The wait is over! Travels in the Land of Hunger is published!

Travels in the Land of Hunger (artwork by Tiberius Viris)

Finally, after about five to six years of research and writing, my travel memoir, entitled Travels in the Land of Hunger, is now published and available in hardcover (casewrap), paperback, and as an ebook (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Lulu, and soon to be available as an ebook on Google play, iBooks, Kobo, etc.)

I had been picking at this travel memoir since about 2012, but I did not seriously dig into the book until 2014. After I published Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity in 2011 I started working on Book II of the series and completed about 200 pages, but I decided to go back to my 2004 travel blog and flesh it out into a travel memoir as a sort of deep dive into the historical themes (imperialism, colonialism, capitalism vs. socialism vs. communism, globalization, etc.) that were becoming more and more apparent in my writings of Book II. It took much longer than I had anticipated to complete the travel memoir, but as you will find, it is a heavily researched work (32 pages of endnotes, and a 10-paged index).

I presented/launched the book on Tuesday, November 26, 2019 here in Barcelona, and received tremendous support and warmth in regards to the social issues I highlighted from my 2004 half-year backpacking journey across East and Southeast Asia, Siberia, Central Russia, the Baltic states, the Nordic countries, and Eastern and Western Europe.

2004: A temple of Angkor in Cambodia

I think the back cover of the book accurately sums up the essence of the journey: "Traveling by foot, bus, train, and boat - and seeing the world through the analytical lens of anthropology, archaeology, and economics - Domenico documents, researches, and deciphers the developing nations he encounters as they rise through the turbulence of unregulated Western capitalism and globalization.

"Travels in the Land of Hunger is the author's reflective account of the dark, long-lasting impact of Western colonialism and imperialism, the Vietnam War, the Khmer Rouge regime, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the sex tourism and sex trafficking industries in Southeast and East Asia. It is also a narrative of finding exotic beauty, inspiration, inner strength, and unexpected love."

The travel memoir also includes two of my short stories entitled The Astor House of Old Shanghai (a steampunk story set in Shanghai in 1899) and White Lion Rising (a dystopian story set in Barcelona in the mid 21st century).

I will be posting photos from the journey every day in chronological order on my Instagram account @thelegacycycle. Feel free to follow and match the photos to the events detailed in my memoir.

2004: A temple in Ayutthaya, Thailand

As you will discover, Neil Peart (drummer and lyricist of the progressive rock group RUSH) was a significant inspiration for me during my adolescent years. He was not only a drummer, but a philosopher of sorts, a world traveler, and travel memoir writer. I remember vividly buying and reading his first travel memoir, entitled The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa, while I was attending Boston University and realizing that I could accomplish a similar feat. And now, twenty years later, I have done just that. A copy of my book now stands next to my old copy of Neil's first travel memoir on my book shelf; it brings a smile to my face every time I see it.

2004: The Great Wall of China

This all aside, I am now very much looking forward to getting back to writing Book II of the Dark Legacy series in 2020. Many of you have been so patient in waiting for Book II. My writing efforts are now focused toward working on and completing that second Dark Legacy book. In the mean time, if you are curious of what themes and hardships will Book II contain, check out Travels in the Land of Hunger: A backpacker's earthbound journey from the East to the West.

Chapters from Travels in the Land of Hunger are also available on Wattpad as you can see from the link below.

The Sting and I: The musical events leading to my exit from Japan back in late 2003

Backstage with Sting in Tokyo on October 31, 2003

On October 31, 2003 in Tokyo, Japan I performed as a hired musician with Norwegian singer-songwriter Lene Nystrom; she is best known as the lead singer of the Danish eurodance group Aqua (if you know the lyrics "I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world ..." then you know who she is). I performed on the drums while my friend Ian Hartly played keyboards; there was another hired gun who played guitar. The three of us worked briefly with Lene on two gigs in support of her solo album entitled Play With Me.

