May 2026 Progress Report
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
MCMComiCon
May’s schedule was dominated by prep for and taking part in MCMComiCon in London. This is a huge event. Peter Orullian (who I had the pleasure of meeting) said it felt even bigger than Emerald City, which takes place in Seattle. It certainly felt like the busiest MCM I’ve ever been to, and our most successful. We sold out of copies of Ascendant in paperback around noon of the second day 👀which is a good problem to have. In the end I was left with just 3 copies of Reckoning left and a handful of Battle Spires, making it a terrific weekend of selling.
One good thing about selling out of books is that I allowed more time to have conversations with readers. I met a father who said he and his son read Songs of Chaos together (and trust me, from his questions and comments, they had really READ it), many aspiring writers who had kind words for the series, or said it had inspired them, and still others asking very detailed questions about self-publishing. As exhausting as MCM can be, it’s these interactions which make it worthwhile. You’ll never get it from your desk, and no online review, no matter how well written, can ever convey the same joy of seeing someone’s face light up in real life.
The Broken Binding were also there in force with Endless Editions of Ascendant and Unbound, and beautiful art prints for the new cover of The Reborn King as part of our Ten Year Anniversary Editions. I signed those prints in silver pen (and then black because the silver ran out haha). If you were lucky enough to get one, post a picture online and tag me! Someone already framed theirs.
With TBB there, I got to hang out with Peter Orullian, Ryan Cahill, and Phillip C. Quaintrell, and I caught up with indie friends L.L. McRae and Mark Stay who also had tables at the con. I also had a chance to speak about the journey of being an author on a panel alongside Guy Bass, Cynthia So, Elissa Elwick, and Eric Huang. I’ve been on other panels discussing this topic, but I felt this one truly hit the mark, the good and the bad, in a genuine way others haven’t before. I hope the audience were able to take something meaningful away from it, and help make a choice on which path is best for them to take.
And most fun of all, I got to visit the DragonSteel store when it was quiet before the con opened (privileges of being a fellow exhibitor). I wanted to pick up all of Mistborn Era 1 in leatherbound, but they’d already sold out of Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages when I got there. Darnnit! But I grabbed The Final Empire, these sick Mistborn themed metal bookends, and a pin of Kelsier because Kelsier. Everyone from the DragonSteel team I met was super friendly, but a special shout out to Michael from the socials team who was especially generous with his time. I hope you enjoyed your time travelling the UK after the con!
Keeping my fingers crossed I’ll see them again in December for DragonSteel Nexus 🤞
Anniversary Set On Sale!
May opened with a bang as the 10 Year Anniversary Set of Dragon’s Blade went on sale 🥳
I’ve heard that we’re close to selling 1,000 sets which is a mind blowing level of support, and resounding approval for the magic Jeff Brown, Marco González, and David Hawkins weaved in bringing it together. A huge thanks to the creators who helped spotlight it – Michael Cronk aka The Book Guy, KassBookReviews, Nathan Booktok, T.D. Orel, Aaron Hall, Mary of FitandFatasizing, Noah Brisk, and Arish at the EntroArchives. Not forgetting the whole TBB team, but especially Sean, Emi, Sarah and Amy🙏
If you haven’t pre-ordered a set yet, there’s still time to do so! I’d make sure you get one now before the copies start popping up on social media later and they’re all gone, and the FOMO hits like a truck. I’m leaving all the endpaper artwork here for you to view as it’s not part of the main product page 😊
Battle Spire Audiobook News!
Ah, Battle Spire, my forgotten child. For those who don’t know, I wrote a standalone LitRPG story after Dragon’s Blade and before Songs of Chaos. To this day it’s still the most fun I’ve ever had writing a book. It poured out in three short months. Being in first person and able to use modern terminology was really freeing. Plus taking the plot of Die Hard and mixing it into a game world setting was just a joy.
You probably didn’t know that Soundbooth Theater recorded the audiobook version of Battle Spire – you’ll have heard of them now due to Dungeon Crawler Carl fame. Jeff Hays voices the villain in Battle Spire, which is sweet, but Justin and Allie as the primary cast do an insanely good job with the MC and his AI companion.
Soundbooth Theater and I have recently unshackled the book from being exclusive to Audible, so now you can also pick it up on their own SoundBooth Theater App OR listen for FREE on Youtube. Can’t go wrong with free, can you?
