General updates Sept/Oct

September was a long month. It was also, due to busting all kinds of ass, my most financially successful month of the year.

But that's not saying much.

I won't talk figures, but let's just say that I've already written off 2016 as a slump year and am building towards greater success in 2017.

So what did I get done in September?

I focused mainly on building my mailing list(s) and setting up lots of welcome emails with all kinds of freebies, bells and whistles. Across all my lists I now have a little over 2500 people, and I'm working hard to at least double this by the end of the year. It's been fun, that's for sure, but because of the focus on it my other work has suffered.

I wrote just over 30,000 new words. That might sound pretty good but it's my lowest month of the year. Still, I passed 400,000 words for 2016 during Sept so I'm game on for getting 500k plus by the end of the year. Easy.

My heroic fantasy--my current main WIP--is sitting at 122k, with no end in sight. I've slacked off a little with it due to the other things I've got going on, but I'm hoping to finish it in Oct/Nov.

I did some rebranding back along, and turned my completely-ignored romance, Finding my World into Broken (Tokyo Lost Series 1) complete with a stunning new cover. The second in the series (these are standalones but they share locations and styles), which had a working title of Tokyo Sonata, will be released under the name of Stolen (Tokyo Lost Series 2) on Oct 25. The book is available for pre-order right now on Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo.

I actually just finished the final proofreading of Stolen tonight and sent it out to my advanced reviewers group, so if you're on that list you should be receiving your free copy soon. It always feels great to complete a task, but it just means that I'm straight on to the next one. And that is the second draft of my YA fantasy, The School at the End of the World. I'm about halfway through it, and I'm hoping to get that book out (and ideally the second too, because its finished) by the end of the year. Fingers crossed.

In addition, I'm working on the paperbacks for Broken and Stolen (and once I'm done with those it'll be the turn of In the Shadow of London), plus Broken is now taking auditions on Audible, so if you're a narrator, why don't you have a go?

So, September was mostly admin type stuff. More than anything I'm really just looking forward to getting back to writing. I have at least the next three books I want to write lined up in my head, so hopefully 2017 will be a bumper year.

Onwards and upwards!

Chris Ward
Oct 1st 2016

My Childhood Dream

Obviously I have a day job and generally am a badass sci-fi writer by night. Sometimes I have to write stuff for work too though. I'm an assistant English teacher in a Japanese junior high school, and a teacher asked me to write a speech about my childhood dream. This is what I came up with. It's kind of true and a little poignant haha. I can still remember asking my mother to buy me a power sword. I think I was about five, but who knows haha.

My Childhood Dream

By Chris

When I was a small child, I wanted to be a superhero. I watched the news on TV, and saw that there were a lot of bad things in the world. I wanted to stop these bad things. So one day I asked my mother to buy me a power sword from the supermarket. She said okay, but that night she told me that the supermarket had sold out of power swords, so I couldn’t become a superhero. At that time I felt very sad.

Now that I am older, I understand more about the world. There are still a lot of bad things in the world but we can all help to stop them. Not everyone can change the world in a big way, but we can all change the world in a small way. For example, we can pick up trash or care for cats and dogs that don’t have a family. Or we can say nice things to people even when we don’t feel happy.

I learned that to be a superhero you don’t need to have a power sword, because the power to change the world comes from your heart.

Thank you.

Upcoming schedule

It's been a while since I wrote a long rambling update about what's coming up soon, so here goes. As regular readers will know, I recently finished writing a book that forms part one of a new dystopian series. I'm hoping to have that available for you to read by the end of the year. It could be a year or two before a follow up, though, as I have unfinished business with other stories first.

So, here's the plan...

Autumn/Winter

Publication of The Puppeteer King (Crow #3)
Publication of Circus of Machinations (Crow #4)

Begin the audio books for Crow 1 and (hopefully) Tube Riders: Exile.

Write Crow #5: The Tower at the World's End and The Tube Riders: In the Shadow of London (side novel set between Exile and Revenge).

Do the paperbacks for the first four Crow books.

Winter 2015 / Spring 2016

Get back to the Rise of the Governor (Tube Riders prequels). Part One will possibly be called Genesis.

At some point there will be a short stories omnibus and possibly a Crow boxed set.


Some of the more beady eyed of you might have noticed the disappearance of a few of my short stories from my Amazon page. This is because I've been thinking long and hard about branding and organisation. Last year was pretty successful, but due in part to market forces and my own lower output due to personal goings on, this year has been a massive let down so far. The simple truth is that the ebook world is growing so quickly that it's very easy to get lost in the mire. Free books don't equate to paid sales as much as they used to and you're constantly fighting a million other authors for visibility. Therefore, my Amazon author page will be getting a streamlining over the next few weeks. All my shorts and stuff will still be available on iTunes and elsewhere, but on Amazon I'll be concentrating on novels.