Our second gig with Lene was at the Kokusai International Forum in Tokyo at the Universal Music International Convention 2004 for an audience of about 3,000. It was a music industry insiders event showcasing several acts and their new albums. Ian, the guitarist, and I arrived to the Forum for soundchecks with Lene in the morning and then waited in our dressing room for show time, which was at 3:30 pm. Lene was very kind to us and she was not hesitant to offer us her bottle of Jack Daniel's to loosen us up before our performance. We kindly refrained her offer and watched her being pushed in a chair with rollers by a friend up and down the hallway outside our dressing room. A couple of hours passed and Ian mentioned to me that while we were going through soundchecks he heard the Japanese engineers and staff say "Sting" several times. I really didn't think much of it, but Ian wondered whether or not Sting was also performing.

Outside our dressing room with Lene

Since we were temporary hires for Lene there was not much information that was shared to us by our agent regarding who else was performing at the event. But we did know that the English rock band Busted was performing since they had soundchecks right after us. Ian and I stayed to watch them, and found them to be obnoxious as they wasted time during the checks and were rude to the MC.


In any case, we were called from our dressing room to get backstage and ready for our performance. Busted finished their songs and answered a few questions from the MC before exiting stage right. We saw them pack up their guitars and then we went on stage to perform two songs: "It's Your Duty" and "Pretty Young Thing". Ian, the guitarist, and I then exited the stage while Lene stayed with the MC to answer a few questions.


It was then that we all saw Sting and his entourage enter the backstage (his musical entourage included Moroccan percussionist Rhani Krija). Ian and I were totally starstruck to see a musical legend right there before us. Our agent encouraged us to get back to the dressing room and to not speak to Sting. I told him that there was no way I was going back to the dressing room and that I was going to stay and watch Sting perform. He asked us again to go, but we collectively said no. It was then that I decided to approach Sting to ask him for a job. I have nothing to lose, I thought. Why not? So with my digital camera in hand to take a photo with him after I asked my question I approached Sting who was fiddling with his acoustic guitar. I then asked him if he needed a drummer. He responded by saying that he had enough problems with the drummer he currently had (he was referring to Keith Carlock). I then asked the "King of Pain" for a photo and he graciously complied, which absolutely made my day.

Supporting Lene on the drums on October 27, 2003 at Nagoya Rainbow Hall

About two weeks after taking that photo with Sting I was performing with Brad Holmes and The Hit Men, a famous gaijin corporate musical band in Japan. We were the entertainment after a corporate dinner at the Sunshine Prince Hotel in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. I remember thinking while performing for increasingly drunk Japanese salarymen how depressing it was to go from the high of performing in a stadium for 6,000 people at the Nagoya Rainbow Hall with Lene Nystrom to the low of this uninspiring corporate event. It was then that I realized that my three plus years in Japan were at an end. Soon after that show I started getting ready to leave the Land of the Rising Sun. And at the end of March 2004 I began a solo backpacking journey across East and Southeast Asia, Siberia, Central Russia, the Baltic states, the Nordic countries, and Eastern and Western Europe.

With that said, I am happy to finally announce that my travel memoir entitled Travels in the Land of Hunger detailing my six-month journey is finished. The hardcover, paperback, and ebook versions of the memoir will be published internationally on November 21, 2019 and will be available from Amazon, Barnes & Novel, Google Play, iBooks, Kobo, Lulu, and other retailers.

Photos from my journey through Southeast and East Asia as detailed in the book will be published on my social media platforms in the days, weeks, and months ahead as a lead up to the November 21 release date. So please follow any of these sites:

Instagram @thelegacycycle
Facebook @TheLegacyCycle
Twitter @TheLegacyCycle
Blogger @ https://thedragonbone.blogspot.com

Thank you for supporting independent authors.
With much appreciation and magic,
Domenico

P.S. To those waiting for Dark Legacy: Book II - Travels, please note that I have not forgotten about you. Now that Travels in the Land of Hunger is finished I will be using all of my available free time in working toward completing the novel you have been eagerly awaiting.

Dark Legacy: Trinity now available on the Radish mobile app!

The Legacy Cycle webpage on Radish.

I am very excited to announce that all of my published written works are now available on a new mobile app for serialized fiction called Radish.

You can check out my Radish webpage listing my literary works available on the app @ www.radishfiction.com/users/TheLegacyCycle.

Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai and my steampunk short story The Astor House of Old Shanghai are available on the Radish app as free e-reads (they are also available as free e-reads on Wattpad @ www.wattpad.com/user/TheLegacyCycle).

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity is available as a premium read on the app where in following with the serialized philosophy of Radish, indie authors, such as myself, can release and monetize each and all chapters of our books to readers in a "bite-sized serial fiction" format.

I have also released the first few chapters of my travel memoir Travels in the Land of Hunger under the Radish freemium model where readers can gain early access to edited chapters that I have, and will be, releasing over the next few months until the entire memoir is completed this year.

The current list of my stories available on the Radish app.

This is a great way for readers to further support indie authors and help them gain additional income so that they can potentially get a step closer to pursuing their craft part- or full-time.

Radish has recently raised $3 million in seed funding from venture capitalists, and investors such as famed author Amy Tan of The Joy Luck Club.

Seun Yoon Lee (CEO and co-founder of Radish) is pushing the app in the calculated belief that since this method of reading on mobile devices has proved incredibly successful in East Asia, that the US market would also follow in that e-reading will take place more on mobile devices over time than on dedicated e-readers such as the Kindle and NOOK. Time will tell if that proves to be the case. I have the feeling that Seun Yoon Lee is right, and that this app definitely has the potential of being the mobile fiction reading app in the not too distant future. 

5th anniversary edition of Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity now available!

5th anniversary edition of Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity

I'm happy to finally announce that the 5th anniversary edition of Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity is now available in hardback, paperback, and ebook editions on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, iBooks, Kobo, Lulu, and Wattpad. After working with James Egan of Bookfly Design on the book cover designs for my steampunk short story The Astor House of Old Shanghai and my travel memoir Travels in the Land of Hunger I decided to work with him on a redesign for Dark Legacy as a way to relaunch the book and celebrate its 5th anniversary.

This edition has been updated to include improvements in the typesetting of the printed books as well as additional material such as an author interview conducted by Camilla Stein. I should also mention that a dust jacket hardcover edition is now available from Lulu at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/darklegacytrinity. You will also notice from the new printed editions that the Dragon Bone Books logo has been redesigned.

Redesigned logo for Dragon Bone Books

The upcoming months into next year will bring a more aggressive marketing and advertising campaign for the book as a means to increase the fanbase for the series. It is my hope that with increased support for the book, and the series, that I will be able to dedicate more and more time as an independent author to the completion of the second book of Dark Legacy while also completing my travel memoir and expanding my steampunk short story into a full length novel. The question I get most often from fans of the first book of Dark Legacy is when the second book will be published. It is a difficult question to answer since I am not able to work full-time as an independent author (it is simply not financially viable). Thus my time from September to June over the past couple of years has been dedicated toward my career as an IB economics teacher, which I enjoy incredibly (I feel very fortunate to be working in a very supportive and vibrant academic community). But the need to finish these books is always gnawing at the back of my head and heart. Trying to find time to write between raising a family and teaching economics (and theory of knowledge) is difficult, but I will dedicate a bit of time each day from this point forth (even if it means robbing this time from my sleep) so that I can publish the next few books as soon as possible. I am thankful to my fans for their patience and support, and I hope to pay them back by publishing the next Dark Legacy book as soon as possible.

Promotional poster for the 5th anniversary edition of Dark Legacy: Trinity

The Astor House of Old Shanghai part of the Nano Bytes collection of short SciFi stories on Wattpad

Back in September of 2011 my steampunk short story The Astor House of Old Shanghai was published in a sci-fi e-zine with an amazing illustration by famed matte painter and concept artist Wayne Haag (http://www.ankaris.com) of the films The Fifth Element, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers (LOTR), The Wolverine, and The Maze Runner. Response to the story was extremely positive and in the years since its publication I began researching more into the late Victorian period with particular attention towards imperialism, colonialism, social Darwinism, and the causes and consequences of the Boxer Rebellion, the Spanish-American War, and the Second Boer War, along with the history of MI5 and espionage during the 20th century. Notes, ideas, and a collection of books are sitting on my shelves awaiting the day when I begin to dedicate time toward expanding The Astor House story into a full-length novel. But first I must complete and publish my travel memoir Travels in the Land of Hunger and Book II - Travels of the Dark Legacy Cycle series.

