Author Archive: Percival Constantine

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Looking Back and Looking Ahead

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2025 was a tough year. Not as bad as 2020, but did anyone else feel like it was about five years crammed into one?

It was a rough year professionally for me as well. I had things set up very nicely. I was in the middle of an urban fantasy trilogy for a publisher, really finding a groove with the work, and was very excited about doing more stuff by working on passion projects as serials while the books for the publisher would be for the more commercial stuff.

That old maxim comes to mind — if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

It first began with real life interfering with the writing side. My workload had increased quite a bit this past year, so a lot of time I would have had for writing got eaten up by prepwork, teaching, and grading. Then there were the illnesses — I went through a period when practically every month either one of my kids or me ended up getting sick and having to be laid up for a few days.

Pre-schools should have biohazard warning signs at the front entrance. I will die on that hill.

There was also a family trip back to the States for about a month. And while that was very enjoyable, I couldn’t find either the time nor the headspace to get any writing done.

The little writing time I did have ended up being focused solely on the work for that publisher. I figured that was the more commercial stuff, so it had to take priority. My cowriter and I finished our planned trilogy and we were just beginning to lay out a new spin-off series when everything went upside-down.

I’m not going to get into all the drama involved there, but the long and short of it is I fulfilled my end of the contract, the contract was abruptly canceled through no fault of my own, and to date they have still failed to fulfill their contractual obligations. Not only did they not provide the support to the trilogy they had committed to, I wasted months of work on them and have nothing to show for it. Including the rights as it was a work-for-hire arrangement.

The fallout from all that put me in a fucked-up headspace. I had respected the man I was working for, and to find out that respect proved to be a one-way street with only contempt coming from the other direction was a massive blow. When I did have time to write, I wasn’t able to focus on anything.

Fortunately, things have started to level off now. My cowriter and I have landed in a new place with much better arrangements and people who have proven can be trusted. We’ve begun work on a brand-new urban fantasy series, of which I’m about 10,000 words into the first book on. And I decided to launch my planned serialization ideas through Substack and Patreon (and later, things will also crosspost to Royal Road).

So, what’s on the docket for 2026? A few things:

  • Former Horsemen – This is the new urban fantasy series I’m working on with my cowriter. We’re dong the Community thing of six seasons and a movie. But it’s books and not TV, so I guess that actually translates to six books and (don’t hold your breath for) a movie. The idea behind this is the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are no longer the Four Horsemen. So what are they doing now and what happens next? As I said, I’m already 10K into the first book and really enjoying it. We’ve got a nice mix of humor, heart, and character, plus the familiar urban fantasy tropes people love. We also chose to set it in Chicago, a setting I haven’t revisited since I did the Morningstar series several years ago. And after having just spent my summer vacation there, it’s very fresh in mind. The plan is that the first book won’t be published until the second book is written, so this may not come out until the summer at the earliest.
  • Corsairs – Here’s the currently-active serial I’m doing. If you haven’t read about the background of Corsairs, you can find out more here. It’s a pulpy space opera adventure, focused on a group of mercenaries operating in a corporate-controlled galaxy. Free subscribers get one episode per week, while paid subscribers get two episodes, and about a month or more in advance of the free episodes. You can subscribe on either Patreon or Substack.
  • Pulse Domain – This is a working title. But as I posted recently, I’m going to be mining some stuff from the public domain, specifically a number of superhero characters, and using them to build a new interconnected universe of superhero stories. Most of this will just be for world-building purposes as I don’t want to overextend myself. But I’m planning to create different stories and serials set in this world. I’ve already gotten a few stories written featuring characters like Cat-Man, the Arrow, Wonder Man, Golden Girl, and Lady Satan. And I’m planning to take advantage of other characters as well, including Spider-Queen, War Eagle, Hell-Rider, the Avenger, Captain Battle, plus a lot more. Right now, I’m having a blast finding my own entry points into these characters and thinking of new ways to utilize them. Right now my focus is on the superhero side of things, but there are also some other public domain characters in different settings that have caught my eye, like Crom the Barbarian and Spacehawk.
  • Paragons of Earth – Another public domain project. This began as a comic that I worked on with Thomas Deja and Eric Johns, but unfortunately it didn’t do well enough to fund the production costs of a second issue. Still, it was a story and characters I really dug working on, and after I mentioned something about it on Substack, Tom emailed me to let me know he’s onboard with doing more with the concept. We’ve still got to talk about that, but it’s something that’s in my mind as well.
  • Other Stuff – What I’ve just listed above is going to be my priority for 2026, but who knows what other things may come along? I did a Power Rangers-inspired serial called Omega Knights for Royal Road last year, and I have plans to hopefully revisit for a second season. As of now, it’s only available in serial format on Royal Road or you can get the ebook through PayHip, but I’ll be releasing the ebook on Amazon in the near future. I might hold off until there’s a complete second season, though. I also still have to complete the third book in the Mark of Cain urban fantasy series, but that’s taken a low priority since the first two books didn’t do very well. I’d also like to revisit some other past stuff, and the serial format might give me the place to do that — things like more stories featuring my Luther Cross or Elisa Hill characters.

