11 July 2026
The beacons have been lit. Chapter 1 of The Sword, the Song, and the Mage is now available to the public!!! While this has been a long time coming, I cannot believe that I will be launching the novel in its entirety in the next couple of weeks.
The Sword, the Song, and the Mage – Chapter 1 – Typhoon on the Bay
In continuing the pay-it-forward aspect of my process, today I am shouting out to another author-creator who has helped me to bring this long-running train into the station.
John Fox
*Photo Courtesy of Author’s Website
While most of the indirect help has come from authors who have documented and shared the steps, missteps, resources, and techniques, John is more of an editor-creator with only two published works available. He is, however, an expert at the writing and revising process, having both an MFA from the University of Southern California and a Master’s from New York University. For ten years, he taught writing at the college level at USC, Biola, and Chapman University. With this wealth of knowledge, he was able to build BookFox in 2006. BookFox is an organization designed to help aspiring authors, editors, and everyone in between. This, as well as hundreds of hours of instructional videos on his YouTube channel, has greatly aided me in the writing and revision process.
So if you are looking for additional resources to aid in your own writing process, please check out his website and videos in the links below.
Until then…
James C Gilliam 
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