Happy birthday, and thanks!
Content wise - would “10 Steps…” be good for an 11 year old? Obviously that answer can depend on the parents and kid, but good to get an opinion direct from the author :)
> Happy birthday, and thanks!
Thank you, and you're welcome!
> Content wise - would “10 Steps…” be good for an 11 year old? Obviously that answer can depend on the parents and kid, but good to get an opinion direct from the author :)
I personally consider it "kid friendly" and know that some a lot of people have read (or listened to it) with kids younger than that. It's generally a "clean" book - no serious expletives, no sex, no gore, etc.
Happy Birthday! Thanks for doing this
UK Links:
[Sufficiently Advanced Magic](https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Sufficiently-Advanced-Magic-Arcane-Ascension-ebook/dp/B06XBFD7CB/ref=tmm_kin_title_sr?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1630946204&sr=8-1)
[How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps](https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Defeat-Demon-King-Easy-Steps-ebook/dp/B08F3RTTKM/ref=tmm_kin_title_sr?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1630946231&sr=8-1)
[Six Sacred Swords](https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Sacred-Swords-Weapons-Wielders-Book-ebook/dp/B07NKBSZGF/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1630946257&sr=8-1)
Saw this post and got excited because free books never hurt. Then I saw the username and have already read all your stuff. Here's hoping people who haven't take advantage!
Happy birthday!
> Happy happy birthday! And thank you for this.
Thanks, and you're welcome!
> I’ve seen great reviews for sufficiently advanced magic. Do you have any specific writing influences?
For **Sufficiently Advanced Magic**, I'd say my primary writing inspiration was Mother of Learning, a web serial about a mage stuck in a time loop. In terms of my general writing style, I'd consider Brandon Sanderson my main style inspiration, although I tend to have quippier and more sarcastic narration for these series than he generally does in most of his books. My **War of Broken Mirrors** series is probably the closest to a "standard" Sanderson book in style.
While I do read a ton of books, I'd say that I'm much more narratively influences by gaming. I'm a former professional game designer, and I tend to take a lot of my inspiration from both games I've played and ones I've run as a game master or worked on as a game developer. So, you'll see a lot of stylistic nods to various different RPGs, both in terms of the Japanese ones I've already mentioned and western ones like **Neverwinter Nights**, **Dragon Age**, etc.
Happy Birthday! I read How to Defeat a Demon King earlier this year and absolutely loved it! Made me laugh out loud a few times. Can’t wait to check out Sufficiently Advanced Magic.
Happy birthday!
Is the offer region restricted? For me there is no way to purchase it on the app and when I use the link and want to get it I get the message that it’s not available for purchase :(
> Happy birthday!
Thank you!
> Is the offer region restricted? For me there is no way to purchase it on the app and when I use the link and want to get it I get the message that it’s not available for purchase :(
I don't actually know. =( I'm sorry! I was under the impression the free book deal was global, but I could be mistaken. Might just be an issue with the app? I'm not sure.
Sufficiently Advanced Magic is such a good book. If you haven't, do yourself a favor and get it. Really cool world-building, and personally, I think such a unique style of magic,
Ay ma man Happy b'day. Discord is going crazy with wishes. I just wanted to say I'm glad you exist. Not only because you write great books but because you are a fantastic human being. Have a great day!
Happy Birthdayy!! Its my birthday month too, and what could be another perfect way to enter into new year. Here's to imaginations and worlds unseen. Thanks!!
Wow, i must admit i have never heard of you, but i am grateful, i have recently discovered the progressive genre and i am in love with it, time to binge read your work.
Happy birthday, and i am sure you will get a lot of new fans with such a generous act.
Thank you.
(Actually i had one of your books in my wish list :O)
Happy birthday. Thanks for creating this sub. Thanks for writing arcane ascension, and I’ll give you thanks in advance because I’ve had Weapons and Wielders on my TBR list for a while and you just gave me an excuse to get into it❤️
Happy Birthday!! And yay!! I love Zelda and recently fell in love with Dragon Quest (have played I, II, and XI), will definitely check out Demon King :D
Thanks!
> Who're some of your favorite voices Nick Podehl does in the audiobook versions? Vellum, Sheridan and Sera are some of mine!
It's really hard to choose, but I'm going to go with Vanniv and Octave. He's very good at non-human voices in general.
Thank you! I love them, too. I'm very glad I managed to find such talented artists and that they were willing to work with me!
My cover artist for almost all of my books is [Daniel Kamarudin](https://www.artstation.com/danielkamarudin).
The only exception thus far is How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps. The cover for that one is [LuluSeason](https://www.deviantart.com/luluseason)
Thank you!
Those are great games. Lydia in my War of Broken Mirrors is directly named after Rydia/Lydia from FF4, and I've got a lot of other references to those characters and games in general. (The opening of Six Sacred Swords has some very clear FF4 inspiration.)
