Richard Lee Byers's Blog, page 33
January 15, 2014
Thank you, Nikki Howard!
Thanks to Nikki Howard for plugging my heroic fantasy collection THE PLAGUE KNIGHT AND OTHER STORIES here:
http://www.booknapped.com
http://www.booknapped.com
January 14, 2014
Check out the Fall of Man RPG Kickstarter
The Kickstarter for the Fall of Man RPG is now live.
Fall of Man will be a cool "post-apocalyptic Gothic-horror-fantasy" RPG. I'll be contributing a chapter to the core rulebook in the form of a novelette that will give the favor of the setting and also, I hope, be a kick-ass dark fantasy adventure.
Check out the Kickstarter here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2033407677/fall-of-man-a-post-apocalyptic-gothic-horror-fanta
Fall of Man will be a cool "post-apocalyptic Gothic-horror-fantasy" RPG. I'll be contributing a chapter to the core rulebook in the form of a novelette that will give the favor of the setting and also, I hope, be a kick-ass dark fantasy adventure.
Check out the Kickstarter here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2033407677/fall-of-man-a-post-apocalyptic-gothic-horror-fanta
An early review of THE REAVER: THE SUNDERING BOOK IV
An early and extremely generous review of THE REAVER: THE SUNDERING BOOK IV:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/823127314
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/823127314
ACCURSED: THE FESTIVAL AT GLENELG is now available on Kobo
For all of you who like to patronize Kobo, my dark fantasy novella ACCURSED: THE FESTIVAL AT GLENELG is now available there:
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/books/the-festival-at-glenelg/flX74T9dJUqyt889yTjj7g?MixID=flX74T9dJUqyt889yTjj7g&PageNumber=1
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/books/the-festival-at-glenelg/flX74T9dJUqyt889yTjj7g?MixID=flX74T9dJUqyt889yTjj7g&PageNumber=1
January 13, 2014
ACCURSED: THE FESTIVAL AT GLENELG is now available on Barnes & Noble
If you're a fan of the Nook, you may be interested that my new novella ACCURSED: THE FESTIVAL AT GLENELG is now available on the Barnes & Noble site:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-festival-at-glenelg-richard-lee-byers/1118039884?ean=2940148181835
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-festival-at-glenelg-richard-lee-byers/1118039884?ean=2940148181835
The Swamp Con schedule is up
Swamp Con is Jan. 18th and 19th in Gainesville. (I am one of the guests.) The schedule is now online. You can find that and all other info about the con here:
http://swampcon.com
http://swampcon.com
January 11, 2014
Once again, it's SUNDERING SUNDAY!
It’s SUNDERING SUNDAY!
That’s because THE REAVER: THE SUNDERING BOOK IV releases on Tuesday, February 4th, and as we count down to that, I’m posting an excerpt from the novel each Sunday.
The publisher has posted the first chapter. You can find that here:
https://www.wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/frnovel/reaver
You can also find last Sunday’s excerpt here on my blog.
Here’s the set-up for today’s excerpt. Stedd Whitehorn, the young Chosen of Lathander, has made his way to the dangerous city of Westgate. There, he seeks aid and refuge from the people who, he believes, are most likely to provide them.
And now, the excerpt itself:
Hundreds of years old—it had begun life as Morningstar Haven, a house of worship devoted to Lathander—the temple of Amaunator was a treasure trove of stained glass windows and skylights. Of late, Niseus Zoporos rarely noticed them without experiencing a pang of sadness at the memory of how brightly they once shined.
Perhaps they were the reason he heard the start of the chanting despite the thick stone walls: “Show us the boy! Show us the boy! Show us the boy!”
A small man with a balding crown and bushy gray eyebrows, Randal Sweetgrove, First Sunlord of Westgate, sat with his collection of sundials, hourglasses, calendar stones, shadow clocks, candle clocks, and dripping clepsydras arrayed behind him. He’d been smiling at Stedd, who was sitting on the other side of his desk, but he scowled at the noise from outside. “I thought I told Miri to send those people home.”
“She tried,” Niseus said from his station by the door. “Some went. Some didn’t.”
