Outlaw King Tattoos

Crest & Greeting

Top: the crest of the Ainean kingdom and the badge of the Kingsman gunslingers, Ain's elite protectors. Crossed sixguns and the Wolf God.

Bottom: the customary greeting in Ain, "May your journey be more than its end," often shortened to "May it be," to which the response is, "May it never end."

Chaser and her husband posted these pictures on the Facebook fanclub as a surprise a few days ago, and my heart dropped into my stomach. Holy shit! At least they look good.

When I made the decision to start writing the Outlaw King series, I had hopes--shit, everybody has hopes. But hopes and expectations are two different things. I didn't think I would remotely approach the level of the Dark Tower.

But three years, four books, and 60,000+ downloads later, I feel like I can say it was the best decision I could have made. Whirlwind is holding steady with The Gunslinger at 4.2⭐ to 4.1. Now I have an agent and we're talking to publishers like Tor and Del Rey about going steady.

Christ, people have tattooed my words on their bodies.

This is real life, right?

"Bravery"

"Bravery is not the absence of fear," inscribed on the right-hand pistol of the fastest gunslinger in Ain, Walter Rollins, the Deon of the Southern Territories.

"Mercy"

"Mercy is not the absence of strength," inscribed on Walter's left pistol.

The text in all three pictures is a special font Chaser, the woman in the top picture, designed to replicate the written language in the series. The spaghetti-western world of Outlaw King was greatly influenced by my time in Afghanistan, so the writing is a little bit Arabic, a little bit extraterrestrial, and readable as English if you look at it long enough.

The same amazing woman, Chaser, designed the wolf crest pictured above on her shoulder, and also designed her own costume of one of the series' monsters, as well as consulting on one for a fellow fan:
http://imgur.com/a/0kWew#0

These people are my second family now. I love them so much. They've all made my life worth living again.