Book covers of The Renegade Chronicles

Yesterday, The Renegade Chronicles were officially published…which means I can finally answer the question above.

I emphasize “finally” because even though any publication process—whether traditional or indie—tends to be a long slog, the story of this particular fantasy series is half a lifetime in the making. Without further delay, here are the three ways to read The Renegade Chronicles:

Paperback editions

Rebels and Fools (Vol. 1), Heroes and Liars (Vol. 2), and Martyrs and Monsters (Vol. 3) are all available as paperbacks. You can order them via Amazon.com, but I’d be extremely appreciative if you ordered them directly from the printer, CreateSpace, since Amazon takes quite a big cut of every sale.

E-book editions

Currently, the digital versions of the The Renegade Chronicles are available for Kindle exclusively (though that may change in the months ahead).

Digital collection

The best deal by far is buying the three-in-one digital collection for Kindle. For $9.99, you get all three novels as well as a comprehensive appendix detailing the people, locations, and magical items of the world in which the series is set.

The story behind the story

So many people over the years have asked when they’ll be able to read my fantasy series on something other than desktop printouts and PDFs (and not received a satisfactory answer). I feel compelled to share the following timeline, if only to illustrate the longevity of the project.

  • 1990 — In sixth grade, I wrote a short story that introduced two characters who would eventually star in The Renegade Chronicles.
  • 1993 — I wrote another fantasy story that would serve as a rough foundation for the plot of Rebels and Fools.
  • 1994 – 1997 — I began building the world of Altaerra while in high school and wrote many episodic stories about characters around the world, including many of the people that populate The Renegade Chronicles.
  • 1997 – 1999 — As a project for an independent writing course in college, I wrote two-thirds of the first novel.
  • 1999 – 2001 — I finished what would become Rebels and Fools and rewrote the entire novel my senior year since my writing style and skills had improved significantly along the way.
  • 2002 – 2003 — I wrote and edited the sequel while living in Zhangjiagang, China.
  • 2004 — While querying literary agents for the first two books, I wrote and edited the third book.
  • 2005 – 2014 — Due to a lack of interest from traditional publishing companies, I moved on to other projects, including a standalone fantasy novel, a sci-fi series, and a children’s book.
  • 2015 — I began exploring the idea of starting my own indie publishing company to produce my works of fiction. I reviewed all three volumes of The Renegade Chronicles to see if I still believed the stories had merit—and to evaluate how much work would be required to get them print-ready.
  • October 2015 — I edited Volume 1.
  • November 2015 — I edited Volume 2.
  • December 2015 — I edited Volume 3.
  • February 2016 — I laid out the print editions of all three novels and composed the front- and back-matter (e.g., acknowledgments, about-the-author page, etc.).
  • March 2016 — I formatted the e-book editions of all three novels as well as the three-in-one collection. I also created the exclusive “People, Places and Peculiarities of Altaerra” appendix. On March 29, 2016, I published all iterations of the series—two days ahead of schedule but not a moment too soon.

Now, at last, let the binge reading begin!