Tag: inspiration

Sometimes You Need a DEMON to Fight Against the Darkness – Presenting “A Dance of Darklings and Demons”

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“While the Titans reigned in the heavens above Ard, Lilith ruled from Kehena below, thirsting for the blood of the innocent to satiate her desires. The Dark Lord sent the darklings out from the Tower of Ibris to devour the people in her name. The Titans asked the great god Atua to send help. He sent his acolyte, the Alchemage.” – From the Book of Ard

After nearly two years, I am finally able to announce upcoming release of my epic dark fantasy, A Dance of Darkling and Demons. I wrote this novel years ago, which I’ll get to in a moment, but due to things outside my control, it has been delayed. Finally, thanks to the dedicated work of Ravven White and Curious Corvid Publishing, its finally ready to release.

This book is a bit of a religious exploration for me. I was going through some personal issues involving God and other religious practices. My daughter converted to Norse Pagan and it hit me rather hard. I didn’t stop her, but I prayed she would find her way back to God. I wanted to reflect my own personal beliefs in my Lord and Savior, but as a fantasy writer, I needed to put it into a story. So, I used the concept behind one of my favorite Star Trek episodes to help tell my tale. Sounds strange, but hear me out.

The episode “Who Weeps for Adonais?” where a powerful being claiming to be the Greek god Apollo appears and demands that the crew of the Enterprise disembark onto his planet to worship him. I loved the idea of gods traveling across the stars, but I wanted to make them fantasy gods, not aliens, and I didn’t want to use Olympians. Instead, I used their parents, the Titans, as the central pantheon to my story. As for the one true God, I didn’t just want to use “God” or a name that we associate with God. Instead, I found the name Atua in the Maori language, which means God. In fact, a lot of the Maori traditions inspired the mythology behind this story, particularly with the Alchemages and their journey as warriors.

It was all starting to come together. This was a story about a world where the pantheon of Titans are worshiped by the people, yet one group of individuals worships who they call “the one true God,” Atua. They are persecuted as “demons” and “heretics” because of this belief. This religious persecution is the heart of my book, A Dance of Darkling and Demons.

When darkness enveloped Ard, the people cried out across the stars for help, and the Titans answered their prayers. The banished gods bestowed the glittering gift of magic to Humans, Elves, Animalian, and Nephilim alike. But the darklings, creatures of shadow and death, poured out like oil from the Obsidian Cliffs. These creatures, all gnashing teeth and shifting gloom, sought to devour the light of magic for themselves. As armies faltered and hope dimmed to a dying ember, the Titans themselves knelt in supplication before the great god Atua for help. He opened his hands and sent his most powerful weapon—the Alchemage.

These shadow hunters wielded not just magic, but the ether itself through alchemy, forging spells in crucibles of will and turning base elements into devastating power. But their victories were pyrrhic, paid for by their own souls. The very people they saved recoiled from them, branding them heretics and demons for turning away from the Titans. For a thousand years, this war of attrition ground on, a slow bleed against the world’s edge.

Canaan Treyhawke bled at the front lines beneath the Obsidian Mountains and lost his leg to war, but he fought on. He walks the grime-slicked streets of Perdition’s Point, a shadow hunter protecting a city that whispers “heretic” as he passes by. Canaan fights for his sister’s smile and the quiet safety of the woman he loves, and for a city that curses his name even as he strives to protect it. And now, he finds himself in the heart of a conspiracy that threatens to unravel the very fabric of Ard.

A shadow tamer—a mortal man twisted by his allegiance to the sinister Tower of Ibris—was on the hunt for the Progenitor. With this chaos tightening around him like a noose, Canaan must journey from the gilded spires of Signus Prime to the rain-slicked streets of the capital city of Adolphus. He must unmask the shadow tamer and sever this new threat before the darkness consumes everything.

The other thing I want to mention is the title, A Dance of Darkling and Demons. I know it sounds a little strange but to be honest, it’s exactly what I wanted. I thought an alliteration, the repetition of words, flowed so beautifully. The cover itself shows the deep religious undertones of the story, showing stained glass panels representing the four races of Ard—humans, elves, animalia, and the Nephilim. The center shows the dark goddess, Lilith, being captured and sent to the depths of Kehena by the Eye of Kronos. It shows the heart of the book in this vibrant cover. Plus, the interior art by Dennis Saputra really captures the essence of the Darkling monsters.

I want to once again thank Ravven White and Curious Corvid Publishing for bringing my book across the finish line to publication. A Dance of Darkling and Demons will release on November 3.

