“I can walk, Auntie Sovvan.” Ran squirmed.

“Okay but stay with us.” Sovvan set him down and Ran took off. I should have expected that. She followed him.

“Furball! Are you okay?” Ran extended his arms as he ran toward his dad and Nulthir sitting on the boulder. That was okay. The gray fluff ball clinging to Nulthir’s chest must be Furbal…

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Now was her chance to prove they didn’t need Sovvan. Giraya called for lightning and the storm overhead sent a bolt of power her way. She caught it and threw it at the sand creature. “You thought you beat me, but you didn’t.”

“What are you doing?” Periel let go of Thaniel and strode toward her, but she had to dodge when the sand crea…

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Talk to the Dragons

Nolo waded out of the water with Ranispara right behind him, and the two stopped to watch Saveen and Ran talk and wave their hands around. Sovvan couldn’t hear what they were saying since they were further down the shore. But she could guess. They were probably talking about the ex-goddess of vengeance and the gateway. Star, Nerule, a…

Read more

We got a suggestion for a story after the book ends and that sounds like a great idea until you realize that there is no end. Just because one book ends that doesn’t mean we end. Us characters go onto the next book, and we always tell you what that is.

But maybe we could put an excerpt of the next book if it’s ready. The next book after the Riders of the Apocalypse story arc ends is obviously a book that stars me and my family. That will be Curse Breaker Unleashed. If enough of it is written, we could add an excerpt.

This is Ran, Sarn’s son from the Curse Breaker series, and I like the idea of an excerpt. It means Melinda, my scribe, needs to write more, and I’m always a big fan of that. More writing = more scenes for me!

I don’t make the math but I make it work for me. :)

I am so glad you asked! I have so much to say on that and lots of tea to spill.

Chaos Reigns: Progress Report

Melinda wrote a lot this week because the end of the book felt really close. If she just kept writing (who needs sleep, right?) then she might find it.

Why do I say “find it”?

Okay this is where the gossip gets hot and juicy.

There was an ending Melinda wanted to reach, but the story didn’t want to go to there. At least not yet.

What was that ending?

Well, Melinda wanted a big fight between…

←REDACTED→

I tried to tell you what that ending was, but Melinda deleted it from the final newsletter. So you’ll have to blame her for the lack of spoilers this week, assuming I don’t find a way to sneak some in. Keep reading to see if I do.

Okay back to the gossip.

Actually, let me back up for a moment and review. So at the end of Chaos Rises, our heroes (my aunt Sovvan and Misriah my dad’s guardian angel) went to the Gray Between to lock up the two wraths my aunt caught.

Then my family may have gotten into some trouble, and I may have summoned my aunt to save us. You would have done it too if you could, so don’t look at me like that.

I didn’t know my aunt was doing something important. But I’m glad she came to help me.

What trouble was I in?

Well, in Curse Breaker Revealed, Furball and I snuck out to look for our friend, Saveen. In case you missed it, Saveen is a young dragon. We might have wanted to find where he lives so we could meet a big dragon (his mother)!

But things didn’t go to plan. I got separated. Some people who don’t like my dad found me and they kidnapped me. Of course Papa figured out what happened. His magic keeps track of me and my icon moved to an area of his mental map where I shouldn’t be. That was a big clue.

Furball teleported to his favorite human (Nulthir) to fetch help. Since Papa’s friend tried to stop the bad people from grabbing me, he went to the Rangers since he knows Papa works for them. So a lot of people knew and my dad heard what happened from multiple sources. You can read all about that in Curse Breaker Revealed.

So I didn’t like being kidnapped. Who would? That’s why I summoned my aunt.

You would have summoned her too if you were in my place. A lot of things happened after that while my aunt figured out what happened and how to get us out of trouble. At the time, my dad’s guardian angel didn’t appear at all, not even when a ghost knocked him out of his body and he was all floaty and transparent like a ghost.

My aunt thought it was a test. Misriah wanted to see if she could save us on her own.

But that’s not what happened at all.

Misriah wasn’t just missing. She was being hunted. A fiercely intelligent, and manipulative wrath named Conquest was searching for a worthy rider to help him bring the world to its knees. He preys on her deepest insecurities, isolating her from her friends so he can forge an unbreakable bond. He wants Misriah to be his new rider.

What happened to his original rider?

The opening chapters of Chaos Reigns shows you that and you can read them now on Patreon and Substack if you want. The ending is not posted yet since Melinda is still making changes, but the closing chapters will publish in the next week or two.

Let’s just say his original rider didn’t measure up, so Conquest repudiated them and severed the bond. But that left Conquest with a problem.

