AAW author publishes 3 books in 1 day

A story that started in 1997 reached a happy ending on March 29, 2016, when author David Michael Williams published The Renegade Chronicles.

Comprised of three full-length, sword-and-sorcery fantasy novels (Rebels and Fools, Heroes and Liars, and Martyrs and Monsters), The Renegade Chronicles tells the tale of a ragtag team of rebels whose rivalry with the ruling knights becomes overshadowed by a hidden threat to the realm.

The twists and turns of the trilogy’s narrative parallel those of the project itself, which began as an English assignment at the University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac when Williams was 17. He spent the next seven years writing and editing three books for the series—in between attending college classes, teaching English in China for a year, starting a family, and working as the entertainment writer/editor at The (Fond du Lac) Reporter newspaper.

Williams made a few attempts to find a traditional publisher for the series. However, he eventually moved on, working on other writing projects and honing his craft as time permitted. He always hoped to return to The Renegade Chronicles one day, but the manuscripts collected dust for ten years.

“I’m very fortunate to have been able earn a living with my writing,” Williams, a content specialist at BrownBoots Interactive Inc., said. “But while a career in journalism, public relations and marketing have allowed me to tap into my inner storyteller on occasion, I began to feel like I was neglecting my first love: fiction.”

Determined to put his dream of becoming a published author on the front burner, Williams spent the latter half of 2015 creating a business plan for his own independent publishing company and refining his early works. He formed One Million Words LLC in January 2016.

The Renegades returned to action in March when all three volumes of The Renegade Chronicles were simultaneously published in paperback and e-book editions. They are available at Amazon.com and the Kindle Store, respectively.

“Tackling all three books at once was maybe a little masochistic, but I wanted the entire series to be available on Day 1 so that people could ‘binge read’ one right after another,” he said. “Kind of like Netflix’s ‘House of Cards,’ only with magical swords.”

Whether the Fond du Lac author writes more novels set in the magical, medieval world of Altaerra will depend on the commercial success of the first three books.

“I have plenty of material to draw from, including a complete draft of a new Altaerra novel. Fantasy, as a genre, continues to be popular, so I’m hopeful my series will find the right readership,” said Williams, 37, who describes The Renegade Chronicles as being as epic in scope as the Harry Potter novels and George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” but with a PG-13 rating.

Even as he promotes The Renegade Chronicles, Williams is hard at work writing a science fiction series, The Soul Sleep Cycle, which is represented by the Sternig & Byrne Literary Agency.

Williams is a 1999 graduate of UW-Fond du Lac. In 2001, he received a bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing from UW-Milwaukee. He joined the Allied Authors of Wisconsin in 2005.

His website, david-michael-williams.com, features a blog about his fiction and the craft of writing.

• Where to buy The Renegade Chronicles