I usually write during my summer breaks from my full-time teaching position, but last summer (summer of 2014) I was not able to pick up where I had left off on Book II - Travels since the summer of 2013 (thus leaving the book at 200 pages). The reason for this long delay in writing had been due to gaining the IB Economics teaching position at another international high school in Barcelona. After being offered the position I dedicated my entire 2014 summer break toward developing and expanding my lesson plans and PowerPoints for the two-year cycle course. By September I had completed all my lesson plans for the first year of the course and worked on the second year of the course in the months that followed. It is now February 2015 and I am now near finishing all my PowerPoints and plans for the second year of the course. Since beginning my new job I have had very little spare time (I have not even been able to finish two books that I started reading last summer). I absolutely love my new job. I am surrounded by amazing students, very supportive parents, and an incredible team of teachers and administrators that have all created the best working environment I have ever encountered. I feel very fortunate and blessed to wake-up up each morning and feel like I no longer work because I love what I do so much.

As mentioned above, I am close to finishing all my extensive lesson plans and thus I will soon have time again to dedicate to writing. For those fans that have been so patient I will hopefully have a book or two published this year. I plan to first finish my travel memoir and then, finally, Dark Legacy: Book II - Travels. In the mean time I have published The Astor House of Old Shanghai on Wattpad at http://www.wattpad.com/user/TheLegacyCycle as a free read. The steampunk short story was also featured by Nano Bytes - A Collection of Short SciFi Stories on Wattpad at http://www.wattpad.com/95621522-nano-bytes-a-collection-of-short-scifi-stories-the

To excite readers about The Astor House story I decided to have a cover design completed using Wayne Haag's illustration. James T. Egan of Bookfly Design (http://www.bookflydesign.com/) completed the brilliant steampunk cover design and I'm eager to work with James again in completing a cover redesign of Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai and Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity along with my travel memoir book Travels in the Land of Hunger. I have another short story that I would like to publish on Wattpad and most likely I will utilize Mr. Egan's talents in developing an appropriate cover design for that story.

So this year should be a good year in terms of finally putting out more material. Thank you all for your support and patience. In the mean time enjoy reading The Astor House of Old Shanghai.

With Magic,
Domenico

Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai ranked at #2 on the Amazon Best Sellers Top 100 Free

Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai ranked at #2 on Amazon

Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai was liberated by Amazon users in the United States and finally made available as a FREE ebook download on April 4, 2014. As a result the science fiction and fantasy novella that serves as an extended prologue to Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity shot up the ranking to #2 for the Metaphysical & Visionary Fantasy eBook category, and shot up to #24 for the Science Fiction category on the Amazon Best Sellers Top 100 Free list.

It is my hope that Amazon users in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Brazil, and Mexico will also liberate Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai by clicking on the "tell us about a lower price" button on the ebook's Amazon page.

Unfortunately Amazon does not provide publishers and self-published authors the option of initially offering their ebooks as a free download on their sites. Instead we are required to price our ebook at $0.99 or above. The only way around this requirement is if Amazon becomes aware from its users that there is a more competitive price at which point they will lower their price. Since Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai is available for FREE from Barnes & Noble, Google Play, the iBookstore, Kobo, and Lulu, Amazon finally made the ebook available as a FREE download.

Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai at #2 for Metaphysical Fantasy
and #24 for Science Fiction on Amazon

It was quite an exciting experience watching Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai rise to the #2 position within the Fantasy genre and #24 in the Science Fiction genre. I was especially pleased to see the ebook ranked at one point alongside Wool - Part One by Hugh Howey, which can be seen in the photo below.

Wool - Part One and Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai 

In other news I have a couple of short stories that I would like to release on Wattpad as soon as I have the ebook covers designed. The first short story entitled The Astor House of Old Shanghai is in the genre of steampunk and was originally published in Peter Saga's Sci-Fi Freedom e-zine a couple of years ago. The second short story entitled White Lion Rising takes place in dystopian Barcelona in the year 2085 AD and is a tribute  to MotoGP, Robotech, and the legend of Saint George and the Dragon.

I will begin polishing the final draft of my 2004 travel memoir entitled Travels In the Land of Hunger next week while also getting back to Dark Legacy: Book II - Travels. So stay tuned.

