Once a Hero

Once a Hero was my first published fantasy novel, and is still one of my best books. In preparing the text for this electronic release, I got caught up again and again in the text. I was definitely in the zone when I wrote this book and there are sections so good that I scarcely believe I wrote them.

One of the reasons it is so special a novel was because, as I was writing the book, my editor, Janna Silverstein, sent me the cover. I read the back cover copy and it gave away the fact that my hero dies and is brought back from the dead. I called her up and said, “Um, you guys just gave away the book’s climax.” And she told me that Neal’s death and resurrection was what made Once a Hero a “Bantam Spectra book.” The back cover copy was not going to change.

What did change was how I wrote the book. Bantam had bought it based on an outline and two chapters: One and Two. The prolog, which you can download through the store for free, was added later, when I started writing the book. My feeling was that a lot of fantasy readers—especially those within the gaming industry—were guys, and I wanted them fixing on Neal from the start. With the back cover copy revealing what it did, my focus shifted from building Neal’s death and resurrection as a shock, and into making it something everyone dreaded.

I believe I succeeded.

Once a Hero is, without a doubt, one of my most favorite books. In fact, if only one of my novels can live on for eternity, this is the one I’d pick.

Bantam stopped offering the mass market paperback a number of years go. They have made the book available as a trade paperback at $24.00. It is my very great pleasure to make this electronic version of the book available for $4.00. The package includes a copy of the map, which you can print out. (It looks great if you have some parchment-type paper!)

Click on the picture above, and you’ll go right to the store to snag it.