And of course, I’m going to continue podcasting. Superhero Cinephiles continues, now with over 200 episodes. I’ve also added a sub-show, Superhero Bibliophiles, to the feed where my guests and I talk about comics and graphic novels. Japan On Film is gearing up for its fourteenth season and we recently passed the 100-episode mark on that.

That’s what I’ve got shaking out this year. How about you?

Omega Knights is available free!

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I’ve been living with the Omega Knights in my head for well over a year now, and seeds of this story have been lingering even longer. And I’ve decided to do something different with it this time. Rather than release it all at once, I’ve serialized it on a few sites, including Royal Road.

Best of all? The price of admission is $0. You can read the episodes completely free!

As you read this, the series has not finished yet. And there is an option to purchase the entire story as an ebook if that’s more your speed.

The idea behind Omega Knights was to do a Power Rangers-style story, but to approach the concept from a different angle. I started asking questions about the concept, like…

“What is the history of this organization”

“Why do they only choose young people?”

“What are the motivations of the villains?”

“Where do they get all their resources?”

“What sort of effect does this life have on the heroes themselves?”

And in all that, I came up with the beginnings of an idea that I expanded on. The result is Omega Knights, which I’m pretty proud of. And I hope you enjoy it, too.

Again, you can read it for free on Royal Road, or you can get the entire book now.

Omega Knights

Omega Knights

Author: Percival Constantine
Series: Omega Knights, Book 1
Genres: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction, Superheroes
Tag: Serial
Publisher: Pulp Corner Press
Publication Year: 2025

Five against the universe!

Read free on Royal Road
Buy the whole book now
About the Book
When portals begin opening between worlds, Earth is threatened by terrifying forces from other dimensions. The Omega Knights are our last line of defense. They are an elite team bonded to powerful Titans—living spirits of ancient mythology and overseen by the shadowy Quantum Group. But their latest mission has left the Omega Knights shattered. After a catastrophic battle, inexperienced recruit Tom Stone is now their acting leader. With most of his experienced teammates dead, can Tom forge the broken remnants of his team into a cohesive fighting force in time to face their deadliest threat yet? Inspired by Super Sentai and Power Rangers, don’t miss this exhilarating new superhero adventure from the author of the Vanguard and Luther Cross series. Read free in serial form on Royal Road, or get the whole book now!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

The Omega Knights are here!

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I’ve made no secret about my love of superheroes. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved the superhero concept. I first became exposed to superheroes likely through the 1978 Superman film, though I don’t remember the first time I watched it. From there, it was the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, Batman (1989) and then Batman: The Animated Series. And I give a lot of credit to the X-Men animated series from the same era as BTAS (and quick sidenote: how awesome was the first season of X-Men ’97?).

But another superhero show also grabbed my attention in the early 90s, and that was Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. If you’re too young to remember (or if you were too old to care at the time it launched), the Power Rangers was a hoot and a half for a young kid. Taking footage from the Japanese Super Sentai superhero show, they then spliced in footage of American actors and had them dub over the Japanese action footage. Teen heroes using pseudo-magical powers and martial arts to fight off monsters, and then they would transition to giant robots based on dinosaurs when the monsters were enlarged.

Yes, it was campy as hell and cheaply produced. But kid Perry didn’t give a damn. I watched the show every day after school and forced my family to spend a small fortune on the toys (including the transforming robots, because of course).

