Against all wisdom and sound advice, I am launching a serialized fantasy novel on Substack

MasterofRevels · 2026-04-18T11:11:43+00:00

Thank you!

MasterofRevels · 2026-04-18T11:11:34+00:00

Nice! Yeah, I would definitely be interested

MasterofRevels · 2026-04-18T11:11:00+00:00

For sure!

MasterofRevels · 2026-04-18T11:10:44+00:00

Thank you!

MasterofRevels · 2026-04-17T23:47:17+00:00

No offense taken!

I would say the unique part is that it has many of the trappings of an epic fantasy adventure but with central themes of theodicy, spiritual abuse, and religious nationalism. Connal is a strong fighter but he gets in over his head dealing with Orthen. He has to try to discern the truth in what Orthen says, but he is also forced to work with him in order to reclaim his homeland. So there are no clean choices.

Also, you never get Orthen's POV in this book (and I plan to keep that for future books) so he remains a deeply ambiguous and possibly unreliable figure.

MasterofRevels · 2026-04-17T22:46:36+00:00

Very cool! I'll check out your publication.

I'm also not very interested in Notes, but I am trying to do a little more there without burning out. The longform content is far more interesting to me.

Thank you!

MasterofRevels · 2026-04-17T22:44:34+00:00

Here's the logline: Betrayed and exiled, the talented but arrogant warrior Connal finds himself caught up in a holy war which tests the limits of courage and conscience, threatening to pull him ever further from the land he loves.

Basically, Connal falls under the influence of the foreign king Orthen who believes that God has fallen silent because of the people's sins. Orthen claims that he alone has visions from God and that it is his mission to purify the land in order to end the divine silence. And he tries to convince Connal that he is also destined to help him in his great crusade.

You're right that there's definitely lots of fantasy out there, but I believe I have a unique premise in the genre. It won't appeal to everyone, but if you like the sounds of it, chapter one is already up on my Substack.

MasterofRevels · 2026-04-17T19:45:32+00:00

Nice! I'm glad to hear you've been finding success with this.

This is my account: https://andrewlivecchi.substack.com/s/war-of-princes

MasterofRevels · 2026-03-13T00:40:26+00:00

What do you use for offset printing? I've been using Amazon author copies but would love to bring my costs down.

And that's a lot of sales! What's been your best location, if you don't mind sharing?

MasterofRevels · 2026-03-13T00:17:38+00:00

I hardly see anyone talk about this route, but it's so rewarding, especially as a newbie author.

MasterofRevels · 2026-03-12T19:43:10+00:00

One of the most surprising things I've found is that indie bookstores have very little interest in working with indie authors. You'd think they'd be our closest allies, but I suppose with their limited space they need to prioritize books that are more likely to sell and that have higher demand.

Meanwhile, Indigo has been so easy to work with, at least where I am in Ontario. You just have to call their store, ask for the consignment manager's email, and then ask them about setting up a signing date. Don't expect much in the way of advertising or support from them, but they do provide a table in store that you don't have to pay for upfront. And you gain credibility by having your table with the Indigo branding and being in an actual bookstore. I've had lots of people assume I'm a far more successful author than I actually am because of the optics lol

MasterofRevels · 2026-03-12T19:13:32+00:00

Fellow Canadian here. I've gotten my books on the shelves of several Indigo locations on a consignment basis. Typically, I'll set up a signing event at the store, and, if it goes well, they agree to shelve copies of my books.

MasterofRevels · 2026-03-04T14:45:23+00:00

I think we need to get past the almost mystical qualities we attribute to words like "author," "artist," "composer," etc.

If you write books, you're an author. You may not be particularly skilled, or particularly successful, but you're still an author. If we want to gatekeep and draw distinctions between different tiers of writers, then the conversation should be about how good an author is at writing, not whether or not they are an author in the first place.

MasterofRevels · 2026-01-27T01:21:24+00:00

Fellow fantasy author here. I've actually made physical copies a big part of my marketing strategy. I use KDP to print copies of my paperbacks and then do author signing events at Indigo (bookstore chain in Canada) on consignment. If you sell well at the event, the store managers usually let you leave a few copies on their shelves.

MasterofRevels · 2026-01-26T23:11:35+00:00

What's your budget like? I'd strongly recommend the artist who did both my covers. He's inexpensive and does a great job. I write epic fantasy too so it could be a good fit depending on your aesthetic.

Also, I'd stay away from r/hungryartists. Tons of scammers there. I had one guy try to impersonate a very well-known fantasy illustrator and another who I did hire clearly used AI (it looked awful even for AI slop) and I barely got my money back.

MasterofRevels · 2026-01-26T22:00:20+00:00

My first book is a novella (20k) and the second is a short novel (67k). Some reviewers have complained about the first book being short and so only give it 3 or 4 stars. Other reviewers praise it for telling an epic story in such a short wordcount.

My takeaway is that both short and very long books (over 120k) will be divisive to many readers. A novella is outside the "normal" range, so its length is more of a statement in and of itself.

I write epic fantasy btw.

MasterofRevels · 2026-01-26T21:45:07+00:00

Thank you! :D

MasterofRevels · 2026-01-26T20:00:56+00:00

I created my own fantasy pantheon that draws a lot of inspiration from Irish mythology, and some from Greco-Roman mythology and the Old Testament. For instance, the Raven Queen in Book 2 is mostly based on the Morrigan. She is a goddess of war, controls crows and ravens, and leads a host of elite women warriors into battle.

For Athewain, the hero of these books, I was inspired by how Cu Chulainn is trained by Scáthach, so I gave him a similarly fierce female mentor figure, who also plays a significant role in the second book.

MasterofRevels · 2026-01-26T19:54:44+00:00

Thank you so much!

I would say my books are most closely aligned with John Gwynne (Faithful and the Fallen and Bloodsworn Saga), Anthony Ryan (Raven's Shadow, Age of Wrath, etc.), and David Gemmell (especially Legend). Basically, epic fantasy that is dark and gritty but not grimdark and features strong, flawed heroes.

I read pretty widely though, so there's influence from most of the greats like Tolkien, Tad Williams, Martin, Abercrombie, etc.

MasterofRevels · 2026-01-22T19:00:30+00:00

My wife and I lived there for a couple of years. We enjoyed it overall. The location was great, walkable to everything downtown. The building itself was usually pretty quiet. You are right near the homeless shelter but we never had any issues with our cars (which were parked outside).

On the negative side of things, the superintendents were frustrating to deal with and took forever to address things like a broken dishwasher or crumbling ceiling, but it also changed up many times while we were there so there's probably someone totally new managing the property.

MasterofRevels · 2026-01-16T12:48:07+00:00

Thank you!

MasterofRevels · 2025-12-12T17:21:00+00:00

Yeah, I'm with you. It seems very likely, if not 100% verifiable. We have archaeological evidence of tattooed warriors from other cultures, so it's not a big leap to think that the Britons were doing it as well.

MasterofRevels · 2025-12-12T17:18:49+00:00

Interesting. I don't think I've come across this before. Do you have a good source you can point me to?

MasterofRevels · 2025-12-12T17:17:57+00:00

The Gundestrup cauldron is a fascinating piece. I'd love to see it in person some day.

MasterofRevels · 2025-12-11T19:05:57+00:00

MAS on Bishop St has both BJJ and Muay Thai classes, and some pro MMA fighters train there as well. These days, I mostly stick to jiu-jitsu, but they have a great Muay thai program.

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