Shadowhawk takes a peek at the next two Shotguns & Sorcery novels by Matt Forbeck.

“More of Max Gibson’s adventures? The wait has been too long already!” ~Shadowhawk

I never get tired of saying this, but, Matt Forbeck is a great author. Consistent, fun, and always enjoyable, his novels and comics are a treat to read, whether they are science fiction, near future, fantasy, or what have you. He is also the most prolific writer I know, both in terms of how much of his stuff gets published, and his writing speed. I’ve enjoyed all his novels released last year, and a few before that, and it looks like 2013 is a great year for him as well. Leverage: The Con Job (review) was a first-rate novel, a great choice to start the year off with.

As it stands, there’s been a long hiatus since his last self-published novel, Hard Times In Dragon City (review), which is the first of his fantasy noir novels set within the Shotguns & Sorcery RPG setting for Mongoose Publishing (he owns the trademarks for the setting by the way!). The second and third novels, respectively titled Bat Times In Dragon City and End Times In Dragon City will be released later this year, possibly as soon as the first week of March for the former.

Matt did a low-key cover reveal for both books on Twitter yesterday, and I offered to do this post, since I loved the covers and wanted to share my enthusiasm with everybody. So here you go, the covers for both novels.

Release: Soon

Paperback: $10.00 | Hardback: $15.00 | eBook: $4.99 | Both print formats are Print-on-Demand only

Release: Soon

Paperback: $10.00 | Hardback: $15.00 | eBook: $4.99 | Both print formats are Print-on-Demand only

And for completeness’ sake, here’s the cover and the blurb for the first novel in the trilogy, Hard Times In Dragon City.

Release: Now Available

Paperback: $10.00 | Hardback: $15.00 | eBook: $4.99 | 192pp | Both print formats are Print-on-Demand only

Retired adventurer Max Gibson has seen better times. Ever since he and his treasure-hunting friends struck it big and called it quits a decade back, it seems like things have slid downhill.

It’s hard enough to scrape by in a sprawling mountain city in which elves and dwarves live higher than humans in every way. It’s worse at night, when the groans of the zombies laying an eternal siege to the city provide a ceaseless reminder that the Dragon Emperor himself is the only thing that keeps the hordes of hungry dead from storming the walls.

When Max is called in to help invesigate the wholesale slaughter of a long-dead dwarf friend’s family, he thinks maybe he’s finally hit bottom. Then the love of his life — the elf who left him when their careers as adventurers ended — walks back through his door, desperate for his help and with nowhere else to turn.

It’s not getting any easier. That’s for sure.

Hard Times in Dragon City is the first novel in the Shotguns & Sorcery setting.

So what do you think?