The good news: the paperback editions of all main sequence novels will soon be appearing on the web sites of US books stores such as Barnes and Noble, just like the collected editions and expansion episodes (as previously announced).

This will of course include Whom Gods Shall Fear when it releases later this year.

The bad news is that prices have increased. Paper and printing costs have gone up dramatically, and print services did (to be fair to them) hold back these increases for as long as they could. I too have delayed passing them on since they were passed on to me in June, but now it's got to the silly point of receiving a $0.03 royalty on a sale.

Whether in print or Kindle ebook form, the collected editions remain the most economical way to purchase new Armadaverse books.

If you are not that concerned about having the latest and greatest edition, there are clearance copies on this site's official store. These are surplus copies from stock for direct sales at conventions, and are effectively brand new. They've just been superseded by an edition with a new cover and a cosmetic edit.

The Armada Wars Discord server has been ditched since it was complete overkill for this brand. To my knowledge a single person joined, and — very understandably — left when they saw that there was nobody there to talk to. Maybe one day...

Armada Wars is now on Threads, which is potentially a better place for comments, discussions, and questions. If you're over there already, why not follow and engage.

A long time ago, in a galaxy right here, this site had a user forum. That was its one nod to the concept of a fan community, and it disappeared when the software support was withdrawn.

There is a built-in membership system. It's a little quaint but it does work, so it's now been switched on. You can register and log in from the navigation menu — you'll also be prompted to do one of those if you land on a page that requires sign-in.

The community hub will be built out over the course of this year. You'll see advance news and offers appearing, as well as gaining opportunities that others will never know about.

Readers who cannot or will not shop at Amazon may be pleased to hear that Armada Wars has now occupied territory on the world known as "Barnes and Noble".

The Books 1–3 Omnibus is already listed on the site, as are A Storm to the Savage and I Dream of Damastion. These are all the latest versions of the texts (polished up in the approach to the Whom Gods Shall Fear release date), with the new covers.

The Books 4+5 Omnibus will also be listed on B&N when it becomes available in 2024. So while the individual paperbacks for the main sequence novels are not yet listed on B&N, fans of the series will still be able to purchase the whole of the first series as matching omnibus editions (which will also save money).

All of those paperbacks will be eligible for the B&N free shipping offer (shopping cart containing $40 of eligible items). Premium Member bonuses also apply!

Watch this space for the individual editions appearing...

UK shoppers have not been left out — the same titles are currently invading the Waterstones and Blackwells web sites.

​The Books 1–3 Omnibus has landed already, and the expansion episodes should appear soon.

As with B&N, the books are eligible for the Waterstones shipping offer. On their site you need £25 worth of qualifying items in your cart to benefit from free shipping.

On Blackwells, all titles include UK delivery.

The books are also populating to other stores in the UK, such as Foyles, so if you have a favourite book retailer you may well find soon that you can purchase Armadaverse titles from them.

Don't forget that discounted 'previous version' paperback editions of the main sequence novels are also available in the official store.

Anyone who joins the Armada Wars mailing list before the start of September will be entered automatically into a prize draw for one of three signed copies of series finale Whom Gods Shall Fear.

The winner will be picked at the time of the book launching, so anyone joining until the end of August 2023 will be entered into the draw. Anyone who joined the mailing list previously has been entered retrospectively.

The winner will be picked at random from people on the mailing list/s at the time of the draw, with a joining date prior to 31st August 2023, so you need to be still on the list at the time of the draw to be in with a chance!

Winners will be contacted, using the email address registered on the list, to arrange delivery.

Quick note on a change to the newsletter:

Until March 2023 there were two separate mailing lists, one for the general newsletter and one for people who only wanted to be notified of new releases.

These have now been merged into one list, with the two groups within it tagged by their content preference. If you were subscribed already your content preference will be respected and you do not need to take any action. It just makes organisation much easier at this end!

The one difference subscribers will see is that if you click the "update list subscription preferences" link at the end of any newsletter sent during or after April 2023, you will now have the option of switching between the 'General Newsletter' and 'New Releases Only' options at any time.

Caution! There is also an 'unsubscribe' link, which is not the same thing. That link will unsubscribe you immediately when you click it. Be sure to use the link labelled "update list subscription preferences"!

A few things about the books, all of which are connected.

Firstly: the hardcovers have been removed from sale for the time being. If you have an order being processed it will continue, but no new orders can be made on Amazon. But don't worry, they will be returning soon in a much better and more affordable form.

There may also be... something special in them.

Over the past couple of weeks the eagle-eyed may have noticed the cover images of the Armada Wars books changing. This was A:B testing of new designs. The current favourites are in the image gallery on the home page.

The covers have been standardised across the range, and some have had their artwork tweaked. The interiors have also been spruced up using new software, which has also been used to create new interiors for the paper editions. There are now no discrepancies between Kindle, paperback, and hardcover, guaranteed — they all come from the same source file.

I Dream of Damastion and A Storm to the Savage have the new interiors, and their new covers are being processed now. Both Kindle and paperback editions are on revision 1.5 for both books. They are the example of what the main sequence novels will look like once the interior files are ready.

And because of the new layout, the page counts have been reduced, making both of those paperbacks cheaper.

You read that correctly: hardcovers!

With the release of A Storm to the Savage comes a smorgasbord of new hardcover editions. Every single volume in the Armadaverse can now be bought in a weighty, hardback edition with a very nice matte cover! Typesetting is consistent between all the volumes, and they all contain the latest versions of the texts.

​Go to the Books section to get direct links to your most local Amazon region, for your favourite volumes!

A Storm to the Savage is now live on the Kindle store, for both purchases and Kindle Unlimited!

The official release date of August 5th was moved to 1st August at the weekend. Readers who had pre-orders can now download to devices.

The paperback should also be available (277 print pages). And as a special bonus, this may turn out to be the first book in the Armadaverse to get a hardback release! Get your regional Amazon link on the details page.

The following books are now updated, and you can download the updates for your Kindle immediately:

• Steal from the Devil — Fourth Edition (rev. 4.0),
• List of the Dead — minor updates (rev. 1.2),
• The Ravening Deep — minor updates (rev. 1.2),
• From Shattered Stars — minor updates (rev. 1.2).

You can check which version of each book you have by looking for the revision number on the copyright page. If there is no revision number, your edition pre-dates the adoption of that system.

If you don't have automatic updates turned on, you can push the updated files to your Kindle device/s or app/s using the "Manage My Content and Devices" page in the Kindle area of Amazon's web site. That page is also available in the "Digital content and devices" list, found on the "My Account" page.

Please leave a comment if you have any problems obtaining updates — KDP had some communication issues this week, and I'm eager to ensure everything has gone smoothly.

The Fourth Edition of Steal from the Devil adds some new material, and changes the order of scenes up to the climax in order to make the flow of text far better. The climax is more robust, and key characters have enhanced scenes or background added throughout the book. Grammar and punctuation have received a very comprehensive scrubbing.

In all other books, including SFTD, other tweaks have been made. Fonts have been replaced since their accidental removal, the NCX files which build the "Go To..." menu have been repaired in the omnibus editions, typography has been brought in line with the printed editions, and so on.

Armadaverse Kindle books have always included "publisher fonts", so that you can read the book exactly as it was intended to be presented. These cause the eBooks to mimic the printed editions, both in style and typography. You can turn them on in the display options for your Kindle device or app.

A previous update accidentally omitted the font data, but it has been replaced across the updates above.

Another advantage of including fonts is that it allows stylistic differentiation in the text, such as for the incident in which Bruiser discovers anti-human graffiti in his home town: