Kevin Hardman

Garren's Quest, Chapter 4

With the busy month of May now in my rearview, I feel like the writing's getting back on track. Here is Chapter 4 of Garren's Quest, and the usual caveats apply:

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As they rode, Garren continued to argue that he could not be held responsible ...

Kid Sensation #10 Excerpt

Kid Sensation #10 (working title: Expiation) is still in the works, but I wanted to share another excerpt. (And the usual caveats apply...)

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My father floated up into the air, preparing to speak. Behind him, Mouse and I stayed on the ground, staring out at...

Garren's Quest, Chapter 3

May is only about half over, and it's been a fairly busy month already - mostly because of school-related items: graduations, banquets, etc. As a result, I haven't advanced the ball as much as I'd hoped on the writing front. That said, here's Chapter 3 of Garren's Quest, part of which I believe posted previously but this is the full cha...

Garren's Quest, Chapter 2

I mentioned last month that I'd start posting chapters from a fantasy story I've had bouncing around in my brain (working title: Garren's Quest). Bearing in mind that the usual caveats apply, here is Chapter 2:

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Almost in unison, the soldiers drew their swords �...

Garren's Quest, Chapter 1

I previously posted an excerpt from a fantasy story that I've got a lot of ideas about in terms of the storyline (working title: Garren's Quest). It's one that I think will be a fun read, so I've decided to start posting the chapters here for my patrons. So without further ado, Chapter 1 is below, and the usual caveats apply. (And in ot...

Audiobook Release: The Fringe Worlds Series (Books 1 - 3)

It took a little longer than I anticipated, but I'm happy to announce the release of the audiobook for The Fringe Worlds Series (Books 1 - 3).

As usual, I'm reporting the release here first and offering my Patreon support...

If It Ain't Broke...

So I’ve got something of a minor headache in terms of a publishing-related task. Historically, it’s been a little tricky for authors to get their books into the desired category on Amazon. Basically, the categories available during the publishing process didn’t always square up with the categories as they appear on Amazon’s site. As a re...

Possible Mirific Subtitles

I’ve been thinking lately about Jim’s transition from Kid Sensation to Mirific (which I’ve previously stated would be his “cape” name as an adult). I’m not talking about the transition in the storyline – I think I’ve got that worked out. What I’m talking about is the descriptive transition/title for the books.

Basically,...

Blurb From Mirific Novel

For some reason, I've been having a lot of thoughts lately about the future of Jim in the Kid Sensation series - namely, when he gives up the "Kid Sensation" appellation and starts going by "Mirific." I've essentially got that worked out in terms of the storyline, so I thought I'd share what's been buzzing through my head in terms of the blurb....

A Brief Discussion of Amazon Ads

I think I regularly mention the necessity of book marketing and promotion, and I recently commented on some issues I was having with Amazon ads. However, I thought it might be beneficial to pull back the curtain a little on that.

Amazon ads follow an auction format, where sellers bid for ad placement. Basically, when someone goes to Amazon...

Excerpt from Kid Sensation Story

I’m still working on Kid Sensation #10, but I thought I’d share an excerpt from a future Kid Sensation story (and the usual caveats apply):

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“You guys will have to go without me,” I told Smokey and Electra. “I completely forgot that I have a tutoring ses...

Audiobook Release: The Warden Series (Books 1 - 3)

Something that I've been thinking about for a while has finally come to fruition: release of the audiobook for The Warden Series (Books 1 - 3). The boxed set has been out for a while, so I'm happy to have the audio version done.

<...

Smoked In The Wild

I’ve probably said it numerous times at this point, but it’s great to have Smoked released. I can’t overstate how much I appreciate the patience of readers, because the story ultimately grew well beyond anything I initially imagined. That said, I’m happy with how it turned out (and hopefully readers are as well).

Also...

Blurb From Smoked

Just as an update, I'm in the middle of reviewing the edited manuscript for Smoked. I should finish that today, and my usual process is to read through everything one final time. (Basically, even professional editing/proofing doesn't always catch every typo, so one last read-through never hurts.) Hopefully at that point I'll be ready t...

Latest On Smoked

As I mentioned in a couple of comments, Smoked is done and currently being edited. For those interested, it clocks in at around 600 pages. (In short, I wasn’t exaggerating when I previously stated that I kept adding stuff every time I read through it.) That makes it the longest book I’ve written thus far - and that’s with me...

Recent Writing Productivity

Unlike some writers, I don’t have a daily quota or word count that I strive to reach. I basically just try to write as much as possible each day. Unfortunately, the writing has fallen the past few days for a couple of reasons.

