Category Archives: Writing Stuff

August 24, 2021

The Pariah – US and Canada Release Day

By Anthony Ryan

The Pariah – Book One of The Covenant of Steel – is released today in the US and Canada.

Buy here:

US ebook:  Amazon.com –  Nook –  Apple Books –  Kobo –  Google Play

US paperback:  Amazon.com –  Barnes and Noble –  Indiebound –  Bookshop.org 

Audiobook: audible.com – Apple Audiobooks

“Ryan (the Raven’s Shadow series) impresses with this fantasy trilogy opener… The author makes buy-in easy thanks to three-dimensional characters and intelligent prose that grips from the opening sentence.” – Publisher’s Weekly starred review.

“The Pariah is a sharp, brutal tale and a brilliant introduction to the Covenant of Steel series. While the story itself is grim and bloody, Ryan’s prose and characterization are a beacon in the darkness. A remarkable story that I did not want to end.” – FanFiAddict.

About the book:

The Pariah begins a new epic fantasy series of action, intrigue and magic from Anthony Ryan, a master storyteller who has taken the fantasy world by storm. 

Born into the troubled kingdom of Albermaine, Alwyn Scribe is raised as an outlaw. Quick of wit and deft with a blade, Alwyn is content with the freedom of the woods and the comradeship of his fellow thieves. But an act of betrayal sets him on a new path – one of blood and vengeance, which eventually leads him to a soldier’s life in the king’s army. 

Fighting under the command of Lady Evadine Courlain, a noblewoman beset by visions of a demonic apocalypse, Alwyn must survive war and the deadly intrigues of the nobility if he hopes to claim his vengeance. But as dark forces, both human and arcane, gather to oppose Evadine’s rise, Alwyn faces a choice: can he be a warrior, or will he always be an outlaw?

The Pariah will be released in the UK on August 26th. Pre-order links are on the book page.

Thanks to everyone who entered the signed hardcover giveaway. The winners have now been chosen and notified. Check your email spam folders to make sure you haven’t missed out on a prize. 

Anyone who would like another chance at a signed hardcover can enter the Orbit giveaway which is open until August 31st and includes an exclusive print of the cover illustration by Jaime Jones.

US readers enter here: https://www.orbitloot.com/us/

UK readers enter here: https://www.orbitloot.com/uk/

f you’d like to hear (or see) me talk some more about The Pariah and my writer origin story check out this interview I did with the Wizards, Warriors and Words Podcast with fellow fantasists Dark Ashton, Jed Hearne and Michael R Fletcher.

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/2-35-anthony-ryan-talks-about-his-writing-journey/id1526146915?i=1000532802424

Podcast website: https://anchor.fm/wizardswarriorswords/episodes/2-35-Anthony-Ryan-talks-about-his-writing-journey-e16atbf

YouTube: 

Apologies to anyone who signed up for the video confab today with myself and RJ Barker which has had to be put back to 1st September due to RJ battling the lurgy. You can still sign up here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/ryan-barker-aug2021/register

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August 16, 2021

The Pariah – Signed Books Giveaway

By Anthony Ryan

The Pariah – Book One of The Covenant of Steel – will be released next week. To celebrate I’m running a signed books giveaway for my mailing list subscribers. If you’re not already a subscriber please sign up here by midnight GMT on August 23rd to have a chance of winning.

Prizes as follows:

Three first-place winners will receive a signed, lined and date UK hardcover edition of The Pariah.

Four second-place winners will receive a signed, lined and date US paperback edition of The Pariah.

Five third-place winners will receive a signed bookplate for The Pariah.

The giveaway is open to all subscribers, not just those in the UK and US. Winners will be randomly chosen and notified on August 24th.

For the benefit of ebook readers and audiobook listeners The Map Room has now been updated with the map from The Pariah. 

Anyone who would like a second chance can also enter the giveaway being run by my publisher Orbit. In addition to a signed book, the lucky winner will also receive an exclusive print of the cover illustration by Jaime Jones (https://www.artpad.org). No purchase necessary. 

