September 2025 - New stories and potential covers

Hi all!

September has come to the UK with a vengeance, whipping away the sun and the shine, and now we’re back to the usual: shades of grey, rain, and mopey people hurrying about with big coats on.

But never fear, there is one benefit to the days shortening once more – I can write without guilt! I’ve been huddled up inside typing away, and I’ve made some pretty good progress on my new story. Which brings me to the…

Writing update!

The new story – tentatively titled ‘The Eye Of Amin-Ra’ – is being written as fast as I can manage while still working full time. 75k words done, halfway through book 1.

It was a bit of a struggle at first since the protagonist felt a bit too broody and depressed and it wasn’t fun to write, but then I added a good ol’ fashioned sidekick earlier into the narrative, and started having a blast once more. It’s a bit overwhelming to try and write something on this scale as I’m trying a lot of new things with this story, but I think it’s going pretty well.

I’ve confirmed the arcs of the side characters, finished the outline of the plot for book 1 (and rough ideas for books 2,3 and 4), and done all the worldbuilding already. I’ve also written the entirety of act 1, and started to get into the meat of act 2. I’m off on holiday for a week soon, but once I’m back I expect to get act 2 and 3 finished by the end of October, which gives me a month to arrange ads, shout-outs and a proper launch plan for a December launch! 😊

In terms of In The Shadow Of Mountains (ITSOM), book 1 is with the editor currently, and I’m expecting it back sometime this week. I’ve handed over book 2 to them as well, though I don’t know when they’ll get around to editing it.

Random things of interest!^(TM)

Really, this is only one thing, but the new segment needs trademarking and ‘random thing of interest’ just doesn’t sit right! 😉

Right, so the thing of interest^(TM) is something I needed to fill out for the publisher back in August. It was a document about cover art. They wanted me to give some details of the MC, their appearance/armour/weapons, etc. and most importantly, the scene.

I gave them two options. Number 1 is what you’d expect – Lamb looking out over the endless valley from early on in the book – basically the current cover that is still up on royalroad. But I made that one with AI, and this new one will be by a real (paid) artist, so that’s great!

Option 2 is more interesting, in my opinion. I decided to go with the confrontation beneath the earth with the Subakir, Francis D’Sware and Lamb. Picture it:

A cavernous hole in the earth, with a single rocky outcropping extending out into the void. Sheer stone walls, honeycombed with holes and with roots and vines slithering through them, Lamb standing facing the ‘camera’ with the illusion of the magma snake towering behind him. Perhaps have the POV be from just over Francis’ shoulder.

I think the lighting with the grey rock and green vines all lit up by the orange magma would make a cool blend… but I’ll have to wait and see what the artist can come up with! No idea on a timeline with that.

I’ll leave it there. Please let me know if you can think of any cool scenes from book 1 that might make a cool cover.

Cheers all,

OCRAuthor/O.C.Raddon

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