Derfel Cadarn

The Sooty Feathers series (by me) is gothic urban fantasy set in 19th century Scotland, primarily in Glasgow. Bodysnatchers Hunt and Foley make a living selling the dead. When a corpse goes missing, they stumble into Glasgow’s supernatural underbelly, learning diabolical truths and finding a war they cannot escape. No man or woman, be they brigand or bishop, are safe from newly arrived fanatics seeking to liberate a city from the shadow of darkness lingering over it. For twenty years Lady Delaney has waged a quiet war on the Sooty Feather Society ruling Glasgow from private clubs and country manors, but that war is about to turn noisy, and in young actress Kerry Knox, she may have found an apprentice in whom to teach manners and murder. In a city ruled from shadowed crypts by the undead, these people are Glasgow's only hope as an ancient evil returns seeking power and vengeance. Resurrection Men and Lord of the Hunt (by David Craig) are available now, books 1 & 2 (of 4) in the Sooty Feathers series. From the sandstone splendour and dung-choked squallor of Glasgow to the forbidding forests and shadowed glens of the Highlands.

Thanks I meant generally, posted the offer on some local facebook groups/pages. I didn’t expect much interest here as many of the UK (and beyond) boarders have been good enough to buy and review my novels.

@Iskaral Pust Thanks, not much but its a little. Not that there’s been much take-up in this. Lord of the Hunt, sequel to Resurrection Men, is now out as ebook. Paperback out end of May.

Did they fix it?

Special offer due to covid. UK only as i can only kindle ‘gift’ to Amazon Kindle UK. I’m ‘gifting’ x10 kindle copies each of my first two novels, Resurrection Men (urban fantasy) and Thorns of a Black Rose (epic fantasy). If you’re interested please PM me your email address and the book you wish. I’ll then use the gift function. Please note it will only work if you’ve a UK Amazon account. (8 copies of Resurrection Men remaining, and 10 copies of Thorns of a Black Rose)

UK only: To do my ‘bit’ for morale in these trying times, I’m selling paperbacks of my two published novels for cost (£6 plus £3 postage). They normally sell for £9.99 (exc postage) but I get then from the publisher for a discount. The books have been boxed for months, and will be handled with care to minimise viral contamination. My latest book Lord of the Hunt is ebook-only until late May, but Resurrection Men (gothic fantasy in Victorian Scotland) and Thorns of a Black Rose (action/adventure fantasy - The Witcher meets Arabian Nights minus monsters and witchers) are both available. Available while stock lasts. I’ve eight copies of Resurrection Men, and 23 of Thorns of a Black Rose. I’ll order more around the time Lord of the Hunt comes out. PM me if interested. Link to the books on the publisher site for more info: https://elsewhen.press/index.php/catalogue/author/david-craig/ UK only due to uncertainty of shipping, but the publisher can supply abroad albeit at full price.

My new novel, Lord of the Hunt (Sooty Feathers, #2) is out now as ebook! Published by Elsewhen Press, the ebook is available from various platforms. Paperback launches 25 May. Book 1, Resurrection Men, has been well received. Visit bit.ly/LordOfTheHunt Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085CN4Y7J?pf_rd_r=RS9WPDMKQF12KVQZKPPD&pf_rd_p=2d1ab404-3b11-4c97-b3db-48081e145e35 Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B085CN4Y7J The blurb:

New author Anya Pavelle left a good review of Thorns of a Black Rose https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3163650888

Lord of the Hunt, book 2 (of 4) in the Sooty Feathers series, has been accepted by Elsewhen Press The document has already been sent to me for the first round of edits to be done; there will likely be one more round of edits before it is passed to the proof-reader (a fresh pair of eyes). I'll update with the publication date once it's known. I've resumed work on the first book of The Bone King series, which follows on from Thorns of a Black Rose. Essentially an action/adventure sword & sorcery series initially set in an Africa-like continent. The first book will be called The Blood Hour and is already a third into the first draft. It starts three years after Thorns of a Black Rose ends (five years after the bulk of the story) and returns to the ancient city of Mask. I'm also about to start planning books 3 and 4 in the Sooty Feathers.

Thanks Diabolic Immunity would be set in contemporary Glasgow, with a couple of recurring characters, albeit I’m being careful not to give away too much from the Sooty Feather Victorian setting. I started this novel as my nanwrimo in 2012(!) and never quite been happy with the plot. If I can sort that, I may just try and hammer through it. Reading the sooty Feathers books isn’t necessary but will make it a little more satisfying. Also interesting to see the broad strokes of how the supernatural communities developed from the 19th to 21st century.

