Publishing

Sotchek – Book Two – Excerpt

Happy New Year! I hope that 2021 is a healthy year for all of us, and that we can soon return to some semblance of normalcy in the near future.

I’ve had a number of readers contact me to ask about the status of Sotchek – Book Two of The Walking Gates. While I am currently working on the story, I don’t yet have a release date as to when the book will be available. In the meantime, I thought I’d post an excerpt from the first chapter (click image below) so you can see how the story opens. If I get enough folks interested, I may provide additional excerpts in the coming months. Post a comment below and let me know if you’d enjoy reading more, or if you prefer to wait for the entire book to release. Until then, stay healthy, stay positive and keep reading.

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Cathadeus Now Available in Softcover!

I’m delighted to announce that Cathadeus is now available in softcover format! To celebrate, I’m offering signed copies for only $12.95. Includes FREE shipping too. Also available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and independent booksellers.

Launch Day!

I’m very excited to announce that Cathadeus officially releases today in hardcover, and is available at IndieBound, Barnes & Noble and Amazon as well as independent booksellers. WIN A FREE SIGNED COPY PLUS A $25 AMAZON GIFT CARD by visiting my blog tour. You can also add to Goodreads, and view and comment about the Prologue here on my website. Hope you enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I’d love to know what you think, so post a comment below.

Pre-Order Available – Release Date December 8th!

I’m happy to announce that Cathadeus will release on December 8th, and is now available for Pre-Order at the following sites:

Prologue Available

November 19th, 2017

I’ve updated the link below to now include the full Prologue, not just the first few pages. I hope you enjoy reading the opening to the story.


A number of folks have asked for a preview of the first chapter from Cathadeus, so I thought I’d provide a few pages from the Prologue (downloadable PDF). While not the entire opening, I hope it provides enough of the story to keep you interested until the book releases later this year. Enjoy.

Layout and Fonts

Updated on June 5th, 2017

As a follow-up from, here’s an example of the interior design, including the chapter heading, drop cap and main book font. I think it works really well, is easy on the eyes, and enhances the overall story. Click on the thumbnail to see a larger version, and post a comment as to what you think?


I’m currently pouring through fonts, chapter headings, section breaks and other options with my publisher to select interior elements for my book. This is quite a fun and creative process that I’m really enjoying, and a nice break from all the editing I’ve been doing over the past couple of months. Once I have something selected and an example to show, I’ll post an update so you can see what the interior of the book will look like. Send a comment if you have any thoughts or suggestions of styles from books you particular enjoyed reading.

Story Editing Completed

I’m thrilled to have just completed the final round of comprehensive story editing. I continue to be impressed by how the novel improves with each new round. But I think I’m finally done, and I love the results. I hope you do too. Next up is line editing to help ferret out those pesky little redundant words and unnecessary phrases. Looking forward to getting the results back in November. Once done, we’ll do some final proofreading before going to press. Stay tuned for future updates, which should become more frequent as I approach production. It’s getting closer!

Second Story Edit

I just received the second comprehensive story edit from my professional editor. She unfortunately started late, so it took longer than I was expecting. However, I’m looking forward to reading through and seeing what she has to say. It’s always a challenge deciding what to keep and what to cut. As mentioned before, she’s inclined to want to focus exclusively on the main story, and cut most everything else. As my novel doesn’t have only one plot line, it’s often difficult to remove sections that I feel are important to the overall experience, especially scenes that set the stage for future books. Regardless though, it’s a good exercise for me to go through, as it really forces me to decide what’s critical to keep, and what can go. So, onward with the editing. I’m sure the story will be better for it.

Story Editing

I’m really excited to have just completed the first round of comprehensive editing with my professional editor. I definitely think the story is stronger for it, even though I’d had the manuscript edited before. She’s an excellent editor and has given me a lot of great input, suggestions for changes, and things to consider. However, she is quite focused on ensuring that everything directly moves the plot forward. While I agree with this conceptually, I personally enjoy books that also provide additional world building or character development, even if not always directly related to pushing the plot ahead. What do you prefer? Are you the kind of reader that likes a lean story, one that constantly focuses on the main plot, or do you enjoy books that provide more background, world building and details on perhaps secondary characters, etc. While I realize this is not an entirely one-side-or-the-other type option, but a good balance of both, I’d like to hear from you. So post a comment below.