What’s up, readers, patrons, and listeners.
This is Episode 4 of Vox Auctoris — the little podcast I started to keep you informed about what I’m working on, where my head is at, and what’s coming next.
First, a quick housekeeping note:
I’m still participating in a BookFunnel promo featuring roughly 120 free fantasy and sci-fi reads. It’s a wide spread — everything from romantasy to hard military sci-fi. Both Still He Burns and The Killings at Rockman’s Ford are in the promo, and they’re pulling about equal downloads, which tells me the readership is broad and curious. If you’re looking for something new to read, it’s worth browsing.
The Big News: The Seven Signs Is Done
Now for the real announcement:
The Seven Signs is finished. Completely.
The Heart of the Wasteland — Draft One — is done. The bow is on it.
If you’re an Equite or above, the January 2026 Codex Equitum is already live on Patreon, and it includes the full first draft of The Heart of the Wasteland. You can download it right now.
Finishing this book was… surreal.
The final word count landed at roughly 307,000 words, which is far larger than I ever expected when this series began. But it’s what the story needed — at least to reach the finish line honestly. Revisions are coming, and they’ll be significant, but the story is whole now.
I woke up one morning and told myself, Today I finish this book.
And I did.
Why This One Mattered So Much
The Seven Signs started years before I joined the Army. Back when I was a kid obsessed with epic fantasy — Robert Jordan, sprawling worlds, travelogues, cultures stacked on cultures. Early in the series, you can see that influence clearly: architecture, infrastructure, politics, how societies function.
Then the books went to war with me.
Deployments change you. Anyone who’s been there knows. Parts of you harden. Other parts go quiet. And as that happened, the tone of the series shifted with me. This was the series where I learned how to be a writer, in public, in real time, across years of life.
As an indie author, I experimented freely. Heists. New POV characters. Side arcs that grew teeth. Some of that growth was driven by curiosity, some by ADHD, and some by guilt — because there were years where I couldn’t bring myself to finish this thing.
Losing the book once and starting over nearly broke me.
For years, there was a voice in my head that said:
You’re not a real author until you finish a series.
And the worst part?
That voice was right.
Finishing It
This week, I finally wrote the last battle — a scene I’d been afraid of for years. And when I finished it, I knew it worked. When I wrote the final sentence, I didn’t feel relief so much as… alignment.
I celebrated quietly with my wife, a little wine, and the kind of silence that only comes after something truly ends.
This series followed me through being a student, a soldier, a veteran, an aircraft mechanic, a traveler, a welder, a teacher — and now, fully, back to being an author.
Finishing The Seven Signs wasn’t just about the story.
It was about closing a chapter of my life so I can open the next one without weight on my back.
What’s Next
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Through Burning Skies is still in revision and close to completion.
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The Heart of the Wasteland is slated for late February or mid-March, revisions permitting.
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Box sets will follow.
If you’re a Consul or above, keep an eye out — I’ll be posting a poll soon so you can help decide what I write next.
And again, if you haven’t yet:
The BookFunnel promo runs through January 31st.
Thank you — genuinely — for being here. For your patience, your trust, and your time.
There’s more coming. And this year, I intend to keep the pace.
— D.W. Hawkins