I’ve written a book, apparently. Now, the question has been what to do with it and how to promote it. I’ve already self-published the work, details below, and started this site as one of several means to promote myself and my work.

So, how did this all start?

Glad you asked. Almost a year ago–10 months and 12 days, to be precise–I was laid off. I was working Operational Technology for a mining operation in Middle Tennessee at the time, and the mine was forced to shut down. It’s been a very difficult time, to say the least. As news was filtering through the company, my wife and I dusted off what has become my first self-published novel: The Aos Si’s Gift.

The manuscript for The Aos Si’s Gift had been sitting untouched on a shelf since we’d moved into the area in late 2022. Over the course of the next several months, my wife and I began the arduous task of editing, trimming, and generally making the work ready for publication–with some help from my father who provided quite a bit of insight into history, cartography, and military operations. What had begun as an arduous, roughly 850-page tome containing almost a half-million words was refined down to it’s present form of just over 600 pages and just under 300,000 words without compromising the story or material. In fact, some has even been preserved for later publication as short stories. This will be the first book in a series.

This entire effort has, of course, been something of a learning experience from navigating the copyright and Library of Congress systems to figuring out how to get my work distributed. I have learned a lot of lessons which I’ll try to share as I think of them and I’m able to update this website.

The Aos Si’s Gift is currently available as a direct-purchase link through Ingram Spark here (note, I am currently offering a discount, which I will put in a follow-up post):
https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?kk3cHdRMdTaynkNmregoO6FzrEUHdT8NqNw8iOzUD10

The novel is also available as eBook or paperback at the following:
Barnes & Noble (US): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-aos-sis-gift-christopher-shirk/1146465752?ean=9798989886005
Amazon (Global): https://www.amazon.com/Aos-Sis-Gift-Novel-Vespin-ebook/dp/B0DL3R3QH1

It is available as paperback only at the following:
Walmart (US): https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Wolf-of-Vespin-The-Aos-Si-apos-s-Gift-A-Novel-of-the-Wolf-of-Vespin-Paperback/13822612926
Booktopia (Australia): https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-aos-si-s-gift-christopher-shirk/book/9798989886005.html
Blackwell’s (UK): https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Aos-Sis-Gift-by-Shirk-Christopher/9798989886005

It is available as eBook only through the following:
Kobo (Global): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-aos-si-s-gift
!ndigo (Global, Canadian-Based): https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/the-aos-sis-gift-a-novel-of-the-wolf-of-vespin/fdc84cbf-3122-3469-9a35-e74e49f10b33.html
Everand (Global): https://www.everand.com/book/784351718/The-Aos-Si-s-Gift-A-Novel-of-the-Wolf-of-Vespin

In the meantime, I will be posting a copy of this article to my Substack which can be found here: https://christophershirk.substack.com/. I will also be posting links to this site on X, and other outlets as I develop them.

I also ask patience from readers, reviewers, and others as I was not on social media prior to starting this venture. As such, much of my social media is currently lagging behind.