Hey gang! Paternus, my new contemporary mythic fantasy novel, will finally be unleashed upon the world on May 1st. Weird, I know. For me, at least. AND, there’s a prerelease giveaway coming up on Goodreads that will run from this Friday, April 1 through the 14th. First editions, personalized, signed with tender loving care by yours truly. In other words, untouched by human hands. eBooks are on presale now on Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, etc. No presale for print, sorry. Amazon is like that.

PATERNUS

Gods, monsters, angels, devils. Call them what you like. They exist.

The mythical epic battles between titans, giants, and gods, heaven and hell, the forces of light and darkness. They happened.

And the war isn’t over.

17 year old Fi Patterson lives with her stuffy English uncle and has an internship at a local hospital for the aged. She doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life, misses her dead mother, wonders about the father she never knew.

One bright spot is caring for Peter, a dementia-ridden old man whose faraway smile can make her whole day. And there’s her conflicted attraction to Zeke -- awkward, brilliant, talented -- who plays guitar for the old folks.

Then a group of very strange and frightening men show up for a “visit”...

Fi and Zeke’s worlds are shattered as their typical everyday concerns are suddenly replaced by the immediate need to stay alive -- and they try to come to grips with the unimaginable reality of the Firstborn.

“Keep an open mind. And forget everything you know...”

What readers are saying (for real, I didn’t make this shit up):

“What if myths were real? Which is like Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson, but this takes it a whole lot further. Think your favorite Teen and YA fantasy adventures, but for grown-ups. I loved it!”

“A deep and believable world with compelling characters. Funny, snarky and exciting. A really fun read.”

“Bold epic fantasy that takes myths, science, and legends, and creates an original cosmology that spills into the present day with action and surprises left and right. Fantastic.”

“Excellent storytelling. Imaginative and captivating.”

“Paternus is a bold epic fantasy in the mythic tradition of Neil Gaiman's American Gods, with graphic novel pacing and colorful ensemble reminiscent of Alan Moore's The Watchmen and the grand scope and narrative momentum of Grant Morrison's graphic novel Seven Soldiers of Victory. It evokes the same sense of wonder as C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, but for a more sophisticated reader of fantasy (and without the Christian allegory). Fans of the above, as well as those who loved J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter but grew up, will welcome this addition to the ranks of contemporary epic fantasy.”

“Get ready to have everything you thought about mythological beings and monsters turned on its head. Not only are those tales based on true events but those events have now spilled over into the present day. This imaginative story plunges its young protagonists headlong into a titanic struggle between good and evil that shatters everything they thought they knew about their families, their world and even themselves. Ashton pulls you in and takes you on a wild ride through an alternate reality that normally exists just beneath surface of the modern world but is about to erupt and threaten our very existence. The re-interpretation of myths is original in style and approach. The level of detailed research and linking in of historical tidbits in inventive new ways are evocative of The DaVinci Code’s Dan Brown’s twists on religious cults and secret societies, and together with references to a wide range of myths and legends, give the story a great depth that helps suck the reader in. I read a lot of this kind of thing, and thought Paternus was excellent. Ashton does a great job developing the characters, the villains are great, the overall writing style flows easily, and the writing on the action pieces is exceptional. I can’t wait to see how the story unfolds in the next book.”

Genre: Contemporary mythic fantasy adventure. Mythic fiction.

Market: New Adult to Adult (as opposed to Teen or YA, though savvy 16 or 17 year olds might survive without permanent damage).

More info on the Paternus Books Media website.

Thanks all. Have a fantastic day. And go give my book a “want to read” on Goodreads or preorder it or do something else positive and wonderful that would make my day. If you feel like it. Or not.

Sincerely,

The Management

Some of my favorite books available on Kindle Unlimited:

They Mostly Come Out At Night and Where the Waters Turn Black by Benedict Patrick

Paternus by Dyrk Ashton

Danse Macabre by Laura M. Hughes

The Half Killed by Quenby Olson

A Star Reckoners Lot by Darrell Drake

Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe

Jaeth's Eye by K. S. Villoso


Here are some that I haven't read, but have heard mostly positive things about:

The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes

Revenant Winds by Mitchell Hogan

Ghosts of Tomorrow by Michael R Fletcher

A Warrior's Path by Davis Ashura

Valley of Embers by Steven Kelliher

Faithless by Graham Austin-King. He also has another series, The Riven Wyrde Saga, beginning with Fae - The Wild Hunt

Ours is the Storm by D. Thourson Palmer

Path of Man by Matt Moss

Threat of Madness by D.K. Holmberg

To Whatever End by Claire Frank

House of Blades by Will Wight

Path of Flames by Phil Tucker

The Woven Ring by M. D. Presley

Awaken Online: Catharsis by Travis Bagwell

Wolf of the North by Duncan M. Hamilton

Free the Darkness by Kel Kade

The Cycle of Arawn Trilogy by Edward W. Robinson

Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw

Benjamim Ashwood by AC Cobble

The Crimson Queen by Alec Hutson

The Queens Poinsoner by Jeff Wheeler

Stiger's Tigers by Marc Alan Edelheit 

Rise of the Ranger by Philip C. Quaintrell 

Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron

Devil's Night Dawning by Damien Black


Here are some older fantasy and sci-fi books that I enjoyed:

Tales of Nevèrÿon by Samuel R. Delany - African inspired S&S by an extremely talented writer.

