Oil and Dust Cover Reveal

Oil and Dust, the first book in The Elemental Artist series, is now available for preorder!

Oil and Dust

First, how gorgeous is this cover?? Andrew at Design for Writers did an amazing job. If you’d like to purchase the preorder via my affiliate links, the ebook version of the book is up on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo, and Google Play. Print preorders should be available sometime next week.

Politics, Money, Power, Religion, and Greed. These are the things we never again need.

Artist Matthew Sugiyama can alter the physical world with his art. As the top student graduating from the prestigious Popham Abbey, Matthew Sugiyama’s future is secure… until he bucks convention and begins a journey to find answers about his birth family. The trouble is, he doesn’t know who or where they are.

Determined to find answers, but without a clear destination, Matthew sets out on horseback across a post-technology world, guided only by random flashes of a vision or long-buried memory. Using his skills as an artist to barter for hospitality and supplies, Matthew soon learns his sheltered upbringing has left him wholly unprepared to face the obstacles on the road or his unexpected yearning to join the communities he encounters. When he uncovers a mysterious adversary’s plan to harm the people he’s come to care for, Matthew must decide what’s more important; the adopted family he has created, or his need for answers about his past.

Who The Book is For:

If you’re a fan of low fantasy, quests, and character-driven stories, I think you’d like my book. In my world, artists can alter the physical world through their art, so if you enjoyed Imager by L.E. Modesitt, Jr., The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson, Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint, or The Golden Key by Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, and Kate Elliott, you might enjoy my book too.

Who The Book is Not For:

Though technically post-apocalyptic, this is not a grim, survival-focused book. If you’re looking for gore, cannibals, zombies, or a life-or-death struggle for a vital resource—this book is not for you. However, if you enjoyed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The Lightest Object in the Universe by Kimi Eisele, or Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton, you might enjoy my story!

Oil and Dust – The Journey

If you’ve been reading this page for a while, you’ll know I began Oil and Dust in November 2017. After finishing my first draft, I had Kim Kessler take a look and then I got stuck trying to edit it. After admitting hiding from my story wasn’t working, I used the 100 days of accountability idea to power through revisions. When I received edits back from my line editor, Charlie Knight, I got stuck again—anyone sensing a theme here?

To really edit, you have to allow your analytical brain to tear your story apart. It’s painful and scary, but I continued to eek forward. Thinking I knew where I was going, and helped along by a few sturdy beta readers, I revised the book again.

However, preparing my book for submission into Pitch Wars required me to write a synopsis and blurb, and I realized I still had structural issues. After finding Fictionary’s Storyteller software, I completed the heavy edits the book needed in January (2021). From then, there’s been a couple of drafts focused on line edits, then a couple more on copy edits. I finished my final edit after reading the entire thing out loud, before submitting it for proofreading.

This process has been long, difficult, and at time tedious, but it was necessary to find my story. Oil and Dust is not a perfect book, but I am so very proud of it, and can’t wait to see what you think!

If you’re interested in a signed copy of Oil and Dust, please fill out this form.