Good Night

'night all. :)

I hope your holiday season has been fun and festive.

I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas, and more important, I hope you all had time to spend with family and friends. Time with those we care about is always time well spent. It was a good break, but now it's time for me to get back to work. I'm working on my first draft of Beyond the Band of Death-- Book Two in the Nightwind series--and it's starting to get really good, if I may say so myself. But if you haven't read Book One, why not give yourself some fun holiday reading?

The new paperback edition of The Beast at the Gate, Book One just came out, and is available in Barnes&Noble, Amazon.com and other bookstores. It's also out in ebook format for Kindle and Nook fans. Just to sum things up, the novel has a bit for everyone: action, suspense, drama, and romance. You can read a few chapters on amazon.com or right from my website at rabakerauthor.com.

Again, I hope you all had a merry Christmas, and here's to a wonderful New Year ahead!

The Cover

The cover was just completed for the new edition of The Beast at the Gate. The stars, the "Twin Eyes of Taren" are near the top--red and blue respectively. A great city wall surrounds the city of Lamec, with the sinister green glow of Nephredom's Gate below. The foreground depicts a dark lake; here, the old hag from the story's prologue is standing in a boat beside the mysterious and powerful Lake Stone. To the right, there's an image of Aric flanked by two Beasts. I think the blue color scheme works well and accurately portrays the overall mood of foreboding in this early scene.

The Thoughtful Side of Arstinax

I'm going to start my blog by touching on each character in my new edition novel, The Beast at the Gate. Today, I'm going to comment on Arstinax.

I admit, the character Arstinax is a literary challenge. He is a paradox (a point I mentioned in the novel), a big hulking fellow with a complexity that’s more akin to a philosopher than a strongman.   I’m not a fan of stereotypes, so your standard-built muscleman who’s not very bright would be too lazy and predicable as a personality type for my tastes. Arstinax is more of a thinking man’s big guy, and the perfect foil to Rayna.

I'm back!

After a long hiatus, I’m back in the world of Taren. My new publisher JK Publishing has tasked me with breathing new life into my existing work and going forward with my originally planned trilogy. Thus, I just finished The Beast at the Gate, the new edition of book one in the Rayna of Nightwind series. I’m currently working on book two in the series.  It feels good to be working with these characters again. Rayna, Arstinax, Keris, Nephredom—they all hold a special place in my heart—heroes, villains, and all. More news to come later. As for now, back to writing I go.

By the way, The Beast at the Gate is available now at bookstores everywhere–and you can read free sample chapters on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Beast-Gate-Rayna-Nightwind-ebook/dp/B00AQ8WON2