Demon Cycle Re-Release
Night, has it been 15 years already?
Demon Cycle book 1, The Painted Man, was first published in the UK in late 2008, followed quickly by its American counterpart, The Warded Man, in early 2009. This not-so-little book I had spent the last seven years working on had finally become a real boy.
Up until that point I had been working in medical publishing, and while I never hated the work, I didn’t much like it, either. And I figured, you know what? I can always get another job I don’t like. Jobs you don’t like are usually pretty easy to get.
So I took a leap of faith and quit in late 2007 to focus on what I thought at the time would be a short jaunt of being a full time writer that I could cherish the memory of when I inevitably went back to a straight job writing emails in some grey cubicle in the Manhattan skyline. I didn’t really think writing fantasy full time was something I would get to do long term, but my book contracts offered me a guarantee of enough income to live on for ~two years, provided I turned my books in on time.
Reader, I did not turn the books in on time.
When making promises to publishers and agents and myself, my output estimates were built atop the baseless—and in hindsight absurd—assumption that I would be 3x as productive writing full time as when I was stealing two hours a day from my commute or sleep to get some words in.
LOL
Creativity doesn’t work that way.
Still, it turned out okay! For some reason, people really liked my books, and I wasn’t that late delivering manuscripts. Months, rather than years… or decades. (The bar in epic fantasy is famously low about these things IYKYK.)
So I thought I would be a “book a year” guy, like my hero Terry Brooks. Turns out I am a “book every 18 months plus a 6 month break to promote and tour” guy. I try to make up for it with really long books, though.
I am so immensely grateful to all the readers who’ve supported me on this journey, told friends, posted pix or reviews, attended launch events, shared beautiful fan art. I still can’t believe this is real life sometimes. Because of this little world I liked to escape to, I am now my own boss. I can make my own hours and spend real time with my kids every day. I can pursue my art. And when I read comics or play videogames, I can legitimately justify it as important market research.
Teenage readers who picked up that first Demon Cycle book are in their 30s now. I’ve literally watched some of them (and the children readers have named after my characters) grow up at consecutive book tour events over the years. It’s humbling, and joyful. As is the steady stream of new readers who came to the series along the way, with millions of books sold worldwide.
So it is my great honor to announce that in celebration of the Demon Cycle 15th anniversary, Del Rey Books will be re-releasing the entire five book series in trade paperback, its first US production in that larger and more readable format.
Featuring slick new cover designs by Szymon Wójciak with terrifying coreling art by long-time Demon Cycle illustrator Dominik Broniek, the printed books will also include bonus novellas and short stories (previously published separately) that are part of the series canon.
The Warded Man 15th anniversary trade paperback releases TODAY, July 18, 2023, followed quickly by The Desert Spear and The Daylight War, both publishing November 7, 2023. The series concludes with The Skull Throne and The Core, on sale March 5, 2024.
This will also give readers new and old a change to get up to speed just before the launch of The Hidden Queen, book 2 of the Nightfall Saga, which releases concurrently on March 5, 2024!
I am not allowed to show you the cover yet, but my loves, Darin Bales is going to break your heart. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