Witch World as well as other good books by Andre Norton

Swords and Deviltry The first volume of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser by Fritz Leiber - Many of the tropes of the rogue/thief came from this legendary duo created by Leiber. And it's worth noting that Leiber actually coined the term Sword & Sorcery. This collection contains 3 stories, two average origin stories for each character and the final story is the Hugo and Nebula winning novella "Ill Met in Lankhmar" detailing the first meeting of Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser.

Swords Against Darkness - A '70s S&S anthology. It has few stinkers, a few mediocre stories, and a some really good ones. Poul Anderson and Ramsey Campbell both have awesome stories in this anthology that are well worth checking out. For some reason, there were quite a few typos in this book, it was slightly distracting, but may have been fixed since I read it.

The Best of C. L. Moore by C. L. Moore. I read this earlier this year and I absolutely loved it. The collection is all sci-fi and one Jirel of Joiry story, which is her famous female Sword & Sorcery character. I was suprised by how well her sci-fi stories held up, often times pulp sci-fi doesn't age well, but this collection was great. Moore was married to the writer Henry Kuttner, and up until his death they wrote a bunch of great stories together. Both of their collections are basically collaborations, although I'm sure a few stories were done solo. His collection The Best of Henry Kuttner features the short story that the movie The Last Mimzy was based on. And, if you are into the original Twilight Zone TV series there is a story that was adapted into a memorable season 1 episode entitled "What You Need". Kuttner and Moore are two of my favorite pulp authors and I'm not even that into science fiction, but I really enjoy their work.

> Hey! Thanks for responding. It means a lot for my first 'published' review to be responded to by the author. I know my review may not make it seem like it, but i really did love your book.

You're welcome, and I'm glad you generally liked it! And please don't let my questions discourage you from leaving constructive criticisms around here - I appreciated them, and I suspect most of the other authors around here would as well.

> To respond to one of your major points, I have a question. Was the first person pov necessary, and would it have gained more from a third person limited perspective?

Purely a stylistic choice. My other published series, the War of Broken Mirrors, is third person limited. I chose to use third person for that one because it's multiple POV, whereas for a story like Sufficiently Advanced Magic with a single perspective, I feel first person allows me to tailor the narration to the character's voice and make it more engaging. This clearly worked for some readers more than others.

I've also written in first person from the perspective of other protagonists with different narration styles, and some of those were less conversational. You'll probably see at least one of those other ones published eventually.

> I don't think Corin is compelling enough of a character to demand a first person perspective, and by providing a third person perspective one could delve more into the other characters. I am not saying you should write it in third person, and it's a little too late to change it, but I am just curious about your thought process behind choosing this POV.

I respect your opinion, but I felt Corin was perfectly fine as a sole protagonist. I think part of this just comes down to the type of story that I was trying to tell. Corin, unlike man first person narrators in fantasy, is not an exemplar - at least a the start of the story. He has a lot of flaws, especially when compared to some of many of the more traditional fantasy main characters in this style. His strongest characteristic is his analytical ability, but it's also one of his greatest weaknesses, since he has a tendency to fixate on specific subjects and get tunnel vision.

There are people out there that loved this style of character purely for his flaws, or because they like underdogs, or because they enjoy seeing the thought process of an analytical character.

There are also people who loathed that Corin didn't conquer his fears outright in the first book, or that his fixations led him to failing to follow up on plans that he'd made, or that he was underpowered compared to the rest of the cast.

I also have seen a number of criticisms of his pacifism - either because they don't think he could fight if he's a pacifist, or because they don't believe he could be a pacifist with his upbringing. I would disagree on both counts.

I think it's purely a matter of taste.

There are a lot of people out there who would much rather read about someone like Keras, who is written as much closer to one of the traditional protagonists of this genre, or even Sera, since she's clearly much more in control and more powerful for her age. And those would be valid novels - they just weren't the style of story I wanted to tell. Maybe I'll write them eventually, though, or someone else will.

> The POV statement wasn't as much a criticism as question. Your book brought challenged my own taste in literature, and made me ask the question above over and over again. I really do like having my views tested like that.

Good! I enjoy reading broadly and seeing a variety of styles. I draw a lot of my inspiration from foreign fiction these days, which is probably a part of why my novel deviates from some standard Western story telling conventions.

