[Tatterdemalion]

Hey everyone! So nice for you guys to keep the seat warm while I was locked out of the forum. Special shout out to the Whisperzzzzzz-y man for emailing me about Purge of Ashes, allowing me to weasel my insidious self back onto the site!

So in 2016 I had a three-book deal with a small press to publish Purge of Ashes book one of the Imbalance series. Small press went bankrupt the week of the release. I self-published in a rush. The self-publishing ended up with a poor cover, messed up interior formatting (sentences too close to the top/bottom of the page???), no maps, etc. Otherwise, it wasn't half bad. But not half bad isn't half good enough. Or, uh, "good" enough. You get the idea. Anyway, I took the book down after a few months to lick my wounds, despite some wonderful reviews from 4-5 of you on here, including: Macros, worry, RACHEL, Whisperzzzzzz, and Mentalist.

I made a pact to myself: I would not try to publish again until I was DONE Book 2, entitled Grip of Dust. Then, like orcs rolling a battering ram up to Helm's Deep, I would begin the slow, trundling process of publishing Purge of Ashes again. After all, a year could pass and I'd already have the sequel written and ready. I have two autistic children both also diagnosed with ADHD - one 9-year-old who can't be in regular classrooms and one 12-year-old who can but has trouble making friends. It's a hard row to hoe. Well, after ten (TEN!) damned years I finished Grip of Dust - and it's hella awesome.

So now it's on.

I hired Santiago Lozano to do my cover - you all know his work and if not, shame! - his Malazan artwork is inclredible. I chose him cuz of the Malazan love, but also because he pictured Fiddler, QB, Kalam, Ganoes, Kruppe... all just like I did. Well, Santiago's DONE the cover!

I hired Sarah Chorn to do one last line edit. A fanciful author in her own right, she's a well-known editor who I found out loves Malazan. She also loved Purge of Ashes, going a little nuts over it, and gave me a sweet blurb (below). Said it's the most Malazan book she's read without feeling derivative, which I believe many of you felt as well. Well, Sarah's DONE the edits. I'm working through her notes, currently on Chapter 13.

I am working with Grimdark Magazine to do a cover reveal NEXT SUNDAY. In one week. I will post a link to their cover reveal page someweere in this thread, probably.

ALSO ALSO Grip of Dust is being beta read. My original 4 beta readers are on it: Dyrk Ashton (Paternus), James Downe (Sisters of Jade <- a great trilogy), Debdip and Michael - and add one more. For his nobility in helping me get back on here, I added Whisperzzzzzz to the crew and sent him the sequel last night.

AND THE BEST THING:
I'm hustling to get as many Advanced Reader Copies into reviewers / authors' hands as I can, right? In addition to FanFiAddict Blog, which signed on yesterday, my one ARC reader is none other than CHRISTIAN CAMERON (Miles Cameron in fantasy) author of over 50 damn books, including the Red Knight trilogy!! This has me so stoked! If he likes it - and I know he likes Malazan too - then that's a doozy of a blurb to slap on the cover, especially for a self-pub like me. So I'm really hustling to produce a physical copy to send to him.

So that's my big update. Purge of Ashes is being released PROPERLY on August 25th, 2026 and I'd love y'all to be there (in spirit) while Grip of Dust is complete and let loose into the beta reading world. Anyone who bought the OG Purge of Ashes I feel obliged to help provide a copy of the DEFINITIVE version - for free if I can - and will do my best to honour and resect the 2016 original crew.

Now: please don't yell at me for not reading No Life Forsaken yet! I'm still working on "The Devils" by Abercrombie. It's next!

DA BLURBS:

"Expansive in scope and flawlessly executed, this is epic fantasy at its best."

~ Sarah Chorn, author of 'Of Honey and Wildflowers'


“The races and characters a fresh but familiar enough, and your world-building is amazing and deep. I personally love your prose and storytelling style… I wouldn’t change the way you choose your words and construct your sentences at all. I was wide-eyed-jealous much of the way through.”

~ Dyrk Ashton, author of Paternus.


“You’ve got a huge world here, and a great start on unveiling it for your readers. ”

~James Downe, author of the Legacy of Ash series.


“I read books sometimes for worldbuilding and battles alone, and this has both in excellence… This book has the markings of a true masterpiece.”

~ Michael Baker, author of The Thousand Scars.

[Tiste Simeon]

Ah I'm so glad. I remember reaching out a while back because I couldn't find it and you told me it had been taken down. I'll definitely grab a copy of both this time!

[amphibian]

I remember reading the long journey back under the sergeant and thinking that there was promise in this - then the book left.

Life always finds its way and I'm glad you prioritized your children, while never giving up hope. Congrats on the next steps being so close!

[QuickTidal]

Tatterdemalion, on 15 June 2026 - 03:35 AM, said:

I hired Sarah Chorn to do one last line edit.

She's awesome! She was a reviewer back when I was one too, and she was also super nice and super knowledgable.

[Macros]

Excellent stuff!

