Rite to Reign is Released! #ritetoreign

I've talked a great deal about Rite to Reign, the book set, over the past several months, marketed hard so much you'd actually notice. More than I ever have for my own books (and likely ever will). Today, I'll tell you why.

I and twenty-odd authors are pooling our fan base, our readers, our marketing savvy (of which I have effectively none), and our skills as authors to try to convince enough people to buy our books to make the USA Today bestseller list. That may sound frivolous, even mercenary, a bunch of indie authors trying to make a splash in a world still dominated by traditional publishers. But, for many of these authors, this is huge, enough that they're willing to gamble time, effort, and money to try to make it happen.

I'll be honest ('cause it's what I do), it doesn't mean that much to me. I have a day job I like just fine. I never have to make it big as an author, though, of course, who doesn't want to be successful. But these other authors are pulling out every stop, devoting time and energy to marketing and writing and trying to make someone notice them because they really want this, need this, to be full-time authors. It's huge.

And that's why, I've pushed this as hard as I have, have contributed and posted and tweeted (tweeted!), because this is bigger than me. In fact, it's not about me. It's about validating the hard work and talents of nearly two dozen individuals who poured their all into this.

You know what else it is? It's an opportunity to sample the talents of twenty-odd authors you've never heard of for an incredibly low price. 99 cents. I can tell you, without blushing, that there is going to be at least one book that's worth your time. Certainly worth more than 99 cents. My guess is that it will be several books. You get an inexpensive introduction not just to these authors but to the dozens upon dozens of books they represent. Most of us have back catalogs with at least half a dozen books in it. You could find your next favorite author.

And, hey, it might even be Mirren Hogan and I who built Incantation together (and have a second book under construction). Here's a sample:

"Mr. Heath?"

Ugh, is it the next decade again? Ten years is far too short for a siesta, a voice rumbled inside his mind.

David peered through the gloom but could see nothing but a bit of weak light from a curtained window. He had a sense of some sort of table to the right but the presence was ahead of him. "Mr. Heath? May I turn on a light? I can't see."

If you must.

"Illuminate," David said, one of his favorite incantations as it turned on electrical lights or lit candles, whatever was handy.

The room was flooded with light from an electrical floodlight in the domed ceiling as well as dozens of lit candles.

MODERATION! the mental voice shouted, and the flood light went out with a pop. The dragon, glistening silver from a bed of precious tomes, lifted his head, his red eyes glowing. He was five meters long from tail tip to the end of his snout and as lithe and delicate-looking as Henry's pet. Has no one taught you control?

"Er, no?"

Mr. Heath sighed, which largely consisted of blowing circles of smoke out of two large nostrils.

You're expecting me to teach it to you? He sounded pained.

"Yes?"

Are you implying, by your uncertainty, that I may be unable to do so?

"Well, I've been told I'm hopeless almost all my life. I've tried to teach myself but I fail more often than I succeed. My few successes seem almost accidental." Despite his fear, David took a step forward. "But I love how it makes me feel. I love when magic flows through me and answers my needs. It feels—it feels like it belongs even though they say a man like me has no business with witchcraft." He paused and then added. "Also, you know, you're not human."

I believe the appropriate response is, no shit, Heath said, dryly. Has anyone tried to teach you?

All thoughts of his teacher's inhumanity fled. "Do you think you can? Really?"

That remains to be seen. Perhaps first you should answer my question.

"Your question? Which one? Oh, has anyone tried to teach me? No. They've stopped me from getting someone to teach me. They tried to stop me from trying to teach myself." He shuddered at the memory of the cane intended to bring that lesson home. "They didn't succeed in teaching me to stop and I didn't succeed in teaching myself."

A simple no would have sufficed. Heath swiveled his head toward a table. In the center was a thick book, bound in leather, with gold lettering across the front. Open that book to page seventeen.

Without comment, David did so. The book was titled Quintessential Incantations of the Enchanter. He opened the book to page seventeen as directed and noted the spell referenced was for turning hair black. "This one? Really?"

No, I chose the page at random. From Heath's tone, he may or may not have been joking. Try the incantation. You can read Latin, can you not?

David snorted. "Of course!"

"A tenebris ad lucem

De nocti conseruisse diem

Ut te quod est albus

Conversus ita nigrum niger est enim"

A tingle moved from his hands, up his arms to his face and scalp. He slapped his head and realized he had a beard of a sort grown in seconds. "Did it work?"

Not precisely. Check the mirror on the opposite wall. The dragon placed his head on his forelimbs and watched.

That didn't sound like it was successful. With a bit of trepidation, David moved to a black spotted mirror of ancient visage. "Oh?" His fingers slipped through the blue streak that remained in otherwise black hair. "I like that even better. And check out the slim beard.  Somehow, it makes me look older instead of barely into my twenties. Why didn't I do this before?" The dragon cleared his throat with a wisp of ominous smoke. "I suppose it's not exactly correct. It should be all black I know. But it could have been much worse."

Want to read more? It'll cost you just a dollar, a dollar that can mean a lot more than that to us, and hey, to you as well. That's a lot of magic for a dollar.

And, hey, it's out (or will be in a matter of minutes). You don't even have to wait.

 Rite to Reign

 #ritetoreign