Dax Murray - Fantasy Author

This year, I publish SMOKE AND STEEL as well as taking STARS AND SOIL from being a Campfire exclusive to publishing it widely across all the major retailers and many smaller ones! Thank you to everyone who has supported me this year and picked up these books, and a special thanks to everyone who has left a review!

And an extra, extra thank you to everyone who nominated both books for the 2024 Indie Ink Awards!

The Indie Ink Awards involve several stages, including nominations, voting, and judging. The first round is the nomination round where anyone can submit nominations for books in different categories. The books that get over a certain threshold of nominations become nominees. Once a book has made it to the nominee stage, it is then up to community members to vote on the nominations. The top ten in each category make it to the finals. Each category has a panel of judges who read all of the books in their category and then cast their votes for the winners of the categories.

Last year, A LAKE OF FEATHERS AND MOONBEAMS made it to the Finals for “Writing the Future We Need: Trans and Non-binary Representation,” and SHADES AND SILVER made it to the Finals for “Writing the Future We Need: Disability Representation by a Disabled Author.”

This year, STARS AND SOIL was nominated in TEN categories!

• Best book cover and cover artist,
• Best morally gray character,
• Best setting,
• Side Character MVP,
• WTFWN: Bisexual or Biromantic Representation,
• WTFWN: Disability Representation by a disabled author,
• WTFWN: Gay or Lesbian Representation,
• WTFWN: LGBTQ+ Representation,
• WTFWN: Mental Health Representation,
• WTFWN: Trans or Nonbinary Representation.

I am THRILLED with these nominations, and surprised by many of them! I am especially happy to see this book nominated for Best setting as I have worked really hard to make the worldbuilding of Ahnlisn unique and vibrant. I'm also pleased to be nominated again for Disability representation. Aine, one of my favorite calla, has POTS, which I was diagnosed with last year after almost ten years of searching for an answer and being dismissed by doctor after doctor. I took the time to make sure it was clear that no one in the Red Front thought any less of Aine, and they all saw it as their responsibility as community members to make the revolution accessible.

As for SMOKE AND STEEL, it also was nominated in multiple categories!

• Best morally gray character,
• Best setting,
• WTFWN: Bisexual or Biromantic Representation,
• WTFWN: Disability Representation by a disabled author,
• WTFWN: LGBTQ+ Representation,
• WTFWN: Mental Health Representation

Again, I'm thrilled to find out that people love the setting of Ahnlisen, even if SMOKE AND STEEL took part on the main continent in the desert nation of Sua, and not the island nation of Fayn. I'm also happy to see the “Morally Gray Character” as Saritrah is... Well, she's a warlord with a penchant for murder.

I am also very pleased that SMOKE AND STEEL was nominated for Mental Health Representation, as Saritrah has C-PTSD, something I also struggle with. I did my best to show how C-PTSD can leave some people jaded, cynical, and disconnected from those around us, and how hard it is to find a stable relationship with anyone when you're always on the lookout for betrayal and abuse. I wanted to show how isolating and dark C-PTSD can leave someone if they have no model of healthy boundaries. I market this book as “Villain Redemption Arc” but it's really more of a “C-PTSD Healing Arc.”

Voting will start on December 15th! I'll make sure to update this post with the link when it does!

Thank you again for all who took the time to nominate my books and thank you in advance for voting!

(In case anyone is wondering, GetCovers did the cover for both SMOKE AND STEEL and STARS AND SOIL. GetCovers is an awesome company that provides affordable covers while giving junior designers the opportunity to grow and learn in a supportive environment. I've already let them know about STARS AND SOIL's nomination for Best Cover and Cover Artist!)