Hi all! Today I’d love for you to join me on another platform – Heart Ally’s Book Blog!
As a reminder – Make sure you get your copy of the Last Gladiator on pre-order now on Nook, Kindle, and all other platforms (including epub and mobi) on Smashwords. My first novel – Brass Legionnaire – is still FREE on Smashwords!
Hi all,
This week has been a busy week for me, even safe at home during this social distancing and Stay-At-Home orders. If you haven’t heard already, The Last Gladiator is now available on Pre-Order!
A clash of tradition versus invention drives Daniel Ottalini’s latest work – The Last Gladiator, a prequel novella in the Steam Empire Chronicles.
Lucia Rhodanus Fortem is an endangered species – one of the last graduates of the ludi, gladiator academies renowned throughout the Empire. When the Emperor orders a demonstration of his new mechanical toys – Mechagladiators – he knows just whom to fight. Fans of Gladiator and Pacific Rim alike will enjoy this prequel to the Steam Empire Chronicles – The Last Gladiator.
The Last Gladiator is due to be released May 2, 2020. Available on Kindle, Nook, and for all other e-readers through Smashwords!
I’m super pumped to share this with you all! Help out your small author pals (like me!) and pre order your copy today. Remember that my first novel – Brass Legionnaire – is still available FOR FREE on Smashwords!
Continue reading “Year Of Accountability – Happy Easter! 4/12-4/19”
Hey, hey YOU! Want to be part of a blog tour for the release of the Last Gladiator? Want pre-release access to a review copy? Want me to write a blog story for your blog? It is your lucky month, because this month is The Last Gladiator Release tour!
Sign up HERE —> It’s a google form that will let you get access to me super fast! The more the merrier, and the more participants the bigger this tour can be!
Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to the formatters The Last Gladiator goes!
This week has been a whirlwind of work trying to get the Last Gladiator finished and ready. I’m excited to get it sent off, but I really want to make sure it is the best it can be. So I would say I have accomplished my goal for this week! I’m still making the last few changes and got some really good feedback from my beta readers. I’m sort of kicking myself for not giving myself a lot of time to put in their feedback, but then I remember that I control the deadlines and can slow things down as I like!
So that’s it! This week I’m going to be busy getting settled in to doing digital distance learning. I want to make sure I’m giving myself time to get familiar and comfortable with the technology, which fortunately I do have some practice with in the last few years.
Goals for the week: None.
See you next week!
Hi All,
Well, it has certainly been an insane week here in the United States, and with our schools on lockdown and more and more parts of our society shut down due to the Covid 19, we’re about to become shut-ins for the next few weeks. I hope that this will help flatten the curve and keep more people I know healthy.
Good news – its a great time to read books!
Continue reading “Year of Accountability – 3/16-3/22 – Covid 19 & The Writer”
It’s time! The next novella in the Steam Empire Chronicles is finished!
The Last Gladiator describes the complex transitions within the eternal city itself during the early years of Emperor Hadrian Appius’ rule. Following the exploits of Lucia Rhodanus Fortem, a female gladiator charged with a daunting task – defeat the first of the mechagladiators, or die trying. With characters and situations foreshadowing events in the Steam Empire Chronicles, you’ll want to pick up this novella! The Last Gladiator will be going on presale April 10th, 2020.
The Last Gladiator will be released on May 1st, 2020.
What exactly is a mechagladiator? Only the most technological advancement in the arena in the 1800s! One of my most favorite steampunk elements in my novels, Mechagladiators are impressive and awesome to see in battle.
Continue reading “Mechagladiators – the Next Advancement in Gladiator Technology”
Howdy all,
Been a busy week here, and I got a chunk done!
What were my goals?
Goals:
I completed the first part, and still working on the second. What are my goals for next week? Continue reading “Year of Accountability – 2/17-2/23”
Hi all,
Here’s a sneak preview of a bit more of the Last Gladiator! Enjoy!
The twisting series of hallways soon lead to a massive banquet room. Huge columns, so large ten men couldn’t fit their arms around one, held up a steel and marble ceiling, plastered and decorated with beautiful paintings of angels and gods. Servants in the same red and black tunics and white trousers wove through the crowd, like fishing vessels plying their trade. A nibble from a guest here, a nibble there, and the vessels would return to port to reload their silver trays with tiny morsels of food.
“Will we not be dining in the triclinium?” She asked, partially confused. The Imperial house wouldn’t make the most powerful members of the realm eat on benches and tables like the ludus, would they? Mergovin chuckled.
“I don’t think so. It’s different when your banquet is for, oh, five hundred people.” Women in puffy dresses with a strangely military uniform cut glided by, men in formal tunics with layers of embroidery and jewelry escorting them with bent arm. The diversity of styles and people here was intense. She had expected just nobility, but looking around she could see at least twenty familiar faces from the newsrags, including prominent industrialists and merchants. For a moment, she saw a familiar face from Neapolis, but she quickly guided Mergovin in a different direction. She could not mistake that nose, that hairstyle, that scar…Lucia repressed a shudder of fear.
Who is Lucia seeing? What does it mean? We’ll have to find out later!
Hi all,
Here’s another Year of Accountability posting! Last week’s goals were…
1.) Get to 27,000 words in the Last Gladiator.
2.) Continue to tweet daily about my books.
3.) Get into another event / convention & be confirmed for this!
How’d I do?
Well, I definitely didn’t tweet daily about my books, but I am continuing to tweet! I’ve managed to get to 27,000 words in the Last Gladiator, so that’s also awesome. I’m still waiting to be confirmed for the Gaithersburg Book Festival, but I was confirmed for the Maryland Renaissance Festival, so I’ll be attending at least one event this year (Hurray!).
Otherwise, my new goal is to reach 30,000 this week. I really want to be able to focus on that and get it done.
In other news, I’ve upgraded my internet and such, so I’ll be able to do work and research must faster than I’ve been used to. Which is a benefit outside what I was expecting!
Goals:
Modern Papyrus 