To go to the Mortal World, he needed a new rider. Until he found one, he’d be stuck in the Gray Between.

I don’t blame him for wanting to get out of there. It doesn’t sound like a nice place from everything my aunt told me about it. I’d want to leave as soon as possible too.

So stopping the apocalypse was way more important than I thought. It couldn’t wait either. It unpaused itself.

But I stand by my decision. I got into a scary situation, and I don’t regret calling for divine protection. Auntie Sovvan saved me and my uncle and my dad and I don’t think we’d have survived without her help.

I didn’t know the wraths don’t take time off.

So I’m sorry they went after you, Misriah. But if I could do it all over again, I’d still summon my aunt. I like living and I’d like my family to continue to do so too.

Was that the only time I summoned my aunt?

I’ll answer that next week since it might be the reason my scribe didn’t get the ending she wanted yet.

I have to leave you wanting more or I don’t get more page time. You understand right?

Have a great week and I hope you read an awesome book even if it doesn’t include me.

—Ran, Sarn’s son and sidekick from the Curse Breaker series writing on behalf of my scribe, Melinda.

New Books & Special Editions

Whitby Shadows Series - Hardcover Collectors Omnibus Edition

If you loved Twilight and Vampire Diaries, this is for you. Slow burn, fated mates, love triangle, dark secrets and impossible choices.

Searching for a gorgeous special edition?

Look no further! These bestselling authors have teamed up to offer a delightful selection. Available for a limited time on Kickstarter now:

Misriah punched through the clouds and slowed way down when a herd of winged elephants surrounded her. They were Memory-Eaters, of course and they lived in the Gray Between but she rarely ever saw this many at once.

“We’re under attack. Do something about it!” the lead Memory-Eater shouted.

“Who’s attacking you?” Misriah winced as an i…

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As soon as she saw what this family friendly problem was, she’d take Sarn back to Inari and Nolo’s suite and put him to bed. He looked like he needed a nap and some food. Hopefully that’s where he was staying. If it wasn’t, then she’d convince them to take her family in again so someone could watch over him who knew how to…

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Misriah stood there unsure what to do now that the gateway was gone. Did Sarn need her anymore?

Come back to the Gray Between, a voice seemed to whisper in her mind as a hazy image tried to form. But she was imagining that because she wanted someone to need her.

Sarn leaned on his sister and staggered toward a bright glow on the river. Wil…

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Fay couldn’t move. An invisible force held her hostage in her bedroom of all places. This is so unfair. No images appeared this time, just a forest of red threads between her and her children. Faylon stood still and gripped her sword like that would do anything. Fedre froze near the doorway.

A red glow appeared in the opposite cor…

Read more

This week, I bring you a more cost-effective way to get physical books that star me and my family and some other characters too. This is Ran, Sarn’s son from the Curse Breaker Series as usual. No weird character took over this week. Although someone tried.

Buy Paperbacks Direct

What am I talking about?

Well, one of the perks of moving to a new distributor is a direct connection to the printer who prints many of our books. (Not the special edition ones with the gold foiling unfortunately but everything else.)

What does that mean?

It means you can order paperbacks of our books directly from the printer. Yes, we still get a small royalty and you get to save the 30%+ markup that bookstores put on our books.

So that’s why the prices aren’t nice round numbers because the printing cost is not a nice round number that ends in 99.

Find links on our website to buy all our books in paperback directly from the printer. Definitely check there first if you’re looking to get physical books that star me and my family and friends and some other characters too.

Updated eBook Files

If you purchased an ebook directly from us either from Patreon or our shop or any kickstarter, you can find updated files in your Bookfunnel account.

We didn’t change the story just the front and back matter and the formatting to make everything look more uniform.

We did not update the special edition ebooks or Chaos Rises, just our regular ebooks. So if you want the updated versions, they are in your Bookfunnel library. There’s nothing for you to do unless you want to read them on your device and then you’d have to send them over.

So that’s two more items I can check off my scribe’s to-do list.

Bonus Content

Last week, I asked about bonus content since during my research into special editions, I kept finding campaigns that mentioned it. The bonus content is mentioned as being part of the book, but they don’t say what it is.

So I asked if anyone else had seen that and if they knew what this mysterious bonus content is.

Someone replied! Sue said:

Thank you Sue for replying!

We don’t have an exclusive novella right now.

If you want my scribe to write one, that would push the release for the Riders of the Apocalypse books and Curse Breaker Jousts.

