So, when I was thinking about what this blog to promote THE HOLVER ALLEY CREW ought to be, I thought, “I’d love to show something ‘behind the scenes’, the early process work.” Problem was, I didn’t really have much that could be considering the process work for Holver Alley. Maybe if I dug around in the attic I might find the first draft that I had by novel-group-at-the-time read, but was it really worth it.
And then my wife asked me to find her some notebook paper. I went into the garage, looking for some, and on the shelf I found this:
What’s that, you ask? How about a closer look?
Wouldn’t you know it? It’s the actual first handwritten notes for The Holver Alley Crew I did, many, many years ago.
The whole notebook is actually a trove of all sorts of early notes about all of Maradaine, though a good chunk of things are spoilers for stuff down the road.
For me, there is something thrilling and fascinating that these messy, scratchy handwritten notes somehow managed to evolve into the book that comes out next week.
And I think that’s the thing I want to impress on all of you out there, especially the ones who have some handwritten scratch of notes: that’s where a book begins, and that mess of semi-illegibility can, in fact, make its journey all the way to a book on the shelves of all your major bookstores.
So, if you haven’t already made your pre-order, maybe you should go down to your local bookstore and grab a copy. Or pre-order it now. It’s all good.
Launching the new STREETS OF MARADAINE series!
Mixing high fantasy and urban fantasy, The Holver Alley Crew is the first novel of Maresca’s third interconnected series set in the fantasy city of Maradaine.
The Rynax brothers had gone legit after Asti Rynax’s service in Druth Intelligence had shattered his nerves, and marriage and fatherhood convinced Verci Rynax to leave his life of thievery. They settled back in their old neighborhood in West Maradaine and bought themselves a shop, eager for a simple, honest life. Then the Holver Alley Fire incinerated their plans. With no home, no shop, and no honest income—and saddled with a looming debt—they fall back on their old skills and old friends.
With a crew of other fire victims, Asti and Verci plan a simple carriage heist, but the job spirals out of control as they learn that the fire was no accident. Lives in Holver Alley were destroyed out of a sadistic scheme to buy the land. Smoldering for revenge, burdened with Asti’s crumbling sanity, the brothers lead their crew of amateurs and washouts to take down those responsible for the fire, no matter the cost.
Goodreads Page for THE HOLVER ALLEY CREW
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and more!