A Wild Book Appears! (Updated 4.20.20)

Promo update!

We've added our final currently published title to the Smashwords Authors Give Back Promo.

It Came From Hyperspace!

joins our other titles:

Tales of Yhore: The Chronicles of Monch

Beyond the Burning Sea (Fate's Crucible #1)

Between the Darkness & Dust (Fate's Crucible #2)

Feral

Promo code: AG100 (use this at check out for 100% off!)

Our thanks to Terminus Productions for working with us to add It Came From Hyperspace! to our free offerings. 

If you like what you read in It Came From Hyperspace, you should go check out the RPG Tabletop System it's based on and help another indy artist in the process:

Legion: The Game

Enjoy and stay safe out there.  If you have the option, tuck in and read a book... or five.

>>Update to the update!<<

The Authors Give Back Promotion has been extended to May 31st!  Thanks to everyone who has picked up a book.

Promos, Principles & Pandemics

Some words from us to you about...

PROMOS:

Life has kept us busy. We're still working on Book 3 of Fate's Crucible (no working title yet), but while we slowly chip away at that, we would like to offer you the following titles for FREE on Smashwords:

Tales of Yhore: The Chronicles of Monch

Beyond the Burning Sea (Fate's Crucible #1)

Between the Darkness & Dust (Fate's Crucible #2)

Feral

Promo code: AG100

Use the AG100 promo code when checking out and you can take them all with you for the price of $0.00.  We hope you enjoy and it is a welcome distraction to all of our collective worries.

We're looking into how we can mirror this on Amazon, but... you know... Amazon.

PRINCIPLES:

We're getting around to changing the front matter on these older books, but we'd like to make sure it's spelled out for you here. When we first started all this, we were novices and had a very different view of how we wanted to protect our works. They were a bit overprotective at first. If you have one of those first editions, you'll know what we're talking about. 

We've matured a bit and rewrote those title page notes. Here they are, in case you happen to have or get an older version:

This work is licensed for your personal enjoyment. Please do not electronically duplicate or re-sell. However, if you would like to share this book with a friend, we think that's awesome. We are a home-grown, independent publishing partnership and are thrilled to know you think enough of our work to share it with others. Tell us about it through our social media; links to where you can find us online are in the back. We're grateful for all your rates and reviews. Thank you for reading and sharing!

We mean that. Especially right now. If you get a free book through the promo and think a friend might enjoy it, feel free to pass it along with our blessings.

What about "don't duplicate or resell?" Okay, so we're a bit insecure. We like to see numbers. File-sharing on websites and reselling physical copies makes tracking numbers difficult. We're not going to be mad about it, but please think of our fragile egos.

There are other talks on making things more available on a permanent basis, so keep an eye open for more announcements here.

PANDEMICS:

Please be safe out there during this time. Wash your hands, practice social distancing, listen to reputable scientific sources for best practices. 

We're a fledgling Empire, but we wish health and happiness to all of our friends and family. That includes you, dear readers.

~Lions of the Empire

Test

#NoNoNovember: Day 12: Test
by TB Schmid
--

Raj groaned, knee tendons popping away as he stood up from the monitor. It was an old Klipsch Heresy that Vince refused to shit-can. Temperamental little bastard, so Raj had to get up close and personal during his sound checks.

“Shit!” He barked his shin on the - whatever the hell it was. Mitch said it was a perfectly-scaled model of the Syrian Pentagram, which he and Vince had convinced Lizzy to use as a stage prop. They’d rigged the center of it with all kinds of pyro shit, and she was supposed to emerge from the smoke and mayhem as the Goddess during the intro to their “Vortex” chart-buster.

“Whatever”, Raj grumbled, massaging his shin. Those three were into some pretty crazy shit, even when they weren’t hitting the pipe. He made sure the power feeding the pyro racks was still disconnected before moving to test the microphones.

He flipped the toggle on mic 1. “Testing...1...2-” Feedback screamed back at him.

“What the fuck, Jimmy?” he called out to the scrawny kid behind the soundboard.

“Sorry! Hang on a sec!” Jimmy unplugged a cable from one side of the board and shoved it into a different port. “Ok, give it a shot. Hey, did you check the pit? Thought I saw lights.”

Raj looked over his shoulder at the Pentagram. He could see the bundle of power cables, clearly unplugged and resting on the floor a foot or so away from the prop. Definitely no lights there.

“You saw shit, Jimmy. It’s DC’d.” He leaned back to the mic. “Testing...3...5...7…” His voice resonated through the small theatre, sounding crisp and clear. Jimmy put a thumb up as Raj moved to the next mic.

“Testing. Testing. 11...13...17…”

“Hey what’s with your count, dude?”

“Prime numbers, dumbass. Lizzy likes’em. Says they help her channel her ‘positive feminine energy’ so I-”

“WHOA!” Jimmy cut him off. “What the fuck?!”

