Zachary Katz-Stein's Blog, page 12

The Grey Heir is Live!

Good Afternoon Blog Friends!

After uploading my book on the promised release date (June 1st) and then waiting with baited breath for the last few days, I am delighted to announce that The Grey Heir is now available for purchase!

If you have a Kindle, you can find The Grey Heir in the Kindle store: Here!

If you don’t have an eReader, you can buy a PDF version on Book Tango’s Website: Here!

I will be adding links for Nook and ibooks as soon as they become available.

Thank you for taking this journey with me my friends!

Zac

Faction Profile: The Order of Trel

Power base: pervasive

Influence: tyrannical

Religious views: absolute

Heresy: somewhat discouraged.

Since the Asyrdream Empire fell to Aaron Lightbringer’s rebellion 200 years ago, The Order of Trel has slowly gained strength and influence. Now, despite the fact that there are many other religious orders active in the world, The Order of Trel is simply called “the Order.”

This is something the Order of Trel is quite proud of: they represent Treleon, who is the Lord of Light, lions, truth and justice, and their mission is to bring Order to Waerdal’s warring principalities. In this mission they have been astonishingly successful. Four of the nine major principalities are now governed by the Order, though the respective princes are still nominally in charge.

Few fully understand how the Order has managed their take over so successfully, though many are concerned by their unstoppable advance and their inflexible ideology.

Whatever you think of them, however, there can be little doubt that the Order will play a major role in shaping the future of Waerdal.

Cover Art! – The Grey Heir

Good Morning Blog Friends!

It is my great pleasure to share the original cover art for The Grey Heir!

It was done by Kenyon’s own Holly Anderson! For more of her work look here.

Be sure to check back soon for more info about The Grey Heir, which will be released June 1st!

Character Profile: Rayne Drehmer

Height: 5′ 11″

Weight: 150 lbs

Eye Color: Grey-Green

Sex: Not yet.

Hair: Untamed

While the son of one of the wealthiest merchants in Kresain, Rayne still grew up running with gutter rats and thieves. From them he learned how to throw knives, pick pockets, and the art of acrobatic escape. Despite all this, Rayne also managed to covertly pay for whatever his gang took.

Because his mother died when he was very young, Rayne developed a close relationship with his father, Sarem. Sarem had a fairly “hands off” approach to parenting. He let Rayne do almost whatever he wanted…as long as he was willing to live with the consequences. He never paid off Raynes debts (if he were foolish enough to acrue any), and he almost never bailed him out of trouble.

This policy wasn’t malicious. Sarem loved Rayne very much, he just thought that the best way for Rayne to learn from his mistakes was to fully feel the effects of them.

Under most circumstances Rayne learns and lives with the consequences of his decisions, but when his hand becomes temporarily invisible, and a religious organization, the Order of Trel, co-opts him into a centuries old conflict with magicians, he finds himself in a place where simple street tricks can’t save him.

To find out more about Rayne, check out The Grey Heir when it’s released on June 1st!

City Profile: Kresain

In the time of the Asydream Empire, Kresain was controlled by the Tolnedran – one of the twelve major clans of magic. That was 200 hundred years ago. Now, like all the cities in Waerdal, Kresain is a city state ruled by a prince.

An accident of geography has led to a semi-constant state of war between Kresain and Brist. “The Gulch,” an area of land between the two cities, has been the site of so many battles that there is a constant flock of crows above it – drawn by the memory of carrion, and the blood that still soaks the ground. Despite the constant warfare, Kresain has only rarely been taken by an opposing army and the city is thriving.

As a port city, Kresain is a hub of maritime trade (for everyone except Brist). Bold traders bypass the gulch and go down the rivers to the Cross Road Cities, while cautious – wealthier – traders use ships to transport goods to Corel, or even Hodisen.

Prince: Zuriel Amordine

Although only 36, Zuriel has been the prince of Kresain for 15 years – having come into possession in the usual Waerdalian way: by the sword.

Since then he has proven himself to be a capable prince, not only keeping his throne for 15 years, but winning many of the battles with Brist and other principalities. This was accomplished by allowing the Order to police his city – leaving his full army free for engagements in the Gulch and establishing the Western Outpost.

Zuriel is a powerfully built man, who keeps himself in military training despite not actually participating in battle for almost a decade. He is intelligent and an almost demagogic speaker. His men love him and follow him willingly.

Zuriel and his powerful city will almost certainly play a deciding role in the fate of Waerdal!

Stay tuned for more lore updates for The Grey Heir!

Where to Announce Your eBook, via Savvy Writers

Hello from Ohio!

I made it here all safe and sound (for those of you who were concerned )

As I get closer to publishing my book, people keep asking, “How are people going to find your book?”

Today’s link from Savvy Writers & e-Books online provides part of the answer. Their article, Where to Announce Your eBook – for Free, has a list of websites that will help spread the word about newly released eBooks! Now I just have to sit down and post to ALL OF THEM!

Enjoy!

Zac

Driving cross country

Good afternoon blog readers!

I’m just stopping by to let you know that I may not be able to post for a few days because I will be driving back across the country to Ohio!

Check back early next week for more updates about The Grey Heir!

Finding the Title: The Grey Heir

Good morning blog readers!

Having resolved my panic attack of yesterday, I thought you might enjoy seeing how I came up with my title: The Grey Heir.

That should give you some idea about the madness inside my brain.

However, that being said, I am happy with the title. It’s a homophone that works as either “The Grey Heir” (meaning Rayne, who could be the heir to either the Order of Trel or an ancient line of magic users) or “The Grey Air” (as you can see that was the original idea on the page that got crossed out), which suggests a morally grey world.

It works both ways and I like the complexity.

I hope you enjoyed this look into the glamorous world of novel writing!

Zac

Minor Panic Attack

So, after announcing The Grey Heir on Friday and then sitting with the knowledge all weekend, I’ve begun to have a minor panic attack on Monday.

Is it really good enough to publish? Is it hard to get into? If it bombs will that affect the sales numbers for future books? (people will remember they read something by me and didn’t like it and thus not buy a book they might have liked).

Deep breath.

Time to go read it over for the 100th time, fix things, tinker, play, and pray.

Wish me luck friends!