Shadow of an Empire Releases in Under Twelve Hours!

Twelve hours! Less, actually, if memory serves on what timetable Amazon shifts over to the next day on.

Twelve hours until Shadow of an Empire falls into the waiting hands of the world. Woo! You guys should see me. I’ve got a serious adrenaline buzz going. It’s like this with every book release sure, but … the anticipation is real.

Not much else to say, really. Twelve. Hours. Twelve hours and all of you can finally see what all this fuss about Salitore Amazd and Meelo Karn has been about.

I can give you a hint: It’s a fuss because Shadow of an Empire is really good!

And you’ll have your copies soon. Pre-order now if you haven’t!


Shadow of an EmpireSalitore Amazd is an imperial adjudicator, an enforcer of the law and keeper of the peace across the vast, desert stretches of the Indrim Empire’s southern reaches known as the Outlands. For Sali, the job means long days in the saddle, constant travel, and hours of rugged, wilderness beauty far from the intrigue and politicking of the empire’s core.

Until a trainload of convicted prisoners, led by a noble named Nirren, vanishes from a high-security engine in an unprecedented escape, leaving behind only bodies, confused survivors, and a public letter accusing Sali of being a co-conspirator … as well as a fellow idealist in their forthcoming revolution. An accusation with no evidence, but more than enough to turn the public eye of the empire in his direction.

Now forcibly partnered with Meelo Karn, a member of the imperial inquisition with her own ties to the convicts, it’s up to both of them to track down Nirren and his gang before they engulf the Outlands in a political firestorm that burns it to the ground. Be it wild animals, unfriendly locals, or even encounters with the enigmatic, steam-driven Grey Knights … Sali and Meelo have a call to deliver justice.

And justice will be done.

Shadow of an Empire Preview: Chapter Three

Shadow of an EmpireShadow of an Empire is an upcoming Fantasy-Western Epic from author Max Florschutz, releasing on June 1st 2018 and available for pre-order now. Enjoy this free look at the third chapter of the novel, and be ready to enter the Indrim Empire when Shadow of an Empire hits this Friday!

If you’re new, chapter one can be read here.

Chapter two can be read here.

 

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Happy Memorial Day!

Hello readers! It’s Memorial Day here in the US, which is a national holiday, so there won’t be a Being a Better Writer post this week.

However, that doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be any content here today (or especially not this week). After all, Shadow of an Empire comes out this Friday! As well as another preview chapter tomorrow!

But if you’re looking for something more BaBW related, consider this awesome video I was linked to the other day on the fantastic attention to detail in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I’ve said before on this site many times that attention to the small details can make the whole book come alive. Well, this video shows how Who Framed Roger Rabbit‘s attention to the small details put it head and shoulders above its competition.

Anyway, if you’re in the US, enjoy your Memorial Day, and if you’re anywhere else, enjoy Monday all the same!

Advent Faces a New Foe: The Forces of Indrim Join X-Com!

And here I thought bandits were bad. Oh well.

 

It’s that time again. With Shadow of an Empire on the horizon (eight days out, actually; have you pre-ordered your copy yet?), it would only make sense that the stars would get their own chance to shine in X-Com 2 at last!

That’s right, if you own X-Com 2 (or its expansion, War of the Chosen), you can now experience the thrill of having Adjudicator Salitore Amazd and Imperial Inquisitor Meelo Karn clean alien house alongside the rest of your crack squad! What could be better?

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Reddit AMA Reminder!

Heads up, readers! Just a reminder that I will be doing a Reddit AMA tomorrow, starting at 1 PM Mountain Time, and I could really use your help getting some traction! So come, bring a question or two (about Shadow of an Empire, writing, or something else), upvote, and share the AMA! The more eyes it gets, the better an AMA it can become, so let’s get it some views!

As convention, a link will go up here as soon as the AMA starts. So be on the lookout!

Tomorrow! 1 PM! Mountain Time! Be there! Or here, ready for a link!

Being a Better Writer: Currency

Welcome to Monday, readers! And to another installment of Being a Better Writer! Where today, we’re going to talk about something worldbuilding related: Money!

Now, those of you who’ve been following things since I announced that Shadow of an Empire would release on June 1st (and you can pre-order it now!) may have caught on that BaBW posts since then have been kind of tied into something to do with Shadow. Which makes things easier on me at the moment, to be sure. But those of you who have may be wondering how currency as a topic ties into Shadow. Well, outside of “Hey ho, I can’t wait until Shadow of an Empire launches and I start making a return on it!” Which, to be perfectly fair, is a 100% reasonable reaction from a content creator. We like to be able to afford rent.

But that aside (Order Shadow of an Empire!), how does currency tie into Shadow? Well, to be perfectly frank, it doesn’t … in any more or less capacity than it would tie into any other book taking place in its own little world.

Let’s step back for a minute. Say you’re writing a … oh, let’s go with the Fantasy genre. So you’re writing a fantasy story, and you’ve got your group of characters out on the road for an adventure or whatever. They come across an inn and stop for the night, expecting to buy dinner and a few rooms. Now, quick pause here: how are they going to pay, and with what?

Well, if your character were having a fantasy adventure in the United States, it’d be with US currency. If they were journeying in the Indrim Empire, they’d need to shell out some Imperial Marks, hard metal coins minted by the empire, or sign a bank writ of sale. If they were in Sheerwater, they’d use reeds—basically metal straws of varying values and make. And if they were at the Leaky Cauldron of Harry Potter fame, they’d need to produce knuts, sickles, and galleons.

The reason I bring this up is because currency is one of those facets of basic life that most take for granted, so much so that it often seems to slip beneath the cracks in a lot of basic worldbuilding (nod your head here if you’ve ever read a book or played a game that’s defaulted to simplified gold, silver, and copper “pieces” without even a name or mention of mint). A lot of novels and worlds simply … skip, I think would be the best term … this aspect of worldbuilding. They go with the aforementioned copper, silver, and gold pieces, because … well, to be perfectly frank, that’s usually the system they know, the one that they’re most familiar with next to whatever they use each day.

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Shadow of an Empire Releases in Two Weeks!

Shadow of an Empire

I mean, do I really need to say anything else? It’s almost here! Two weeks from today, you’ll finally be able to get your hands on this sweeping Fantasy-Western adventure! If you haven’t pre-ordered your copy yet so that you can have it in your hands for the first weekend of June, click the cover there to get cracking!

In the meantime, look forward to some related events coming up next week! In addition to the usual Being a Better Writer post, you’ll get the unveiling another X-Com 2 character pack! Starring—Who else?—Salitore Amazd and Meelo Karn from Shadow of an Empire. Fun side note, these two were actually the first custom characters I made in X-Com 2. I’ve had them in my roster for a long time … and now it’s your turn.

Next week will also see me doing an AMA on Reddit! That’s right, Friday, May 25th, at 1 PM Mountain Time, I’ll be doing a Reddit AMA for several hours to promote—naturally—Shadow and just answer any wild questions you guys might have about writing, Shadow, my other books, or really anything else.

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