Now is the time for me to gush over what I’ve been sitting on for the last five months. Look. At. That. Cover.

Every detail is in the novel (hinted at or highly described). The artist, Ivan Cakić, is remarkably talented and gracious. You can find his other works here. I had reached out to several artists who were already occupied, so I was anticipating a similar response from Ivan Cakić. He immediately agreed to work with me, and his enthusiasm took away any fears I had about the process.

I am more than pleased with how it turned out. Every time I see it, I wonder who’s novel is this? Can I read it? It’s surreal.

Now, I want to talk about where I’m at in the process of self-publishing. On October 18th, I received the full manuscript from the hired editor. I took Friday and Monday off my day job to work on the 104k word story the entire weekend. Working with the editor, Amelia at Amelia Winters Editing, has been incredible, and I was flabbergasted by how smoothly she handled any changes, ensuring consistency with my style and story.

If you haven’t been following me on Instagram (you should: https://www.instagram.com/calebjswitzer/) and other social platforms, you’re in luck. I’m going to lay out what I’ve been sharing.

What to expect from Morvelving? My debut novel is a high fantasy lone-wolf and cub story set in a bronze age world with themes of redemption and survival.

High fantasy is a general term for fantasy that is set in a fictional world and where the characters are often non-human. In Morvelving, the main character, Morvelving, is a wolf-humanoid species called Mulranei. For reference, they are my ‘noble elves’, but like any people or culture aren’t without their faults.

Lone-wolf and cub, or ‘found family’, is a story often about a stoic adult having to deal with a child with some form of destiny in a perilous world (think Last of Us, The Mandalorian, Witcher).

I chose Bronze age because I wanted to explore an earlier time period in my fantasy world of Ervi. There are not that many fantasy books within that setting (there are but they are shy and hard to find).

To give you the sense of the story, here is the back cover blurb:

 Morvelving, an exile trapped by the same vices that led to his son’s death, is ready to end it all. Until he meets the orphan, Nippiktua, a mute and deaf child, marked by the Fates and with a knack for mischief. Though guilt ridden, Morvelving will not allow himself to abandon her to her treacherous destiny, and so vows to find her a safe and hidden home.

A wayward and perilous journey begins. Along their path, the two encounter a mystical Stag, escape warmongering centaurs, dispute with an obstinate prince, and flee from a dragon’s zealots.

But when the zealots capture Nippiktua as a sacrifice to the dragon’s whim, Morvelving must allay his fears and race to save the child from the strings of the Fates in the shadow of the tyrannical dragon.

Where did this story come from? The first novel I wrote has a character who has the title ‘Mourning Sword’. Initially, it was just a title, but I’m a plotter, so I had to find where, when, and why this character had that title. I answered the questions and wrote Morvelving, a character that is thousands of years before the one in the first novel. That was the start and now it has grown to something truly beautiful.

Be on the lookout for Morvelving’s official release date! Expect the book to be available the first quarter of 2025!