> In terms of grammar, there were a couple instances of missing words or awkward phrasing in both the narration and the dialogue that made me stop and reread the sentence. This took me completely out of the book. I really wish I had marked down a specific example. There are only 4 or 5 times I can remember it happening so it wouldn't be easy to find. You did overall a very good job with the editing though. In the future, I need to get better at marking down passages if I want to write more reviews.

No worries at all, if it's just missing words or awkward phrasing I'll probably track them down eventually on another editing pass. I was more concerned about if something more significant had slipped through, like a find and replace error that garbled a character's name or the manuscript spacing, etc.

As for remembering specific errors, don't stress over that at all. Most reviews wouldn't include that level of detail, I'm just asking because I'm right here and I figured I'd check and see if you remembered anything specific that bothered you.

Thanks again for the review!

Hm, here are some recommendations of my favorite Dark/Gritty Fantasies that immediately come to mind:

Joe Abercrombie is one of my favorite new authors, his books are incredibly gritty dark and original, but the characters are simply amazing. The best starting place is The Blade Itself, but you can read his two other books that aren't part of the trilogy and can be read without losing too much, though they are in the same world and there's more to like about it if you already read the First Law Trilogy. Out of his two stand alone books I'd recommend Best Served Cold which is a Fantasy revenge story in the vain of Kill Bill.

One really good book I read recently is Daniel Polansky's Low Town which is a really cool gritty noir fantasy novel. Where the main character is a former detective for a Fantasy city, but at the beginning of the book he's a drug dealer. Then when murders start to occur, he gets drawn back into the politics of the city, resulting in a great story and multiple plot twists and revelations.

One of my favorites books I've read recently has to be Brent Week's Black Prism. It has some really unique world building, where the magic powers are based on light/colors, and the different magic users have different really unique powers based on their color wavelength. His previous work, the Night Angel Trilogy is also great and it's a little more gritty, with the main character being an assassin.

Next I'll go a little indie here, with the author Jon Sprunk's Shadow's Sun. It features an assassin with slight magical powers and the conscience of a beautiful invisible woman (a real imaginary friend) that is always following him around. There's a lot of things to like in this book, even if they are a little shallow.

Two books from different authors (both of which I really loved) that have kind of similar settings featuring thieves running amok in the underbellies of fantasy cities with a decent amount of grit (without being too dark) are The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and Doug Hulick's Among Thieves.

There's also Ari Marmell's [The Conqueror's Shadow] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Conquerors-Shadow-Ari-Marmell/dp/0553593153/ref=la_B001JSDH98_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1340785404&sr=1-20), the main character is a former evil warlord who gave it all up to live a mundane life with a woman he kidnapped. He then has to put back on his fear inducing armor, when someone else is out in the world impersonating him. There is no evil force in this book, and there's a lot of interesting stuff here, the guy actually has a demonic amulet as a partner that provides him with magical abilities, and the demon is hilarious.

The next series isn't too gritty but it's awesome, so I'd still recommend the author Michael Sullivan, a DIY author that was so successful Orbit picked up his 6 book series to release as three larger books (he's also done some great AMA's on Reddit), the first of which is Theft of Swords. The characters in his book are absolutely superb. It's about these two master thieves that are brought into the conspiracy that they wanted no part of, but will see it to the end no matter what the cost.

Robin Hobb technically isn't real gritty, but she is one of my favorite authors, and in her books serious and horrible things can happen to the characters at times, but the endings of some of her trilogies are some of my favorite endings I've ever read. You could start with her first book about the bastard son of a king (that can bond with animals) being trained as an assassin, Assassin's Apprentice, or my favorite trilogy of her's set in the same universe but a different continent, Ship of Magic that has some awesome pirate settings, talking ships, and dragons. I also love one of her other trilogies set in a different universe than the rest of her books, Shaman's Crossing, the first book has kind of a Harry Potter-esque academy setting without the magic, and the rest of the trilogy gets into some really interesting stuff that's too weird to attempt to explain.


I think that's all I got, and you wouldn't go wrong reading any of these books, all of the pages I linked to are the book's Amazon page, so you can read further descriptions that I'm sure are better than mine. :)

ANSI Standard Fantasy

Check out The First Law by Joe Abercrombie:

• The Blade Itself
  
• Before They Are Hanged
  
• Last Argument of Kings
  
  ---
  
  If you want to read about badass thieves, check out Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastards:
  
  
• The Lies of Locke Lamora
  
• Red Seas Under Red Skies
  
• The Republic of Thieves
  
  ---
  
  Speaking of thieves, Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Chronicles is good clean fun in the tradition of Fritz Leiber's classic stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (which you should also read).
  
  ---
  
  You might also like Forging Divinity and Stealing Sorcery by Andrew Rowe (/u/Salaris). People will recommend Brandon Sanderson, but I think Rowe does Sandersonian fantasy better than Sanderson himself. (And I got four words for anybody who thinks that's blasphemy: "Come at me, bro.")
  
