I have been away from here for far too long. The perfect proof of this occurred to me a few weeks ago when someone who had attended one of my first-ever school talks (as a pupil) drove past me in Crieff High Street in a learner car.
Not only does that make me feel ridiculously old but it also highlights just how long I’ve been working on getting book three of the Jack Reusen series done. So I thought it was time for a very frank and honest update.
As of this afternoon, I am editing p167 of 202 of the final (post-editor, so it better be final) draft of Jack Reusen and the Children of Fate.
Karen, the illustrator has created a stunning cover for the book as well, and I’ve been in communication with the printers regarding pricing and print times for the first run (the first run of prints unfortunately always costs more and takes longer).
(Spoilers for book 2 ahead…)
This new addition to the Jack Reusen world follows Jack after he, his family, and his uncle’s cottage and garden landed in the heart of an ancient magical woodland within the world of Fey.
You’ll get to spend longer in Fey than you have in any previous Jack Reusen book. You’ll meet a strange new character who seems to be following Jack from inside his own mind. What’s more, you’ll get to learn more about Fey and how it’s connected to the Matter World. It’s a big story without being too big a read and I hope you enjoy it.
(…Book 2 Spoilers END)
There are twenty-one chapters in this new book (if you include the epilogue) and I’m currently editing chapter sixteen. I’m getting through about a chapter per day and I have some time off work so I may even get through more than that.
So, with only five chapters to go, I think it’s safe to say that I should be finished editing by the end of this week.
After literally years of plodding through drafts, I can’t believe I can say that the book will be ready in a week!
Print turnaround can be as much as a month. However, as soon as I can get it uploaded, the book will be available digitally to read via Amazon Kindle (you can either read this on a Kindle reader or you could download the app and read it on any Android or Apple device).
I’ll obviously be back on here at each step of the process to keep people updated (especially once there are print copies available too). However, I promised myself that today’s post would be brief and to the point so that I could get back to work on the editing.
Wait What’s Happening?!
In brief:
The final draft of Jack Reusen and the Children of Fate will be done by the end of this week.
The digital edition should be available sometime next week.
And finally, at long last, the paperback edition should be available to buy in late April.
More to come…
Extra Note: I also have plans to get an audiobook version of the first book out. This would take the form of either a podcast or an Audible audiobook, to be released sometime in the next few months. This is dependent on getting my office/ recording space in proper order so expect updates on that too.
For now, thank you so much for stopping by and please accept my apologies for the long (long long long…) wait for this next book in the series.
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. It’s been a labour of love. The first version was very long. The delay has mainly come from trimming it into the reader-accessible version we now have.
I always want to create books that are as accessible to as many sorts of readers as possible, and I am really happy with the story we have now.
Thanks for stopping by, below you’ll find the mandatory self-promotional book plugs but you can skip these if you’ve already read the stories so far.
Thanks for stopping by and I’ll be much quicker to get back on here again next time,
All the best, John
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Read my books digitally for FREE
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If you’d like to catch up on the first two books in the series you’ll find details on where to get these digitally (and potentially read them for free) below.
As always, you can get hold of print versions of the first two books from Fun Junction Toy stores, as well as by buying directly on this site (I’ll even sign a copy for you before it’s posted out). To buy from this site using PayPal, follow this link and click on the buttons for the books you’d like to buy.
Kindle Unlimited
All of my books are free to read for those with an Amazon Kindle Unlimited membership.
Kindle Unlimited currently offers a free trial for two months so you can see if you like their service.
After that, your membership would cost just £7.99 per month and you can cancel any time you like (including before the end of your two-month trial membership.
You said I could read your books for free?
Both of my main children’s fantasy books (The ‘Jack Reusen’ books, for 6 and up) are available on Kindle Unlimited. Here are the links for Amazon UK for ‘…Fey Flame‘ and for ‘…Spark of Dreams‘. On top of this, you can also find a short Christmas story I wrote a few years back, as well as my dark fantasy book (10-12+) ‘Marcus‘ (set in and around the old abandoned Victorian school in my home town of Crieff).
These are all available to read for free (even as part of your free trial) with Kindle Unlimited. What’s more, it’s always good to know that people are reading (and hopefully enjoying) my books.
If you’re in the USA, Kindle Unlimited has a similar free trial and you can find all of my books on my Amazon Author page.
A little more about my own books:
Once you’ve signed up to Kindle Unlimited, you’ll see that both of the Jack Reusen books come up as ‘free’, so you can read the whole adventure so far, for nothing.
‘Jack Reusen and The Fey Flame‘ introduces you to the land of Fey, as creatures (and other things) make their way through to the ‘matter-world’ (basically our world). Jack and his family have to discover a way of closing a collection of ‘breaches’ between the two worlds to make their world safe again.
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‘Jack Reusen and the Spark of Dreams‘ is a slightly different kind of adventure. People are losing their ability to dream. Every night more and more people lose the certain something that makes human beings so good at solving problems and creating things; the spark of dreams. Jack discovers that he could be the key to understanding what’s causing this change, and he may even be the only person who can solve it and bring back the dreams and imaginations of hundreds of people.
I hope that both of the Jack Reusen books give you and/or your kids something to enjoy as you read them. Let me know what you think.
As always, thanks for stopping by my site, and I can’t wait to share even more details of my newest book,
All the best, John