Interview with USA Today Best-Selling Author Helen Garraway

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I had the unbelievable honor of being interviewed by USA Today best-selling author Helen Garraway. Helen is the USA Today and Amazon Bestselling author of the Epic Fantasy Sentinal series and the Fantasy Romance SoulMist series. She has been writing about the world of Remargaren, a fantasy world of her creation, since 2016. If you get a chance, check out her amazing fantasy stories. They are worth the read for any fantasy fan.

Helen offered me the chance to sit down for an interview about my new dark fantasy, A Maker of Magic. I opened up about the inspiration for the story, my journey as an independent author, and what’s next for me. It is something we all do in the vast community of self-published authors… We support each other because we all know what the other is going through.

Check out the full interview HERE and make sure to check out Helen’s story and her wonderful books too. You can preorder A Maker of Magic at Amazon, and I’ll be looking for ARC readers soon, too! Also, if you’re in Central Pennsylvania, come to the Key City Steampunk Convention NEXT WEEKEND in Gettysburg, PA, August 7-9, to meet me in person.

The story behind A MAKER OF MAGIC is one of grief and love that consumed me

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A Maker of Magic by award-winning author Mark Piggott and Franklin Publishers.

My new dark fantasy, A Maker of Magic, was one of grief, sorrow, and love. I understand that may sound a little strange, but that’s why I wanted to explain how I came to write this story. It was rather spontaneous and came together in about three months.

In December of 2024, I had just returned from a Christmas vacation in Quebec, Canada. As my wife and I prepared for Christmas Day with our kids, I received a phone call from my brother. My father collapsed and was admitted to the hospital. He might not have long. I immediately jumped in my car and drove from Virginia to my hometown of Phillipsburg, New Jersey. On the drive, the song Scars in Heaven by Casting Crowns came on the radio. I couldn’t stop crying. I knew this was the last time I would see my Dad.

He died on Christmas Eve at the age of 88. My dad was a Marine Corps veteran, serving 22 years in the Corps including two tours in Vietnam. He was one of the reasons I joined the Navy, or rather he pushed me into it since college didn’t work out for me. He forged the man I am today.

For the next three months, I traveled between Virginia and New Jersey to help my brother with funeral arrangements, helping take care of my mother, and getting things settled. At night, I sat in that empty house I grew up in and listened to the whispers lingering there. It felt so different, sitting there in the quiet. The only sound echoing through the house was the TV in my Mom’s room as she sat quietly alone. It was a cold emptiness and that void filled me with grief.

I remembered my life growing up there. I was a big fan of the old horror movies, the Universal monsters. I used to build these models of Dracula, the Wolfman, and others that had these “glow in the dark” features. As I recalled these pieces of my past, a story filled that empty void. A story of love, of family, fighting against a dark and terrible enemy. I opened my laptop and began writing. That was the start of A Maker of Magic.

As a writer, we always put part of our soul into each story. The grief, sorrow, and love I was feeling at that moment seemingly supercharged my imagination and this story just flowed out of me. I never even thought about anything like this before. It just came to me, and in those three months, I wrote this entire book. It was about love, about family, good vs. evil, and service to your nation. These are all things my father instilled in me and so I can honestly say he is a big part of this story.

Although the story centers around the Blademancer and the Enchanter, Levi Richter and Danielle Nichols, it was Levi’s father, Jurgen, that centered the story for me. In Jurgen, I emulated my father: his strength, authority, love, and leadership. I put my father into the heart of the story as Levi’s guiding light. As I wrote those pages, it was as if my father was guiding me through it all.

I can honestly say that, my Dad and I were polar opposites. I liked fantasy and he loved westerns. He never really understood my quirkiness in my love of fantasy and science fiction, but when I joined the Navy and rose through the ranks, we connected more and more. I wanted to gain my father’s approval in everything I did. I think that, through this book, I finally have.

My mother didn’t last long after my father. She died about a year later. She never got to see this book completed, but I knew she would like it. The book is dedicated to both my Mom and Dad.

A Maker of Magic is something that sits deep in my heart and soul. It’s such a beautiful and powerful story, but to me, it means so much more. It’s my way of saying “thank you” to the parents that raised me. In life, and in death, they’re still with me.

Can You Hear the Cry of the DEMON SONG?

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Return to Attlain in the next chapter of the award-winning fantasy/steampunk series, The Last Magus: Demon Song. The saga of Marcus Gideon, the Last Magus of Attlain, continues to span this dystopia of magic and machines.