Signed copies all round you say???

[worry]

I'll pay for the new suped up version of Purge. It's like upgrading from DVD to 4K.

[Wry]

I'd buy a copy - where is it available?

[Tatterdemalion]

First of all, Hi Why - any person with a Zapp Brannigan avatar is my kinda person. I have a Bender head signed by the whole voice cast (plus David and Matt) sitting next to my desk. A prized possession! To answer your question, it's being released August 25th as long as I can get all my ducks in a row, like Amazon KDP with a physical and ebook copy. And yes, I will be asking any and everyone from this forum community for whatever help they can give because... I'm lucky to have a second shot and I gotta make good. I still have my first character art by Itwas Nom.

And a solid hell yeah to the rest of you. I'm going to make it beautiful as possible.

This post has been edited by Tatterdemalion: 16 June 2026 - 11:52 PM

[Maark Abbott]

Welcome back! Glad a few of us from the Realmwalker days are still active, and good to hear you're making progress on POA my guy!

[Tatterdemalion]

Never say the curs-ed word - "Realmwalker". Two days until my cover reveal! I hope it's legit.

[Tatterdemalion]

Here's the cover reveal from Grimdark Magazine!

PURGE OF ASHES COVER

This post has been edited by Tatterdemalion: 21 June 2026 - 04:56 PM

[Macros]

To be blunt and honest I prefer the original cover.

That one reminds me of one of the lazy covers for a later Malazan book (I forget which one) but random items (one I recall being a sextant?) Had been badly superimposed onto an image. Its looks....generated, especially lady in whites very awkward looking hand.

I'm still going to buy and read, dont worry on the fr9nt keen to see what the editing process has resulted in, most of my quibbles with the first edition boiled down to editing from what I recall.

When youre rich and famous will you sign my first edition so I can be rich too?

[Tatterdemalion]

Can't get rich and famous off covers that don't appeal.

The first cover is abysmal, though. Really, go look at it. Pitch black. Insane fake-looking skulls. A 2D balance scale just sitting there. The epic background and crows were great, but that's it.

This is meant to be a combination of both photo realism and artistic expression - somewhat Erikson-esque like No Life Forsaken, or that's the idea - where everything's not hyper glossy like many covers but also we get more personality than artistic renditions like, say, Kings of the Wyld. I'll admit Asma's my least favourite of the character portrayals, but another pal was blown away by her contemplative expression and the sifting ashes.

Further, there's more that folk don't see - which I'll now show:

 Tiny Full Cover.png (1.51MB)
Number of downloads: 0

So a couple more cool things:

• The metalwork for with the four gods in the corners presenting the blurb, and eventually a promotional blurb.
• We can now make out the balance scales in full, and recognize the characters stand on one of the two scales.
• My plan to sync the covers together is that each one has the same balance scale design with a different background, and more importantly a different element overwhelming the characters - so dust and sand for Grip of Dust and rain and water for Silence of Deluge. As there will now be four books, a final cover for Death of Balance using blood or something evil.

I think these elements help make it more complex.

[Macros]

I really didnt mind the original cover, chalk it up to me having no taste, wont be the first time Ive disagreed with folks on here about book artwork.


The back looks ace, my take on the front is personal preference, bar Kirbys stuff for discord there arent many covers with characters on them that I like I dont think.

[Macros]

So is it like going to printers and stuff now?

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Agreed, the back is great! The front...not really doing it for me. I think it looks like a not great Photoshop job :/ Though, I also tend to prefer covers that render an iconic scene or setting from the book.

[QuickTidal]

I'll be odd man out. I like the front...I could quibble about the bottom character lighting being slightly different, but overall I dig it.

[worry]

I like it fine. They're all in one side of a giant scale, and you can't see what's on the other side cuz it's so low -- Imbalance! And nobody can say you were false advertising about the ashes.

[Tatterdemalion]

Fair enough, y'all. I have aspects I like a lot, and what I don't. I like the reoccurring premise that will exist once the sequels come - they will all have parallel looks that go together well. I love the back and the crossover aspect. I like the idea our heroes are 'trapped' in the big imbalance metaphor and dowsed in smoke and ashes. I'm not huge on how Asma looks, I don't picture her that was exactly, and I'm not sure the art/photorealism hybrid works as well as going 'full art' or 'full photorealism'. I don't want it to look like a lazy PS job.It's going to print soon! I just sent out digital ARCs to my first 4 ARC readers, so my next step is finishing step-up for my preorder. Then after that is producing the ARC for the physical book - as quickly as I can so I can put it in Christian Cameron's hands as soon as possible. And every night I send another email for someone to read the digital ARC for a review aimed at August 25th.And Macros, I had trouble picking a cover because I, in general, don't see the appeal in MANY covers. There are only a few I really love. So it was hard to advise my artist sometimes because I couldn't always see exactly what I wanted.

[Macros]

if it hasn't went to print yet, could I, perchance, be cheeky and suggest a few edits on the blurb? some of it reads.... awkwardly to me