US readers enter here: https://www.orbitloot.com/us/

UK readers enter here: https://www.orbitloot.com/uk/

And thanks to Orbit for putting together this nifty book trailer:

Pre-order Links for The Pariah

UK ebook: Amazon.co.uk –  Apple Books –  Kobo –  Google Play

UK hardcover: Amazon.co.uk –  Waterstones –  WH Smith –  Wordery – Bookshop.org

Audiobook: audible.com –  audible.co.uk

US ebook:  Amazon.com –  Nook –  Apple Books –  Kobo –  Google Play

US paperback:  Amazon.com –  Barnes and Noble –  Indiebound –  Bookshop.org 

I’ll be having a video confab with RJ Barker, author of the excellent maritime fantasy The Bone Ships, on August 24th. To sign up for the event and pose questions please go here.

And finally, Das Schwarze Lied – the German edition of The Black Song – will be released on August 21st. Thanks to my German publisher Hobbit Presse and translator Sara Riffel for making this happen. Thanks also to Federico Musetti for yet another spectacular cover illustration – check out more of his work on Artstation. More details on the Hobbit Presse website.

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July 26, 2021

Blood Song – Ten Year Anniversary Giveaway

By Anthony Ryan

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.

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July 14, 2021

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

By Anthony Ryan

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.

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July 6, 2021

The Black Song – US Paperback Out Now and more…

By Anthony Ryan

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.com – Barnes & Noble – Indiebound – Books A Million – Bookshop.org – Hudson 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.

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June 15, 2021

‘The King Must Fall’ – Kickstarter Now Live

By Anthony Ryan

The Kickstarter page for ‘The King Must Fall’ anthology is now live.

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. We’ll be offering ebook, hardcover, numbered signed edition hardcovers, and a leatherbound signed lettered edition.

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 and check out al the great the rewards and stretch goals. (NB, sorry but the Tuckerisation pledge reward for the Raven’s Shadow novella has already been claimed). 

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May 31, 2021

‘City of Songs’ ARC Giveaway – ‘The Black Song’ UK Kindle Daily Deal – ‘The King Must Fall’ Kickstarter – New Interview

By Anthony Ryan

Thanks to those nice folks at Subterranean Press I have three signed advance review copies of City of Songs – Volume Three of The Seven Swords novella series – to give away to existing mailing list subscribers and anyone who subscribes between now and midnight GMT June 5th. 

Winners will be chosen and notified on June 6th. As usual, remember to check you spam folders to make sure you haven’t missed out.

Join the mailing list.

City of Songs will be released in September in special edition hardcover, audio and ebook. It looks like the lettered tray-case editions have already sold out but the signed and numbered hardcovers are still available. Go to the Subterranean Press website to place your orders.

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In other news – for today only the UK ebook edition of The Wolf’s Call – Book One of the Raven’s Blade duology – is on sale at £0.99 as a Kindle daly deal on the UK Amazon store. Buy here: amazon.co.uk.

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I’m also delighted to announce that I will contributing an all new Raven’s Shadow novella to the upcoming anthology The King Must Fall from Grimdark Magazine. 

This will be a crowdfunded publication so, if you want to make it happen, head over to the Kickstarter page to be notified when the project goes live on June 15th. More details on the novella coming soon. 

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And finally, many thanks to book blogger and aspiring writer Shauna Lawless for interviewing me about the upcoming publication of The Pariah, plus a lot of other stuff. Find it on at her blog at: https://shaunalawless.com/2021/05/19/author-interview-anthony-ryan/

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May 15, 2021

Win ‘The Black Song’ in Ace Books Summer Fantasy Sweepstakes

By Anthony Ryan

Thanks to Ace Books for including The Black Song in their Summer Fantasy Sweepstakes draw along with these four other great books. To have a chance winning go here to sign up the relevant mailing list.

For more info on The Black Song check out the book page.

