I haven’t written or posted here on this blog in a very long time. To be honest, I thought about not posting this. But I’ve been working so hard for many years on this project, and I didn’t want it to end without telling you first.

Seven years ago, I published Hunter, Valiant Book One. It was with a trad publisher, and I had NO idea what I was doing. In the Featured Image (on the then side), that was the day I got Hunter in and held my published debut book in my hands for the first time. The cover was a disaster, and this was before years of editing and rewriting, but I was so excited and proud.

I didn’t know what would happen from there, and I certainly had no idea what to expect. Then came Shifter, Valiant Book Two, some short stories I never expected. And when I got the rights back and started self-publishing a few years later, I was totally lost. I tried designing the covers for the re-release by myself (big mistake), and eventually got a designer who didn’t really design the covers the way they should have been.

I made mistake after mistake after mistake. But I worked hard. Editing and rewriting, publishing and releasing and re-releasing these books. Releasing new ones. Crying. Wanting to give up publishing when I got to Rogue, Valiant Book Four, because I was told it couldn’t be fixed by a beta reader. That, of course, led me to work with my author friend and now my editor, H.A. Pruitt. She revamped the series and my career, in a way, and I learned SO much from working with her. I remember, years and years ago, being told by one self-published author I was trying to work with on an anthology or something similar at the time that me and my books just “wasn’t professional.” So, I learned. I grew. I researched and stayed current with the trends.

When I first published, launching a book was fun. You’d make an event on Facebook, post every thirty minutes with fun games to get people engaged, and maybe do a couple of livestreams. That was it. Then, that stopped working and I had to pivot, but I didn’t know what to.

In 2024, I released my first book on Kickstarter, Immortal, a Valiant prequel. I did it again in 2025 with Survivor, Valiant Book Six. Kickstarter brought the fun back into publishing for me again. With it, I can engage with readers while offering them a book in a way that acts like a fun pre-order. They get the book and all kinds of extra goodies with it, things that won’t exist in the retail version. They can participate in polls, and I can have fun publishing again in a world that made me want to quit on more than one occasion. All the while finally feeling like I’m getting something for the years and years and years of writing, editing, rewriting, revising, marketing, publishing, and doing it all over and over again.

Being an indie author is a struggle much harder than most people think. We’re not only writing and editing, which are two very different skillsets, but we often learn how to do graphic design to some degree, we have to learn how to market and be active on social media. We either have to spend time or money or both to hire editors and cover designers and artists. We’re doing the work of an entire publishing company all on our own.

And the whole time, I kept praying and trying to seek God’s will. All the while feeling like I was standing on an island by myself because my books didn’t fit into a box. They’re fantasy books with lots of action and often times are gritty and dark, which means some Christians don’t like or can’t handle them. But the truth and redemption and Christian themes have turned away secular readers. They have romances without spice but with real emotional depth and connection and angst.

Now, I’m slowly starting to find more of my “people.” Authors and readers who are similar to me.

But it’s been a long journey to get here. So, this year, for Hunter’s 7th anniversary, I wanted to do something special. It hasn’t been easy to do this, and sometimes, it hasn’t been rewarding, but writing is and always will be a passion with me, one I feel led by God to share with others by publishing these stories.

That’s why I decided to launch Hunter on Kickstarter. Not just the retail version, but a special, exclusive 7th Anniversary Deluxe Edition.

⚔️ deluxe hardback with sprayed edges, a ribbon bookmark, full color endpapers in a brand new illustration, and another new illustration as the case laminate and the original (rebranded) cover as the dust jacket for the first time

🗺️ a brand-newly designed map of Zagerah

✍️an anniversary edition letter

🎵 Spotify playlist page with a QR code linking to the playlist (seriously, this has some AMAZING songs; 45 songs, over 2 hours and 43 minutes long so far

📖 bonus stories in print for the first time – Forgotten, the short prequel which is SO dramatic and intense, and Sightless, the dramatic short companion

So far, the backers have blown me away with all the stretch goals they have voted on and supported by backing the Kickstarter. If you back at any tier, you get all the stretch goals added onto your order totally free.

Finally, I’ve been able to see Hunter for what I always dreamed it could be. It means more to me than words can express. And it all ends in less than 48 hours. Once this version of Hunter is gone, it’s gone forever and never coming back.

What’s Kickstarter?

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform for creatives. It doesn’t work like other crowdfunding platforms, though. You as a backer aren’t charged until it funds and only when it ends. Which means no risk to you. It gives you the chance to get truly amazing books or other creative projects in a way you wouldn’t otherwise be able to, and making special deluxe editions and extra goodies like art and bookmarks possible for indie authors like me instead of just trad published authors and famous authors. On top of that, this gives you a chance to be a patron of the arts, supporting indie authors directly in a way that gives us much greater control of our royalties instead of our royalties going toward big companies.

It’s also a really fun way to find some AMAZING books. I’ve backed over ten Kickstarters and found some of the most creative books on there; books that don’t often fit into any one particular box. It also gives backers a chance to get involved with the process in a fun way.

By backing now, you’re also helping us reach our next stretch goal – Samurai’s audiobook given to all backers FREE LONG before I release it to the public on YouTube. Beyond that, if we reach more stretch goals after that, the Averell Box Set eBook will be sent to all backers on top of the other AMAZING and high quality stretch goals they’re already getting.

Hunter: Epic Fantasy 7th Anniversary Deluxe Edition!

A dark dystopian fantasy romance about survival, sacrifice, and an assassin who was never meant to love.

⚔️Do you want a Mulan-inspired heroine who disguises herself as a man and infiltrates a Hunger Games–style outdoor arena death prison to save her dying brother?

⚔️What if the most lethal Hunter, engineered to track and eliminate every prisoner, went undercover as a prisoner to expose her?

⚔️What happens when their collision sparks a no-spice, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance that could destroy them both?

In a brutal prison world where assassins called Hunters track and kill the condemned, one woman risks everything to save her brother … and falls for the Hunter sent to destroy her.

A prisoner by her own choice, Averella enters the prison known as Zagerah where the oppressive government throw innocent men and boys to be killed through brutal wilderness biomes by magically enhanced assassins known as Hunters.

The government never takes women, so Averella disguised herself as a man to save her dying brother before Zagerah destroys him too. As a Hunter, Jared has only ever known the life of a killer. Under orders, Jared infiltrates the prisoners to uncover the newest inmate’s secrets, but the closer he gets to the prisoners, the more his loyalty begins to fracture.

With her identity on the verge of discovery and no sign of her brother, Averella must survive the prison, evade the Hunters, and outrun the truth threatening to destroy them both. But how can she save her brother when she can’t even save herself?

Are you ready to enter Zagerah?

Be prepared for:

🔥Dangerous biomes

💔Lies, secrets, and betrayal

⚔️Brutal fights and high-stakes survival

🤝Found family forged through survival

🩸Sacrifice, redemption, and impossible choices

Hunter parallels with the story of Moses from the Bible and has Christian elements, but it can be read and enjoyed by anyone regardless of their faith.