Good evening! Today marks the third week of the website being live, and the third chapter of The Sword, the Song, and the Mage is available at the link below. Pre-sales are now available for the eBook version of the novel if you absolutely wish to support me, but I have to remind you all that the same version will be available for free during the launch week and the week of my book signing events. Due to scheduling issues, it will take me another week or so to provide my free copies to the local libraries, but everything is still go for purchase via the Amazon link below. As I have stated before, I will be hosting signing events at the MWR Libraries of Camp Zama, SHA, Atsugi, Yokota, and Yokosuka in the coming weeks. There, I will have a limited number of Trade Paperback copies of the novel on hand, available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Chapter 3 – Relics, Ruins, and Warfare
Now to give direct support to another author who indirectly helped me:
Abbie Emmons.
*Photos courtesy of author’s website
While her YouTube channel has been helping others for six years, in that time she has helped many craft emotionally deep characters. Her analysis of the Character Enanigrams helped me to better understand my characters’ relationships with each other and why certain aspects of their lives and their interactions played out the way they did (and not just because the dice and tables said so). Also, her insight helped me to write compelling and capable female characters for the first time. She is also the author of Tessa and Weston: The Best Christmas Ever, 1000 Days of Sunlight, The Otherworldly, and her instructional book, Make Your Story Matter, where she delves further into what authors should, and most definitely should not do, when crafting their characters. Please feel free to check out her works and her channel in the links below.
Until then…
James C Gilliam 
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