Melinda made character cards years ago, so we could do something with that. She did that back in 2018/2019 when I floated the idea of making a card game out of the Curse Breaker series.

What happened to those cards?

Well, we looked into the logistics and it quickly got very expensive very fast to print the cards and boxes and booklets if we did it through print on demand. We’d have to do a print run to get the cost down to something we’d be comfortable charging. So Melinda shelved the idea for now.

But it’s not dead. Our first kickstarter which just features new Curse Breaker books and only new Curse Breaker books will be next year. It’s a brand new trilogy that takes place minutes after Curse Breaker Jousts ends because it ends on a pretty wild plot twist, and I plan to take full advantage of that plot twist in the sequel.

It’s a really fun twist. At least I think so. I wanted this particular character and my dad to meet since he was introduced in the Rogue Gods Trilogy, and that’s all I’ll say.

You should bookmark this newsletter and come back after you read to the very end of Curse Breaker Jousts and leave a comment letting me know if you enjoyed that twist too.

Depending on how that campaign goes, we could come back to the card game idea in the future. So watch this space.

For now, Melinda has to finish Chaos Resigns and Chaos in Chains. She posted chapters 26-29 of Chaos Reigns on Patreon and Substack this week, and it’s heading for a really fun twist too featuring another Rogue Gods Trilogy character. But not the same one that shows up at the end of Curse Breaker Jousts. I laid exclusive claim to that one and all other books have to keep their hands off him.

You can read those new chapters now. The twist is coming in future chapters since Melinda is not done writing that chapter. Follow the Kickstarter to get notified when it launches:

Okay back to bonus content. We found an author who would talk a bit about the bonus content inside her special edition book. She may have been amenable because my scribe helped her proof her special edition, but that still counts!

So TJ, what did you add as bonus content in the special edition for Lost Mage:

The bonus pages are also illustrated with images of the characters and places. TJ forgot to mention that but my scribe confirmed that she saw images in that section. It’s like a reference section for her world.

You can get the special edition of Lost Mage with all that bonus content included right now:

The campaign is live so you can back it not just follow it. TJ didn’t have an updated image that said back it now but you can do that.

So that brings me back to my original question, would you want bonus content like TJ included?

Or would you want that reference material as a separate book?

Let me know!

I hope you read amazing books this week and if you have not seen Project Hail Mary or read it, I can’t recommend it enough. My scribe loves both the movie and the book, and she has asked me not to count how many times she watched it instead of writing.

But you know that I’m keeping track, and I expect one scene per time she watched it in the next Curse Breaker book.

That’s it for this week. See you next Monday!

“My what?” Sovvan dropped the tether. What was Misriah talking about?

“Use your scythe. You know, the thing you used on Death.” Misriah chopped through another tether, but the damned gateway generated another one to replace it. At this rate, they’d never take it down.

“Oh!” Sovvan stared at her hands. How did I call it last time? Perhap…

Read more

“Any change?” Fedre asked from the doorway.

“No. Mom or her imposter is still out cold.” Faylon gave up on sitting and paced the room. Mom or her imposter lay as still as death on the white silk sheets.

“What if she never wakes up?” Fedre leaned against the doorpost.

“She will. Give her time.” Faylon knew it deep in her soul, so she paced to t…

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The Gray Between seemed to call to her, asking her to come back. But she was just imagining that. A blurry image of sand flying around crossed her mind. Misriah shoved it away. The Gray Between is fine. I need to return to the Mortal World. I’ve left Sovvan alone for too long. She flew onward toward the blue-green sphere revolving in front …

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“I’m back. What did I miss?” Sovvan appeared next to her twin, and he looked the same as when she left. That was good. It meant no one took vengeance on him. She let that worry go.

Fay also appeared, but she changed her clothes. Her red armor disappeared and she wore a white dress now. A small red dragon perched on her shoulder. Sovva…

Read more

What new books are out?

1. Catch the Scribe

2. Book Battles

3. Rogue Characters

4. Storm Spells

5. Void Spells

They are available in our shop, direct from our new printer and from most retailers. They’re not on Amazon since the Alliance of Independent Authors still hasn’t heard back from Amazon about our case. So we have no update on that unfortunately.

I'm still salty about that, but there’s nothing I can do about it.

So I’m salty about something else today. This is Ran from the Curse Breaker series and our newsletter adventures series as usual. What am I salty about?

Actually, I'm kind of jealous. I've existed as a character since at least 2012 and possibly a little before that. I don't have an exact date because in 2012, my scribe moved all her book files to the cloud. So all her original files are now permanently dated as sometime in 2012 even if they were created long before that, and some were.

