January 2022 Update (Patreon)

I finally have news!  My cover artist isn't dead!  
For those of you who aren't tracking, the biggest hold-up on Cenotaph of Bones (Threads of Fate book 4) has been because my cover artist straight-up disappeared.  That meant I was going to have to cough up close to $3,000 to get all new covers for books 1-3 to maintain continuity, which I wasn't in a position to be able to do while still supporting my nephew and mom.  Those things have settled down now, so I was going to bite the bullet and just pay to have it done after the new year.  But, finally, Mountaindale tracked the guy down.  Well, less tracked him down, and more he finally reappeared from the ether after ghosting us for the past six months.
What that means is, I should have concept art by the middle of this month, and a finalized version by the first week of February.  I don't know what the publishing schedule for Mountaindale looks like yet, but it is entirely possible that I can have book 4 released by the middle of February, with the audio to follow soon after.  Expect to see the last half of Junfa April and final quarter of Cenotaph of Bones in the next two or three weeks.  (I had a pipe burst during the snow storm that hit my area, so I am dealing with plumbers and repair guys at the moment.  Everything should be fixed in the next few days.)
The first two Year of the Sword books are up for pre-order, (the ones Dakota wrote by himself), so all these posts for Dokeshi March and Junfa April will finally start to matter to everyone.  The whole series will be narrated by Travis Baldree, and will of course be in Kindle Unlimited once they are released.  If you would be so gracious, picking the first one up on release day (January 12th) on Kindle would greatly help boost the series rankings, garnering extra attention.  The better off the series sells, the more it helps me once my later books start coming out.  
Last bit of news: challenge coins.  I have given up on getting a refund from the company that went under, and just ate the three hundred dollar deposit.  I am supposed to be getting the finalized designs back by the end of this week from the new place, and the company I am using now says they have a five week turnaround.  That works out perfectly, because I should have them before book four comes out.  Anyone still a Patron when they arrive gets one, with the serial number in ranked order of donation amount.  I have said this before, but it is the most fair metric I can think of to go with.

I don't know about you folks, but I am ready for a new year of fun and excitement.  Not too exciting, of course.  Just the good kind.