We have some great news, Blackthorn has reached 34% and with your help lets make it 35%. Thank you to everyone who has helped so far for contributing to our book on Unbounds crowdfunding page.

 

https://unbound.com/books/blackthorn/

 

Books available on Amazon

Ebooks available on Amazon

US Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Awakening-Demons-White-Witch-ebook/dp/B013YYYY3C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441815257&sr=8-1&keywords=dawn+of+the+awakening

UK Amazon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dawn-Awakening-Demons-White-Witch-ebook/dp/B013YYYY3C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440018834&sr=8-1&keywords=dawn+of+the+awakening

About Dawn of the Awakening Part 1: Demon's Bite

How is the world put together?

Origin

Etheda began as a free continent, with no one race claiming it as their own. In truth, since the destruction of the archives in Hellenross – one of the cities destroyed by a demon horde and left to burn for four hundred years thereafter – there is no surviving record of the land’s colonization of the elves, dwarves, trolls, dragons, or humans, despite the records being only scholarly speculation.

As the world goes, there are two planes of being: the life before death ‘living world’ like ours; and the life after, ‘Morgas’, which is our equivalent of hell or the underworld.

In 553 of the Mystic Age, Draegos, a powerful mage, experiments with a dangerous form of magic: necromancy. Thus a handful of demons were born. Adarmus, the first demon to dominate the others, quickly assumes command and slays his creator, Draegos. However, Adarmus was no fool and quickly realised his mistake, and followed Draegos into Morgas scouring the planes to find him.

What befalls them is totally unknown and the circulating rumours thereafter were rejected as speculation and the land fell silent, until 3648 of the Third Era, when they reappear as a huge army with Adarmus as lord of the demons from a portal connecting both the living world to the dead. Burning and destruction followed, leaving villages in ruin and cities crumbling to dust, marking the first demon war the ‘War of the Ages’ that lasted for many years.

It was under King Séothrin’s reign that humankind truly had a chance of survival, and with the alliance of the elves, dwarves, gods and dragons, brought about the end of the war, destroying the very portal the demons used to enter into the living world.

Races and cultures

 

Humans – are the overgrown populace of Etheda, outnumbering all other races. Because of their dominion over the land, they have become the most powerful and common of all races in Etheda. However, it was not always this way, for scholars believed that in the beginning, there was no single human on the continent. Their research suggests that humans colonized Etheda much later than the other races. While humans are the most dominant of the races in Etheda, they are the most fractured and widespread, leading to distinct groups that evolved their own languages, customs, and beliefs. Because of this, there has been much infighting, causing unstable borders and wars.

Elves – are a reclusive race, and have not set foot out of their realms since the ‘War of the Ages’ three thousand years ago, and so are believed to be mere legend by most, if not all, humans. They are a race that are based primarily on nomadic American Indians. There are several factions of elves: sky elves; dark elves; water elves; and wood elves, each evolving their own custom and religion.

Dwarves – there is little known about the dwarves, only that they were master stoneworkers and lived secluded underground in massive stone-carved tunnels under mountains. They are believed to have been extinct since the demon war, for there has been no sign of their existence henceforth.

 

 

 

Magic/technology

 

 

There are those that can use magic, whether be it good or for ill, but every culture has their own variation and beliefs for its uses. Those that use it for ill gain, such as necromancy, are easily recognized by strange tattoos that mark their skin.

Because of its bad reputation, many people are fearful of its presence and often cast out or shun those that use it from society.

 

Faiths, beliefs and religions

 

Each race believe in their own gods, but all know of them. Elves pray to their mother-spirit of nature, Seyna; dwarves to their stonemaster, Balmar, and paragon, Dendrall; and humans to their numerous gods and goddesses: Braydin, God-King; Azal, God of Morgas, brother to Braydin; Nan Zûl, Half-God, son of Braydin, and who lives among the humans. Even the beasts and animals of the world have their own deities. Each race have their own lesser and elder gods and goddesses, but number too many to list here.

There are few of those that believe that if a god dies in battle, then the race they watch over and protect dies with them, as they believe happened to the dwarves.

 

Detailed description of the book

 

“DEMONS WILL RISE, MEN SHALL FALL.”

(Nan Zûl, son of Braydin)

 

The world of Etheda – a land once shadowed in chaos, from necromancers to dragons, and the long forgotten demon war of old – sees Jamie, a mere farmboy, readying himself for the day that would mark the beginning of his sister, Trudy’s adulthood, and is overseeing the preparations of a celebrations in Elder Bark Brook. However, on the morning of the celebration, Trudy is kidnapped in a progression of horrific events involving a group of men and a mythical sized beast that leaves her family shattered, and Jamie must find his courage and his strength amidst a world of magic previously unknown to him.

