Thanks, as always, to Steven Brand for his excellent narration.
A reminder that The Kraken’s Tooth, the second novella in this series, is now available for pre-order. Links on the book page.
In other news, I’m proud and delighted to announce that The Wolf’s Call has won the Booknest Fantasy Award for Best Traditionally Published Novel. Huge thanks to everyone who voted and congrats to my fellow winners. Best of all, I now own this badass blade!
And finally, the audiobook of The Black Song, the second and final book in The Raven’s Blade, is also now available for pre-order from Audible.com. No UK pre-order yet but watch this space.
The audiobook edition of my novella A Pilgrimage of Swords, Volume One of The Seven Swords, narrated by Steven Brand, will be released by Audible on March 24th and is now available for pre-order.
In other news, I’m delighted to report that The Wolf’s Call, Book One of The Raven’s Blade, has been shortlisted in the ‘Best Traditionally Published Novel’ category for the Booknest Fantasy Awards. Thanks to everyone who voted in the first round. Anyone who would care to drop by and vote in the final round please go here: http://booknest.eu/component/k2/AWARDS/1812
And finally, those of you who follow me on Twitter may have noticed that the Advance Review Copies of The Black Song, Book Two of The Raven’s Blade, have arrived. I’ll be running an exclusive mailing list giveaway for five copies closer to the release date (when, hopefully, it’ll be easier to get to the post office). Be sure to sign up to the list if you want a chance of winning a signed ARC.
Thanks for reading and please stay safe in these troubled times.
My novella A Pilgrimage of Swords was released by Subterranean Press in September and, somewhat to my surprise, has since sold out in hardcover.
In the spirit of the season, and to express my gratitude for the response to this novella, I thought I’d give readers who missed out another chance to win a signed copy. Therefore, I’m holding a quickie giveaway for existing subscribers to my mailing list and anyone who subscribes between now and midnight GMT December 25th.
Five lucky winners will receive a signed limited edition hardcover of A Pilgrimage of Swords. Winners will be chosen at random and notified on December 26th.
A Pilgrimage of Swords is the first in a series entitled The Seven Swords. The next volume, The Kraken’s Tooth, will be released by Subterranean Press in September 2020. Check back in the new year for a cover reveal – once again the illustration is by Didier Graffet and is really something special.
My all-new novella, A Pilgrimage of Swords, is released today by Subterranean Press. Most of the special edition hardcovers have already sold out but I’m told there are a few left if anyone wants to head over to the Subterranean Press site to snag one.
It is two hundred years since the deity known as the Absolved went mad and destroyed the Kingdom of Alnachim, transforming it into the Execration, a blasted wasteland filled with nameless terrors. For decades, desperate souls have made pilgrimage to the centre of this cursed land to seek the Mad God’s favour, their fate always unknown.
Now a veteran warrior known only as Pilgrim, armed with a fabled blade inhabited by the soul of a taunting demon, must join with six others to make the last journey to the heart of the Execration. Allied with a youthful priest, a beast-charmer, a duplicitous scholar, an effete actor and two exiled lovers, Pilgrim must survive madness, malevolent spirits, unnatural monsters and the ever-present risk of treachery, all so that the Mad God might hear his prayer and, perhaps, grant redemption. But can sins such as his ever be forgiven?
Set in a world where demons and gods walk the earth, A Pilgrimage of Swords is a dark and exciting fantasy adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of the Raven’s Shadow and Draconis Memoria trilogies.
‘Fans of quick, descriptive tales built around shadowy figures with murky motives will enjoy this quest-based story and come away craving more.’ – Starred review in Publishers Weekly.
‘This grim succinct tale should find an eager audience amongst fans of sword-and-sorcery fare.’ – Library Journal.
‘A Pilgrimage of Swords is an engrossing adventure for anyone who likes a story with a great atmosphere and imagination. It is short, sweet, and will leave you wanting a lot more.’ – The Quill to Live.
‘A Pilgrimage of Swords may be a short, quick read, but for what it lacks in pages and words, it makes up for in fantastic storytelling.’ – FanFiAddict.
Thanks to my editor Yanni Kuznia and everyone at Subterranean for the efforts in bringing this to fruition. Thanks also to the always excellent Didier Graffet for his spectacular cover illustration. You can view more of Didier’s work here: https://www.alanlynchartists.com/didier-graffet
The winners of the signed hardcover mailing list giveaway have now been chosen and notified. Check your spam folders to make sure you haven’t missed out on a prize. Join the mailing list so you don’t miss out on future giveaways.
A Pilgrimage of Swords is the first in a series of novellas The Seven Swords. The second volume, The Kraken’s Tooth, will be published by Subterranean Press next year.
My all-new novella, A Pilgrimage of Swords, will be released on September 30th by Subterranean Press. This is the first a series of stories entitled The Seven Swords. The second volume, The Kraken’s Tooth, will be published next year. Full details and description are on the book page.
Subterranean tell me they only have 50 copies of the limited edition hardcover left so hurry on over to their website to order to make sure you don’t miss out. Anyone who orders direct from Subterranean or one of their approved outlets will also be entered in a draw to win a signed original hand-drawn version of the map from the book.
A Pilgrimage of Swords will also be released in e-book, price $4.99. Pre-order links are here.
I’ll also be giving away four signed copies of the limited edition hardcover to existing mailing list subscribers or anyone who joins the list between now and midnight GMT 29th September. Go here to sign up. Winners will be chosen at random and notified on 30th September.
The nice folks at Subterranean Press are running a giveaway for a hand-drawn, signed and dated version of the map from my upcoming novella A Pilgrimage of Swords. The map is the product of my own not-very-dainty hands and will be given away to one randomly chosen lucky person who pre-orders one of the hardcover editions. It looks like the signed and lettered special traycase editions have sold out but the signed edition is still available. Don’t worry if you’ve already pre-ordered as you’ll automatically be included in the draw.
A Pilgrimage of Swords – the first novella in a proposed series entitled The Seven Swords – will be released in September 2019 in hardcover and ebook (the pre-order for the ebook will appear closer to the release date). I’ll be running a mailing list giveaway for signed hardcovers prior to the release so be sure to watch out for that.
Here’s the Publishers Weekly’s Starred Review of A Pilgrimage of Swords:
“Ryan introduces a monster-riddled fantasy world with a perfectly balanced novella, including just enough backstory to create a cohesive story line and flesh out the characters… Fans of quick, descriptive tales built around shadowy figures with murky motives will enjoy this quest-based story and come away craving more (and longer) works set in this fascinating world.”
And here’s the blurb:
ENTER THE EXECRATION,
WHERE THE DAMNED AND THE DESPERATE
COME TO PRAY TO THE MAD GOD…
It is two hundred years since the deity known as the Absolved went mad and destroyed the Kingdom of Alnachim, transforming it into the Execration, a blasted wasteland filled with nameless terrors. For decades, desperate souls have made pilgrimage to the centre of this cursed land to seek the Mad God’s favour, their fate always unknown.
Now a veteran warrior known only as Pilgrim, armed with a fabled blade inhabited by the soul of a taunting demon, must join with six others to make the last journey to the heart of the Execration. Allied with a youthful priest, a beast-charmer, a duplicitous scholar, an effete actor and two exiled lovers, Pilgrim must survive madness, malevolent spirits, unnatural monsters and the ever-present risk of treachery, all so that the Mad God might hear his prayer and, perhaps, grant redemption. But can sins such as his ever be forgiven?
Set in a world where demons and gods walk the earth, A Pilgrimage of Swords is a dark and exciting fantasy adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of the Raven’s Shadow and Draconis Memoria trilogies.