Finally(!) finished Sooty Feathers #2 (tentatively called Lord of the Hunt) and emailed to publisher for consideration. I’d intended to submit to beta readers, but there was the chance of getting a mid 2020 slot the sooner I submitted, so been a rush just to finish and submit. I’m two weeks later in finishing than hoped, so may have missed that window I’ll update with news, ie if it’s accepted for publication, and release date. It’s 126k words so a bit longer than Resurrection Men. I’m now returning to the follow-up to Thorns of a Black Rose. The Blood Hour is intended to kick off The Bone King series, action/adventure epic fantasy. I’m already a third through first draft. Or I may return to Diabolic Immunity, book 1 of my Blackfeather series, a contemporary supernatural police series set in the same ‘universe’ as Sooty Feathers. The first draft was done a while ago but I need to expand the plot.

Congrats!

Afraid not. Just be wary; there are a lot of scammers out there

If you want it to look good, hire an artist. There are a lot if freelance ones out there. Be wary of using stock images that other books may have used

A great 5 star review of My 2nd novel, Thorns of a Black Rose on Risingshadow.net https://www.risingshadow.net/articles/reviews/984-review-thorns-of-a-black-rose-by-david-craig “...is a highly enjoyable epic fantasy novel which reads like a combination of Arabian Nights, The Thief of Baghdad and Assassin's Creed with a faint touch of Laurence of Arabia. It's a fully satisfying tale of thievery, assassinations, survival and vengeance....”

Roughly double my own sales. If you ignore the ‘million’...

Been a slightly eventful week re my writing this week: I finished the first draft (after 18 months) of the Sooty Feathers book 2, sequel to Resurrection Men. So yay! I also not only got my first blogger review for my new fantasy novel, Thorns of a Black Rose, but also a new blogger review of Resurrection Men! To celebrate, I'll stick links and excerpts of the various blogger reviews below, to convince those of you who've not yet read my books of the errors of your ways Thorns of a Black Rose: Review Review by Mada on Al-Alhambra A few quotes: "Thorns of a Black Rose is a great novel I’ve read that deserves to be on the top selling lists of major book stores such as Waterstones and Barnes and Nobles. This book reads like an RPG of the Desert." - I'd settle for them actually stocking copies, though two of my local Waterstones did stock a copy each of Resurrection Men after I emailed them. "The setting is vivid, and the description takes you back to a world where dusty deserts and camels embark on a vast sweeping epic journey. There’s bandits, assassins, empires, merchant guilds, all jostling for power." "This novel has so much magic I’m flabbergasted that it is this well done" "The prose is well written. The writing is on point. The dialogue is great, and is there a sequel? my rating is 5/5" Resurrection Men Review by Nikki of The Book Dragon Few quotes: "... after chapter 3 or so, I started loving it. It was so unexpected, that I didn’t even realize it at first; I read 40% in one sitting and only stopped because I had happened to glance at the clock! One of the reasons I gave this book such a high rating is that it is good. It doesn’t matter whether your’re a historical fantasy reader or a fan of vampires, even if you’re not, it’s still a great book! I applaud its versatility in catering to all kinds of different audiences." "I absolutely loved the sarcastic humor. Foley and Hunt together meant that I would be snorting every other dialogue. Even when they were apart, Foley and the professor, or even other characters, had quite the wit. It was the perfect balance between mystery/suspense/horror and comedy." "it was absolutely amazing in the last half of the novel. There were gut-wrenching twists that I never in a million years would have seen coming. Everything was so unexpected and played in so nicely with everything else going on. And the ending. Oh my goodness the ending. It was AMAZING. After I was finished reading, I was literally sitting on my couch, stunned. I had yelled through the entire last 1% of the book, giddy and excited. It was the perfect way to wrap up the novel." Review by Jill Elizabeth Quotes "What a great find this was! " "It was an original take on a set of supernatural topics that have been well-covered, and that’s no small feat. The writing is gorgeous – gothic and tonal and perfectly suited to the tale." Review by "Seregil of Rhimineee", at Rising Shadow Few quotes: "a captivating and enjoyable reading experience for readers who like dark speculative fiction novels and enjoy gothic stories. It's one of the most thrilling debut novels I've read in ages." "an example of a perfect scene, I can mention that the scene in which Hunt visits his parents on his birthday and meets his mother is simply brilliant." "the protagonists are charmingly flawed and fascinating individuals."

