The Sound of Arlam

A lot’s been going on, and I’ve meant to post an update for some time, but I’ll have to delay the meaty details a bit longer in order to make a brief announcement:

A Sea Sought in Song has been read by Christopher Lane, one of Dean Koontz’s narrators. Get it on Audible today and immerse yourself in the gorgeous and terrifying world of Arlam!

If you have yet to enter the portal and brave the monster-haunted seas and face the blood-red highlands—if you’ve been too busy, too weighed down with the cares of Earth to lift a single page—then now is your time. An unimaginable adventure awaits your ears.


When Hugh Conrad picked up that jangling phone in the mud-strewn lobby of a two-bit Bangalore hotel one monsoon-slammed night in June of ’51, the last thing he’d expected to hear was the voice of the father who’d vanished off the face of the earth twenty-four years prior.

The second-to-last thing he’d expected to hear was that the old man really had left Earth.

Hugh considered himself a worldly man. Surviving childhood abandonment and the horrors of WWII to become a globetrotting treasure-hunter conferred some benefit, after all. But no amount of experience, skill, or raw ferocity had prepared him for the mission bequeathed by his father. Nothing in his whole world could’ve readied him for Arlam.

Arlam. A place of extremes—of both dream and nightmare. A land vast beyond imagining, ancient beyond reckoning, harsh beyond foreboding, beautiful beyond describing. A land usurped by a seemingly-invincible enemy.

It is there—through the portal, beyond the void, where a few months on Earth equates to seven alien centuries—that the last living descendant of Hugh’s father’s royal herald awaits the prophesied return of the ancient high king. Her name is Ilina Lightkeeper. She’s gorgeous, and learned, and utterly unprepared for the fulfillment of her prayers.

Her world needs a sovereign, not a brash barbarian.

It is these two individuals—the unready adventurer and the uneasy scholar, the heir and the herald—who must rally what remains of a defeated realm in order to withstand an evil beyond the scope of even their darkest fairytales. It is these two who must give up all they hold dear in service to prophesies they can’t begin to comprehend. It is these two who must reshape the face of Arlam.

Question is, can they let go of each other’s throats long enough to make it happen?

A Sea Sought in Song is a breathtaking plunge into peril and intrigue that only accelerates over time. Ferocious action, amplified by a unique magic system, unfolds against culturally-complex backdrops. This Indiana Jones-goes-to-Narnia adventure will delight fans of Tad Williams, Brandon Sanderson, and Patrick Rothfuss.

Paper Products

For those of you who love the firm, fresh feel of real physical paper in your hands—the security of knowing you possess an artifact that isn’t dependent on batteries, isn’t vulnerable to an EMT, and won’t expire the week after you get sucked through a portal to Arlam—today’s the day you’ve been waiting for.

Today, BOOKS 2 & 3 ARE AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK!

That’s right: at the speed of Amazon Prime, 3/4 of “The Heir and the Herald” tetralogy—my entire published oeuvre—can be ensconced upon your bookshelf. What once was a dubious dream can now be yours to keep.

If you’ve finished Book 1—A Sea Sought in Song—you already know you have to read its sequels. If you haven’t, here’s the TL;DR:

Wrath and Crimson Rime — The dark second chapter to the saga of Hugh Conrad and Ilina Lightkeeper. Neither you nor they are prepared for the crisis they must face … and what it will mean for their partnership.

Loose the Sealed Tongue — The saga turns a blind corner to plunge into pure epicness. This staggeringly-ambitious espionage adventure will push our heroes beyond the limits of endurance … and into the realm of legend.

So if you’ve been craving epic fantasy distinguished by depth, zeal, and ferocious flair, if you’re hungering for something fresh in the vein of Tad Williams, Brandon Sanderson, or Patrick Rothfuss, now’s the time to dive into a series readers are praising as “absorbing and action-packed,” “beautiful writing,” and “engag[ing] till the very last sentence.”

Book 3 Debut

Today, the game has changed.

Loose the Sealed Tongue, third volume in “The Heir and the Herald” epic fantasy tetralogy, is NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE. It brings the saga of Hugh Conrad and Ilina Lightkeeper to a running total of over 1,100 tightly-written pages.

This is my longest and best novel yet. It’s also very different from its predecessors. I could tell you it’s a spy-vs-spy Arabian-Nights-esque heist thriller with mammoths and dragons and magic swords and dirigibles and ballroom dancing, but then I’d have to kill you.

So why not order it today, and find out for yourself?

(Please be advised that the back-cover description of Book 3 contains massive SPOILERS for Books 1 & 2. All of Book 3’s promotional materials—including this blog post you just read—should be avoided like the plague if you haven’t yet enjoyed its predecessors. THIS MEANS YOU!)

Book 3 Preorders Open

Loose the Sealed Tongue, third volume in “The Heir and the Herald” epic fantasy tetralogy, is NOW AVAILABLE FOR KINDLE PREORDER!

This is my longest and best novel yet. It’s also very different from its predecessors. I could tell you it’s a spy-vs-spy Arabian-Nights-esque heist thriller with mammoths and dragons and magic swords and dirigibles and ballroom dancing, but then I’d have to kill you.

So why not preorder it today, and find out for yourself?

PUBLICATION ROUNDUP: TWO WEEKS IN

“The Heir and the Herald,” my series of epic fantasy novels, continues to take the market by storm.

— Those of you who prefer to flip physical pages will be ecstatic to learn that Book 1, A Sea Sought in Song, IS NOW AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK! Just select the paperback option on the Amazon listing: https://amzn.to/3D49t2J

— Book 2, Wrath and Crimson Rime, is available for Kindle here: https://amzn.to/3DjaDre

— Amazon’s “Look inside” feature is now enabled for both novels. So if you prefer not to drop money on something you aren’t sure you’ll enjoy, click the cover image on the Amazon listing to read the first two chapters. My style is distinctive and consistent; every page is representative. I personally guarantee that if you like what you see in the sample chapters, you’ll love the novel as a whole.

— Preaching to the choir here, but if you’re interested in doing a deep dive into the world of Arlam, you’ll find maps, magic system primers, character and location profiles, and over sixty custom illustrations at the official series website: www.austingunderson.com. If you haven’t taken a look around lately, it’s well worth your while.

— And if you want to connect on social media, Arlam is online:

FB: www.facebook.com/ArlamOnline
IG: www.instagram.com/arlamonline
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ArlamOnline

I’ll see you beyond the portal!