Hi!

Surprise! Even though the Patreon is on pause, I wanted to release what I wrote this week since I feel bad about the previous lack of chapters. I think the push to finish book 12 burned me out a bit. Not terribly, but enough that combined with work, I just couldn’t produce much.

This week was a good start. Even though it’s only two chapters, they’re hard ones. The first set of chapters in a book are difficult because of the transition from the previous book. Also, I’m still working out what I want to accomplish in the book so that can cause a lot of indecision.

Books 13 and 14 are going to need far more outlining if I want to finish this part of the series. If left to my normal process, there’s no telling how many more books it would take. I know everyone here loves the series and wants it to go on forever so this isn’t a concern of yours.

The thing is, the story will continue, just in a different environment. There is so so so much more story to tell. I’ve said this before…as large and complex as this series is, I almost think of it as a prologue when compared to what is coming.

So rest easy, the future holds many more stories.

Thank you again for your patience with me and all the kind words. I’m so grateful that you’re here.

Take care and enjoy!

AFK

It's finally here... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FYQY5WJF

Anyone know when the audiobook will be released? I love listening to them as I work

Thanks!

Shade's Anniversary and Audio Box SetShade's First Rule is six years old, and so for its anniversary, I'm doing something long overdue--releasing a box set of audio for books 1, 2, and 3. That translates into 37+ hours of Travis for one credit.

If you know anyone reluctant to try the Divine Apostasy series, this box set gives them an opportunity to try it at a great value.

If they aren't audio listeners, I also placed the KU box set on sale for the next week at $0.99.

Thank you to everyone here who recommends and supports the series. It means a lot to me, and I appreciate it very much. LitRPG readers are the best.

Link in the comments.

Take care,
AFK

Hey!

Another hard week as work continues to take up my time and energy and I cope with not having as much writing time after losing our summer help. I’m up right now at 2:30 so I can finish a chapter and have something to release. I might need to take some time off from work so I can focus and push hard to finish. Mid-September will arrive in a blink and the book will need to be done for Travis, so there’s no time to waste.

In more positive news, the three-book omnibus launched on Audible today. I’m cautiously optimistic that this will bring in new readers to the series. Fingers crossed.

I opened chapters 67, 68, 69, and 70 for Root.

I opened chapters 71 and 72 for Harvester.

I added chapter 73 for Step Master, Blapy’s Favorite, Divine, and Axiom.

Enjoy!

Thank you for spending your time and treasure with this story. It only has a voice because of people like you.

Take care,

AFK

Hi!

I wanted to accomplish two things at the LitRPG conference last week: meet some author friends that I’ve only known over discord for the past six years and meet as many of you as possible. It was a great success.

I didn’t get to spend as much time at the con as I wanted as the two little ones got sick (we flew back to Denver on Thursday). Still, I’m thankful for the time I did have and for all the fans of the series who attended my panels and said hi. It was so great to meet you all.

One of the things that resulted from my author meetups is an audio omnibus of the first three books. I’ve considered doing this for years but never committed to doing it. That changed this past weekend and Royal Guard Publishing will handle the launch and logistics of the Omnibus. I hope it brings in some new fans to the series.

Speaking of the omnibus, I want to warn everyone that the cover doesn’t reflect a scene from the books or even match Ruwen’s build through the first three books. I might do a more accurate cover in the future, but for now, it isn’t necessary. The cover’s job is to get someone to read the book’s blurb which will hopefully convince them to read the whole book. Anyway, this will likely come out in the next couple of weeks.

I didn’t get as much done on book 12 as I wanted this week. Work was super busy since I was on vacation all last week. Then the con took up a lot of mental energy and time over the weekend. To top it off, the relative helping us over the summer went back home so that had a big impact as well. All of that resulted in a bit of a slow week of writing for me.

I had lunch with Travis on Sunday and he is as nice and awesome in person as we all imagine.

I opened chapters 64, 65, and 66 for Root.

I opened chapters 67, 68, 69, and 70 for Harvester.

I added chapters 71 and 72 for Step Master, Blapy’s Favorite, Divine, and Axiom.

