As I mentioned previously, refreshed versions of the current novels (volumes 1–4 at time of writing) will be released soon. The plan is to release them all together for both the Kindle and paperback editions, including the omnibus and boxed set versions.

Books 2–4 will only be getting minor tweaks and corrections — nothing major needs changing. The files for the paperbacks, Kindle individual titles, and Kindle boxed set versions will be getting a hard reset to the "master version" of their respective texts (I've noticed slight discrepancies between the editions, thanks to a sloppy workflow.) The rear covers of the paperbacks will also be tweaked to make them look a bit more professional.

However Steal from the Devil has had a massive overhaul. I consider this the fourth edition, and some of you won't like this but there's... like... more material. I know, I know, I thought I was making tweaks and I guess I just got carried away. What I can say is that the longest new passages have all been character-based additions with the exception of the climax which gets some more action.

I will make sure Amazon KDP pushes the refreshed SFTD as a free update to Kindle customers. For paperback customers, you'll have three options:

1. Buy a new paperback (don't worry, it'll be the same size and cover style as the current one).
2. Refer to my Patreon page for free excerpts with the most substantially changed material. It's not posted there yet, but it will be when the revised books launch.
3. Ignore the changes — no plot has been altered so nothing that follows on from SFTD is affected.

So what has changed in Steal from the Devil? Here are some examples:

• The entire first chapter (intro to Hammer, Santani, and Caden) has now been restructured to reduce the choppiness of it all.
• Chapters 18 and 19 were swapped for pacing reasons.
• The super-long chapter 20 was split into two, creating Chp. 20 "Hammerfall" and Chp. 21 "Light the Dark".
• The order of scenes in the last three chapters has been rearranged to improve the flow of action and make the pacing far better.
• The climactic confrontation is no longer just a case of finding Morlum, having a quick chat, then shooting something real quick. A lot more is said, the tension is raised considerably, and a lot more actually happens.
• Maber Castigon is fleshed out slightly more, and we get to read a little about the way he sees the world.
• Euryce Eilentes is also fleshed out more, and we learn things which preface her arc in the later books.
• Bruiser has been given a bit more of a role, seeing as we all love him so. 
• Some very sneaky foreshadowing has been made more obvious.
• Mobile Air and Ground Assault (MAGA) has been changed to Conventional Air and Ground Assault (CAGA), as it will now be known across all books and supporting materials.
• "Skinprint" is now written as "skin-print", to aid people whose first language is not English. I mean they deserve some chance, right?
• Significant numbers of tweaks and edits to sentence structure, grammar, etc.
• Improved typography and punctuation has been modernised.

I am now resuming my original plan of interleaving the novel releases with the novella releases, albeit with the following changes:

• Significant elements from The Granite Whistle have been merged into A Storm to the Savage, so it is unlikely that I will write TGW in the form I originally planned. Watch this space.
• Forge Ruinous will now very likely end up being a full novel, rather than a novella, and it will be released after Whom Gods Shall Fear.

My aim this year is to knuckle down and keep up a steady pace. I Dream of Damastion is already available for Kindle, with the paperback proof on its way to me even as I type. I am planning to have A Storm to the Savage ready for a release in the first half of 2021, then all efforts will be focused into Whom Gods Shall Fear.

You may have noticed the artwork for IDOD changed in the past week, and the same iconography and cover design has been used for ASTTS. It will also be used for Forge Ruinous, although I have not yet chosen an image for the central glyph of FR's cover. Feel free to suggest your thoughts in the comments below.

I've said before that there are aspects of Steal from the Devil which I now find embarrassing and or problematic. As a debut novel, although many readers do enjoy it, one can only really say that it was released way before it was ready.

I've previously floated the idea of making some quite large changes. On those occasions I have received mostly negative responses, with people saying they would rather it was left just the way it is.

I've decided to split the difference. As well as being generally tidied up (see below), SFTD is going to get some enhancements, clarifications, and — of course — a thorough stylistic edit. I want to be very clear that nothing will change substantially as far as the plot goes. What will happen is that characters and situations will get expanded text, so that it is clearer what is happening, and the consequences further down the line are more understandable. I will try to bring the style of the book into line with the sequels, without losing any of its weird atmosphere.

I also aim to trim just a little fat — this means the teasers and references that ultimately went unused as the story found its own way through the sequels.

If you have strong feelings about this, then please do say so in the comments.

Over the years, with me having to update the same stories in various alternate files, discontinuities have crept into the published materials. These include vanishing custom fonts, different typographic conventions, and in some cases even material differences in the actual words of the books.

There is also the MAGA-cap wearing elephant in the room. A poll was conducted across Twitter and Facebook, and the overwhelming majority favoured a retrospective change to the lore where that acronym is concerned. The conventional air and ground assault forces will have to be called something different. Perhaps I just solved it there, and CAGA will be the replacement*. The point is that I've had it up to the eyeballs with people assuming that 'MAGA' is a nod to Trump, despite it obviously having nothing to do with him, so I'm just going to change it.

"AGRO" won the polls (standing for 'Air and GRound Operations'), but I think I will save that label for a team of specialists in a future story :o)

For all of those reasons, every single Kindle edition and paperback is going to be overhauled over the next couple of months. ​With the exception of I Dream of Damastion, which from today has the latest typography, corrections, and defined lore, all the updated versions will be released together. I will do my best to convince Amazon to push the Kindle updates out to existing customers, but only the changes to Steal from the Devil are likely to be considered significant enough to justify doing that.

In addition to the previously mentioned price drops for Kindle and the standard paperbacks, there's a new offer running throughout September. While stocks last, signed paperbacks bought from this site will be discounted by a whopping 33%!

The coupon code for that offer is 09KABOOM18. You can shop for signed copies here.

