Pledge to King Leper

Prolific author David V. Stewart brings you his latest exciting fantasy novel in his hit debut Kickstarter:

At long last, the myth of a book—King Leper

Art: Jesse White

If you love fantasy in the classic style—stories full of magic and monsters, hidden realms and high adventure, and, of course, drama—then King Leper is the book for you. Part III of the Eternal Dream arrives, wherein the disfigured King Fulbert Archarius must survive the deadly politics of his tumultuous realm while seeking love from the only person he believes can give it to him: the blind musician Darlena.

All seems lost until a group of strange and powerful adventurers led by the enigmatic warrior elf Trindol arrives from the north. They hold knowledge of a potential solution, though a perilous one, drawn from the bloody history of the ancient past.

King Leper has an interesting history. I've been teasing it for a few years, and more than a few readers have asked about its status. It took longer to write and edit than my usual books, partly because it is longer than my other Eternal Dream books by a fair margin and partly because I got sidetracked through both life events and other creative projects, delaying the completion and revision of the book.

I began the project in 2020, but as I completed the first act (or "book," as I call it), I realized that a piece of lore deeply related to the narrative needed to be fleshed out. It was a tale partially told in an opera within King Leper, but the legend held the initial solution for the protagonist, King Fulbert, and his horrible disfigurement.

So, I stopped my draft there and wrote what would become Alshafaltha, a sequel of sorts to the also-important Crown of Sight from 2019. I finished the book shortly before the 2020 election and chose to sit on it because of the low morale following the election and a very soft fiction market despite all the lockdowns. Alshafaltha is a tragedy, and the timing felt off. I eventually published it after I relocated back to Texas.

When I picked the book back up after my intense cross-country move, I found myself a little dissatisfied with my initial outline. So, I made some fixes to the structure and then finished the initial draft. I took my own advice and put the manuscript in a metaphorical drawer so that I could edit it with fresh eyes later. I released Alshafaltha, Afterglow: Generation Y, Demon Ex Machina, and a new Zul album, Return, in the meantime. In 2024, I polished it back off and gave it out to my patrons, then set about planning for a full release. 

I had been using a stand-in cover to promote the book initially, but I wanted something better for the real product. Artist Jesse White, who has worked on too many projects to name here, created the three-tone image of the main characters, the scarred and leprous Fulbert, and his potential love interest, the blind musician Darlena. It lent itself well to a classic fantasy cover design.

Cover design: Jesse White and David Stewart

With this campaign, I wanted to deliver something unique: in this case, a signed, jacketed hardback, since I usually ship paperbacks and laminated hardbacks. I don't do book signings, so this is truly a rare offering from me.

And that’s not all. David is generously offering all kinds of bonus content through this Kickstarter, including hand-drawn interior map art and a wide selection of bundled eBooks.

There’s only one first, and this one has less than a month until it’s gone. So don’t wait. Pleddge to King Leper now!