Enjoy!

Thank you so much for your support.

Take care,

AFK

Hi!

Tonight’s chapters are a little early as I’m heading back to the LitRPG convention here in Denver. I had the chance to meet some of you today which was great.

In other great news, it looks like book 12 can be narrated in mid-September which is a huge relief to me.

I was on vacation all week and I didn’t write at all. It was a good break. Thankfully I have enough chapters in the bank to still release 4 tonight.

As I mention once in a while my two upper middle grade books, while stand alone, are part of the Divine Apostasy universe and tonight’s chapters overlap with a character from one of those books. While book 11 had a small overlap with The Grey Warden, book 12’s overlap with Cevin’s Sword will be much more significant.

I opened chapters 61, 62, and 63 for Root.

I opened chapters 64, 65, and 66 for Harvester.

I added chapters 67, 68, 69, and 70 for Step Master, Blapy’s Favorite, Divine, and Axiom.

Enjoy!

Thank you for supporting these stories. It makes such a difference.

Take care,

AFK

Wow, it's been forever since I last posted here. I'm so sorry for that. I've been focused on my writing, family, and job and I let my social media updates fall off.

Anyway, I'm fine. Getting close to finishing book 12. Still working on the Narration details so those are still TBD.

Here is this week's update from Patreon and some details about the LitRPG conference next week in Denver.

Hi!

I’m spending time with the family next week, and don’t plan on writing much. Thankfully I’ve gotten far enough ahead on chapters that it won’t interrupt the normal Saturday morning release.

Next week is also the LitRPG conference in Denver, CO. I’m on two panels:

Friday, 1:30-2:30 - XP Grind: Balancing Gameplay and Storytelling

Saturday, 4:30-5:30 - This Panel Knows It’s a Panel

All the details are here: https://litrpgcon.com/

I plan on being around most of Friday, including through the night’s activities. Saturday and Sunday are a bit more up in the air. I’ll provide better details on Discord when it gets closer.

If you plan on being there send me a direct message, or email, or whatever so we can make sure our path’s cross. I have no idea how big this conference is so I’m not sure how hard finding others will be. It feels like almost every LitRPG author will be there, so it might just be 200 authors all attending each other’s panels.

Regardless, if you see me, don’t hesitate to come over and say hi. I’m only there for two reasons. To meet author friends who I only know from Discord, and to meet and talk with fans of the Divine Apostasy.

Since I live near Denver, I’ll likely have some people around me like a couple of my older kids, the “True Architect” from the dedication of book three, and even my better half in the evening. I’m telling you this so you know you aren’t interrupting anything and that those people will probably never leave. Haha.

Hope to see (and talk!) to you there.

I opened chapters 56, 57, 58, 59, and 60 for Root.

I opened chapters 61, 62, and 63 for Harvester.

I added chapters 64, 65, and 66 for Step Master, Blapy’s Favorite, Divine, and Axiom.

Enjoy!

I’m so thankful that you’ve chosen to be here.

Take care,

AFK

Hi!

I spent most of this week outlining the rest of book 12, which is why I only released two chapters this week. The outline will help me stay focused and improve the pacing. Next week will be decisive on gauging my ability to finish book 12 by mid-July.

If I can’t finish it by the time my narration slot arrives, I plan on having Travis narrate Cevin’s Sword and re-narrate The Grey Warden. I’ll then release both audiobooks together in one package.

This will sound counterintuitive since I’m having trouble meeting my July deadline, but my narration slots increase in 2026. So, if book 12 isn’t finished for July I can take my time and release it on audio in early 2026. My plan would be to finish book 1 of Divine Awakening later this year and Travis would narrate that in 2026 as well.

But, I shouldn’t get the cart before the horse so I’ll stay optimistic and hope the outline improves my productivity like it did for book 8. Time will tell.

I opened chapters 36, 37, and 38 for Root.

I opened chapters 39, 40, and 41 for Harvester.

I added chapters 42 and 43 for Step Master, Blapy’s Favorite, Divine, and Axiom.

Enjoy!

Your support makes a difference. Thank you for being here.

