Kyle West's Blog

The Worlds will never be the same…

The Swarmers are on the move. As star systems fall one by one, the League of Worlds begins to fragment. The Dread Pirate Zheng Yang advances her Golden Armada toward the League’s core, bringing either death or salvation. The Prophet Sharo Khalin consolidates a theocracy in the spinward mid-worlds, while the League of Worlds concentrates everything toward a last-ditch defense against the Swarmers.

But unknown to all these major players, the Worlds’ only hope lies in Lucian Abrantes, his crew, their starship, and of course, the powerful Orbs of Starsea. But even these powerful artifacts might not be enough to survive the dark days ahead.

He must reach the hellish planet of Hephaestus before his enemies do, and claim the Orb of Thermalism, located somewhere on its lava-ridden surface. Can Lucian secure the prize, or will enemies old and new stop him in his tracks?

Get it now!

The post The Fires of Hephaestus is Live! appeared first on Kyle West.

After a lot of work and writing through the baby’s nap times and after he’s gone to bed, the final product of The Fires of Hephaestus is more or less done! All that’s left is a final read-through to catch any last-minute mistakes before uploading the final files. For the first time, I’ll be experiencing this story unfold chapter by chapter, so this is the closest I’ll come to experiencing it as a reader.

It is set to release on April 8. If you haven’t already, you can preorder the e-book at your preferred online retailer. The paperback will be available for purchase on release day, April 8, while the audiobook will come later this year.

The post Almost There… appeared first on Kyle West.

After many moons, The Xenoworld Saga will finally be coming to audio!

I just commissioned the first book, Prophecy, to be narrated by the very talented voice artist, Brogan Werder. She did a bang-up job on Lost Angel, the Wasteland Chronicles prequel, so she’s no stranger to the Wasteland Chronicles universe. I’m glad she’s agreed to work with me again and finally bring this series to life.

Along with the audiobooks, Xenoworld Saga will be getting new covers. The first book’s cover has already been complete, and if I may say so myself, the great folks at MiblArt outdid themselves.

The rest of the books will be done as qwll, and I definitely notice a lot more downloads with this new version, surpassing even Apocalypse at times. Seems people don’t care that it’s a spin-off series, and just want those amazing dragons on their e-readers. The post-apocalyptic ruins in the background are a nice touch.

Can’t wait for it to be out!

The post Coming Soon to an Audiobook Near You…The Xenoworld Saga! appeared first on Kyle West.

Holy cow, life has been busy. When life gets busy, this blog is the first victim, unfortunately.

Still, I thought I’d pop in for those of you still around and reading.

Book 6 of Starsea, The Fires of Hephaestus, comes out April 8! That is a mere 17 days from today, so it’ll go by fast.

There is a lot to look forward to. No spoilers, of course, but preliminary reactions are that it’s epic and has some really surprising twists. But you’d expect nothing less from a Kyle West book, right?

I’ve also begun work on Book 7. That is, I completed my outline today and it has me pumped to get started.

As far as other updates, The Prophecy of the Seven is going to start production soon, and will probably be released sometime in mid to late April.

I think that about does it for the book news. Other than the fact, of course, that my wife and I are expecting another child! I have no idea how I’m going to balance writing with another one. I may end up having to get real. Real meaning two books a year for a while…

Of course, I’ll keep trying to hit my goal of 4 a year. Who knows? Maybe I can get their naps to line up and power myself with coffee. Or maybe the series will somehow take off and I can afford childcare, which is extremely costly in America. One can dream, right?

Other than that, just enjoying this lovely spring weather we’re having in Atlanta. Now, I’ll return to my busy life.

The post Book 6 Update appeared first on Kyle West.

I’m getting close to the end of the first draft for Fires of Hephaestus. I’ve pretty faithfully been adding 2,000 words a day since the start of the year, and I think I only missed two days, so all those words have really started to add up.

The plan today is the same as every other day this year. Get another 2k words, and that’ll get me to 80,000 words total, just 5,000 shy of the length of Prophecy of the Seven.

Fires should definitely be longer. During the edits, I will probably smooth things out and add more description, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes above 100k words, which is usually what I shoot for.

So, a couple of more weeks until I have a finished first draft. Which is a bit crazy to think about.

I’m hoping I can keep up with the schedule. It’s not easy, because it really requires a lot of discipline to go to bed early so that I’m not exhausted in the morning. 1-2 hours at night is all I really get to myself, and a lot of that time I have to spend writing. Such is life when you stay at home with a 1.5-year-old.

I’ve found that I can almost find a little more in the tank if I just tell myself I do. I have to remind myself that it’s worth it in the end. Anyone who’s a parent knows that there’s really no such thing as a break, especially in the early years.

I’d like to keep up with this blog more, and my newsletter more, but I’ve been prioritizing the writing more than anything else. So, if you’re not hearing from me more, then that’s the reason.

The post Close to the End appeared first on Kyle West.

At long last, the day is here!

E-book available from your preferred retailer.

The paperback will be out later this month.

Long lost since the disappearance of Arian, The Prophecy of the Seven is the key to finding the rest of the Orbs of Starsea. It would secure Lucian’s position as the true Chosen of the Manifold for good. The only problem? He doesn’t know where in the Worlds it is.

When he receives a mysterious vision, he drops everything to return to Volsung, the planet he’d hoped to never see again. Only there can he discover the prophecy’s location.

But it might already be too late. As the Swarmers ravage the League of Worlds, the old Starsea Mages are on the rise. Like the Mage War over fifty years ago, they dream of an empire and a new era for humanity where the mages rule over all…

The post The Prophecy of the Seven is Out! appeared first on Kyle West.

