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Jeff Salyards

Goodreads author profile

born

in Libertyville, The United States

gender

male

website

http://jeffsalyards.com/

genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy

influences

Glen Cook, Joe Abercrombie, Richard K. Morgan, George R.R. Martin, Ber ...more

member since

September 2011

About this author

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I grew up in a small town north of Chicago. While it wasn't Mayberry, with all the doors unlocked and everyone offering each other slices of pie and quaint homilies, it was pretty quiet and sleepy, so I got started early imagining my way into all kinds of other worlds and universes that were loud, chaotic, and full of irrepressible characters and heaps of danger. Massive explosions. Tentacled aliens. Men with sharp swords and thousand-yard stares and secrets they would die to protect. Clearly, I was a full-bore dork.

Royal Crown bag full of multi-sided dice? Check. Blood-red hooded cloak? Check. Annual pilgrimages to Renaissance Faires? Check. Whacking other (curiously athletic and gifted) dorks with rattan swords in the SCA? Check. Yes, I e...more I grew up in a small town north of Chicago. While it wasn't Mayberry, with all the doors unlocked and everyone offering each other slices of pie and quaint homilies, it was pretty quiet and sleepy, so I got started early imagining my way into all kinds of other worlds and universes that were loud, chaotic, and full of irrepressible characters and heaps of danger. Massive explosions. Tentacled aliens. Men with sharp swords and thousand-yard stares and secrets they would die to protect. Clearly, I was a full-bore dork.

Royal Crown bag full of multi-sided dice? Check. Blood-red hooded cloak? Check. Annual pilgrimages to Renaissance Faires? Check. Whacking other (curiously athletic and gifted) dorks with rattan swords in the SCA? Check. Yes, I earned my badges, thank you very much.

My whole life, I've been fascinated by the fantastic, and of course this extended to speculative fiction of all kinds. Countless prepubescent evenings found me reading a worn, dog-eared copy of Thuvia, Maid of Mars (it sounded so much dirtier than it was!) or The Frost Giant's Daughter (high hopes for that one too!) well past lights-out, flashlight in hand, ignoring the repeated calls to turn in. That's as quiet and harmless a rebellion as you can have, and my parents mostly sighed and left me to it.

So, no one has ever been surprised to hear that I was working on (or at least talking about working on) some sci-fi or fantasy story or other. But it took years of flirting with various projects, flitting from one to the next without the hint of complete commitment, before I finally mastered myself enough to finish a novel. And longer still before I finished another one that was worthy of being published.

But wonders never cease. And here we are.

My debut novel, Scourge of the Betrayer, is a hard-boiled fantasy to be published by Night Shade Books in May 2012. It’s the first installment in a series called Bloodsounder’s Arc. I'm so excited I'm beginning to annoy myself. I am represented by Michael Harriot at Folio Literary Management, and couldn't be happier. His savvy, smart advice has been invaluable on this journey. I suspect he has a secret stash of 20-siders somewhere in his desk.

I live with my lovely wife, Kris, and three daughters in a suburb west of Chicago. I am indebted to Kris in countless ways for her steadfast encouragement, support, and thick skin in dealing with a prickly, moody writer. I don't always like living with me, but she has a choice and stays anyway.

And before you are tempted to mention it, I am fully aware that siring three daughters is certainly karmic retribution, particularly when they all transform into teenagers. I cling to the hope of discovering at least one of them reading covertly in the middle of the night. That kind of transgression I can handle.(less)

35 posts
Jeff Salyards's Blog

A Crooked Little Path

And once again, an egregiously long time has passed since my last update. I’ve heard from plenty of folks that if you can’t commit to blogging regularly, don’t bother. Infrequent posting builds no audience, gains no traction, and does you no real good, only making you feel vaguely (or acutely) guilty for not being more consistent. Ain’t nobody got time for that. I’d like to blame it on the fact...

combine editions
Jeff Salyards's Books

Average rating: 3.70 · 240 ratings · 84 reviews · 2 distinct works · Similar authors

	Scourge of the Betrayer (Bloodsounder's Arc, #1) 3.7 of 5 stars 3.70 avg rating — 240 ratings — published 2012 — 5 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Veil of the Deserters 0.0 of 5 stars 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — expected publication 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

