Dustin Porta's Blog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7c1t...

Just a quick video update of everything I've got going on. Really liking this new microphone.

It makes sense that  a year where everyone stayed home and used technology to stay connected, would be the year that I get into the LitRPG genre. I have written three in the last year with the help of a friend. We're gearing up to write four more and we'll be releasing them all this summer and fall.

LitRPG is a subgenre of gamelit. The main character lives in a fantasy world that follows the rules of a video game. It is not a new concept. Movies like Tron were early versions of gamelit. Mangas like Sword Art Online  have been around for almost 20 years. I watched the anime version of that manga when I was younger along with another gamelit anime called .hack//Sign.

The LitRPG we are writing feels like a portal fantasy. A human from our world, gets too involved with a game, and gets transported into a high fantasy setting, that follows video game rules. Complete with levels, hit points and character classes. We like action, fun, and all of the exciting fantasy stuff the make fantasy games so popular.

I hope you'll check it out, but I understand it's not for everyone. I do have a followup to Whalemoon sitting in a folder on my desktop, waiting for me to come back to it. So keep an eye toward May or June for some big announcements and cover reveals. 

With the lockdowns and people reading more, I have been waiting eagerly to make one of my books free. And finally, Whalemoon is free in ebook format on pretty much all major retailers. And it should stay that way for the rest of the year.

I've had a ton of downloads already and I hope everyone who reads and enjoys will take the time to leave a comment somewhere.

It's a little book and I don't have super high expectations for it, but that reader feedback sticks around and helps me well into the future, not just with Whalemoon but with sequels and other series in the future. 

Whalemoon is also available in audio and a very affordable paperback. Hardcover: not yet. 

Quick update:  Cast in Sand is now 99 cents. Whalemoon 2 is about 70% written but I paused it until after New Years and am cowriting a LitRPG series. Very quickly I might add. It's coming out next year. (More info on that later.) And I still have that completed poetry book that I'm just hanging onto it until I feel like putting it out there...

My second book, Beneath the Black Crescent, is temporarily unavailable while I make some changes and get ready to release a second edition.

The first book in the series got an update mid 2019. It was the first novel I published and I thought it deserved better editing. Then, last year I updated the side story, Cast in Sand, with a brand new cover.

Black Crescent will be online again in a few months with a better polish, then in 2021, both books in the series will be getting new covers. 

This is all in an effort to bring my oldest books up to snuff because I've got a new series coming in 2021 and more Atlas books in the works. 

Thanks for your patience.

And if you just finished Children of Atlas, and simply can't wait to read the next one... drop me a line. I'm sure we can work something out.

Whalemoon may have been eliminated from the Self Pub Fantasy Blog-Off, but the judges were fairly kind to it. I'll be reposting their finalists, too, because regardless of what you think about indie books, best out of 300 is a pretty high bar and previous years have uncovered some excellent books.

You can read all about it here.

https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2020/09/sp...

It also got an horrible mention in the cover contest.
​https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2020/06/spfbo-6-intro-and-cover-contest/ 
So big thanks to Perie Wolford for always doing such a fantastic job. 

I keep changing blogs. I just haven't found a service I like yet. So for the time being I'm going to post here, because it's free. Here's a link to my previous blog. I quit posting here because it was full of ads. https://dustinporta.home.blog/

I wasn’t planning to make this announcement so soon, but: The second book in Wyrmwind Tales, has a title a cover and a release date.

But first, I just want to thank Dean F. Wilson for including me in his SFF Book Bonanza: New Releases, for November. 

If you don’t know Dean, he’s a science fiction author, a big supporter of the Indie Author community and he has been running this newsletter for a while now. Here, take a look:

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You can check it out right here. I follow the SFF Book bonanza just to keep up with what’s new in Indie Publishing. Also, if you haven’t read Whalemoon yet, you can link over to the SFF Book Bonanza to get it.

Alright, enough ado, check out Dragon Wind and tell me what you think of it.

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You can see the full cover over on the book page. It doesn’tcome out until next year, but I had all the pieces so I figured ‘d make it official.

It is…admittedly a little cheezy. Over the top.  But that’s the idea right?

Had I more time to nit-pick, I’d have found practical suit or armor. But this the art I had to work with. My designer took what he was given and knocked it out of the park.

On to the last bit of news: 2020

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I’m in the Maritimes now. Yes it’s cold. No I don’t miss Florida yet, but I probably will, come January. It’s not full time, but I’ll be here a few years at least.

I’m writing full-time! So if you’re eagerly awaiting the next book, you can expect it to be ready a lot sooner.

Okay, technically I am working full-time as an editor. But it’s going very well for my own work.

I’ve got one poetry book just shy of being finished. Halfway through Dragon Wind. And…hmmm four or five chapters through the third Atlas Book.

I could use a few advance readers for the poetry book, so drop me a line if interested and I’ll send you a paperback in a few months.

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Finally:  Conferences

I want to hit up some cons in 2020. Is there a Science Ficiton or Fantasy con near you that is too good to miss?  Let me know and I’ll put it on my list.

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Imprisoned there on atoll bare
and spoke out from the deep
a warding poem inscribed in bone,
was bound in blood to keep.

Okay, so it’s not a world map, but it’s a start. I might wait until book three or four to do the whole world. I’ll probably do a map of the Dragon’s Gyre next, followed by a map of the Flowered Isles. I like the idea of starting small and building. It fits with the story.

Hey readers. I got into another group. Children of Atlas is one of many awesome stories in the Worlds of Wonder collection. They are right here.

How cool are those jellyfish?

There’s a certain mystical-historical quality that I try to capture when I write. It’s that sense of “awe” that fantasy writers always strive for. But it has always been a strange fit strange fit in my science fiction setting. Which is why I’m revealing a fantasy cover today.

I thought: why not
bring my full-force to bear and write straight-up fantasy novel like
the ones I grew up with.

I think you’ll notice two things when you check out the Worlds of Wonder group. You’ll find science fiction stories that have a bit of “awe” built-in. You’ll also notice that my old cover doesn’t stand up as well as it used to. Which is all the more reason I’m excited to launch a new book, with a brand-spanking new cover

In this book, and by
working with my cover designer, I’ve tied to capture the same
feeling of awe and amazement as the first time I picked up Wizard of
Earthsea back in Middleschool.

[image error] Consider this a half-release. I’ll give the full, hi-res version next time along with a sample .

So in case you skipped it, go back and read some of the great authors the Worlds of Wonder. And while you’re over there imagine how cool this new cover is going to look in the next promo listing.

Whalemoon is set to come out at the end of the year. The sequel is well underway already! And Atlas book three…is coming along, I’m making very careful and meticulous progress in the Atlas world.

If you want a better look at how things are going, follow my new blog. This one that you’re on!

Big changes are coming.
And with this new adventure, I'm starting a new blog.
Consolidating all of my existing blogs and social media and redirecting them to one place.
Eventually I'll be hosting the blog here, but in the meantime here is the link https://dustinporta.home.blog