Announcing "Knights of the End"

Cover art by Tovio Rogers
Cover design by Dawn Witzke

I'm finally ready to unleash my first novel into the wilds, after many false starts and just as many edits. I have a lot of people to thank for this, and will in my next post. This book has been a long time coming.

Knights of the End is a young adult novel that was written after I thought about how drab most YA was these days. Being that S.E. Hinton was the author that first got me into reading, I felt called to write something of my own in the style. Why not just write the book I wanted to read when I was thirteen? No one had written that yet. And that was how this story began.

The premise of Knights is that an evil force from a different world has landed in ours. Over the years it has hidden in the shadows, slowly building its forces for the day it can take over. They are the Order of the Ash, and they are out to reshape the world. That is where this book starts.

The titular Knights of the End are a group of warriors from the old world tasked with bringing the Order of the Ash to an end. Fourteen year old Teddy MacIsaac soon finds himself as the new Pyre Knight, the Knight of Flames, and the first line of defense as his town comes under siege. Can he finally be the hero he always wanted to be, or are heroes really just fairy tales?

The #1 goal with this story was to make so many different parts work together. You'll see elements of shonen manga, magical girl, Gargoyles, Ronin Warriors, superheroes, 80s action and fantasy movies, S.E. Hinton, pulp action, and a battle between good and evil that transcends worlds, all blended into one story. I tried to make this a love letter to all the things that inspired me.

Needless to say, it took a long time to put this together.

This all came about after years of disappointment from the modern entertainment industry. The type of stories I liked growing up in the late 80s and 90s has all but vanished from the landscape. Books had ceased being fun, especially in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction arena, and YA books, meant to stir the imagination of kids and teenagers, had also begun to revel in despair and "important ideas" instead of adventure and fun. I wanted to write something different than all that.

I wrote Knights of the End to see if I could capture that feeling of excitement I got from the stories of my youth. Whether I succeeded or not depends on the readers, so please let me know what you think by leaving reviews.

It will be out December 1st, God willing, so please keep an eye out! I'll be making a post for its launch.

Thanks to all the blog readers, and those who have linked here. You have given me the impression that maybe the stories that have inspired me are still wanted nowadays. This one is for you.