Dimwater's Dragon is now available for pre-order

I am happy to announce a new book; Dimwater's Dragon. I hope you enjoy it. Reserve your copy today!

Kyra Dimwater has only two weeks left before her fourteenth birthday, a day that promises misery. She has seen the noblemen coming to her home, sneaking off to the parlor with her father for hushed conversations. They were suitors, she knew, but it didn't matter. Her father had long ago decided to whom she would be betrothed. These meetings were nothing more than his pitiful attempt to increase the price for her hand in marriage. Kyra pretended not to notice them, turning instead to her book of spells that her mother had given her to practice before her inaugural year at Kuldiga Academy. She knew magic was the only way to take control of her life. Upon her birthday, Kyra's father would announce the chosen groom, and then she would have only four years at Kuldiga Academy before she would be delivered to the altar. Such was the way of noble-born girls.

When she arrives at Kuldiga Academy, Kyra's world collapses when she discovers that her betrothed works there as an instructor. As if his presence wasn't suffocating enough, rumors abound and the other apprentices soon ostracize her. There were other girls in similar circumstances, but Kyra was different. She was the only one betrothed to an instructor at the Academy. At least the others were betrothed to young men closer to their own age. She would have to use her wits, in addition to her budding magic skills, in order to escape and create some semblance of freedom in a world ruled by noblemen.

On one such adventure Kyra finds a dragon egg, something not seen for centuries in the Middle Kingdom. She knows to hide it is an offense against the crown. There is a dark danger with all dragons, and they are to be exterminated upon sight. Kyra, however, cannot bring herself to destroy it. In that oblong egg she sees not the monster others did, but a creature deserving of freedom and a life of its own making. She seeks advice from an outlawed wizard and enlists his help to care for the egg.

As the dragon hatches and grows, Kyra fights to hide and protect the fledgling dragon, all the while dodging her betrothed and the others at the academy who would surely condemn the dragon to death. The bond between lady and dragon grows fierce and strong, but will it survive, or is the dark curse destined to conquer the beast?

Erik's Journey is Coming to a Close.

The final volume of the Dragon's Champion series is now available for pre-order. Enjoy!


 In the final volume of The Dragon's Champion series, Erik has found the Immortal Mystic, but his training is failing. Haunted by guilt and grief over a close friend who was murdered in front of him, he cannot focus his power. Meanwhile, Gilifan has found a way to resurrect Tu'luh and plunge the Middle Kingdom into subjugation with Nagar's Secret. Lepkin finds himself stuck between a horde of invading orcs and the press of Gilifan's forces. Worst of all, Erik may not be the champion about whom the prophecies were written. Meddling wizards have interfered with the very fabric of fate, altering prophecies and manipulating events. Because of this, Lepkin may have chosen the wrong champion to train, which now threatens to tip the balance heavily in Gilifan's favor. Erik will have to not only succeed in his final training, which he was never meant to undergo, he will have to rise against the reborn Tu'luh, and hope that he and his allies are strong enough to defeat the beast.

 Click here to pre-order

Book #5 in The Dragon's Champion series is available on Kindle!

The Immortal Mystic is out and available for purchase on the Kindle.

Tu'luh is dead. Erik must now hurry to find the Immortal Mystic so he can unlock the mysteries contained within The Infinium and destroy Nagar's magic. Meanwhile, the orcs are battering down the gates at Ten Forts. Will Lepkin and the others succeed in fending off the orcs long enough for Erik to reach the Immortal Mystic? Click here to buy The Immortal Mystic.

Cover reveal for Dimwater's Dragon

Alright, so I am excited to announce a new book that has been in the works for some time now. This novel occurs before The Dragon's Champion series takes place, but I believe a few of you will recognize the character. Dimwater's Dragon is set for release in August.

Author interview with Ted Cross

Q.  Welcome Ted, and thanks for taking the time to interview, I know you have a busy schedule. By way of introduction, can you tell me a little about yourself and your background?

