I wanted to start off with a post about one of the major series I'm working on.

The Law of Seven has a strange history—one that began during my masters.  I wrote a short little nothing of a story and one of the professors commented that I was supposed to write something new, rather than turn in something polished; I knew I had struck gold.  Over the course of the next three years, I toyed around with the concept, spent some time maturing it, used it as my thesis, and finished a polished draft that does the story justice.   

The world is a peculiar one—the first steampunk piece I have ever encountered that uses some of the tropes of the subgenre for practical reasons, rather than fancy.  Steam, for instance, is used in the Eltheiri Empire because powerful interference with the gas giant the planet it orbits creates too much electromagnetic interference for electronics.  Likewise, said interference generates powerful electrical storms with lightning bright enough to blind; tinted goggles, therefore, are an essential accessory.  

Yet, departing from the typical tenants of steampunk, there are trees that attract lightning.  Their veins are silver, which is the best natural conductor.  They are also encrusted with diamonds, which serve as an excellent heat conductor.  Finally, brightfruit, a symbiotic electroluminescent alga, live in the branches, consuming the electricity and producing light.  The result, diamond-encrusted, silver veined trees, that glow, all whilst respecting botany and physics.

I thought that was a nice little nod to Lothlórien, save silver, instead of gold, and was always tickled by the idea of the trees actually being plausible.

The first book, Blood Walker, is pending a final edit from me and then copyediting from my editor.  It also needs art and other things.  

As said, Blood Walker is the first book in the Law of Seven series and follows a group thrown into a situation where little is known. 

Someone or something is murdering prostitutes of the Scarlet Guild.  Many suspect this is the aftermath of the emperor’s recent death, he fond of them, but something stirs beneath the surface. 

Future Emperor Djord and Inquisitor Kadir seek information and justice.  Illeara and her bodyguard Rhone try to find their way through their own problems, meeting and befriending an unlikely ally.  Meanwhile, Den, Illeara’s prodigy mechanic brother, adjusts to life with Rin and San, orphans left from the latest murders. 

Yet things only complicate from there, demons take to the streets, wearing warped corpses.  Storms rage in the sky, lightning powerful enough to blind.  All-out war erupts as the one behind it all is finally unmasked, the fate of nations resting on the final few actions.

Yet there is also light in the darkness.  Hearts soften and love beings to take root, perspectives changing and growing.  Personal problems are addressed and resolved, exposed to the inferno of trying times.  And, in the midst of it all, there is an adorable little dancing spider that—despite being the size of a softball—somehow manages to steal the show; I didn’t plan it that way—trust me­—but Goot is just unadulterated in his sheer lovability.