As mentioned in other posts and newsletter mailings, Adam Gold has run into scheduling and health issues, and his timeline for taking on The Red Poet and The Queen’s Consort has been pushed back to 2026. Because of this delay, I began reaching out to some of the top names in audiobook narration, and Adam and I have also been discussing options and timing.
From responses to posts on this blog and to newsletter mailings, the feedback from you, the fans, has been generally positive on waiting for Adam to become available again. I’m more than happy to wait until 2026 to continue on this trek, but at this stage, I wanted to let everyone know that there are two options.
We could wait for Adam Gold to become available in 2026 or we could give Tim Gerard Reynolds a chance to record The Red Poet in the 2nd half of 2024 and stick with him for the rest of the series. For those unfamiliar with Tim’s work, he narrates many high quality fantasy works including: Michael J Sullivan’s various works (Riyria Revelations, Legends of the First Empire, etc.), Edward Robertson’s works (The Cycle of Galand, The Cycle of Arawn, etc.), Pierce Brown (Red Rising), Michael Wisehart, Mark Lawrence, Jonathan Renshaw, etc. At the moment, the option for Tim would be to record the 4th book in the series (The Red Poet) and beyond and then maybe go back and offer the first three books from him after the series is finished.
From the various fan feedback, it seems like the overall preference is for Adam Gold to complete the series when he becomes available in 2026-2028. However, we could switch and potentially rerecord everything over time in Tim’s unique voice and immersive characterizations.
What do you guys think? BTW, first poll on Word Press. Could go terribly wrong, and I may have to redo this at some point. Apologies for any issues experienced.
The Mallories are one of two families that control the southern territories of Surdel. These families are so important and ancient that the scion of the family is officially appointed the title of High Lord by the royal family. The High Lord of the Mallory clan at the onset of the Age of Magic is Janus Mallory, father to Julian and Jayna.
Janus Mallory is known across Surdel as a pragmatic, bold, calculating, and even-tempered man. His family has repelled hundreds of orc attacks to keep the southeastern expanses of Surdel safe. The Mallories have also repulsed Visanthi pirates and armies sent to harass ports like Sevania and Fomsea and invasions that extended to Shirun and even as far north as Perketh and Dona. To keep the peace amongst the southern lords, arranged marriages are common between the Mallory and Vossen clans. Both families have rich heritages of Vossen and Mallory lineages, but no such marriage has taken place for Janus’ children, which is highly unusual. Tensions have risen and there are rumors of organized bandit raids in the Vossen lands that may have been ordered by High Lord Janus Mallory.
Janus first married Vanessa Vossen whom gave birth to a beautiful red-haired daughter named Jayna. Rumors swirled about Vanessa and infidelity for years before Vanessa died mysteriously without producing a male heir.
Janus remarried a local noblewoman Samantha Voltaire, who gave birth to Julian Mallory less than one year after the death of Vanessa. Because of the circumstances around Vanessa’s death and the rumor that Samantha was already pregnant when Janus remarried, relations between the Vossen and Mallory clans deteriorated further and quickly.
At the onset of the Age of Magic, the Mallory family is entwined in an unofficial feud with the Vossens. Raids have been reported on local tax collectors, causing the royal Eldenwald family to become involved by proxy. Meanwhile, Janus has requested High Lord Edward Vossen recognize and agree to formal marriages be arranged for Julian or Jayna, which have gone unanswered. The Mallory children are now in their early twenties and rumored to be inseparable, being often seen together at tournaments at Fomsea and King’s Harbor, a port in Vossen territory.
Explore the world of the Mallory family and the Kingdom of Surdel in the Orcusinian Box Set (Books 1-4 of the Age of Magic)
The human Visanth Empire was modeled after the dark elven Harenyadae Empire as both nations were neighbors south of the Small Sea. The Visanthi ruler family is the Rasalased family, which immediately before the Age of Magic is led by King Jofka and Queen Sabarna.
