Stephen Aryan's Blog

Swords and Larceny is published TODAY! Heists. Thieves. Rogues. Scoundrels. I’ve got a story in there that’s a little bit Indiana Jones, a little bit LOTR, a little bit Goonies.

This anthology is published by Baen books in America and there is a fantastic list of authors in the book with stories of their own including:-

Bill Willingham

Wen Spencer

A. Lee Martinez

Tim Akers

James Enge

Christopher Ruocchio – with one of his first non Sun Eater fantasy stories

It’s available from all good bookshops via this link to the Simon and Schuster website. If you are on the UK, the best places are Forbidden Planet and Amazon. It’s not available in indy bookshops or Waterstones yet.

Today is the publication day for New York Minute. It is now available in paperback, ebook and on Kindle Unlimited from Amazon. There are two links below – but obviously it is also available in all countries via Amazon.

Amazon USA Amazon UK

The release of this book is different for me. It’s my first self published book, albeit it is a novella. Even so, it marks a change. I’m now a hybrid author.

I’m doing a livestream tonight at 9pm UK time on YouTube with some author friends. Everyone is welcome to tune in and help me celebrate. Bring a drink and some questions.

Self publishing has transformed over the last ten years. The quality of work produced and the options to get a book in the hands of readers have dramatically increased. The work that some writers (not all) put into their books makes them absolutely indistinguishable from any other book you’d find in a bookshop.

I’m always clear when I talk about the differences between traditional publishing and self publishing. One is not better than the other and self publishing should not be a knee-jerk reaction if your book was rejected by an agent. That’s petty, childish and most likely a waste of your time and a lot of money.

So what does this mean for the future?

For me, it means more self published projects. Two more novellas in my immediate future. However, I’m not saying goodbye to traditional publishing and I have a new thing to write soon for that side of the street. Book 3 in current trilogy is also due to be published next year.

It also means if I want to write something and I believe in a project, and I’m super excited by it, but a publisher doesn’t take it on, I can still get it into the hands of readers. It could sell 10 copies in the first week, it could sell ten thousand copies. The risk is all on me, so I would have to decide if I had the time, energy and money to pursue it alongside other projects.

So, watch this space in the next 2 years for some new, interesting and potentially different projects coming from me.

It’s one month until my first self-published project comes out. Here’s a few things I’ve learned since I decided to move forward with this novella.

Pre-orders matterThe importance of Word of MouthPublication Day is just the beginningAdvertising and a business headIt’s exhausting

To read the full post, you need to sign up to my monthly newsletter. Also, as another incentive, those on my newsletter receive information ahead of time, including later this month, they will be able to read Chapter 1 of New York Minute for free.

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Today is the cover reveal for New York Minute. It will be published on October 1st 2024.

The idea for New York Minute came to me a few years ago and it would not leave me alone. I was busy with other books, so I ignored it, but it kept nagging at me. Going in, I knew that this story didn’t fit into a neat genre box, so that would make it difficult to sell. Nevertheless, I had to write it and exorcise it from my head.

Once it was drafted, I realised that because New York Minute was a novella, that was another barrier for most publishers. So, I sat on the book for a while (not literally). I edited it some more. I fiddled with the story a bit. I thought about if there was a way to make it into a novel. Eventually, I realised that the answer was no. I read it a few more times and I still liked it. I didn’t want to just leave it on a shelf. ​Given all of that, I realised that self publishing the story was going to be the best approach, but having been with my agent since 2013, and traditionally published since 2015, what did I know about self publishing? The answer was, not a lot. ​

Over the years, I have spoken to a lot of self published authors, and interviewed a few on my YouTube channel, but there’s a world of difference between talking to someone about it, and going through the process yourself. So I called on some experts to help me who had done it, many times before.

The result is a brand new book and I am enormously proud of it. It will be published on October 1st 2024.

You can pre-order it now on Amazon in ebook and paperback

What is it about?

A noir story, set in an alternate New York City

After years of being a cop, and now a private investigator, there’s little that surprises Cole Blackstone. But when someone working for Karl Dolman, the most notorious crime boss in the city asks for his help, Cole is caught off guard, and more than a little afraid.

Dolman’s daughter, Selina, has  gone missing. To prevent a gang war that will tear the city apart, Cole must find her. But the job is being made more difficult as everyone is interfering, cops and criminals, and no one wants him to succeed.

Together with his childhood friend, Bracken Hart, the two men must navigate the depths of the city’s underworld for answers. In a race against the clock, Cole needs to find out what happened to Selina, and who is responsible, before the streets run red.

You can pre-order New York Minute now on Amazon in ebook and paperback

What are people saying about it?

I asked some authors to read advanced copies of the novella and they had the following to say about it.

‘New York Minute splashes onto the indie scene with all the well-loved hallmarks, tones, and tropes of noir crime fiction, but with a fresh new voice and speculative fiction elements that make them all feel new again. A fun-house-mirror alternate, electricity-free New York City sets the stage for a page-turning mystery, rough-but-lovable characters, and an exploration of what it means to be “good” in a world so filled with evil.’

MJ Kuhn

‘New York Minute proves that, given time, societies can shift, places can change, and people can grow. With sharp prose and a jaded PI protagonist, this novella packs a bare-knuckled punch of worldbuilding and character within its noir-soaked pages.‘

Adrian m. gibson

‘Gaslamp Noir Gangs of New York with swords, I loved it!’