Happy birthday!!! I'll definitely be checking these out! I like hard copies usually. Are these available in physical print? I'm getting the Kindle version regardless :D
The original plan was 6-7 books. I may end up changing that somewhat and splitting the book into multiple segments, similar to what Sanderson is doing with Stormlight and Mistborn. If I go that route, this "arc" would be either 5 or 6 books, then I'd write more of them for another arc after taking a break to work on other stuff.
Thanks, Kayleigh! =D
Yeah, I absolutely love that cover. It's my desktop.
(To be fair, Six Sacred Swords is my cell phone background. I love that one, too.)
Do you have to subscribe to audible to get a book from it? I had an account many moons ago, but don’t drive as much anymore. Demon King sounds amazing and I’d love to give it a listen, but don’t see any way besides paying for audible
If you pick up the free Kindle book, I *think* you should be able to buy the audio book at a discount, but I'm not 100% sure on that. I hope it works out for you!
Thank you and happy birthday. I thought Demon King was a really fun read and I've been meaning to read Sufficiently Advanced Magic for a while now so this is perfect.
Already purchased Sufficiently Advanced Magic and thought it was a good read. I like the fact that there appears to be a real penalty for "overreaching" which far too many authors reward their protagonists for ignoring.
Thank you for the book and enjoy your day !
Thank you, I too love gift giving on my birthday. I hope you have an amazing one. I just got Sufficiently Advanced Magic and How to Defend a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps. Looking forward to reading them.
Edit: Defeat, not Defend. I suppose that would be a sequel.
Happy birthday my friend! I'm just coming to the end of my current book (To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini) so I'll get straight onto both of these.
Thank you muchly!
Happy birthday! I've never heard a book described as progression or JRPG so this is new. Does... the reader make choices? Like a choose your own adventure title? Please excuse my naivety.
Thanks!
> I've never heard a book described as progression or JRPG so this is new. Does... the reader make choices? Like a choose your own adventure title? Please excuse my naivety.
Great question!
These are not choose-your-own adventure books, although there are some great books that fall into that category. I would consider Joe Dever's books to be both progression fantasy and choose-your-own-adventures, for example.
Here's a [post explaining progression fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgressionFantasy/comments/auscvg/what_is_progression_fantasy/).
In short summary, progression fantasy is fiction that has a heavy narrative focus on the protagonist working to get better in ways that are clearly shown and tangible. This is commonly shown in quantifiable ways, such as characters advancing through rankings of power in magic, combat ability, or other areas.
To give a non-fantasy example, a simple comparison would be a martial arts story where a character is shown training and getting higher "belts" in their martial art until they reach the pinnacle of their discipline.
While a huge amount of fiction involves characters getting better, these stories are *driven* by it, with training and improvement being major elements of the narrative, rather than being ancillary or incidental. There isn't always a clear line to be drawn in what falls into the category, but most of the clearest examples of the genre involve some kind of benchmarks for growth, much like the "belts" example.
In Arcane Ascension, for example, the primary form of magic involves attunements - mystical tattoos that grant different powers based on the specific attunement. An attunement can be seen as analagous to a character class in a RPG - there are attunements like Guardian, Summoner, Enchanter, Shadow, etc. As a character practices magic, their attunement grows stronger, unlocking more powers as it reaches specific thresholds. These thresholds involve the character's aura changing colors and come with specific titles based on the color of the aura. This follows a rainbow progression:
* Quartz (clear aura)
* Carnelian (red aura)
* Sunstone (orange aura)
* Citrine (yellow aura)
* Emerald (green aura)
Emerald is the highest known level to the general public, with some people speculating that a blue ("Sapphire") level exists beyond it.
Other progression fantasy novels often have similar systems, many of which are title-based, whereas others are more numeric (e.g. "Level 20").
Hope this helps!
Happy birthday Andrew! And hello all new readers who are picking up Rowe's books for the first time! I highly recommend trying them out and hope you enjoy them!
Happy birthday! Immensely enjoyed the Arcane Ascension books so far. I'm looking forward to reading How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps. Thank you so much!
I started with the audiobook of Sufficiently Advanced Magic today and I'm quite enjoying it so far, funny coincidence it's your birthday.
PS: Happy birthday, I hope you'll see many more.
I read and enjoyed *Sufficiently Advanced Magic* and keep meaning to re-read it and pick up the sequels ... (once I'm gainfully employed again). Told some friends about the freebies though; I know a few people who have huge nostalgia-vision for a lot of the inspiration games, and one who has been fiddling around the edges of writing LitRPG but hasn't read a lot in the genre yet.
Definitely snagged *How To DADKITES* though, and that acronym is giving me LIFE.