Just three days before the release of Prophecy of the Seven, I’ve got more exciting news. Work on Book 6 is well underway and ahead of schedule. Just hit 24,000 words last night, and at the current pace, the first draft should be completed by late February. The book itself is slated for release in early April. April 8, in fact, exactly one year after the release of Rifts of Psyche.

Thus far, I’ve had no problem hitting my word counts. Probably because I’m going for a more modest goal each day, instead of trying to do too much and then getting overwhelmed and going into hibernation for a day or two. This is allowing me to be much more productive and I hope that keeps up.

Without further ado, here is the cover for Fires of Hephaestus.

The post Book Six Cover Reveal: The Fires of Hephaestus appeared first on Kyle West.

The Prophecy of the Seven, the fifth book in The Starsea Cycle, is on track for a January 14 release! This is exactly one year after The Mages of Starsea came out.

It’s incredible how much can change in one year. A year ago, I had yet to release a single book in the series and was living in West Palm Beach with 15 novels to my name. Now, I’m sitting at my desk in Atlanta with four books in the series out, a box set, three audiobooks, and an audiobook box set, along with the completion of The Wasteland Chronicles series in audio, along with the release of a complete audio box set for that. As of the fourteenth, I’ll have published twenty books.

Needless to say, 2021 was a busy year!

This year is going to be more of the same. More releases, more audiobooks, and hopefully more everything! Although if experience has taught me anything, it’s that you never end up where you thought you’d be at the beginning of the year.

This year, I’m hoping to get up to at least Book 8 of Starsea, though Book 9 is definitely in the cards. It all begins with the release of Book 5, and Book 6 getting ready for release in early April this year.

To preorder book five, just follow the link below! It’s had some rave reviews from my beta reading team, and the team at Deranged Doctor knocked this cover out of the park, as usual.

PREORDER

The post The Prophecy of the Seven appeared first on Kyle West.

Well, we all made it. That’s pretty much sums up my feelings for this year.

2021 was huge for me. I launched a new series and released four books in it, something I haven’t done since 2013. My resolution for 2021 was to be more consistent with my writing, setting daily word counts and sticking to them. I wasn’t consistent with that throughout the whole year. Especially after book four, I was pretty exhausted and on the verge of burnout. Writing with a little one is far from easy.

So this year, my goal is going to be a bit different. My plan is to set a smaller daily word count goal of 2,000 words. Something that’s challenging, but still quite doable. Because of limited time, I’m also going to spend less time in the editing phase. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, I can spend a lot of time trying to engineer my sentences to be perfect. Unfortunately, this is not only time-consuming, it can cause me to make more mistakes in readability with very little benefit.

My plan this year is to spend about a week on the editing phase for each book. And to stop making excuses for my word count. I know I can do 2,000 words a day, and my goal is to stop lying to myself by saying I can’t do it. Because I know I can. The key is just sitting down and doing the work, forcing myself to not look away from the screen until I’ve hit my minimum goal.

Assuming I remain consistent with that this year, 2,000 words a day X 365 days in a year comes out to 730,000 words. Subtract 100,000 to account for editing and outlining days, and round it down to 600,000 to make it more even. That equals 5-6 books this year.

It sounds crazy reading that back, especially when I didn’t get there this year. This year was supposed to be five books, and I nearly got to that point. But I also think I lacked focus at times, especially in the latter half of the year.

So I’m not setting a goal of five books this year. Rather, I’m setting a goal of 2,000 words per day. By the end of this month, I want the habit to be so ingrained that I don’t even think about it. Assuming I can pull it off, that would mean I could potentially get to the end of the series late this year or early next year.

2021 has been quite the adventure. Given what I had on my plate, I’m amazed that I got four books out. That said, this year will be filled with new challenges. I plan to release the rest of the series in audio.

Of course, there can always be kinks to our best-laid plans, especially where kids are concerned. So I’m not going to beat myself up if I miss a day. Even if I can hit 2,000 words 90% of the time, that’s still about five books this year, and at worst, four.

Here’s hoping to an awesome 2022, and hopefully, the endless apocalypse going on outside our doors will come to a swift conclusion.

The post Happy New Year! appeared first on Kyle West.

Here in the States at least, it’s Thanksgiving, a holiday where you’re supposed to give thanks for all the good things that have happened in your life, and the good people who happen to be a part of it.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Watching my son grow up has been a blast, and seeing my new series not completely fall flat on its face has been an added bonus.

I’m thankful that 2021 is shaping up to be much better than last year for a multitude of reasons. I’m thankful that I’m on track to finish my twentieth novel. I’m thankful for my wife, family, and friends. I’m thankful to have seasons and cold weather again after almost four years of languishing in the hot, humid swamps of Florida.

I’m also thankful for having the opportunity to be at this long enough to reach my twentieth novel, the first draft of which I finished just a couple of days ago. In the author community, reaching twenty novels is seen a major milestone. The reason is, the more books you have, the more likely you get to write novels for a living. Even if you don’t sell a lot of each individual title (which describes me), when you add them up, many little streams can make a mighty river.

I’m incredibly grateful for my fans who have made all this possible, because, without you guys, it wouldn’t be. Seven years from the day I quit my crappy job, I still get to write books for a living. I get to write about dragons, aliens, and zombies in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, along with mages flying around in outer space. I’m so glad there are people out there who don’t mind that I mix things that really shouldn’t mix, otherwise I’d be out of a job.

So, Happy Thanksgiving to all, wherever you happen to be and wherever you happen to be from. I’m grateful to have you as a reader.

The post Happy Thanksgiving to All appeared first on Kyle West.