Recent content by Malik

My biggest secret to getting the writing done was to ensure my writing desk had the most comfortable chair in the house.

One of my favorite First Draft quotes is, "I need to remind myself that the first draft is just me shoveling sand into a pile so I can make it into a sandcastle later."

Every book in your series should stand alone as well as working in a series. A reader should be able to jump into the story at any point. And yes, it's as hard as it sounds.

Toward the end of my career, I was in a unit responsible for taking down upstart terrorist groups before they could become a going concern, primarily in countries where we weren't allowed kinetic strikes. We would determine what their "big plan" was--every nascent terror org has a "big plan" to...

If you mean extant mythology in our world that you're working into your fantasy novel, unless it's common knowledge, you're going to need it explained. If it's mythology that's unique to your fantasy world, you're definitely going to need to explain it. The novel I just published has a whole...

I write mine so that the time it takes to read/describe the action stays the same relative to the time it takes the action to happen. When they're circling, feinting, testing each other out? Long descriptions. When the fur is flying? Short, hard phrases. One-word sentences; hell, one-word...

I cosplay as an extrovert at fantasy cons. It's exhausting. At the end of the day, the extrovert costume itches and smells just like any other costume, and you just want to go up to your room, tear it off, and throw it against the wall. And take a long shower until your skin's red. And then...

So hey. STONELANDS has broken even. Including the film option, it’s now in the black. As I mentioned a few months ago, I’ve nuked my online presence. I was initially going to do it right after launch but things got a little crazy with the release and then Worldcon. I’ve deleted all my social...

When it's been through separate rounds of Dev, Line, Copy, and at least 3 separate proofreaders, then formatted, then gone back through another round of proofreading by a fresh set of eyes, and I can't find any errors when they're done. Then, and only then, it's ready.

I started in a corner and built out. In my second novel, one of the major characters is in charge of a castle that raises and trains cavalry who use Pegasi. This meant I had to build out a castle big enough to field air assets. When I developed the saddles for the pegasi, it became obvious...

Beat me to it. As to the initial question? Everything. Humblebrag incoming: I may have had the bestselling indie fantasy debut in history--mainstream critical acclaim, >20K copies sold worldwide including the first 10K in 18 months, and still selling--yet, going back over the manuscript to...

Now at #28 and #17, respectively. Okay, then.

Holy crap. #34 in Military Fantasy New Releases and #21 in Norse & Viking Fantasy New Releases this morning. In paperback. At $24.99. This might work.

So here's the deal: It's print-only. No ebooks. If the cost is prohibitive, tell your library to buy a copy. The ISBN is 978-0-9978875-9-4. You can buy a copy here (cheapest way): https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084 It's up on Amazon, but since I didn't do ebooks, they haven't yet linked it...