A.  I really appreciate you having me here, Sam. As you can see from the picture with my two sons, I grew up in Arizona. I split time living in Tucson and Phoenix. I always had a love for history, which gave me the travel bug since I wanted to experience some of the places I read about in history books, so that led to me joining the Foreign Service and spending most of the past 22 years overseas. I miss America, but I'm glad to get to see so much of the world. So far I've lived in Russia, Croatia, China, Iceland, Hungary, and Azerbaijan, and I would like to add a few more to that list before I retire. 

In Russia I met my wife, and we've been married for twenty years now. Our two sons are teens, so we're in that stage of worrying about them heading off to college. The younger one shares my enjoyment of writing, while both of them are talented musically, which is something I only found out about myself quite late. Besides writing and music, I'm really into playing chess, so I have always chosen to be stationed in countries with strong chess traditions. 

Q.  So how did you get involved with writing? Were you one of those who had a story nagging in the back of your mind for years on end, or are you a prolific daydreamer with several ideas on hand at any given moment?

A.  Both! I never thought I would actually write novels, even though I liked the thought of doing it. It seemed so hard! And it is. But the stories just wouldn't go away. Like you said, they kept nagging at my mind and the details kept expanding, until it reached a point where I felt I had no choice and I started typing one out. At first it was just the one story (which became The Shard, my second release), but now the ideas just keep coming, and I struggle to figure out which one to write next simply because there are so many exciting ideas I want to work on.

Q.  Tell me about your books. Last year you released The Immortality Game, a sci-fi thriller that has received some great reviews. How did you decide to set the story in 22nd century Moscow?

A.  Since living for four years in Moscow in the 1990's, I had really wanted to write a mafia thriller set there, because the Russian mafia was an everyday part of life at that time. But an actual story never quite came together for me. Later when I had some intriguing sci-fi ideas, I realized I could write my mafia story if I moved it into the future. The technology level of my sci-fi ideas was relatively near future, but I wanted to show a societal collapse that took decades to overcome, so I chose 2138  as a date that gave me enough time for society to be piecing itself back together again after the collapse.

Q.  Your newest release, The Shard, is high fantasy through and through. If I am not mistaken, you refer to it as kind of a throwback to D&D, but with a grittier feel. What does this novel bring to the table for fantasy readers?

A.  I think superficially many readers will think it doesn't offer anything new, as they will see the obvious features of elves, dwarves, wizards and dragons and roll their eyes and say it's just another Tolkien clone. And if that's their take, then so be it, the book isn't really meant for them. To me there really is a new element to my story. I grew up during the huge Dungeons & Dragons craze of the 1980's (at least that was when it hit hard in Tucson). I loved the setting and wanted to explore it in every detail. However, the reading side of D&D never satisfied me. I know a lot of readers love the official D&D books, but for me they were sort of superficial, treating D&D like a game and giving us protagonists who were more like superheroes than actual people. What I wanted was to read D&D books that treated the subject seriously, as if someone like George RR Martin were writing them. But no one ever did.

Now writing a first novel is always a learning experience, as I'm sure you know, so I'll never claim that my first novel The Shard is an important work within the genre. It's a first novel and I learned a lot from writing it. I still enjoy the story after all these years (I finished writing it in 2009), and my younger son has read it four times, so it accomplished what I set out to do, which was to finally see at least one story written in a D&D-type setting that treats it like real life.

Q.  Since we mentioned the subject of D&D. Would you be willing to name your all-time favorite race or class to play as?

A.  I always preferred to play humans. And I think that speaks to novels in general, where we can write about other races like elves and dwarves, but generally you will still see the protagonists be human (whith notable exceptions like Drizzt). It's because readers need to identify with the protagonists, and it's much easier for them to do so when they can closely relate to them.

Q.  Let's discuss your future projects. Are you planning to write sequels to The Shard? Do you have more fantasy novels in the works? Do you envision yourself sticking with fantasy and sci-fi, or will you ever step away from those genres?

A.  As I said earlier, I'm torn between a number of book ideas. Right now I have two fully fleshed outlines, one for a far-future sci-fi that I feel has the potential to be a real hit, and another that is a prequel to The Shard. I also have several sketchier outlines for sequels to The Shard. I never wanted to write a traditional series. I always wanted to write stand alone novels, but also have them be within the same universe so there could be some continuity. In the end I imagine I'll have two to three more books set in the Known Lands of The Shard, and at least a couple more sci-fi novels. Given how each novel I've written has bred more ideas, I'm sure that I'll never lack for inspiration.