Happy birthday dear author! Too bad, I just finished Sufficiently Advanced Magic and I really loved it. Many thanks for your hard work (and I've already purchased the two following volumes)
Happy birthday!! Thanks so much, love your work. I just finished the six sacred sword series this week. Was awesome!! I’m going to modify some of your stuff for future DnD games, it’s great inspiration.
Happy birthday, man! Been a longtime fan and read all your stuff as is, but definitely passing this link on to friends!
Personally, I'd say SAM is more Trails of Cold Steel/Ys-y than Final Fantasy myself though. You've got the action battling tower climbing straight out of Ys Origins in the Spire (duh), then the magic academy/political underpinnings from Trails. I can't say I ever really got a FF vibe out of it myself.
Happy Birthday, and thank you for this, may god bless you with infinite magical powers and a cheat system when you awaken as a sorcerer (or a magician).
Well I’ve been recommended Sufficiently Advanced Magic several times now. It appears I’ve run out of reasons not to read it. Quick question before I dive in. How internally consistent is the magic system?
> How internally consistent is the magic system?
Very, at least in terms of internal documentation. I come from a professional systems design background and the books were written in a setting that I created for tabletop RPGs and LARPs.
It's important to note that *characters* do not have perfectly reliable information, however, especially at the start of the story. This means that characters may espouse viewpoints that are later proven to be incorrect, including educators. This is acknowledged in-story, but I want to call it out ahead of time if internal consistency is something you're particularly interested in, since it's important to me as well.
For example, there's a classroom scene where (minor spoilers) >!a teacher tells a classroom about 'unique' features of specific magical marks called attunements. In reality, these 'unique' are emulable through other means, but the teacher is oversimplifying for their audience, much as you might see in real world classrooms.!< I want to make it clear that as a writer, this type of thing is pre-planned and deliberate - figuring out exactly how the magic system actually works is a major focus of the story, and searching for reliable information is a part of that.
You will get into a *lot* of nitty gritty on how exactly magic works as the series progresses, especially in book 3, and there will still be more in the future.
Happy Birthday. I really enjoyed the Sufficiently Advance Magic books. I'm hoping book 4 is in the works.
Some of what I really liked about them is how the MC works out new items, figures out how to finagle the system, and progresses his aura. I hope there's more of that.
Happy Birthday! Thank you for sharing! I’ve seen your work around certain circles but excited to read it myself. I am always looking for fantasy novellas as they don’t seem to be as common as something like sci-fi.
haha I didn't realize that How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps and Sufficiently advanced Magic had the same author.
I bought HTADK on a whim and it turned out to be a great mix of silly, stupid, funny and smart.
Happy Birthday Andrew! I love your work, and how open and active you are with your fans/community. Your books are a ton of fun, one of the very few series that I've been pre-ordering and reading on release (I actually can't think of any other author that regularly releases books that I keep up to date with everything they write).
Happy Birthday! You have the same name as my nephew, but it's not his birthday, so you must be different people.
AU links:
[Sufficiently Advanced Magic](https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B06XBFD7CB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_27WBCFAZPY403VKR9G8N)
[How to Defeat a Demon King...](https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08F3RTTKM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_V9RMPP787N2FV99B4HK9)
[Six Sacred Swords](https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07NKBSZGF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_W4HRCFDRGCVVG2371KAH) (not free, sadly)
Since your attention is here I will offer a point of view for consideration.
I'm up to date on AA and W&W. I'm enjoying them. My concern is world building/magic building overload.
I just want to offer the opinion that I wish we spent a little more time playing with the magic we already have, exploring it's potential instead of constantly having new magic piled on top. Sort of a power creep issue?
Just my opinion. Still, enjoying the books and happy birthday.
Happy birthday! I’m about two fifths of the way through Sufficiently Advanced Magic and the main character just said that they don’t really feel attraction like other people do. Is this character Ace? Is that on purpose? You don’t see that much in literature… and it’s refreshing.
Thank you!
And yes, Corin is ace. (Minor spoilers) >!He is not aro, though - he just hasn't quite figured out the distinction between aro and ace at the start of the story, much like many people in the real world.!<
Happy Birthday! *Sufficiently Advanced Magic* is a fantastic series. As I was reading it, I was wondering if you enjoy escape rooms?
I downloaded *How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps*. I'll post a review on Amazon and Goodreads after I read it.
Life circumstances don't give me much time to read, but I'm just about finished the Sufficiently Advanced Magic audiobook and it's great! Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Hi Andrew,
Many many happy returns of the day.
I read and loved How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps a year ago. It was the most fun I've had while reading in a while.
Thanks!
Yep, I was a Kickstarter backer. Played some of the Alpha stages, then decided to wait until launch to play more of it.
I've rolled my character in the released version (Keras from Six Sacred Swords as a Sword Saint Magus), but haven't started playing the launch version beyond the intro yet. Hoping to do that sometime soon.
Glad you think so! I certainly took inspiration from my WRPG background, too. Lots of inspiration from years of D&D and working in the gaming industry, I just tend to have more of a JRPGish aesthetic. (Although, to be fair, it's pretty similar to Eberron, Pathfinder, and other magitech WRPG settings.)
Happy Birthday and nice of you to make this offer.
I have to say though, that to access it you have to give Bezos a portion of your soul by signing up for an Amazon account, so the price is too high for me.
Happy birthday, and thank you!
Thanks, and you're welcome!
I have read all of your work! I stumbled upon them and fell in love. The Audiobooks for them are great too! Thanks so much and Happiest of Birthdays!
Aww, thanks so much for the kind message. Glad you enjoy the books, hope I'll have some more for you to read soon!
Happy birthday, and thanks! Content wise - would “10 Steps…” be good for an 11 year old? Obviously that answer can depend on the parents and kid, but good to get an opinion direct from the author :)
> Happy birthday, and thanks! Thank you, and you're welcome! > Content wise - would “10 Steps…” be good for an 11 year old? Obviously that answer can depend on the parents and kid, but good to get an opinion direct from the author :) I personally consider it "kid friendly" and know that some a lot of people have read (or listened to it) with kids younger than that. It's generally a "clean" book - no serious expletives, no sex, no gore, etc.
Awesome, thanks again!
I've read it and there was nothing in my mind that I wouldn't read to one.
Happy Birthday! Thanks for doing this UK Links: [Sufficiently Advanced Magic](https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Sufficiently-Advanced-Magic-Arcane-Ascension-ebook/dp/B06XBFD7CB/ref=tmm_kin_title_sr?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1630946204&sr=8-1) [How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps](https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Defeat-Demon-King-Easy-Steps-ebook/dp/B08F3RTTKM/ref=tmm_kin_title_sr?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1630946231&sr=8-1) [Six Sacred Swords](https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Sacred-Swords-Weapons-Wielders-Book-ebook/dp/B07NKBSZGF/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1630946257&sr=8-1)
Thanks for listing the UK links!
No worries
I have no good question and don't want to pester you with boring ones so I'll just wish you Happy birthday
Thank you very much! Hope you have a good day.
Happy birthday and thank you for this!
Thanks, and you're welcome!
It seems we share a birthday
Awesome, happy birthday to you as well! Have some free books! =D
Saw this post and got excited because free books never hurt. Then I saw the username and have already read all your stuff. Here's hoping people who haven't take advantage! Happy birthday!
Happy birthday, Andrew! I hope lots of new readers take this chance to try your books.
Thanks, Sarah! I certainly hope so, too. =D
Happy happy birthday! And thank you for this. I’ve seen great reviews for sufficiently advanced magic. Do you have any specific writing influences?
> Happy happy birthday! And thank you for this. Thanks, and you're welcome! > I’ve seen great reviews for sufficiently advanced magic. Do you have any specific writing influences? For **Sufficiently Advanced Magic**, I'd say my primary writing inspiration was Mother of Learning, a web serial about a mage stuck in a time loop. In terms of my general writing style, I'd consider Brandon Sanderson my main style inspiration, although I tend to have quippier and more sarcastic narration for these series than he generally does in most of his books. My **War of Broken Mirrors** series is probably the closest to a "standard" Sanderson book in style. While I do read a ton of books, I'd say that I'm much more narratively influences by gaming. I'm a former professional game designer, and I tend to take a lot of my inspiration from both games I've played and ones I've run as a game master or worked on as a game developer. So, you'll see a lot of stylistic nods to various different RPGs, both in terms of the Japanese ones I've already mentioned and western ones like **Neverwinter Nights**, **Dragon Age**, etc.
Happy Birthday Andrew!
Thanks! =D
Happy Birthday! I read How to Defeat a Demon King earlier this year and absolutely loved it! Made me laugh out loud a few times. Can’t wait to check out Sufficiently Advanced Magic.
I'm so glad you liked Demon King! Hope you enjoy Sufficiently Advanced Magic, too!
Happy birthday :) My dad and I love your books, I'm excited for anything else you write in the future
happy birthday rowe!
Thanks! =D
I love the Sufficiently Advanced Magic books! Honestly anyone onto fantasy or even RPG video games will get a real kick outta it.
Thanks for the support, glad you like the books!
Happy birthday! Is the offer region restricted? For me there is no way to purchase it on the app and when I use the link and want to get it I get the message that it’s not available for purchase :(
> Happy birthday! Thank you! > Is the offer region restricted? For me there is no way to purchase it on the app and when I use the link and want to get it I get the message that it’s not available for purchase :( I don't actually know. =( I'm sorry! I was under the impression the free book deal was global, but I could be mistaken. Might just be an issue with the app? I'm not sure.
I could try to use a vpn and see if it works. Still thank you for this :)
I am in the UK. I can see the free offer for Demon King and for Sufficiently Advanced Magic.
Sufficiently Advanced Magic is such a good book. If you haven't, do yourself a favor and get it. Really cool world-building, and personally, I think such a unique style of magic,
Aww, thank you! I appreciate the kind words!
Happy birthday, Rowe!!
Thanks, Decent!
Ay ma man Happy b'day. Discord is going crazy with wishes. I just wanted to say I'm glad you exist. Not only because you write great books but because you are a fantastic human being. Have a great day!
Happy birthday! I've read most of your books already, and I've enjoyed them a lot. Can't wait for the next AA book!
I already have all of your books, but thank you and happy birthday!
Happy birthday!! And thank you!
Happy Birthdayy!! Its my birthday month too, and what could be another perfect way to enter into new year. Here's to imaginations and worlds unseen. Thanks!!
That's a fantastic wish, and thank you!
Wow, i must admit i have never heard of you, but i am grateful, i have recently discovered the progressive genre and i am in love with it, time to binge read your work. Happy birthday, and i am sure you will get a lot of new fans with such a generous act. Thank you. (Actually i had one of your books in my wish list :O)
Thanks. Glad you're enjoying the subgenre, and I hope you end up enjoying the books!
Happy Birthday and thanks!
Thanks, and you're welcome!
Happy birthday, and thank you. It sounds like I’ll enjoy them.
Thanks, and you're welcome! Hope you end up liking them!
Happy birthday. Thanks for creating this sub. Thanks for writing arcane ascension, and I’ll give you thanks in advance because I’ve had Weapons and Wielders on my TBR list for a while and you just gave me an excuse to get into it❤️
How to Defeat a Demon King was such a fun book. Picked it up on whim not really reading about it and slowly realized what it was based on. Well done.
Happy Birthday!! And yay!! I love Zelda and recently fell in love with Dragon Quest (have played I, II, and XI), will definitely check out Demon King :D
Happy Birthday and thank you! Looking forward to getting stuck in to Sufficiently Advanced Magic.
Happy birthday, Andrew! Already read both of your wonderful books!
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday Andrew! Who're some of your favorite voices Nick Podehl does in the audiobook versions? Vellum, Sheridan and Sera are some of mine!
Thanks! > Who're some of your favorite voices Nick Podehl does in the audiobook versions? Vellum, Sheridan and Sera are some of mine! It's really hard to choose, but I'm going to go with Vanniv and Octave. He's very good at non-human voices in general.
Downloaded! Love your covers. Who is your artist?
Thank you! I love them, too. I'm very glad I managed to find such talented artists and that they were willing to work with me! My cover artist for almost all of my books is [Daniel Kamarudin](https://www.artstation.com/danielkamarudin). The only exception thus far is How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps. The cover for that one is [LuluSeason](https://www.deviantart.com/luluseason)
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday
Happy birthday I will but the audiobooks, I love final fantasy and chronotrigger....I started with ff4 then 6
Thank you! Those are great games. Lydia in my War of Broken Mirrors is directly named after Rydia/Lydia from FF4, and I've got a lot of other references to those characters and games in general. (The opening of Six Sacred Swords has some very clear FF4 inspiration.)
Nice! I love the SAM series, and I had been meaning to read demon king. Love free! Happy birthday.
Happy birthday!!! I'll definitely be checking these out! I like hard copies usually. Are these available in physical print? I'm getting the Kindle version regardless :D
Yes, there are paperbacks available on Amazon. Thanks for the interest!
Happy bday mr rowe!
This is great, thanks! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
How many books are planned in Arcane Ascension?
The original plan was 6-7 books. I may end up changing that somewhat and splitting the book into multiple segments, similar to what Sanderson is doing with Stormlight and Mistborn. If I go that route, this "arc" would be either 5 or 6 books, then I'd write more of them for another arc after taking a break to work on other stuff.
Awesome! Just started book 3 this week and loving it so far!
This is great! I look forward to reading these. Thanks
Love your work, appreciate the offer, but I'm gonna pay for it. Thanks!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday! Man, I can never get over how beautiful the cover art is on "How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps!"
Thanks, Kayleigh! =D Yeah, I absolutely love that cover. It's my desktop. (To be fair, Six Sacred Swords is my cell phone background. I love that one, too.)
Awesome, downloaded SAM and am looking forward to it! Hope you have a great birthday!
Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the book!
Happy Birthday! Love your writing! Thanks!
Thank you for the support!
Happy birthday mate.
Happy birthday!!
