If you read fantasy for the magic, the world-building, and the occasional moment of dark humor—I write that. One urban fantasy series, one epic fantasy series, both set in the Fractured Arcana universe, with more coming. My newsletter takes you deeper into the worlds, the characters, and what's next.
Two threads down. One to go.
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My oldest sent me one of her papers from college. Not so that I could review it. Just to read it so that I could see what she's doing. It's cool to see her maturity of thought and writing. Still miss having her around though. Oh, I also wanted to share that that we bought Storyworth for my mom a while back now. If you don't know what that is, it's a site that asks questions about the past, and shares the answers with family/friends. I've quite enjoyed learning what her grandparents were like, what she did as a kid (less dinosaur-chasing involved than I thought), and even sides of my grandparents that I hadn't been old enough to see. One technical note--I’m likely moving to a cheaper Kit plan, which means the email format will shift a bit while I re-tool. Thanks for rolling with me during the transition. Click here to be removed from family content. Shepherds has been my toughest book to write. I drafted the beginning and the end first—which weirdly made the middle slower and more deliberate. It’s not a bad thing; it’s just… different. Two threads are solid; I start the third today. Meanwhile, I'm working on teasers. War drums echo from Bellon to Aendolin. Elliah—bereft of magic, stubborn as granite—owes a debt to Truth, while Hughelas works with dragonkind to mark roads no map can hold. A dragonscaled troll walks where prayers fail. Warders bristle under the thumb of the High Elves. The Mother of Trees grows quiet. The Father of Stones listens. Threads pull tight: mercy or victory, oath or freedom, one life or a thousand. When the cage groans, who pays to keep it shut? I’m shifting ad spend back toward Guardian League for a bit. It’s trickier to advertise than Thaumatropic Roots—fewer pull-quotes and the imagery’s harder—so I’m testing copy pulled from early reviews (and tweaking for US/UK). If you’ve got a favorite one-liner you’ve used to pitch GL to a friend, reply with it and I may feature it (with credit). P.S. Be brutal: if one line of my ad copy made you scroll past, what was it? If one line made you click, what was it? Your “yes/no because…” helps me tighten everything. One of you has told me you don't like super-pointy ears! 😁 All books by Steven J. Morris Indie Author Showcase Previous Newsletters
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Steven J Morris
If you read fantasy for the magic, the world-building, and the occasional moment of dark humor—I write that. One urban fantasy series, one epic fantasy series, both set in the Fractured Arcana universe, with more coming. My newsletter takes you deeper into the worlds, the characters, and what's next.
Yesterday I needed to remember exactly how a character destroyed a dragon artifact three books ago. I didn't dig through my own novels to find it—I asked an AI I built to search them for me. It's called the Grimoire: a mini-AI system I put together with Pinecone that I can ask questions about my own books—hair color in a different epoch, a side character I want to bring back, a detail I'd otherwise lose momentum digging for. It keeps me writing instead of hunting. That's the quiet way AI has...
In this one: an old friend from way back, 20k words of progress, and a new reel from Thaumatropic Fractures. Last newsletter I asked for some accountability help. A few people reached out. One was someone I think of as an old friend from high school. But I've got to tell a little story about him. Way back before high school, in 5th grade, I transferred into a new school roughly mid-year. In one of my classes, the teacher insisted I do a placement test. But the placement test was this set of...
Hey Reader, Quick fun bit before today's update: the polls from my last email are in. I'd asked how many of you had actually read the three portal fantasy books that made me want to write the genre: Mordant's Need: 14.3% have read it The Darwath Trilogy: 0% have read it War of the Flowers: 14.3% have read it Almost nobody has read them, which tracks. They're buried treasure. If any of them ended up on your list because of that email, I'd love to hear how it goes. Okay, the actual update. I...