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May 10, 2021

‘Songs of the Dark’ Now Available in Ebook and Paperback

By Anthony Ryan

Songs of the Dark – Short Fiction from the World of Raven’s Shadow is now available in ebook and paperback. Songs of the Dark collects all the Raven’s Shadow novellas published so far into one volume. 

*Cover illustration by Kevin Goeke. Cover design by STK Creations.

Buy the ebook: Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk – Nook – Kobo – Google Play – Apple Books

Buy the illustrated paperback: Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk – Barnes & Noble

The special limited edition signed hardcover is also still available to buy from Subterranean Press.

About the Book:

“Heard whispers of the Dark all my life. It’s a strange feeling when a whisper becomes a shout.” 

Songs of the Dark collects all four novellas from the world of Anthony Ryan’s internationally best-selling Raven’s Shadow trilogy.

A Duel of Evils – Centuries before the rise of the Unified Realm, the final battle looms between the city-state of Kethia and the Volarian Empire. As told by Imperial Chronicler Lord Verniers, this terrible event is shrouded in many secrets and, some say, wrought by servants of the Dark.

Many Are the Dead – When word reaches the north of a fresh outbreak of the dreaded Red Hand, Brother Sollis, the finest swordsman in the Sixth Order, leads a small band to a long-abandoned castle in search of a potential cure but discovers a far greater threat lurking in the mountains.

The Lady of Crows – A quest for bloody vengeance forces Derla, a skilled and deadly veteran of the Varinshold underworld, into the service of the arch schemer King Janus.

The Lord Collector – Veteran Realm Guard Jerhid, newly appointed Lord Collector of the King’s Excise, finds himself battling ruthless smuggler gangs and worse on the wild southern shore of the Unified Realm. 

Four compelling tales of mystery, magic, intrigue, and battle presented in one volume for the first time – featuring all-new introductions by the author. The print editions also feature and black-and-white interior illustrations by Anthony Ryan. 

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In other news, many thanks to David Walters of FanFiAddict.com for his spoiler free review of The Pariah – Book One of The Covenant of Steel:

“The Pariah is a sharp, brutal tale and a brilliant introduction to theCovenant of Steel series. While the story itself is grim and bloody, Ryan’s prose and characterization are a beacon in the darkness. A remarkable story that I did not want to end.”

Read the full review here: https://fanfiaddict.com/2021/05/05/review-the-pariah-the-covenant-of-steel-1-by-anthony-ryan

The Pariah will be released on August 24th in the US and August 26th in the UK. Buy links are on the book page.

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April 23, 2021

The Pariah Gets a Starred Review from Publisher’s Weekly & Goodreads eARC Giveaway

By Anthony Ryan

I’m pleased to report that Publisher’s Weekly has given The Pariah – Book One of The Covenant of Steel – a starred review.

“Ryan (the Raven’s Shadow series) impresses with this fantasy trilogy opener… The author makes buy-in easy thanks to three-dimensional characters and intelligent prose that grips from the opening sentence.” – Publisher’s Weekly.

You can read the full review here – warning for mild plot spoilers for those who prefer to come to the book completely cold. 

Congratulations to the winners of the signed Pariah advance review copy who have been chosen and notified today – check your spam folders to make sure you haven’t missed the notification. Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter and for the many nice comments, apologies I couldn’t respond to everyone.

Any US readers who would like a second chance can enter the Goodreads giveaway for 100 e-book review copies currently being run by Orbit US – sorry, US readers only. The giveaway ends on May 2nd. Go here to enter: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/322986-the-pariah

I’ll be running my own giveaway for signed hardcovers and paperbacks closer to the release date in August so watch out for that. Make sure you’re signed up to the mailing list to ensure you don’t miss out on a chance to win one.

The UK audiobook, narrated by Steven Brand, is now available for pre-order from audible.co.uk. No US pre-order yet, I’ll update the book page when I have one.

And finally, I’m happy (and relieved) to report that, as of two days ago, I finished the first draft of Book Two in The Covenant of Steel trilogy. There’s still some work to do on the text and the title is yet to be finalised, but it’s always a good feeling when I get to type these words:

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