I’ve been rather circumspect about my work-in-process lately, revealing only that it will be a fantasy novel. Now it’s time to let the cat … or the faerie dragon … out of the bag! Yes, my 30th book will be my first novel.
I am making the move from nonfiction, tea, and children’s books into fantasy. My debut novel, titled The Bounds of Magic, is the first in a series called the Tryllevær Saga. I started work on it in January of 2024 with a NaNoWriMo challenge. I’ll be writing more about that soon.
And now, at long last, we have a scheduled release date (drumroll please):
RELEASE DATE: Tuesday, April 7, 2026
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The book is just shy of 100,000 words, and comes in at 350 pages. It will be coming out in all the usual formats: hardback, trade paperback, and ebook. The audiobook will likely be a few months behind. If you want to know more about the book and the process, I’ll be posting more about it here, and including exclusive bonus content in the newsletter.
The book centers around Skogaban, a young storyteller with an abusive father and a bit of unusual magical talent, and his best friend, Dacey, who has been trained by her father as a hunter/ranger. Tryllevær is a guild-centric society, but Sko & Dacey live in a small town far from the fancy guild halls.
Sko has put up with a lot of beatings from his father, and is missing four fingers from his left hand due to an accident in the forge. When Dacey tries to defend him, though, Sko’s father goes too far, throwing her to the ground and kicking her. Enraged, Sko strikes his father down with a piece of iron and flees town with Dacey, not knowing whether he’s killed his father or not. Either way, it’s not safe to go back home.
Sko discovers that his magic is quite useful, and very different from everyone else’s. When they are attacked by highwaymen on the road, he uses his magic to fight them off. For the first time, he has hurt someone with his magic, and it sickens him. Dacey, on the other hand, has no reluctance when it comes to using violence to protect Sko. When a group of young mages invite him into their new unified magic guild, he realizes he could change the way magic is taught and practiced. As he works with them, he and Dacey realize their lifelong friendship is blossoming into much more (she, of course, figures that out long before he does).
Joining the journeymen sets Sko on a collision course with Morana, the most powerful necromancer in history. When she discovers the new guild, she realizes it would interfere with her plans to take control of all six existing magic guilds. She strikes, forcing Sko and Dacey go into hiding. Are his lofty goals in magic worth it, or would he be happier marrying Dacey and going back to his childhood dream of being a storyteller?
Gary D. Robson 