As I grew older, that fire of Power Rangers fandom faded in a way it never did with other superheroes. But the concepts of the Power Rangers is something that always stuck with me, and for years, I’d thought of doing my own take on something inspired by them.

And now the time has come. Enter the Omega Knights!

When thinking of how I would approach this series, I knew I wanted to do something that was cleary inspired by Power Rangers, but also its own thing. And so with that in mind, I started to think of questions I’d have about this type of concept: what’s the history of this organization, how dangerous is this kind of work, why is it always young people who are chosen, how do they deal with the sudden changes in membership?

These types of ideas and more are things I wanted to explore. And before I knew it, I had a wealth of story ideas that I’ve now begun exploring as a serial on Ream.

So that leads me to the next point: what is Ream and why am I on there?

Ream is a site where people can subscribe to their favorite authors and support them. Omega Knights will be serialized on Ream and the basic subscriber level will have access to two new episodes per week. I have several different subscription tiers available, but the basic tier gives you access to all new episodes of whatever serial I’m currently working on. The basic tier also gives you access to each of my first-in-series books through the Ream platform.

Other tiers have other perks as well.

You can read the first four episodes of Omega Knights for free. But starting with episode #5 (just released), you’ll need a subscription plan.

However, I am offering a free trial: all you have to do is go to https://reamstories.com/percivalconstantine and complete the following steps:

  1. Click the “Join Ream” button at the top of the page.

  2. After you create your account, go to my Ream page (https://reamstories.com/percivalconstantine) and click the button under the “Starters & Serials” tier.

  3. You’ll be taken to a check-out page. Enter your payment info, but don’t worry, you won’t be charged yet.

  4. Under promotional code, enter “NEWBIE” (without the quotes). This will give you one month of free access to the Starters & Serials tier of my page.

Check out the video below for a walkthrough of the process:

Now, what if you aren’t interested in another subscription? That’s fine, I don’t begrudge you that. Omega Knights, like every serial I do, will be eventually published in print and digital formats. But this way, you get early access to the episodes far in advance of when everyone else will.

Again, you can check out the first four episodes for free right now, then you can access further episodes with a one-month free trial. Click the button to get started.

Check out Ream now!

Cain returns in Killer’s Prey!

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The latest book in the Mark of Cain trilogy is now available for sale on Amazon!

Cursed…Hunted…Unleashed

Cursed to walk the Earth for eternity and with a millennia’s worth of blood staining his hands, Cain now finds himself in an unusual position—that of savior. Innocent supernatural beings are prisoners of a human supremacist group and held on a private island. Their ultimate fate—victims of a disturbing hunt to please the wealthy and powerful.

Now, Cain and his allies in the Black Lodge must infiltrate the island and rescue their friends. But the island is teeming with threats and Cain himself feels the temptation of his infamous Mark. Can Cain rescue these innocents or will he succumb to the Mark and embrace its thirst for violence?

Written by Percival Constantine, readers will not want to miss the latest thrilling adventure in the Dark Crossroads urban fantasy universe!

Free on Kindle Unlimited
Purchase on Kindle

Paragons of Earth #1 is now for sale!

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As anyone who’s known me for more than five minutes can likely attest, I love comic books and I’ve always loved them. Comics more or less taught me how to read and my desire to become a writer first stemmed from my desire to work in comics.

But producing comics is a lot more difficult than producing novels, so I focused my efforts on my prose career and comics remained something that I’d love to do if I had the opportunity. And though I have worked on comics in a variety of capacities, these were mostly short stories or lettering jobs.

Now though, I’m happy to announce that my own full-length comic book is available!

This comic began as a simple exercise in the Public Domain Heroes group on Facebook. Someone posted the challenge of recreating Zack Snyder’s Justice League with public domain characters. I came up with a list and then thought that would be it.

But the idea stuck with me and soon I was cobbling together designs in my sketchbook and making notes about how I would reinvent these characters. Around the same time, I’d been talking with my friend Thomas Deja about working on something together. I sent him what I had and he came back with even more notes and ideas. It quickly became obvious we had the makings of something really cool on our hands.