A good series, I’ve just re-read the first three books and about to start book 4 for the first time

I've got but not yet read the novella and latest two books. I'll do a re-read of the first trilogy first before reading them (so reading this thread cautiously). Do the recent books answer the speculation about the Sithi actually coming from space? An interesting theory which I considered during my last re-read, and after weighing it up decided to come down on the side that the Garden was on the same world. I'm surprised that the books haven't sold as well as hoped, given that years between books isn't unknown in the genre, and readers are generally loyal. Raymond E Feist managed to keep selling books despite the drop in quality. Though I'm curious if his new series set apart from the Riftwar books has sold well? As a newly published author, the discussion in the thread regarding sales is very interesting. From what my publisher says, small independent publishers in general are struggling at the moment. While the emergence of digital reading and social media should be a boon to small presses lacking advertising budgets or the pull to get their books in actual bookstores, I think their place in the market has been saturated by self-publishing. Getting 'noticed' is a struggle; in the ten months since my first book was published, I've sold about 100 books (mix of paperback and ebook), and that's after a lot of time working Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads. At least five boarders here have bought the book, the four who've read it so far giving it positive reviews (thanks!) but with so much coming out, and so much 'old stock' (Eddings etc) still occupying a lot of the marketplace, it's a struggle. There are two Waterstones in Glasgow city centre (plus a further three in the Greater Glasgow area), and while GRRM and Tolkien have a massive space, the stock can be fairly varied. I was lucky in that I managed to convince the two city centre branches to each stock a copy of my book, which was a buzz seeing it in the shelves. On the other hand, they never replaced the copies after they were sold. Back on topic, I was looking forward to re-reading MTS, the novella, and then LKoOA, but the lukewarm response in this forum has put me off a little.

Revenge, responsibility, confrontation and consequences. A hot desert land of diverse peoples dealing with demons, mages, natural disasters … and the Black Rose assassins. The ebook version of my 2nd novel, Thorns of a Black Rose (by David Craig) is now available for pre-order, published by Elsewhen Press. The ebook will be released on all popular ebook platforms on 26 July, and the paperback will be released on 19 October. It's about 75k words and is essentially a standalone prequel to my planned fantasy series. It's ideal for those either burned out by long multi-volume series that take decades to be completed, or want to read an adventure in a setting outwith the usual Western Europe-esque worlds. The press release from the publisher The novel info page, including pre-order links to Amazon etc It's a fantasy novel, set in a land inspired by Ancient Egypt, Morocco and the Sahara. The series will follow a small band of diverse, intrepid, and morally ambiguous adventurers as they cross the world on an overarching quest, enduring hot deserts, humid rainforest, snow-capped mountains and dark, frozen forests. My goal is to write a modern take on the sword & sorcery genre, creating a world of strife and intrigue, revealed to the reader through my band of (mis)adventurers. I hope this linear approach (rather than showing multiple locales with multiple sets of characters) will keep the series tightly focused. I plan to have two shorter follow-up series, one with an early 19th century-based setting, and the other with a modern-based setting. Each novel is intended to tell a standalone tale, while contributing to an overall arc. This novel introduces the reader to three of the protagonists; Shukara (mage), Tamira (thief), and Jassan (desert ranger). It starts in the ancient red-stoned city of Mask, where the protagonists must survive the politics and intrigues of the priest-ruled theocracy. But this is just where their adventure starts... Revenge: Best planned slow and done fast. For those who read my novel, any reviews are appreciated. As a novel written by a new unknown author and published by a small independent press, getting noticed is a constant challenge, so I'd also greatly appreciate it if readers from this forum mention it in the quarterly reading threads (and any other relevant thread). I'm more than happy to discuss my novel and answer any questions/read any feedback. This is a different type of novel from my debut, Resurrection Men, so the writing style differs, my faux Victorian style absent. But I hope anyone who reads it enjoys it.

Received the front cover for Thorns of a Black Rose, my forthcoming epic fantasy novel being published this year by Elsewhen Press. The image is based on a Moroccan village, Ait ben Haddou, as the novel's setting was inspired by north Africa (ancient Egypt and Morocco). The rear cover shows more of the village. https://postimg.cc/gXxc07w6

Congrats!

Thanks, hope you enjoy it More people should follow your wise example

I'd hoped to attend Eastercon this weekend to help promote Resurrection Men, but given my wife and I have a 7 month old baby, decided it wasn't practical. However, my publisher, Elsewhen Press have their own dealer's room at the con, where they're selling my novel and many others. I believe some of their authors will be around, including boarder Zoe Sumra, sci fi writer of Underside series (Sailor to a Siren, and Wages of Sin)

Not sure if anyone's in the Glasgow area, but I'm holding a small book event on Saturday, starting at 1400. I'll be discussing the book, Glasgow as it was then, and reading a short extract of the book. Copies will be on sale. When: 6th April, 2 PM Where: 5 St Margaret's Place, Glasgow, G1 5JY