King Jofka was a conservative, traditionalist monarch in Visanth who became controversial in the years immediately before the Age of Magic. He was a carefree spirit who believed in projecting power over local kingdoms and municipalities, and this led to a direct conflict with the Kingdom of Surdel which destroyed much of Visanth’s navy and ultimately resulted in his assassination at the hands of Theodore Crowe of Surdel.
The consequences of Jofka raiding Surdel also include the militarization of his son, Crown Prince Jandhar, who breeds dragons to directly assault the Kingdom of Surdel. This invasion ultimately fails to conquer Surdel but significantly weakens the kingdom during a simultaneous invasion by Demon Lord Orcus, the Lord of the Undead, which has potential consequences for the entire world.
Under the direction of Roshan Rasalased, the second son of Jofka and Sabarna, the Visanth Empire rebuilds, regroups, and prospers. Unlike his father, who projects power and dresses ostentatiously, or his brother Jandhar who comes of age as a warrior wraith hell bent on punishing the men who killed his father, Roshan acts as spymaster and prefers to stay in the shadows. He acts through emissaries, generals, and nobility and matures into a competent leader through the careful instruction and guidance of his mother.
Queen Sabarna received a focused education and is a gifted researcher in archaeology at the University of Scythica in the capital of the Visanth Empire. As a widow of a king, Visanth culture expects her to stay in the shadows and guide her son King Roshan into leading his empire.
However, Sabarna is elevated to President and Headmaster of the University shortly after her husband dies, where she oversees daily research activity.
Explore the world of the Rasalased family and the Visanth Empire in the Orcusinian Box Set (Books 1-4 of the Age of Magic)
Cedric Arrington, son of Sylas and Henrietta Arrington, lives at the foot of Mount Godun in the Kingdom of Surdel. Like his father, he becomes a paladin through an unbreakable oath to the Holy One, and eventually he leads the order like his father did. He even marries the first female paladin in history, Allison Arrington, who wields the Twin Sisters, one sword of which is created out of thin air by the Holy One.
Paladins may be some of the most important and powerful warriors in the land, but a paladin’s life is filled with sorrow. Outcast by the Kingdom of Surdel and not allowed to own land or titles, they live as vagabonds in a country that persecutes them. They remain in Surdel because that’s where they’ve known the demons will be breaking through the surface, and they’ve known an apocalypse is coming for thousands of years.
Cedric and Allison raise two sons Jonas and Sylas, each destined to become paladins as well, and a daughter Sarah who looks up to her mother. While Cedric is the leader, Allison is one of the most important paladins to ever exist. Unlike all other paladins who specialize in smiting and attacks, Allison’s swords specialize in protective magic–without which, the paladins would most certainly be doomed.
By the time that Cedric becomes the leader of the paladins, their number is reduced to dozens, but they are the only real force on Nirendia capable of fighting and destroying demons, thanks to their pact with the Holy One. But the Holy One is the very reason that the paladins are outcast, hated, and driven from most towns. She’s not the goddess every male heir to the paladin title is promised. She’s something else entirely.
As the demon lord Orcus rises from the underworld with an army of undead, the world changes, and the perception of the paladins changes with it. The Holy One and her order of paladins change too, inheriting new powers as she takes on a general, The Necromancer Ashton Jeraldson. As an apocalypse threatens, Cedric and Allison must own their past, present, and future; not only for the sake of their children, but also for the sake of all creatures on Nirendia. For no parent wants their child tumbling through the terrible Void, falling in tortured agony until finally called upon by a demon lord to perpetuate their suffering on another. And nowhere in all of the worlds of the universe does anyone fight harder against this future than Cedric and Allison Arrington and their three dozen paladins of Nirendia.
Explore the world of Cedric and Allison Arrington in the Orcusinian Box Set (Books 1-4 of the Age of Magic)
Clayton Achates, son of Irma and Earl Achates, lives in the town of Perketh in the Kingdom of Surdel, where he trains to become the town’s next blacksmith under the careful tutelage of Master Nathan. Clayton marries a young, beautiful raven-haired girl named Riley and spends most of his days with his best friend Ashton Jeraldson and Master Nathan at the forge.
