I’m A. E. Henry, and my first book, Not by Sword, is coming out this winter! It will be the first in the five-book Milo Cycle.

Not by Sword is a space opera adaptation of the story of David and Goliath. Milo, our David, has been told he’s the chosen one, but chosen for what? He spends his days herding the sacred cattle, hiding from from his older brothers, and composing music. When an army from the outer reaches of the solar system invades his world, Milo leaves everything he’s ever known for the court of King Gera, where he hopes he can make a difference and protect his family. He’ll have to survive the intrigues of the palace if he wants to find his purpose and slay the giant who killed his brother.

I finished the first draft of Not by Sword about two years ago, and then immediately went to work on the sequel, which doesn’t have a title yet. I finished that draft this spring, and I spent this summer revising book one. With the second draft finished, I’m waiting for my alpha readers to get through it before I jump back in.

With these first two rounds of revisions, I’m really trying to get the story and the characters right. As it stands, I know I’ve left some plot and character threads dangling, and some of the characters and relationships need a little more substance. In the first round of revisions, I was surprised at how much writing I was still doing. I found scenes that I needed to add, or existing scenes that I needed to totally rewrite, just to get the story headed in the right direction and establish important characters earlier in the story. In this third draft, I already know I need to add one more scene in the middle, but I’m hoping that will be it!

Once this round is done, draft 4 will focus on making each individual scene as effective and exciting as possible. Draft 5 is going to be about paragraph and sentence flow. Draft 6 will be for punctuation, spelling, and consistency. I imagine I’ll send it to beta readers in between drafts 5 and 6.

If each draft takes a month (which may be too optimistic), I’ll be sending it out to beta readers in December and then hopefully releasing the book in February! I had hoped to have it out by Christmas, but I would rather take my time and get it right than publish before it’s ready.

I’ll keep you updated on how it goes!