This is the last update and we will be announcing our final semifinalist at the end of this post. The books in this lot were read by four of us and were reviewed jointly as well. So here are the thoughts on the remaining six titles:

The Shadow Rises by K.S. Mardsen

Overview/Analysis: There’s a society of witch-hunters and Hunter (not his real name) is probably the best at what he does. He’s got money, the looks, and the skill. I mean, he’s almost like James Bond of the supernatural world. A girl he once saved from the clutches of the evil witch wants to join witch-hunters. A tragic turn of events makes him accept her as his apprentice. In the meantime, the evil raises and things get trickier than ever.

I liked the story and the concept. Everyone needs a good popcorn read from time to time, and The Shadow Rises mostly succeeds at offering high-octane, if slightly predictable, fun. Some action scenes and suspenseful moments are drawn out appropriately, but then a key piece of exposition or character development may be glossed over, or opportunities for those moments are missed. Both main and secondary characters have some distinct traits but, in general, remain underdeveloped and flat.

The writing itself could use a bit of a polish, particularly in the structure of the sentences and establishing POV and keeping it. Long stretches of simplistic phrases make the story accessible and easy to follow, but also remove the suspense or tension building in the story.

Despite many weak spots in the writing and the lack of more depth to the storyline and characters, Mardsen succeeds at creating an interesting blend of reality and fantasy. She explores the concepts of loyalty, individuality, and difficult choices and offers some unpretentious fun. As long as you approach it as a fast pulp read, you should appreciate at least parts of the story.

Windwalker: Forbidden Flight by H.G. Chambers

Overview/Analysis: Windwalker took me by surprise. I didn’t expect to enjoy it so much, but it has it all - winged raptors, sand-warriors, a rebellious protagonist willing to break the rules and follow her dreams.

Kiva Fariq wants nothing more than to help her tribe as a Windwalker scouring the desert skies on the back of a giant flying predator. She has the skill, will, and determination. Unfortunately, she’s a girl and the windwalker sect is closed off to women. When the time comes, Kiva attempts the perilous windwalker trials in secret. Even if she succeeds, the question is open whether the elders will accept or banish her.

In the spirit of youthful adventures, Chambers makes the teenage protagonists seem far more capable than the adults. Not only is she willing to challenge ungrounded beliefs and fight for her future, but she’s also the only one to see approaching danger. Younger readers, especially girls, will enjoy her inspiring growth. But even older readers should appreciate a good balance between appealing to a youthful target audience and creating a captivating, but ultimately comfortably predictable plot.

Overall, Windwalker: Forbidden Flight is a strong and uplifting start to intriguing series. It should appeal to a wide range of readers, from middle grade to young adult. I won't be surprised to see adult readers enjoying this one as a well-deserved rest between bleaker stories.

The Deadbringer by E.M. Markoff

Overview/Analysis: The Ascendancy and its Sanctifiers are on the hunt for remaining Deadbringers throughout the land, and young Kira finds himself on the run in pursuit of survival. Traversing cursed forests, hungry bogs, and countrysides filled with citizens that loathe and fear the very thought of what he is, Kira must hide in plain sight in order save not only himself, but those he holds dear, as well.

The Deadbringer is a dark and intriguing tale of finding one's true self and bearing with the consequences of lies told. We're dropped into a rich world with various races and mysterious, dangerous landscapes, that houses tons of facets waiting in the shadows, just plotting to reveal themselves and shatter what you believe to be the truth. A stunning blend of fantasy and horror, with beautiful, elegant prose, and blood and gore aplenty, this story is an incredible foundation for a potentially outstanding series.

As this is an account of the hunt, we're introduced to several point of view characters that lie on each end of the spectrum. We witness events through the eyes of the hunters and the prey, and at a point the lines between the two begin to blur. This alternating storytelling allows Markoff to refine the world around us without copious amounts of info dumping, something that I always appreciate. However, many major events suffered from a jarring time-jump mechanism, where readers are forced to observe the aftermath, rather than event itself, causing the flow to become unfocused and confusing at times. Also, a substantial amount of moving pieces and a bit of meandering led to just a few missed opportunities that I felt could've been beneficial to the story.

The conclusion of this book is its ultimate shining moment that left me at a point where I not only wanted more, but NEEDED more, and I cannot wait to continue my journey through Ellderet with The Faceless God.

