Read Legacy of the Mist Clans Box Set Online
Authors: Kathryn Loch
Tags: #Historical Medieval Scottish Romance
Legacy of the Mist Clans Box Set
egacy
of the
M
ist
C
lans
Book One
Mist Warrior
Book Two
Demon Laird
Book Three
Shadowed Hawk
Book Four
Highlander’s Hope
The Legacy Continues . . .
Special Boxed Set Edition
2012-2014 Kathryn Loch
Dragonbourne Publishing
All Rights Reserved
LEGACY OF THE MIST CLANS BOXED SET
MIST WARRIOR
DEMON LAIRD
SHADOWED HAWK
HIGHLANDER’S HOPE
This e book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite e book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
The author would like to thank:
Cover Image
Box Set Main Image:
Period Images
Mist Warrior:
Jimmy Thomas - RNC
Demon Laird:
Jimmy Thomas RNC
Shadowed Hawk:
Jimmy Thomas - RNC
Highlander’s Hope:
Period Images
Cover Design
Box Set Cover Design:
Kathryn Loch
Mist Warrior:
Erin Dameron-Hill - EDH Graphics
Demon Laird:
Erin Dameron-Hill EDH Graphics
Shadowed Hawk:
Scott D. Cooper
Highlander’s Hope:
Melody Simmons -eBook Indie Covers
Editorial Consulting
All:
Jennifer Quinlan - Historical Editorial
Formatting
All:
Kathryn Loch
To my family:
Without their support I’d still be punching
a timeclock instead of pursuing my dream.
I am very happy to present
Legacy
, the
Legacy of the Mist Clans
series box set, just in time for the holiday season. In a sense, this set comprises my entire writing career thus far. It embodies the frustration of the beginning, the ascent of indie success, and growth and learning—along with reflections on mistakes—as the dream becomes reality and takes a life of its own.
Since high school, my goal was to become a published author. I pursued that dream relentlessly, and in the late 90s into early 2000, I thought that goal would come to fruition. I worked closely with my local writer’s guild, joined a private critique group with Rita Gallagher, and obtained representation from a highly respected NY agent. Unfortunately, becoming a traditionally published author was not in the stars for me at that time. After a year of “almost” and “nearly” did not result in a signed contract, my agent and I went our separate ways.
My writing languished for several years. The rejected manuscripts were no longer eligible for submission to any NY publishing house because once rejected, they cannot be submitted again. I found myself focusing on my professional career of accounting and office management. After all, I had always been taught that writing as a career was an iffy thing; I should focus my education on something that was guaranteed—accounting, for example, a subject that I didn’t particularly enjoy, but I was good at it. My frustration at all the hard work and potential in those rejected manuscripts was so fierce that if I focused on them, I would surely burn them in a trash pile. But too much work had gone into them to allow them to suffer that fate, so instead, they sat on the shelf neglected, covered in dust bunnies and cobwebs.
Then in 2011, life proved to me that nothing is ever guaranteed when I lost that practical job of accounting (and with over thirty years of experience) in the same month my husband was also laid off from his job. Both of us suddenly and unexpectedly out of work, the impossible happened, and neither of us could find employment despite our experience. My husband and I had been married going on thirty years (first and only for both of us), yet we were faced with job choices that would have us working minimum wage and unable to pay our bills.
Even though I was not writing at the time, I still needed a creative outlet to maintain my sanity. At that particular time, it was painting tabletop gaming miniatures. I was an award-winning artist and had opened a business painting miniatures on commission. I earned good money doing that, but my personal demands on myself to maintain a certain level of quality meant I could not paint fast enough to pay the bills every month, and the harder I worked to see that the business succeeded, the faster disaster after disaster struck.
One of my painting friends suggested I take another look at my writing. I was surprised at his suggestion because he had never read anything I had produced except for posts to a painting forum and a couple of painting tutorials I had posted. From those, he somehow determined I was a decent writer. But having nothing left to lose, I pulled up Amazon’s KDP contract and took a hard look at it. I was abruptly thankful for my failed past experiences as I was very knowledgeable in the business terminology and how the publishing business worked. Amazon’s KDP contract was good—very good. I had manuscripts moldering on the shelf that would never go anywhere (yet somehow they had survived two hurricanes even when the house didn’t). I decided that if they could collect dust on my shelf, they could collect dust on Amazon just as well. Perhaps, just perhaps, they could make enough in a month for gas money to drive to job interviews.
So I did my best to edit them on my own and develop covers. My career experience served me well as I knew Microsoft Office and formatting procedures, but the limitations of the ebook formatting were new to me. Still, I jumped in with both feet at the end of 2012. I knew how to market a loss lead, and I recognized the value of using the marketing KDP Select offered to new writers, so I maximized that to the best of my ability. In January 2013, to my shock, one novel,
Mist Warrior
, earned more than I made working the office job in one month.
Then the other books started to make their impact known, and I not only earned that gas money I was hoping for but rose to the top ten in author rank in my genre. To say I was absolutely stunned with this turn of events is an understatement. My husband and I discussed this turn of events, and my accounting experience helped as I crunched numbers. We developed a plan. Now the goal was to pursue the dream that had suddenly presented itself as more viable than the “guaranteed” route.
I have been doing that ever since, striving to improve at writing, striving to become a better writer today than I was yesterday. Sometimes I succeed; sometimes I make mistakes and fail miserably. But as my tae kwon do instructor once told me, you learn more from failure than you do from success. I have discovered the importance of working with an editor and a cover designer and am very fortunate to be able to surround myself with such wonderful partners!
I am so pleased to be able to present you with this special box set featuring all four novels in the
Legacy of the Mist Clans
series. Though I wrote and published
Mist Warrior
first, the other three novels are prequels, starting with
Demon Laird
. The more research I did on the clans involved, the more I learned and grew as a historical writer, and the more the potential for this series developed and changed.
Highlander’s Hope
brings a close to the stories of the characters we have known and loved, but this is not the end. It is now a new generation’s turn to pick up the threads and carry the story forward.
Future novels in this series will tell the stories of the generations that lead up to Branan MacTavish in
Mist Warrior
, where he follows the legacy they left for him. Then I will expand the series to the characters in
Mist Warrior
that deserve their own tales after Branan, such as Gavin de Reigny and Sir Greystoke.
I thank you for your purchase of the
Legacy
box set, and I hope that you, my dear reader, stay with the series as it develops. One of the things I love best about the age of the independent author is that it brings unique opportunities to readers to play an even greater role in the development and growth of stories they enjoy reading than ever before. I love to hear from my readers and encourage you stop by my
blog
and say hello, or send me an email:
[email protected]
I hope that you’ll love these stories of the Mist Clans as much as I loved writing them. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Happy reading!
Book I
P
ist
W
arrior
Legacy of the Mist Clans: Book I
By
Kathryn Loch
Amazon Box Set Edition