I’ve noticed that my books have been listed as rational fiction in a few places (Goodreads, etc), which I’m fine with. It wasn’t necessarily my intention, but my books have obvious commonalities arising from similar interests and influences. Rational fiction, however big it ends up getting, is just having its time in the sun at the moment. I’m of the school of thought that believes genre shifts like this are more a product of the cultural environment around them than being driven directly by their authors- though not entirely so.

I want to point out, however, that I’m not associated with the Rationalist movement/ Less Wrong crowd, due to philosophical and pragmatic difference. (If you’re not familiar with the Rationalist movement… well, you’re looking at a lot of internet drama over a lot of years. You probably don’t need to go farther than “John’s not part of this very specific, rather contentious minor philosophical movement that most people won’t ever encounter.”)

Continue reading “A Brief Disclaimer on Rationalism” →

My buddy F.J. Blair just released book 3 in his Bulletproof Witch series, Arkton at High Noon! Bulletproof Witch is a fast-paced Weird West series, with high-stakes gunfights, demons, magic, and even a talking horse! The whole series is a blast, I highly recommend it. (And I get to beta read them- this one was my favorite one so far! I did grow up watching Westerns with my dad, so I do have to admit a soft spot for them, and this one definitely hits that for me, along with my more common fantasy cravings.)

I just released an ebook Publisher’s Pack for books 1&2 of Mage Errant, to link with the audiobook via Whispersync. It doesn’t contain any new material besides a new afterword, so no need to go out and buy it immediately, but if you don’t own the ebook yet, it’s a dollar cheaper than buying books 1&2 separately! It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited.

The cover is a modified version of the audiobook cover, which I’m pretty happy with!

The Kindle Matchbook Program, which allows you to get free or cheap ebook versions of physical books you purchase through Amazon, ends on October 31st. If you’ve bought any Mage Errant paperbacks, they’re all enrolled in the Kindle Matchbook program!

You can check here to see if you have any Kindle Matchbook eligible titles until the end of the month! (I had four that I hadn’t taken advantage of- Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground, Dan Simmons’ Illium and Olympos, and Neil Gaiman’s American Gods.)

The audiobook for A Traitor in Skyhold should be out sometime in December, if anyone’s curious! (Most likely late December.) And yes, Ralph Lister is returning to narrate.

A Traitor in Skyhold is now available in paperback!

Sorry it took so long, it takes about ten times as much work to get the paperback set up as the ebook. (Amusingly, paperbacks makes up less than 1% of my profits.) Now that I’m a digital nomad and traveling full-time, it also means that checking proof copies is much more difficult. (I’ve got to send them to my brother, who looks over them and sends me photos and feedback.)

So a guy I knew back in college is making a videogame called Thine Own. First and foremost, it’s, well, an ecosystem simulator for medieval Southern England.

I am unbelievably excited over this. I mean, there’s more to the game than that, of course, but I’m a giant nerd for anything ecological, so I was literally sold on the whole project the instant I heard ecosystem simulator. This is the exact kind of weird thing I love.

Thine Own is still early in development, but it already looks absolutely gorgeous, and I can’t wait to see more. You should give the first look video a watch!

If Thine Own looks up your alley and you’d like to support it, you can back it on Patreon or just share the word- publicity helps!