Tuesday, February 28, 2023

My Books are on Discount!

 Welcome everyone!

To celebrate the release of The Huntsman and the Heretic, I've decided to put my first two books on sale at Amazon. You can now get The Huntsman and the She-Wolf and the Huntsman and the Vampire ebooks for only $0.99! Find them HERE.


Also, at my March 2nd Launch Party, all paper copies will be discounted 33%! Paperbacks will be only $10 and hardbacks will be $20. If you can make it, I'd love to see you there. Address is 200 Corporate Dr, Lebanon, KY 40033

Peace,

-Troy

Friday, February 24, 2023

Hardback Cover Reveal and Launch Party!

 Welcome everyone!

I hope you enjoyed seeing the front cover of The Huntsman and the Heretic on Tuesday. I thought today, I share the full hardback dust jacket with you:



I think it turned out really well. I’ve always loved book covers that carry an image from the front page to the back page, so I resolved to ensure all of mine have that feature. Quite honestly, I’m very pleased with how they’ve all turned out.


 

 In addition, I wanted to invite all those who might be in the area to my launch party on March 2nd. It will be held in the library at 200 Corporate Dr, Lebanon, KY. I’ll be there, in-person, to sign books and have a great time with everyone. If you can make it, I’d love to see you. Details are in the flyer below.

 

 

Peace,


-Troy


Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Book 3 Cover Reveal - Part 7

 Welcome everyone!

Seven is the number of completion, so I feel it’s finally an appropriate time to fully reveal the cover for The Huntsman and the Heretic. I’ve been teasing it for weeks now, and I feel the time is right to show it to all of you!

Now, I just want to reiterate that this cover was done by a completely different company than my first two covers. The first company I work with went bankrupt, sadly. I greatly appreciated their competence and creativity in producing the two covers you see below:


For this cover, I went with an outfit called GetCovers.com. They did a tremendous job recreating the motifs of the original artist. There are some obvious differences, though. The rosey wreaths around the title are different. The font on the spine is slightly different (I’ll reveal more of that later). Still, for the most part, they met my expectations splendidly. Had I known about them a year ago, my book probably would have come out sooner!

So here it is, in all its glory, The Huntsman and the Heretic!


Let me explain the elements a little bit. You can probably guess what sort of monster Tristan will face just from  the cover. Let me caution you, however, to read the tagline carefully. It speaks of secrecy and hidden enemies. The “beast” such as it is, may not make an overt appearance right away. Sometimes evil is surreptitious. In addition to that, note the white flakes on the cover. They are symbolic of snow. This book will be the first to feature the famous and brutal winters of Celandine Valley! The falling snow also contrasts with the flames you see. Fire is an important motif in this story, symbolizing change and revelation of truth behind a façade. My hope is that, by the time you finish reading the story, all the cover elements will make sense to you and help establish an emotional attachment to the book.

I also have additional good news! My books are now available for pre-order on Amazon.com in eBook and Physical Formats and BarnesandNoble.com. You can go ahead and reserve your copies today, and if I’m not mistaken, if you pre-order the physical copies, they should arrive on your doorstep on launch day: March 2nd. You can be the first read it!

Not only that, I’ll be hosting a launch party on March 2nd from 3:30 to 5:30. I’ll share the location details soon. Reserve that date! I’ll be signing books and refreshments will be provided for those who attend.

See you soon!

-Troy


Friday, February 17, 2023

Book 3 Cover Reveal - Part 6

 Welcome everyone!


Now we’re getting to the real meaty reveals. I don’t have too much to say about this one since it really just speaks for itself. I present to you the back cover for my paperback. On it, you can read the blurb for The Huntsman and the Heretic. Here check it out:

 

 I’m really excited about this book, guys. I can’t wait for you to read it. Expect the front cover next week and then the interior images. Also, I have a big surprise for everyone starting on February 28th!

See you soon!


Peace,


-Troy


Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Book 3 Cover Reveal - Part 5

 Welcome everyone!

We are getting closer and closer to launch day,  March 2nd. As a result, the latest cover is almost fully revealed! Today, we take one step closer to showing it off completely.


One of the joys I’ve had in creating my covers is choosing the animals for the cover. The wolf on the first cover (see below) was suggested by my cover artist, but I asked for a number of changes to make her look more menacing.



The raven on the second cover turned out better than I imagined. I intended for it to basically be a simple silhouette. The cover artist, however, went way above and beyond and gave me an incredible image! I still can’t get over how good the second book in my series looks:



For the third book, I knew right away what I wanted on the cover. Finding the right image, though, was tough. I send my new cover artist several I thought would work but she didn’t like any of them. I don’t blame her. The ones I picked out were kind of cliche. Instead, she came up with a great image, and I proudly present that to you here:



 
Yes, a bull will grace the cover of The Huntsman and the Heretic. The cover creatures on the first two books were introduced very quickly in my previous entries. The werewolf appears in Chapter 1 of The Huntsman and the She-Wolf and the raven appears in Chapter 3 of The Huntsman and the Vampire. Readers of my third book will have to be more patient. The figure that the bull represents, however, will not appear until midway through my latest entry. 

My plan is to reveal the back cover this Friday and the front cover next Tuesday. After that, I will be showing off the interior as we approach launch day. I hope to see you back here for that!


In the mean time, take care of each other.