With Magic,

Domenico 

Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai featured on Wattpad

Over the summer I received an email from Gavin Wilson, a prolific writer and Wattpad Ambassador from the UK, who had come across Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai on Kobo. He encouraged me to join the Wattpad community of more than 15 million monthly users as another online outlet to expose and share my written work. I soon created my account and uploaded The End of the Kai and the first three chapters of Book I - Trinity of Dark Legacy. I was happy to discover within a few days of joining the site that authors I greatly admired such as Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tail), Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist), and Brandon Sanderson (The Wheel of Time books 12, 13, and 14), along with indy authors Daniel Arenson (Blood of Requiem: Song of Dragons) and Amanda Hocking (Trylle Trilogy) were members. A few weeks later Gavin connected me to Pam and Samantha Pennington at Wattpad headquarters in Toronto, Canada, to begin the process of having Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai featured on their site during the month of September. It was a very pleasant, encouraging, and professional experience working with them.

Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai was launched as a featured work on Wattpad on September 3, 2013, and within three weeks it hit 70,000 reads and 599 votes.

Wattpad was also kind enough to promote The End of the Kai via their Twitter (https://twitter.com/wattpad) and Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/wattpad/) sites along with a cover-off query on their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/wattpad) where users voted for The End of the Kai cover they liked the best, which you can see in the photo to the left. The majority of people voted for the red cover version and as a result I may release a free "red cover" ebook collectors edition of Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai in 2014.

As of December 2013 Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai has hit 180,000+ reads on Wattpad. I am very grateful to Gavin and the Wattpad team for the incredible opportunity to have been featured on their site and for their continued support. I strongly encourage any and all avid readers and writers to join the Wattpad community where one can connect, read, write, provide and receive constructive feedback from members from all parts of the globe.

Before signing off I will mention that I have over 200 pages written for Dark Legacy: Book II - Travels. I am very excited about the direction and pace of this book. The sequel will begin right where Book I - Trinity left off. The world beyond Lemuria's western coastal borders will come into greater focus as the political, economic, and military complexities of the Atlantean Empire are revealed. The story and direction of this book has become very clear to me over the past year and provided the time I know I can finish the first complete draft of this book sometime next year.

The very talented Tiberius Viris and I have also moved forward with the details in using his painting Hall of the Dragon Mist as the cover for my 2004 travel memoir, Travels in the Land of Hunger. A final cover design should be completed and revealed in early 2014. All that remains is for a small group of outside eyes and an editor to read through and edit down the completed draft of the memoir before it is to be released for publication.

With Warmth and Gratitude,

Domenico

If you would like to buy Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity please visit:

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ Amazon (Kindle & paperback)

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ Barnes & Noble (NOOK)

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ Google Play (Android)

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ iBookstore (iPad, iPod, iPhone)

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ KOBO

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ Lulu (hardcover, paperback, ePub)

Update: Travels In The Land of Hunger, Dark Legacy: Book II - Travels, & Reviews of Trinity

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity

ebook, paperback, and hardback cover

I apologize for the long delay in updating The Legacy Cycle blog site. It is a beautiful spring day here in Barcelona and I finally have a moment to sit down and write a new post as beams of sunlight shine through my apartment's window.

Over the past few months I have received emails and messages from readers and fans of Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity wanting to know when Book II - Travels of the series will be released. I remember when I was in junior high school going every week to the Waldenbooks store that was next to the music shop where I took drum lessons hoping that the third book in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series had been released. This was before the Internet so there was no immediately accessible means for readers like me to know when King planned to release the next book. It was in the years after graduating college that Stephen King had finished the series, and so I grew up reading each book as they came out throughout my adolescent to young adult life.

In the long spaces of time between each Dark Tower book release I developed within my own mind a story that would ultimately become the Dark Legacy book series. Although Dark Legacy has almost nothing in common with The Dark Tower, Stephen King's series was what inspired me to create my own world of fantasy and my own series of books.

While I waited for King to release the next book I grew agitated that instead of working on the series he had written other books within the genre of horror. I kept thinking, Why doesn't he finish the series? Little did I know of what the writing process was like for an author and how at times it is good for an author to take a break from writing their series by working on other stories and books.

