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Hand of Mars (originally titled Mage-King’s Hand) is now out!
(this is currently only available via KDP Select. A paperback will follow within the next week or two, but the ebook will remain exclusive with Amazon until December)
ROGUE MAGE TURNED INTERPLANETARY ENVOY
Three years ago, as Ship’s Mage of the starship Blue Jay, Damien Montgomery was pursued to the edge of human space by both the agents and enemies of the Mage-King of Mars — before being brought in from the cold.
Now, trained in new skills by the Mage-King himself, Damien has been sent to the planet Ardennes alongside Alaura Stealey, Hand of the King. A rebel movement there has destroyed cities fighting a Governor seemingly lost to corruption.
But not all on Ardennes is as it seems. As allies becomes enemies and an entire world comes apart in chaos around him, Damien will find both his skills and integrity tested to the utter limit.
Thanks to your mailing list, I saw the announcement this evening and downloaded the book right away. Just finished reading it. A great follow-up to the original! You took the story in a different direction than I expected. The only sad part is, now we have to wait such a long time for the next one 🙂 Looking forward to it!
Excellent book. Really don’t want to wait for the next one, but c’est la vie.
Good things come to those who wait XD
The second Avalon book is next up on my schedule, followed by SM3.
Timelines are a little unpredictable right now, but it should be out by April to May of 2016.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
Is there going to be any more info on how many ruins of power Desmond Alexander’s father actually used and did it burn him up or drive him crazy? Also, are ruins of power the only thing that can be inscribed? I guess I’m wondering if power was the only thing that the mage-emperors were investigating or was anything else examined?
It does seem as if there could be tonnes of story ideas in your story universe beyond Damien’s arc.
Spoilers in turn for spoilers 😉
Without going beyond whats been shown in the books, there are two types of runes other than runes of power that can be inscribed on someone.
1) All Jump Mages have ‘interface runes’ on their palms that can link into the jump matrix of a starship. These runes are relatively common even outside Jump Mages, as they’re used for any interfacing with large scale matrices. (Damien has had one of these since the beginning)
2) All combat Mages have ‘channeling runes,’ also on their hands, that allow a moderate extension of the range of their battle magic. (Damien does not have one of these, as a rune of power is more effective in all senses).
As far as things the Mage-Kings were investigating… there’s the Star Mirror in Starship’s Mage. Beyond that… I will quote David Weber: “tum te tum te tum”
Just finished it and I can’t wait for more . So, I’m very happy to read you’re planning a part 3. Also very happy to read you’re writing an Avalon 2. Both these books cannot come quickly enough!! Happy writing and thanks for creating these worlds and characters.