  ---
  
  People will also recommend Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles:
  
  
• The Name of the Wind
  
• The Wise Man's Fear
  
• The Slow Regard of Silent Things (novella/side story)
  
  My opinion is that you should read him for his prose, and treat his protagonist as an unreliable narrator.
  
  

  Science Fantasy
  

  
  All of the above is medieval or Renaissance fantasy, and most of the recommendations you'll get are for medieval/Renaissance fantasy, but my own preference is for science fantasy. I write it, and so I try to read as much of it as I can as well.
  
  I don't think you can go wrong with Michael Moorcock. He's very prolific, but much of his early work is in novellas that are now published as compilations. He's one of the first big "multiverse" writers, and many of his stories involve an eternal conflict between Law and Chaos, as well as an Eternal Champion who serves the cosmic balance by opposing whichever force is dominant on his world. The Eternal Champion has had many incarnations, but only one (Erekose) remembers the others: Elric, Corum, Dorian Hawkmoon, Jerry Cornelius, Oswald Bastable, etc. I started with the Hawkmoon books, but Moorcock's probably best known for Elric.
  
  ---
  
  If you haven't read Frank Herbert's Dune, I strongly suggest doing so. It's a labyrinthine novel normally marketed as science fiction, but it reads like fantasy. You've probably heard of it.
  
  ---
  
  Chances are you haven't heard of Roger Zelazny, which is a shame. His Amber novels, starting with Nine Princes in Amber, are excellent reads, though many will argue that the novels starring Corwin are better than those featuring his son Merlin.
  
  ---
  
  There are also various "dying earth" writers and series, starting with Jack Vance and his Dying Earth novels:
  
  

• The Dying Earth
  
• The Eyes of the Overworld
  
• Cugel's Saga
  
• Rhialto the Marvellous
  
  These novels are set in a far-future earth where magic and science are indistinguishable from one another and spellcasters fire off magicks as if they were D&D wizards (mainly because Gary Gygax borrowed from Vance).
  
  ---
  
  Another dying earth series you'll see mentioned is Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. It's excellent, but the prose is so dense and complex that when people complain to me that my books aren't easy reading, I tell them, "You think I'm tough? Go read Gene Wolfe."
  
  New Sun's protagonist, Severian the journeyman torturer, is one of fantasy's classic unreliable narrators.
  
  ---
  
  And then there's M. John Harrison's Viriconium novels, an odd series. The prose is gorgeous, but the first in the series, The Pastel City, is the only one of the bunch that actually reads like fantasy. The sequel, A Storm of Wings, picks up where The Pastel City left off but gets profoundly weird, and subsequent novels leave fantasy behind altogether.
  
  ---
  
  Getting back to science fantasy for people who aren't as pretentious as I am, I'd be remiss if I didn't recommend Celia S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy.
  
  
• Black Sun Rising
  
• When True Night Falls
  
• Crown of Shadows
  
  Further details here.
  
  ---
  
  But one of my favorites is C. J. Cherryh's Morgaine Saga
  
  
• Gate of Ivrel
  
• Well of Shiuan
  
• Fires of Azeroth
  
• Exile's Gate
  
  Morgaine is the last of a team of scientists sent to close the space-time gates the qhal refurbished and abused to the point of causing the complete collapse of the space-time continuum. Armed primarily with her sword Changeling, which is itself a gate, Morgaine closes each gate behind her and destroys it.
  
  But it isn't Morgaine's viewpoint we get, but that of Vanye, an outcast warrior who finds himself bound to Morgaine's service because he was desperate enough to ask shelter of her at any price. Vanye doesn't have the education to understand the technological tools Morgaine uses as anything but witchcraft, but his honor drives him to fight beside her despite his fear.
  
  ---
  
  If you like cowboys, you don't have to settle for Stephen King's The Dark Tower and what I like to call the "new game plus" ending. You could also read S. A. Hunt's (/u/authorsahunt) The Outlaw King:
  
  
• The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree
  
• Law of the Wolf
  
• Ten Thousand Devils
  
  The series is ongoing, but these three books alone will keep you busy for a while.
  
  ---
  
  Finally, I'm going to recommend my own work (assuming you've read this far). My Starbreaker series is near-future science fantasy set in an alternate history and inspired by classic heavy metal (Judas Priest, Queensryche, Iron Maiden, Blue Oyster Cult, etc). I write about all-too-human androids and swashbuckling sopranos exposing corruption and fighting demons from outer space. I write about a dark lord who wears white who already rules the world and is trying to save it. I've got friendly AIs, transoceanic maglevs, questions of whether the end justifies the means, and a great big Maine Coon cat who can play Texas Hold 'Em, but can't bluff worth a damn.
  
  Starbreaker started out as a big-ass novel, but is now a series:
  
  
• Without Bloodshed
  
• Silent Clarion (prequel set 17 years before Without Bloodshed. originally a web serial)
  
• Blackened Phoenix (sequel, currently in progress)
  
  If you've read this far, thanks. I don't usually post at such length on Reddit.

