D.W. Hawkins and The Sentient Fire
D.W. Hawkins is a gifted writer who has served his country for the last ten years as Crew Chief of the Black Hawk. He served two deployments in Iraq and his last deployment was in Afghanistan. During these hectic years he has spent every spare moment writing his best seller,"The Sentient Fire" It made it’s first appearance in November. Dan has always been a fan of Fantasy and this Fantasy is the best story of that genre. The following is Daniel introducing his, "Sentient Fire."
“So, I’m super stoked because my book cover is AWESOME, thanks to my artist, collaborator, and cousin, Jason Peek. The art that is going to be in The Sentient Fire is just amazing. I’m going to take a second and discuss the book here, since it’s coming out next month, and there are some people who’d like a generalized description of it. Plus, I just really like talking about it. Sue me. The Sentient Fire is a fantasy story. Don’t let that turn you off if you’re not a fan of fantasy. I’m a long time fantasy reader, since I was around 10 years old, and one of the things I noticed about a lot of fantasy stories is that they were chocked full of stereotypes. The books may have had an amazing plot, or very interesting setting, but the characters would be incredibly two dimensional or just plain stereotypical. I hated that, because in my opinion there’s just no real black and white “evil” or “good” in the world. Everyone is driven by their own motivations, and most of them think they’re right about whatever it is they’re doing.
D.W. Hawkins and crew in Afghanistan with Black Hawk
In this story, I tried to revamp that a bit. I made a very huge effort to make my characters seem like real people. Heroes aren’t the white knights that ride in and save the damsel, they have flaws like all of us. They make bad decisions and are put into bad situations they have to make the best of. Villains aren’t the evil-wizard-in-a-tower type who have no real feelings or motivations other than to oppress people. These stereotypes don’t reflect real life, and so in The Sentient Fire they don’t exist.
I tried very hard to create a beautiful setting, intriguing plot, AND fill that world with people who have real goals and motivations, real personalities, real faults and fears. I tried to convey a feeling that fantasy CAN be a great genre that isn’t so cookiecutter-esque. Yes, I made that word up.
In the Seven Signs (which is the name of the series,) It’s planned as a trilogy. You will find Heroes who are just like you and me, who have real fears and real feelings. There are awkward moments, heartfelt moments, and moments of hard choices. The Villains also have real world issues, and to be honest, I sometimes liked writing the scenes with the Villains more than I did with the Heroes, because the dynamic was so much fun.
The plot is one that at first seems simple, but as you read it becomes more and more complex. There is romance, betrayal, political intrigue, crime, magic, mayhem, and even an adoption. And a lot of action. You will find no battle scenes in my book where the Hero cuts down hordes of enemies with ease while laughing. The fights are brutal, realistic, descriptive, and exciting. And yes – there IS magic. A ton of magic with what I think is an interesting system.
I’m not tooting my own horn, but a few people have received advance copies of the manuscript, and the one compliment that I get above all others is “you have a very cinematic style of writing, it feels like I’m watching a movie.”
Also, I spent a very long time on the setting. I had to map out Solstices and Equinoxes, integrate holidays, build entire cultures, and I even came up with trade routes and wrote over 1,000 years of history for the setting just to make sure that it was well thought out. I hope I did a good job; you be the judge.
This book is almost 10 years in the making. I wrote it during tumultuous times in my life, over three separate combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and during major life changes that have brought me here, to the completion of the book. It has been with me for a long time, and I have come to love it. I sincerely hope that you do as well.
In short, please support me in my efforts and enjoy a great story in the process. The Sentient Fire is coming out this November, so please go to your favorite online retailer and look for it. I greatly appreciate your consideration, and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. Like my Facebook and get the news as it happens for the book here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/D.W.Hawkins/115177268592019 Also, you can follow me on Twitter and get the same updates. My website is still under construction, but soon you can go there and follow my efforts to entertain you with great novels. Here’s the link: http://www.dwhawkins.com/. Thanks for reading, and I hope I was able to turn you on to the first book of the Seven Signs.