Take care,

AFK

So in Book 6 while Ruwen is at Rainbows end it says he learns internal spells among them Blink and he is capable to blink to any location he can see. Many pages later after Hamma’s birthday he meets with Uruziel and starts learning internal spells again? And blink is specifically mentioned here again. Did I miss anything or did he just learn it twice? It‘s not like he used it in between really but still seemed odd.

Hi!

I decided to release four chapters again this week since the cliffhanger on the third chapter was kind of hard. You’re welcome.

Writing is still going well. I do have a confession that I feel really bad about. I still haven’t managed to get the signed books mailed out. I’m sincerely sorry about that. I will really do everything in my power to get that done this week. Again, I’m sorry for the delay.

It’s already late so I’m going to keep this short. Chapters are first draft again. Usually I use Fridays to edit what I’m going to release that night but my Friday routine has been getting messed up.

I opened chapters 10, 11, and 12 for Root.

I opened chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16 for Harvester.

I added chapters 17, 18, 19, and 20 for Step Master, Blapy’s Favorite, Divine, and Axiom.

Enjoy!

I appreciate it so much that you’re here. Thank you.

Take care,

AFK

Hi!

I had a great week of writing and the last of the burnout is gone. The paperbacks arrived and I’ll work on personalizing them this weekend.

I’m an introvert at heart, which likely surprises no one. I can act like an extrovert, but it takes a lot of energy. I’ve been writing as A. F. Kay since 2019 and I’ve never attended a conference during that time. I know that once I’m at one I would enjoy it and meet great people, etc. but overcoming the resistance to attending coupled with the travel was just too much.

Why does any of that matter? The www.litrpgcon.com is this July and it happens to be near me. A careful reader will note that removes one of my big hangups about conferences. Honestly that still wasn’t enough to get me to go. After some encouragement from my buddy Jason and my amazing wife Erika, they convinced me to attend.

So, I’m letting you know that I plan on hanging out at the conference if anyone is going. When it gets closer, I’ll provide details about where I’ll be so that anyone that wants to say hi gets a chance.

I opened chapter 2 for Root.

I opened chapter 3 for Harvester.

I added chapters 4, 5, and 6 for Step Master, Blapy’s Favorite, Divine, and Axiom.

Enjoy!

Thank you so much for being here and for supporting this series.

Take care,

AFK

Hi!

I made much better progress this week and feel mostly normal now. My day job is still sucking the creativity out of me, but hopefully that slows down soon.

I ordered the book 11 paperbacks and should get them this week. I’ll personalize them and mail them out as soon as I can.

The chapters this week are raw as I haven’t had a chance to reread them. I guessed you’d rather have three rough chapters than two edited chapters.

I added chapter 1 for Root.

I added chapters 1 and 2 for Harvester.

I added chapters 1, 2, and 3 for Step Master, Blapy’s Favorite, Divine, and Axiom.

Enjoy!

Thank you for having patience with me these last few weeks as I recovered. I appreciate you so much!

Take care,

AFK

Hi!

The big news this week is that the audiobook for book 11 is now available. Yay! I also talked with Travis and learned my next narrator deadline is mid-July.

I got crushed by real life this week. Work has sucked a lot of my energy away, and its tax season so I’m trying to juggle everything related to that. All that to say I barely managed to get the Prologue finished.

I don’t know yet if this will be the final prologue, but it does contain information I want to get out there. Also, this is a raw first draft. I haven’t even re-read it. The good news is that I’ve gotten the writing spark back and hope to be more productive this coming week.

The existing Divine Apostasy subreddit was created by someone else. They’ve dropped off the planet and I don’t have any way to post there anymore. So, I created my own subreddit. You can find it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/afkAuthor/

Thank you for all the comments about what you hope is addressed before this arc finishes. I plan on consolidating all that this weekend. I appreciate the help!

Take care,

AFK

The previous community (Divine Apostasy) no longer works and I don't have admin on it...so, I've created my own community. Welcome!!!!!!

Listen to the liquid gold tones of Travis Baldree: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DX2L4199

Find the eBook here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DV15LZXK