Why is that important?

It means that I've existed for at least 14 years, but I'm not 14 in the Curse Breaker series yet. I'm still little and cute.

Why does that matter?

Because Melinda’s actual nephew just turned seven, and he was born after me. I just think it's unfair that he's growing up faster than me.

In case you're wondering, the Ran writing this email is older than the one in the Curse Breaker series books. How much older? Maybe he's 14 like I should be.

(Melinda would like to point out that I'm actually 14 in Rogue Characters, book 3 of the Tales of the Curse Breaker in NY series which is out now in most places.

She'd also like to draw attention to the Rogue Gods Trilogy, where an alternate version of me is 21. But they don't count because they're not part of the main Curse Breaker series. So my grievance stands.)

But I can cross one more thing of my scribe's to-do list.

She got all our books reformatted and published through the be distributor except Chaos Rises since we're changing the cover. We're not sure that the process is for cover changes so Melinda held that one back for now since we don't have the full wrap cover for the new design.

It'll go up after the Kickstarter. I'm not sure if the final art will be ready before that but it'll definitely be ready by then because we don’t run kickstarters until every book is done.

With that crossed off the list, you might be wondering what Melinda will work on next.

The special edition of Curse Breaker Jousts!

And she's trying to finish Chaos Reigns, but the story is fighting her. It always does that so there's no reason to worry.

It’s trying to go in an unexpected direction. I'm not sure why my scribe always fights that. The story always wins in the end and she concedes the fight and lets it go where it wants.

So that's happening now. I'd give out spoilers but the wraths are scary and they might come after me if I do. So I'll just move on.

Melinda posted chapters 22-25 on Patreon and Substack this week. You can read them now. Chapter 25 is where the story takes a swing. A really big swing.

Back to Curse Breaker Jousts. I'm still researching what authors are doing for their special editions because it's the first one for a Curse Breaker book and the book is special to my scribe. So it must be perfect!

I keep coming across mentions of bonus content in special editions but they don't say what that bonus content is.

Have you bought any special editions with bonus content?

What was in the bonus content?

I know what you're wondering. Is this a ploy to get more page time?

Of course it is! This is me after all, and getting more page time is my primary concern. I’m trying to get some in Chaos Reigns, but the story is veering pretty hard away from that. I’ll keep trying and who knows? Maybe I’ll win.

I must get page time wherever I can. So why not in the bonus content?

If you’ve come across any bonus content and want something similar starring me and my family too, let me know.

So that’s what’s going on this week. If you missed the kickstarter for our new books, then you can grab them now. We even have boxed sets that collect all the books in two convenient packages:

• Tales of the Curse Breaker in NY Books 1-3

• Curse Breaker’s Companion Books 1-4

That’s it for this week. See you next week!

Searching for your next favorite story?

Look no further! These bestselling authors have teamed up to offer a delightful selection of new books. Available for a limited time:

The Sea Queen’s Key: Special Edition Coming-of-Age Fantasy

A fire-wielding young woman faces a rogue ice queen to save her city. Features elemental magic, mermaids, complex cast. Myths alive.

“Where are you, demon horse? Come out and face me!” Giraya shouted. Since flying around and searching didn’t accomplish her goal, perhaps a direct challenge would drive the creature out of hiding so she could fight it.

I need to capture it this time. She tried to imagine Sovvan’s reaction to that. She’ll probably be relieved that she do…

Read more

Sovvan didn’t know if she should raise her fists for a fight or try to teleport her family away. So she just stood there. If only Misriah was here. She’d know what to do. But she wasn’t, so Sovvan tried to think of something to do.

“Yes, it can. I forgive him. We all make mistakes, and that’s what this is. No one was harmed. Just let it g…

Read more

Conquest floated through the fog, nearly whole again. But he was still distressingly transparent despite that. I need a rider. But the one he wanted wasn’t here. Perhaps it was time to seek a replacement. Where’s that angel who likes to toss around lightning bolts?

As Conquest searched for her, gray shapes moved in the fog. They were l…

Read more

When the light faded, the mountain was on the other side of them. The sun sparkled on the river and the crowd and the tents were gone. Someone must have convinced Vangianna to change locations. Sarn still sat on the grass holding Ran, and the kid still tried to wriggle out his grasp. I should help him. Sovvan left the two guardian ang…

Read more

So you have something to look forward to!

That’s really it.

Our scribe also doesn’t like Mondays, so sending our newsletter on Mondays has the added benefit of giving her something to look forward to on Sundays since that’s when she writes what I tell her to put in the newsletter each week.

