Welcome to my world!

I'm James Maxey, the author of the Bitterwood fantasy trilogy composed of Bitterwood, Dragonforge, and Dragonseed, a pair of superhero novels, Nobody Gets the Girl and Burn Baby Burn, plus my new Dragon Apocalypse series. I've also published numerous short stories, the best of which are reprinted in my collection, There is No Wheel. This website is focused exclusively on my published fiction. At my second blog, Jawbone of an Ass, I serve up loudmouthed blathering about politics, religion, money, and other topic polite people have the sense to avoid.

If you're a fan of dragon-centric sword and sorcery with a touch of superheroics, the Dragon Apocalypse is being written for you! In fact, even if you're not a fan of fantasy, you might want to check out the books, since my approach to this series is to strip out everything I find boring about epic fantasy and focus on the fun stuff, like larger than life characters bravely throwing themselves into battle with dragons, and the dragons eating them. Greatshadow, Hush, and Witchbreaker are now available. The next book, Soulless, should be out in late 2013/early 2014.

Definitely coming out in 2013 will be my next superhero novel, tentatively titled "The Adventures of Cut-Up Girl." Watch this space for further news!


Saturday, March 19, 2011

Big news, part 2: Book deal!

As exciting as all my ebook news has been lately, the big news that's been making me feel slightly drunk for the last two months is that by this time next year, I'll be back in bookstores! Greatshadow has sold to Solaris Books, along with two further books in the Dragon Apocalypse series, Hush and Sorrow. You can read the Zeno Agency announcement here.

I'm obviously biased, but Greatshadow really is, I think, the best book I've yet written. It's fantasy stripped to it's purest core, as a small group of heroes must band together to hunt down the world's most dangerous dragon, Greatshadow. But, once I've stripped the fantasy down to this base concept, I rebuild as the fantasy novel I've always wanted to read but that no one had ever got around to writing for me. So, in addition to being epic fantasy, it's also a superhero novel populated by men with strange powers and colorful garbs flying around and having kick-ass fights with each other. And, the whole story, from the first line to the last, is a single coherent romance, as two lovers must struggle to overcome the ultimate barrier to happiness: Death itself. And if this wasn't enough of a challenge, the whole book is narrated by a single character, a drunken monk with a Brobdingnagian vocabulary.

I'd gush on more, but I suppose I must pace myself. It is almost a year before it hits stores, after all. And, I still need to write the remaining books! Best get to that now, in fact.

4 comments:

TheyStoleFrazier'sBrain said...

Great news, James. I have another good friend who also wrote a fantasy/superhero novel. I look forward to seeing your take on it.

James Maxey said...

I'm intrigued to learn of another superhero/fantasy. Has it been released yet? Who's it by and what's it called?

Loren Eaton said...

Awesome news, James. I'm looking forward to reading them!

TheyStoleFrazier'sBrain said...

No, he hasn't tried to sell it. His name is Paul Batteiger. He was a Writers of the Future winner in 2000. The book is titled "Defenders of the Crown" and is very pulpy and action-oriented.