kdrobertson

Heretic Spellblade 6- Ch23

Chapter 23

“I’m not sure it’s my place to even talk about this,” Rosewald said, raking some of her brown hair over one ear. “Today’s been humbling in more ways than I thought imaginable. I may be a marquise and therefore senior to the counts and many lesser nobles, including those of ecclesiastical rank, but I’m out of my depth here. Even your commoner lieutenants know military matters better than I do.”

Grimaces rose to the faces of the inquisitors, but they did...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch22

Chapter 22

Building a castle for the first time turned out to be a little more difficult than using gem abilities. Twilight fell by the time much progress was made.

By then, Nathan had allowed the Twins to wander. More for his sanity than anything else. When they’d started nattering about all sorts of random topics in the most annoying drawl possible, he’d faced a choice between disabling them with mental magic or letting them keep themselves entertained.

So long as th...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch21

Chapter 21

“So, what do you want us to do?” Maura asked before Nathan could say or do anything else.

The Twins crossed their arms beneath their oversized tits and glowered at him, as if they had expected to be included in his orders.

Then again, given the earlier discussion, maybe Narime had gotten their hopes up that Nathan might send them out to deal with the remaining fortresses in danger of being invaded. Their mental magic would allow them to deal with any wary Ba...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch20

Chapter 20

The threat of cascades remained one of the oldest and greatest threats to Doumahr. Even before the invention of the wireless, an eruption of wild magic that tore through the leylines and prevented all forms of magical communication could end nations overnight.

Militaries relied on leadership and communications. Even if a Bastion defended their own portal, that mattered little if one twenty miles away fell and an army of demons spilled out across the land. Every nation...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch19

Chapter 19

“Oh, her head disappeared,” Tarako said, once Nathan dropped back down to the ivory platform.

“They do that,” Sunstorm said.

His Champions, save Seraph, assembled around him. The echo of rising cheers and whoops from the defenders stretched across the now-empty canyon, leaving them with what might be a picturesque scene if it weren’t for all the destruction.

Nathan had seen this more times than he cared to admit. The difference was that he rarely...

Heretic Spellblade - Ch18

Chapter 18

While demons came in many shapes and forms, they never flew. Nathan had always considered this some sort of hidden compact. As difficult as defending the portals might be, they never tried flying directly over the walls.

Even flying Messengers like the Twins at least stopped to blow up the Defenders. For whatever reason. Given Laura and Maura’s mental powers, they could easily have darted past everyone, illusioned themselves as soldiers, and hidden in plain sight un...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch17

Chapter 17

“I will not be sullied by the crumbs that have fallen from my master’s mouth,” the dominion screeched from above Nathan and his Champions.

Up close, he noticed that she wore something akin to a uniform. A platinum and gold vest struggled to contain her impressive chest, as if somebody had intentionally created it two sizes too small, and a black velvet shirt and ruffled skirt barely covered the tops of her limbs. He could even see her plain white panties, as wel...

Heretic Spellblade - Ch16

Note: There's been a slight change to Chapter 15 in the final version. Seraph and Fei have switched places, so Fei goes with Fyre and Seraph is in the portal. This is reflected in this chapter.

Chapter 16

Layers of walls and towers lay in ruin, with only a single one remaining. Catapults hurled boulder after boulder into a ceaseless horde of red that stretched as far as the eye could see. Archers fired volleys from the walls alongside summons t...

[POLL FIXED] Commentary Poll

Note: Reposted so the poll allows multiple choice.

So I managed to half-write and then scrap another commentary post (one about the reasons I don't like to talk publicly about author stuff much anymore and also why you should never treat anything authors say about selfpub as gospel). I figure it's time I just do a poll and ask what you want to see in terms of commentary, instead of second-guessing myself constantly.

The idea is to try to do a commentary post a month, give...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Chapter 15

Forgot to schedule this.

Chapter 15

Nathan wisely chose to enter the portal first, along with almost every single one of his elite Champions.

That thought brought a wry smile to his face. His enemies had elite Messengers, and he had elite Champions. Almost all of them were trigems, too, or comparatively as strong. This was also the first time in months that he’d gone anywhere with almost everyone by his side.

There’d always been some reason someone had to remain ...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch14

Chapter 14

“I’m not here to fight, Corporal,” Nathan said, raising his hands disarmingly.

