For Scales Alone – Launches October 11th
On October 11th, For Scales Alone goes live. Right now it’s sitting on Reedsy Discovery, waiting for readers to dig in. Maybe they’ll love it. Maybe they’ll tear it apart. That’s fine. It’s part of the deal.
This one wasn’t supposed to exist. It started as a “lock it in the vault until Vaeritas is done” idea. Except I didn’t lock it up. Jed wouldn’t let me. Greyhaven pulled me in and the story took shape on its own, heavier than I expected, and sharper too.
Jed isn’t a hero. He’s broken, scarred, angry, and still moving forward because stopping would be worse. That’s what the book is really about. The cost of standing when everything wants you to fall.
The title fits. For Scales Alone. Debts. Balance. The weight we carry, even when no one is keeping score.
If you’ve read Heartcoil or Lux Mendacium, this one is darker and rougher. Less about big inventions or clever lies. More about survival and the ghosts that refuse to leave.
It’s out October 11th. If that’s your kind of thing, here’s the link: For Scales Alone by Daniel Sheley | Reedsy Discovery
See you in Greyhaven.
.— Daniel
Why Ashwake?
Names matter. Ashwake is what I call the space where my stories live — where ruin, memory, and fire all stir together to shape something new.
This blog will be my ember pile: scraps of story, thoughts on writing, fragments of worldbuilding, maybe even a poem or two. Some entries will be rough. Some polished. All of them will be pieces of what I’m chasing when I sit down to write.
So — welcome to Ashwake. Let’s see what survives the fire.
Right now, I’m deep in the querying process for my novel The Soul-Sung — the first book of the Vaeritas Saga. At the same time, I’ve already begun writing its sequel, carrying forward the world of Draken, Watchers, and fractured tribes.
But I’ve also got two side projects that won’t leave me alone:
For Scales Alone — a sharp, mythic story about survival and betrayal.
Underworld LLC — my satirical romp through Hades’ bureaucracy, where gods and monsters punch timecards and chaos brews in the breakroom.
Between these projects, I’m always juggling. Some days it’s drafting new chapters, some days it’s tightening query letters, and some days it’s chasing down entirely new stories that refuse to wait their turn.
If you’re here, you’ll see pieces of all of it — the big sagas, the side projects, and the stray sparks that might someday become novels of their own.
Welcome to the fire.