Third! EDIT: Forth :(

I have one dark fantasy / romance novelette out, called Larkspur: A Necromancer's Romance. It's 99cents, and you can download it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and/or Kobo. It's up for a Stabby for best short work, but given the competition it's highly unlikely to win. :P

Nifty new summary:

Childhood love, forbidden magic, and a goddess of death.

A romance is reignited when Pierre Salvador returns from University, now a surgeon as well as the heir to a duchy. But his love, family, and friends are unaware of his dealings with Mora, the Lady of Death. She is among the last keres, giving the duc her knowledge and power while calling him Suitor. He strives to know all the physical and mystical means of controlling life-- and ending it. With one final task he will master necrocræft, but will Mora let him go?

This is a novelette. It is ~15,000 words, or about 60 pages.

It has pretty good reviews, even from people who don't usually read the genre. I hope some of y'all give it a chance if you haven't already :)

(If you have, feel free to PM/pester me about Delphinium)

Also, my new website: http://vmjaskiernia.com/

I love this thread idea, though I feel like it's already mostly covered by the "What did you read this month?" thread. Still, far be it from me to not shove my preferences in everyones face.

Anything Lindsay Buroker puts out. Most known for her Emperor's Edge books. First one is free, just try it. Steampunk, bit of romance, fun cast of characters. It's nothing revolutionary, honestly, but I just have so much fun reading her stuff and I can't even tell you why. I'm just an absolute addict and she provides the crack in a timely manner. You think Sanderson writes like a machine? This woman must have self-triplicated somewhere along the line. 5+ books a year.

Next up would be J.S. Morin's Twinborn books. It's not exactly unknown on here, but it still needs a mention. Two series, one building on the other. Excellent work-building, cool characters, can't wait for what the author does next. It's mostly traditional Fantasy as you can get, but featuring Pirates, Magic, Empires, Demi-Gods and as of the 2nd series Steampunk, bit of SF and Transhumanism. Excellent stuff.

I also greatly enjoyed the short, fun read that was Larkspur. Not unknown on here either as the author frequents /r/fantasy relatively often, but still. MORE DAMN YOU!

Also, [Fae - The Wild Hunt] (http://www.amazon.com/Fae-Wild-Hunt-Riven-Wyrde-ebook/dp/B00IWOW2Y8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1417986097&sr=1-1&keywords=graham+austin+king) by Graham Austin-King. He has a promo thread for the 2nd volume up on here right now anyway, but who cares? I loved the first book. Dark fairy-tale, novel approach to multiple POV story-telling. Can't wait for tomorrow. (2nd book release)

Lastly, [Book of Deacon] (http://www.amazon.com/Book-Deacon-ebook/dp/B0036FTF4S/ref=sr_1_1_ha?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1417986518&sr=1-1&keywords=book+of+deacon) by Joseph R. Lallo. Counting by the Amazon reviews it isn't exactly obscure, but I never saw it mentioned on here. Quite traditional "chosen one, save the world" Fantasy, but what makes this series is the diverse cast. There's a human magician and there's a fox and a dragon and... I'll just shut up now. Traditional in many ways, not so much in others.

The weeks go by so fast. I'm the author of A Warrior's Path volume one of The Castes and the OutCastes. The story takes place on Arisa, a world that's a melding of Hellenic Greece and Ancient India. The first book has 60 reviews on Amazon with an average rating of over 4.5 and a 109 Goodreads ratings with an average of 4.06. It's also received excellent reviews on Kirkus, Self-Publisher's Showcase, and Reader's Favorite. Here's the review from Reader's Favorite:

>Davis Ashura’s A Warrior's Path series is quite the hidden gem in the fantasy genre, introducing its vast world and multi-dimensional characters through Book One: The Castes and the OutCastes. The demon Suwraith, the Bringer of Sorrows, has been constantly seeking out the absolute extinction of humanity since her arrival. Her Chimeras roam the wilderness, relentlessly threaten and exterminate anyone who is not in the safe protection of the cities’ walls. Rukh Shektan is a young warrior who not only has to live his life in a ruthless caste system, but also survive a never-ending war with the Chimeras. Worst of all, he discovers Suwraith’s plan to raze his home; the city of Ashoka.

>The world-building is excellent and the plot is strong. The characters are engaging and well-fleshed out. Actions scenes are written in great detail without superfluous aspects. I also appreciated that Ashura makes some room for humor in the story. On the other hand, the beginning is a slow start for me as there are some descriptions that I think could be trimmed down or simplified. Additionally, the caste system integrated in the story is a double-edged sword. It adds an interesting and gritty element, yet it also brings slight negativity to my reading as it relates to bigotry. However, I don’t necessarily see this as a flaw of the book, but merely how it affects me as a reader. On the whole, A Warrior's Path has all the crucial prerequisites to make it enjoyable to fantasy fans in general while attracting some loyal fans along the way.

