Book 1 has gone way over word count, and keeps increasing, but we are so reluctant to stop Book 1 early...

A few chapters are still dialogue, but it is done. However we're re-writing the whole thing for accessibility.

We have around 15 reviewers reading through it now, and there are still 1000's of fixes incoming, and thanks for all feedback. The focus now is on Books 2-5 and working out the plot and twists and an incredible new character emerges (like we didn't have enough already). Another background character who we didn't really planned to do much with - is awesome!

The 9yo boss is now asking for a lot of the dark stuff we shifted to Book 2 to be brought forward to book 1. This is all heavily influencing Book 1 and things are fluid, we might have to leave Book 1 with a serious cliff hanger. But the good news is that would mean Book 2 was 70% done (with the first 25% in a very good state).

Books 2-5 are on another level of craziness, and darkness...and constant brainstorming has some insane new ideas!

Still looking for proof readers aged 12+ (note the warnings) and feedback. 

The title of the project came 5 years ago from a then 5 year old Lightning King.

 "The Dark Is A Cold Lonely Shadow". Such profound words from someone so young, I wrote them down.

Then came the announcement, with such conviction: "When I grow up I want to work for Mojang".

Reading held no interest, but Minecraft most definitely did. To try inspire him to read I gave him a Minecraft book for Xmas. At night I would read a section, then refuse to read the next, instead offering to help him read it. 

This rotation worked better than I could have imagined. His thirst to read didn't just spark, it burst into flames. He now devours books faster than I did at his age, and I read a lot!

His imagination and stories were constant, and this sparked an idea based on that success. All of these great stories, ideas, characters, and such success? And so many ideas,  gone! How else can this be used to teach?

I suggested we linked them all together into a single project. "The Dark Is A Cold Lonely Shadow". His excitement was infectious. From that point no ideas were wasted, almost everything was thought of as part of that wider project. That character or idea he had, I asked how does that person interact with the wider story? Draw it, write it, code it, create it in Minecraft. Where do they live, and how does it look? Let's build it in Minecraft...

Again, the results were beyond anything I could imagine.

All that imagination was suddenly focused on a single project "The Dark Is A Cold Lonely Shadow".

Books, Comics, Coding, Modding, Sounds, Astronomy, Websites, 3D Animation, Textures, PBR, Writing, Drawing, Website Design, Art, 3D Art and Modelling, Promotion, Music, Video Editing, Sound design, Acting...and more.

All titles are work in progress, and more books are expected. [OUT OF DATE]

• [SPOILERS REMOVED]

• Tales From The Historian - Short Stories Or Chapters including: Dauntilus, The Ideal, Malix, Snow Peak - The Final Battle, The Purge Of The Dragons, The Last Dragon, The Aegis, The Great War, Shadow Falls, Altimus Tierta (Hero or Mountain Goat), and more.

• The Historians Time Line - Brief summary of key historic events (AKA the student cheat sheet) and used as reference for keeping track of the project, characters, dates, etc. Will be put into database.

• Shadow Falls (The Shadow Butterfly) - The Desert Tribes, The Shadow Butterfly, and the  Creation of Shadow Falls 

• [SPOILERS REMOVED - NOW IN BOOK 1 & 2]

• Altimus Tierta - A More Succint History - The Scribe / The "Truths" / On The Steps Of The Great Library / Escape From The Keep / The Cult Of The Glowing Quill

• Plateau - Edge (not for younger children). Now planned to cross over with the stories of Logan, Raz'Kul, The Joker, and The Shadow Butterfly. [THIS IS NOW LIKELY TO BE A SEPERATE BUT OVERLAPPING SERIES FOR OLDER CHILDREN AND ADULTS]

• A Concise History - by Malix - This will not likely ever be written but is the basis for The Historians Time Line and A More Succint History. 

[SPOILERS REMOVED]

The Dark Is A Cold Lonely Shadow

VIDEO TO LEFT CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!!

Fight or summon the "Ghost Warden" and some insane combinations never seen before! Most deadly, some just hilarious. Wield the weapons from the book - including Pierce and Dauntilus Armour.

Co-op - Defend yourself and your friends in the Arena

PVP - Player vs Player - with some twists, and summoning of allies, traps, defences, buffs.

PVP God Mode - Creations vs Creations (this will be in a later phase as a lot more complex than initially anticipated)

God vs Player - You control the arena and what it unleashes against the other players...simply the most fun we've ever had!