Monthly Archives: July 2021

Blood Song – Ten Year Anniversary Giveaway

July 31st 2021 will mark ten years to the day since I first published Blood Song on the Smashwords self-publishing site. For a more detailed version of my pro-writer origin story check out my essay ‘The Long Overnight’ on the Penguin Blood Song page (scroll down to the ‘Author Essay’ bit). Suffice to say, a lot has happened since. One decade, eight (soon to be nine) published novels, a bunch of novellas, and over a million books sold later, I think it’s fair to say I owe it all to that one click of the mouse ten years ago. Funny old world. 

On July 31st members of my mailing list will be given the chance to enter a draw for a rare 1st edition, signed, lined and dated US hardcover edition of Blood Song. One second-place winner will receive a signed US edition mass market paperback. Five third-place winners will receive signed Blood Song bookplates. All winners will also receive one of these snazzy Pariah bookplates provided by Orbit and signed by me. 

To have a chance of winning please ensure you subscribe to the mailing list before midnight on July 30th. 


Speaking of The Pariah, the US audiobook is now available for pre-order here: Audible.com.

And just a reminder:

Pre-order links for all formats are on The Pariah book page.


‘The King Must Fall’ Kickstarter – Only 24 Hours Left…

The Kickstarter for The King Must Fall has met its funding goal but there are still plenty of stretch goals left, including stories from Deborah A. Wolf (Godsworld) and Matthew Ward (Legacy of Ash).

The King Must Fall is a dark fantasy anthology from Gimdark Magazine featuring 14+ authors writing about rogues, assassins, mages, blackguards, and warriors on quests to kill their kings, rulers, and leaders.

Wrapped in Felix Ortiz’s beautiful cover art, designed by the legendary Shawn King, and with a stretch goal to fill it with Carlos Diaz’s interior art, The King Must Fall will be a gripping read and an eye-catching addition to your bookshelf.

The anthology will feature an all new Raven’s Shadow novella by yours truly and great stories from the following authors:

 Bradley P. Beaulieu (The Song of the Shattered Sands, The Lays of Anuskaya)

 Kameron Hurley (The God’s War Trilogy, Worldbreaker Saga)

 Michael R Fletcher (Manifest Delusions, Black Stone Heart)

 Anna Smith Spark (Empires of Dust)

 Shawn Speakman (The Annwn Cycles, Unfettered)

 Daniel Polansky (Low Town, Those Above)

 Devin Madson (The Reborn Empire)

 Adrian Tchaikovsky (Shadows of the Apt, Children of Time)

 Lee Murray (Into the Mist, Hounds of the Underworld)

 Jeremy Szal (The Common)

 Justin Call (The Silent Gods)

 Trudi Canavan (The Black Magician, Age of the Five)

 Peter Orullian (The Vault of Heaven, The Astonishing)

Go to the Kickstarter Page to support this anthology.


The Black Song – US Paperback Out Now and more…

The US paperback edition of The Black Song – the second and final volume of The Raven’s Blade – is published today.

Buy the US paperback here: amazon.comBarnes & NobleIndieboundBooks A MillionBookshop.orgHudson Booksesllers

Check out The Black Song book page for other formats.


I’m delighted to report that City of Songs – Volume Three in my Seven Swords novella series – has received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly.

‘Ryan ingeniously combines magic and mystery in his outstanding third Seven Swords fantasy.’

Read the full review here (some mild spoiler warnings for those who prefer to come to it completely cold).

City of Songs will be released in special edition signed hardcover and ebook from Subterranean Press in September. Hopefully, the audiobook edition will appear shortly after. To answer an oft-asked question, there won’t be a pre-order page for the ebook, however, I’ll be sure to announce the release and provide the relevant where-to-buy links when they become available. 

Pre-order the signed, numbered hardcover edition from the Subterranean Press website.


Heartfelt gratitude to everyone who supported the Kickstarter for Grimdark Magazine’s anthology The King Must Fall. Thanks (I like to think) to you, the anthology – which includes an all new Raven’s Shadow novella – has now reached its funding goal. A number of really great stretch goals remain with 8 days left to run. So, if you haven’t already become a supporter, please consider doing so now. 

The King Must Fall Kickstarter Page.


Thanks to those nice people at Orbit for providing this nifty video to remind everyone that my next full-length novel, The Pariah – Book One of the Covenant of Steel – will be released in two months time. 

Grimdark Magazine (purely coincidentally) were kind enough to review the book last week and seemed to like it a lot:

‘The Pariah is Anthony Ryan at his best. A fast-paced, brutal fantasy novel with larger than life characters and a plot full of intrigue and suspense. With bloody twists and turns aplenty, this novel is destined to become a favourite of the grimdark community.’

Read the full review here.

For Canadian readers – I’m told that the Indigo book chain is running a 30% off promotion on their ‘Most Anticipated Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books’ – which includes The Pariah. Go here to pre-order: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-pariah/9780316430760-item.html


Draconis Memoria RPG update – work continues on this project despite some dreadful pandemic related issues for the publisher. I still don’t have a start date for the Kickstarter but you can now register your interest here to make sure you don’t miss it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hirukoa/draconis-memoria-rpg


And finally, it will be Blood Song’s tenth birthday on July 31st, which marks the day when I first self-published the book on Smashwords (whereupon it sold a massive five copies before I put it on the Kindle store in January 2012, but that’s a different story). Watch out for a book birthday related giveaway towards the end of the month. Please note – you’ll need to be signed up to my mailing list to have a chance of winning.