One book slipped, one book jumped forward, and Blood and Faith is on four judges’ desks. Here’s the month.
On the desk — an update
The big surprise: The Iron Revenants Saga Book 1 — which last month was “on the bench, circling” — has quietly become the closest thing to shipping. First draft is complete. I’m in final edits. Publishing soon.
The Gate of Bones slipped. I found issues in Book 1 during the final pass — the kind you can’t quietly patch, only rewrite. It’s the book I’m working most on now. Realistic timeline: another couple of months, not one.
The other three — Vesper 01 (Meridian Book 2), The First Doubt (Orbital Mandate Book 1), and Nothing to Declare — are where they were last month. When you’re one person shipping across five books, some months you move everything a little, some months you move one thing well.
Blood and Faith is on four judges’ desks
Since Blood and Faith came out, I’ve been submitting it to indie book awards. Four are in flight:
- The Chanticleer Chaucer Awards — Medieval & Renaissance historical fiction
- The Historical Fiction Company Book of the Year — Historical War
- Reader Views Literary Awards — Historical Fiction
- American Book Fest Best Book Awards — Fiction: Historical (23rd year)
Results roll in over the next several months. I’ll report back honestly — win, lose, or ignored. Either way it’s useful information for a new author.
The two books, if you haven’t started yet
If you read historical fiction with weight — Bernard Cornwell, Ken Follett, Sharon Kay Penman — Blood and Faith is your front door. A king who lost his kingdom on July 4, 1187, and refused to die for a decade.
If you read near-future thrillers about cities and the systems that hold them together — The Sentinel 01: Monarch Bridge is your front door. One route, one man, one city about to crack.
Both are at collinvaness.com/books.
One thing worth your time
1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline. A historian’s account of the Late Bronze Age collapse — the moment when eight interconnected civilizations went dark within about a generation. Systems-thinking history that reads like a thriller. If you’ve ever wondered what “the world they built begins to break” actually looks like across a whole region at once, this is the book.
More soon —
Collin
P.S. If you’ve read Blood and Faith and want to leave an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads, that helps the awards submissions more than you’d think. Judges look at review count and reader response — even a two-line honest review moves the needle. No pressure.