Series by Jeff Salyards

Bloodsounder's Arc (1 book)
by Jeff Salyards (Goodreads Author)
3.702928870292887 of 5 stars 3.70 avg rating — 239 ratings

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Jeff's Recent Updates

Jeff Salyards is now friends with Writers Edge
May 19, 2013 11:58am · like
Jeff Salyards liked Jenna's review of Scourge of the Betrayer (Bloodsounder's Arc, #1): " I bought this book, almost finished it... so close... and then... I LOST THE FREAKING BOOK. I kinda want to throw a tantrum. I've been looking for this book for months. I. Can't. Find. It. So I've rated this book four because I so far, as far as I... " Read more of this review »
May 07, 2013 08:26pm · see review
Jeff Salyards liked Tyson's review of Scourge of the Betrayer (Bloodsounder's Arc, #1): " My review here. "
Apr 23, 2013 09:34am · see review
Jeff Salyards made a comment on rameau's review of Scourge of the Betrayer (Bloodsounder's Arc, #1) "Well, I have no wish to fall into the trap of trying to defend my work or my choices to anyone. If someone doesn't like my book for whatever reason, I...more "
Mar 31, 2013 04:31pm · see review
Jeff Salyards liked Matt Gilliard's review of Scourge of the Betrayer (Bloodsounder's Arc, #1): " Jeff Salyards' debut novel Scourge of the Betrayer has drawn a lot of comparison to Glen Cook's Black Company novels. His brooding and unflinching tale of a feared group of mercenaries is reminiscent of genre standouts such as Joe Abercrombie and... " Read more of this review »
Mar 26, 2013 06:57am · see review
Jeff Salyards wants to read Rough Magic (GnomeSaga, #1) by Kenny Soward (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 11, 2013 06:42pm
Jeff Salyards liked a quote “I'll tell you this much. Men think memories are like murals or statues or truth or whatever happened, never changes none. But that ain't so. They can capture the untruth of something, just as easy. They can change, especially as time leads to time. (...) To each man himself, his memories seems as solid and factual as a stone mosaic, an urn he could turn around and heft, a flower he could sniff. But when I go inside another, I don't see it or feel it like that. Everything is shimmery, shifting, like it's bathed in mist and shadow, like... like walking down the foggiest street you can think of, with everything looking not like itself at all.” — Jeff Salyards like
Mar 06, 2013 05:47pm · more quotes by Jeff Salyards
Jeff Salyards wants to read Among Thieves (Tales of the Kin, #1) by Douglas Hulick (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 06, 2013 09:22am
Jeff Salyards wants to read Fortress Frontier (Shadow Ops, #2) by Myke Cole (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 06, 2013 09:22am
Jeff Salyards is now following John's reviews
Mar 03, 2013 07:05pm · like

More of Jeff's books…

Quotes by Jeff Salyards

“I'll tell you this much. Men think memories are like murals or statues or truth or whatever happened, never changes none. But that ain't so. They can capture the untruth of something, just as easy. They can change, especially as time leads to time.

(...)
To each man himself, his memories seems as solid and factual as a stone mosaic, an urn he could turn around and heft, a flower he could sniff. But when I go inside another, I don't see it or feel it like that. Everything is shimmery, shifting, like it's bathed in mist and shadow, like... like walking down the foggiest street you can think of, with everything looking not like itself at all.”
― Jeff Salyards, Scourge of the Betrayer

tags: memories

2 people liked it

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Fantasy Aficionados: July Group read--nominations here	23	92	Jun 08, 2012 07:03pm
The Sword and Laser: What Are You Reading? - August 2012	250	573	Sep 03, 2012 02:36am
SciFi and Fantasy...: * What are you reading Now?	3205	1883	May 21, 2013 01:07am

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Quotes Jeff Likes

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
― George Orwell, 1984

tags: april, dystopia, first-sentence, opening-lines

1,409 people liked it

“Scourge of the Betrayer is as harsh and profane as anything RichardK Morgan or Joe Abercrombie serves up. Fortunately, Saylards has the skills -and the humor - to pull it off. Snappy dialogue, political intrigue, shadycharacters, gripping action sequences, a poor guy that has no idea what he’sgotten himself into... Yeah, there’s a lot to like about this debut.”
― David Anthony Durham

tags: the-acacia-trilogy

3 people liked it