“What now?”

“Lights, dude. I’m telling you, check the pyro plugs before you blow your ass up!”

Raj flipped him off and checked them again, even though he knew they weren’t connected. He didn’t know if Jimmy was fucking with him or seeing things, but doors would be open in about an hour so they had to wrap this shit up. He couldn’t know that one particular Door would be open well before that.

He moved to mic 3, Vince’s vintage Myrtle that he’d had modified to replace Ear Trumpet’s spring assembly with - you guessed it, folks! - a pentagram.

“Testing...19...23...29...come in Goddess. We’re ready for you - do you copy?” He chuckled to himself. Behind the soundboard, Jimmy was standing, eyes wide as subwoofers.

“MESSAGE RECEIVED,” a host of female voices thundered from seemingly everywhere, and Raj fell to his knees...

Delicious & Farmhouse

#NoNoNovember: Days 10 & 11: Delicious & Farmhouse

by TB Schmid

--

The farmhouse leaned precariously into the wind. Overhead, thin clouds slid across the sky, a veil of silver torn from the face of the moon. He could hear the house grumbling from where he stood in the swaying shadows of the orchard, but the complaints sounded more habitual than the result of any true weakness. He sniffed the night air, confirming it: her timbers were dry, but strong. The lean was deceptive, and the wind was no threat to it.

But he was.

He left the shadows and padded silently across the empty field, being careful to avoid the warm squares of light spilling from the window. He wanted to surprise them this time.

He caught a glimpse of them at the dining room table, toasting one another, wine sloshing down their pale arms like blood - like a prophecy. His stomach rumbled.

The wind gusted as he took the steps leading up to the front porch, the night's searching fingers reaching beneath his coat. He shivered in delicious anticipation, fighting to hold back the ancient song rising in his powerful throat. That would come after, when it was done, for he had no wish to share. Instead, he drew himself up, puffed up his great chest, and pounded the door. It rattled and bucked in its frame, but held. He smiled, long teeth glinting in the moonlight.

He forced his throat and tongue to form the strange sounds they called words:

"Little pigs, little pigs..."

Blanket

#NoNoNovember: Day 9: Blanket
by TB Schmid

--

They fell from the heavens, plummeting towards the planet - a host of millions, mindlessly hurling themselves into the dark void below. They had waited months for the assault, and now that the weather had finally turned in their favor, they were relentless.

The surface dwellers did what they could to prepare for the onslaught, scurrying to and fro across the planet's surface seeking shelter, or making last-minute repairs to shore up what defenses they had. Some simply stood, staring up, mouths agape. They were dragged inside just as the host struck.

The onslaught raged for hours, and nothing was spared their fury. No tree, stone or structure escaped unscathed.

When it was over, the world lay silently beneath the host, her ugly scars and blemishes erased by the thick, pristine blanket of snow.

Nothing

#NoNoNovember: Day 4: Nothing

by TB Schmid

--

Becca used to love birthdays, especially the wishing part right before blowing out the candles on her cake.

She was older now, though, and didn't really want anything. It used to be so easy - a new bat, new cleats, a boyfriend, a puppy instead of that stupid boyfriend, Nana to get better... all the things she knew she really wanted. She took those wishes seriously, and even though part of her felt silly, most of her believed there was some kind of magic in the whole birthday wishing ritual, and if she did it Just Right, her wish would come true. That was the way she saw most of the world back then - if you did things just right, your dreams would come true.

She looked at the cake in front her her, big fat green and white numbers leaning drunkenly in the custard frosting because, let's face it, putting 48 individual candles on there was way more work than Rick would ever put into something, even with her mother's help.

It used to be so easy. Do things just right, and your dreams would come true. She wasn't even sure what those dreams were anymore.

She chided herself for being such a downer. Her life was good, and it was a good thing not to really need or want anything, wasn't it? She nodded to herself, closed her eyes and wished for nothing.

When she blew the candles out, her dreams went too.

Darkness < New Book! > Dust

Between the Darkness & Dust is the second book in the Fate's Crucible series, by Lions of the Empire writers T.B. Schmid and R.Wade Hodges.

This is what the cover looks like:



We think that you should get it.

You can find it at Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/798310

You can find it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Between-Darkness-Dust-Fates-Crucible/dp/1985377101

Thanks to Smashwords, you should also be able to search and buy from your favorite e-retailer (apple, kobo, etc.).

Thanks in advance for your reads and reviews. We really appreciate it.

Listen to this!

Feral was the Lions of the Empire's first release, and perhaps its spookiest to date. Now it's back... as an audio book available from Audible.com!

Return to the frozen northern reaches of Valheim and experience a whole new dimension to this chilling tale of survival against all odds!

