I could make excuses as well as the next guy, but I won't except to say that recent years since I published the first version of Uprooted have been full of major changes that have distracted from my writing. Career changes, many job changes (looking for a job saps your energy, let me tell you), and other major stuff.
The good news is that I have been both planning and writing for the next two novels over the past 5 years, and they're both in good shape to be published in 2024.
Another spot of good news is that I've revised the cover art for my first novel (shown here). I accept all the blame for the first cover -- it was entirely at my direction, and at the time I was a novice author who had no idea of the importance of clear, visible cover art.This new cover is much better, I think, and I hope you'll agree.
Uprooted is for sale on Amazon, in both paperback and ebook versions, and I'm working on making it available through Barnes & Noble for the Nook e-reader.
In a previous post I had mentioned that I've been working on a prequel to Uprooted. The Orinthia series, as I have it planned out, spans three "ages" -- basically spanning a couple thousand years. Given time to write, I expect to have as many as 30 novels published for this series alone, telling the history of this world in great detail.
As a result, I've been fleshing out all the elements of this world over time, from the ancient history to the "present day". Each month and year that I've worked on it has made it more rich, and all that remains is time to write the stories to reveal this vast history to you, the readers.
I'm particularly proud of The Lifter -- the prequel. It's set a generation before Uprooted, with some of the same characters when they were young. The Lifter itself is only the first of several books that will tell the tale of how the humans overthrew the mages -- the elves and dwarves -- who ruled over them. This book, more than any other could, will set you up to learn more about the history of the society that led up to the first revolution.
But I am also moving forward on the sequel to Uprooted, where you'll find out how the boys fare as they continue to flee the dreaded Jackals, and as they reach a place that may provide safety. You'll also see how the town of Isselford is managing against the siege they'd hoped to avoid.
Yes, I have other book ideas running around. Some of them pretty well developed, but my attention remains committed to Orinthia.
Please, if you haven't read Uprooted yet, take a look and leave a review. If you have read it, please tell others about it. Repost wherever you can. I appreciate any help you can provide!
Edwin Hanks