Happy Monday to everyone!

I’m D.P. Woolliscroft (or just Dave to most folks) and I’m really excited to be here today to reveal the cover for Volume 3 of the Wildfire Cycle, Ajiwiak, and to share some other goodies from inside the book.

The Wildfire Cycle

For those of you who aren’t familiar with The Wildfire Cycle, it begins with Kingshold (a SPFBO semi-finalist) and is the focused story of a realm transitioning from a monarchy to a proto-democracy via a magically enabled election. A down on his luck bard, the daughter of the ancient wizard who founded the country, a high-end thief and a palace servant girl eventually come together to try to sway the election to an outcome that would be good for the common people. But of course, there are assassins, pirates, immense magical creatures and their own naivety as obstacles along the way. 

What starts out as a small contained story based in one city, expands in Book 2, Ioth, of which I will say little for fear of spoiling it if you haven’t read it (though if you have, then you probably have some scars). There is a book of short stories, or Tales, that follows each of my novels, now lovingly combined with the novels into individual, gorgeous volumes (which were revealed at Fantasy Book Critic last week)

Ajiwiak

Now we’re onto book 3, and before I reveal the cover, how about I show you the blurb, though I have redacted one sentence for spoilers.

ALL IT TAKES, IS A SINGLE SPARK

Llewdon, ageless elf and Emperor of Pyrfew, has his sights set on becoming a god, and only the collective sacrifice of thousands of Alfjarun from Alfaria, the Wild Continent, can carry him there. Kingshold is —– and Ioth —–; his plans are proceeding exactly as intended.

But Neenahwi and Motega of the decimated Wolfclaw clan have returned to Alfaria with the heroes of Kingshold as their companions. Can they navigate a homeland that has changed much since they were children to bring the clans together to resist Pyrfew? And what role will the fabled city of Ajiwiak, home of the first of their people have to play in their liberation?

Continuing the acclaimed Wildfire Cycle, this third volume includes Ajiwiak, The Mother Tree (Book 3) and Tales of Ajiwiak (Book 3.5).

And now here is the cover…

I’m super happy with how Jeff Brown has captured my vision for Ajiwiak, and it may be my favorite cover so far. By the way, Ajiwiak is the name to both the city built in the mountain and the name of the Mother Tree that perches atop it. Brag Bergman has done the design for the cover and I love how the detail around the title of Ajiwiak captures the feel of the people of the city. As usual for the the Wildfire Cycle, the cover image is but one part of a greater landscape image that was done by Jeff. 

Two of my favorite things from this image; the landship sailing through the farmland in the valley at the foot of the mountain range and a little surprise peaking out from the branches of the Tree. 

I hope you love the covers as much as I do. Ajiwiak is released on December 17th and pre-orders are live HERE. 

Bonus Content!

Ajiwiak is set in a place referred to as the Wild Continent and there is an in-story reference to a book called “Flora and Fauna of the Wild Continent”, written by an explorer. I have included some excerpts from that fictional book in the Tales of Ajiwiak portion of Ajiwiak which I would like to give you a little sneak peek. 

But first, a little context as to what was the inspiration. At the Morgan Library in New York, there are a series of painting and descriptions of the plant, animal and human life of the Caribbean late in the sixteenth century collectively known as Histoire Naturelle des Indes or the Drake Manuscripts (as they were created during Sir Francis Drake’s expeditions to the region). They are definitely somewhat of a colonialist relic, but if you would like to check them out then you can see them here.

It was really fun for me to draw pictures of a similar style for the wildlife of the Wild Continent, or Alfaria as it should actually be known. Here are a few of my favorites.

Thanks again to the Fantasy Hive for having me here today.

If you’d like to catch up on the Wildfire Cycle then the boxset of the first half of the series is available HERE.

Born in Derby in England, on the day before mid-summers day, David Peter Woolliscroft was very nearly magical. If only his dear old mum could have held on for another day. But magic called out to him over the years, with a many a book being devoured for its arcane properties. David studied Accounting at Cardiff University where numbers weaved their own kind of magic and he has since been a successful business leader in the intervening twenty years.

Adventures have been had. More books devoured and then one day, David had read enough where the ideas he had kept bottled up needed a release valve. And thus, rising out of the self doubt like a phoenix at a clicky keyboard, a writer was born. Kingshold is David’s debut novel and Tales of Kingshold, companion short stories to the novel, are flooding onto the page as fast as David can write them.

He is married to his wife Haneen and has a daughter Liberty, who all live with their mini golden doodle Rosie in Princeton NJ. David is one of the few crabs to escape the crab pot.