The Mukhtaar Estate

The Mukhtaar Estate is Now Open

Nat Russo Books, Editing, Facebook, Fantasy, Humor, Necromancer, Opinion, Publishing, Writers, Writing Leave a Comment

I’ve been receiving a lot of questions lately about writing, The Mukhtaar Chronicles, music, dogs, books…you name it. And they’ve been coming at me from about 10 different directions all at once. Well, I’ve finally decided to embrace the fact that I live on Facebook most of the time. Yes, I still respond on Twitter, and I always participate in discussions that take place in the comments section here at the blog. But I’m on Facebook ALL – OF – THE – TIME. It’s a sickness. You should feel sorry for me, really, now that I think about it. Anyway, I’m proud to announce the grand opening of The Mukhtaar Estate, a Facebook discussion group geared towards…well, it’s geared towards …

About Nat Russo

Nat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s gone from pizza maker, to radio DJ, to Catholic seminarian (in a Benedictine monastery, of all places), to police officer, to software engineer. His career has taken him from central Texas to central Germany, where he worked as a defense contractor for Northrop Grumman. He's spent most of his adult life developing software, playing video games, running a Cub Scout den, gaining/losing weight, and listening to every kind of music under the sun. Along the way he managed to earn a degree in Philosophy and a black belt in Tang Soo Do. He currently makes his home in central Texas with his wife, teenager, mischievous beagle, and goofy boxador.

Necromancer Ascending Update

Nat Russo Necromancer, News, Process 4 Comments

“So, Nat, how about a Necromancer Ascending update?” That’s the current most-frequently-asked question, not only on social media and here at Erindor Press, but even from my colleagues at my day job! However, in order to actually give you that Necromancer Ascending update, I have to talk a little about process first. I’ve written several articles about my writing process over the last few years, and I’ve been interviewed a dozen times or so by people who are all interested in the same thing: What does the process of writing a novel look like? My answer? Controlled chaos. About Nat RussoNat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised …

About Nat Russo

Nat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s gone from pizza maker, to radio DJ, to Catholic seminarian (in a Benedictine monastery, of all places), to police officer, to software engineer. His career has taken him from central Texas to central Germany, where he worked as a defense contractor for Northrop Grumman. He's spent most of his adult life developing software, playing video games, running a Cub Scout den, gaining/losing weight, and listening to every kind of music under the sun. Along the way he managed to earn a degree in Philosophy and a black belt in Tang Soo Do. He currently makes his home in central Texas with his wife, teenager, mischievous beagle, and goofy boxador.

Villains Are Made, Not Born – by J.M. Robison

Nat Russo Characterization, Guest Posts 1 Comment

Today at Erindor Press, I’m happy to bring you a guest post by J.M. Robison. It’s a great take on how to bring more depth to your villain’s personality and how to avoid some of the pitfalls well-known authors have fallen into.  Enjoy! – Nat The inspiration for this blog post comes from The Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind. It came about at the part where character X is kidnapped by Mistress A. Mistress A declares she will “train” X by inflicting massive pain upon him. Like any logical person, X asks her,“And what is the purpose of my training, Mistress A?” To which she replies: “To teach you the meaning of pain. To teach you that your life is no longer …

About Nat Russo

Nat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s gone from pizza maker, to radio DJ, to Catholic seminarian (in a Benedictine monastery, of all places), to police officer, to software engineer. His career has taken him from central Texas to central Germany, where he worked as a defense contractor for Northrop Grumman. He's spent most of his adult life developing software, playing video games, running a Cub Scout den, gaining/losing weight, and listening to every kind of music under the sun. Along the way he managed to earn a degree in Philosophy and a black belt in Tang Soo Do. He currently makes his home in central Texas with his wife, teenager, mischievous beagle, and goofy boxador.