Except for each morning, when Clayton and Ashton pick morning glories for a daily bouquet to be delivered to Riley before forge work begins. Their routes always follow the main thoroughfares of Perketh, until one day, a fast-moving lord’s carriage cuts short Clayton’s life, right in front of Ashton. Clayton’s funeral is well attended. The entire town shows up, but only Ashton stays late into the night, wailing over his fallen friend.
This should be the end of Clayton’s life, but Ashton is not the normal young man he seems. Unbeknownst to the townspeople (and even himself), Clayton’s best friend has a regal lineage, going back to the gods of Nirendia. In his whispers and cries above Clayton’s grave, Ashton Jeraldson accidentally utters phrases in the Words of Creation. These are no ordinary words, and Clayton is pulled from the terrible afterlife of the Void and back into Nirendia, where his wounds from the carriage take months to heal.
Clayton comes back to a world in chaos. A bandit army pillages Perketh and other nearby towns on their way to Mallory Keep, where the lord who killed Clayton sleeps in opulence. Perketh and Dona fall and thousands of murdered people cry out to the man who speaks the Words of Creation. And after Ashton answers their calls from the Void, Clayton joins many terrifying wraiths hell bent on vengeance and justice, until their target, the bandit army, is destroyed.
But the bandit army is the least of the concerns of the southern peoples. Demon Lord Orcus hastens to the surface, searching for Ashton Jeraldson–a mortal who speaks like a god but acts like a demon lord rival, raising the dead and competing with Orcus for the title of the Lord of the Undead. Clayton joins a new self-governing people within the Kingdom of Surdel that style themselves the Reborn. Not mindless like Orcus’ minions but quick to heal and free to think.
Clayton leads the Reborn as a general in Ashton’s Army, a force equipped by expert blacksmiths and autonomous in the southern region. They are harder to kill than humans, elves, and orcs, and they’re fiercely loyal to Ashton. Together, they confront Orcus and the invading army of a hostile nation from across the Small Sea, giving Ashton time to find the heroes and weapons that Nirendia needs. Clayton is a fierce friend, a competent blacksmith, and a regenerating, plate-wearing berserker. And for Ashton Jeraldson, there is no more trustworthy and useful friend to have on a planet invaded by demons.
Explore the world of Clayton Achates in the Orcusinian Box Set (Books 1-4 of the Age of Magic)
Ashton Jeraldson, son of Karl and Margaret Jeraldson, lives in the town of Perketh in the Kingdom of Surdel with his best friend Clayton Achates. Ashton and Clayton apprentice to the local blacksmith, known across the Kingdom of Surdel as Master Nathan, a smith of renowned talent and unimpeachable character and dependability.
Clayton is the more gifted blacksmith apprentice, and Ashton doesn’t take his job too seriously. He expects Clayton will eventually become the town’s blacksmith after Master Nathan retires, allowing Ashton to work with Clayton every day at the forge until they both grow old together. But a terrible tragedy takes the gifted apprentice and best friend away. The town mourns, including Clayton’s young wife Riley, whom the pair of friends had been picking flowers for when the son of a southern High Lord’s carriage overtook them on the main cobbled throughfare of Perketh. Ashton mourns his friend at his graveside, even after Riley departs for her home, until an unexpected magic resurrects his friend from the grave.
In the Orcusinian, the first four books of the Age of Magic, the winds of fate sweep Ashton throughout the land of Surdel, from small towns like Perketh to the capital of Kingarth. He becomes known as the Necromancer, a man who raises the dead to take vengeance on the living. But Ashton is not the only necromancer on the world of Nirendia. Deep below the surface, a demon lord named Orcus, Lord of the Undead, stirs. As the chief necromancer in the universe, Orcus does not take kindly to imposters or to those who harness the Words of Creation, gifts from the gods and the original Creators whom have been destroyed by demon lords like Orcus and the Prince of Demons Demogorgon.
