Friday, May 26, 2023

Wrath of Empire

Yes, it’s been a year since I last posted. I don’t know why, I guess I just ran out of things to say.

The blogging world used to be a vibrant community, and it still is around those blogs with a sizable established following, but so many of the bloggers I used to follow – and who used to visit The Bald Patch – have fallen quiet over the years. I found trying to post on a regular basis was a game of diminishing returns.

However, today I do have something to say, so I’ve come out of hibernation.

A new novel, Wrath of Empire, is now out there in the usual range of e-book formats. At the moment it’s at an introductory price of $0.99. The paperback will follow once I’ve received and approved the proof copy.


Wrath of Empire is a prequel to Ghosts of Innocence, and follows the catastrophic events that lead up to Shayla’s mission of revenge.

The Emperor wants peace between warring Families on rival worlds. His brother sees peace treaties as weakness; he aims to seize the throne and rule by strength. And then there’s Chalwen, bodyguard to the Emperor’s nine-year-old son, heir to the throne.

Chalwen takes professional paranoia to extremes, so when she suspects treachery inside the palace her superiors dismiss her warnings. Then the Emperor is assassinated. People are angry, looking for a villain, and all evidence points to one of the rival Families. Amid riots and military clashes, the young heir and his ambitious uncle fight for the throne.

Chalwen must protect the youngster while solving the Emperor’s murder to defuse the conflict. But the uncle has powerful supporters opposing Chalwen’s every move. Throw in a deranged arms dealer keen to profit from the chaos, and full scale interstellar war seems unavoidable.


5 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Congratulations! That's worth coming out of hiding for.
Many who blogged are gone but those who still post regularly get a lot of interaction. I'm just two times a month but that's good enough for what I want to accomplish.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Ian - well done ... so pleased to see your new art work as your banner, and the cover version - you're a talented man. The premise of the new book sounds really interesting ... I'll be interested to see how Chalwen copes ... good luck with the new book being out in the universe - I'd like to read the paperback, if I don't succumb earlier to the e-book introductory offering. Cheers to you an Ali - all the best - Hilary

Botanist said...

Alex, I think that's true if you already had a large and active following before things started to quieten down. Without that it's hard now to find new followers. The blogging world used to be awash with blogfests and suchlike to help connect people together but I haven't seen anything like that in years now.

Hilary, I'm expecting the proof to arrive in the next week, then I can review it. As long as it passes muster I'll click publish hopefully before the middle of June.

Jean Davis said...

Congratulations on the new book! Your covers all work really well together.

I'm happy if I can remember to blog once a month. It used to be once a week, but yeah, there's just not as much interaction as there used to be and sadly, my own time for interacting is quite limited too. Likely a common issue.

Botanist said...

Thanks Jean, I've tried to keep to a consistent style for these covers. BTW - the ebook is back down to $0.99 for a promotion and I've glad to say the paperback is now available too.

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