The City Screams by Phil Williams

Overview/Analysis: The City Screams is my initiation into Williams’ work, and what an incredible introduction it has been! An urban fantasy set in Japan that pulls in a healthy dose of lore from the area, this story perfectly portrays the concepts of courageousness and resolve, that not everything of consequence need be witnessed only through sight, and that there is always more to be discovered beneath the surface. Conspiracies, strange organizations, mysterious ongoings, peril, and hope, it’s a genuinely fun read that keeps you guessing until the very end – and that twist! Excellently realized characters and a plot where nothing is at it seems, there’s no shortage of surprises along the way. It’s length smartly strips all the fluff, resulting in a fast-paced adventure where every word matters, and honestly, I finished this book craving more of the Ordshaw world.

Being a story of this size, there are a few concepts that, while possessing excellent backbones, lack just a bit of fleshing out. I know The City Screams can be read as a completely independent standalone within the series, but I feel reading Under Ordshaw and Blue Angel prior to diving into this one could’ve been beneficial, and most likely would’ve answered all of my lingering questions. The story itself ties up nicely, however, everything is left open-ended, so I’m really hoping this isn’t the last we see of Tova. I’m excited to experience the events that paved the way for this great story, and also see where Williams takes us in the future.

Magpie's Song by Allison Pang

Overview/Analysis: I liked Magpie's Song. It has a setting I'm not familiar with - something that I can only describe as post-apocalyptic steampunk. The main character, one Raggy Maggy, exists in the slums of a divided city. On one side are the rich, and on the other the poor, and above them rests a floating island where reside those that even the rich stand in awe of. Raggy Maggy is a Moon Child, meaning she exists as the offspring of one of those who lives above and one who lives below. This makes her special, both because it gives her cool silver hair but also because it makes her immune to the plague that destroyed most of civilization.

Magpie's Song is an incredibly strong contender in our batch of books. It is well written, the main character is very well thought out and interesting, and the writing is solid with very few mistakes. My only real complaint with the book, and it's basically a deal-breaker for me in regards to preferring it over some other entries, is that the book leads up to something for almost its entire length, and then it ends without realizing what is promised. I've been told this happens in the subsequent book, which is fine, but what I am looking for when I sit down to read something is a self-contained story that has a beginning, middle, and end. Magpie's Song has no end, so despite liking the book a lot and really enjoying my time with it, I was left wanting.

Cleansed by G.S. Scott 

Overview/Analysis: Cleansed chronicles the life of Dirge, from childhood to adolescence. Orphaned at a young age, he’s taken in by Talic, the leader of the Order of the Brotherhood, assassins for the God of Death, Aza’zel. Dirge grows into a dangerous young man skilled in combat. When The Prophet of the forgotten God of Order, Ukase, approaches him, Dirge finally finds his way. He breaks with the Brotherhood to serve his new master.

His military adventures are bloody and epic. Cleansed goes into dark, scary places. It pictures lots of violent and gory fight scenes, debauchery, and casual cruelty. As the plot grows more and more complex, Dirge has to decide if he wants to lead the armies of Ukase.

I found Cleansed intriguing. It doesn't shy away from violence, but most of it served to show the grim reality of the world being torn apart by warring deities. With a strong ending and plenty of narrative hooks, it'll appeal to fans of dark fantasy.

That being said, the beginning of the book, with numerous time skips was hard to follow and tiring. As important as those events were in shaping Dirge's personality, they didn't engage me and I had to force myself through the first 25% of the book. Some scenes felt unclear (like Jacob appearing suddenly in the room with Dirge).

Overall, though, Cleansed is an interesting book, one worth trying.

So amidst all these titles, our last semifinalist is Allison Pang’s Magpie’s Song. Because of its well-written protagonist, post apocalyptic settings and its quick pace, it wowed all of us and hence easily overcomes the strong competition that Windwalker provided.

So there you go, Fantasy Book Critic has selected six semifinalists. Best of luck to all authors, we will be announcing our SPFBO finalist in the next couple of weeks.