Sometimes tales flow down from the mountain peaks like the snow-fed streams that bleed down their bony flanks. Strange beasts. Stranger men. Stories spun in the glow of highlander watch fires to pass the time swell and strengthen - every retelling a new tributary - until the tale becomes a legend. But sometimes, the legends are real...

Feral on Audible.com

May Days Giveaways 2017: Results and Thanks!

We here at Lions of the Empire would like to thank everyone who entered the 2017 May Days Giveaways on Goodreads! This marks our third year for this event, and the first time Beyond the Burning Sea has been on the list. We were overwhelmed by close to 1700 entries for our three books and we would like to thank you all for supporting our work.

We are currently packing up and sending out the winning copies to the respective winners, so keep an eye in your mailboxes for those. We certainly hope you will enjoy these newest additions to your summer reading list.

Follow our blog for news and short stories and keep an eye out for announcements on not one, but two new books coming soon.

2017's May Days Giveaways!

It's May once again and time for us to give things away.

Up for grabs on Goodreads.com is not one... not two... but all three books currently published by Lions of the Empire!

As in previous years, we have three copies each of Tales of Yhore and Feral up for grabs! Links for those books can be found immediately below.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Tales of Yhore

by D.F. Monk

Giveaway ends May 31, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Feral

by T.B. Schmid

Giveaway ends May 31, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

And for the first time we're also giving away four copies of Beyond the Burning Sea!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Beyond the Burning Sea

by T.B. Schmid

Giveaway ends May 31, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

The Giveaways are on until May 31st. We'll be shipping copies the end of that week so you can have the books for your summer reading. But don't wait until then! Read and Enjoy and keep an eye here for upcoming announcements about book 2 of the Fate's Crucible series!

You Get What You Pay For

“You Get What You Pay For” or “Something’s Rotten in Mylesia”
by TB Schmid

By the dead and rotting gods, her hood stank.  Or maybe she had it backwards: the sack covering her head smelled like dead, rotting gods, rubbish, cats - take your pick.

Maybe I should add a nose hole, or at least cut the mouth a little bigger.

She knew as soon as the thought crossed her mind it was a bad idea, but then bad ideas were something of a specialty of hers. Under the hood, she allowed herself a sly smile.  Maybe a new name is in the offing.

“You hear they found Zara’s body?”

Her ears perked up and she slowed near the fishmonger’s stall.  The speaker was a thickset man with heavy gloves shoved into the back of his leather apron.  Tor, the blacksmith.  

“Aye, that’s all anybody’s been talkin’ about this mornin,” answered the fishmonger.  “Poor girl.  Bled dry and dumped in The Sludge.  Riigha and his boy found her caught up in their nets.”

The Sludge was a foul, boggy delta where The Viper bled into the eastern end of Niht’s Haven.  Since Mylesia squatted on the river’s banks, The Viper tended to receive the bulk of its waste.  It stunk worse than the girl’s hood, but it was a good place to get rid of a body.  Usually.

Big Announcement Time!

Six years ago, almost to this day, an idea became a partnership. After countless hours of writing, editing and collaboration, along with the support of our friends and family, we are finally ready to proudly proclaim:

The Lions of the Empire are releasing the first book in the Fate's Crucible saga!

-Beyond the Burning Sea-

It has been over two hundred and fifty years since the sky fell and the Young Gods died.

The pride of the Sea Kings' fleet, the SKS Peregrine, has done the impossible: she has travelled beyond the Burning Sea, long thought to be the southern edge of the world of Ruine. Now, all that remains of her crew struggle to find their way back, led by a young man bearing a book filled with dark secrets. A terrifying truth pursues them, while the Endless Dark of the ocean patiently waits below.

Back on the mainland, the city states of Gundlaan strive to form a united nation. On the fringe of its western frontier, there are whispers of a sinister force gathering. The Laegis Templars, the mortal remains of the Young Gods' army, are dispatched to deal with the problem, but in the vast and untamed Deckoran Wilds, Death itself is never far away...

 Beyond the Burning Sea ebook pre-orders are available now!

On Amazon Kindle: https://amzn.com/B01LDAA8UM\
On Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/662368

Physical and ebook release is in two weeks, September 20th! More news and links to follow.

We look forward to introducing you to the world of Ruine and we hope you enjoy the visit. You're welcome to stay as long as you like.

Tim & Wade

May Day Giveaways: Feral

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Feral

by T.B. Schmid

Giveaway ends May 25, 2015.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to Win

Available Now at Smashwords

One of us wrote a book. 

Synopsis:

Pursued by a racist and dangerously unstable patrol commander through a remote wilderness as a ferocious winter storm closes in, two lovers soon learn that something far more sinister has also picked up their trail. Caught between the vicious designs of their pursuers and an unspeakable evil, overcoming their own inner demons may be their only hope of survival.

Here's one early review:

"It's quite good" -the other one of us.

It's true that I'm not entirely impartial.


.