Hope you give it a try. BTW Volume Two of the series, A Warrior's Knowledge, is finished and going through some final edits. It should be out in early 2015.
Oh yes, the links. Here they are.

Amazon

Nook

Kobo

Smashwords

I personally love worldbuilding in stories, probably to the same extent you do. Someone wrote below that they don't want to read a D&D guide, I DO want to read a D&D guide. We probably are in a minority, but there are a few ways I've seen authors cover for the fact that their stories are very heavy on world exposition:

1. Young characters learning about the world, or characters in school. The character can be learning things at the same time you are teaching the reader. Harry potter takes this format.
   
2. Portal fantasy. A person is transported to another world. Its a justification for why they know absolutely nothing about that world, and anytime they learn new things its an opportunity for the author to go on some exposition. The schooled in magic series did this a lot.
   
3. Do it shamelessly, but spread it out and try to always keep it really interesting. I've enjoyed all of the books in the Spellmonger series because it dumps exposition everywhere, but its also why I rarely recommend the books because I know I'm kinda weird for how much I like exposition.
   
4. Appendices, and separate areas where you keep the majority of your exposition. Just keeping most of the background separate from the story but available to curious readers can also work. Most famously, Lord of the Rings did this.
   
   My advice as a wanna-be author (a few unfinished stories) is to just do something that you feel good and comfortable doing, but just make sure you have some good editors that can understand what you are trying to do. Amazon self publishing is a thing, and there are a bunch of websites where you can also share your stories. There are way more readers than authors out there

I think there are a number of very valid points here, and I'm sorry to say that they are all too common on the net at large, as well as r/fantasy.

The truth is that it takes experience publishing to publish a great novel, making it almost impossible for new authors to know what it takes to produce a quality novel until they've tried and failed at least once or twice.

I'll say that I've been through all the bumps and bruises with my books. I made the mistakes (though I've always had beta readers and editors), I've seen what works, and now when I promote on r/Fantasy (as I've done a bit in the past few weeks) I'm coming to you with my 12th novel, not my first. It's been read through nearly 20 times by professionals to make it the best work I can produce. I don't claim its a work of genius or that I'm the next great fantasy author, but I have the experience and have put in the time, money, and effort to be confident about it. I'll be doing an AMA here on Sept 10th and would be happy to talk more about this (and my other credentials).

If anyone wants to check out The Scars of Ambition: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DO9HMXC/
(The reviewer Tani Drellich is someone who discovered me here on r/Fantasy)

I do think that r/fantasy should have some rules for self-promotion, because I'd hate to see the place get overrun with well-meaning but not-ready new authors. Making multiple promotional threads in successive days shouldn't be allowed. Not being clear that you're the author of a work shouldn't be allowed. And honestly, if someone checks out a sample of a book and discovers it's not been given enough editorial attention, the thread should get deleted and the author should get prevented from promoting again for a while. Might sound harsh, but ensuring some reasonable, basic standard of quality for self-promoters is what's needed to make sure readers and fans aren't driven off.

Here are links for each platform;

• Kindle
  
• Nook
  
• Kobo
  
  I'll update the link when iBookstore goes live. ibookstore is a bit "pickier" about the epub format and I REALLY struggled to get it "just right" I'm still waiting to hear from Shawn if there are other "nits to fix" but at this point I think the version I have to him should be in relatively good shape.
  
  Also for those interested in the "line-up" here are the stories in the book:
  
  
• Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks
  
• How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss
  
• The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
  
• Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
  
• The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey
  
• Mudboy by Peter V. Brett
  
• The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian
  
• The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore
  
• Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
  
• Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
  
• Dogs by Daniel Abraham
  
• The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne
  
• Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
  
• All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
  
• Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
  
• Nocturne by Robert V.S. Redick
  
• Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
  
• In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik
  
• River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
  
• The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan
  
• The Duel by Lev Grossman
  
• Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
  
• The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman

I really like:

Terry Mancour's Spellmonger series on Kindle. It's not super deep like Gene Wolfe or even Sanderson, but he writes very fast, a couple books a year, they're cheap. It's like comfort food sword and sorcery medieval fantasy. Story follows a fairly young veteran battle mage who has retired to a quiet mountain village to be the local "spellmonger", when he gets caught up in an attack by the evil goblins. His survival launches him on a martial and political career that will reshape his world. There's also romance and some nice wisecracks along the way, and hints that the world isn't as simple as it first appears. Sometimes you just want something easy and fun and this delivers.

http://terrymancour.blogspot.com/?m=1

https://www.amazon.com/Spellmonger-Book-One-Terry-Mancour-ebook/dp/B004Q9TD7W


I also like H. Paul Honsinger's Man of Honor trilogy. It's fairly hard military sci fi. The first trilogy is complete and he's working on a follow up series in the saga. Story follows a young naval destroyer captain in a total galactic war against a crazy alien enemy. There is a strong sense of esprit d'corps, and it is a fun action packed read. Technically no longer self-published, since Honsinger got picked up by Amazon's own publishing imprint. The books are cheap and there are excellent Audible editions.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DQUKZMY/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=


The first book for both are only a few bucks, and I love recommending both authors! They definitely deserve all the fans I can send their way.

