I am making excellent progress on my new epic fantasy novel, tentative title Bloodless. 

As an aside, I’m not completely happy with that title. I’ve explored five or six more so far, but haven’t been able to decide. I probably won’t settle the question until the first draft is done, at least. Bloodless may end up being the title of the series.

I’m starting to think of this book as Gladiator meets The Name of the Wind. The protagonist’s life story is being told in lengthy flashbacks, showing how he ended up an arena fighter slave with an unusual magical ability. That ability has the potential to threaten the entire power structure of the Empire. But our protagonist is not interested in anything other than earning his freedom. He’s not the “chosen one.” In fact, to win his freedom, his final arena duel is against this world’s “chosen one.” What will he do?

The progress bar over on the right showed the book almost halfway through yesterday. Today, it’s dropped to 42%. That’s because I’ve realized the book is going to be longer than I originally estimated (and may still be longer than my new estimate!). Right now, I’m aiming for a length similar to the Heart of Fire books.

If all goes according to plan, you’ll be able to read this by the end of this year or very early next year.

Keep reading!