The Phillip Drayer Duncan Newsletter - July 2025

Greetings from the road!

Author

Phillip Drayer Duncan
July 1st, 2025

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I know you're probably tired of hearing about it, but I'm still really excited, so in case you missed it, the first Blade Mage novel is now available in audio!

Now that I've had a chance to listen to it in its entirety, I have to say…I love it! John Pirhalla is a beast! Love how he did the characters. Absolutely brilliant. And I love that they included the dedication at the end. Super duper happy about it.

Okay, fine… I'll shut up about it now.

Oh, wait, just kidding on the shutting up thing, because…

Of Song and Shadow audiobook releases this month!!!! On the 29th!!!!

Weeee!!! Wahooo!!!

Okay, now I’ll shut up about it.

What have I been working on?

The Appalachian Argument (Blade Mage Book 7): Still editing!

Fun with Friends! (Tentative Title) (Blade Mage Book 8): I got started on this one but had to take a pause. There're just too many damned things in this series now. Don't want to screw up continuity. So, I paused to work on re-reading through the entire series and building a wiki. Too much to keep in my fat little head.

Mad Maudlin (Tentative Title): There might be something wrong with my brain. The same night I started Fun with Friends! I also started another book. I hinted last month that I was foaming at the mouth about a special project. Well, this is it.

So, if you've been keeping up, you know we frequent the Ren Faire in Muskogee, Oklahoma where J.H. did two media tie-in novels with the band Music the Gathering. Well, one of the songs they cover is called “Mad Tom of Bedlam.” What interests me about it is that it's thought to be the oldest English language song.

That has intrigued me for a while.

I would have guessed the oldest English language song would have been some kind of religious jam. Not the story of a mad woman in search of her missing lover. Not a song with lines about fighting giants, or cutting mince pies from children's thighs for which to feed the fairies.

There're also versions which seem to be from Tom's perspective as well.

At any rate, I've been thinking about doing a fantasy novel based on the song for a long time. And now…I've finally started. This one requires some serious planning, so it may be a little slow going and something I work on periodically for a while. But I've finished the first few chapters.

Where are we going to be?

ReaderCon: Boston, MA July 17th - 20th

WorldCon: Seattle, WA August 13th - 17th

What's going on in life?

It feels like we've been on the move non-stop. Even as you're reading this, I'm probably driving. Headed to Chattanooga to visit some friends. I would say this would be the first non-work related vacation we've taken in years, but… Well, I might have a business meeting snuck in there as well. Shrugs. I like what I do!

The beginning of June marked the end of the Ren Faire. Sad days. I've blathered about it enough, though.

The Nebulas Conference: Kansas City, MO

Our next adventure was to the Nebulas conference in Kansas City. In case you're wondering, The Nebulas are among the most elite awards given out to Science Fiction and Fantasy authors, and they are hosted by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association, of which both J.H. and I are full members. When they do the awards, they also host a conference. We had never had a chance to go, and since it was close to home, we figured…why not?

We were in the plaza area of Kansas City, which was really nice. Believe it or not, I tried Coldstone Creamery for the first time in my life. That was the shizz! Also the first time I've eaten at a Cheese Cake Factory. I was more excited about the Irish pub we found and its "Irish" poutine. Basically poutine with slow-roasted pork on top. To die for.

As for the conference, I was asked to help with a workshop called "Coffee & Careers" where participants submitted info about where they're at with their author careers and what they're trying to achieve. I was assigned a list of participants, then we sat down as a group and I went through and attempted to give out advice to each of them, but collectively. It went really well. I think. No one threw anything at me. And I had fun. Hopefully, they got what they needed.

J.H. also went to work for one of the workshops where she did some developmental editing for people who'd submitted a bit of their work. That also seemed to do well.

On the whole, it was a great weekend and we met a lot of cool people. Also got to hang out with some old friends, which is always a plus.

Sooner Con: Norman, Oklahoma

Every year, Sooner Con feels like a homecoming for me. On the way down, we were trying to figure out how many years I've been going. This was either my 12th , 13th , or 14th consecutive. Definitely my longest-running convention without missing a year. The next closest is probably FenCon.

Anyway, they always line me up to moderate some good writing panels, but then they also have my host or participate in some game show-type things.

Confess Thy Sins: This was a late night panel where people could anonymously submit wild, inappropriate, or terrible things they had done and we, the panelists, had to read them to the room and provide commentary. Then we had the crowd vote whether it was a "Win" or a "Sin." It went about like you would imagine. Actually, the funniest part to me is we would got through a few awful ones, and then…bam! Something harmless would pop up, like, "Sometimes I lie about getting emails." Those cracked me up more than the terrible ones.

Fuck, Marry, Disintegrate: This time I played host. And yes, as the title suggests, my job was to make the panelists play Fuck, Marry, Kill. At least, that's what I assumed. I didn't get any instructions or materials, so I made up the rules and the content. I hit them with things like…Homer Simpson, Sponge Bob Square Pants, and Ronald McDonald. And then I made them tell us which they'd fuck, marry, or disintegrate and explain their reasoning. And then I made the crowd cheer for the winners. Good times.

A few others I hit them with…

Tony the Tiger, Cap'n Crunch, Lucky the Leprechaun

Mother Teresa, Queen Elizabeth II, Michelle Obama

Frodo, Sam, Bilbo

Papa Smurf, Captain Planet, Inspector Gadget

Check out this sweet Commander Shepard cosplay!!!

Oh, and this is the snake I found inside the house the other day…

What have I been reading?

Okay, I know I said I'd shut up about it, but…

I’m excited, damn it!

And I did listen to my entire audiobook.

That counts, right?

Throne Hunters by Phil Tucker

Also narrated by John Pirhalla, this was a killer book. A while back I listened to his Dawn of the Void trilogy and I really enjoyed that, so, when I saw John Pirhalla had narrated another author I really liked, I grabbed it up. Did not disappoint. If you like LitRPG, you have to give Phil Tucker a go. I'm definitely going to read more of his stuff. He's a brilliant writer.

This one follows a spoiled rich kid who you'd be okay seeing die before you get past the first chapter. But then…things happen. I don't actually want to tell you more. And you shouldn't read the description. If you like LitRPG, just give it a go.

The Tower of Fools by Andrzej Sapkowski

It is not The Witcher.

Let’s get that out of the way first.

It’s still quite good. He has a very charming author’s voice, and while I’m not invested in the characters the way I was for Geralt, Ciri, and company, it’s still been a pretty good read.

It is not The Witcher, though.

So, don’t expect it to be. But if you like his style of writing, you’ll probably enjoy this title as well. I’m only a little over halfway through, so we’ll see where I land once I’ve finished.

What games have I been playing?

Baldur's Gate 3

To my shame, I still have never finished this one, and it's a fantastic game.

The furthest I've made it is probably like halfway or better through the second act.

I haven't been playing a ton, but I did fire up a new campaign and got rolling. Still in the first act, but getting close to the end of it.

It really is a lot of fun and there’re about eight bazillion different ways to do things.

Final Thoughts

Here's to hoping you have a kickass summer! Cheers!