S.L. Rowland's Blog, page 3

Are you searching for Author Steve Rowland?

Then you must reading Dungeon Crawler Carl book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride. I’m honored to have made an appearance.

Now that the mystery is solved, go finish the book. When you’re done, come back and check out some of my work.

You might notice a certain troll series was the inspiration behind my character in DCC.

I’m a huge fan of Dungeon Crawler Carl, and Matt Dinniman in general. He and I once had a wild night in Vegas where I locked myself out of my hotel room. But that’s a story for another time.

Introducing Aethervale Publishing

Earlier this year, I created a publishing imprint in order to buy ISBNs for the Cursed Cocktails print editions so that I could get them in bookstores and libraries. Now, I’m slowly working my way through my backlist and updating the publisher info.

I’ve already updated my audiobooks, next up will be ebooks and then print editions. My goal is to have all of the Pangea Online and Sentenced to Troll print editions registered and available for local bookstores and libraries by the end of the year.

I’m still trying to decide on the logo I’d like to use. I’ve narrowed it down to 3 options that I really like. The problem is that I like them all too much!

Interview with Geeks Out

Interview with Author SL Rowland

Cursed Cocktails Paperbacks Now Available

Paperbacks are now available on Amazon!

Hardcovers will probably be up in a week or so. And then both paperbacks and hardcovers for bookstores and libraries should be available sometime in March. I’m still waiting on the proof copies of the latter three to make sure everything looks good.

Happy reading!

From Curses & Cocktails to Cursed Cocktails: Why I’m changing the title of my new cozy fantasy

It has been almost a week since I released Curses & Cocktails into the world. During that time, I’ve been bedridden with the flu. This is the first time I’ve been sick since I began infusions to suppress my immune system and let me say, not fun at all. There were days when all I did was lie in bed watching Ted Lasso. And occasionally surface to check my ranking and reviews on Amazon from my phone.

The reception to this little book has been incredible. It was a passion project from the start, and wildly different from the stories I normally write. Writing in a new genre is no easy feat, but I couldn’t not write this story. I just couldn’t. From the reviews, I believe my passion for this story translated onto the page as well as I could have hoped.

The inspiration for Curses & Cocktails came as I was reading Legends & Lattes. I first read L&L in April, and while doing so, I had an idea pop into my head that just wouldn’t leave. I was in the middle of writing Sentenced to Troll 5, and the idea for Rhoren and Aedrea kept evolving. The world grew, and the plot developed, until the point that there was no other option than to write the book. Come August, when I was finally finished, I sat down to write my first story set in a new world in over 3 years.

The title, Curses & Cocktails, came about before I had ever written the first word of the book. When it did, I messaged Travis Baldree, author of Legends & Lattes, to see if he had any objections to me using the title. I knew it was similar, but I was hoping it might be the way readers recognize cozy fantasy the same way A Blank of Blank and Blank was common in YA fantasy or Blank Online signified VR LitRPG. I also gave him an overview of the premise. He gave me his blessing and told me to write on.

Noun & Noun titles were nothing new to the fantasy world, with Dungeons & Dragons being the most famous and the source of inspiration for Travis’s own book. I thought that I could use Curses & Cocktails as a way to pay tribute to both as well as signify that it was in the cozy fantasy subgenre.

But for some, it was a little too on the nose, and before even reading the book, it brought comparisons to L&L. Some were confused if it was a book by Travis or set within the same world. Others thought it was a rip-off or a clone. This was the last thing I had intended to happen.

While those who have read the book can see it for what it is, a tribute to the man who inspired me to write in a new genre, none of that mattered if the title turned off potential readers before they even have a chance to pick up the book.

If you’ve never had the opportunity to interact with Travis Baldree, he is one of the nicest humans on the planet. There is no wonder why his book became a smash hit. After talking with him again, and being reaffirmed that he had no issues with my title, I decided the best thing to do would be to change the title slightly. Cursed Cocktails captures the same feeling as its predecessor, but doesn’t immediately draw comparisons to Legends & Lattes. I believe that changing it now, 1 week into launch, will be better for the life of the book. People will see the inspiration from L&L in the text and acknowledgments without it being shoved in their faces. Plus, it has more cats.

With that being said, here’s a look at the old and new covers:

Welcome to Aedrea!

Aedrea is the setting for my upcoming fantasy novel, Curses & Cocktails, as well as some future projects. It’s a big world with nine kingdoms full of humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings–and a splash of magic and mystical creatures to boot. My goal is to tell a great variety of small-scale stories within this epic fantasy setting, starting with the cozy fantasy tale of a retired blood mage who moves from the frozen north and opens a tavern down by the coast.

Stay tuned for more details in the coming days and weeks!

The map was hand drawn by Jog Brogzin. He’s super talented and I highly recommend you check him out for all your mapmaking needs.

Sentenced to Troll 5 Preorders Canceled

If you preordered Sentenced to Troll 5, you probably noticed that it was canceled. Long story short, I’ve dealt with some health issues and family emergencies in the earlier part of the year that really slowed me down. I needed about three more weeks to finish edits, and since I had already adjusted the preorder date twice, Amazon refused to let me change it again.

Considering that they allow you to put up a preorder a year in advance, it’s hard to believe that changing a release from six months to nine months would crash their entire ecosystem.

But I digress, Sentenced to Troll 5 will be here mid-July. And the audiobook should be ready by late August/early September.

This book is a good 30% longer than the previous books in the series. I promise you are in for a wild ride.

So stay tuned, and check out my online shop at shop.slrowland.com for new products. I’ll be adding a few more in the coming weeks.

Audible Daily Deal and becoming a bestseller

This past weekend, Pangea Online: The Complete Trilogy was Audible’s featured Daily Deal. This was an amazing experience and shot my book up the rankings. It hit #5 in all of Audible and #1 in several categories, including YA Fantasy. I even managed to beat out all of the Harry Potter books for a day. Here are a couple of awesome screenshots I managed to snag.

Happy New Year!

First off, thank you to each and every one of you who has supported me this year. Whether it be via Amazon, Kindle Unlimited, Audible, Patreon, or hanging out in the Secret Society, I honestly wouldn’t be able to have this amazing career without you all.

I’m happy to say that 2021 is behind us. It had its moments, some good and some bad, but overall, it ended on a positive note. After having another surgery in February, I only managed to write 2 books this year, but I wrapped up Pangea Online and put out the 4th installment of Sentenced to Troll, along with 3 audiobooks. I ordered amazing new covers and finally have hardcover versions of my books that rival anything you might find at your local bookstore.

I aim to be much more productive in 2022, and I’ve set things in place to make that happen. Really, it’s all about keeping my butt in the chair and getting the words out. Distraction is my biggest hindrance, but I’m ready to take my career to a new level and the only way to do that is to put in the work. After Sentenced to Troll 5, I’m going to try my hand at a couple of new series that have been sitting in the back of my mind. But I am committing to at least one Troll book per year, more if they really take off. It really comes down if I’m able to continue funneling new readers into the series. So every time you share my works with your friends or post in a group, it goes a long way in making that happen. There’s no better promotion than word of mouth.

I’m super excited about these new books, and I can’t wait to start sharing them as well. It’ll be fun to jump into some new worlds again.

Thanks for being awesome!

Happy Trollidays!

The Happy Trollidays shirt is now available in my website shop. It pairs perfectly with a nice paperback or hardcover, available on Amazon.