I. FROM THE DESK OF RAVEN & BLADE PRESS
This is something that I’ve been meaning to start for a while. The Ravenletter was created as a concept when I first launched the press in August 2025, and since then I have been mulling over different ways to bring it forward and breathe life into it.
This is not another marketing channel, not another place to push books. There’s enough of that already. This is something different, or at least that’s the intent.
The Ravenletter is where I will document the road as it actually is. The writing, the failures, the moments when things finally click into place, and the long stretches where they don’t. The parts that people usually skip over.
I have been a lifelong storyteller. My writing journey began in elementary school, when we were given a project to write and illustrate a book. It wasn’t anything spectacular. It was exactly what you would expect from a child. But the process from start to finish was something I enjoyed more than anything else, and it stayed with me.
Years later, that interest resurfaced in middle school. One Christmas, I was given an old computer that my stepfather no longer needed. Once I got it up and running, I found myself wondering what to do with it, and I began drafting my first novel at thirteen. I was proud of it. It felt like something real.
Then in 2010, during a move from one house to another, the Nashville Flood hit. My room was not set up yet, and the computer was lost to water damage. Along with it went the story. I was devastated, and I never truly got it back.
One day, I will try to revive it. I still have the original hand-sketched character art.
As the years went on and life took over, I drifted away from writing. The love for reading and storytelling never disappeared, but it became quiet for a time.
Then, sometime after my 29th birthday, I sat down with a simple goal. I wanted to write a book. Just one. I wanted to follow through on something I had carried with me for years.
In August 2025, I finished that book and launched my own indie press. On September 20, 2025, two major events happened in my life on the same day. I married my best friend, a girl I had a major crush on in high school, and my book was published on Amazon.
Now I have a dream, and at nearly 31 years old, I am seeing it through. I work full time. I am a husband and a father, and a cat dad to the best, most ridiculous little orange companion I could ask for. And in the middle of all of that, I write and I build.
I am not chasing fame and fortune. I would be lying if I said I do not want success, but what I truly want is something more lasting.
I want to tell stories that linger. Stories that resonate. Stories that feel real enough to make you stop and ask yourself what if.
I want to build this press into something more than just my own work. I want to help other aspiring indie authors who cannot afford thousands of dollars for professional services. I want to be their editor. I want to help get their stories ready for the shelves of readers who are just looking for something real to connect with.
And if you’re reading this, you’re somewhere on that road too.
Welcome, friend. Stay a while.
II. THE WORK IN PROGRESS
As of right now, I am working on five different projects. Yes, I know. That is a lot.
The first is preparing for the release of The Physician, the second book in my alternate-history saga, Shadows of the Reich.
Within that same universe, I am revisiting RESIST, my flagship and the first in the series. I am reformatting it for series continuity and working on a rewrite. Not to change the story, but to add more depth and realism. Since finishing it, my craft has grown, and I feel like I can finally give the story the justice it deserves. It will always be my baby, but I want it to be the best version it can possibly be. You, as readers, deserve that.
Another project is the first draft of a dark, legend-inspired retelling of an infamous pirate. Right now, the release is slated for later in the year, likely November or December. I will share more as I get closer to finishing it.
My fourth project is mapping out, outlining, and researching the third book in the Shadows of the Reich saga. Progress is steady, but I need to clear the table before I fully dive into it.
And finally, most of my writing focus is on my summer release. The title and cover will be revealed soon on social media, so keep an eye out for that. It is a psychologically grounded horror story set in an isolated lodge.
A family.
An avalanche.
A storm.
A group of people cut off from the outside world.
A killer moving through them one by one.
But that’s not what it’s really about.
At its core, this is a story about guilt. About the things people bury and the lengths they go to keep them buried. It’s about what happens when there is nowhere left to hide, and no one left to lie to.
The real horror of this story is what people are capable of when they are trapped with the truth.
III. NOTES FROM THE DESK
One thing I’ve been focusing on heavily with my writing is controlled tension. Not constant chaos. Not nonstop action. That burns out fast and can be overwhelming, not just to write, but to read.
Tension works best when it’s stretched. When you, the reader, know something is wrong before the characters fully understand the predicament they’re in. When the silence between moments is just as heavy as the moments themselves.
Whether it’s a confined setting like a lodge, the open expanse of the ocean, or even a battlefield, that controlled tension becomes even more important. The pressure has to build. It has to feel real. It has to leave you saying, “No, no, no.”
The goal isn’t to shock just for the sake of it, though there are times when that has its place. The goal is to make the reader sit in it. To empathize with the characters. To feel their fear, their desperation, their hope. To root for them.
To make you think.
That is my goal.
IV. THE HARD TRUTH
I’ll be honest with you. There are days when this feels like a complete waste of time. Days where I’m looking at reports and numbers, wondering if I will ever get to where I want to be.
That’s the part nobody really talks about.
You can have a plan. You can have a release schedule. You can have multiple projects lined up and a clear direction for where you’re going. And it still doesn’t stop the self-doubt from creeping in.
I often find myself asking, is any of this actually going to matter?
But even in those moments, I still show up and write anyway. Maybe it’s stubbornness. Maybe it’s belief in the work. Maybe it’s a mix of both. I don’t always feel motivated, and there are days where I sit at my desk and only manage a few sentences.
To me, the work matters.
Writing is an outlet. For some of you, it’s the same. For others, reading is that outlet. A way to step away from the world and into something that interests you, fascinates you, or makes you wonder.
That is the beauty of the written word.
If this is going to go anywhere, it will be built one page at a time. And I’d be glad to have you along for the journey.
V. FROM THE ARCHIVES
Recommendation: Red Rising series by Pierce Brown
I don’t usually get pulled into a long series, but this one held on from the very first sentence of the first book.
At its core, Red Rising is about transformation. About what a person is willing to become in order to tear down something broken and build something new in its place. It’s brutal, political, and at times deeply personal in a way that lingers long after the action fades.
What stands out most isn’t just the scale of it, the war, the hierarchy, the violence. It’s the cost. Every choice matters. Every step forward demands something in return. And the further the story goes, the harder it becomes to tell who’s right and who’s simply doing what they have to in order to survive.
That’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot in my own work. The idea that the line between hero and monster isn’t fixed.
It moves.
VI. FIELD REPORT
Current Manuscript: 40,078 words written | Goal: 65,000
Second Manuscript: 37,005 words written | Goal: 180,000–200,000
Work This Month: Completed all final work for The Physician; completed Chapters 9–21 of the current manuscript
Current Focus: Marketing for release; finishing the first draft of the current manuscript
Next: Continue writing the second manuscript; begin editing and revisions on the current manuscript
VII. FINAL WORD
Stories don’t come from nowhere. They come from the parts of us we don’t always want to look at, the questions we avoid, the truths we try to bury. And sooner or later, they find their way to the surface.
Thank you for being here.
Kalob Tufts
Raven & Blade Press
The Ravenletter: Issue No. 1 - March 2026
If you’d like to spend more time in these worlds, you can find the books below.