I finished my first edit of the third (and final) Volume of Archibald Lox just before the weekend. I'll have to go through it another 3 or 4 times or more before it sees print in 2022 (hopefully!), but it's looking pretty good to me, even at this early stage. As with Volume One (and Volume Two, which should see print this summer), I'll split it into three books when I first release it, before issuing it slightly later as a single collected edition. So there will be nine books in total, making up the three Volumes of the series.

To celebrate finishing my first edit, I decided to feature some Archie fan art today. I featured some Mr Crepsley chibis a while back, and happened to mention (light heartedly) that it would be lovely to see some chibis based on characters from my new Archibald Lox series one day. Step forward erstwhile Shan sribbler Amity Lee, who came up with these adorable doodles of the four royals of Sapphire -- Princess Ghita, King Hugo, Queen Pitina and King Farkas.

If you haven't read the books, I can't say too much about the royals and the vital roles they play in the universe of the story, except to mention that these aren't facile figureheads like we have in certain countries in our world -- these ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, are crucial to the survival of the Merge (the universe that Archie crosses to and explores), and key to the entire series. In fact, the title of each Volume is going to reference a specific royal -- Volume One was called The Missing Princess -- but I can't reveal those just yet, as I don't want to give too much away too soon... :-)

If you'd like to find out more about the Archibald Lox books, where you can buy them, in what formats you can buy them, and where you can fin the best prices, click here: https://www.darrenshan.com/news/shanville-monthly