“I can talk to them,” said Stedd, meanwhile beginning the process of squirming out of an ornate chair that was rather too deep for him. “I feel better now, and the waveservants won’t be able to get me with Sir Niseus and the other guards protecting me.”
“Please, rest,” Randal said. “There’ll be time for speeches later.”
“But I told you,” said the boy as he completed the process of planting his feet on the floor, “I have to deliver Lathander’s message and keep traveling toward Sapra. So really, I shouldn’t waste time.”
“Sit back down!” the sunlord snapped. Stedd didn’t resume his seat, but he did falter in surprise. “I’m not your enemy, son,” Randal continued, “quite the contrary, and sitting here talking to you, I’ve weighed your words carefully in the hope of discovering that your notions aren’t heretical after all, just awkwardly expressed.”
Stedd shook his head. “Heretical?”
“Yes, and to my regret, after giving them a fair hearing, I can interpret them no other way. The sun god didn’t change from one incarnation to another only to revert to his previous persona a mere century later. The cycle takes millennia. It always has and always will. It can never vary because it reflects the order Amaunator embodies above all else.”
“You’re wrong,” said the boy. “Lathander came back because we need him.”
“Lad, I started my priestly training when I was as young as you are now. I’ve spent forty-five years contemplating the mysteries. Don’t you see how foolish, how insolent it is to claim you understand them better than I do?”
“I understand how it could seem that way,” Stedd replied with bitter disappointment in his voice, “and if it makes you angry, I’m sorry. But I still have to do what Lathander wants. I thought you’d help me, but if you don’t want to, I’ll go.”
“Niseus,” said the sunlord, “block the door.”
To thwart and intimidate a mere child who’d come here willingly at a temple knight’s invitation? It seemed like dishonorable behavior to say the least. But Niseus had sworn an oath of obedience, and he sidestepped to place himself in front of the exit.
“Let me out!” said Stedd.
“It will be all right,” Niseus replied. He hoped that was true.
Stedd pivoted and evidently spotted the smaller door in the back wall amid all the water clocks and such. He started to scramble around Randal’s desk.
The First Sunlord rattled off an invocation and swept his hand through the arc that symbolized the sun’s daily passage across the sky. Stedd’s muscles clenched into rigid immobility, and he pitched off balance and fell.
You can preorder THE REAVER: THE SUNDERING BOOK IV here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EGMB6BU/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1AEKHHJJH4JY5QDXYZ1A&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1630083502&pf_rd_i=507846
Or here:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-reaver-richard-lee-byers/1115479179?ean=9780786964581
That’s because THE REAVER: THE SUNDERING BOOK IV releases on Tuesday, February 4th, and as we count down to that, I’m posting an excerpt from the novel each Sunday.
The publisher has posted the first chapter. You can find that here:
https://www.wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/frnovel/reaver
You can also find last Sunday’s excerpt here on my blog.
Here’s the set-up for today’s excerpt. Stedd Whitehorn, the young Chosen of Lathander, has made his way to the dangerous city of Westgate. There, he seeks aid and refuge from the people who, he believes, are most likely to provide them.
And now, the excerpt itself:
Hundreds of years old—it had begun life as Morningstar Haven, a house of worship devoted to Lathander—the temple of Amaunator was a treasure trove of stained glass windows and skylights. Of late, Niseus Zoporos rarely noticed them without experiencing a pang of sadness at the memory of how brightly they once shined.
Perhaps they were the reason he heard the start of the chanting despite the thick stone walls: “Show us the boy! Show us the boy! Show us the boy!”
A small man with a balding crown and bushy gray eyebrows, Randal Sweetgrove, First Sunlord of Westgate, sat with his collection of sundials, hourglasses, calendar stones, shadow clocks, candle clocks, and dripping clepsydras arrayed behind him. He’d been smiling at Stedd, who was sitting on the other side of his desk, but he scowled at the noise from outside. “I thought I told Miri to send those people home.”
“She tried,” Niseus said from his station by the door. “Some went. Some didn’t.”
“I can talk to them,” said Stedd, meanwhile beginning the process of squirming out of an ornate chair that was rather too deep for him. “I feel better now, and the waveservants won’t be able to get me with Sir Niseus and the other guards protecting me.”
“Please, rest,” Randal said. “There’ll be time for speeches later.”
