New Beginnings, old Blood (Post #13)

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." - Seneca, N/A date

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Happy New Year! May 2025 bless you and yours!

"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shone upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." (Numbers 6:24-26)

My artist sent me my first rough layout for No Tears (Parabellum), pictured below. Which, naturally, brings me to my (good) problem: I am still fixing, updating, and expanding No Tears (Northern Company) [Updated Edition]. I find the process of pausing on Book Four, Parabellum, an interesting case study in fixing the foundation of the series in order to make the rest of the Giovanni Salzano the Traveling Mercenary collection better. In reality, the original 2021 edition of Northern Company is becoming the past, a former beginning, and now the 2025 Updated Edition is the new beginning.
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Northern Company is the foundation, the cornerstone, of the whole No Tears series and the larger collection mentioned above. It introduces the main characters, the main storylines, and gives a critical historical summary of the era that, without it, can make the rest of the series a bit off. Now, with that said and if you have been at one of my events, I have said this before: No Tears (Inheritance) can be picked up and read without Northern Company. Inheritance, for better or worse, catches the reader up on the events of Northern Company and the motivations and dynamics of the main characters within the first few chapters. I stand 100% behind what I have said and will continue to say. HOWEVER, with the Updated Edition of Northern Company, the refresh of Book One will make Inheritance, No Tears (Reckoning), and especially Parabellum that much more impactful (critically so, with the mercenaries of Northern Company).

Rough layout draft for the book cover of No Tears (Parabellum):

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Giovanni lowered his sword, “But you said, vengeance kills a man faster than the devil.”

Marcus nodded, “Aye, it does sonny,” the big man closed the distance between him and Giovanni and put a massive hand on the Italian’s shoulder, “But learn the art of the mercenary, the legacy and skill of the name of Salzano. And when the time is right, it will no longer be vengeance. It will be justice.”

Giovanni Salzano & Marcus Felix Brutus
pg. 168; A Story of the Beginning (Revised Edition)