Let's hope the sequel will bring you peace of mind. If you like books with a lot of mages and a generally positive vibe, I could recommend forging divinity to you for later: http://www.amazon.com/Forging-Divinity-Broken-Mirrors-Book-ebook/dp/B00TKFFR36

I got it from a recommendation here and was happy with the outcome.

Oh hello, may I interest you in The Half Killed by u/QuenbyOlsen

It has all those things! Strong female lead in a Victorian paranormal fantasy with romance elements! It's a very atmospheric book, in this alternate London there's an unprecedented heat wave and I could almost feel the heat while reading. Very beautiful prose, really unique story - one of the only Victorian books I've liked!

Goodreads

Amazon

The Joe Pitt series by Charlie Huston might appeal to you. It's a bit more grounded and noir than a lot of the Urban Fantasy I've read, but I like that about it.

Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey is good. I think the series is a bit hit and miss, but the first one is still probably my favorite Urban Fantasy novel. The voice the author uses is really entertaining in a punk rock way.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

I've been quiet this past 2016, but I hope to change that in 2017. In the meantime, have a safe and happy holiday. If you get a Kindle and want some science fantasy, Without Bloodshed is on sale.

(art by Harvey Bunda)

I'm so thrilled you enjoyed The Raveling! Makes me happy. The third book was just released, if you hadn't seen that yet.


Have you read The Aching God? I think it's a really terrific book. I've heard good things about the Rhenwar Saga. I also loved Paternus, though that might be classed as urban fantasy.


https://www.amazon.com/Aching-God-Iconoclasts-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07C9DBKB6


https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Rhenwars-Saga-Fantasy-Pentalogy-ebook/dp/B07KLXCH5X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=rhenwars&qid=1575089953&s=digital-text&sr=1-1


https://www.amazon.com/Paternus-Rise-Gods-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B01CXPD8T4/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=paternus&qid=1575089982&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

It's been stated already, but it depends on if you're indie or trad.

In traditional publishing, it largely depends on your contract. Josiah Bancroft, for example, appears to have made the retaining of his original cover a clause in his contract for Senlin Ascends, while in cases like Jonathan French's The Grey Bastards, you have a publisher redoing a cover despite them having a fantastic cover in the first place. Ever deal is different, and the demands and desires of ever house/author/agent may be different.

It's one of the major advantages of self-publishing, especially if you have an eye of art, design, and talent. Having what is essentially complete control over your IP at all times can be exhausting and alarming, but if you have the energy, time, and capitol to invest into your product, you can knock out some killer creations.

A few examples of great indie covers, just for giggles. Remember that these are all driven and crafted solely by the authors and artists they employ to craft them:

Paternus - Dyrk Ashton

A Warrior's Path - Davis Ashura

Touch of Iron - Timandra Whitecastle

Those Brave, Foolish Souls from the City of Swords - Benedict Patrick

Sanyare: The Last Descendant - Megan Haskell

• Miss Mabel's School for Girls by Katie Cross - Dark-ish YA fantasy set in a magic school and moved on to battle training, the culture was based on Wicca with flashy magic and the both the characters and the plot twists were quite impressive. review here Nice to read YA fantasy with a lot of magic and no romance element. I picked up the rest of the series and will read them too.
  
  
• Fae: The Wild Hunt and Fae: The Realm of Twilight by Graham Austin-King: Damn good stuff, his Fae realm is 100 times better than Rothfuss, with mystery and nice magic elements, superb characterization and great job making the Fae sound totally alien. Reviews for book1 and book2
  
  I picked up this book by a fellow /r/fantasy denizen and it sounds quite promising, haven't had a chance to read it yet but I will read it as soon as I can.
  
  Planning to read the Riyria books soon and taking note of the books recommended in this thread, I want to read & review more good indies.

I agree with a lot of the suggestions so far.

Fritz Lieber's Lankhmar books, while there are a lot of them, are quick reads, and well worth checking out if you haven't read them.

Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories are worth a read, too.

If you haven't already read Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea Cycle, you might enjoy them, and they are short and easy reads.

J.D. Hallowell's War of the Blades series is only two books, definitely quick reads.

Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations should definitely be on your list.

In an interesting twist on this issue, if you happen to be in France, Dragon Fate is free there and nowhere else right now. It could revert back at any time - everywhere else in the world has been back at the correct price for months - but anyone who can convince Amazon that they are in France is welcome to grab a free copy while it's still available.

The 4th Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off has a winner!

And that winner with the joint highest score we've seen in 4 years & ~1200 books is....

ORCONOMICS!

Buy it: https://www.amazon.com/Orconomics-Satire-Dark-Profit-Saga-ebook/dp/B00O2NDJ2M/ref=sr_1_1 …?

