Thomas Howard Riley

Every story decides how long it needs to be and that means some will be shorties but I miss going big.

I think the next 2 books will bring back a little bit of my chonky mojo. They are hefty tomes.

This Sunday! Come join HL Tinsley along with @dbrook.bsky.social, Fantasy Files Podcast, @thomashowardriley.bsky.social and @tdevens.bsky.social for festive tomfoolery and general chaos. Grab your jingle bells and come celebrate the end of the year with us. Link coming soon!

I just want you to know
All the terrible things I’ve done
All the horrors I’ve wrought
All the pain and tears I’ve caused
I did it for the plot

Ooooh yeah this is the absolute worst marketing conundrum. Just saying “wait til you see what so and so gets up to” is spoiling the fact that so and so made it out of book one alive 😂

I’ve heard good things about this one

YouTube video by Willow Wraith Press The Severing Son by Vaughn Roycroft

#booksky Took me 1.5hrs to film this damn thing, so please watch 😅😅😅

Anyway, starting a new Indie Book Rec series of mini reviews, first up is my new fave:

The Severing Son by @vaughnroycroft.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7E5...

I’ve been eyeballing this one for a while now

To celebrate Cameron Day (the author not the ex British Prime Minister) I insist you buy:

The Maleficient Seven: heroic last stand but the heroes are all villainous monsters (unbelievably fun and gripping)

Or

The Last Shield: Die Hard in a castle, somehow even better than it sounds

GO NOW, BUY

😂😂

I think you had a Razor and a Keen and I had a Razer Kean 😂

Does my next book take place in a single location?

Yes.

Do the characters journey outside of this one location in any meaningful way?

No.

Does the story need a map of the entire kingdom for any rational reason?

No.

Am I going to put a map in the book anyway?

Yes.

With one chonky book going in for proofreading, I’m gonna make a mad push to wrap final revisions of my other chonk sequel for my editor so I can spend the downtime hammering out a Corrin the Magnificent solo prequel.

Oh, did I mention I’m working on a Corrin solo prequel? I am.

Omg this sounds FANTASTIC! Man-eating sourdough alone has sold me on it 😂

Flapjacks and Flaying is sending me 🤣🤣🤣🤣

We need to do a whole series

It’s constant 😅

Hey, speaking of, I’m just now finally about to release that book where a side character’s name is 2 of your protagonists’ names put together. I think we talked about that ohhhhh 3 years ago 😂🤣😂

Yes! I just thought of a banger line for a book you won’t see until 2027

being excited as an author is truly a weird headspace

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m thankful my queen and I get to raise these two brave little warriors

I’m thankful for Penelope and my army of cats

I’m thankful for good friends I’m lucky enough to frequently annoy

I’m thankful I get to write books and that people sometimes read them

I’m tired of having to choose between writing cozy fantasy and grimdark fantasy.

Why can’t I do cozy grimdark fantasy?

BARBECUES & BLOODLETTING

TEA TIME & TORTURERS

DONUT SHOPS & DEFENESTRATION

My 5yr old just discovered that I have actual real swords

My cool factor just went up 1000 coolness points according to his official report regarding the matter

He asked wide-eyed if any were “legendary swords”

I assured him I found each one in a secret cave atop a mountain

I feel like if Robert Jordan had balanced every “she folded her arms beneath her breasts” with a “he crossed his legs adjacent to his balls” there would have been far less criticism

Don’t write half assed books.

Take the time. Do the work. Give em the whole ass.

Ironically, one of the longest chapters in We Break Immortals (7300 words) is often mistaken for the shortest bc the tension keeps the pages turning

I generally aim for 3K-5K words (it’s epic fantasy, if I wrote thrillers it’d be shorter 😂) but I’ll go longer if a scene demands

a man in a striped shirt and tie says i have people skills i am good at dealing with people can t you understand that ALT: a man in a striped shirt and tie says i have people skills i am good at dealing with people can t you understand that

I don’t know about you, but this is how I feel like I sound every time I try to market my books 🤣

It does not come naturally to me at all

I’m almost certain I’m doing more than just shaking people and screaming “read my books dammit!” but I’m not all the way certain

t.co/nniThjCfv6

Hey friends and beasties! I’ll be cavorting with the Bearded Book Beast in an hour and a half! Feel free to stop by and join the fun.

I can’t imagine We Break Immortals without Keluwen as a POV, yet she did not exist for the first 16 drafts

I can’t imagine The Monsters We Feed w/out Jansi Wake & the poor hidden wizards of Tenement Lane yet didn’t think of them until the final draft

The muse is rarely punctual

are you a plotter or a pantser?

I pants my plot outlines then try to write to the plot but as character voices develop I re-pants scenes & entire arcs then re-outline to fit it all in & usually think of some pivotal idea at the end & have to go back & re-plot over existing plot

Trying to keep track of which character has what wounds in a 120 page final battle is not as easy as it sounds

I came here to chew bubble gum and write some fucked up epic fantasy.

And build cat shelters in my back yard.

And I’m all outta bubble gum.

But not cat shelters. I’ve still got a ways to go there.

Speaking of under reviewed books

What? You didn't ask?

Hey, I don't come to where you work and poop on your desk