The book goes out to beta readers

Today the very first copies of The Gathering of Chaos went out to beta readers! Yaayyy! As you can see, these are definitely the low-rent version of ARCs. Can I even call them ARCs? I’m going to. They can’t stop me.

Uhhh… you may notice a discrepancy in the title there. Is it A Gathering or The Gathering? That’s an excellent question, and I haven’t decided the answer. I’d love your input if you have a preference.

The art, while totally awesome, is a placeholder drawn from the Asunder RPG worldbook. I don’t have a character that looks like this. What you’re seeing is a priestess (or Hand) of the Joining of Gaia, an earth cult that’s centered on one of the islands not far from the mainland.

I do have a Hand of the Joining as one of my four main characters, but she’s older, and way meaner. She might just be my favorite of the bunch.

I always wondered how I’d get beta readers. The answer, as it turns out, was to do nothing. Huh! A guy named Adam, one of the creators of the Asunder RPG and who happens to also be one of my oldest and dearest friends, is connected to a couple of book club groups out in LA, and they’re all 20-and-30-something fantasy and sci-fi fans. He didn’t have to push hard to get them to agree to give feedback on a book nobody else has yet. Pretty cool!

I also sent out query letters to a handful of literary agents this last week, which was ridiculously nerve-wracking. I know it’ll be weeks before I hear anything, but that’s not stopping me from obsessively checking my email. Seriously, this is like grad school applications all over again. Why am I doing this, again? (Oh, right: because I hate doing scientific research and would way rather write fiction. I knew there was something.)

So, hey, let me know: Do you prefer A Gathering of Chaos, or The Gathering of Chaos? A subtle distinction, I know, but this is what’s keeping me up at night these days. Or would you prefer something else entirely? Leave a comment and bless me with your genius.