Peace,


-Troy 



Sunday, February 12, 2023

Book 3 Cover Reveal - Part 4 (Tagline)

 Welcome everyone!

When I wrote my first book and I was getting ready to publish it, one of the things that my cover artist wanted  was a tagline. I had honestly never given it much thought prior to that. In retrospect, I wish I could have developed a theme for the taglines in my series. Perhaps, for instance, they could make a poem or string together to reveal a prophecy, or even the the whole story of my series in miniature. Alas, that won’t happen, but it’s a good lesson to remember for the future.

Today, I reveal the tagline for my third book, The Huntsman and the Heretic. I have no doubt that many will assume that it was inspired by the recent pandemic we all endured. But, no. When I conceived of the storyline for the entire series back in 2017, I knew that the third book would be about a disease of mysterious origin. It’s just a strange coincidence we had to live through such a thing at the same time! Imagine if my book came out a year ago.

Anyway, here is the tagline for you to enjoy:


I hope to create a lot of intrigue concerning the true motives behind peoples’ actions in this book. There are many characters who are not what they seem. Of all my novellas so far, I think this one will challenge readers the most. I hope you’re up for it!

Peace,

-Troy


Thursday, February 9, 2023

500th Copy!!!

 Welcome everyone!

Just a short post today. I received word from my printer that I have officially surpassed 500 copies sold in my Hunter's Rose Series! This is a HUGE milestone since most independent authors average 200 sales total in a 10 year span. I couldn't be more excited. That number does NOT include pages read in the Kindle Unlimited program. If it did, it would add another 10-15% to my total. 


This feels good.

Peace,

-Troy

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Book 3 Cover Reveal - Part 3 (The Title)

Welcome everyone!

I’ve been dancing around revealing my book to you for a week now, so I think it’s time we start to get to the real meat of the novel. Everyone has been asking me, “So what’s the book called?” Today, I reveal it.

On this blog I’ve always called it “Book 03.” Partially, that’s because I wanted to keep the title a secret and also because I didn’t settle on a title until last November! Honestly, It’s been that recently. I just couldn’t decide, and even though I asked my beta readers, editors, proofreader, and family members what I should call it, they all had differing opinions. As a result, I’ve just thought of this entry in my Hunter’s Rose series as “Book 03.” It’s going to be hard to leave that label behind.

But leave it behind, I must. 

Before I show you the latest title, I want to refresh your memory about the titles of my previous two books. Notice how they appear in these circles and have wonder floral filigree around them.


With the loss of my previous cover artist, I was worried that there would just be no way to recreate that look. And indeed, it turned out to be impossible to match it exactly. The source for those original images could not be found by myself or my new cover artist. I regret that; however, using a new image will allow me to do something with the series I hadn’t thought of before.

The third book represents the mid-point of the larger story. It’s the part where the main character goes from being weak and reactive to someone who is strong and pro-active. It’s a natural place for there to be a chance. Therefore, Book 03 will have it’s unique filigree around the title circle and that same filigree will not be seen again. Books 04 and 05 will share a third floral adornment. This way the covers themselves will reflect the change in narrative arc.

I’m excited about that, but I’m sure you’re ready for me to move on to the reveal. So here you go:


Some of you may have already seen this if you were at a writing celebration I attended earlier this yet, but this is my first real public reveal. The new title circle does deviate from the previous two enteries. I change from monsters to a person. It’s an intentional change that I believe reflects that “dark” in the Dark Fantasy genre I’m writing. You see, for me, the greatest fear in Celandine Valley isn’t that the monsters might get you. The greatest fear is that you might turn in to a monster yourself. 

It’s easy to hate the things you see that are clearly evil, but what if you are something evil yourself and didn’t realize? Or worse, you realized it and kept it hidden until it could do maximum damage to a community? Those are some of the themes I explore in this book. I think you’re going to like it very much.

Don’t forget, launch day is March 2nd. I’ll have details about preorders and a launch party soon.

Peace,

-Troy


Friday, February 3, 2023

Book 3 Cover Reveal - Part 2

Welcome everyone!

As we run up to the March 2nd launch date for my latest novella, I’m going to show you more and more about my book. I hope to do these image reveals at least twice a week. I hope you’ll join me for each one, cause they’re going to keep getting better as we go.


Today, I’m revealing one of the most iconic parts of my book series. If you check out the image below of my first two books, what stands out most to you?


If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the title and then the Red Eye of the beasts. I love that little touch, especially since it was first suggested by my daughter. It was all her idea to have the wolf’s eye glow red when I got the first cover draft for the Huntsman and the She-Wolf. Here's the very first draft of my first cover:



I don't think I've ever shared that before, but the final product came out a lot better, didn't it? So yes, I am very proud of my offspring's contribution. 

Anyway, let's get on to the present. Here I present to you– the glowing eye for Book #3:



As you can see, the new artists captured it perfectly. It’s a slightly different shape than the first two, which is what I wanted. I think it fits the theme perfectly and will instantly capture the audience’s attention. I can’t wait for you to see it in real life. It’s even more striking!


That’s it for now. I’ll be back next week with more. In the mean time, take care of each other.


Peace,


-Troy


P.S. I hope you made it this far. Project X is still coming along better than I expected. If things keep going the way they are now, it may be ready in to for my launch party. Stay tuned for more details!!!