There was one big problem, though. Although I’d come a long way as an artist, I haven’t yet developed the skill to do this concept justice. That’s when we reached out to another friend of mine, Eric Johns. Eric has done comic work in the past and has a really cool style. We sent him the script and he jumped at the chance, coming back with designs that blew mine out of the water.

We tried to crowdfund the comic through Crowdfundr and then Kickstarter. While those campaigns didn’t succeed, we did manage to complete the first issue and it’s available now in digital formats on Amazon, GlobalComix, and DriveThru Comics (print versions will shortly be available through IndyPlanet).

View the Standard Edition
View the Special Edition

The Special Edition contains a lot of special features, like character bios and a behind-the-scenes look at our design process.

As of now, this comic might just be this one issue. But if we’re able to generate enough interest through sales, we might have the potential to do more with these characters in the future. Check it out and let me know your thoughts.

What’s Ahead in 2024

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So this is Twixmas, that strange limbo between Christmas and New Year. Here in Japan, we are on the verge of everything except convenience stores shutting down for about three days and I will be eating nothing but junk food during this time.

But I thought I would take this time to look back at the year so far. 2023 was an odd year for my productivity. This was one of the least productive years for me in terms of output. Not that I wasn’t busy, but it was a lot of setting things up for the future. 

A good chunk of my time was devoted to the Paragons of Earth comic book, which has now been completed. During that time, I released Killer’s Quest, the first book in the Mark of Cain series and the third series in the Dark Crossroads universe. 

But unfortunately, that was about it. With two toddlers constantly vying for my attention and an increased workload at my day job, I was burning the candle at both ends and not able to be as productive as I’ve been in years past.

That’s all set to change in the new year. For one thing, a big chunk of my day-job workload was preparing lesson materials for a return to in-person classes, but those materials are now prepared and can be used in years going forward. That’s going to free up a lot of time. My kids will be starting pre-school in the spring as well and my wife will be going back to work, also freeing up more time. And since Paragons of Earth is complete, I won’t have that significant workload on my back, either.

So what can you expect from me in 2024? Let’s break it down.

  • Mark of Cain – I’m working on the second book right now and I hope to have it out in early 2024, possibly by February or March. 
  • Subscription Service – I’ve signed up with Ream to launch my own subscription service. There will be multiple tiers and include things like rotating serials, access to the complete back catalog, reader community, exclusive short stories and comics, and the ability to view raw chapters as they’re written and also to contribute ideas for books. As for these serials, I have a few planned that will rotate season-by-season:
    • Omega Knights – This is a science fiction serial inspired by the likes of Power Rangers and Pacific Rim. I’ve already got a good number of episodes backlogged for this, so when the subscription launches, several episodes will be available right at the jump, with additional episodes to follow.
    • Steampunk Samurai (working title) – A steampunk fantasy set in an alternate version of Meiji Japan and following the adventures of Tetsuo, a wandering ronin with a mechanical arm and the cursed Muramasa Blade. Currently in the planning stages.
    • The Chronicles of Etherium – A serial inspired by JRPGs like Final Fantasy VII, set in a fantasy world where ancient magic and advanced technology exist side-by-side. Currently in the very early planning stages.
    • Corsairs – My sci-fi space opera serial inspired by Firefly and Guardians of the Galaxy has been on an indefinite hiatus, but it will be coming back. I’ve got several new episodes written and hope to start releasing this on Kindle Vella again.

There’s also something very exciting that’s in the works for 2024. I’ve just signed a contract for something very cool, but I can’t talk much about it right now. What I can tell you is that I’ll be working with some creators that I’ve admired for years. It’s something I’m extremely psyched up for and I can’t wait to tell you more.

In the meantime, if you haven’t backed Paragons of Earth #1, I would love your support. It’s an exciting book featuring several reimagined characters from the public domain going up against a Lovecraftian apocalypse. There are rewards for as little as $2 and every little bit of support you can give will help me out a lot. Even if the campaign doesn’t meet its funding goals, the comic is complete and rewards will start going out in January.

Best of luck to you and your family over this holiday season. Whatever it is you celebrate (or if you celebrate nothing at all), stay safe, get some rest, fill up on junk food, and I’ll get back to you in 2024 with much more exciting news.

NEW RELEASE – Killer’s Quest (Mark of Cain Book 1)

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I’m pleased to announce the release of the first book in the MARK OF CAIN series, the third series set in the Dark Crossroads universe.