Marcus Gideon, the LAST MAGUS of Attlain, has chosen his own path. Haunted by memories he cannot fully recall, Gideon is set on protecting his wife, Wren, and his son, Henri, using the strength of the Silver Moon Guild. For five years, they have tracked down the Magus’ stolen weapons across Attlain, pursuing the deadly assassins of Ishtar. Now, at the edge of the Iron Wasteland, Gideon faces a new and even greater threat to everything he loves dear.

In the haunted ruins of Nyx, the demon sorceress Vasileesa Morozov has found a way to escape the cursed island and plans to release a new demon horde. Nyx was once the center of civilization, but centuries ago, the Demon Spire erupted from its heart, spreading corruption and turning the city into a place of nightmares. The Demon Spire is not just a monument; it connects the demonic realm to the mortal world and gives power to those who seek its dark magic. Now that the demons are free from their prison, all of Attlain faces their relentless hunger.

Gideon and the Silver Moon Guild race across Attlain to discover the sorceress’s plans to create a new Demon Spire and bring chaos to the world. As they get closer to the truth, they uncover secrets that put Gideon’s family in grave danger and threaten to erase the legacy of the LAST MAGUS. Everything Gideon has fought for, including his own life, is at risk.

Check back for links to purchase the third book in the series. Catch up on the entire story in The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart and The Last Magus: Dragonfire and Steel before you dive into The Last Magus: Demon Song. Special thanks to Anna-Lena Spies for another great book cover and Melissa Matthews for the interior art.

A new fantasy story coming soon that came out of a moment of grief and sorrow

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“A Maker of Magic” by Mark Piggott (from Franklin Publishers)

So, I have a new fantasy story coming out this spring, but there’s a bit of a back story I want to share first before I tell you more about the book. It all began about two years ago, in December of 2024. I just got back from my vacation in Quebec, Canada. It was Christmas Eve, and I got a phone call from my brother. My Dad was in the hospital and he was not breathing on his own. I needed to get home to New Jersey ASAP. I drove from Alexandria, VA, to Phillipsburg, NJ, as fast as I could. Although it was Christmas Eve it was not a night of joy or celebration for me. Before the night was over, my father passed away. He was 88 years old.

For the next four months, I spent every other week traveling between Virginia and New Jersey, dealing with funeral arrangements, taking care of my mother, planning for her future care, etc. So, I was teleworking with my regular job during the day and spending my nights doing what any writer would do when sitting in a big empty house filled with memories, pain, sorrow, and guilt from more than fifty years of family life. I sat down at the kitchen table with my laptop and I started writing. I poured the emotions of those months into a story that had started to form into my head. I don’t know if it came from all the grief I was feeling or perhaps from the love of my family supporting me in that moment. I can honestly tell you there was a lot going on at that time, so it was probably a little of both. Needless to say, I poured my heart and soul into this book.

I don’t want to go into the story just yet. However, I can tell you that a major character in this novel was the father, and I think I saw a lot of my own father in the father figure within this story. My Dad was a U.S. Marine, serving two tours in Vietnam, raising a family, including his two sons who both served in the military (my brother was a Marine, and I served in the Navy). The father in my novel was a former military officer too, teaching his sons how to be soldiers in a time of war. He did it by example, through leadership, strength, love, discipline and hands-on training to make his sons better than him. I wanted to instill that same feeling I got from my father into these characters.

But behind it all, there is also a love story. This is a deep, soul-searching love that transcends time, distance, and separation. This part of the story imitated the many years I spent apart from my wife on deployment with the Navy. I think we spent more time away than together in our first ten years of marriage, and yet we’re still together after over forty years. We share a bond that’s so deep that a simple touch, a song, or a picture brings us together even though we’re miles apart. I also think of my parents, who were married for over sixty five years but spent time apart in overseas deployments, too. That kind of love is rare to carry on for so long. Its the inspiration I found to fill within the pages of my story.

The same goes for the villains behind the scenes. I normally use the standard fantasy trope villains in evil wizards, devious nobles, demons, goblins, etc., in my stories. You know, the regular fantasy villains you’ll find in any D&D campaign. However, this was my first time dipping my toe into a darker vibe, a more horror themed villain. I wanted to really dive into the darkness within my soul, maybe because I was in such a dark place when I wrote this story, so much so that I dipped into the shadows with vampires, ghouls, zombies, and other creatures of the night. These were the monsters of my childhood that haunted me, the ones my father was always there to protect me from. I think that’s why I chose them as the monsters of this story. It’s full blood and gore, something I’ve never done before but it seemed necessary for this story. I felt a lot of despair and loss and I wanted to evoke that in this story.

