Hey everyone!
For several months, I’ve been teasing a secret project – and it’s finally time to reveal it!
Behold, my Audible Original LitRPG novella: How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps, coming April 30th!
(The amazing artwork is by LuluSeason, by the way.)
So, what’s this story about?
Here’s the quick blurb:
For thousands of years, there has been a cycle: a Demon King rises and conquers, and a Hero is reborn a hundred years later to defeat him. Each time, civilizations are ground to dust beneath the Demon King’s hordes, but humanity has remained secure in the belief that a Hero of legend will always save them. There’s just one slight problem. It’s only been 23 years since the Demon King’s latest rise, and this time, he’s already conquered more than half the world. If humanity simply waits for the Hero’s return, there may be no world left for him to save.
And so, Yui Shaw sets out with an ambitious plan. A 10-step plan.
She’ll find a way to obtain the Hero’s legendary sword. She’ll earn obscure classes, gain levels, and increase her skills. She’ll travel to the meticulously-crafted dungeons that seem designed for one specific Hero to complete. And, if she’s truly (un)fortunate, she might even find a fairy.
She might not be a Hero – but if she can fake it long enough, she might still be able to save the world.
In the synopsis and the artwork, I’m sure some of you already can see that I’m drawing heavily from JRPG tropes here again – and perhaps even more directly than usual. This story is a very clear homage to Zelda and Dragon Quest, but with our protagonist dealing with a difficult problem: How does one save the world when it’s been rigged to be saved by someone else at a later time?
Anyone who enjoy my usual dungeon crawling and lateral thinking antics will probably enjoy this one, especially if you like the more comedic elements of my work. This is a sillier story, more akin to Six Sacred Swords than any of my other works.
Oh, also probably important to mention – if you’re an Audible subscriber, it’s free for the first few days after launch (starting 4/30) as an Audible Original. So, if you’re not already using your Audible Original slots, pick it up while it’s free! It’ll be cheap for other people as well ($7.95, I believe), but you can’t beat the price of free.
To answer some other inevitable questions:
- No, it’s not in the Arcane Ascension universe. This is brand new.
- This is a novella, not a full novel. It’s about 46,000 words, or about five hours of recorded time.
- It’s mostly a stand alone, but I may do more with it if people like it enough. We’ll see.
- It’s an Audible exclusive for a certain period of time; I’ll do other formats when the publisher allows it.
- Yes, Arcane Ascension 3 is still in progress and the main thing on my plate. I wrote this quite a while ago, it’s just taken a long time to come out. No, I don’t have a release date for AA3.
Thanks, everyone, and I hope you enjoy the book!
Andrew Rowe 
I’m just sad it isn’t out now. I recently started relistening to some of my older audiobooks, but a new one would be nice.
Soon!
It’s “on sale” right now for $0. Is that correct?
Yes, it should be free for the first few days.
I can’t wait to listen! I listen to audiobooks all through my workday so this will be a nice treat.
Thanks, I hope you enjoy it!
Just to be clear, there isn’t an ebook edition in epub or mobi? It’s audible only?
It’s Audible exclusive for a set exclusivity period, then I can release it in other formats later.
I’m waiting for the Novel – Audiobooks aren’t my thing 🙂
Do you know who will be narrating?
Yep! Suzy Jackson and Steve West. They did a *fantastic* job with it.
I absolutely loved Suzy Jackson in some of her other works. I look forward to it!
I hope there more book to come following huey be cool to see her face off against the silver goddess! Great book.
I absolutely loved this book, and sincerely hope there will be more to come for Yui and Ken. This book sucked me in and I’d i wasn’t cracking up I was verbally responding to it.
I can’t recommend this book enough! I haven’t read any of your other work yet, but they’re next on my list (:
If I wasn’t *
I’m very glad you enjoyed it! I’m considering doing more, but I’ll have to finish up my sequels for Arcane Ascension and Weapons & Wielders before I get too deep into planning anything else. Thanks for reading it!
Will there be a second book as indicated at the end of the book??
I left it deliberately open, but whether or not we’ll get a sequel depends on how the book does and how much time I have between my other works.
I liked it, it was a lot of fun. You ought to do another!
Thanks! Maybe at some point when I’m caught up on my other sequels, we’ll have to see. =)
Yes, Please! Do more… It was a fun story and I am ready for more Yui Shaw! Thanks
Glad you liked her! I’m thinking about sequels, but it’ll have to wait until after I do my sequels for my other series first. =)
Love it. Would love to see a sequel!!!
Thanks! I might write one someday, but my other series have to come first. =)
Please make another book. This book was amazing! I love how it is a mix of video game, and what I think is a twist on Greek mythology.
Thank you, I’m glad you liked it!
Loved it, actually went searching for more. Thanks, that was a fun adventure.
This book was such a surprise for me and I enjoyed it so much that I incorporated a Leveling Up portion of my Graphic Design course I teach in college. In life we have so many choices on things to learn and put our efforts in, but when we focus on a few we can use the advantages of both of these. I think her thought process in choosing to be a bag maige (sp?) was fascinating. And that nothing stopped her from pursuing her goal, even the fact that only a “hero” could defeat the demon king.
I have read it twice already! Brilliant and inspiring.
I’m very pleased to hear you incorporated the story into your course! Thanks for listening to the book, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Please make the next book as a sequel to this one, I LOVED this book
Maybe someday! Gotta get through my queue first, though. Thanks for listening!
Ok so I literally listen to this every night. I would love the next adventure!! I love how you laid it out and everything. It was like actually playing a game. I just enjoyed listening to it. It’s funny and exciting! Ken was hilarious especially about the slim monsters. 😂 I would love more with them.
Glad you enjoyed the book so much! I’d love to do some more eventually, but I have a lot of other books to finish up first. In the meantime, I recommend Six Sacred Swords as another one of my books with a similar flavor.
My sons love this book and wanted me to share with you their hope that more books are written. Thanks!
I’d love to write more of this someday, but I have a number of other projects I need to wrap up first. In the meantime, if your son is looking for something similar, I recommend Six Sacred Swords.
I just finished listening to your book! It’s amazing! I hope you write a sequel to it some day, I’m dying to find out what’s next! Thanks for the great listen 🙂
Thanks, glad you liked it!
I just finished listening to the audiobook for the second time to share with my teens and my kids are dying to follow the story further!!
Glad to hear it! It’ll probably be a while before a sequel, but my Weapons & Wielders series is pretty similar if you want something else in the meantime.
I finished the Audible narration a few days ago and this book is still on my mind! Brilliant work with this, Andrew. The clear inspirations from Zelda, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, D&D, etc. were brilliant. Oh man, when I heard that one of the downfall ages was when the Hero got lost in the Water Temple, I howled. To have incorporated what seemed like a silly joke, into a very key part in the story, was a stroke of genius. I loved this book so much, I will be buying the physical version too. I beg for a sequel. From your previous comments, it seems that one may be on the table down the line. If so, I will revel in it!
Glad you enjoyed it. Would love to do a sequel someday, but yeah, tons of other stuff on the agenda first. Hope you enjoy my other books if you check them out!
Loved this book! Only on the site now is I’m trying to find when your next book or sequel was out! I’d love to hear more of this universe…just whenever:)