I doubt I'll write outside of science fiction and fantasy. I do have a great idea for a historical fiction novel, but in today's world I think it would be dangerous to write a story that plays with religious themes in a controversial way, so I don't think I'll ever actually write that one.


Q.  Thanks again for sharing some of your time. I know I already have a copy of The Shard, and I encourage others to go out and grab it as well. For those who would like to know more about you and your books, where can they go?

A.  I keep a blog ( http://tedacross.blogspot.com/) and I'm on Facebook (Ted.Cross.Author) and Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9846871.Ted_Cross). Thanks again for the interview!

New Book Announcement!

I am excited to announce that my newest novel, The Dragons of Kendualdern: Ascension, is available on kindle now.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Gorliad is the first crowned prince to hatch in centuries. Destined to one day conquer a kingdom of his own, he begins his rigorous training and progresses wonderfully. That is, until a rival dragon descends upon the kingdom in a ferocious battle that leaves Gorliad crippled, and bereft of his birthright. The young dragon will need to find the fires deep within his soul if he is to overcome his handicap, but even victory may bring defeat as he will have to risk his father’s kingdom and everything in it to ascend to his promised throne.

 

A Peek at what's on Deck for 2015

I am very excited to announce a few new projects for the first part of 2015 and reveal covers for the first two.

The Dragons of Kendualdern: Ascension

Book available March 1st, 2015.

Gorliad is the first crowned prince to hatch in centuries. Destined to one day conquer a kingdom of his own, he begins his rigorous training and progresses wonderfully. That is, until a rival dragon descends upon the kingdom in a ferocious battle that leaves Gorliad crippled, and bereft of his birthright. The young dragon will need to find the fires deep within his soul if he is to overcome his handicap, but even victory may bring defeat as he will have to risk his father’s kingdom and everything in it to ascend to his promised throne.

The Immortal Mystic, book five in The Dragon's Champion Series

Set for release June 1st, 2015

Tu'luh is dead. The orcs are attacking from the south. There is only one who can help Erik unravel the mysteries behind Tu'luh's prophecy about the impending end of the world. Yet, to reach the immortal mystic, Erik will have to travel east, beyond the safety of the Middle Kingdom, and into the heart of Tarthun lands. With only a handful of clues to go on, Erik sets out to find the answers before it is too late. However, this time Master Lepkin and the others will have to stay behind to keep the orcish horde at bay.




Also set for release later in 2015:

Book six in The Dragon's Champion series. (Title purposely withheld... yes I am that stingy...) This is the final volume in Erik's journey, and promises to be a climactic end to his gallant adventures.

Legends and Myths from Terramyr

It is my pleasure to announce an anthology of short stories set in the world of Terramyr. These stories span a range of eras and epochs throughout Terramyr's history and have a few Easter eggs hidden within that tie some of the full-length novels together.

I hope you enjoy it!  Click on the link below to check it out.



Legends and Myths from Terramyr

A new Anthology in the works

Currently I am working on an anthology of short stories set in the world of Terramyr. It has a range of vignettes from the creation myth of Terramyr to folk songs, and short adventure tales. I have found this to be a fun project that lets me play with Terramyr's history a bit, and I hope that you will find a few fun gems inside as well.

Should be out by Thanksgiving. :)

Erik and the Dragon is out!

Volume 4 of The Dragon's Champion is out on Kindle and the paperback will be outby the end of next week.  Hope you enjoy it!

Click here to check it out on Amazon.

Tu'luh the Red has revealed himself and struck the first blow. Though Erik and his friends managed to drive him away, time is running short. The dragon now raises his army in its full strength and is preparing to march upon the Middle Kingdom. With Master Lepkin awakened from his coma, Erik must swiftly resume his training if he is to have any hope of facing the dragon down. All the while, the more Erik learns about the dangers he is challenging, the better he understands that simply defeating Tu'luh is not enough. There is a much greater threat looming on the horizon that threatens to destroy not only the Middle Kingdom, but all of Terramyr. Worse still, Erik learns that joining forces with Tu'luh may be the only way to prevent the end of the world.