Shadow Watch #4 Deluxe Reveal and Feb. Wrap

Mar 02, 2026 6:19 pm

Darkling Queen is headed into production, which means Book Four is just around the corner!

Today, I am thrilled to reveal our fourth and final cover design.

Once again, Rachel St. Clair did a fantabulous job on this one!

We've got the infamous Wellspring of magic and the mysterious descent to reach it, which is a pivotal and climactic moment in the series, and the source of the title for Book Four as well. I love how this one turned out!

We've already got several pieces of art finished up for Book Four, which will be revealed in the coming weeks, and we will have a slipcase available in this campaign to house all four books together, which will be revealed soon as well.

So stay tuned!

There's also going to be a special bonus for early backers on this one... but I'm not allowed to talk about that just yet.

But be sure to give it a follow!

Follow Now on Kickstarter

Darkling Queen Update

I've paid the printer now. So production should take place here in the next few weeks, and we are on schedule for our June estimated delivery. I'm hopeful for May, but we'll see how long everything winds up taking.

In the meantime...

The Villain Bookmarks arrived!

These character bookmarks have been really fun bonuses for these campaigns, and once again they turned out fantastic.

I'll be signing these and sending them over to the Merrick Books warehouse here soon.

And sending over a few other things for fulfillment, like Challenge coins, paperbacks, etc.

And that basically does it from my end, and then we wait for the books to print and arrive at the warehouse.

Writing Update

Children of Ash and Stone currently sits at about 40% complete

Despite fewer writing days, a visit from our kids' cousins, and getting sick, February was still my best writing month yet on this book. It's full steam ahead for the next few months to get it done and ready for my editor in July.

Pantheon ARC 2 (still 5%)

No new progress on Swordslinger this month, but hope to continue playing with it over the next few months and then dive in while Children is with my editor.

What's Entertaining Me

TV - Finished rewatching Severance with my wife, and she really ended up liking it. I loved it once again. Also watched Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Books - Didn't finish any fiction books this month, but did re-read Stephen King's On Writing, which is one of my favorites.

I have about 100 pages left of Project Hail Mary, which has been awesome!

And riding the high of Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, I decided to re-read A Game of Thrones. I first read it back in 2012, and after picking up the Illustrated Edition a couple years ago, I really wanted to revisit soon. I am having a blast after the first hundred pages or so.

_______________

Okay, that's all for now!

Burn Bright,

Stephen