This painting entitled,
Hall of the Dragon Mist, by
Tiberius Viris may serve as the cover
art for my travel memoir,
Travels In the Land of Hunger

In the time since Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity was released I have written the first one hundred plus pages of Book II - Travels, but I have also worked on a steampunk short story entitled, The Astor House of Old Shanghai, and I have been editing a travel memoir of my 2004 journey through East and Southeast Asia. I have also written an incomplete science fiction short story entitled, Rise of the White Lion. These side projects have been healthy for my writing and leave room for books not within the Dark Legacy series, but within a much wider Legacy Cycle series.

I now plan on working and completing each project before moving on to the next. I have been editing the travel memoir over the past year and will finally finish the first complete edits next week. I will then leave it and focus on Book II - Travels. Ideally, I would like to work on Book II a little bit each day and now that I have my summer holiday around the corner I will be able to accomplish quite a bit. It is my hope that I will have the first complete draft of Book II finished by early 2014, while also releasing my travel memoir entitled, Travels In the Land of Hunger, by early 2014. Once Book II has been released, hopefully by late 2014 to early 2015, I will take a break from Dark Legacy to develop the steampunk short story, The Astor House of Old Shanghai, into a full length novel. Then I'll be back to Dark Legacy to write Book III - Tribe.

I would like to share with you some of the reviews of Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity from the past couple of months.

"This was one of the most unique books I've read in a long time; in style if not always in content. As I read it, I definitely came to the conclusion I was reading some European author, as the style was so different from anything I had read in a long time (he's not :))." - Mitchell Tyler
Read the full review on Goodreads @ http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/375996637

"Overall, this was a great read ... Domenico has an excellent tale to tell and tells it very well. I am anxiously awaiting further installments in the Dark Legacy series." - George Jaros
Read the full review on Goodreads @ http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/409215305

"I originally started out with the intro book: Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai, which is basically the first 1/4 of this book. After reading through the incredible blend of fantasy and sci-fi, mixed with Eastern philosophies, I had to buy the full book and finish it." - Mike Pearce
Read the full review on Goodreads @ http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/484677199

"In short it was an excellent book; a wonderful blend of science fiction and fantasy. I haven't checked to see if the other books in the series are released yet, but its something worth checking out if you are done with cliché books like Divergent series, the Hunger Games series, etc." - Justin Yan
Read the full review on Goodreads @ http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/285417642

"Not only does this book offer a beginning to what could become a new epic story worthy of endless numbers of fans, it exposes humanity at multiple levels. As readers, we can identify with most of the characters at one point or another, thus creating an opportunity to explore our own dark, rejected, and neglected facets coming to terms with ourselves as a whole unit. On a less personal note; it is a story that surprises the reader at every turn. Entertaining, different, NEW. Totally worth it! Can't wait for the story to continue. Hopefully we'll see a sequel soon." - Manu M.
Read the review on Amazon.com.br @
http://www.amazon.com.br/review/R2W9EUJ0B71RY9/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B006VJQCSS&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=5308307011&store=digital-text

I would like to thank each reader and fan for all of their support. It is greatly appreciated!

Now I best be getting back to writing.

With Magic,

Domenico

If you would like to buy Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity please visit:

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ Amazon (Kindle & paperback)

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ Barnes & Noble (NOOK)

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ Google Play (Android)

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ iBookstore (iPad, iPod, iPhone)

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ KOBO

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ Lulu (hardcover, paperback, ePub)

Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai available as a FREE ebook!

Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai
ebook cover

It is my great pleasure to announce that Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity is now available in five editions from ebooks to paperback to hardcover!

But before I get to the details of those five editions please take note that Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai is available as a completely FREE ebook download on Lulu, the iBookstore, the Barnes & Noble NOOK, Kobo, and Google Play.

Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai is a science fiction and fantasy novella that serves as the prologue to Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity. The FREE ebook download of The End of the Kai includes the first three chapters of Book I - Trinity, and together they amount to 180+ pages of free action-packed e-reading material!

To get your hands on a FREE digital copy of The End of the Kai select and click from the options listed below.

Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai @ Amazon (Kindle), but it currently lists for $0.99
Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai @ Barnes & Noble (NOOK)
Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai @ Google Play
Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai @ iBookstore
Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai @ KOBO
Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai @ Lulu

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity
ebook, paperback, and hardback cover

Now getting back to the five editions available of Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity (this book includes The End of the Kai). I am very pleased to announce that Dark Legacy: Trinity is available for all eReader devices from the iPad to the NOOK to the Kindle, while also being available as a 6x9 paperback on Lulu and Amazon; and--for those die-hard fans--as a 6x9 casewrap hardcover on Lulu!

