The transition

Hello everyone!

As I make my transition to publish everywhere, if you are on a specific platform like Barnes and Noble or Kobo, and you cannot find a book of mine, feel free to email me at juliusstclair@yahoo.com or contact me through the blog, and I can get a copy for you.

Also, I will slowly be transitioning my author name from:

Julius St. Clair

to

J CLAIR

in order to make it easier for readers to say my name and find me. If you have any questions or concerns, let me know. Thank you!

Our Broken Fantasy (Book #2 of the Obsidian Saga) is Now Available!!!!

OBSIDIAN SKY 2 is NOW AVAILABLE HERE

In the world of Obsidian, wishes come true.

And no victory comes without sacrifice.

Aidan and Leah find their fairytale romance struck down, and desperately, they comb through the ashes, trying to give life to the embers. They seek refuge and safety in the city of misfits: Onyx Major, and for a time, it appears they may even be able to forge a home, with their friends, and maybe even between themselves.

But news of their victory over an Omega has spread across the lands, and challengers seek their lives before they find the strength to stockpile their wishes and oppose the world. Through love, suffering, pain, and hope…Aidan, Leah, and the rest of the Omegaslayers will face an enemy they could not have hoped to prepare for, and uncover secrets that will follow them until their dying breaths.

True to form, the next chapter of the Obsidian Saga roars in with our heroes facing impossible odds, beautiful imagery, breathtaking action, uncompromising set pieces, and a story that is both romantic and haunting.

J Clair

J Clair

I think the average person would love to reinvent themselves occasionally, whether to mark a major event, or to show how much someone has changed. Our with the old and in with the new, so to speak. 

I feel like...this is one of those times for me. 2016 was a terrible year in many ways. I had to move from a place I loved. I lost family members and friends. I lost my income. There was a whole lot of loss. Meanwhile, I was an emotional wreck, because I was unsure where life was headed. I remember talking to my wife and saying that I wasn't happy. 

Of course I was still happy with her and my children, but there was something within me that I couldn't explain. There was a yearning for more. 

And things changed drastically with the birth of my son, Max. On the very day he was born, while my wife was in labor, I received an email from Amazon saying that I had been reinstated. I was back, and yet, so much had changed. I had already uprooted my life, gotten a job, and changed my whole outlook on life, I didn't know when was the last time I would be able to full time write again. 

But then...everything started changing. Things that made my heart ache were resolved. I was happier even though I was broke. I had more time for family. And though I wasn't yet writing, I was able to plan ahead for when I would, knowing that at some point, I would return back to that world.

And so now I've returned, but I've changed. And not just my personality, but my writing as well. I feel like it's cleaner, and more precise. I've grown, and suddenly, Julius St. Clair is not who I am anymore. Not exactly. Those four years of a full time author will always be a part of me and my history, but I want to evolve, and become the phoenix that rose from the ashes months ago. 

And so, I'm trying something.

I'm changing my name to J Clair, and seeing what happens. It might go horribly, and I can go right back to Julius St. Clair. No biggie. Just some lost time. But it's either now or never, when I've already been away from writing for months and lost readers. It's a fresh start, and I might as well see if it all heads in the right direction. I just figured i might as well give you all a heads up. 

:)

Ah, Life...

There's this corny line in an old movie, Forrest Gump, in which he says that Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.

I remember in college that I thought I had it all figured out. I would graduate, get a great job, and soar into the sky upon wings of excellence. How foolish and naive I was. I ended up waiting tables straight out of college even with a Bachelor's degree under my belt. It was jarring to be sure, but over time I realized that the key was to never give up. Ever.

I thought I had made it nearly five years ago. A failed teaching career turned into a desperate, last resort, reach for the stars. With nothing to lose and finding myself on unemployment after being laid off, I asked my wife if I could try to make a career out of writing. All I wanted was six months. If nothing happened then I would go back to teaching, and I would know what I was doing for the next 30+ years of my life.

In the sixth month, after working 14 hour days, renewing myself every morning, and praying for a miracle, it all came together. I started making as much as I was teaching, and sometimes more. I was ecstatic, and I began making a life around my work. I didn't know what I was doing all the time, but I did my best, and I realized that writing full-time was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Less than a year ago, I lost it all. My books were taken down and although it was temporary, it caused a large enough tear in my life that I was forced to turn it all upside down. I had to move, get a more traditional job, and watch as dream faded. It was the worst day of my life.

