Return of the Wizard King

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As with most writers his beginning efforts, while varied, were still rather rough. Yet this didn’t stop him from submitting things to various publishers. His first published work was a short story, published in 1993 by a high school writing paper. It would be over a decade until he’d see another of his stories get published. But prose work wasn’t his only interest.

After seeing the Batman movie in 1989 Chad and a friend worked on a comic series together they hoped to get published by one of the major comic book publishers at that time. And though both were still in junior high they were able to submit the work. Though it was rejected, Chad would remember the joy he felt at getting to actually see something off to a publisher and eagerly looked forward to getting a chance to do so again.

For the next decade and a half he’d pen several different styles of stories and tales, eventually finding an enjoyment of the fantasy genre. This sundry collection of works echoes part of his vocational background during this same timeframe in which he was an editor and writer for an online magazine, owned his own publishing company; worked as a pawn broker, bookseller, pizza cook, toy company rep, and magazine/book merchandiser, among other vocational exploits.

After a short taste of success with a local small press in 2006 ended with both his work out of print and the company out of business, he began searching for agents and publishers. After approaching two hundred agents and almost just as many publishers later (both in the US and overseas) he had more rejection letters than interested offers. But undaunted, if not a little weathered from the process, he soldiered on. Eventually, he would find an interested publisher in Dark Horse Comics who not only picked up some of his prose work but also a comic miniseries he was shopping around.

And while it would take a few more years for the titles to see publication, only to face their own challenges with the Covid concerns that ravaged much of the retail and book industries, Return of the Wizard King, the first book in The Wizard King Trilogy, was released in September 2020. Better still it would be available in print, ebook, and audiobook formats—the latter two something Chad hadn’t yet enjoyed as options for any of his work.

Return of the Wizard King was followed by Trial of the Wizard King and Triumph of the Wizard King, the second and third volumes in the series. Each was released at the rapid pace of about six months apart from the other. From there a boxed set would be collected and produced the following year (2022), with still more titles being added to the catalog.

Chad’s first graphic novel with Dark Horse was published in 2023, entitled: Sons of Ashgard: Ill Met in Elmgard. A different sort of story about some adventurous squirrels in a Norse-flavored landscape, which soon enough found interest and support in the wild, adding to the growing interest and support for both his current and forthcoming work.

A Minnesota native, Chad continues to make his home in the "Land of Sky Blue Waters."