What’s up, Jedis and Dragon Riders?
This is D.W. Hawkins, and welcome to Vox Auctoris—the podcast where I drop updates for the few who are interested.
It’s a rainy day here in Arizona. It rained out my dictation schedule a bit, but I still got words down. If you can hear it in the background, consider it accidental desert-rain ASMR.
Promotion (Free Reads)
I’m still in the BookFunnel promo for January—free fantasy and sci-fi reads, everything from romance-centered titles to space marines.
Runs through January 31st.
Writing Update: Wyrm Rider (Dragon Riders of Zerath)
This week I started Wyrm Rider, the prequel novella for Dragon Riders of Zerath.
It’s a prequel novella that covers the story of an important mentor figure in Book one—Storm Rider—and I’m not going to spoil plot details. But I will tell you this: I’ve made serious progress, and I expect the novella to be finished before the next Codex Equitum drops.
My current plan is to finish the book and push it out early, because I intend Wyrm Rider to be a free novella to get readers into the series.
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Patrons: You’re getting it directly from me as soon as it’s ready (or in the next Codex Equitum if timing gets weird).
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Non-patrons: It’ll be available through my mailing list signup: dwhawkins.com/join (and yes, the download option should be live by mid-February).
As of this episode, I’m about 17,000 words in, and the novella is planned for about nine chapters. It’s flowing fast—faster than The Heart of the Wasteland did—and I’m loving the momentum.
Writing Update: The Seven Signs / The Heart of the Wasteland
Revisions are underway for The Heart of the Wasteland.
I decided to push it to the front of the revision schedule, even ahead of finishing revisions on Through Burning Skies. I love Through Burning Skies, but the reality is: the book you’ve been waiting on is The Heart of the Wasteland.
I’m currently doing structural revisions for Draft Two. It’s a huge book, and the middle got loose in places because there are so many POVs and so many moving parts. So I’m tightening plot lines and auditing arcs.
Numbers, just so you can see what I’m doing:
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Draft One finished around 308,000 words
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It’s currently sitting around 297,000
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I’ve already cut around 11,000 words, and I’m planning to cut more and add replacement scenes where needed
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Best-case scenario: I tighten it back toward 250k–275k (we’ll see)
I’m still not announcing an official release date yet because I want to be honest about how long this kind of structural cleanup takes, but I’m pushing hard for late February.
Beta Reading: The Heart of the Wasteland
Beta reading invitations are going out today to the mailing list.
I plan to send beta readers the first draft next week, even if I’m still mid-structure work, because the feedback I need is reader reaction—what hits, what drags, what confuses, what pops.
If you’re the kind of reader who likes seeing how the sausage gets made, jump in. It’ll likely be a few weeks to a month. I’ll send you the ARC and questions, and I need real feedback—don’t skimp.
Patrons: you get everything with no obligation. If you want to give feedback, awesome—but it’s not required.
Dragon Riders World Notes (A Quick Taste)
I also spent time worldbuilding Zerath. Hostile planet. Strong storms. Higher gravity. Oxygen-rich. Megafauna everywhere. Trade is dangerous and lucrative. Water rights matter. There are caldera states and rift valleys. Survival is hard.
The magic system is built around what I’m calling the Three Bonds of Zerath:
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Thaumaturgy — “as above, so below,” creating links between things (tools, defenses, craft, mechanisms—more engineering than fireballs).
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Beast Bonding — domination of lower creatures for work, travel, war.
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Dragon Bond — an exchange between equals, tied into nobility, bloodline myth, and political legitimacy.
Dragon types include common worms, high dragons, and apex breeds like magma worms and storm scales—storm scales being royal-level beasts with plasma so intense it can vitrify stone and throw lightning.
That’s the flavor. More later.
Closing
Promo runs through January 31st.
Beta reading invitations are going out. I’ll be back next week—ideally with news that Wyrm Rider is finished and headed to inboxes.
Much love, and I hope you have a good week.
— D.W. Hawkins