Meet the Author: Jim P. Ballard

Jim P. Ballard has been crafting characters and stories as a role-player and games master for over forty years. He loves experiencing new worlds through the eyes of personalities wildly different from his own.Valkora began as one of those lived characters: one whose adventures demanded to be written. Four decades provides a rich vein for Valkora's ongoing adventures in Thivia and a plethora of other lived characters from across the Euripian Coast to share with Jim's readers.Once asked when he planned to grow up, he replied, "Why would I want to?"

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The Novel

The Debut Novel. Coming 16th SeptemberRage ReforgedEvery town wants a smith, but none want a berserker.Valkora Lostwolf is both — a skilled artisan plagued by a lethal rage she cannot control. Half-orc and half-human, she is forever the outsider.
Her desperate search for kinship drives her to join an ambush on a heavily guarded caravan. But she has been deceived, and the raid goes catastrophically awry. In the chaos, Valkora steals the solid Essence of the long-dead tyrant Atramenta Vox. Its honeyed whispers promise everything she craves: acceptance, purpose, and a tribe of her own. Surely the price will be worth the reward.
Valkora is torn between the orcs who celebrate her visceral brutality, the Crimson Blades mercenaries who hone her skills, and the doomed love of a human blacksmith who has lost his spark.
But war is brewing, and history is repeating. Atramenta once sacrificed thousands of innocents, paying the gods in Essence to destroy her enemies. Now the Susurri Mortis scour the land to bring her back, and they are closing in on the half-orc who holds her.
Valkora’s choices trigger a cascade of violence that shatters her body and breaks her heart. Shame and grief, vengeance and murder — she must master her Fury to protect those who remain, or she will become the very monster the world already fears.Coming September 16, 2026, from Ravenswood Press.

Book Cover by Alejandro Colucci

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Privacy Policy

Last Updated: June 21, 2026Thank you for visiting the official website of Jim P. Ballard (accessible at jimpballard.com)[cite: 1]. I take your privacy seriously. This Privacy Policy outlines what data is collected from you, how it is processed, and your legal rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK Data Protection Act.---## 1. Who We Are (The Data Controller)The data controller for this website and mailing list is:* Author Name: Jim P. Ballard
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---## 2. What Data We Collect & How We Collect ItWe collect personal data only when you voluntarily provide it to us, as well as minor technical and analytical data automatically provided by our service platforms.* Newsletter Signups & Reader Magnets: When you opt-in to download a reader magnet (such as First Strike) via our landing pages, we collect your First Name and Email Address.
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