What makes this series special is that Cain is the character readers said they wanted to see a series based on. When I created the reader poll for the next series, I had a number of characters to choose from. Although Cain was in there, I wasn’t expecting him to be the top vote-getter. In fact, I thought he might get the least.

So imagine my surprise to learn that he’s who readers wanted to see more of. So I got to work crafting a story for this first book and a premise for the character. And what I came up with is something that I think will expand the universe and resonate with readers.

Here’s the description:

Cursed with immortality for fratricide, Cain now yearns for solitude. But when a clandestine society entreats him to aid, his reclusive life is shattered. What he uncovers is a chilling plot devised by a fanatical cult hell-bent on eradicating all things supernatural.

Thrilling action, dark secrets, and a race against time weave together in this pulse-racing tale. As Cain grapples with his identity and battles forces bent on his destruction, the timeless question of belonging reverberates through every page.

Don’t miss your chance to embark on an electrifying journey through a realm where shadows hold unimaginable power. Immerse yourself in the latest addition to the Dark Crossroads universe!

I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of this new book! It’s available now on Kindle, in paperback, and for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Click here to start reading!

Dark Crossroads Black Friday Sale!

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Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it! Here in Japan, we don’t have it, so it’s just a regular work day. But we still have Black Friday, and I’m participating, too.

From today, I’m running a massive sale on all the Dark Crossroads novels! You can get the first two books in both the Luther Cross and Morningstar series for absolutely FREE!

And that’s not all! The other books in both series are discounted up to 80%. This means you can pick up all eleven books in the Dark Crossroads universe for under $10! That’s less than the cost of a movie ticket, and you’ll get hours more content.

Head over to https://books2read.com/rl/dcblackfriday to get access to all the books that are part of this sale. And have a safe and happy holiday season!

The fate of Lucifer is revealed in the final Morningstar book!

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It’s time!

After a few setbacks, I’m now ready to release the fifth and final book in the Morningstar series! This brings Lucifer’s story to a conclusion in which his final fate will be revealed.

This was a fun book to write and really gave me an opportunity to do some interesting things with Lucifer’s character. I’ll have more to say in the book’s afterword, so make sure you pick it up to know why I made the choices I did.

Even though this is the end of Lucifer’s story, it’s not the end of the Dark Crossroads universe. I’ve polled my readers and asked you all what you’d like to see next, and the result was someone surprising.

Cain was the clear favorite in the polling. At first, it was a three-way tie, but in the run-off, he came ahead as the obvious choice. I was pretty surprised by this myself, but as soon as I saw the results, my mind started working on possible story ideas.

What you see here is a work in progress for the series logo. The series itself will be titled Mark of Cain. I haven’t settled on a title for the first book, though, but I’ll be sure to announce it later.

But I digress. You’re here to find out about the final Lucifer book! It is available today in both digital and paperback formats and you can also read it for free if you’re a member of Kindle Unlimited.

Click here and start reading now!

Thanks as always for your support. But remember, these books are dependent on your reviews and shares to help get the word out. So please make sure to leave a review and tell your friends about the series! I’ll have some sales coming up in the near future that will make it easy for new readers to jump on.

Help me decide my next series

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I wanted to give you a head’s up about the progress on Lucifer Forever. And here’s where the bad news comes in—you’re going to have to wait just a little bit longer for it. My family and I have just moved to a bigger place to prepare for Baby #2 (due in July) and with Kotono being pregnant, that meant I had to handle the physical aspects of moving. This also coincided with the new university semester beginning in Japan, so I’ve been preparing for and teaching classes.

This unfortunately meant a delay in production of Lucifer Forever. But now, we’re pretty much finished with the move, I’ve got my new office almost completely set up, and I’m ready to get back to writing! Although I originally promised spring as the release, it’s looking more like summer at the moment. I’m sorry for the delay, but I’m sure you’ve been through the experience of moving and how stressful it can be. It gets even more stressful since Helena is now walking and wants to test every single boundary we put in front of her.

As I mentioned before, Lucifer Forever will be the final book in the Morningstar series. So what comes next? I want to know the next Dark Crossroads series you want to read. Please take a few minutes to fill out this survey to help me decide how to give you the best books you want to read.

Take the survey here