“But I told you,” said the boy as he completed the process of planting his feet on the floor, “I have to deliver Lathander’s message and keep traveling toward Sapra. So really, I shouldn’t waste time.”
“Sit back down!” the sunlord snapped. Stedd didn’t resume his seat, but he did falter in surprise. “I’m not your enemy, son,” Randal continued, “quite the contrary, and sitting here talking to you, I’ve weighed your words carefully in the hope of discovering that your notions aren’t heretical after all, just awkwardly expressed.”
Stedd shook his head. “Heretical?”
“Yes, and to my regret, after giving them a fair hearing, I can interpret them no other way. The sun god didn’t change from one incarnation to another only to revert to his previous persona a mere century later. The cycle takes millennia. It always has and always will. It can never vary because it reflects the order Amaunator embodies above all else.”
“You’re wrong,” said the boy. “Lathander came back because we need him.”
“Lad, I started my priestly training when I was as young as you are now. I’ve spent forty-five years contemplating the mysteries. Don’t you see how foolish, how insolent it is to claim you understand them better than I do?”
“I understand how it could seem that way,” Stedd replied with bitter disappointment in his voice, “and if it makes you angry, I’m sorry. But I still have to do what Lathander wants. I thought you’d help me, but if you don’t want to, I’ll go.”
“Niseus,” said the sunlord, “block the door.”
To thwart and intimidate a mere child who’d come here willingly at a temple knight’s invitation? It seemed like dishonorable behavior to say the least. But Niseus had sworn an oath of obedience, and he sidestepped to place himself in front of the exit.
“Let me out!” said Stedd.
“It will be all right,” Niseus replied. He hoped that was true.
Stedd pivoted and evidently spotted the smaller door in the back wall amid all the water clocks and such. He started to scramble around Randal’s desk.
The First Sunlord rattled off an invocation and swept his hand through the arc that symbolized the sun’s daily passage across the sky. Stedd’s muscles clenched into rigid immobility, and he pitched off balance and fell.
You can preorder THE REAVER: THE SUNDERING BOOK IV here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EGMB6BU/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1AEKHHJJH4JY5QDXYZ1A&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1630083502&pf_rd_i=507846
Or here:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-reaver-richard-lee-byers/1115479179?ean=9780786964581
January 10, 2014
ACCURSED: THE FESTIVAL AT GLENELG is now available on Amazon
Earlier today, I posted to announce that my new novella, ACCURSED: THE FESTIVAL AT GLENELG, the first piece of fiction set in the universe of the cool new Accursed RPG, is available at DriveThruPRG.com
"But Richard," I heard some of you wail (in my imagination), "I just got an Amazon gift card for Christmas. I'd rather not spend my own money on books until I burn through that."
Hey, no problem. The novella is now available on Amazon as well.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HSRV64W
"But Richard," I heard some of you wail (in my imagination), "I just got an Amazon gift card for Christmas. I'd rather not spend my own money on books until I burn through that."
Hey, no problem. The novella is now available on Amazon as well.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HSRV64W
ACCURSED: THE FESTIVAL AT GLENELG is now available
My new novella ACCURSED: THE FESTIVAL AT GLENELG is now available. This is the first piece of fiction set in the world of the new Accursed RPG and provides a good introduction to that universe. It's also a pretty nifty dark fantasy story if I do say so myself.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/124839/Accursed-The-Festival-at-Glenelg
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/124839/Accursed-The-Festival-at-Glenelg
January 9, 2014
THE PLAGUE KNIGHT AND OTHER STORIES: The Kindle Countdown Deal continues again some more!
The Kindle Countdown Deal for my heroic fantasy collection THE PLAGUE KNIGHT AND OTHER STORIES is racing toward its conclusion. You have about half a day to pick it up for $2.99. Then the sale is over, and the price goes back to $3.99. So if you're interested in the book, why not grab it now and save a buck?
http://www.amazon.com/Plague-Knight-Other-Stories-ebook/dp/B00H1EN9BU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389321293&sr=1-1&keywords=the+plague+knight
http://www.amazon.com/Plague-Knight-Other-Stories-ebook/dp/B00H1EN9BU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389321293&sr=1-1&keywords=the+plague+knight