Official Author Website

Order The Clockwork Detective over HERE (USA) & HERE (UK)

Official Author Website
Order the book HERE

Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Long Way Down 

Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The White Gold Score 

Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Redemption Song 

Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Living End 

Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of A Plain-Dealing Villain

Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Killing Floor Blues

Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Castle Doctrine

Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Double Or Nothing

Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Neon Boneyard

Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Sworn To The Night

Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Detonation Boulevard

Official Author Website
Order The Company Of Birds over HERE (US) & HERE (UK) & HERE (Rest Of the world)
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Firebird

Ever since I read The Firebird, Nerine Dorman’s entry in the 2018 SPFBO edition. I was enthralled by the plot, the characterization and the world-building ensconced within the novella. It was a refreshing taste of how talented Nerine is and even though The Firebird wasn’t a finalist. I wanted to see what she would write next and was very excited to hear about her next book which would be a full length one. The Company Of Birds is its title and it’s being published by Immanion Press. Nerine showcased the brilliant cover a few days ago and she was even more kind to answer a few questions about it as well as the book below:

Q] Welcome to Fantasy Book Critic Nerine and thank you for your time. To start with, could you tell us what inspired you to be a writer in the first place, and can you tell us about your writing journey so far? Anything else you’d like to share about yourself and your past?

ND: Oh, goodness, the classic question. My very earliest memories involved peering at the spines of the books in my parents' collection. They had these two massive teak bookcases they kept in the lounge, and I remember from a young age being fascinated by the stories locked within – stories that were at first out of my reach. For me books were something magical, and authors were these mystical beings who could take an idea and make it into an object that can be touched, seen and smelt. And I wanted to be an author. Badly. There's a particular kind of vanity attached to the idea that my name will similarly jump out at a person casually browsing a bookshelf.

My writing journey so far has been what I call A Very Long Epic. It's most certainly a calling, a passion, because if I had been doing this for the money, I'd have starved a long, long time ago. I've seen many authors lose their passion for writing because they get caught up in the whirlpool of marketing and sales and Amazon algorithms, and I decided that chasing after that elusive best seller status was not for me.

Storytelling is something that is a vital part of me. So long as we have methods to write and share stories, I'll be telling them – if it means that I can give people a few stolen moments of wonder that can set them dreaming.

Q] The Company Of Birds is a special book for you. It’s being released by Immanion Press which was founded by Storm Constantine. Can you tell us more about how this book came to be selected by them and why this was such a special thing for you?

ND: I got to know Storm through her Wraeththu mythos – a setting which she has so graciously opened up to other writers through the anthologies and novels that she publishes. Her writing is magical and otherworldly, and she's one of the authors I look up to as being one of my guiding lights. She was also the very first editor to write me my very first rejection letter, for my novel Khepera Rising, and over the years I hoped that I would one day write the novel that she would eventually publish.

The Company of Birds is that novel.

I knew I was onto something special with this book, but it's a difficult story, slow-moving, textured. It's about life, death, failed love, regret ... all the things a woman past the first bloom of youth will feel when she starts edging to her middle years. It's not a fantasy novel about dashing heroes or vast, conquering armies. Instead it's more subtle, about the power of friendship, losing your parents, letting go of your past, and of finding your own true voice after allowing others to talk over you for so many years. And how finding your personal truth can lead to earth-shattering consequences. Most importantly, I wrote this book for me, and so far I've found that it's resonated with others who've read it.

Q] As far as titles go, The Company Of Birds is certainly an intriguing one. Can you tell us whether you choose this title or was it suggested by your editor?

ND: I suck at finding book titles, but I'll shamelessly admit to offering a nod at Neil Jordan and Angela Carter's The Company of Wolves. And I'm sure I had more than a few discussions with friends and fellow authors until The Company of Birds stuck.

Q] Let’s talk about the stunning cover that you unveiled a few days ago. Please tell us about the artist and designer and how they collaborated to come up with that gorgeous piece?

ND: I've been a huge fan of Æiden Swan's art for a while now, and when I asked her if she'd collaborate with me and my husband, Thomas Dorman, on it, she was all over the project. Naturally, I was (and still am) thrilled. It's always a bit of a risk doing something different, especially in an industry that relies on the shorthand of cover design to communicate quickly and clearly what the book is about. However, considering that this book is already so far off the beaten track in terms of popular trends in fantasy, I figured I may as well create something special, a work of art.

