Jon Sprunk Books In Order

Publication Order of Shadow Saga Books

Publication Order of The Book of the Black Earth Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Jon Sprunk is a bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction novels from Pennsylvania.

He got a liberal arts degree from Lock Haven University and then worked all manner of jobs including more than a dozen years at a juvenile detention center.
While he had been writing for a long time, he never got his big break until 2009 when he signed his first contract for three fantasy novels with Pyr Books.

He published “Shadow’s Son” his first novel and the debut of the “Shadow Saga” in 2010 and has not looked back since. The debut work was a finalist for the Compton Crook Award and got a nomination in two categories for the Gemmel Awards.
He now works for the fiction writing program at Seton Hill University where he is a writing mentor.
Among his favorite inspirations include Robert E. Howard, Glen Cook, Fritz Lieber, Robert Heinlein, J.R.R. Tolkien, and H.P. Lovecraft, in addition to television shows such as “Star Wars” and “Star Trek.”

Making up stories is something that Jon Sprunk has been doing for a very long time. He was in middle school when he began writing down his stories for the most part to amuse his small circle of friends and himself.
While he was in college, he penned his first full-length manuscript and sent it to every agent and publisher he could find and got the obligatory rejections.

For about fifteen years, he continued plugging away before he got his first credit as a short story was published in a fantasy anthology. While he published several more stories, he just could not get a breakthrough when it came to his novels.
He was on the verge of giving up on his dream when Pyr Books editor-in-chief Lou Anders asked for his full manuscript. Lou liked it enough that he offered him a contract and soon enough he was published.

After he was done writing the “Shadow Saga,” he got started in a new series which would become “The Book of the Black Earth” series. As such, he credits much of his success as an author to the many people at Pyr Books, particularly Lou Anders.

Now that he is a published author, there is nothing he loves better than being a full-time author.

While he had to deal with a lot of pressure, he finds it very liberating that he gets to do what he had always dreamed of doing ever since he was in high school.

As a habit writer, Jon Sprunk works best on a regular schedule. He does most of his work in the evenings after his wife gets back home from work and during the weekends.

He usually writes in large blocks as it keeps him focused and also because he found out that writing in small chunks never works for him. He usually found that he spent a lot of time going over what he had written instead of moving forward.
Apart from that he sometimes looks up medieval towns, maps of castles, and fighting techniques to add veracity to his work.

“Shadow’s Son” by Jon Sprunk is a beautifully written story that combines interesting characters, intrigue, magic, and action as it propels itself through a fully realized world of sorcery and sword at a breakneck pace.
The story is set in Othir an ancient city akin to Rome, in which the Holy Church is above all, as it controls every aspect of life in the world spanning an ancient empire.

But within the shadows of what has often been called the “City of Light,” an assassin with no conscience and no loyalties can make a fortune taking out people the nobility and clergy deem unworthy of living.
Caim was the man who took up most of the work until his latest contract took him into the home of a high-ranking nobleman.

Instead of a clean and quick assassination, Caim is now entangled in an intricate web of conspiracies and lies that have turned him from hunter to prey.

Floundering in what are some very unfamiliar waters, Caim learns that his conscience might not be as dead as he once believed. He also discovers that his continued survival might be dependent on his tragic past and facing up to who he is.

Jon Sprunk’s novel “Shadow’s Lure” is a work set in the unforgiving Northlands, where danger lurks and in the shadows is a sinister magic waiting to strike.

It has to be the worst place to search for anything, even if it is an assassin with fewer scruples and no loyalties.

Caim was the best assassin in Othir as no one could even come close to him. But he left that life behind him when he helped an empress take the throne.

However, his past is once again calling to him. Searching for the truth behind the disappearance and murder of his parents in the cold Northlands, he finds in thrall to the shadow in the land.
The Shadow wields all kinds of blood magic and has the land in his iron fist, as he crushes all opposition underneath his tyranny.

There are just too many temptations from the dark side and he soon finds himself mired in a war he hates to have to fight and at the mercy of the Shadow.
But some things are impossible to ignore and some battles that just have to be fought.

“Shadow’s Master” by Jon Sprunk is a work in which the story evolves to become much bigger than the usual assassin tale.

Caim’s assassin skills sometimes come in handy, making for some awesome action scenes, even though he is more about his other problems than finding his next target.

He is now driven north by some unknown power, which can be very dangerous since the north is full of Northmen. Unruly tribes are battling each other for land, which leaves the shadow free rein to slowly take over that now hardly any sun can be seen.
Caim is struggling as he loses a ton of friends on his quest to head north. Even the dependable Kit has been acting very strangely given that she is struggling with her love for Caim.

As he is heading north, the empress of Nimea and mother of his unborn child who is a woman named Josey heads north after him, as she claims she wants to find her man.

Touring the northern lands, she soon gets into trouble and nothing about it has to do with the fights between the nobles.