Amazon Rankings for The Awakened

Four weeks ago, The Awakened: Book One hit #1 on Amazon for epic fatasy on the Kindle.  Shortly afterward, it hit #1 in the UK as well.  With the hourly ups and downs of Amazon ranking, Book One has somehow managed to stay near the top of the bestsellers lists—and Book Two and Three are doing well also. 


Here are the current rankings:


The Awakened: Book One (US)
#7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Fantasy > Epic


The Awakened: Book One (UK)
#4 in Kindle Store > Books > Fiction > Fantasy > Epic
#6 in Books > Fiction > Science Fiction > Military
#8 in Books > Fantasy > Epic


The Awakened: Book Two (US)
#59 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Fantasy > Epic
#84 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic


The Awakened: Book Two (UK)
#10 in Kindle Store > Books > Fiction > Fantasy > Epic
#15 in Books > Fantasy > Epic
#15 in Books > Fiction > Science Fiction > Military


The Awakened: Book Three (US)
#66 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Fantasy > Epic
#95 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic


The Awakened: Book Three (UK)
#26 in Kindle Store > Books > Fiction > Fantasy > Epic
#29 in Books > Fiction > Science Fiction > Military
#34 in Books > Fantasy > Epic


Many thanks to all the readers for your support, encouragement, and kind words!


Please keep reading, keep writing reviews, keep rating the books, and keep checking back to see how I'm progressing on the prequels to The Awakened.

Pronunciation Guide for The Awakened

Last week, a reader asked about a pronunciation guide for The Awakened. With all the characters and places involved, I thought it was a great idea for a blog post. So, here is a mostly-alphabetical list. If you are currently reading the series and run across a name that’s not on the list, just let me know and I’ll update this post. If you haven’t started reading yet, don’t let the quantity of names turn you away! Where possible, I tried to introduce characters and places in a measured way so as not to overwhelm readers. Hopefully I succeeded.

a — sad, apple
ä — father, bother
ā — may, ache
ai — air, dare
e — empty, trend
ë — early, word
ē — bleach, pizza
i — bliss, pyramid
ī — sight, blind
o — awesome, frost
ō — open, close
u — put, book
ŭ — under, tug
ū — stew, blue
ŕ — ariba, rojo

Adair Lorus [ŭ-dair lō-ŕŭs]
Adussk [a-dŭsk]
Aelia [ā-lē-ŭ]
Ajani [ä-jä-nē]
Ampur [am-pūr]
Arden [är-den]
Aulus Sentiun [o-lŭs sen-tē-ŭn]
Bahari [bŭ-hä-ŕē]
Bastul [bŭ-stūl]
Berit [ber-it]
Calvus [kal-vŭs]
Cerrar [se-rär]
Coen [kō-en]
Dacien [dā-sē-en]
Donagh [don-ag]
Durio [dëŕ-ē-ō]
Ebnisha [eb-ni-shŭ]
Equitus [e-kwi-tŭs]
Garust [gair-ŭst]
Grumio [grū-mē-ō]
Gryllus [gril-is]
Gursha [ger-shŭ]
Horace [hō-ris]
Jorn [yōŕn]
Kael [kāl]
Kaliel [ka-lēl]
Korgan [kōr-gen], Korg [kōrg]
Lemus [lē-mŭs]
Leoran [lē-ō-rŭn]
Maeryn [maiŕ-ŭn]
Magnus Calidon [mag-nŭs kal-i-don]
Matsuri [mat-sū-rē]
Narian [nair-ē-ŭn]
Noster [nä-stër]
Quartus [kwōr-tŭs]
Rainer [rā-nër]
Saba [sä-bŭ]
Soren [sō-ren]
Suriku [sū-rē-kū]
Syvak [si-vŭk], Syvaku [si-vŭ-kū]
Thaddius [tha-dē-ŭs]
Trenus [tren- ŭs]
Trupo [trū-pō]
Ukiru [ū-ki-rū]
Zula [zū-lŭ]

These next names are mentioned at the end of Book Three, and are subject to change with future books. In the course my research I’ve found various spellings and several places in historical texts where two different names may actually refer to the same being.

The Wandering Stars
Ananel [a-nŭ-nel]
Arakiba [ŭ-rä-kē-bä]
Armaros [äŕ-mä-ŕōs]
Asael [az-ā-el]
Baraqujal [bä-ŕä-kwi-yäl]
Batarel [bä-täŕ-el]
Danel [dan-el]
Ezeqeel [e-ze-kēl]
Jomajael [jō-mä-yā-el]
Kokabiel [kō-kä-bē-el]
Rameel [rŭ-mēl]
Ramiel [rä-mē-el]
Samsapeel [sam-sä-pēl]
Sariel [sä-rē-el]
Satarel [sä-täŕ-el]