Now my husband does graphics in the film industry, and he's worked on some pretty big productions like The Dark Tower, Warrior, Maze Runner 3, and The Watch, among others – and he has an eye for typography, colour and composition like it's no one's business. So I was in good hands under his guidance. He did all the heavy lifting, which left me to handle the finer touches of the design.

Q] What were your main pointers for your cover artist & designer as you went through the process of finalizing it? What were the main things that you wished to focus on in it?

ND: I told Æiden and Thomas that they had carte blanche (which is important when you're collaborating as opposed to commissioning) – though I supplied both of them with a mood board, and we met up for an hour or so to make sure we were all on the same page. Æiden checked in with a few compositional scamps, and we chose a design that would work best. Because her work is so time-consuming, there were no do-overs, so we had to be sure that we were getting it right. When she was done, Thomas worked his magic with his typography and then image retouching to ensure that we had enough background for the text, and it all went pretty quickly after that. Our focus was to create an engaging visual, and you have to admit there's a certain degree of magnetism in those all-too-human eyes peering at you through the dreamlike owl face.

Q] How did the inception of The Company Of Birds occur? What were some of the inspirations for you during its writing?

ND: Music was big for me. I often find that particular artists will provide the soundtrack while I write – so for me this was a steady diet of Dead Can Dance, Arcana, Wardruna, Heilung, Peter Bjärgö, Danheim and other similar projects. Threaded through this was the idea of the bird messenger – a theme that recurs often enough in my stories. In this case it was a made-up bird – a dusk owl, that looks a little like a silver-grey barn owl. And if anyone's watched Labyrinth, they'll understand why the owl can be so mysterious and enigmatic.

Q] Similar to its ornithological predecessor The Firebird, The Company Of Birds deals with question of identity amidst societal and familial upheaval. What would you say is the thematic and literal core of this story?

ND: Hah! You've got me there. As an author it's difficult to see the forest for the trees in terms of overarching themes that occur in subsequent works. The core of this story is about finding one's true will. It's about second chances, and it's about discovering that each individual, no matter how ordinary, can do extraordinary things if they align themselves with their true will.

Q] Can you tell us more about the world that The Company Of Birds is set in and some of the book’s major characters? What are the curiosities (geographical, mystical, etc.) of this world?

ND: The setting is very much inspired by southern Africa's colonial history – so issues it deals with include colonialism (and inevitably racism) and the distorted society that comes into being where there are no convenient answers to problems. The main character, Liese ten Haven, is already quite progressive in terms of her outlook compared to some of her peers, which causes trouble for her in a largely patriarchal society where she's one of the few who've succeeded in a traditionally male-dominated workplace (an academy of magi).

She feels that she's missed the mark – her husband has just divorced her and she realises she's stuck in an academic post that is going nowhere. But if this was just the story of an incipient mid-life crisis, there wouldn't be much of a novel. Liese crosses paths with a strange tribesman, who sets her on a quest that will change her entire world.

We have soul-shifting bird shamans, fire mages, civil war ... and plenty of academic intrigue (if that can be considered exciting!)

Q] Is The Company Of Birds a standalone story or is it book one of a new series?

ND: Haha, Storm and I had this discussion not so long ago. I'd like for The Company of Birds to stand alone, but the world has such depth and breadth, and I've left threads that I intend to pick up in a year or so. Liese's story has a full arc, and if she does return, her role will be secondary. So, let's (tentatively) say yes, that there may be more, but it's taken me half a decade to reach the point where the book is being unleashed upon the world, and I need a little time to catch my breath.

Q] So what can readers expect from this book and what should they be looking forward to according to you?

ND: This book is strange. It doesn't rush off on fetch quests or great battles. It meanders and it shows you a different world. It's filled with magic and musings.

Also, my proofreader told me that after she read A Certain Scene We Won't Discuss For Fear of Spoilers, she had to go lie down for an hour or so. So expect to have your emotions wrenched a little too.

Q] In closing, do you have any parting thoughts or comments you’d like to share with our readers?

ND: I'm not going to lie: this was a difficult book to write. From the moment where the plot bunny bit me right through to the point where I sent Storm the final files, this book took TIME. The first draft was easy enough – I had that nailed in a few months. The book went out on sub and did a round on the query mill. So that was another year gone. I happened to mention the book in passing to Storm; she offered to look at it, and less than a week later she sent me a seven-page editor letter. Which promptly took me a year and a half to implement because the book was broken in ways that needed time for me to untangle threads, weave new ones and somehow make it all hang together. And yet it has all worked out, and I'm glad for Storm having seen something special in this story, and for all her patience with my soul searching, late nights and long, mumbled conversations with my friends in the Skolion co-operative as to how I can make this book shine.

