David L. Craddock's Blog: Welcome to my blog!

Hi, all,

The Dumpster Club, my novel for young adults, is now available in paperback and on Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08...

You can get a taste for the story by reading the first six chapters for free, here: https://theworldforge.com/f/the-dumps...

(Normally I'd recommend going to the book's Amazon page and clicking the title to use the "Look Inside This Book" feature, but Amazon's algorithms decided to include my author's note at the end of the book, which gives away major spoilers since it's meant to be read after you've finished the story.)

I hope you'll give The Dumpster Club a try. It's a very special novel to me, one that has grown to reflect not only my growth as a writer since I started out on this long, twisted road 16.5 years ago (!), but my belief in empathy as well.

More info, such as some of the events that influenced me to write the book, can be found on my website: http://davidlcraddock.com/news/page/h...

Happy reading,

David

Point of Fate, the second volume of my Gairden Chronicles series, will be released on August 28. That's just over a month away! (Guess I'd better finish those edits.)

To celebrate nailing down a release date, Tyche Books and I coordinated a cover reveal and chapter excerpt with Fantasy Book Critic, a book blog that covers all things SF/F, horror, YA, and speculative fiction. You can check out the cover and read a snippet of Chapter 1 on FBC right here: http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com...

After you've drooled over the cover and read the excerpt—offering our first look at Nichel, who, since you asked, is my favorite character in Point of Fate—you can hop on over to Amazon (https://amzn.to/2upwf0Q ) or Kobo (https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/poin... ) to pre-order the book's digital edition. A paperback edition should launch on or around the August 28 date.

Working with FBC to throw a coming-out party for Point of Fate is no coincidence. FBC's founder, Robert, gave me my start as a book critic nearly 11 years ago. I'd been writing about video games for three years, and while I enjoyed it, I was looking for an excuse to think more critically about the books I was reading. Interviewing authors such as R. A. Salvatore, and reviewing all sorts of excellent books, scratched the itch.

Best,
~David

Greetings, everyone,

Of all the books I've written, the two I receive the most queries about are Stay Awhile and Listen: Book II, and Point of Fate, the sequel to 2014's Heritage. I'll have an update on the former next month. Right now, I'm ecstatic to tell you that Point of Fate will be released later this summer.

Last week I completed a semi-final editing pass on the manuscript. Margaret Curelas, my editor at Tyche Books, will read through it, make sure my revisions are in order, and then turn it around to me for one last read. This will be the most intensive: weeding out typos and grammatical errors and, just as importantly, nailing down continuity.

Point of Fate is entering an exciting but scary phase of the publishing cycle where the book will be set in stone. After the final pass, I'll never get a chance to touch the book again, barring unforeseen circumstances such as an annotated or other special edition.

The next time you hear from me regarding Point of Fate, it will be to share cover art and a firm release date. I'll also write another book breakdown to provide a detailed look at the work that went into the penultimate and final revisions.

I hope you're looking forward to the book!

Best,
~David

After nine years of revisions (the earliest of which were AWFUL), one year of editing, and 30 days of counting down, HERITAGE, the first book of my Gairden Chronicles fantasy series for young adults, is finally available!

What's it about? What are people saying about it? Where can you buy it? I've got you covered.

* Synopsis

* Free Chapter

* "The Master's Lesson" - short story set in the world of Gairden Chronicles

* Fantasy Book Critic's review (Excerpt: "Heritage is a page-turning, captivating, well-written YA novel that really leaves you wanting more.")

* Purchase from: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Tyche Books (publisher), Kobo, and Smashwords

I hope you enjoy the book!
~David

Heritage: Book One of the Gairden Chronicles

Today, the last day of "The Sword Speaks" before the release of HERITAGE tomorrow, we meet Nichel, Aidan's bride-to-be from the west.

Here's a teaser: Known as the wolf daughter, Nichel exhibits the characteristics of a Leastonian, inherited from her mother’s side, and the hardened edge of a Darinian, passed down to her by her father. As the daughter of Darinia’s War Chief, she puts on a hard appearance to keep up her public image among the clansfolk. Studying under her father, she is learning the ways of leadership and can handle a knife or sword almost as expertly as her father’s best warriors.

Read the full article here, and catch up with any "The Sword Speaks" promos you might have missed on my website, right here.

We're two days out from the release of Heritage, and I say that's reason to celebrate. for today's 'The Sword Speaks,' I present 'The Master's Lesson, a bonus story set in the world of Heritage--a story not available in the book.

Enjoy!
~David

On July 1st, Tyche Books, my publisher for HERITAGE, and I kicked off a promotional campaign called "The Sword Speaks" to count down the days until the book's release in paperback and digital formats on July 30th. Every weekday, we published a small article on the characters and world of HERITAGE, as well as interviews with people involved in the book's production.

I began "The Sword Speaks" on my old blog and wanted to carry it over here so you could sample the book before it releases in TWO DAYS. Wow. Two days. I signed the contract a year ago and wrote HERITAGE... well, a long, long time before that. It's hard to believe the book is almost here (and doing quite well already).

Below, I've collected every "The Sword Speaks" interview and profile for your reading pleasure. If you like what you see, please help spread the word about HERITAGE by taking to Twitter and using the hashtags #Heritage and #TheSwordSpeaks in your Tweets.

Enjoy!
~David 

*  Day 1 : What is HERITAGE?
*  Day 2 : Interview with Lili Ibrahim, cover artist for HERITAGE
*  Day 3 : Interview with Harold Squire, narrator for the audio version of HERITAGE (due for release on Audible.com this fall)
*  Day 4 : A full chapter from  HERITAGE
*  Day 5 : Meet Aidan Gairden
*  Day 6 : Magic System
*  Day 7 : The Language of Light
*  Day 8 : The Ordine Gifts
*  Day 9 : Interview with Margaret Curelas, editor of HERITAGE
*  Day 10 : Darinia, the western country
*  Day 11 : Darinia, part 2
*  Day 12 : Leaston, the eastern country
*  Day 13 : Leaston, part 2
*  Day 14 : An interview with... me!
*  Day 15 : Annalyn and Edmund: Aidan's parents
*  Day 16 : Torel, the northern kingdom
*  Day 17 : Sallner, the (forbidden) southern kingdom
*  Day 18 : Daniel, Aidan's best friend
*  Day 19 : Tyrnen, Aidan's mentor and friend