After learning some shocking truths about his family, and of the death of a woman months before, he soon sets on a journey with a mysterious sword and equally mysterious horse-breeder and elf and must venture past the boundaries of the unknown and give chase to the men that abducted his sister across the lands of Aluria. And while they must fight to save her, the trio discover they are not alone in following the trail left behind by the assailants.

Can he overcome his fears and still save her in time as the beast grows ever closer?

Elsewhere, far across land and sea, something ancient stirs from an ages long slumber. . . .

 

 

Blackthorn and Unbound

Why choose Unbound?

 

 

The reason we chose Unbound as our publisher is because we wanted to try the crowdfunding experience instead of going down the self-publishing route (which we may have). It was an interesting opportunity to see if they would accept our idea as a hybrid publisher. As you can imagine, it was an exciting day for us when we were!

 

There is no telling whether Blackthorn would have been chosen by a traditional publisher since Unbound is the first 'curtain-call', so to speak. Being a fantasy assassin book, we thought it would hit a wider audience, since we knew they are both genres that are quite popular. But, the road hasn't been easy, and we're still struggling with funding.

For the past few weeks many of the books on Unbound have come to a standstill in relation to funding. Could this be because Unbound aren't doing enough to advertise them? Is the audience simply not there, or is it because they feel that their money is better worth spent? Simply put, there is no way of knowing for sure why funding has started to dry up, despite there being various levels of pledges and rewards.

 

One thing I have noticed for new authors joining on Unbound, is that their book will automatically be only a digital version. Is this because Unbound are playing it safe? I know for a fact that the books with paperback or hardback options, for instance, The Book of Bera: Sea Paths, or Tatterdemalion, have a better chance of publishing because people feel that their pledges get them something in their hands, whereas those that don't, have to find different, alternative means of enticement.

 

I know that Unbound took a risk in accepting Blackthorn, and because of this, we are grateful. They publish books they believe, and they believed in Blackthorn. Join us to help our dreams become a reality and change how the future of books are published.

 

www.unbound.co.uk/books/blackthorn

Blackthorn: the second draft

While the road to completion seems long and the ending never in sight, we have been endeavouring to make Blackthorn the strongest it can be, and it definitely hasn't been without its complications. Having to work around our jobs and finding time in between hasn't been easy, and  having four dogs in the house makes it even harder to find places to work on it without being disturbed by their incessant barking! That said, we have made quite good progress, in spite of all these.

By the time Blackthorn has finally finished, it will include a number of dynamic characters that will keep you gripped and excited till the very end (think Game of Thrones).

 

In addition to writing, we have also been busy doing artwork for Blackthorn, and offer character portraits and landscape scenes from the book as part of our pledges on Unbound: https://unbound.co.uk/books/blackthorn.

 

As well as Blackthorn being in the works, we have recently had our debut novel, Dawn of the Awakening, proofread and are thinking of redoing the front cover to better capture the essence of the story and its characters.

Fellow Authors and Readers. . . . Or Eveyone!

Welcome to the 'shed' (as Unbound call it) or our blog where we'll keep you up to date on our recent projects, namely Blackthorn, our fantasy assassin novel (hence the blog's name), which we are currently working on and crowdfunding through Unbound. If you haven't heard of them, we have a dedicated page about who they are and how it works!

 

We were so delighted to have been chosen by Unbound (who responded in just four weeks from an eight week waiting period!) that we nearly cried with joy! We were so happy that we decided to celebrate with wine!

To be honest, I never thought we were going to be chosen, as my sister (also a writer, who is now crowdfunding her book, Soulblade: Forgotten Souls, on Inkshares), after coming to the end of the eight week period, was turned down. The bad news brought her down, but just as quickly, she researched into Inkshares, which is an American version of Unbound, and was accepted there.

It feels daunting and scary having to work to a deadline, but this experience is a BIG leap and a HUGE learning curve for us both.

It has been about a month so far since our book was put onto their site and we haven't seen too much action in the way of pledges, so please, if you or your friends and family are interested, make a pledge and have your name in the book! There is also limited edition artwork available, so don't miss out!

You can help make this book happen. Please share it and encourage your friends and followers to share it, too.

https://unbound.co.uk/books/blackthorn

Thank you for reading and your support!

Thank You Ian Skewis!

Twitter - "I just pledged to Blackthorn by Amanda Lloyd Jennings and Samantha Jennings on Unbound! https://unbound.co.uk/books/blackthorn/promoters/ian-skewis/accept … via @unbounders"