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Authors in Focus Podcast Episode 104: RG Long

Hi! Welcome to this episode of Authors in Focus Podcast. I’m James Reid, a fantasy author publishing as JMD Reid. This podcast is all about getting to know writers, their books, and what makes them tick.

We all have a storyteller inside of us. Join me as we find out what the rising stars and established voices in publishing have to say about their craft and inspiration.

My new book, Mask of Guilt (Mask of Illumination Book 1), is out!

We all wear masks. Some of us to hide our guilt. Lady Foonauri, lost in the malaise of depression, finds purpose with a group of all-women thieves, the Cracked Gems. Intrigue, romance, betrayal, and adventure swirls around her in this epic fantasy tale!

Today, I’m joined by RG Long! He is the author of the fantasy novel Legends of Gilia – Triple Trilogy Omnibus! Follow him on FacebookInstagram, and Twitter! And check out his books on Amazon!

 

When Everyone Has Magic by Alexzander Christion: Authors in Focus Episode 103

Hi! Welcome to this episode of Authors in Focus Podcast. I’m James Reid, a fantasy author publishing as JMD Reid. This podcast is all about getting to know writers, their books, and what makes them tick.

We all have a storyteller inside of us. Join me as we find out what the rising stars and established voices in publishing have to say about their craft and inspiration.

My new book, Mask of Guilt (Mask of Illumination Book 1), is out!

We all wear masks. Some of us to hide our guilt. Lady Foonauri, lost in the malaise of depression, finds purpose with a group of all-women thieves, the Cracked Gems. Intrigue, romance, betrayal, and adventure swirls around her in this epic fantasy tale!

Today, I’m joined by Alexzander Christion! He is the author of the fantasy novel The Hand of the Dragons: Rook! Check out his Blog and his Website! Follow him on TwitterInstagramFacebook, and YouTube! And check out his book on Amazon!

Authors in Focus Podcast Episode 92: Steven Erikson

It’s episode 92 of the Authors in Focus Podcast!
 
And it’s a special one!
 
Today, I interviewed Steven Erikson, bestselling author of Malazan Book of the Fallen!
 
This was one of my favorite interviews I’ve done. Erikson has such a unique view on writing I found great to explore and with some great advice to authors!
 

It’s Taxes Tuesday! Yay…

Hello all! How is your Tuesday going!

My accounts are done with my taxes and now want money! And so does the government. Sigh…

Not getting much writing done on Sands of Loss. Have some ghostwriting work and it’s the start of the month, so I have to go over my payments and stuff. Got to make sure I set aside money for taxes.

Being self-employed has some interesting hurdles, including the fun of paying quarterly taxes!

I am 2/3 through my final draft of Fractured Soul (Assassin’s of Illumination Book 3)! I will have it done by the end of the week!

What are you up to?

  • It’s Authors in Focus Podcast Episode 80! Today, I chatted with Samantha Evans! Give it a listen here!
  • Found this on Twitter today! That it’s funny!

Above the Storm Audiobook Release!

My first novel is now an audiobook!

When the Stormriders attack …

…Ary’s people have little chance.

Can he find a way to defeat them?

At 19, Ary has spent ten years mourning his father’s death. The aftermath of the attack still haunts him. Now, on the eve of the draft he faces his greatest fear, being sent to become a marine.

He knows the cost of war.

All he wants is to marry Charlene, who he has loved since they were kids. Building a farm and starting a family sounds perfect. There’s just one problem, his best friend Vel adores her, too. He’d give anything for peace.

But wanting the Stormriders to stop attacking…

…isn’t going to make it happen.

For love, for his people, and especially for the life he wants, Ary makes a decision that will change everything.

The adventure begins.

You’ll love this beautifully creative dark fantasy, because James Reid knows how to create characters and worlds you’ll grow to adore.

Get it now.

You can buy it or use an audible credit on Audible! I also have some free promo codes. Get them while they last!

Smoke and Mirrors Release Party!

This Tuesday (June 4th) at 7 PM EST, I’ll be hosting an hour at C.L. Schneider’s release party for her new fantasy novel! Smoke and Mirrors is out!

Schneider’s Price of Magic Trilogy is a great series and I knew her new one will be just as exciting. She writes fast-paced and pulse-pounding fantasy!

I’ll be giving away free books, there’ll be fun games, and you’ll have a chance to discover new fantasy authors! What exciting stories will you discover?

All you have to do is join us on Facebook because you’ll have a great time!

Cover Reveal – Reavers of the Tempest (Book Two of the Storm Below)

Reavers of the Tempest

(Book Two of the Storm Below)

 

Here is the amazing cover for Reavers of the Tempest from my awesome artists, Steam Powered Studios!

Pirates rampage across the skies!

Ary, Chaylene, and the crew of the skyship Dauntless are called into action again! The Bluefin Raiders pillage and burn, but the greatest threat lurks aboard the ship…

Vel plots murder.

Wanting Chaylene for himself, he waits for his chance to poison Ary. Only it’s not poison he carries…

It’s a plague.

You have to read this epic, action-packed fantasy novel as the Reavers of the Tempest ravage across the Storm!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To save the skies, Ary must die!

