Coming Soon — Demon Healer Naberius: Volume Six!
Hey there, beautiful.
How are you doing? It’s been a bit of a rough month for me, but that makes me all the more thankful to have days like these. Working on my novels is already fun, but the real payoff comes when I get share what I’ve been toiling away at. Making announcements like this never fails to put a smile on my face, and it’s my hope that it brings you a little joy too.
This might come as a huge surprise, given this article’s title, but Demon Healer Naberius: Volume Six is set to arrive soon, most likely within the next two weeks. I just started the fourth draft last night, so I’m confident I’ll be able to hit that goal (barring any disasters, naturally). As always, you can expect an announcement for the full release here and on my Twitter.
And in similar tradition, let us give thanks to Tostantan for continuing to put up with me. I say this every time, but I’m really happy with the work he’s provided for this volume, especially the illustration that will appear on the front cover. I’m also particularly fond of his designs for Nabby’s mom, though I get the feeling that much would be obvious to anyone who’s been following this series.
Introduction
Past introductory articles are available in the Archive here.
Volume Six picks up two weeks after the events of Demon Healer Naberius: Volume Five. After giving in to her rage and nearly striking out at a couple idiots who harassed Bosa, Nabby is in a bad place. She feels as though she hasn’t grown at all—like she’s still the same child who lost control of herself and injured her classmates—and now she’s unsure if she deserves to call herself a healer. Fortunately, Bosa won’t leave her to her self-flagellation, and she’ll do whatever it takes to see Nabby smile once more—including summoning help straight from the underworld.
Of course, our leading ladies will be joined with faces both new and familiar along the way. They’ll help a washed-up illusionist who claims to have once been a legend collect herbs for his pain medicine, support a trio of veterans as they scour a deadly dungeon, and hunt down an unidentified monster that’s been waylaying shipping trucks across a desert highway. I’ve done my best to imbue these tales with the same charm I put into all my work, so it’ll be my pleasure to share them with you soon.
This would be the part where I segue into the profiles for upcoming characters, but unfortunately, this volume only had one new character who necessitated a design. It feels awkward to introduce a character without any corresponding artwork, so I apologize for how sparse the following section is this time around. I promise to make up for it next volume.
Characters
Marquis Naberius VII
Race: Goetic Demon
Job: Marquis
Age: 1432 (48 in Hell years)
Likes: Rullia, stylish clothes, brownies, chit-chat, Nabby
Dislikes: Traditions, politics, indecisive people, pickles
Skills: Rhetoric, politics
The current Marquis of House Naberius and Nabby’s mother. Naberius VII is a master of rhetoric and debate, as proven long ago during her days as prosecutor for an ancient city-state’s court, and she hopes to use those skills to improve the relationship between demons and mortals. She is immensely proud of Nabby for becoming the world’s first demon healer, and she looks forward to seeing what else her daughter can accomplish.
While Naberius VII is normally busy managing her family’s affairs, she was summoned by Bosa, who needed help after an incident left Nabby depressed and withdrawn. Upon learning of her daughter’s plight, Naberius VII called in a favor with the devil himself to earn herself passage to the mortal realm, and she has every intention of making sure Nabby comes to understand the truth behind her own emotions.
Parental and compassionate, Naberius VII does not fit what most people expect of demon royalty, but don’t let that fool you: her mind is sharp, and there is a reason she was known as “the Devil’s advocate”. She has a great fondness for mortal foods and clothing, and she loves Nabby above all else. Likewise, she appreciates Bosa for being a good friend to her daughter.
Naberius VIII
Race: Goetic Demon
Job: None
Age: 200 (7 in Hell years)
Likes: Dogs, Grandad’s stories, making clothes, big dreams
Dislikes: Priests, giving up, pickles
Skills: Dark magic, handcrafts
The daughter of Marquis Naberius VII, back when she was still a child and had not yet experienced the troubles her prowess for magic would bring. A bright-eyed young girl who loves studying magic and trying her hand at every craft she’s taught, she is her mother’s pride and joy. Naberius VIII never misses a chance to hear stories about mortal adventurers from her Grandad, and she is known to take naps in the kennels with the family dogs, leading to her mother nicknaming her “Puppy”.
Other families of the Goetia have derided Naberius VIII’s inordinately human appearance, though her mother has made sure such comments never reach her ears. She is set to begin studying at Lady Lilith’s School for the Gifted later this year, where she will have her fateful encounter with the young Duke Bune IV.
Where can I find Demon Healer Naberius?
You can find my novels at my Amazon author page. My books are all priced at $2.99 for the ebook and $9.99 for the paperback, with the exception of Demon Healer Naberius: Volume One which has a $0.99 ebook (I like to keep the price low for anyone who might be interested in giving the series a shot). Volume Six will follow the $2.99/$9.99 pricing structure as well.
As stated above, updates regarding my books will always be posted here and on my Twitter, @varnicrast. Consider throwing me a follow on the latter after New Year’s, as I’ll have a new puppy in the house around then and will likely be posting a shitton of pictures of her.
In Closing
This volume was a really important one to me. It marks the midway point in the series, it introduces a character I’ve wanted to write about for a long time, and it also… Actually, I can’t say more without risking giving too much away. Regardless, you can bet that I put as much love into Volume Six as I could, and I hope you’ll look forward to the upcoming release.
I’m also just going to admit that I’ve thrown in the towel on any plans to post more often on this website. I kept thinking about how I’d like to do reviews of my old, horrible short stories or pieces on writing concepts with some sort of regularity, but whenever I found myself with free time to do either of those, I always ended up just working on my next novel. So, I’ll stop pretending this website is anything more than a repository for announcements with the occasional article tossed in and instead just focus on writing.
But I digress—thank you very much for your interest in Demon Healer Naberius: Volume Six. Stay warm, stay frosty, and stay fresh.
Eagle out.
