ART & COOL THINGS
A collection of artwork, interesting tidbits for you to know.
ASH THE BLIND DRAGON PLUSHIE TOY MERCH
Youtooz is bringing the Songs of Chaos characters to life in a new (and very soft) way! Our very first plushie is none other than Ash, and we hope to create the whole cast over time.
Keep an eye out for future updates and releases!
A NEW SOUNDTRACK FOR SONGS OF CHAOS
I am delighted to announce that BAFTA award-winning composer James Hannigan has composed an epic new theme for the Songs of Chaos series. Audiobook listeners can hear this epic score in the intro and outro credits of all my Songs of Chaos books, including the free novella!
James had this to say:
"Michael's writing is inspirational, brimming with vivid imagery and captivating narratives, and I was delighted and humbled to be asked to compose a theme for the Songs of Chaos series. Each chapter weaves great emotional depth and rich storytelling, and it's been a joy translating that into a theme that I hope will resonate with the grandeur of the series and its audience."
THE DRAGON'S BLADE TRILOGY IN HARDBACK!
The Dragon’s Blade Trilogy is now available in a single massive hardback omnibus edition.
Regular copies are available through Amazon but The Broken Binding has constant signed stock at the same price as Amazon in the UK - so why wouldn't you buy those instead?
Check out The Broken Binding edition here!
ASCENDANT – ORIGINAL ARTWORK
The image below was the original cover artwork for Ascendant. I just love this piece. This was used as the first cover art but as a full landscape piece it works better.
Credit to Raph Lomaton
THE DRAGON’S BLADE AND JANE AUSTEN… REALLY?
I was taken aback to be contacted by the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) to ask for permission to use a section of Dragon’s Blade in their exam anthology.
Obviously I said yes, and so the section appeared in the performance exam anthology in 2019, for at least several years. In this anthology were excerpts from Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, Rowling, and… me! Pretty wild stuff.
There you can see Dragon’s Blade beside Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. It’s still a bit surreal and as such I often forget it ever happened!
THE DRAGON’S BLADE – SKETCHES
Artist David North has crafted some beautiful sketches of characters from Dragon’s Blade back in the early days of writing.
This image is of Dukoona, Lord of the Spectres.
David also created images of Darnuir, The Guardian’s Blade & The Dragon’s Blade, demons of Rectar’s horde, Ochnic the Frost Troll and the two wizards Brackendon and Castallan.
As of late 2023 these sketches have now been added into the combined print edition of Last Stand of the Stone Fist and The Huntress.
FANBOYING WITH PETER JACKSON IN LONDON
By sheer dumb luck I was able to attend the Mortal Engines premiere in London. A friend of mine was invited to interview the cast and creators.
Peter Jackson himself was in attendance and I managed to grab an entire 60 adrenaline fuelled seconds with him. I literally cannot remember anything about it. Our brains block out trauma but also, it seems, they also block out events too epic for our mortal minds to handle.
What an awful angle for me but I don’t care. This was awesome. It belongs in this section on the website.
A BOOK TRAILER
These things were all the rage around 2015 but they never really worked for books. Oh well. It’s still quite cool and I do love the music we picked out!
It’s also old now, made when book 1 first launched in late 2015. The map is out of date. The blurb is better now.
A nice piece of memorabilia for the series nonetheless.