JONATHAN WEISS
Australian Sci-Fantasy Author
BOOKS
Buried beneath the dunes of the Droughtlands are the remnants of those-of-glass, the marked by the spires of steel and glass built by a people long extinct, wiped out by a fusion of unbound magic and unfathomable technology. The scavengers that brave their depths rarely come back alive. Rarer still do they bring back anything that won't end up killing them.
All the books set in the Droughtlands can be read in almost any order. In fact, that’s the intention!
A key part of the philosophy in the setting is that one’s preconceived notions and bits of prior knowledge change how events are approached and interpreted.
As you read through the series, you will gain this knowledge and be unable to let it go, a core conundrum that lies deep at the heart of this setting, forcing you, the reader, to become a part of this world.
Do you begin at the earliest point you can, blindly watching events unfolding?
Or do you glimpse the future first, and use it to reinterpret the past?
In essence, there is no one true reading order, as long as you start with Book One of any of my series and progress through them ascendingly.
I’m an independent author, which means a couple of things.
There’s no publishing house or agent behind me, so I have the final responsibility when it comes to editing, marketing and bringing the books to life.
I’m (for now) entirely self-funded, which means I’m fronting the cost to contract artists, editors and proofreaders. This comes with the upside that 100% of the proceeds of my book’ sales go straight to supporting me and my work.
There’s no one to say no to me, which creates a dangerous trust I have to place in myself as I make all these decisions and allows me to create some truly unique stories. (And don’t worry, I still listen to my editor.)
The Droughtlands is a bizarrely unique setting, and I always knew that it would be a tough sell to a publishing house, coming from an upstart nobody like I was. It wouldn’t fit into a neatly marketable genre or category, and wasn’t something that was going to be “on trend.”
I worried that the publishing process, as glacial as I’ve heard it can be, would warp the ideas I was trying to get across, and with my wild idea of alternating my releases across two series, I knew I wanted to go it alone.
It’s been a long, and at times lonely journey, but I’ve honestly never felt more fulfilled.
If you want to support me directly, the best way to do it is to purchase directly from my store.
It’s the best place to get signed books, and the only place to get exclusive art prints drawn by yours truly. Your support means the world and I can’t wait to hear from you!
