A look back and then a look ahead at whats to come this year!
Hi all,
It’s been a while since I said something other than I’ll be at the Renaissance Festival! While I wish I could say I’ve been doing some amazing writing, its been way more mundane.
Continue reading “A Year and Then…More? Writing into 2026”Book signing tomorrow!
Howdy all,
Just a reminder that I’ll be signing copies of my two Omnibi – Legion Rising & Shattered Crown – At Page After Page Books at the Maryland Renaissance Festival tomorrow, August 31st, 2025. Tickets to the Renfest are on sale now and you cannot buy them at the gate, so now is the time to grab them so you can come see me and support my endeavors! Buy your set of the my novels (or my D&D Adventure) at the fair and get them signed for free!
See you there tomorrow!
That’s right, I’m back with a vengeance! I’ll be signing copies of my two Omnibi – Legion Rising & Shattered Crown – At Page After Page Books at the Maryland Renaissance Festival this Sunday, August 31st, 2025. Tickets to the Renfest are on sale now, so now is the time to grab them so you can come see me and support my endeavors! Buy your set of the my novels (or my D&D Adventure) at the fair and get them signed for free! I’ll be there 11am to 5pm. Looking forward to seeing you all there!
New Omnibi forthcoming! Available for preorder now!
Have you been holding off on purchasing the entire Steam Empire Chronicles? Want an exclusive new cover that looks absolutely snazzy? Get the ultimate Steam Empire Chronicles Collection in two fantastic Omnibi – Legion Rising and Shattered Crown – Available now for preorder and released on March 23rd, 2025!
Join Author Daniel Ottalini for a talk on Alternate History at the Worldbuilding EXPO tomorrow at 5:15 PM PST (8:15 EST)
Have you ever wondered how to build up your worldbuilding? Want to know how it connects to Alternate History and the worlds of potential futures & pasts? Sign up for my free talk tomorrow night at the Worldbuilding EXPO (8:15 PM, EST, or 5:15 PM PST).
I’ll be in the No Stress Writing Academy booth run by my awesome friend (and editor / publisher at Heart Ally Books, the awesome people behind Antioch Burns). Here’s the schedule tomorrow. All times are PST.
March 12:
You’ll have to register (it’s free!) and registering once gets you into a variety of free talks, seminars, and booths. Listen to engaging speakers, check out some wares, perhaps learn a thing or two about writing, worldbuilding, and beyond!
Besides that, I’ll have a huge announcement that I’ve been waiting to share with all of you! Once again, click here to register (change the day to March 12th), click into it and you’re in!
A return to the Rennfest and a Blog Renewal!
Greetings and welcome back! It’s been a while, but I’m excited to restart this blog with a welcome to my new readers and old fans alike.
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Daniel Ottalini, and I’m an author and teacher from Maryland. I have a book series called the Steam Empire Chronicles, with five novels and a short story anthology, as well as a host of Dungeons and Dragon RPG content available for free and for purchase.
The Steam Empire Chronicles is a series based on the question “What if Julius Caesar was never assassinated?” culminating in a Roman Empire still chugging along in (our timeline) of the 1850s or so. Airships, steam engines, mechanical warmachines, and yet, still togas and oppressively heavy royal outfits. The first novel of the series, Brass Legionnaire, is an EPIC (Electronic Publishing Industry Collective) award winner. All books are available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, and Smashwords for further distribution.
To help those of you wondering “what order should I read all your fantastic books?” See the handy chart below!
My Dungeons and Dragons Modules are mostly based on small side missions that fit perfectly into any campaign, although I’ve been gradually building out my World of Teraneath Resource book. You’ll find most of my work on DM’s Guild where you’ll have to search under “Ottalini” but you can also find my work here on the website.
The Maryland Renaissance Festival is my big event of the year. My book signing event at Page after Page is tomorrow, Sunday, September 29th. I’m looking forward to trying to swing more events in the coming years. In addition to books & role playing game modules, I also blog about my own D&D campaigns, some educational content, and anything else that comes to mind!
Follow my blog to get the most up to date information and word on new projects! (Photo from 2019, I have better outfits now!)
Sigh. You Knew it was going to happen. Life gets in the way! Between other commitments, summer school, family events and the like, I did not reach my foal. Sadly I barely reached 20,000 words and about 11 chapters. That being said, I don’t think this is a failure, I’ve got a great story start, and I’m going to keep working at it this month. Ideally, I’d love to be able to finish this by the fall, which is a reasonable goal. Here’s my (reduced, but realistic) goals for this young adult fantasy novel. Ideally I’ll be able to get this done before regular NaNoWriMo begins, which gives me the chance to clear this out in November.
Here’s a tiny snippet of what I’ve been writing – very raw and unedited, but here it is.
“Lyria!” Artor called. More sounds of combat behind her. “Could use some help here!” She glanced over her shoulder. Artor was barely fending off the last vartu, using his warhammer and knife. Both combatants were bleeding, but the vartu’s size and strength were winning out. Lyria pulled her last arrow and aimed, waiting for a moment when the vartu would be more exposed.
In the meantime, if you want to learn a bit more about my steampunk novels in the world of the Steam Empire Chronicles, check out my Amazon page or check out my TTRPG materials at my DM’s Guild Page.
It has been nearly a year since I wrote an installment in Tallavanor’s Tales, and with the time allotted by summer break and a desire to get back into writing, I’ve taken the opportunity to compose some more of this tale. We’ve had quite the adventures in the past time, so summarizing it will be tricky, but hopefully I’ve done the last year’s events justice. (part 1 of 2, since it’s longer than I anticipated!)
Continue reading “Tallavanor’s Tales: It’s Been A While, and the World’s Turned Upside Down”Exciting news everyone! I’ll be returning to the Maryland Renaissance Festival this fall. You’ll be able to get my alternate history steampunk series, as well as an exciting new TTRPG offering from things previously available only online. You won’t be able to get these anywhere else, so be sure to pick them up. I’ll have more details to come in the near future, but for now, be sure to book October 1st in your calendar to come and visit me to get your books signed! Of course, if you prefer to go any other weekend (and let’s be honest, if you’re like me, you want to go several weekends) you can always go and grab my book from then before or after that weekend as well!
Tickets go on sale in August, so be ready to grab them! You can get multi day passes now.
Howdy everyone! Let’s do our check in for the first week of NaNoWriMo! The as yet unnamed final project is in progress. Let’s look at this week’s stats….
Continue reading “Camp NaNoWriMo Check in #1 – End of Week 1”
Modern Papyrus 