move after consulting with my editor who has been a big help. In conjunction with the world-building, I’m creating consistency throughout the books and include all the various points that occur in the books so that they don’t jar a reader with mistakes. Likewise, and I don’t want to share too much at this point, the book is organized in a different story-arc so I must create a balance of understandable progression that avoids confusion. It’s a challenging book in many ways with the depth of characterization, world-building and story details that it seems like a very tangled mess at times. Organizing the content and the details is a frustratingly slow process at times because I’m dedicated to making the book as fun and excellent as possible. Developing a user guide and writing some blog posts to use in the future help ground my thinking about the entirety of the series and the first book afford me clarity about it all. I am dedicated to completing and releasing the first book this year, maybe a second or third since I have the basic content available. Once I have the first book developed and edited enough, the next two books should be much easier to complete. But I’ll have to get there to know for sure.

Additionally, working with my artist regarding a thematic set of series covers is on the to-do list. Likewise, I’m going to print upon launch so I’ll be working with a formatter as editing on the first book progresses. Interestingly, I’ll also approach my audio publisher with the books in hopes they will pick the series up in time for launch or soon thereafter. My feeling on audio is that this will depend on possible pre-launch sales so it may well arrive several month later than the first book. But, if the series is accepted, the next two books may will be in audio when those are launched. The production of the series is it’s own job but I’ve done it previously and know what I want to do with this series more than my first one.

All that is just with RM but there’s more to work on this year too. BG is on the back-burner at the moment but needs to be run through a series of edits to get to publication. It’s already well along in the process and I’ve considered even placing it on Inkshares which is a hybrid publisher (meaning the expense is shared). If this book were accepted, it also gets full placement in all of the different sales venues just like a traditionally published book. I hesitate to give up the royalty percentage and any residual rights so I’m still thinking the option through at the moment. The plus side is that it’s doing something while I’m working on RM and increases the possibility of getting both series launched this year. I still think launching both is doable but the possibility of publishing two different ways is intriguing.

BG is a solid project and I want to get to it as soon as possible. Along the same lines, I want to begin planning a sequel series to The Bow of Hart Saga for next year, possibly dictating it on my commutes to get it going. That will take some doing as I want to improve the accuracy of my dictation software with some work. There are other series I want to launch that will be solid projects too but doing all of them requires more time than I have just now but I’d like to eventually get to where I’m releasing a book a quarter from a different series which is likely just a pipe-dream. I have at least two other first in series novels completed as rough drafts, both of which require more world-building. These are long-term projects but something I’m interested in completing as soon as possible over the next couple of years.

That’s what my writing looks like these days. The calendar is full and there something constantly in need of my attention. I’ll start sharing some of my related work on the series as soon as I can along with artwork, a release date and other news. Look for another progress report soon.