The First Definition of Fortune
Book One of the Cordoned Kingdom
Pre-Order Now
Pre-Order Now
Book One of the Cordoned Kingdom
Pre-Order Now
Pre-Order Now
OVER NINE CENTURIES HAVE PASSED SINCE THE RENDING, a cataclysm that isolated the Illunni Realm from the rest of the world by a series of impassable barriers: sheer mountains, scorching desert, and a stinging barrier reef patrolled by titanic leviathans. Dwindling resources have put the realm at risk of collapse, and with the ruling family betrayed and murdered, nothing is certain.
Dez is a pickpocket, scraping together a life on the reef at the edge of the world. He dreams of finding his fortune in the distant city of Greenleg, but without so much as a pearl to his name, a better life seems further from reach than even the twin moons. When he finds gold in a drifter’s pocket, Dez thinks his prayers to the leviathan gods have been answered...only for a stranger in white to turn all his plans to ashes.
Reeling, broken, Dez finds the world a wider, stranger, and far more treacherous place than he’d imagined. Now, he must do more than survive – he must decide who he wants to be.
And always, the stranger in white draws closer.
A sweeping coming of age story, The First Definition of Fortune is at once an epic adventure and an intimate exploration of identity, belonging, and the necessity of hope.
Pre-Order Now
Cordoned Kingdom Series
CK Book #1: The First Definition of Fortune (Available for Pre-Order) (Final Touches)
CK Book #2: The Second Shape of Dreams (25% of Draft 2)
CK Novella (#2.5) (10% of Second Draft)
Beasts & Bindings Series
B&B Book #1: Untitled (100% of First Draft)
Phases: Outlining - Draft 1/2/3 - Editing 1/2 - Final Touches - Available for Pre-Order - Released
I was drawn to fantasy at an early age; I’d lived in six houses in four states by the time I turned twelve,
and a child without siblings must find companionship somewhere. Any little town has a bookstore, and every
bookstore has a corner at the back where swords and dragons and colorful magics whirl across the shelves. I
would settle into a patch of faded carpet, worn thread-bare by those who’d come before me, and return to the
only places I’d ever known to be familiar.
I rode with heroes, empathized with villains, bartered with beasts and bandits. I carried gems in my
pocket, caked with bone dust that lay thick in the dungeon’s halls. I faced the end of the world, burning
spear in hand, while suburbia groaned at my back.
I was small. I was mighty.
Now, I’ve added a facet to the great gleaming gem of fantasy. A story born on that patch of faded carpet,
carried in my heart all these many years.
My familiar place these days is Birmingham, AL, where I live with my brilliant wife, my daughter, and my
son.
Prior to moving to The South, I earned a bachelor’s degree in
English: Writing and Rhetoric from Pepperdine University, and an MBA from Samford University.
THE FIRST DEFINITION OF FORTUNE is my first novel, but more are on the way!
Back in March, I asked the r/fantasy community for help finding exceptional reads - books in that narrow band of the fantasy spectrum combining exceptional prose with emotional depth, a deep sense of meaning, and original characters who kept or…
Read on Reddit →Back in March, I asked the r/fantasy community for help finding exceptional reads - books in that narrow band of the fantasy spectrum combining exceptional prose with emotional depth, a deep sense of meaning, and original characters who kept or…
Read on Reddit →A few months ago, I asked r/fantasy for help. ( Read the original post here ) I buy books all the time – they’re the only things on which I regularly spend money – but it had been years since I’d read a story in the genre that truly moved me. I was…
Read on Reddit →I promise I will not spam you.
