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)
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.
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.
The Red Poet is available worldwide on most ebook vendors! Amazon | B&N | Apple | KoboThe Red Poet paperback is in process. I need to check everything in the print version. If all goes according to plan, the print version may be available next week.
In celebration of the release of The Red Poet (Book 4 in the Age of Magic series), I’m giving away 10 audiobooks each of the first three books in the series. So, if you haven’t tuned in to Adam Gold’s amazing narration of The People’s Necromancer, The Dark Paladin, or The Dragon Prince, be sure to click on one of the following and sign up. I plan to check the lists on Monday, use a random number generator, and pick the 10 lucky winners from each list.
Click for a chance to win one of 10 free audiobooks. No purchase necessary
Click for a chance to win one of 10 free audiobooks. No purchase necessary
Click for a chance to win one of 10 free audiobooks. No purchase necessary
Did you miss The Red Poet Preorder (Comes out July 1st)?
Very well. The major outlining is complete, and drafting has started. Three chapters in. I plan to post an article soon (likely after The Red Poet releases) to discuss who The Queen’s Consort is, what the book is about, and what you can expect over the remaining three books in the series.
The Red Poet is nearing completion. There is one more beta reader left before the story is sent to the formatter. From there, it will be uploaded to Amazon and other major ebook distributors. Shortly after, you’ll have paperbacks available. I’m going to work to make both formats available on July 1, 2022.
Audiobooks for The Red Poet and The Queen’s Consort
I’ve spoken with Adam Gold, the narrator of the first 3 books, and he’s currently already booked solid until October of 2023. This means the audiobooks for Book 4 and Book 5 will not arrive until very late 2023 or early 2024, depending on how long it takes Adam to get through the production/execution process. I will do everything in my power to get both books out in electronic, paperback, and audiobook versions as soon as possible.
The Extra Good News: The Queen’s Consort is Coming This Year
I have the core story outlined. For me, outlines are very detailed. I believe this particular outline is the longest yet, at 40 chapters and 21,000 words. I have included enough detail to not only carry the story through the twists and turns of The Queen’s Consort but also into and through the final two books in the series. I expect The Queen’s Consort to be released by the holiday season in 2022.
Audiobook Giveaways Coming
I haven’t emailed the mailing list in a long time (3 years). It’s time I changed that. I’ll be giving away audiobook copies of each Age of Magic book (The People’s Necromancer, The Dark Paladin, and The Dragon Prince) in the next email. So, if you haven’t signed up yet for the mailing list, and you still don’t have one of the audiobooks, get that remedied soon!
To those who have persevered in their requests for more information on the Age of Magic series and the lull in updates and new novels, I wanted to provide an update. These past few years have been a stressful period of my life. I’ve taken time away from writing and especially publishing, but the Age of Magic is still a finished story (or at least a complex chain of connected major and minor events) in my head that needs to be committed to paper. If not for you all, then for me. So, why haven’t I finished this yet? Why haven’t you gotten what you have been asking for?
About me and where I’m at
When I started the series, I was in a somewhat comfortable position. I was working in academia as a senior scientist, and I had retirement, medical care, and various amenities to distract me. Though my job and the responsibilities of that job were demanding, I had plenty of time to think, and I had a job that was challenging in some ways but not in ways that demanded all of my faculties–especially those related to distributed, complex systems. And that interest in emergent systems and ordered chaos with thousands of interleaving story lines is something that writing books like those in The Primal Patterns series and The Age of Magic helped satiate.
I am a risk taking person. I was presented with some opportunities that would challenge me in ways that my positions in academia did not, and at the time, and really in multiple new opportunities since, I took a chance on people and ideas and business ventures that did and did not work out in ways that I expected. Some of those were failures. Some, especially more recent ones, were successes. The stress of some of these was so all-encompassing, and my empathy for the people I led and the pain of growth and change was such that I was totally distracted and committed to pushing further along those lines.
And as I set about pursuing these opportunities with full gusto, my focus on publishing and serving those of you with interest in these series waned. I’ve changed cities, multiple times. I’ve changed jobs and titles. I now find myself in a new city, Sin City–Las Vegas, with a new mandate and responsibilities which I have pursued like I pursue most things. And I think it’s time, if I can allow myself to retool and refocus on publishing, that I finish this series–the Age of Magic–and the stories of The Red Poet, the Queen’s Consort, The Blood Chief, and the Holy One.
Progress and Anti-Progress
The Red Poet, Book 4, has had more edits from myself than it probably should, and stretched so far out across so many years, that every time I move through it, it feels like I’m further from finishing than I was at the start of the last edit. This is an illusion and one that every writer has experience with. If publishing were my sole source of income or indeed if it had ever been a large part of my income, then I’m sure I would have pushed past it. However, there are other stories in my head, and these compete with my completionist and flawed perfectionist nature, as well as those same tendencies in programming, building, and engineering products and leading dozens of people whose incomes and family well being have relied upon me (for better or worse).
My need to plan out all of the intertwining story lines, morals, and even fables within my series causes hyper focus on edits and details that lengthen the process of publishing. As a hobby and not full time focus, this can be poisonous to progress. I’ve decided to take inspiration from other fantasy authors, much more accomplished and varied in talents than I am, in hopes to move things forward. Namely, I’m going to plan to work through the series, focus less on perfection, and get this series out of my head and into completion, rather than trying to wait for life to calm down or a host of excuses that have completely stopped the editing process at times.
Timeline on getting readers what they want
The Red Poet needs to be done this year. My only question is will I stick to finishing book 5 (The Queen’s Consort) this year. There are things you can do to help. First, you can bug me in email (rexjameson @ gmail) or comments here to make sure that you’re on my mind, and that you want this series done. Second, you can offer to beta read. The latter requires constructive criticism when it’s necessary, so if you offer to do this, you’d have to agree to be blunt when hard truths need to be said about the text. The best beta readers can honestly tell me “this doesn’t seem like something the character would do”. I may disagree with you, but on more than one occasion, beta readers have been right, and I’ve changed the story for them. There are certain decisions, e.g., removing the gruesome death of Clayton from the first book as it seemed unnecessary to the plot and was… well gruesome, that I have gone with and disagree with to this day. However, I listen to beta readers, and everyone benefits from their willingness to disagree with and constructively give feedback to authors like me. I will be reaching out to one or two who have helped in the past, but they may no longer be interested in reading the series. That happens. Perhaps you can help me complete the series in a way that will best serve you all, the readers.
