THE SHADOW THRONE

So that you don’t read on, I’ll put the links here. If you’ve read the first two books of the series and stopped there, I hope you’ll consider getting a copy of THE SHADOW THRONE. This will test the young king in ways even he never anticipated.

THE KING’S ENGLISH (Autographed Copies)

BARNES & NOBLE

BOOKSHOP.ORG

AMAZON

In this post, I’ll share a few insiders about THE SHADOW THRONE. But, if you have not yet read the book, stop here.

SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT

Seriously, don’t read past this point until AFTER you have completed THE SHADOW THRONE!

I’m taking to you. Go read THE SHADOW THRONE. Then come back here.

Okay, you were warned….

1.   My SiL loves Mott. He is by far her favorite character. As I was writing this book, we had this conversation.

SiL:  Whatever you do, please don’t kill Mott.

Me:   You want me to kill Mott?

SiL;   No, I want you to not kill Mott.

Me:   I’m starting to think that maybe I should kill Mott.

SiL:   Everything you’re saying is the opposite of what I want.

Me:   Okay, but I just want you to know, if I ever do kill Mott, you will be the one who gave me the idea.

Now, in truth, Mott originally was going to die in that final battle. However, because of what happens with Imogen earlier in the story, I felt that we’d already seen Jaron mourning enough. Nothing more was to be gained if Mott died, so in a very twisted way, Imogen ended up saving Mott.

2.  The original title for Book 2 was THE PIRATE KING. However, since that created some obvious spoilers, we started brainstorming for alternate titles. One that I suggested was THE SHADOW THRONE. My editor loved the title, but suggested we save the title for this third book. 

So, you ask, what does THE SHADOW THRONE have to do with the plot of the third book? Nothing!

3.  When designing the book cover, obviously the object that should be there is a throne, However, with a crown and a sword on the first two books, putting a throne on the third book would make it look like a toy in scale. So the suggestion was made to use a key.

So you ask, what does a key have to do with the plot of the third book?

Nothing!

4.  The original version of book three was written in Jaron’s perspective but also in Roden’s and Tobias’s. However, once it was finished, I realized that the story was strongest when told by Jaron, so I rewrote all of the other chapters in a few weeks and resubmitted it to my editor.