Also, there is a little Tube Riders news on the horizon. The series will be a getting a bit of a revamp over the next couple of months. There will be no changes to the stories, but one or two elsewhere. No details for now. I'll let you know when I do.

Okay, that's all for now.

Chris Ward
August 15th 

Tales of Crow, and tales of Mega Britain

It's been a while since I posted anything over here so I figured it was time for an update. This year has been far slower than I would have liked due to real life issues (in short, day work!), but things are starting to pick up speed as the second half of the year comes around.

Most of this year has been dedicated to the Tales of Crow series. Two volumes in what will be a five-book series are now published, with The Castle of All Nightmares appearing last month. The third book in the series, The Puppeteer King, just went off to the editor last weekend. Number 4, The Circus of Machinations, is finished and is currently sitting in my to-edit pile along with a couple of trunk novels, a textbook(!), and a handful of short stories. The fifth and final volume, which is set to be the most epic of the lot, is tentatively underway. Okay, so I've written half the prologue, but I have a feeling this one is going to be awesome.

Do you want to know why?

Because the Tales of Crow series blends into the background of the Tube Riders series, ending just as the Governor takes power in Britain. Those of you who have been reading the Tales of Crow series so far will have noticed that each book is set in a different international location. They Came Out After Dark was set in Japan, while The Castle of All Nightmares was set in Romania. (Don't worry, no spoilers!) The Puppeteer King is set in Barcelona, and The Circus of Machinations in Siberia.

The fifth and final volume of the series will be set in Britain. More specifically, in Mega Britain. What you'll get is a view of the dystopianisation (my god, did I just make that word up??!) of Britain from the sidelines, as the decay sets in and the gates start to close. You'll see the perimeter walls going up and the cities closing off, and into it all I'm going to throw a scarred madman intent on causing as much trouble as possible before his own light fades for good.

The tone of the first two books (and even the third) of the Tales of Crow series were noticeably different to the Tube Riders books, more offbeat and unusual, but over books four and five things start to darken as the world around them dims into the twilight that the Governor has pulled over Europe. It's going to be awesome for me to go back to that world, and I hope that you'll come along for the ride.

And now a little more good news: the first book in the Tales of Crow series is now free. You get get a free copy on Amazon.com (with more Amazons to follow), iTunes or Barnes & Noble. I hope you enjoy it, and if it's your first experience of my books, welcome to my world.

Chris Ward
July 2nd 2015

The Puppeteer King is finished!

This morning I finished the first draft of Crow 3: The Puppeteer King. It wrapped at 94,455 words. I'll be setting it aside for a month or two now while I work on the revisions for Crow 2. Hopefully I can still get that one out before Xmas. My Crow series hasn't taken off like my Tube Riders series has, but in some ways they're both connected, so if you get a chance have a read of They Came Out After Dark. I'm certain you won't be able to stop at the first book.

More updates coming soon.

Chris Ward
18th November 2014

Cover reveal - The Castle of All Nightmares (Tales of Crow #2)

Evil Professor Kurou will be returning soon in The Castle of All Nightmares! Here's the badass cover for the book, created by Su Halfwerk at www.novelprevue.com.

I hope to have a release date for you soon. In the meantime, Tales of Crow #1, They Came Out After Dark, is available now. Time to get reading!

And just in case you're not away, I'm slowly moving over to a new website. Go and check it out at www.amillionmilesfromanywhere.net. And be sure to sign up to the mailing list if you haven't already for exclusive offers and deals.

Chris Ward
Oct 12th 2014

Introducing ... They Came Out After Dark (Tales of Crow #1)

The first book in the Tales of Crow series, They Came Out After Dark, will be released on August 20th, 2014.

For Jun Matsumoto, a school trip to the remote study camp of British Heights is hardly his idea of a good time. Akane, the love of his life, hates him, and he’s rooming with Ogiwara, the school bully.

Things get even worse when a dose of bad Christmas turkey makes most of the students sick, and suddenly Jun and a handful of others are left cut off from civilization as the snow closes in. Pretty soon the power has gone off, and a strange, birdlike creature begins terrorizing the guests.

If Jun thought the school trip could get no worse, he’d be wrong. As the students group together with the other remaining guests, suddenly their understanding of danger turns on its head.

There are creatures out in the woods, and they’re hungry for human flesh…

Available NOW