Thanks to Jesper Schmidt of the ‘Am Writing Fantasy Podcast’ for inviting me on to talk about fantasy writing, publishing, and marketing books in today’s publishing landscape.
Listen to the interview or a read a transcript here (scroll down to the bottom of the page for the audio player). Or if you prefer to gaze upon my ugly mug whilst I talk, watch it on YouTube.
You can also find it on Apple Podcasts or your pod-catcher of choice.
Also, many thanks to The Quill to Live SFF review site for choosing City of Songs – Volume 3 of the Seven Swords, as one of their favourite novellas of the year. Check out the full list here.
The US ebook edition of The Pariah, Book One of The Covenant of Steel, is on sale at $2.99. This is a Black Friday only sale so act quickly if you don’t want to miss out.
In other sale news, Subterranean Press is currently offering the hardcover signed special editions of Songs of the Dark and City of Songs at half price.
The US ebook edition of Queen of Fire – Book Three of the Raven’s Shadow Trilogy – is now on sale at $1.99. The sale will run until October 19th. Book details and sample chapter on the book page.
Thanks to everyone who entered the City of Songs signed hardcover giveaway. The winners have now been chosen and notified. Check your spam folder to make sure you haven’t missed out on a prize. The signed numbered hardcover can still be purchased from Subterranean Press while stocks last. Check out the book page for more info.
City of Songs hardcovers are here. I’ll be running an exclusive mailing list giveaway for signed copies on September 30th to coincide with the release of the e-book and audiobook. To make sure you don’t miss out on a chance to win, sign up for the mailing list.
City of Songs is the third volume in my novella series The Seven Swords. You can buy the special signed and numbered edition hardcover exclusively from the Subterranean Press website.
Good news for UK audiophiles, the audiobook edition of The Black Song, Book Two of The Raven’s Blade continuing the adventures of Vaelin Al Sorna, is currently part of Audible UK’s two for one sale. Go to audible.co.ukto buy – sale ends on October 2nd.
There are a lot of great on-sale books to buy along with The Black Song, but my personal recommendation is The Bloody Red Baron by Kim Newman – see my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1095151043
The hardcover edition of my fantasy novella City of Songs – Book Three of the Seven Swords – is now shipping from Subterranean Press. Thanks to everyone who bought a pre-order. The special tray case edition has sold out but there are still copies of the signed and numbered hardcover available. Please note that Subterranean will not be supplying large online retailers with copies so if you want one you’ll have to order from the Subterranean Press Website.
The ebook and audiobook versions haven’t yet been published but should appear before the end of the month. I’ll post links when I have them.
I’ll be running a mailing list giveaway for signed copies of City of Songs later this month so sign up to the list (if you haven’t already) to make sure you don’t miss out.
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.
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.
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.’
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Many thanks to those nice people at Booknest for nominating ‘The Black Song’ – Book Two of The Raven’s Blade – for their ‘Best Traditionally Published Novel’ award longlist. Head over to the awards page to vote for your favourite fantasy novel from 2020: http://booknest.eu/component/k2/blog/2183-2020-booknest-fantasy-awards-longlist
The audiobook edition of ‘Slab City Blues – The Collected Stories’, narrated by the inestimable Steven Brand, is no longer exclusive to Audible and can be purchased from these retailers:
‘Een Pelgrimstocht van Zwaarden’ – the Dutch edition of my novella ‘A Pilgrimage of Swords’ – Vol. 1 of The Seven Swords – will be released on March 30th. Netherlands fantasy outlet AnderWereld are offering a box of goodies which includes a hardcover copy of the novella and a 210mm x 210mm glossy postcard of the Execration map signed by yours truly. Go here to order: https://www.anderwereld-magie.nl/a-63512008/nieuwe-mystery-boekenboxen/mystery-boekenbox-maart-fantasy-novelle/
And finally, I’m please to share a few more sample pages from the Draconis Memoria RPG rulebook courtesy of Hiruoka. Watch this space for news of the upcoming kickstarter.
I’m pleased to announce that Subterranean Press is now taking pre-orders for my novella City of Songs – Book Three of The Seven Swords.
About the Book:
ATHERIA – THE FABLED CITY OF SONGS, THE SHINING JEWEL OF THE THIRD SEA WHERE THE MASKED EXULTIA CASTE HOLD SWAY AND VIE TO OUTDO EACH OTHER IN THEIR PATRONAGE OF THE ARTS, SOMETIMES WITH DEADLY CONSEQUENCES…
Guyime, wandering, dethroned King of the Northlands, is drawn to the Atheria by his quest for the Seven Swords, the demon cursed blades of legend. But to claim the next sword he must first solve a seemingly impossible murder—a puzzle that, once untangled, will unveil secrets so dark they could bring the City of Songs to utter ruin.
Continuing the epic tale of The Seven Swords, City of Songs is an action-packed, darkly magical mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of the Raven’s Shadow and Draconis Memoria trilogies.
Thanks to my editors, Yanni Kuznia and Bill Schafer, and everyone else at Subterranean for making this happen. Also, many thanks to Didier Graffet for yet another spectacular cover. Check out more of his work here.
I’ll be running a mailing list giveaway for signed hardcovers closer to the release date so watch out for that.