I don’t want to go into much more detail about the story just yet, except for the teaser image from the cover of the two MCs, the Blademancer and the Enchanter. Sorry, no more spoilers, not yet. A Maker of Magic, coming soon from Franklin Publishers, so stay tuned here for more information! I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Kirkus Book Review of Corsair says “a diverting SF romp with touchpoints of Victorian/Edwardian history!”

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I got a couple of early Christmas gifts this week. First, the government shutdown ended so I am back to work in my regular full time job (yeah!) although I did take that time to really focus on my writing (more to come on that later). Second, Kirkus Reviews provided a top level book review of my steampunk historical fiction Corsair and the Sky Pirates. Kirkus Reviews is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine’s publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. Kirkus Reviews confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, nonfiction, and young readers’ literature.

I appreciate honest reviews that focuses on the story, not every little technical aspect that some reviewers nitpick at. It means they really took the time to read my book and understand what I was trying to convey in my story.

“The author envisions an epochal meeting in the late 19th century between visionary author Jules Verne and young inventor Nikola Tesla to pool their ideas and create mechanistic miracles made possible by an alien element (“Uriel”) found in fragments shed by a passing comet that provides a seemingly inexhaustible power source. Now, in 1907, a transformed Earth’s skies are crisscrossed by airships, and there are steam-power-armored warriors, cybernetic limbs, punch-card “Thinking Machines,” and other steam- and battery-based technological wonders. The ruthless and amoral Thomas Edison leads a cabal of industrial elites who want to rule the world absolutely—and possibly incite a global Great War between Germany, Britain, and France to bring this about. Opposing them are Tesla’s “Vernians,” among them a flying fleet of rogues tagged as “pirates” (though a Robin Hood comparison is more apt).”

Kirkus Review of Corsair and the Sky Pirates, Published November 17, 2026

You can read the entire book review online at Kirkus Reviews. Corsair and the Sky Pirates is available online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at Curious Corvid Publishing online shop. Remember, give the gift of steampunk this holiday season!

Releasing June 20! Gwen Iver and Pendragon’s Puzzle gets its first book award of 2024

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I love a release party! Get ready for my first YA fantasy, Gwen Iver and Pendragon’s Puzzle, from Curious Corvid Publishing releasing this week, June 20! And, the icing on the cake, I received my first book award for my new novel. Gwen Iver and Pendragon’s Puzzle was honored with the Golden Wizard Children’s Book Award for 2024.

The Golden Wizard Book Prize is renowned as the top children’s book awards program globally committed to supporting talented authors who possess the ability to weave words into spells, creating stories that inspire and uplift young readers.

GWEN IVER & PENDRAGON’S PUZZLE takes you to the town of Camelot Cove, a quiet village on the shores of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Most people know it as a fishing town, but this sleepy little community has a secret. Camelot Cove is the home of the Fae—magical beings from myth and legend. From mermaids, dryads, and centaurs to ogres, elves, and dwarves, the community is a mixture of humans and Fae. They were brought together in this out-of-the-way place by the wizard Merlin and the mysterious Lady of the Lake under the protection of the Pendragon.

The power of the Pendragon has passed from generation to generation through the descendants of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. That power now waits to be passed to the next descendant to continue the legacy as the protector of the Fae.

Gwen Iver is a fifteen-year-old girl starting her first day of high school. Surrounded by friends and facing off against her rivals, including Morgan Moor and her infamous Dreadmoor Gang, Gwen’s idyllic life is about to be turned upside-down. She begins a journey into a magical world of infinite possibilities when she attempts to unlock PENDRAGON’S PUZZLE.

Thank you to Ravven White and Curious Corvid Publishing for their continued support of this independent author. I am so happy to have a voice through their love, advice, and editing. I also want to thank the art students and teachers at my alma mater, Phillipsburg High School, for contributing to the art of my novel. It was inspiring to work with these talented artists. Lastly, I dedicated this book to my great nieces and nephews, the future readers that inspired me to write this story. My family is the reason I continue on my journey as an author. I could not do this without them.

You can pre-order your copy of Gwen Iver and Pendragon’s Puzzle at Curious Corvid Publishing Shop or grab a signed copy at one of my many book signing events this summer. I hope to see you there.