See the score board: https://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/2018/11/spfbo-2018-finals.html …

See the Official SPFBO page for results of all 4 years.
https://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-official-self-published-fantasy.html

And if you retweet the announcement … you might win a signed copy.
https://twitter.com/Mark__Lawrence/status/1131517883501162496

I was lucky enough to be a beta reader for these. He released two books at the same time.

Of Sea and Shadow.

[Of Shadow and Sea](http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Sea-The-Elder-Empire-ebook/dp/B00RE68P8C/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_mfw?&linkCode=wey&tag=wilwig-20
).

They are parallel stories, and honestly, I enjoyed these twice as much as I enjoyed his traveler gate series. Let me know what you all think too.

/u/faustyna has a great first book, Larkspur, out there with a second coming very soon. Her new covers are things of beauty, might I add.

If I might suggest my own Nihilian Effect, a science fantasy series of standalone, shorter books. Book 4 was released not to long ago, and I am now writing 5 and 6 as well as books that begin two other standalone-book series, all in the same world. Think of it like an unfunny Discworld saga.

True, but I prefer both to having a photo of some random dude who doesn't look like the main character.

/u/MichaelJSullivan and I agree that the artist who did the posters for Hollow World was a much better choice than those photo covers of Theft of Swords
thankfully the artist did the French covers

I haven't read it, but it sounds like you're looking for Quenby Olson's The Half Killed. I believe she also has a sequel (with an AWESOME cover) coming out soon if it's not already out.

The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan (/u/MichaelJSullivan) would fit the bill pretty well. Six books total, combined to three volumes. The first is Theft of Swords. The series is fantastic, fast paced, interconnecting old school fantasy series.

I bought a book called Orconomics off of the $5 Audible sale. Looks like an interesting take on a WOW type World. Haven't listened yet though.

https://www.amazon.com/Orconomics-Satire-Dark-Profit-Saga-ebook/dp/B00O2NDJ2M

Thanks for the review, I am going to have a read! Noticed that the series is still on sale and possibly has been for 10 months.

US $0.94
UK £0.99
AUS $1.37

Another thanks for the fantastic offer.

Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen

Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn

Brandon Sanderson - The Stormlight Archive

Peter Brett - The Demon Cycle

R. Scott Bakker - The Second Apocalypse

Joe Abercrombie - The First Law

Scott Lynch - The Gentleman Bastard

Patrick Rothfuss - The Kingkiller Chronicle

All excellent. Some slightly more excellent than others.

It's free on Amazon pages outside the U.S. as well. Are you in the U.K.? Here's a link there. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scars-Ambition-Cumerian-Unraveling-ebook/dp/B00DO9HMXC/

I fucking loved those books. I also really liked the short story collections that he put out. He just came out with a new series, or I guess two series in parallel.

Boop

Books not mentioned so far that I like:

Lev Grossman's Magicians Trilogy (not 1st-person, otherwise follows your criteria, Harry Potter-esque, some people dislike the protagonist but he's intentionally kind of a tool), starting with The Magicians.

R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy (not 1st-person, magic is seriously powerful and the protagonist is an already-accomplished practitioner, mythology is complex, I don't recall it having a huge amount of characters), starting with The Darkness That Comes Before.

If you're willing to step outside of prose works, I like The Books of Magic a lot; it's a comic book miniseries.

Starts today! We'll have an AMA here next Friday, and one on the 3rd over at r/books giving a better idea of just how foolish we are. In the meantime: we're a bunch of r/Fantasy authors who've banded together for stuff and things. For those of you who don't want to go through the site (or if my abysmal web design is failing you):

• Unsouled by Will Wight /u/Will_Wight — Xianxia
  
• A Demon in the Desert by Ashe Armstrong /u/ashearmstrong — Sixguns & Sorcery
  
• Klondaeg Omnibus by Steve Thomas /u/SteveThomas — Comedic Fantasy
  
• Valley of Embers by Steven Kelliher /u/StevenKelliher — Epic Fantasy w/ Eastern Flair
  
• Forging Divinity by Andrew Rowe /u/Salaris — Hard Fantasy
  
• A Star-Reckoner's Lot by Darrell Drake /u/darrelldrake — Historical Fantasy
  
  [Strangely, like four of us are under Asian Myths and Legends.]
  
  

• • -
    
    (Rest assured, we use only free-range ghouls.)
    
    
• • -
    
    Also worth noting that Valley of Embers and A Star-Reckoner's Lot are part of /u/Hiugregg's Reading Resident Authors club. Ashe aims to have readers tackle Demon Haunted, which is the sequel to A Demon in the Desert, but stands well enough on its own. Still wouldn't hurt to have read the first book!

Check out Dawn of Wonder by Johnathan Renshaw

It's basically about the resurgence of the golden age, book 2 isn't out yet but should be soon. It's awesome and plenty to theory craft on.