First and foremost, I’ve been under the weather. I can (and usually do) push through most ailments, but simply...

Story Interactions

I've stressed on multiple occasions that my writing process is more art than science.  It's as if the story tells itself and I'm just keeping a chronicle of what happens. Thus, in a way, I'm often just as surprised as anyone else at developments in the plot.

For me, it's fun to write this way. Unfortunately, it usually results in some...

Undersea City from Kid Sensation #11

I've talked a bit before about how Kid Sensation #11 (working title: Generation) will be a team-up between Jim and the Pelagic Prince, who hails from an underwater kingdom. As is typical, I've got a lot of ideas, and several of them involve Jim visiting the Pelagic Prince's home. With that in mind, I asked an AI image generator to crea...

Update On Smoked, et al.

Since I’ve got a couple of irons in the fire, I thought it appropriate to give an update. Starting first with  Smoked, I have to confess that I didn’t finish my final read-through.

Basically, I had a couple of things happen on the home front that slowed my publishing efforts down, including losing internet access for almo...

Excerpt from Kid Sensation #10

Hi, all. As with a lot of people, tax season took a bite out of my time, so I thought it might be worthwhile to share an excerpt from Kid Sensation #10 (working title: Expiation) as a kind of pick-me-up. And, as always, the usual caveats apply:

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Kid Sensation: The Big (Familial) Reveal

For fans of the Kid Sensation series, Jim’s family dynamic has been a bit of a slow reveal (e.g., it’s eventually come to light that he has an uncle, cousins, etc.). However, it hasn’t just been readers who’ve slowly been made privy to these facts; it’s also other characters in the books – Electra, Smokey, and so on. Basically, it’...

Now You See Me...

So I've had what can only be described as a very trying week. Basically, Kevin Hardman vanished with respect to some parts of Amazon's publishing ecosystem.

I won't go into detail (because it's hard to understand unless you self-publish on Amazon), but it starts with the fact that there are certain things that authors can't do on ...

Kid Sensation: Escape Room

Sadly, I've been swamped lately and didn't get as much writing done as I'd like. In part, I'm having to deal with a couple of Amazon things. (Big surprise, right?)  One's something that - per Amazon' rules - I can't talk about yet. The other is something I posted about: changes to Amazon ads that I didn't think would affect me, b...

Kid Sensation: Emancipated

I seem to recall George R.R. Martin mentioning a number of years ago that a Game of Thrones fan asked him for something like a glossary of High Valyrian so that they could study the grammar, syntax, etc. GRRM gave a humorous response along the lines of, "I've written maybe seven words of High Valyrian..." Basically, GRRM hadn't actually...

Super Powers: Science and Research

Many years ago, I seem to recall one of the Marvel comic writers (possibly Stan Lee) discussing how they incorporate super powers into their stories. I think he said it was fun, but sometimes problematic to apply those powers to real world situations. For instance, he asked a question about what would happen if a light was on in a room and then ...

Excerpt From Future Kid Sensation Novel

Working on the Smokescreen book gave me a lot of ideas about things I could incorporate into future Kid Sensation stories. With that in mind, here's an excerpt from a future Kid Sensation novel (and, as always, the usual caveats apply):

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“Are you g...

Next At Bat: Kid Sensation #10

Now that Smoked is essentially off my plate, I’ll be turning my attention to Kid Sensation #10 (working title: Expiation). It’s been in the queue for a while, so giving it my full attention is something I’ve been looking forward to.

Thankfully, in terms of the story, I actually got started a while ago. As I often me...

Smokescreen and Atalanta: Anatomy of a Relationship

Okay, despite the title of this post, I'm not going to completely dissect the relationship between Smokey and Atalanta, but I did want to talk about it just a bit. Or rather, talk about the evolution of it in Smoked.

As I’ve indicated in several of the recent Kid Sensation books, Smokescreen and Atalanta are now a couple. In fac...

Update on Smoked

I’m still tweaking parts of Smoked, but to explain why that’s taking a bit of time I should probably talk a about my writing method. Normally, I type the manuscript from beginnng to end. Occasionally, in the interest of time, I’ll dictate some portions (using voice-to-text), and – as one might expect – that’s usually faster�...

Additional Excerpt from Smoked

I'm on the verge of wrapping up Smoked, but I've felt it necessary to tweak more passages than I normally do (which has taken additional time). Still, I thought it might be fun to share another excerpt from the book (and, of course, the usual caveats apply):

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