To get your copy please visit the following online stores listed below.

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ Amazon (Kindle & pbk)
Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ Barnes & Noble (NOOK)
Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ Google Play

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ iBookstore

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ KOBO

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity @ Lulu (hbk, pbk, ePub)

And on a final note, be sure to visit the official website for The Legacy Cycle @

www.TheLegacyCycle.com 

2012: The Astor House and Dark Legacy: Book II - Travels

Sir Vernon Kell Portrait by Wayne Haag

It has been exactly one year since the launch of my first sci-fi/fantasy novel, Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity. And I am very proud to announce that the book has joined the 21st century by being available as an eBook for the Amazon Kindle, the Barnes & Noble NOOK, the iPad, iPhone, and iPod, as well as for most other eReaders.

You can click the following links to get the eBook version of Dark Legacy (sample the beginning of the book on Amazon for free):

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity (Lulu) $2.95

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity (Amazon Kindle) $2.99

Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity (iBookstore) $1.99
Dark Legacy: Book I - Trinity (Barnes&Noble NOOK) $1.99

During the past twelve months I have been promoting the book through all available internet avenues such as Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads.com, YouTube, and to a certain extent LinkedIn. There is still more virtual terrain to cover such as Smashwords.com and more traditional means of getting exposure through bookstore events and speaking to literature students in high schools to encourage them to also self-publish. But 2012 is the year that I need to take a break from aggressively promoting the book via the web and sit down and focus on the craft of writing. There are four literary works that I hope to hammer out over the course of this year: one is a short-story, two are novels, and one is a travel memoir.

The working title for the science fiction short story I have been kicking around for the past couple of months is Rise of the White Lion. Peter Saga of Science Fiction Freedom E'Zine was trying to put together a science fiction superhero issue back in the autumn of last year. He asked me if I could come up with something with the condition that it be based in the city where I am currently living in (Barcelona). I found the request a difficult challenge as my initial ideas were typical and easily rejected by my wife. Finally, I settled on a concept that I was content with revolving around GP Motorcycle racing, the myth of Saint George, projecting the future outcomes of the current economic crisis on the EU, aspects of Gaudí architecture, Japanese robot technology, corporate espionage, and the rise of China as a significant 21st century superpower. This is all I will say for now. I am hoping to have a final draft of the short story completed by the first week of February after which I will pass the story along to the amazingly talented concept artist, Wayne Haag, who provided the beautiful artwork for my steampunk short story, The Astor House of Old Shanghai.

After writing The Astor House of Old Shanghai as a short story and getting a lot of positive feedback and encouragement from Wayne Haag, my wife, and readers of Science Fiction Freedom E'Zine I have decided to expand the short story into a full length steampunk novel. As a result I have been reading as much as I can on the art and history of espionage, Chinese history, the Boxer Rebellion, the Spanish-American War, and the history of Shanghai during the Victorian period. I am very excited by the evolving storyline of the characters, Nicholas Winter and Sir Vernon George Waldegrave Kell (founder of MI5). A lot of the ideas, values, and concepts I have for The Astor House will in some way also feed into Dark Legacy: Book II - Travels. The storyline for Dark Legacy: Book II is still coming together in my mind and reading up on the Boxer Rebellion, Chinese history, etc. for The Astor House is helping me solidify the details and direction of Dark Legacy: Book II. I plan to finish up the first act of Dark Legacy by the summer of 2012 while working in tandem on The Astor House.

Last, but not least, is a travel memoir that I would like to publish by the end of 2012. The writing is done and it is all up on this blog (go back to entries from 2004), but I need to edit it and format it for publication. The memoir is from my travels in the late winter, spring, and summer of 2004 in Southeast Asia, East Asia, Siberia, Scandinavia, and Eastern and Western Europe. If anything my hope for the memoir is for it to stand as a document for my children, and their children, and hopefully their children; to in some way speak to future members of my family and encourage them to travel far and wide into this world. The memoir also reveals how my wife and I first met at the top of a pyramid temple in the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat on the 21st of May, 2004.

Well, let it begin. Time to sit down and write.
With magic,
Domenico