Barnes & Noble CEO Predicts Two Years Left

Nat Russo News, Publishing Leave a Comment

Barnes & Noble CEO Len Riggio Predicts only two years remain for B&N’s viability as a business if drastic measures aren’t taken. Riggio admits that while educational toys and games have slowed the decline in sales, he has no idea what the “magic bullet” is to turn things around. About Nat RussoNat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s gone from pizza maker, to radio DJ, to Catholic seminarian (in a Benedictine monastery, of all places), to police officer, to software engineer. His career has taken him from central Texas to central Germany, where he worked …

About Nat Russo

Nat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s gone from pizza maker, to radio DJ, to Catholic seminarian (in a Benedictine monastery, of all places), to police officer, to software engineer. His career has taken him from central Texas to central Germany, where he worked as a defense contractor for Northrop Grumman. He's spent most of his adult life developing software, playing video games, running a Cub Scout den, gaining/losing weight, and listening to every kind of music under the sun. Along the way he managed to earn a degree in Philosophy and a black belt in Tang Soo Do. He currently makes his home in central Texas with his wife, teenager, mischievous beagle, and goofy boxador.

Black Magic on Black Friday!

Nat Russo Books, Giveaway, Holiday, Promotions 6 Comments

Hi friends! I really need your help this coming weekend. I promise it’ll be easy. All you have to do is mention me to someone. But first, I hope everyone in the USA is enjoying their Thanksgiving holiday! For those of you who reside elsewhere, you may have heard of this crazy American thing called “Black Friday.” It usually involves braving violent crowds and idiots who can’t park. [Who am I kidding…that’s a normal Sunday at Walmart!] This is where you come in. I need your help to spread the word about Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. The first will be more than 75% off on Friday, the latter is somewhere around 40%, and I’ll be listing The Road To Dar …

About Nat Russo

Nat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s gone from pizza maker, to radio DJ, to Catholic seminarian (in a Benedictine monastery, of all places), to police officer, to software engineer. His career has taken him from central Texas to central Germany, where he worked as a defense contractor for Northrop Grumman. He's spent most of his adult life developing software, playing video games, running a Cub Scout den, gaining/losing weight, and listening to every kind of music under the sun. Along the way he managed to earn a degree in Philosophy and a black belt in Tang Soo Do. He currently makes his home in central Texas with his wife, teenager, mischievous beagle, and goofy boxador.

Map of the Three Kingdoms

Nat Russo Art, Maps, Necromancer, World Creation Leave a Comment

I was reminded this morning by a post on Twitter that I’ve yet to make a map of the Three Kingdoms widely available. The reason is I will be having an artist professionally render my hand-drawn scribblings in the near future, perhaps before (or around the time of) the publication of book 3, Necromancer Ascending. But why wait? So, here’s a rendering that I made a long time ago in Campaign Cartographer 3 (absolutely INCREDIBLE software!). My apologies to Campaign Cartographer 3. I’m like a toddler using Photoshop to draw stick figures. Oh, and you should be able to click on the image to enlargificate it. That’s not a word…but it should be. 😀 Books set in the Erindor universe: Necromancer …

About Nat Russo

Nat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s gone from pizza maker, to radio DJ, to Catholic seminarian (in a Benedictine monastery, of all places), to police officer, to software engineer. His career has taken him from central Texas to central Germany, where he worked as a defense contractor for Northrop Grumman. He's spent most of his adult life developing software, playing video games, running a Cub Scout den, gaining/losing weight, and listening to every kind of music under the sun. Along the way he managed to earn a degree in Philosophy and a black belt in Tang Soo Do. He currently makes his home in central Texas with his wife, teenager, mischievous beagle, and goofy boxador.

Erindor Press is Now SSL Certified!

Nat Russo News 2 Comments

That’s right! Erindor Press now has its very own SSL site certificate! You should see a green lock icon in your address bar (in Chrome. I’m not sure how other browsers represent SSL connectivity). What does this mean for you? Without getting into the technical details, it means browsing around on Erindorpress.com just got a LOT more private. So, click away! Enjoy the content! About Nat RussoNat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s gone from pizza maker, to radio DJ, to Catholic seminarian (in a Benedictine monastery, of all places), to police officer, to software engineer. …

About Nat Russo

Nat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s gone from pizza maker, to radio DJ, to Catholic seminarian (in a Benedictine monastery, of all places), to police officer, to software engineer. His career has taken him from central Texas to central Germany, where he worked as a defense contractor for Northrop Grumman. He's spent most of his adult life developing software, playing video games, running a Cub Scout den, gaining/losing weight, and listening to every kind of music under the sun. Along the way he managed to earn a degree in Philosophy and a black belt in Tang Soo Do. He currently makes his home in central Texas with his wife, teenager, mischievous beagle, and goofy boxador.