This is a heart book. Folks will either love it or leave it, and that's fine with me. For those of you who fall in the former category, thank you for stepping into my world.

*---------------*---------------*---------------*

OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFORMATION: Luanne G. Smith lives in Colorado at the base of the beautiful Rocky Mountains, where she enjoys reading, gardening, hiking, a glass of wine at the end of the day, and finding the magic in everyday life.

OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFORMATION: Andy has been a library page, dairy science programmer, teacher, technical writer, healthcare software developer, and official Corporate Philosopher. He grew up in a town in Ohio Amish country. He's a husband, father, and nonprofit web consultant living in Madison, Wisconsin.

An apocalyptic event known as The Reckoning has wiped out civilization in North America leaving only a few rural communities cut off from the outside world. Their inhabitants live simple lives filled with menial tasks and rarely travel outside their villages. It’s too dangerous as chimeras, violent hybrid creatures, roam the wilds. The reasons for travel include buying food and breeding - interbreeding in a small village would lead to troubles and disabled children.

Root is a blind young woman who struggles to fit in, but she’s too curious and too straightforward for her own good. When she hears a voice in her head, the Nothing within her stirs and gives her serious enhancements (increased speed and strength, and more, but I won’t spoil it to you). The Nothing Within is… well, I can’t tell you what it is as the author reveals it near the end of the book.

The Nothing Within blends fantasy with science-fiction. The story develops in two timelines - present and the past one. The main arc focuses on Root trying to survive and understand what’s happening to her and who she really is. The other one presents events that lead to the Reckoning. Clues and important data are scattered throughout both narratives. While I appreciate it intellectually I also admit that the past storyline lacked a strong lead with a distinct voice Root has. 

Root is an excellent, if unreliable, storyteller. She often admits that her memory isn’t what it used to be, and it plays tricks on her. We’ll never know if and to what extent the time has warped her recollection of the events. She narrates the story of her life to a gathering of listeners. 

Giesler has created fascinating rustic, spartan, and ordered world shaped by Amish principles, something I rarely see in fiction. I liked the character development as well. Both Root and Ruth Troyer start as weak and naïve, but develop inner strength and become the leaders of their communities. As cliche as it may sound, the skillful use of POV makes it a pleasure to read. The uniqueness of the setting coupled with strong characterization makes The Nothing Within intriguing and satisfying. 

Giesler takes time to develop the world and characters, though, so the pacing in the first half of the book feels off. Things get together well, but you’ll need the patience to get through parts of the text. 

While I enjoyed the blend of fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and mystery I also think that sometimes Giesler tried too hard to include social commentary about the dangers of bioengineering and science. I like simplicity but I also choose to believe science can do more good than bad in the longer run. 

Everything depends on who and how uses it and unfortunately those who have access to powerful tools aren’t always the people for the task.

Official Author Website
Order Onslaught Of Madness over HERE

Q] Welcome to Fantasy Book Critic Jesse and thank you for your time. To start with, you self-published your debut in 2016 and since then have published 10 books including an omnibus and have participated in a couple of short story collections. You seem to have quite the writing speed. Pray tell us about how you managed to write so many books in such a small amount of time.

JT: When I started writing books, one thing I realized early on was that I wasn't any good at it. I needed to train myself on how to do the job before showing it to the world. So I just focused on writing. I set up a schedule of writing 3,000 words a day, and I just got to work. 3,000 words a day shakes out to be about nine and a half pages. And so, nine and a half pages at a time, I started building my world. It took a couple of short novels, and a couple of really long ones, before I was confident that I knew how to write. And then I went back and rewrote the books I was unsatisfied with to get them where I wanted them. In doing that I had trained myself how to write a book and get the desired effect. But I kept writing, refusing to publish, until I had written for twelve years, 3,000 words a day.