But I couldn't quit. And I tried to make the best of my situation. Now, I can finally say that I will be returning back to full-time writing. I didn't think this was would happen anytime soon, but I'm grateful. Although I'm sure I've lost some readers, some fans, a great deal of my audience...I'm hopeful that I can reach someone with one of my stories again.

Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday. I'm writing this just to let you know that Last of the Guardians is going to be delayed another month. I'll keep everyone updated, but having to juggle a new job with writing has been more difficult than I thought, and again, I want to release a quality product. If there are any questions or concerns, please email me at juliusstclair@yahoo.com. 

Thank you. :(

Happy Thanksgiving

I have a problem, guys. It's called blogging. I'm simply terrible at it. It's not that I don't have anything to say, it's just that I'm more of a reactionary type of person. You know, the kind that will keep their mouth shut about something until absolutely necessary. It can be a horrible practice, I know. It's like, "hey guys, my new book is out!" and people are like, "why didn't you tell me about it a month ago? I already spent my book funds on Harry Potter 97," and then I'm like, "well, that sucks...for me..."

It's a habit that I have to break - not writing. But I suppose a lot of my thoughts come to fruition with the context of my stories. Still, why not get into depth on a couple of topics. I know that I'm opening up myself for criticism here, but what is the internet without a little bit of feedback.

Okay, so here goes *deep breath*

I'm going to talk about...a movie I saw recently. Sure, let's begin there. It was Doctor Strange. Now, anyone that knows me knows that I am a huge comic book fan. Not like, I can tell you the issue and volume number kind of fan, but enough that I can hold my own in a trivia game. Well, I saw the movie and I was super excited, but afterwards I was a little disappointed. Why? Because it had the same structure as almost every other Marvel movie. I can't deny that their formula works. If it's not broke, why fix it? But it still gets a wee bit stale sometimes. The formula goes as follows: introduce villain that does something horrible. Introduce sarcastic hero. Hero learns stuff through a horrible ordeal and becomes a rookie of their newfound powers. Hero meets villain and loses once but survives. Hero does something grand. Hero fights villain and wins even though the win seems like they've been blessed a tad by the screenwriter gods.

And yet, I keep going back for more! Ugh, what is wrong with me? lol.

But it got me thinking about my own writing, because I realize that all authors have a writing style and formulas to drive their narrative. Who am I to complain? Still, in order to keep things "fresh," it's great to try out new things. I've been working on a couple of ideas that I hope you'll love, and we'll certainly see. I'll talk about them more in the next post which will be in...January of 2019. I'm kidding! I'm trying to write a LOT sooner than that. Still, don't be afraid to shoot me an email and kick me in the butt once in a while if I take too long. We're in this together!

Anyways, Happy Thanksgiving all!

Being a Parent

For anyone that doesn't know by now, I'm having a second baby! I'm really excited, but of course, me being me, it also helps me to focus and take a second look at certain areas of my life. The same thing happened with my first child. As soon as I found out that he was being born, everything was given another look. 

Suddenly, life wasn't about me and my wife. It was about looking to the future and what I wanted for him. It was strange, not being able to change the things I didn't like on my own, but suddenly, with a child on the way, I was given the strength. It wasn't easy, and my life is completely different now than it was then, but it's for the better in every way. There's a reason why my son's middle name is Lysander (meaning he who is free). I want him to be free. Of drama and hardship and bondage. I want him to look at life as an opportunity and a wonderful thing to be cherished in every way. 

And I think it's working so far. I absolutely love him, and almost every day I'm telling him how he is one of my favorite people in the whole world. He's funny, witty, handsome, energetic, smart and awesome. One moment we're play fighting, and in the next, we're having a conversation about life. Sure, he's only four, so his outlook might be a little different, but it's nice that we can just talk like that. No matter what happens in life, I will be there for him. 

So now, I have a second child on the way, and it brings to light the few things that I would like to change. They are minor things, but there are there nonetheless, and I think it only brings to light the beauty of parenthood. As human beings, we can often be selfish, thinking only of ourselves and not considering another person's side. But being a parent forces us to evaluate what we're doing every day. This child before me is not just a duty. He is literally looking to me for guidance and assistance, and I need to know that I'm steering him right. Sometimes that means making some hard decisions. To this day, I only have one regret in my life, and even then, the result has been bittersweet, not entirely bad. I feel like that's a good thing for my son and my future child. To have far more victories than failures. 

I am once again on the cusp of change, and I'm excited for it.