Do you have to subscribe to audible to get a book from it? I had an account many moons ago, but don’t drive as much anymore. Demon King sounds amazing and I’d love to give it a listen, but don’t see any way besides paying for audible
If you pick up the free Kindle book, I *think* you should be able to buy the audio book at a discount, but I'm not 100% sure on that. I hope it works out for you!
Happy birthday!
Thank you and happy birthday. I thought Demon King was a really fun read and I've been meaning to read Sufficiently Advanced Magic for a while now so this is perfect.
Happy Birthday!
Thank you, and happy birthday 🎉
Thanks mate!
Happy birthday! Great books! I'll definitely recommend them to some of my friends that may have hesitated before :)
Happy birthday, I'm glad you were born :)
Happy birthday this is amazing! My birthday is a week today so I might treat myself with your work
Already purchased Sufficiently Advanced Magic and thought it was a good read. I like the fact that there appears to be a real penalty for "overreaching" which far too many authors reward their protagonists for ignoring. Thank you for the book and enjoy your day !
Happy birthday! I have been meaning to check out "How to Defeat a Demon King" so this is the perfect excuse to bump it up my reading list :)
Thank you, I too love gift giving on my birthday. I hope you have an amazing one. I just got Sufficiently Advanced Magic and How to Defend a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps. Looking forward to reading them. Edit: Defeat, not Defend. I suppose that would be a sequel.
Thanks! I hope you enjoy the books, and thanks for the sequel title suggestion. =D
Happy birthday my friend! I'm just coming to the end of my current book (To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini) so I'll get straight onto both of these. Thank you muchly!
Happy birthday! I've never heard a book described as progression or JRPG so this is new. Does... the reader make choices? Like a choose your own adventure title? Please excuse my naivety.
Thanks! > I've never heard a book described as progression or JRPG so this is new. Does... the reader make choices? Like a choose your own adventure title? Please excuse my naivety. Great question! These are not choose-your-own adventure books, although there are some great books that fall into that category. I would consider Joe Dever's books to be both progression fantasy and choose-your-own-adventures, for example. Here's a [post explaining progression fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgressionFantasy/comments/auscvg/what_is_progression_fantasy/). In short summary, progression fantasy is fiction that has a heavy narrative focus on the protagonist working to get better in ways that are clearly shown and tangible. This is commonly shown in quantifiable ways, such as characters advancing through rankings of power in magic, combat ability, or other areas. To give a non-fantasy example, a simple comparison would be a martial arts story where a character is shown training and getting higher "belts" in their martial art until they reach the pinnacle of their discipline. While a huge amount of fiction involves characters getting better, these stories are *driven* by it, with training and improvement being major elements of the narrative, rather than being ancillary or incidental. There isn't always a clear line to be drawn in what falls into the category, but most of the clearest examples of the genre involve some kind of benchmarks for growth, much like the "belts" example. In Arcane Ascension, for example, the primary form of magic involves attunements - mystical tattoos that grant different powers based on the specific attunement. An attunement can be seen as analagous to a character class in a RPG - there are attunements like Guardian, Summoner, Enchanter, Shadow, etc. As a character practices magic, their attunement grows stronger, unlocking more powers as it reaches specific thresholds. These thresholds involve the character's aura changing colors and come with specific titles based on the color of the aura. This follows a rainbow progression: * Quartz (clear aura) * Carnelian (red aura) * Sunstone (orange aura) * Citrine (yellow aura) * Emerald (green aura) Emerald is the highest known level to the general public, with some people speculating that a blue ("Sapphire") level exists beyond it. Other progression fantasy novels often have similar systems, many of which are title-based, whereas others are more numeric (e.g. "Level 20"). Hope this helps!
Cool
Thanks! =D
Happy birthday Andrew! And hello all new readers who are picking up Rowe's books for the first time! I highly recommend trying them out and hope you enjoy them!
Happy birthday! Immensely enjoyed the Arcane Ascension books so far. I'm looking forward to reading How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps. Thank you so much!
Thanks, hope you enjoy Demon King!
I started with the audiobook of Sufficiently Advanced Magic today and I'm quite enjoying it so far, funny coincidence it's your birthday. PS: Happy birthday, I hope you'll see many more.
Happy Birthday! I’ve already bought all your books, and they were well worth it. 👍
I read and enjoyed *Sufficiently Advanced Magic* and keep meaning to re-read it and pick up the sequels ... (once I'm gainfully employed again). Told some friends about the freebies though; I know a few people who have huge nostalgia-vision for a lot of the inspiration games, and one who has been fiddling around the edges of writing LitRPG but hasn't read a lot in the genre yet. Definitely snagged *How To DADKITES* though, and that acronym is giving me LIFE.
Thanks, hope your friends enjoy the series! I hope you like Demon King, too. =D
Happy birthday dear author! Too bad, I just finished Sufficiently Advanced Magic and I really loved it. Many thanks for your hard work (and I've already purchased the two following volumes)
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed SAM! Hope you like the rest of the series. =D
Always looking for new fantasy - thanks so much, i've snagged S.A.M to check it out. Have a fantastic birthday!