Back then I would finish a book, put it in a box, and mail it to myself. This is a poor man's way of copyrighting his own work. It's under an official date stamp. So I would just write one and put it in a closet, get started on the next. I did this for 12 years. Every book I created, I tied in to the ones before it. And before long, I had crafted a pretty huge world. In 2016, I started publishing. I published my first book, got a few reviews, things were going really well. A couple months later I published my first short story collection. When I published my third book that October, I realized that six months was a pace I could keep up. I could pull a book out that had already been written, send it through two editors while designing a cover for it, and get it out by the end of six months. I got to write for twelve years before adding the pressure of any deadlines. Twelve years of just setting it aside. If I stopped writing books right now, and just published the ones I had in the closet, I could publish books until 2031 at a pace of two books a year, which includes five completed series.

Q] Onslaught Of Madness is a special book for you. One can call it a capstone to your previous books and short stories. Why was this such a special thing for you?

JT: My world is set up on a timeline that, until a couple of days ago, did not make sense to anybody reading my books. Every book, every story, is headed with a number of years before "The Escape" or a number of years after. Everything is built around this one event that changes history forever, and those years and that heading have been included in every book I've published for the last three and a half years. Anybody reading those books would have to face the mystery of what The Escape is. With the release of Onslaught Of Madness, I have shown what The Escape is. Its full ramifications are not known yet, but Onslaught, depicting the Escape, becomes the central event all the other books can be arranged by. Everything I've written now falls on a timeline that either happened before Onslaught or after Onslaught.

Reading Onslaught gives you a starting point for all of my work. But there's this real interesting thing I've noticed happening because of the release schedule I have chosen. You can start this world at any entry point currently out there. You can walk in through any of the standalones, through the trilogy, or through Onslaught. And eventually it all makes sense. However, if you enter through the trilogy, meeting those characters first changes your interpretation of the rest of the work. If you come in through Liefdom first, you'll feel completely different, and have a completely different experience than if you enter through The Manhunters.

Also, with each series, and each standalone telling a single story, you can read just those pieces and walk away. If you read Liefdom, there's no mandate insisting that you read everything else. Any reader looking for short stories will be satisfied with Legends of Perilisc. Anyone looking for a standalone will be satisfied with the standalones I've released. If you're looking for a trilogy, or if you're looking for a massive world, each one of those can be found. The reader decides their level of involvement. This is why Onslaught is so important, because it places everything on its timeline.

Q] Since all of your books are set in the same world, a lot of planning must have gone in creating a detailed world with history, geography and magic system. How did it all begin for you?

JT: I played a lot of DnD. Started playing Dungeons and Dragons at six or seven. My junior year of high school, the idea was introduced to me of creating my own world in which to play the game, so that I was not relying on the creators of Dungeons and Dragons to dictate maps to me, or races, or cultures. That was in 1994. So in 1994 I started putting together my own world. I told hundreds of stories, creating different nations, political systems, and characters. Testing out what worked and what didn't. When I started writing the books, I had an idea of what characters I wanted to use as inspiration to create new stories in that world.

In 1998, my wife was in college for graphic design, and we sat down and created the first map of Perilisc in her computer. We were then able to print it out, make notes on it, adding cities, lakes, rivers. We were able to draw new nation lines. Every new map drawn, every new city created, was entered into the master map in the computer. In this way I was able to create, over the span of my life since I was seven, hundreds of characters, hundreds of storylines, and one complete world to draw inspiration from in creating my work.

Now some things were there and some things weren't. The world of man was pretty well detailed. The world of the fey was one big question mark. None of that existed before I started writing Liefdom. A lot of my work takes place in Hell. And although I did run a Dungeons and Dragons game in Hell, very little of that game was used when creating the actual landscape and intricacies of the Hell that's in my books. This works really well because, when I enter a book, it provides me with a baseline to start with while also giving me room to discover new things.

Q] The Series title is the Madness Wars and certainly is an intriguing one. Can you tell us why you chose this title and what you think it encapsulates?

JT: The title works on two levels. The first is, all war is an exercise in madness. So, it touches on that. But even more so, the main character of the book is named Rextur Cherlot. He is a warlord for a nation called Drine. Drine is bent on world domination and all of its warlords are given horrifying names to strike fear into the hearts of the entire world. The name Rextur was given, when he earned his first legion, was The Madness. In this series, Rextur encapsulates the madness of this nation, its pure lunacy displayed by its endeavor to enslave everyone, conquer everything, and destroy all that does not fit into its plan.