For the Audible lovers, it’s still on there, too, don’t worry!
Peter Kenny short interview
Speaking of audio, I recently had dinner with Peter Kenny while he was in London recording a book. We enjoyed great Cypriot/Greek food at Ouisa on Charlotte Street, and then Peter kindle agreed to answer a few questions from listeners. Video below 😊
2 To Ramble Panel!
As part of my 10 Year Celebrations, 2 to Ramble were kind enough to host a panel on 'Surviving Indie Publishing' with myself, Phillip C. Quiantrell, M.L. Spencer and M.J. Kuhn.
You can watch it on Youtube!
Defiant & Reckoning Endless Editions
For the collectors out there, we’re still on track to release Defiant and Reckoning in the Endless Edition style from Broken Binding this year. I’m meeting the interior formatter and board designer this coming Monday! We’re also going to try and move up our timeline and get them out earlier than planned – no promises of course, but we’re going to give it out best. Even if we can’t get them out early, they’ll still come around in the autumn this year. Fingers crossed for sooner and keep an eye out on all my social media and mailing list updates as they could arrive quite quickly if we get our ducks in a row.
SoC 5 Update
I’ll cut to the chase on the word count for you. SoC #5 is now 24,000 words drafted, which is 12% of the expected length (200,000 words). Please keep in mind this is all quite rough, but it’s nice to have a chunk of work laid down on the book now.
It means I drafted 8k in April, and 16k in May, despite MCM and all the usual craziness of running a business and having a baby. So that’s a hopeful trajectory haha. With luck, I can continue to raise the word count a bit as the months go by, but consistency and quality triumph over everything.
I still feel pretty good about what I’ve written so far. The most recent chapter ballooned a bit, but only by reaching its end have I had brainwaves about how to improve it. However, as the plot won’t be affected, I think I’ll make notes on that and try to push on for now.
In April, I focused on the opening sequence. May was the true start of the book with Talia as the POV. Talia, Pyra, and Fynn, find themselves embroiled in a confrontation against storm dragons at the southernmost point of the lands of Lakara. Raw strength isn’t going to get them out of trouble, so what else will? I still have at least one more chapter in this opening Talia batch to write, and then I’ll need to decide whether to flip over to Holt and continue their thread for a while or go off and write some of the other pieces needed for ACT 1. Momentum is usually good to carry over, so I’m expecting to switch to Holt’s POV soon and carry on until I HAVE TO backtrack to fill in some gaps.
On Rereading Older Books
Both for SoC 5 and for the Dragon’s Blade Anniversary Set, I’ve found myself going back to older books and rereading portions of them. For Dragon’s Blade, this was to select scenes for artwork, and creating the briefs often required me to reread whole chapters to understand the context and all the minutiae of who is there, what they’re wearing, and what they’re feeling. For Songs of Chaos, it’s about trying to tie things together, ensure I can make the right callbacks, and tie up all the ends. Especially for books 1 and 2 (3 and 4 are still fresher in my mind), I think once book 5 is drafted, I’ll do one more very close reread from start to finish to give myself a full refresh for the editing and polishing.
In both cases, it’s been a slightly surreal experience. For Dragon’s Blade, I’m transporting myself back 10 years for book 1. I know I wrote it, but I can’t remember it. The whole thing feels dreamlike, and reading the words… I can tell it’s me, but like a grainy photo or a toddler’s handprint in paint. You but not you; another time and almost another life. The distance means I’ve forgotten the small details, how things played out exactly, and means I get to just read them as a stranger might. And in both cases, I’m pleased at how much I like the flow. Hey, this is actually pretty good!
Some highlights have been:
The early confrontation between Darnuir and Draconess in The Reborn King
The duel between Darnuir and Zarl in The Reborn King
The duel between Castallan and Brackendon in Veiled Intentions (and the entire Bastion sequence)
The city riots in Last Guardian
Chp 41 in Ascendant, The Horse and the Hounds
When Talia and Pyra find the first control orb underground in Unbound
Beginning a new book always feels rough for me. A first draft can make you think you’ve forgotten how to write, but checking back on how the older books turned out (in the end) is a good reminder that I’ll get things where they need to be in the end.