Posted by D.W. Hawkins at 12:38:00 AM
Postscript:
Daniel Hawkins In case you didn’t know yet, you can purchase your copy of The Sentient Fire for Kindle here: http://www.amazon.com/Sentient-Fire-Seven-Signs-ebook/dp/B006AF8BIW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321859913&sr=8-1. If you have a different ereader, or want it in .pdf format or .doc, you can get it here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/106594. Follow me on Twitter @authorDWHawkins and enjoy The Sentient Fire. Feel free to write me a review, and subscribe to my blog for more updates on the books, promotions, and contests as they come out www.dwhawkins.blogspot.com
The Sentient Fire (The Seven Signs) www.amazon.comIn one short night, Dormael Harlun’s life was changed forever. Dormael stumbled upon Shawna Llewan, a beautiful young woman, wounded and near death. What he didn’t realize was that his decision to come to her aid would be the only the beginning of hi…
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Tags: author, best seller, D.W. Hawkins, Face-Book, Fantasy, genre, intriguing, Out-in-November, Sentient-Fire
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October 27th, 2011 at 10:06 am
I LIKED it
October 27th, 2011 at 10:23 am
Congratulations to you for having him as a grandson and congratulations to your grandson. If it comes out on Kindle I will be sure to buy it.
October 27th, 2011 at 10:50 am
good article
October 27th, 2011 at 11:12 am
Not my cup of tea, but wish the young fellow all the very best with its launch, cheers on this one Ruby
October 27th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Congratulations on your grandson. You should be so proud!
October 27th, 2011 at 4:54 pm
extraordinary! what accomplishments!
October 27th, 2011 at 9:09 pm
I hope that this book will become a bestseller.
October 27th, 2011 at 9:22 pm
Ruby, he sounds like a very talented writer.
October 27th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
I liked it thanks for this
October 27th, 2011 at 10:03 pm
Congratulations to your grandson! This book sounds like something that I would love to read. The plot is very interesting. Yes, I will support him.
October 27th, 2011 at 11:51 pm
Congratulations to your grandson, Ruby, I am sure his book will be a bestseller. I would be more then happy to support him.
October 28th, 2011 at 2:20 am
I shall definitely look out for the book, Ruby. I hope it come out in Britain too. You must be very proud of our grandson. Congratulations to you both.
October 28th, 2011 at 3:45 am
nice share
October 28th, 2011 at 6:39 am
sure we shall definitely support , ruby
October 28th, 2011 at 6:46 am
Congrats D.W. Hawkins – Sentinel Fire – waiting for this and would like to post in my blogs for ads. Thanks
October 28th, 2011 at 7:44 am
ah great.well written.
October 28th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
You must be a very very proud Daddy!
October 28th, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Good luck to Dan in hopes of his book doing well. Good promo!
October 28th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
I’ll look out for this book Ruby, you must be proud of him.
October 28th, 2011 at 9:00 pm
congratulation
October 28th, 2011 at 10:13 pm
Congratulations. Wish your grandson every success for his book.
October 29th, 2011 at 1:30 am
Congrats!!! Touches my heart as no one usually does.
October 29th, 2011 at 3:04 am
Congratulations!
October 29th, 2011 at 10:42 am
You can feel proud that your grandson has risen to such great heights. The preview reads very interesting and I am sure it is going to be popular.
October 29th, 2011 at 11:06 am
This is like wetting my appetite for more. How proud you must be about your grandson. No need to conduct a search as to where the mantel of creativity dropped on him from. Who knows this might turn out to be one of those celebrated animated film series. Will be on the look out.
October 29th, 2011 at 8:35 pm
Thank you Ruby for the great introduction.
October 30th, 2011 at 7:26 am
Fantastic!
October 30th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
I will look on his facebook for the book publishing. I want to order a copy.
October 31st, 2011 at 2:53 pm
Congratulations to your talented grandson. I see it runs in the family. I will be on the lookout for his book. While I don’t like books about the military my husband would be a big fan.
October 31st, 2011 at 4:09 pm
This sounds like it would be a great read and I am looking forward to reading it when it comes out.
October 31st, 2011 at 9:32 pm
He sounds like a talented writer. I wish him well.
November 4th, 2011 at 11:54 am
This is worthy article
November 7th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Thanks!
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November 12th, 2011 at 8:52 pm
I like it thanks for this.