And she has to write it exactly as I say. It’s the one day every week I’m guaranteed to get some page time!

So that’s the reason. I don’t know if you ever wondered, but now you know.

I’m Ran, Sarn’s son from the Curse Breaker Series, and now it’s time for some book news!

Since I like lists way more than my scribe does and she has to write what I say, let’s do a quick update on where we are with the big initiatives we’re working on.

Actually, Melinda is working on them. They require a lot of work, so they’re on her to-do list while I think about the next Curse Breaker book and what I want to do in it. That’s what’s on my to-do list. This is what’s on hers:

1. Getting All Our Books Set up on a New Distributor

Melinda is reformatting all our paperback books and ebooks to have the same format. So this is moving along. She’s got all the currently published Curse Breaker books set up on the new distributor and they are publishing now. She’s trying to also have all the His Angelic Keeper books up and publishing by the time you read this newsletter.

Once all our ebooks are reformatted, she’ll re-upload them to BookFunnel and you can download them again if you got them directly from us. We’re hoping to have that ready by the end of June.

Don’t worry. We’ll let you know so you don’t miss out.

2. Chaos Reigns Book Update!

Melinda found a solution to the plot problem and I get to keep all my lines!

So I’m happy. The solution was pretty wild actually and I really, really want to tell you what it is.

What was the problem my scribe solved?

How not to repeat a lot of events from the Rogue Gods Trilogy. That was a serious issue it dragged in two really important characters and they need to do what they did in that trilogy to end the alternate timeline and save the most important timeline—the one that’s in my books!

Melinda lost sleep while trying to figure out how to get around that problem. I am happy to report that she found a way and it doesn’t include any time travel. Melinda is not a fan of time travel in our books, so that made her happy.

I can tell you (because it’s not a spoiler) that one of the wraths targets Misriah, my dad’s guardian angel, and this wrath wants to bond with her. You’ll have to read Chaos Reigns to see what happens.

Melinda posted chapters 18-21 on Patreon and Substack this week. You can read them now.

They include 2 knock ‘em down drag ‘em out fights between the wrath (a demon horse that can transform into a terrifying creature) and a character you know and love, one battle, and a melee and the book is not even done yet. This is not even the climax, so more to come!

Melinda knew this book might have the most fights since it has 3 warrior angels in it, and they don’t play. They also never turn down a challenge and they don’t obey outlines or authors. So these angels are also fighting Melinda.

3. Too Many Books + Upcoming Paperback Sale

Melinda didn’t make progress inventorying our books this week. The weather in NY is going to get very hot next week and will soar into the 90s!

That’s way too hot for mid May. So Melinda had to get ready for the influx of heat by uncovering her AC unit and doing some meal prepping because she can’t use her stove in 95 degree heat.

She might head to the office more than the required days to get away from the heat, so I don’t know she’ll make much progress on this goal next week. We’ll let you know.

5. Special Edition for Curse Breaker Jousts

Melinda did some research on what other fantasy authors are doing for their special editions and her findings are interesting. We’ll talk about them in an upcoming newsletter because she wants to gather more data before she’ll let me discuss the findings with you.

The special edition for Jousts took a backseat this week since Melinda was spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to resolve the plot issue in Chaos Reigns. The book is racing toward the end and she’s just trying to keep pace with it!

I think she may have to finish writing Chaos Reigns before she can really think about special editions since that book is fighting with her every chance it gets. My poor scribe is writing it every spare minute she has because if she leave the story alone for too long, the characters go off on their own. It’s definitely a feral story.

Of course, my aunt (Sovvan) isn’t part of that chaos. She’s hanging with me and our family and trying to save us while everyone in her book else gets into serious world-ending trouble.

I might have to let her go and deal with that…

Don’t forget to follow the project on Kickstarter so you can get all 4 books in the story arc:

After this, Melinda says we can’t do any more crossovers. We’re not allowed to end the world or do anything to cause alternate timelines. Thankfully, there’s lots for us to do in the Curse Breaker series that doesn’t involve any of the banned things.

That’s it for this week. I’ll see you next week!

New Books & Special Editions

The Sea Queen’s Key: Special Edition Coming-of-Age Fantasy

A fire-wielding young woman faces a rogue ice queen to save her city. Features elemental magic, mermaids, complex cast. Myths alive.

When the red faded, the fog tried to envelope her. Fay slashed her hands through it. I hate this fog and this place.

You should borrow my scales just in case things get interesting. They usually do when you come here, Fextra said in her mind and then warmth wrapped around Fay. Red scales extruded from her skin and armored her. That f…

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