Ashton assembles a motley crew of demon fighters: a darkly-aligned paladin; the last prince of the dark elf Etyrian Empire; a red-haired princess coming into her magical powers and deeply wronged by Ashton’s actions; and a psycopathic wood elven archer intent on wiping all orcs from the face of the world. They partner with a chaotic neutral demon lord, one of three vying for power on the planet, who does not appear to lust for the death of all living creatures. But Lord Orcus is strong, far more powerful than any other creature on Nirendia and killable only by few weapons in the universe. To defeat him, Ashton and his cohorts must find those weapons and the creatures able and willing to wield them, before every person on Nirendia becomes just another mindless undead minion of Lord Orcus’ army.
Explore the world of Ashton Jeraldson in the Orcusinian Box Set (Books 1-4 of the Age of Magic)
As I’ve mentioned in posts up-to and after the release of The Red Poet, our amazing audiobook narrator Adam Gold has had some real life issues pop up and this has delayed him being able to work on the audiobook. Up until today, I thought he was delayed to get to The Red Poet and The Queen’s Consort (Book 5) until late 2023 / early 2024. This was our last correspondence on the issues. However, Adam let me know today that because of damage to his vocal cords and a need to reduce his vocal schedule, he will not be able to record The Red Poet until May 2026 and The Queen’s Consort would likely be June or July 2026, by implication.
Because of this, I need to make a hard decision: either wait until mid-2026 to start on recording the The Red Poet and any future book in the series, or recast a narrator and likely redo the entire series with new voices. What do you, dear reader, think about this?
There are other updates that I will try to post in the upcoming couple of months. I’ve been working on a browser-based game where you get to train at a magical university that is being revealed in The Queen’s Consort. There are 80+ people who have tried the game so far, but I need to make some optimizations and implement some of the world boss battles with Orcus, Demogorgon, etc. before I release more information on joining. There is ongoing progress toward the 5th book in general.
But there is also this unfortunate news from Adam. I think we have to move on to a different narrator, and that will be a time-consuming process. Again, let me know what you guys think about this. There’s no easy answer.
To celebrate the release of the 4 book box set for the first compendium in the Age of Magic series, I have reduced the price from 9.99 to 99 cents for all 4 books. This is a serious deal. If you haven’t picked up recent books, and you’d like to get all of them in electronic form, you can find the Orcusinian at this amazing price, wherever good electronic books are sold.
I’m working on an idle rpg that explores more of the lore of the series and lets you fight as a hero scholar of the magical school of Selu, which will be introduced in Book 5 (The Queen’s Consort). Due to various activities around the series right now, I expect this to come out mid-next year. Stay tuned!
20BooksTo50K
For those of you attending 20Books in Vegas this year, it has been nice meeting with all of the brilliant, aspiring authors out there. I will still be around tomorrow (Thursday) if you want to catch up. Feel free to email me <full.author.name>@gmail.com. I will likely not be around on Friday as I wasn’t able to secure a half-table for the RAVE event. Maybe next time!
Bestseller in UK
Thanks to a Bookbub International Feature, the boxset reached as high as #71 on the UK kindle store and has maintained #1 in mythology and fairy tales much of today. Special thanks to Bookbub and everyone who has downloaded a copy.
So, I’ve been working diligently on rereads of the entire series (Books 1-4 of the Age of Magic) in anticipation of the release of the official box set for the Orcusinian (the final editions of Books 1-4 in the Age of Magic). These editions have some typo fixes, some stylistic changes for consistency across the set (e.g., capitalization), and some updates to author information (e.g., I’m in Vegas now).
There’s a lot of update in this post. Let’s start with the cover reveal for the Orcusinian Box Set, which covers the rise of Orcus on Nirendia from the Void and his attempts to take over the planet.
