James Mallory's Blog

First of all, a happy 2025 to everyone.

Deliverance of Dragons is wending its way through the proofing process, wherein the author(s) discover they gave multiple chapters the same title, the same moonturn, and often forgot their calendars completely. Fortunately our copyeditor is a very patient man, and has uncomplainingly caught all our mistakes. Any mistakes remaining are entirely mine: feel free to point them out since we might be able to fix them in the mm paperback.

Once we're past this, copyediting and proofing are done. I'm very excited about getting the book on-press. And then it will be May, and we will all have copies in our hands.

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We have now sold the rights for Deliverance of Dragons to the same company as the first two books in the trilogy (Brilliance Audio). Its release date will be the same as the initial print edition, so next May.

This update makes me very happy.

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https://merlinscribe.dreamwidth.org/file/200x200/302.jpg

The link above goes to a thumbnail of the cover. I'm sorry the image is so small; I cannot think of any way to embiggen it. But: News! Tor did not ask for a revision cycle, so I have done the copyedit (in which the CE wonders whether Vieliessar would actually LIE to anyone, and the author falls about laughing) and we're still on track for a May release.

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If you have general questions about the World of Obsidian and its lore, post them here and I will answer them as best I can. I say "as best I can" because I have been working on this series since the late Cretaceous period and I may no longer remember some answers.

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I have just turned in a book to Tor. It is the first book in THE MOON IN HIDING series, set in the same universe as THE HOUSE OF THE FOUR WINDS but a few centuries earlier. I think you'll like it; a bit of THE PRINCESS BRIDE, a bit of BEST IN SHOW...

Tor is probably still reeling from having the 1100 page behemoth dropped on it, so I've heard nothing about the latest book yet. I'll pass on whatever I hear.

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I heard from Tor this week and they told me that Deliverance of Dragons will be coming out in a simultaneous hardcover and trade paperback edition. Don't know their respective prices, but I will try to find out closer to the release date.

If you want the hardcover, you should order it *specifically* through a bookstore/outlet/mailorder. If it's bricks and mortar, even better, since I don't know if Amazon will be getting the hardcovers at all.

The MM paperback should come out on its usual schedule, about a year after the TPB.

The cover reveal should be pretty soon. I'll let you know.

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I am pleased to announce that Book Three now has a title and a publication date.

Dragon Prophecy #3: Deliverance of Dragons: The Art of War will be published by Tor Books on May 27, 2025.

I know it's fifteen months from now, but a regular revision-and-production cycle is about 12 months, so we're pretty much in the groove. I haven't seen any revision requests yet, and much as I hope they will bow to my greatness and publish it as it stands, I'm not holding my breath on that. And the longer they delay in asking for revisions, the more I'll have to scramble. We'll see.

Hey, at least it's news, right?

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I see I posted this in entirely the wrong place and most of you won't have seen it. Ah well. Copypasta to the rescue.

A happy day to you all, and I hope it is spent with the family and friends you wish.

No further word on the Dragon Prophecy IX book, but I'm a third of the way through an English Civil War book and making good time. I don't actually expect to hear a peep out of Tor before February, but they could surprise me.

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I would like to announce that on Monday the completed book, whatever its final title turns out to be, was turned in to my agent, who will turn it in to my editor.

There will be a revision cycle, then a production cycle, then the book will be scheduled. It could be as short as a year, or as long as... well, let's don't jinx this. There can be some insane holdups when a book misses its delivery date. It's like cogs in a machine, really.

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I see from my posts that it has been a shockingly long time since I did anything like keep you in the loop. I blame this on the fact that March, April, and part of May were spent going in and out of the hospital, and the rest of May and much of June was spent packing to move.

None of these activities, you will note, leaves time or energy to write.

All of which is my craven and deeply apologetic way of explaining why the book isn't done. It's extremely annoying to be 80 pages from the end in April and still there in August.

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