The discount does not apply to the new Omnibus paperback, nor to the Whom Gods Shall Fear pre-order. It's available on the four individual paperbacks that are currently available.


In related news, it is now time to retire the mutating coupon code. This was the code found on the back of the business cards distributed through Armada Wars convention appearances.

It might be wrapped in absolute secrecy, but one thing is clear: the finale of the current series of Armada Wars novels is a book fans cannot wait to get hold of.

To encourage readers to get up-to-date with the series before the fifth novel lands at Amazon, and to encourage fans to "bring a friend", prices have now been dropped across the entire series.

For Kindle, prices have gone back to the original model of having the first book at $0.99, and subsequent volumes at $2.99 (that's 99p and £1.99 for people in the UK). The price of the first Kindle omnibus has been adjusted accordingly.

Paperback prices have been moved down until the royalty is barely worth even having. Seriously, it's a laughable amount. Again, the price of the paperback version of the first omnibus has also been adjusted.

But wait, that's not all!

If you have bought an eligible copy of any Armada Wars paperback through Amazon, in a region which supports MatchBook, then you can now claim your Kindle copy for free. YOU HEARD ME!

​
These changes are populating across the regional Amazon web sites now, and should be reflected in all regions by 30th August.

​
If you want to give something back to the Armadaverse, please leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. It really makes a massive difference.

New to the store! Signed copies of the Armada Wars: Books 1–3 Omnibus paperback, posters for Whom Gods Shall Fear, and the posters 1–5 value pack.

The poster value pack saves 25% over separate purchases! The signed copy of the Omnibus is being introduced with an early bird discount, and those of you with the special coupons from Armada Wars convention appearances can get an additional £5 off.

Over the past couple of weeks, the paperback editions have been quietly migrated from Createspace to Kindle Direct Publishing. This means faster and simpler delivery (now fulfilled by normal Amazon means), and full Prime availability. The opportunity was also taken to make some tiny tweaks to the content and covers.

Additionally, the paperback edition of the Armada Wars Books 1–3 Omnibus is now live on Amazon! This 3 lb monster of a book contains Steal from the Devil, List of the Dead, and The Ravening Deep, and comes with a cost saving of about 20% over the individual copies. The second omnibus will be printed to the same dimensions, for those of you who like your books to line up properly.

You asked, so here it comes! The paperback edition of the Books 1–3 Omnibus will be arriving on or before 1st March 2018, and it's a whopper!

The book is a large format 7x10" paperback, reducing the combined 1180 page count of the first three novels by almost half and coming in at 646 pages.

Like the Kindle version the omnibus paperback will come with a cost saving. The pricing is currently expected to be $30.99 in the USA, £22.99 in the UK, and €25.99 in Europe. This price point makes the print omnibus about 20% cheaper than buying individual paperback novels.

If you've already started collecting the novels in 5x8" paperback format, don't worry: they will of course continue. The second Omnibus, incorporating From Shattered Stars and Whom Gods Shall Fear, will also be released in 7x10" format. So whichever way you collect, your bookshelf will line up nicely!

Because the product details text on the Amazon pages need updating to take the new release date into account for From Shattered Stars, minor corrections are being uploaded to the existing Kindle eBooks at the same time. The paperback editions will be updated with the new interior content, none of which is incredibly compelling.

List of the Dead / Books 1–3 Omnibus (Both rev. 1.08)

• Chp. 6: 'than' corrected to 'then'.
• Chp. 11: 'few' corrected to 'a few'.
• Chp. 14: missing period corrected.

 
From Shattered Stars (Rev. 1.08)

• Chp. 16: Dialogue improved.
• Chp. 19: Dialogue clarified.
• Chp. 19: factual error, 'Palanda Ire' corrected to 'Lopama'.

 
The Kindle update policy has changed, and existing customers will not receive updates for such trivial changes. The new Kindle versions will be available to new customers tomorrow, with the paperbacks expected to be updated by the day after.

Additionally, it has been discovered that links to Createspace stores now simply redirect to Amazon. Createspace links have therefore been removed from this site. If you don't use Amazon, you can buy signed paperbacks on the official store.

There have been yet more additions and improvements this weekend. Strap yourself in!

Quite a lot of work goes on behind the scenes, as well as constant edits to keep the site current with the latest books and correct small, unnoticed errors.

It's always good to know that people are visiting the site and poring over the information here, so feel free to comment.

1. ​A new (and quite long) page was added for MAGA.
2. A new page was added for the Imperial Navy, which is now the parent to the freshly streamlined Imperial Starships page. Expect individual ship profiles soon for the featured ships.
3. A section on meritocracy was added to the Imperial Combine overview, and the page has been cleaned up.
4. The [spoiler] panel has been added to more character profiles, particularly those whose latest involvements are heavily plot-related.
5. The legends on [spoiler] panels have been edited to show which book/s the spoilers are from.
6. Many character profiles have been edited and cleaned up, those with long entries being broken into sections.
7. The people section was trimmed down and no longer duplicates links to all the characters listed elsewhere.
8. Image tiles for secondary characters were added to the homepage.
9. Facebook Like/Share buttons were added to main and secondary character profiles.
10. The "signing" item was removed from the store, and all paperbacks now come signed.
11. Flairs were added to product thumbnails to show sale prices or low stock.
12. The storefront was cleaned up and now only shows key featured products.
13. The Privacy & Policies page has moved under the FAQ, along with a new Asset Usage page.
14. The Books 4 & 5 Omnibus now has a placeholder page.

The signed paperback version of From Shattered Stars is now available here, and only here!

If you've picked up our business card at a convention then you already have a mutating coupon code for this site. The code currently gives you £4 off FSS on the official store.