Orcusinian Release Date
This is expected to take place as early as October, and if you’ve been waiting to purchase the set in its individual tomes, then you may be in for a treat, as I’ll be submitting the set to places like BookBub and other advertisers in an attempt to get a wider audience to take a look at the series. As part of these submissions, there is often a required price cut. If BookBub shows interest, then I may even be able to have a special, very inexpensive discount on the box set to as low as 99 cents. Again, no promises. We’ll see what happens after release.
Reminder on Audiobook Release of Book 4
Unfortunately, Adam Gold is still booked until late 2023. As much as I’d love to get this into everyone’s hands (and ears), there is nothing I can do to fast track this without changing narrators. And I believe that would be detrimental. So, please have patience with us as we wait for Adam to become available, and then I have him booked for not only Book 4 (The Red Poet) but also the box set (The Orcusinian), and Book 5 (The Queen’s Consort).
Text Reviews for The Red Poet (Help!)
Read the Red Poet? Have an opinion on it? Want to share that with readers? Help them understand what they’re getting into.
The Red Poet has been out for almost two months, and many have downloaded and presumably read the book. However, the reviews are a bit scarce and there are no text reviews for the book on Amazon or Good Reads. This is a bit problematic because most books do have text reviews, summaries of how readers felt, what they went through emotionally while reading a book, and how they felt about it / whether they would recommend it.
So, have an opinion on the book? Leave a review. It’s helpful. If you’re a fan, I’ll also need you guys to leave some reviews when the Orcusinian is released. I know that there are hundreds of reviews on the audiobooks and The People’s Necromancer also has over 100 reviews on Amazon and over 200 on Goodreads for all formats. But for advertising and word-of-mouth to work, I think most readers would need some context to understand what they’re getting into.
Please help other readers out, and leave reviews (not just on my books but any book you read and feel comfortable sharing your thoughts about).
One of the reasons I wanted to take a break from writing Book 5 was to try to read through the rest of the series and understand if the scope and really the starting point of Book 5 was going to make sense. As we end Book 4, multiple long-referred-to, legendary characters make appearances. One of these is so central to the genesis of The Queen’s Consort (Prince Jayden Etyria) that I feel like there’s no way to start Book 5 without walking through what this character did and what she went through to give us Prince Jayden Etyria. This is a serious departure from the storytelling template that the rest of the books has done, which could be a problem.
In every other book, the focus of the book’s backstory character (i.e., Ashton, Cedric, Prince Jandhar, and Nessamela) have been the focus of the early chapters. Even though there are many people who influenced them, they are the subjects and each story starts with their perspectives that really launch them into the Age of Magic. In Book 5, because Jayden’s true genesis and reason for existing began almost 100,000 years before he was born, the current story in Book 5 starts significantly before he is born. I was so worried about this as I got to the chapter of his birth, that I felt it was necessary to completely stop drafting Book 5 and to instead re-read the series.
The good news is that after re-reading and really because of the compendium and the end of the story arc of Lord Orcus in Book 4, I feel like this new compendium and the final leg of the Age of Magic series (the last 3 books) shouldn’t really be under the templating and flow rules of the previous books. I still believe, after rereading the series, that the decision to delay the start of Jayden’s story until after the 4-6 chapters that describe the setting and major events of the dark elves and their interactions with Mekadesh and its consequences are going to be the right decision for this book and for the final compendium. It will hopefully be more gripping, feel less random, and setup the struggle of the dark elven empires (the newer Etyrian Empire and the ancient Harenyadae) as well as how Jayden and all of the surviving dark elves influence the rest of the series.
Stay tuned. I’ll dive more into this in the coming month.
What has been going on since the publication of The Red Poet? Well, friends, I’ve been reading. I decided to take a short break from outlining and drafting The Queen’s Consort to focus on reading–a warm pastime that I haven’t really been able to do for years. I started with Sanderson and moved on to Rothfuss.
You can see some TikTok reviews I did of their works here:
I then proceeded to re-read the Age of Magic series, which produced some humorous Tiktoks about how different my style was from Rothfuss and my general feel for the series through the three books.
The Red Poet ends the arc of Lord Orcus on Nirendia, and this was done intentionally to create a cohesive boxset / compendium. Part of the process of re-reading has been to check tonal consistency and make sure timelines and arcs are making sense for the path of the 7 book series. One of the big checks I’m keeping in mind is just the sheer terror and devastation of Demogorgon and what exactly the heroes of this world are going to have to do to fight back against him. There’s a conscious effort to prevent this series from devolving into pure disaster porn, but with a creature this powerful, you can expect some devastation.
The boxset cover has been commissioned from Damonza, and I’m hoping to debut that here and across social media platforms as soon as it is ready. I have to reread The Red Poet and propose any changes to it before finishing the boxset-ready edition of these four books. This is very exciting.
Upcoming Writer/Reader Conference
Craig Martelle and crew from 20 Books to 50k are having another writing conference, and this time it is in Vegas, which is where I live. I plan to attend this conference in November, which I believe is on November 18th at Bally’s. If you’d like to get an autograph or chat, that’s where you can find me. I’ve signed up but am waiting on instructions. I believe the reader event is represented here on Facebook, but I’ll update my platforms once I know more.
Reviews
A few people have left reviews for The Red Poet on Amazon and Goodreads. However, these are wordless, and I can’t imagine the stars alone help readers understand what to expect and your experiences. If you have a spare moment to leave a written review, I know readers appreciate them. I know I do as a reader. So, please, help other readers by leaving reviews if you’ve read the book.
A Nirendia Journey: Cedric and Allison Arrington
April 27, 2023 Leave a comment
Cedric Arrington, son of Sylas and Henrietta Arrington, lives at the foot of Mount Godun in the Kingdom of Surdel. Like his father, he becomes a paladin through an unbreakable oath to the Holy One, and eventually he leads the order like his father did. He even marries the first female paladin in history, Allison Arrington, who wields the Twin Sisters, one sword of which is created out of thin air by the Holy One.
Paladins may be some of the most important and powerful warriors in the land, but a paladin’s life is filled with sorrow. Outcast by the Kingdom of Surdel and not allowed to own land or titles, they live as vagabonds in a country that persecutes them. They remain in Surdel because that’s where they’ve known the demons will be breaking through the surface, and they’ve known an apocalypse is coming for thousands of years.
Cedric and Allison raise two sons Jonas and Sylas, each destined to become paladins as well, and a daughter Sarah who looks up to her mother. While Cedric is the leader, Allison is one of the most important paladins to ever exist. Unlike all other paladins who specialize in smiting and attacks, Allison’s swords specialize in protective magic–without which, the paladins would most certainly be doomed.
By the time that Cedric becomes the leader of the paladins, their number is reduced to dozens, but they are the only real force on Nirendia capable of fighting and destroying demons, thanks to their pact with the Holy One. But the Holy One is the very reason that the paladins are outcast, hated, and driven from most towns. She’s not the goddess every male heir to the paladin title is promised. She’s something else entirely.
As the demon lord Orcus rises from the underworld with an army of undead, the world changes, and the perception of the paladins changes with it. The Holy One and her order of paladins change too, inheriting new powers as she takes on a general, The Necromancer Ashton Jeraldson. As an apocalypse threatens, Cedric and Allison must own their past, present, and future; not only for the sake of their children, but also for the sake of all creatures on Nirendia. For no parent wants their child tumbling through the terrible Void, falling in tortured agony until finally called upon by a demon lord to perpetuate their suffering on another. And nowhere in all of the worlds of the universe does anyone fight harder against this future than Cedric and Allison Arrington and their three dozen paladins of Nirendia.
Explore the world of Cedric and Allison Arrington in the Orcusinian Box Set (Books 1-4 of the Age of Magic)
Share this:
Like this:
Filed under Age of Magic, Commentary, Nirendia Journey