The Inquisition corporal seemed incapable of speech. Nathan wasn’t even sure if the man had heard him over the cacophony sounding around them.

Rosewald’s castle was exactly what one might expect of the area. Compact, heavily fortified, tall, covered in turrets and arrow slits, and old enough to make its architectural provenance difficult to ascertain yet too new to date back...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch13

Chapter 13

Close to a thousand knights milled about in the fields outside Aleich. They wore a mixture of Royal Knight and Imperial Army uniforms, given Nathan’s elite units were split between the two. Officially, the soldiers in his service served the Imperial Army and only those defending Aleich counted as Royal Knights.

Unofficially, the lines had blurred so heavily that the uniforms often meant very little. Nathan had appointed a swathe of his own loyal officers to the Roya...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch12

Chapter 12

“Are you sure?” Reine asked while creeping forward a single step at a time.

Tarako guffawed. “And you gave me guff about questioning you. Even your loyal subordinate is wary.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Reine mumbled.

She balled her robe in her fists, but remained facing forward. Nathan suspected her scrying might be directed at the ground. It’s not as though Reine had a reason to physically point her face downward, after all.

“Lord...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch11

Chapter 11

Once Nathan escaped Kadria’s clutches, he found himself back in Alice’s bedroom. Whatever conversation she’d been having over the wireless appeared over and she now sat next to Ciana on the end of the bed.

“I take it you found Fyre?” Ciana asked.

He frowned at her. “She didn’t come through here? I thought she…”

Trailing off, he probed for his missing prophet over their mental link.

Only to find that link to point directly at his fia...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch10

Chapter 10

“This feeling is somehow familiar, but so strange,” Tarako said as she tested out her reactivated gem abilities. “Don’t get too caught up about the noises I made earlier, boyo. I’m a thousand times older than you, and you’re far too serious for me.”

Nathan had used the traditional method for claiming a Champion—primarily because he actually didn’t trust himself to use a non-sexual method for a trigem—and Tarako had reacted as sweetly as any other C...

Mob Sorcery Aftermath

I said I'd do a results post, so here we are. While this isn't an uplifting post, I'm not going to commit to much.

If you don't like reading negative stuff about book sales etc, I recommend skipping the post. The short version is that I'm not changing anything immediately, in large part because of Patreon. If that satisfies you, then feel free to skip this post.

I originally planned to leave this a few days in case there's some miraculous change in Amazon sales, b...

Heretic Spellblade - Ch9

Chapter 9

A cackle escaped Tarako and she collapsed into a leaning posture, laying lengthwise along the straw mat flooring. As if expecting Nathan’s reaction, a collective sigh filled the room from the foxes. Even Narime joined in.

“Oh, so you know me from all the books, do you?” Tarako asked, her voice somehow both elegant and bratty at the same time. Nathan felt an instinctive urge to take her down a notch despite her fame and status. “What type? You don’t look the r...

Mob Sorcery is Live

Mob Sorcery is out, although chances are you've read it if you're reading this here. It’s an urban fantasy story with mafia wolfgirls, a post-masquerade alternate universe setting, magical gang warfare, foxes, demons, and lower stakes than usual. Mostly, it’s a lot of fun. Also, no shifters.

Also, Heretic Spellblade 6 is on pre-order on Amazon. It will release on Sep 30th. You can order it and grab Mob Sorcery now.

Mob Sorcery: 2023-08-30 11:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post

Mob Sorcery 2 - Cover Preview

To celebrate Mob Sorcery coming out tomorrow (and it's about to come out in Australia), enjoy the finished cover for Mob Sorcery 2. Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on the sketch, as I was able to incorporate it into the finished version.

I've included both sketches, so that you can see the changes between the two. Nina got a fair bit bigger between the two (in multiple ways) and generally is much closer to how I imagine her. Hopefully that goes for you as well.

There'll b...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch8

Chapter 8

Nathan’s teleportation network ensured that his Champions could easily move between his various fortresses, but each of them considered specific places to be their “home.” So they tended to sleep there more often and built up a more elaborate bedroom. He forced them to maintain a bedroom in the palace and Gharrick Pass, however.

In Narime’s case, she preferred Castle Forselburg. Her ability to teleport meant she rarely stayed in the palace. Even so, she had a r...