If you love the works of Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin, R. Scott Bakker, and Steven Erikson, then check out my first ever Fantasy novel!

You do not want to miss out on this awesome adventure!

You can buy or burrow Above the Storm today!

If you want to stay informed on my writing, sign up for my newsletter and receive a free fantasy story!

November’s Newsletter

So, you’re probably wondering, who is this JMD Reid and why am I receiving a newsletter from him. Or maybe you do remember me. It’s been a long time since I sent a newsletter. If you’re getting his, then you must have signed up to hear about my works for some reason. Maybe you liked my short stories on Amazon (The Assassin’s Remorse, Reflections of Eternity, or Time’s Prison). Or maybe you found my blog and liked my articles on writing.

Or maybe you don’t know how you signed up for my newsletter. Either way, I hope you all stick around. I am working on getting my first fantasy series published. It’s not going to be soon, sadly, but when I do release the five book epic The Storm Below (hopefully in 2018), they will come out fast. I want to get all of the books out in a quick time. I want to hit the indie publishing scene hard.

And I hope you all will make the journey with me.

But first, here’s the opportunity to be a beta reader on my new short story! If you’re interested, click here!

So who am I? Why should you journey with me? What do I bring to the table? I hope it’s great characters, great writing, and imaginative stories. I could talk on and on about what I feel are my strengths as a writer, but who likes hearing about people talk about how amazing they are? I know I don’t.

Instead, I wanted to talk about myself. To share who I am with you. I want to build a community where I interact with my fans. Because fans are what makes writing so amazing. To share your work with others and to learn people enjoy what you’ve written. It touches you in so many ways.

So who is JMD Reid? He’s a community college dropout. Yep, I didn’t even dropout of four year college. Nope, I “attended” Green River Community College for two years. Well, I paid to attend, but I didn’t end up going that much. I tried, I really did, but I just wasn’t motivated.

I always wanted to be a writer. It wasn’t the first job I ever wanted as a child, that was a paleontologist (and, yes, I owned all the dinosaur books when I was in elementary school). But as I grew older and headed into Junior High, I started writing at school. I’d pull out my spiral bound notebook and write the most terrible pieces of fiction ever composed by human beings.

I was inspired by the books I’d read. Tolkien was the beginning, but Eddings and Jordan and Brooks followed. The writing duo of Weis & Hickman fanned the flames of my imagination. I would go to my library and grab any Fantasy novel they had. I would read it all.

As I went through high school, I kept writing. I dreamed of being a writer, of having my book published. So what did I do when it came time to think about college? Did I look at schools that had an amazing English or Creative Writing program. Nope? I decided to go to Green River Community College. I didn’t pluck this school out of nowhere. It wasn’t the closest Community College to me (that was Pierce Community College Puyallup campus). But it had a great drafting program.

Drafting? You’re probably scratching your head. What is drafting? Why would a young man who wanted nothing more than to be a writer decide to go to a community college to be a drafter? Well, drafting is the skill of making blueprints. Whether it’s the blueprint for the very laptop I’m writing this newsletter on, the engine in your car, or the architectural plans for Sears Tower, a drafter had to draw out those plans. At first they did it by hand, but these days they do it on CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) programs like Cadkey or AutoCAD. I liked it. I thought it could make a career out of it. Even though I really, really wanted to be a writer, I just didn’t think I would ever make it.

I sabotaged myself. And that is exactly why I dropped out of Community College. You see, I was working at evenings and going to school during the day. I was bored at school. I find sitting down and being lectured to very boring. Teachers often repeat themselves and my classmates were asking questions on things I found so intuitively obvious or that the teacher had easily explained ten minutes earlier. I chafed. I wanted to be doing something. And even though I could have used my Associate Degree in Mechanical Drafting to transfer to a four year college and get a Masters in Engineering, I instead wanted to play video games.

It was easier. It was more fun. It didn’t take any skill. Instead of pursing my real dream, which I was afraid of, or my backup dream, which was two hard, I settled into menial jobs so I could just screw around and not care about life.

That desire to self-sabotage lurks in me. I’ve put off publishing Above the Storm for years now. I’ve come up with all sorts of excuses: I’m going through the query process, I’ll write the entire series and then get to it, I’ll try this new marketing technique of rapid releases. I’ll be honest with you. I’m scared to release this book.

But I’m trying so hard not to sabotage myself. I believe in Above the Storm. I believe in the story, the characters, and I believe that you (what few people will read this) will fall in love with it. That is why I want you to make this journey with me. I want to build a community, to create opportunities for my fans to receive ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) of my novels and to find beta readers to help me hone my stories and improve them.

If you’d like to join my Facebook group, Fantastic Worlds of the Imagination, and help support my writing, click here!

So I hope you’ll make this journey with me. Stick around, I’m publishing short stories throughout 2018, I have my Urban Fantasy novel, Chooser of the Slain, coming to the Radish app for serialized publication, and I’ll be posting excerpts from my works (like the Prologue to Above the Storm just below). I am founding a Facebook group as a place for exciting works of fantasy to be discussed and shared, a place where I can interact with my fans and we can talk about things that interest us.

And I would love just to hear back from you. Ask me questions. I will be more than happy to answer them. I want to get to know you, too.

Thanks,

JMD Reid