Check out Buy My Books to pick out your next binge read!

Mark Piggott is an award-winning independent author of several fantasy/steampunk novels and short stories. A 23-year U.S. Navy veteran, his stories will take you from the shores of eternal Avalon to a dystopian steampunk future and other fantastic worlds as he weaves through a myriad of flights of fancy in his tales.

The Forever Avalon fantasy book series—including Forever Avalon, The Dark Tides, and The Outlander War—are available online at Amazon and other booksellers. His fantasy steampunk novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart, is available through Lulu and other booksellers.

Cross over The River of Souls in a fantasy novella, take flight in the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates, and the saga continues in The Last Magus: Dragonfire and Steel from Curious Corvid Publishing. His first YA fantasy, Gwen Iver and Pendragon’s Puzzle, and The Prometheus Engine: Book Four of the Forever Avalon Series are coming soon from Curious Corvid. Stay tuned for new fantastic stories from the imagination of Mark Piggott.

Adding Short Stories and Fan Fiction to the menu

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I’ve had my Fan Fiction page up and running for some time now, but I decided to finally include some of my short stories in there. There are stories for contest that I’ve entered, some won, others did not, but I wanted to be able to share them with all of you.

These are stories that mean a lot to me and come from both my imagination and my heart. They were not just written for competition but rather inspired by a heartfelt twang. For example, I wrote The Clock Tower after my sister passed away two years ago. My niece took her death very hard, so I wanted to immortalize her in my writing. My sister loved Disney World so I turned her into a princess in her own magical kingdom. It’s an adventure in itself.

The Chalice came from a nightmare I had. I woke up one night after dreaming of being attacked by a witch in a dark alleyway. This was my first venture into horror, not something I’m used to writing, but I needed to do this to purge myself of this nightmare.

The last one, The Moonlit Black Cat Tavern, came from not only a dream but an idea. What if there were a place where monsters, humans, and demi-humans could come together and work out their differences? I worked from that idea into a fun like any Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

There’s also a link to all the fun Log Horizon anime fan fiction I wrote last year. I binged on the third season of that anime and it inspired me to write my own fan fiction based on the characters and story.

I will be adding new short stories as they come along so please take a look and read them. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did writing them.

Mark Piggott is an award-winning independent author of several fantasy/steampunk novels and short stories. A 23-year U.S. Navy veteran, his stories will take you from the shores of eternal Avalon to a dystopian steampunk future and other worlds as he weaves flights of fancy in his tales.

The Forever Avalon fantasy book series—including Forever Avalon, The Dark Tides, and The Outlander War—are available online at Amazon and other booksellers. His fantasy steampunk novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart, is available through Lulu and other booksellers.

Cross over The River of Souls in a fantasy novella and the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates from Curious Corvid Publishing. The Last Magus: Dragonfire and Steel and The Prometheus Engine: Book Four of the Forever Avalon Series, are coming soon from Curious Corvid. Stay tuned for new fantastic stories from the imagination of Mark Piggott.

My thoughts on the death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, an inspiration to us all

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Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms (6 February 1952 – 8 September 2022)

With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, thus ended the reign of the longest reigning monarch of the modern era. For 70 years, we have only known one queen and her name was Elizabeth. She was not only the queen, but she was also a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother. I am not a subject of Her Majesty, but I respect and want to honor her service to her country and the world. When she was only 21 years old, she pledged, “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” She lived up to that pledge until the day she died.

As a fantasy author, monarchs are a part of my genre. I have loved the idea of a monarch since I first read the stories of King Arthur and Camelot, something I based my first novel, Forever Avalon, around. Britain and the monarchy are the stuff of legends, and Elizabeth II was no exception. She led Great Britain and the commonwealth by example in pursuit of nothing but the best for her people. She served in World War II at the tender age of 18 in the Auxiliary Territorial Service as a driver and a mechanic. Can you imagine, the future Queen of England driving an ambulance and performing tune ups on vehicles?

The world was a different place when she became queen. Women did not lead in many roles in our society in the 1950s and yet, she did it with steadfast determination. That’s the kind of inspiration a writer like me looks for in creating monarchs for my fantasy stories. Throughout my life, I have been surrounded by strong women, whether in my family or my military service, and Queen Elizabeth was a part of that. You can’t fake that kind of character when writing, you have to see it and experience it to believe it.

