So, as a fantasy nerd who grew up in the nineties, I was for a very long time a Potter maniac. I've written about the complicated nature I have with it now, but setting that aside, I want to talk about one of my favorite parts of the first book.

In The Sorcerer's Stone (or Philosopher's, if you want to be a proper Brit), Harry Potter has just come to Diagon Alley. He knows almost nothing about the wizarding world, has just barely gotten his money, his books and everything squared away, and has to select his wand. After being chosen by the twin wand to Voldemort's, Ollivander gives a bit of a shocking line for a children's book.

"I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter.... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things..."

That quote stuck with me when I was reading it almost thirty years ago, and it still resonates as I'm writing The Innkeeper's Dirge and Legends of the Realm. That greatness often has little to do with morality. It is most often about the movings and shakings of the world. When one person does more in a day to rock the firmament of the social order than whole generations accomplish in their lifetimes.

Early in one's writing career, we often try to justify every action of our protagonists and their allies. The villains are evil, even if they always lose. And sacrifices turn out to not have been sacrifices after all. Because we breathe life into our protagonists more than any other character, we want to sometimes coddle them. Make everything turn out okay. Make them paragons of virtue, even when the story demands otherwise.

I won't get into spoilers, but in both book 2 of The Innkeeper's Dirge and volume 2 of Legends of the Realm, writing was wonderfully harder. Because sometimes...your heroes are monsters. To save many, the lives of others must be ignored, or removed entirely. It is far better writing and decisions than I thought the books were moving towards.

The stories are moving forward. And the state of Tir Aileni will never be the same. Because of the Fiorae. Because of Camriddeon. They are doing...great things.

Terrible. But great.

State of the Inkdustries

I managed to hit a wonderful milestone: writing every day this week! It is definitely a small achievement, but I am so happy to have actually managed to accomplish it.

We have received the funds from our Legends of the Realm volume 1 kickstarter. Keep an eye out for reward surveys soon, because we're going to be turning around and sending it off to the printer as soon as possible.

We have our cover artists for The Shattered Wing, and the production for our next comics in Legends of the Realm has begun!

I think the next couple weeks will be wonderfully busy on the business side, and then the summer will be in full swing and we'll be focused exactly where I want to be: writing writing and more writing.

Be one of the first to read our next novel

For the past several years, I've been working on the first novel set in the world of Camriddeon, Dannisfire, and beyond. After a professional editorial assessment and multiple rounds of revision, the manuscript is finally ready for its next stage: beta readers.

I'm looking for a small group of epic fantasy readers willing to read an early version of the novel and share their honest feedback.

A few details:

• This is an Epic Fantasy novel, not comic
• Approximately 185,000 words
• Book One of a planned series (three-quarters of the way through book 2!)
• Feedback requested by August 31, 2026

I'm particularly interested in hearing from readers who enjoy large-scale fantasy series such as The Wheel of Time, The Stormlight Archive, The Faithful and the Fallen, The Lord of the Rings, and other epic fantasy adventures.

As a beta reader, you'll get an early look at the novel, help shape the final version before publication, and have the opportunity to be recognized in the acknowledgements section of the finished book.

If you're interested, please fill out the beta reader application form below:

Where to Find Us Next

If you want to read more of our short stories, poetry, see behind-the-scenes work, or support everything that Arcane Inkdustries is doing, click the link and sign up to be a Patreon supporter now.

Thank you for reading. I hope that this sparked a piece of magic for you this week.

Until next time.

Blessings,

Jack Holder

p.s., hey it's another sponsorship! If you like to support our newsletter and can't financially, just click this link, and check out Morning Brew! We can't paid for every link click!

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