Requiem's Prayer

About four years ago, after moving between several cities, I found myself working and living in Toronto. The apartment I rented was quite small, only about 450 square feet--too small for a desk. I was right in the heart of the big city.

On weekend mornings, I'd wake up early. Most of the city still slept. I'd walk along the streets as convenience stores, pubs, clubs, restaurants, and other businesses were still closed. I'd make my way over to a big, two-story bookshop that rose over a major intersection. On the second floor of the bookshop, a little cafe nestled by floor-to-ceiling windows. Without room at home for a table, I'd come here to write. I was usually the first person in. I'd order a coffee, sit by the windows, stare out at the sun rising over the city, and write. I had no computer, no keyboard. I wrote in longhand into notebooks.

On one of these mornings, I was listening to Mozart's Requiem on my MP3 player, and as an exercise, I began to write whatever I heard in the music. I found myself writing a story about people who can turn into dragons, people hunted to near extinction, people fighting against vicious enemies determined to destroy them. The characters had names taken from the Requiem--Benedictus, Lacrimosa, Agnus Dei, Kyrie Eleison, Gloriae--and their story to me felt as tragic, heartbreaking, yet uplifting as the music.

What I didn't know at the time: This story, just a little exercise, would turn into a series. This story would end up selling hundreds of thousands of copies, letting me become a full time writer. 

Today I released the twelfth novel in this series.

Requiem's Prayer is the third volume of the Dawn of Dragons trilogy, a "prequel" trilogy telling of Requiem's earliest days. The events we read about in Song of Dragons, Dragonlore, and The Dragon War all trace their origin to here.

I'm deeply grateful to all those readers who've been exploring Requiem with me. Without you all, this would still be only a few scribbles in a notebook. Thanks to you, this has become a world.

And Requiem's story is not done. Twelve novels have been released, but more are to come. Next year, we'll be seeing three new Requiem books, continuing the story that began four years ago in that little old coffeeshop.

As always, thank you for reading.

Daniel