It’s almost here!

Things are moving fast for my latest fantasy novel, Tower of Cortico. Today, the cover was finalized! Here it is:

Yes, it’s just a teaser, but I couldn’t give it all away just yet, could I?

If you want to be among the first to see the cover of Tower of Cortico (and hey, also the first to read it!), sign up for an ARC.

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If you can’t commit to be an ARC reader at this time, look for the full cover reveal when I announce the release date and the book launch party. Coming soon! Watch this space for details, and make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss it.

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Other news

This week I’ll be attending HopeWords: A Writers Conference. Aside from learning and being encouraged in the sessions and getting a little hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains, I plan to use whatever spare time I have to write. I’m looking forward to some space to continue working on The Elmnas Chronicles. With a lot of prayer and a lot of perseverance, Book IV will be drafted this year. There’s so much to write, and so little time to write it! If you have any time management and/or writing tips handy, feel free to share them. I need all the help I can get.

In the meantime…

From the writings of Alluvion: Elemental Magic

In the world of Alluvion, you’ll find most of those with magical ability draw their power from elemental sources. Here’s a little from the scholarly studies of Flavian H. Reem, in his essential work, In Your Element: A Novice’s Guide to Source Magic.

Why does magical ability have an elemental source? What is this magic, precisely, and how does it work?

The answers, at present, are myriad and sometimes controversial. Ancient thinkers believed this extraordinary force as old as the world itself, a gift from the Creator to creation, as recorded in Alluvion Epica Mundi, the oldest holy book in existence:

So the Divine gave to each race a part in his power: water to the west and fire to the east, earth to the north and air to the south, so that they may know him. Thus ever after the peoples sought the elements, but only those whom the Divine willed could grasp it.

Recent scholarship has provided new and less ethereal theories. Still, research supports the oldest theory: the drawing of particular sources may indeed have a genetic and even cultural component, perhaps related to the sources most readily abundant in the regions in which each magically inclined race has evolved and adapted.

At any rate, in this volume we deal not with the why, but the how. The following pages will provide novices of every elemental inclination the foundational mechanics necessary for successful wielding. …

Whether you have newly discovered your gift or are a veteran user who desires deeper understanding, this guide will serve you well.