So now, we have a king, King Charles III. He has enormous shoes to fill to live up to the legacy his mother laid out for him, but at the same time, he had her as the best teacher possible. I hope and pray he will continue the great service of her life. These are trying times and leadership is desperately needed. Even as a writer, that continued inspiration is needed. In all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the eventual coronation of King Charles III, it fuels the fantasy stories within me. We live in an age where kings and queens, princes and princesses, and other royal titles are mostly found in storybooks.

Queen Elizabeth II was the true representation of what it meant to be a monarch. May she rest in peace. Thank you, ma’am, for your service to us all. God bless the Queen. God save the King.

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Mark Piggott is an award-winning independent author of several fantasy/steampunk novels and short stories. A 23-year U.S. Navy veteran, his stories will take you from the shores of eternal Avalon to a dystopian steampunk future and other worlds.

The Forever Avalon fantasy book series—including Forever Avalon, The Dark Tides, and The Outlander War—is available online at Amazon and other booksellers. His fantasy steampunk novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart, is available through Lulu and other booksellers.

Get ready for The River of Souls fantasy novella from Curious Corvid Publishing. Coming in 2023 from Curious Corvid—the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates, and The Last Magus: Dragonfire and Steel. Stay tuned for more new fantastic stories from the imagination of Mark Piggott.

Working on multiple WIPs at the same time can be quite maddening for any writer

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Frustrated? Overworked? Help is one the way . . .

So, I’m in the middle of a crisis at the moment. I have multiple ideas for stories, both ones I’m working on, new ones, and ones I haven’t even put down notes on yet. They’re all rattling through my head, begging for life. I try to work on what I can, but then my mind drifts elsewhere. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve woken up at 3am with one of these stories nagging at me. Like I said, maddening. I wish I could get committed to an asylum just so I could sit quietly and write. I would take a vacation to work on them, but then I probably wouldn’t have a wife to come home to anymore. I mean, she puts up with me dragging her to conventions, art festivals, and book signings.

This is a dilemma, one every writer runs into from time to time. I know I’m not alone in this madness. The difference for me is that I am not looking through multiple storylines in one genre or story. I have a multitude of ideas streaming through my head like a Netflix playlist. From steampunk sky pirates to mercenary demon hunters, a wayward Magus, and knights of Avalon, I don’t know where to begin. Add to that the short stories I’m constantly plugging away at to ply my trade within the many opportunities available to the writing community.

Curious Corvid Publishing . . . Publishing a variety of gothic works that bring a voice to the darker side of life.

The one good thing I can say about these shenanigans is that I feel a sense of relief within this madness because I have a publisher now. Being one of the myriad of talented authors under Curious Corvid Publishing has given me pause in my madness . . . Well, partly. Having a publisher that supports me as a writer takes away the worry of frantically searching for someone to publish my stories. I have that support system under me so I can focus on writing and no worry about who’s going to publish my next fantasy trope. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to be a part of this up-and-coming publishing house. Thank you Ravven!

I’ve been self-published for more than ten-plus years. As a side job, I know I’m still operating in the red. I spend more money on publishing, marketing, etc., than I earn from selling books. That’s the rub for any independent, self-published author. We do this because we love it, no matter what the cost. Not saying that I want to go bankrupt being a writer, I just want to tell my stories the easiest way I can. Just reading a good review or hearing someone say they liked my story is reward enough for me. The problem is getting the damn things out of my head.

For now, I need a calm mind and a cool head. That will get me through my writing dilemma. One thing at a time, maintaining my focus, and this will all work itself out. But maybe, just maybe, I do need to take a small vacation to push through all this frustration. Maybe I can talk my wife into a nice spot on the beach where she can catch some rays while I sit under the umbrella, tapping away on my laptop. There’s a compromise in there somewhere.

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Mark Piggott is an independent author of the Forever Avalon fantasy book series and other fantasy/steampunk novels and short stories. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon and as an audiobook from Audible and iTunes. The Dark Tides: Book 2 of the Forever Avalon Series is available as a paperback/ebook at iUniverse Publishing,  Amazon, and other booksellers. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series, is available as a paperback/ebook from Austin Macauley Publishing and at Amazon and other booksellers. His latest fantasy novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart, is available through Lulu and other booksellers.

Get ready for The River of Souls fantasy novella, coming soon from Curious Corvid Publishing along with the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates. The Prometheus Engine: Book 4 of the Forever Avalon Series and The Last Magus: Dragonfire and Steel are future installments of his current fantasy book series, plus so much more coming soon.