Common Writing Myths

Nat Russo Art, Basics, Opinion, Writing 20 Comments

There are very few objective truths about writing. I think there are some (you’ll typically suck at first, a strong noun/verb is better than a weak noun/verb with a qualifier, remove needless words, etc). But most of these “objective truths” are little more than common writing myths.   There are a host of suppositions masquerading as axioms: – Show don’t tell – Writers must write every day – Writers can’t not write – Never use an adverb – Writing can’t be taught   And so many more… About Nat RussoNat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s …

About Nat Russo

Nat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s gone from pizza maker, to radio DJ, to Catholic seminarian (in a Benedictine monastery, of all places), to police officer, to software engineer. His career has taken him from central Texas to central Germany, where he worked as a defense contractor for Northrop Grumman. He's spent most of his adult life developing software, playing video games, running a Cub Scout den, gaining/losing weight, and listening to every kind of music under the sun. Along the way he managed to earn a degree in Philosophy and a black belt in Tang Soo Do. He currently makes his home in central Texas with his wife, teenager, mischievous beagle, and goofy boxador.

My Experience With Amazon Giveaways

Nat Russo Marketing, Opinion, Platform, Promotions 23 Comments

Amazon recently added a new tool they call “Amazon Giveaways” to our marketing toolbox. Using Amazon Giveaways, the book publisher can purchase an arbitrary number of copies of their book and have Amazon distribute them “free” to people who participate in the giveaway. I’m not going to spend much time on “how to” in this article. There are a lot of resources out there that will get you started with Amazon Giveaways (including the wonderful resource written by my friend and fellow author Nicholas Rossis: How To Set Up An Amazon Giveaway). Instead, I’d like to talk about my experience and lessons learned after running two separate Amazon giveaways of the same title, Necromancer Awakening. About Nat RussoNat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling …

About Nat Russo

Nat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s gone from pizza maker, to radio DJ, to Catholic seminarian (in a Benedictine monastery, of all places), to police officer, to software engineer. His career has taken him from central Texas to central Germany, where he worked as a defense contractor for Northrop Grumman. He's spent most of his adult life developing software, playing video games, running a Cub Scout den, gaining/losing weight, and listening to every kind of music under the sun. Along the way he managed to earn a degree in Philosophy and a black belt in Tang Soo Do. He currently makes his home in central Texas with his wife, teenager, mischievous beagle, and goofy boxador.

Necromancer Falling Hits 3 Bestseller Lists in UK

Nat Russo Books, Necromancer, News, Publishing, Releases 4 Comments

I woke up to some amazing news this morning. In less than 24 hours since publication, Necromancer Falling has hit 3 Amazon bestseller lists in the UK, and two “Hot New Releases” lists overall! Thank you all so much for the overwhelming outpouring of support you’ve all shown. This is truly mindblowing! In the US: #22 in Hot New Releases for Metaphysical Fantasy #35 in Hot New Releases for New Adult & College In the UK: #65 on the Metaphysical and Visionary Fantasy Bestsellers list (both “Books” and “Kindle Store”…which I don’t understand since there’s no paperback yet, but I’ll take it!) #72 on the Low Fantasy Bestsellers list. Thank you all so much!   About Nat RussoNat Russo is …

About Nat Russo

Nat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s gone from pizza maker, to radio DJ, to Catholic seminarian (in a Benedictine monastery, of all places), to police officer, to software engineer. His career has taken him from central Texas to central Germany, where he worked as a defense contractor for Northrop Grumman. He's spent most of his adult life developing software, playing video games, running a Cub Scout den, gaining/losing weight, and listening to every kind of music under the sun. Along the way he managed to earn a degree in Philosophy and a black belt in Tang Soo Do. He currently makes his home in central Texas with his wife, teenager, mischievous beagle, and goofy boxador.