Rextur is the most powerful warlord in that nation, and he is the very madness of Drine. The series starts off with the opening of one war, but by the end, he finds himself embroiled in two. I didn't have any idea what to call it for a long time, but finally, after writing three of the books and the companion book, and having many long discussions with my wife, the series name came to us. And after settling on its name, we realized that it was the only thing we ever could have called it.

Q] Speaking a bit more about war, Pope Francis has said, “War is madness… war destroys… War ruins… War is irrational”. What do you make of it and the many wars that you will unleash via this saga?

JT: The concept behind war is, I'm going to build as many weapons that do as much damage as possible, and with these weapons, I am going to slaughter as many people as I possibly can. I'm going to get hundreds of thousands of people involved, whether they want to be or not. In forcing them to kill their enemy I will create within them a crippling amount of hate and hunger for destruction. I have a reason for this, however the people that I force to fight this war usually do not. The foot soldiers on the ground, in most cases, do not understand the true motives behind the war itself, and if they do, very few times do they actually care.

So I have created a force of people hundreds of thousands strong, who are using devastating weapons to slaughter as many people as they can for a cause they may or may not believe in. That is war. It is the absolute definition of madness. That's the reason why I named the greatest warlord the Madness. I call him many times in the book the Madness of Drine.

Q] How did the inception of The Madness Wars occur? What were some of the inspirations for you during its writing?

JT: Part of it was trying to understand why war existed. Once I got in, a good part of it was to show the change in motive that war brings about. You can go into a war with a pure motive, but once the killing starts, that motive is usually gone and it just becomes about death. You can go into war one kind of man, and come out another. I wanted to explore all of these factors. I wanted to understand the soldiers I have met, and that I hear about all the time. Because when you talk to a soldier who has been in a war, you realize very quickly from the things they say that your understanding of war is completely different from theirs. Most of the time, the common civilian is ready to talk about a war, and the soldier is not.

I wanted to understand. I had been through a number of military history classes in college. I knew how wars were carried out, but I didn't understand the emotion of them, and how they changed people. And so, I wanted to write this book to understand that. Of course, I had run the game in Dungeons and Dragons, a couple of times, with a couple of different gaming groups, from a couple of different entry points. So, I had the inspiration of those characters and those stories. But when I got to the actual writing, and I was deep into the emotion of the characters I was writing, I realized the stories I had told in the DnD games were not sufficient. They were not accurate. And I needed to start all over. Almost nothing from the games survived. There were characters that were played that inspired characters in the book, but for the most part, when we were running those games, we didn't understand war.

Q] Let’s talk about the stunning cover that you unveiled over at Fantasy Inn. Please tell us about the designer and how you collaborated to come up with that striking piece.

JT: Well, let's talk about Jenny Zemanek. The covers of my first four books were designed by my wife and I. My wife's a graphic designer, we were happy with them. We had ideas for what we wanted them to look like. We captured those ideas perfectly. However, when we decided to work The Manhunters covers, we did not have a driving vision. And my wife had fallen in love. See, she had been watching, by this time very carefully, the self-published fantasy world, and she had begun to see what Benedict Patrick was putting out. His covers were breathtaking, and she couldn't stop talking about them. She did her research. Through trick and by quick, she found out who his cover designer was. Very sly, very shady process, I think she asked him. Either way, we decided Jenny was our girl.

She had us fill out a form that she had created, asking questions about the book's content, major themes, characters, images, something that could get her started. She wanted examples of book covers we liked and then she took over. She took all that information and came back to us with what she calls inspiration boards. These are a collection of images she has found that inspire her to create a cover that she thinks suits all of our needs. We were instantly excited to be working with her. We loved the direction she was going. And that's how we came up with The Manhunters covers.

When we were done working with all three of them, we knew we wanted her to be our cover designer from that point on. She's never let us down. We created the cover for Legends of the Exiles, getting her mother involved, as Jenny's mother is an illustrator. She illustrated the women on the cover, and I couldn't have been happier with the end product. That only solidified in our mind that we wanted to keep working with her.

Q] What were your main pointers for your cover artist/designer as you went through the process of finalizing it? What were the main things that you wished to focus on in it?

