So, you might have noticed I’ve been a bit quiet this week. Well, I’ve had good reasons. Because I’ve been hard at work editing away on Shadow of an Empire, editing page after page after page and getting it ready for its public appearance!

And, as we near the end of the Beta, well … you can guess where this is going.

But first, because I’m a tease, I’ve got some other cool news to give you before I drop the release date. News that has to do with the cover for Shadow of an Empire and Patreon Backers.

So here goes. I’m not revealing the cover yet. The artist is still doing some detail work. But we’re bringing it in closer, and it looks dang good. The artist, by the way, is Michal Kváč. You can check out some of his other work here. And I totally recommend doing it, because it is nice.

Which, of course, means that the cover for Shadow of an Empire is pretty rad, even before its final stages. You guys will get a shot of it soon enough though, likely within the next week.

But I said something about Patreon backers, didn’t I? And those of you who have backed me on Patreon may have noticed April hasn’t gotten its reward yet. Well, that’s because I’m rolling April and May’s reward into one lump together, which you’ll get in this same next week.

Why? Well, see, when I contacted Michal about a book cover, I kind of had the thought of “Why stop there?” when it came to the actual cover. Sure, I could have gotten a cover image … but what about when Shadow of an Empire went into paperback? Why not just get a bigger image that could wrap around the spine and back as well. Plus … serve as a kicking desktop wallpaper background.

Yeah. I’ll bet you can guess now what’s coming to Patreon Supporters. For April and May, Patreon Supporters are going to get access to a full-sized version of the cover, in 16:9 resolution (and something like 4550×2600 pixels), both with cover text and without cover text.

If you’ve checked Michal’s site out, you’ll have a rough idea of how nice it will look. As someone that’s seen the sketch, rough, and pre-detail, it’s pretty nice. I’m going to be glad to have it in my background rotation.

Those of you that aren’t Patreon supporters? You’ll get access to it eventually. Sorry, but Patreon supporters do get benefits.

So, about that release date …

Yeah. I’ve picked one. You guys ready? I mean, really ready? To read one of the most awesome Fantasy-Westerns ever?

Well, you’ll have your chance … Friday, June 1st, 2018. That’s right. The first of June.

It’ll be up for pre-order before that, of course. In fact, I’d expect that quite soon. The Beta is looking extremely clean right now, which means I’ll likely be doing copy-edit work by next week, and with a cover in hand around the same time …

Don’t worry, it’ll be all over the site when it goes up for pre-order. But if you want to mark your calenders now with the release date … you have it. June 1st people!

Shadow of an Empire arrives at last!

Oh, and one last post-script. Curious about Shadow? Wondering what it’s going to read like? Check out an Alpha-sample of the first chapter here!