It’s almost time to release The Chimaera Regiment. I will be releasing the print and e-book versions in the near future (mid-April; exact dates are difficult to establish, given the process), and when that time comes, you will be able to purchase the book from Amazon.com. In the meantime, there are a few things you can do to prepare:
- Request a review copy. I am giving away e-books to anyone who will review the book and post it on Amazon when the book becomes available. You are, of course, always allowed to post the review on your own blog or social media venue. (I ask that you not pass on the e-book to anyone else, but if someone else wants to review it also, please refer them to me here). In order to request a copy, please use our contact form – and make sure to mention that’s why you’re contacting me.
- Register in the Goodreads giveaway. If you’re more interested in a print copy than an e-book, you can register in this giveaway on Goodreads. This could land you an advance copy of the book. (Ideally, you would also post a review, but it is not an absolute requirement.)
- Tell your friends. If you know anyone who likes fantasy, especially high fantasy,1 please tell them about the book. Or the book giveaway. Or the option to request a review copy. If you think they’ll like the book even a little bit, make sure that you mention it exists. This would be a great help, because if more people know about it, then more people will get to enjoy it.
Meanwhile, I’m going to continue trying to spread the word myself in anticipation of the release.
If you’re wondering about my plan to produce an audiobook version–you may recall that my original plan was to release the audiobook as a podcast–keep in mind that I am still planning this. All of the episodes have gone through the initial recording stage; the editing stage, however, takes about three times as long as the recording stage for each episode. The episodes are about 35 minutes each, and there are 19 of them, so you can do the math on how much time I need to put into that effort. Since I still have a day job, a baby on the way, and other factors tugging at my time, it will be some time before this is finalized. But I will keep you updated as things progress.
Thanks for visiting, and keep a close eye both here and on TheChimaeraRegiment.com for more news!
1“High fantasy” is opposed to “urban fantasy” and “low fantasy.” An example of high fantasy is Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time; an example of urban fantasy is, say, the Underworld film series; urban fantasy is also a subset of low fantasy, in that both are set in the real world, and an example of low fantasy is Pippi Longstocking or Tuck Everlasting or The Green Mile. J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is usually classified as high fantasy, although he adamantly insisted that it was set in the ancient past of the real world; Rowling’s Harry Potter series and C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series are usually classified as high fantasy, but there is some dispute due to their relationship with the real world. Some insist that the real (“primary”) world and imaginary (“secondary”) world must be entirely separate for high fantasy, but the general consensus in this day and age is that involving a secondary world at all is enough to be classified as high fantasy. Rowling’s work, too, is meant to showcase the effects of fantastical events on quotidian (“daily,” i.e., normal) life, like attending school–but since that’s the point of most fantasy, to examine ourselves from a new perspective, I’m not sure how that is sufficient to classify it low fantasy.
All that to say, I’m not claiming that I’m as good as Jordan, Lindgren, Babbit, King, Tolkien, Rowling, or Lewis. I’m probably better than the Underworld film series, though, for what that’s worth.