Heretic Spellblade - Ch7

Chapter 7

A squad of knights guarded Alice’s bedroom, including a monogem Champion. Nathan paid no heed to the bedroom itself, however. The important part was the dark blue door on one wall. Bright, glowing runes covered it, and it lacked any doorknob or visible method of opening it.

When he approached, it slid open to reveal a white void. He and his Champions stepped through it.

Beyond lay Nathan’s mental world. Or, to be specific, one of the mental fortresses that he...

August Patreon Update

I haven't had much to say this month while I've been busy with Spellblade 6. Despite a rocky start, it's finally going and moving at a pace I'm happy with. The book is shaping up like Spellblade 4, where I have a bunch of events that I need to get through and the hard part is pacing them. I need to stop myself from nitpicking too hard, as that's stalled me out at times recently.

In good news, the Spellblade 6 pre-order should go up right around the time Mob Sorcery releases (probably a ...

Heretic Spellblade - Ch6

Chapter 6

The grand hall of Aleich’s palace held the same overwrought appearance as always. Three levels of balconies spanned the length of the gargantuan hall, all overlooking the oversized throne constructed of steel, glass, and granite at one end. Nobles sorted by status into each level when the Imperial Diet sat, allowing the wealthiest and most prestigious archdukes to look down on their inferiors.

The spring Diet had sat a month ago and the summer session wouldn’t sit ...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch5

Chapter 5

Charlotte

“Where is everyone?” Charlotte asked as she wandered into the small hall that dominated the fortress of the Reaches’ Guard.

Princess Charlotte, the prophet of the Holy Kingdom of Falmir and its current regent, flounced onto the glass throne sitting in one end of the hall. Not a single guard or servant reacted to her arrival. Likely because none of them seemed to be around.

She wore the same low-cut navy blue dress that she’d worn ...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch4

Chapter 4

“I know,” Janice grunted. “There might be more, though, and I know the city. Given the head start they have, I’ll need to take shortcuts to beat her to the palace. If you root out others here—”

Nathan bit back a laugh, as it would be insulting. “We’re not wasting time on foot. Keep everyone on lockdown while we deal with this. Sunstorm, tell Sen and Fei to rest until we return. Meet me at the exit.”

Sunstorm teleported without another word, leav...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch3 v2

Chapter 3

“That idiot gets one shot at her nuke and she blows it on the fucking wall?” Maura drawled, flipping her long hair over one shoulder.

“She did target Nathan,” Laura said.

“And look what good that did. No wonder chumps like her never end a world. They’re morons.”

As Nathan’s senses returned and he took in the devastation that followed the explosive blast that had levelled the wall and barrier, he tried to follow the conversation. Sen and Fei ...

Mob Sorcery Pre-Order is Live

Book 1 is up on Amazon now, releasing on the 30th. It contains the first 30 chapters. Amazon had some wonky processing issues with the book's store page, but they seem to be fixed now (at least on my end).

US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CG32479C
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CG32479C
CA: 2023-08-19 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch2 v2

Chapter 2

With a great scream, a gash into reality tore into the world. It hovered hundreds of feet high above the mound in the clearing, appearing as a black and white rip in the world. Looking at it always gave Nathan a crippling headache and—

“It doesn’t hurt,” he mumbled, shocked as he stared directly at the horrendous demonic rip in the world.

“The hell it doesn’t,” Sunstorm snapped. “This is a pain in the ass. Why couldn’t this have been a portal wi...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch1v2

Chapter 1

A discordant wailing echoed across Forselle Valley, bouncing off the hills and nearby mountains. The towering Aurelian Spires of the dark elves emitted the sound endlessly. Even those dozens of miles away heard it, and most likely thought the noise to be the work of spirits given night had long since fallen.

The dark elves knew better. The Spires themselves lit up from base to tip like beacons, while the Aurelian fortresses dotted across the valley scrambled to respond...

What Grinds My Gears: Worldbuilding

So I talked in a recent post about attempting to resume commentary posts, particularly with book releases few and far between. Let me know if this is your style or if you’d rather I focused on something else.

This commentary series (if people like it) will focus on elements of writing or tropes that I can ramble about. Despite the title, it’s not just me whining about things. I’ll try to provide insight into how I approach writing. In this case, I’ll talk about how I worldbuild,...