JT: Ever since I started working on the book, I associated the color purple with Rextur Cherlot. So, I decided the first book would be drenched in that color. In The Madness Wars, there is a nemesis relationship between Rextur and another character named Peter Redfist. Peter is king chief of a nation called the Nation of Three. It's him and two other boys. That's his entire nation. We decided we would create an image portraying that nemesis relationship on this cover. So we showed the Nation of Three in opposition to a great bull, the bull being the symbol of Rextur. We wanted to show a lot of landscape to signify how big the world was there.

There was a certain effect with the light we were going for. I really left a lot of the design of this cover to my team, my wife and my cover designer. Pretty much as long as I had my bull, my three boys, and my lighting, I would let them do whatever they wanted. This is what we came up with. I couldn't be happier with it, and I'm excited to see the direction we're going with the other books. We have the cover finished for the next book in the series, and I find it even more dynamic than this one, if that's possible. That cover reveal is not for quite a while, but here in the Jesse Teller camp, we try to get as big a head start on our releases as possible.

Q] You are aiming for a rapid 6-month release with this saga. How much planning and effort did go in making such a schedule. Can you give the readers an insight into this entire process?

JT: Well, all five books of the story itself were written and the tale was finished in 2017. I took a year off. I believe that when you write a rough draft, you need distance from it before you can revise it, so that when you come back you can see what you have actually written versus what you think you have written, because in a lot of cases there's a big difference. Last year, I divided my work time up, and during the day I did revisions to The Madness Wars and used my nighttime hours to write new material. Dividing my time up like this, I was able to edit all five books side-by-side in one year. This meant that the story for Onslaught was still well-seated in my head when I was revising the last book in the series. I used this method so that I could have more control and have better continuity in the story itself.

A Jesse Teller book goes through nine drafts, with a focus through all of them on continuity and accuracy and grammar. So I knew I needed to get started as soon as possible if I was going to make this release date, but I had already finished two of the drafts myself. So we got started. This first book was a real strain on my editors, not because they lack ability, but simply the time management aspect. Neither one of them had ever edited a book of this length before. So both underestimated how long it would take. But we had about a year to play with, so we had enough time. It was just a matter of staying focused and keeping the pedal down.

We started to overlap books immediately. As soon as an editor was done with one book, we'd get him the next in the series. I did the best I could to make sure there were no hold ups on my end, getting my post-edit drafts done as quickly and efficiently as possible. And where we sit now is: Onslaught is done, the second book in the series is all but done, next October's release has been through one editor, and is being prepared to hand off to the next. At this pace, we will have extra time by the end of the series. We will have books waiting for their release day, and all we'll have to do is push the publish button. I can tell you with all certainty that unless there is an unforeseen disaster, I can meet my deadlines. And even if there is some unforeseen disaster, we have built enough time into our schedule that we will still be able to make it. It's all a matter of time management. And that is something we specialize in here at the Teller camp.

Q] So what can readers expect from this book & series and what should they be looking forward to according to you?

JT: My work is full of very serious themes. The overarching theme in everything I've ever written is hope vs. despair, but you can also expect themes like leadership, parenting, gender roles, love. I pride myself in understanding human character. After the childhood I experienced, I went to therapy for 17 years. I studied my behavior and the behavior of everyone around me. I became an expert, after 17 years of study, on the things that make people tick. Motives and emotions. I am able to use that knowledge to create well-rounded characters that are believable and full of depth.

I've got a close friend who's an art teacher for middle school. In his classroom, he says there is one overarching rule, one rule that should be considered at the beginning, during, and end of each project, and that rule is Make it Cool. He wants to see from his students the kind of wild things that go on in their minds. That is also the goal in my work. I want to see the kind of things in my world and in my work that you can't get anywhere else, things you dream of seeing, things that lift you off the couch when you read them, things that have you cheering out loud. That's what I'm going for in my work. That's what you can look forward to.

Q] In closing, do you have any parting thoughts or comments you’d like to share with our readers?

JT: I will tell you the same thing I tell everyone. Everyone I talk to about my work, everyone who reads my work, they all hear the same thing. My wife has said it countless times to everyone she interacts with. There is more coming, and you will not have to wait long to get it. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere.

Note: Jesse Teller book feature pic courtesy of The Fantasy Hive. Author pic and Onslaught Of Madness art courtesy of the author himself.