Peter mClean

‘New York Minute is a fast-paced crime story with fantasy set dressing, imagining a world where New York is unrecognizable, with magic beasts we only catch a glimpse of, sword fights in alleys that we can’t get enough of, and a whole ocean of blood spilled in the pursuit of the truth.’

krystle matar

Is this a standalone story?

New York Minute is the first novella set in this new world – and it is not connected to any of my other books or series. However, the good news is I am already working on the second novella, and I am roughly (don’t quote me) planning to publish it around April or May in 2025.

The second novella picks up moments after the first one ended and once you’ve read it, you will be able to guess where the story is going.

You can pre-order it now on Amazon in ebook and paperback

The Blood Dimmed Tide is out in the world. This is my 10th traditionally published novel in 9 years. That still feels weird to write and say when I talk about it. I always wanted to be a published writer, but to be talking about my tenth novel since I debuted is a little bizarre and slightly unbelievable.

Looking back, I can clearly remember my unbridled excitement when, after years of rejections, I got a full manuscript request from an agent in London and then I travelled down to see her. I remember hearing my mobile phone ring when I was driving home from work, which was weird because no one rang me at that time. I didn’t have hands free, and fearing the worst, I stopped in a car park to check my voicemail, only to hear my agent tell me there was good news. I called her back and she told me over the phone that I had a book deal for a trilogy. I can picture that first event for Battlemage when it was published.

And now, book number ten is here (which you can order from here). Book eleven for next year is written, and is already in edits, and I’m working on something new – news about that on August 1st. My current series has been my most challenging, weaving fact and fiction together wasn’t easy, and I’m enormously proud of it. But I’m not done yet and there’s a lot more to come.

There are other writing projects and different types of stories I want to tackle. Thanks to changes in the publishing landscape over the last ten years I now have opportunities that didn’t exist before to experiment. Self publishing or indie publishing, whatever you want to call it, has changed enormously and a lot of writers just make their living via that approach. Kickstarters and other fundraising companies have also helped people launch creative projects they couldn’t have done by themselves.

So this year I’m part of a kickstarter too, Whispers in the Earth, 20 stories about folklore. And on October 1st I will be launching my first indie published project. The cover reveal for that is coming on August 1st, and thereafter I’ll be talking about a lot, and telling people where they can go to pre-order it.

More news soon.

I’m delighted to announce that I will be taking part in the inaugural “It’s Strange Up North” – an evening of fantastical fiction at Waterstones Leeds.

This is on Saturday 15th June from 5.30pm to 8.30pm

MORE INFO HERE

The evening will start with an opportunity to mingle with your favourite authors, chat about their work, their books and just about anything else — with complimentary drinks and nibbles.

Then the authors will move to their individual tables where you can get your books signed and continue the conversation.

This will be less formal than a signing or panel event, just a very chilled event and I’m really looking forward to it. More info and tickets here or above.

Sign up to my free monthly newsletter in February, and your name goes into a draw to win a signed and personalised copy of The Judas Blossom (open worldwide). Draw is in early March.

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There is a limited time offer from January 24-26th only on Presales of The Blood Dimmed Tide from Barnes and Noble.

If you pre-order it in this time, you will get 25% off, and if you are a Rewards Member you will get an additional 10% off.

Getting books into physical brick and mortar bookshops is difficult, as has proven the case for a lot of authors lately, both in Barnes and Noble and here in the UK in Waterstones. Pre-orders send a clear message to the bookshops, it shows support for the series and it does really help get the word out. So if enjoyed The Judas Blossom and want to read book, I would really appreciate a B&N pre-order. Thank you for the support.

Order it here – Barnes and Noble

Of course you can also do the same in the UK and pre-order it from Amazon or Waterstones, although there is not a discount for them. – Waterstones

If you pre-order The Blood Dimmed Tide from Barnes and Noble you get a whopping discount, but only for two days from Jan 24-26th

25% of a pre-order plus an extra 10% for Premium Members.

https://t.co/O3ukxqXZJ2

There's been a lot of talk about getting books into B and N, and generally into some brick and mortar stores. Preorders show them the audience is out there, and it sends a clear message to the market too. If you read The Judas Blossom and enjoyed it, then I encourage you to pre-order Book 2 of the trilogy, which is published in July.

Book 3 is written, it has a title, and edits will be begin soon.

The Nightingale and The Falcon book 2 – Cover Reveal

The first piece of news is the cover and title reveal of book 2. It’s called The Blood-Dimmed Tide, and below is a picture of the cover. It’s available to pre-order now.

Once again the title comes from a poem, like the first book, which was from a poem by Ferdowsi, a Persian poet. This time, the poet is William Butler Yeats, and it comes from The Second Coming, a very famous poem by the Irishman. You probably know bits of it, even if you didn’t know the title of the poem. He wrote it after WWII, and it is about a world where all hope and innocence are wiped away, where evil and violence flourish.

In this book, which is my Empire Strikes Back, things get worse, and indeed the centre cannot hold so this book is packed full of action, excitement, adventure, deceit, chaos, bloodshed and bits of magic. You can real the full press release about cover reveal on the FanFiAddict website here.

Fantasycon 2024 – Chester, UK – October

As mentioned I will be attending this event. It is one of the 3 main events I will be at in 2024, on panels and doing signings. The extra piece of news is that I will be one of the Guests of Honour at Fantasycon this year.

So that means a spotlight one on one interview and other panels and stuff during the event. October is a long way off, but I thought I would get it in people’s diaries now.

You can buy tickets here