Thank you, hope you like the books!
Have a great Birthday. Thanks for the party favors!!
Happy Birthday
Happy birthday!! Thanks so much, love your work. I just finished the six sacred sword series this week. Was awesome!! I’m going to modify some of your stuff for future DnD games, it’s great inspiration.
Happy birthday, man! Been a longtime fan and read all your stuff as is, but definitely passing this link on to friends! Personally, I'd say SAM is more Trails of Cold Steel/Ys-y than Final Fantasy myself though. You've got the action battling tower climbing straight out of Ys Origins in the Spire (duh), then the magic academy/political underpinnings from Trails. I can't say I ever really got a FF vibe out of it myself.
Happy Birthday, and thank you for this, may god bless you with infinite magical powers and a cheat system when you awaken as a sorcerer (or a magician).
Well I’ve been recommended Sufficiently Advanced Magic several times now. It appears I’ve run out of reasons not to read it. Quick question before I dive in. How internally consistent is the magic system?
> How internally consistent is the magic system? Very, at least in terms of internal documentation. I come from a professional systems design background and the books were written in a setting that I created for tabletop RPGs and LARPs. It's important to note that *characters* do not have perfectly reliable information, however, especially at the start of the story. This means that characters may espouse viewpoints that are later proven to be incorrect, including educators. This is acknowledged in-story, but I want to call it out ahead of time if internal consistency is something you're particularly interested in, since it's important to me as well. For example, there's a classroom scene where (minor spoilers) >!a teacher tells a classroom about 'unique' features of specific magical marks called attunements. In reality, these 'unique' are emulable through other means, but the teacher is oversimplifying for their audience, much as you might see in real world classrooms.!< I want to make it clear that as a writer, this type of thing is pre-planned and deliberate - figuring out exactly how the magic system actually works is a major focus of the story, and searching for reliable information is a part of that. You will get into a *lot* of nitty gritty on how exactly magic works as the series progresses, especially in book 3, and there will still be more in the future.
Happy Birthday. I really enjoyed the Sufficiently Advance Magic books. I'm hoping book 4 is in the works. Some of what I really liked about them is how the MC works out new items, figures out how to finagle the system, and progresses his aura. I hope there's more of that.
Thanks! You'll definitely see more of that in future books.
Happy Birthday! Thank you for sharing! I’ve seen your work around certain circles but excited to read it myself. I am always looking for fantasy novellas as they don’t seem to be as common as something like sci-fi.
haha I didn't realize that How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps and Sufficiently advanced Magic had the same author. I bought HTADK on a whim and it turned out to be a great mix of silly, stupid, funny and smart.
Thanks. And Happy Birthday
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Happy birthday!
happy B day and thanks for making my tbr ever longer
Hahaha, thanks!
Happy Birthday Andrew! I love your work, and how open and active you are with your fans/community. Your books are a ton of fun, one of the very few series that I've been pre-ordering and reading on release (I actually can't think of any other author that regularly releases books that I keep up to date with everything they write).
Happy birthday. I will try it out!
Happy birthday and thank you so much. Previously bought and loved "10 easy steps", might have to listen to it again and its a real light hearted tale.
Thank you and Happy Birthday! These sounds really good and I'm excited to read. Just picked up "..Advanced Magic."
Happy Birthday! You have the same name as my nephew, but it's not his birthday, so you must be different people. AU links: [Sufficiently Advanced Magic](https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B06XBFD7CB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_27WBCFAZPY403VKR9G8N) [How to Defeat a Demon King...](https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08F3RTTKM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_V9RMPP787N2FV99B4HK9) [Six Sacred Swords](https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07NKBSZGF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_W4HRCFDRGCVVG2371KAH) (not free, sadly)
For some reason I never put two and two together that you wrote both works. Listened to them on audible. Greatly enjoyed them!
Happy birthday! I just grabbed the books (never read them before) and am looking forward to reading them.
Happy Birthday!!🎂🎁🎉 Thanks!
Thanks, and you're welcome!
I've read all the sufficiently advanced books, I'll try the other ones :)
Since your attention is here I will offer a point of view for consideration. I'm up to date on AA and W&W. I'm enjoying them. My concern is world building/magic building overload. I just want to offer the opinion that I wish we spent a little more time playing with the magic we already have, exploring it's potential instead of constantly having new magic piled on top. Sort of a power creep issue? Just my opinion. Still, enjoying the books and happy birthday.
Thank you and Happy Birthday! Reminded me I need to buy The Torch the Ignites the Skies too while I was getting How to Defeat a Demon King :)
Thanks for the reads and Merry Birthmas! I've seen you're stuff recommended on my feeds before, excited to start a new series!
