Castle of Spells (Island of Fog, Book 9) is published!

Posted on August 20, 2014 (Subscribe to Blog)

It's here! Book 9 in the Island of Fog series is published, completing not only the second of a two-part story but also the entire "Hal" series that started over five years ago in April 2009.

Castle of Spells (Island of Fog, Book 9)

The hostage crisis is over, but Molly and Blair remain in the clutches of Queen Bee and her Swarm. Not only that, but the scrags now have the power to create shapeshifters!

Hal and his friends set out to infiltrate the Swarm's hideout, a castle perched on the cliff over the coastal town of Brodon. But the confined spaces make it difficult to transform, and Hal resorts to secrecy and sabotage rather than outright dragon mayhem.

A battle is inevitable, though, and the shapeshifters of Carter join forces on the beach to confront the newly transformed scrag monsters of Brodon.

Book 9, CASTLE OF SPELLS, is the last in the ISLAND OF FOG series, paving the way for future one-off tales about other characters and creatures in this rich, magical world.

This book is available on Kindle US, Kindle UK, Nook, Apple, and Kobo.

Writing two books back to back like this has been hard work. I started writing them in February this year, and here we are, six months later, with two completed novels. Not bad going, eh? It's been very hard work, and I'm relieved it's over. Am I sad Hal's story is told? Strangely, no, not yet. At the moment, I'm just looking forward to future projects -- publishing Sleep Writer, starting on Fractured Book 2, then working on Island of Fog spinoff tales and Quincy's Curse 2, and so on. But one day I'm sure I'll yearn for another Hal story. Never say never, right?

As a side note, I've sold over 10,000 books in my Island of Fog series to date, which is not bad but still peanuts when I read about those who sell 600 a DAY (the mind boggles). I'm happy, though. It's a source of income, which means these days I can justifiably devote a slice of time to writing. One day in the future, maybe I'll earn enough from writing to give up my day job... Hehe. Yeah.

Another statistic is that I've given away about 66,000 of the first book for free on Amazon alone, with thousands more on Kobo, Apple, and other platforms. If I've given away 66,000 of the first book and sold 10,000 of the others, I have to wonder what happened to the other 54,000 readers? Maybe they haven't gotten around to reading their free book yet? Maybe they didn't like it? Maybe I shouldn't stare too hard at these numbers...?

Look for the print editions of Books 8 and 9 coming in September!

Comment by BRIAN CLOPPER on Wednesday, August 20, 2014...

Congratulations, Keith! Books 8 and 9 are wonderful entries into your series! Readers are in for a real treat! I envy those who can read them back to back.

Comment by KEITH ROBINSON on Wednesday, August 20, 2014...

Thanks, Brian! I envy them too, hehe. To read them with completely fresh eyes is something I can never do. Isn't that sad?

Comment by BRIAN B on Wednesday, August 20, 2014...

Congrats Keith. Truly a solid achievement. I can't wait for the print copies. I dislike reading PDFs on a phone!

Comment by ROGER ESCHBACHER on Thursday, August 21, 2014...

Congrats on a job well done. This series was consistently good from beginning to end!

Comment by KEITH ROBINSON on Thursday, August 21, 2014...

Thanks, Roger. And I'm on it, Brian B! :-)

Comment by ANNA on Monday, August 25, 2014...

Hi
I read IOF 9 in a day and loved it, the only thing I didn't like was the fact that it was the last of the series! And I doubt I'll find a replacement any time soon.
At the end of the book you said that you might do some standalone books and where open to suggestion.
Well I would love it if they were focused on each of Hal's shapeshifting friends: Emily and the mountain naga , Darcy and the not-as-nice-as-they-seem Drayads, fenton and thomas or Lauren and Robbie... you know, going on solo (or duo) shapeshifter missions.
Anyway, I'm sure whatever you do will be great!!!

Comment by KEITH ROBINSON on Monday, August 25, 2014...

Thank you, Anna! I like your suggestions and was pleased you'd mentioned Emily and Darcy in particular. I'll definitely deal with them in some form. My plan is to do three relatively short stories per book. So, for example, one books is entitled "Naga, Dryads, and Manticores" where we have three separate tales about Emily, Darcy, and Thomas. Another book might "Sylphs, Ogres, and Scrags." These are just rough examples, of course. I'd like to explore what Robbie went through to get the ogres to help Fenton get the lizard out of the cave during Mountain of Whispers.

Glad you liked Book 9! :-)

Comment by SHALIA on Thursday, September 4, 2014...

Hi,

Loved this series! So sad it's over. Would be cool if you wrote a book based on the characters when they are adults.

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