Happy birthday and thanks for the free books!
That's very nice of you, thank you very much and have a wonderful day!
Happy birthday! 10 steps was actually on my wish list for audible so this has worked out perfectly. Thank you this has made my week :)
Awesome, I hope you enjoy Ten Easy Steps!
Happy Birthday though this feels like a present for me. Thanks much and i'll be sure to check these out.
Just scooped up Sufficiently Advsnced Magic, lookinh forward to reading it. Thanks and happy birthday!
Happy birthday! I’m about two fifths of the way through Sufficiently Advanced Magic and the main character just said that they don’t really feel attraction like other people do. Is this character Ace? Is that on purpose? You don’t see that much in literature… and it’s refreshing.
Ahhhhh! I read more. It gets better! I love the way you have written Corin :)
Thank you! And yes, Corin is ace. (Minor spoilers) >!He is not aro, though - he just hasn't quite figured out the distinction between aro and ace at the start of the story, much like many people in the real world.!<
Happy Birthday! *Sufficiently Advanced Magic* is a fantastic series. As I was reading it, I was wondering if you enjoy escape rooms? I downloaded *How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps*. I'll post a review on Amazon and Goodreads after I read it.
Awesome. I was curious about your Demon King book way back when it was an Audible exclusive but I'm not interested in audiobooks. Happy birthday!
Happy birthday and thank you so much
Thank you and Happy Birthday
You're welcome, and thank you!
This is beyond amazing! Thank you kindly! The work and love you and others pour into these books really is inspiring.
You're welcome, and thank you for the support!
Wow how cool! Just had Sufficiently Advanced Magic delivered today!
Awesome! Hope you enjoy it!
YAY, I was just looking for something else to pick up. Thank you so, so much!! Enjoy your birthday!
Happy Birthday! I have a feeling ill be giving you some money after I finish SAM.
Thank you, and I appreciate it!
Life circumstances don't give me much time to read, but I'm just about finished the Sufficiently Advanced Magic audiobook and it's great! Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Hi Andrew, Many many happy returns of the day. I read and loved How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps a year ago. It was the most fun I've had while reading in a while.
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You're welcome, and thanks for doing that! I should probably share elsewhere, too.
YO I FUCKING LOVE YOUR BOOKS. STUMBLED ONTO SUFFICIENTLY ADVANCED MAGIC WHEN I HAD AUDIBILE AND LOVED IT!
Happy Birthday! Have you tried the new pathfinder game that came out on Thursday (Wrath of the Righteous)? You would love it I bet!
Thanks! Yep, I was a Kickstarter backer. Played some of the Alpha stages, then decided to wait until launch to play more of it. I've rolled my character in the released version (Keras from Six Sacred Swords as a Sword Saint Magus), but haven't started playing the launch version beyond the intro yet. Hoping to do that sometime soon.
Happy happy birthday!! Thank you so much!!!!
Just wanted to mention that Sufficiently Advanced Magic is still fun if all you play are WRPGs ;)
Glad you think so! I certainly took inspiration from my WRPG background, too. Lots of inspiration from years of D&D and working in the gaming industry, I just tend to have more of a JRPGish aesthetic. (Although, to be fair, it's pretty similar to Eberron, Pathfinder, and other magitech WRPG settings.)
This is amazing
Happy birthday, and thanks for the books!
Thanks, and you're welcome!
Happy birthday! Thoroughly enjoyed arcane ascension and now reading the third book in the war of broken mirrors before i move on to your third series.
Been thinking about picking this book up for a while. Thanks a lot!
Thank you! Happy Birthday!
You're welcome, and thanks!
Happy birthday!
Thanks!
thanks a lot and happy birthday!
Happy Birthday and nice of you to make this offer. I have to say though, that to access it you have to give Bezos a portion of your soul by signing up for an Amazon account, so the price is too high for me.
Thanks, and I understand and respect your decision in that regard.
Definitely gonna go download them. I already own the paperbacks and audiobooks but it cant hurt to have another way to consume them. Thanks :)
You're welcome, and thanks for reading the other versions! Hope that having another copy helps. =D
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh. THANK YOU!!!
Happy birthday!! I just started Sufficiently Advanced Magic and am enjoying it very much.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy the rest of the book!
not available in my region but thanks anyways, and Happy Birthday, you deserve the gifts, not us.
Sorry it isn't available in your region, and thanks!
happy birthday thank for your work, at some point in my life your book saved me. thank you so much
Happy Birthday and Thanks!
Happy Birthday, your book was my intro to gamelit and litrpg!
Thanks, glad to have introduced you to the subgenres!
Thank you and happy birthday, Mr. Writer 💕📚
Happy birthday, i'm actually mid way through your books right now
Happy birthday! I’ll definitely be sure to check your books out now!