January Newsletter

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Hello there and Happy New Year! 

I hope everyone’s staying warm with this crazy winter weather.  Here’s what’s happened since the last newsletter:

TORIKO TALES IS OUT!

Toriko Tales: Toriko vs The Crowned Paw officially released on December 30, 2025, and is now available on Amazon!  

As a thank-you for being a subscriber, I’ve included an extended preview of the first five chapters. (An earlier preview included only two.)

As I mentioned last time, this book is very tonally different from Weun Academy. It dives into themes of  artificial intelligence, ethics (or the lack of them), betrayal, deception, and some very dark family secrets—along with plenty of cat puns and twists along the way!

Learn more here: http://www.torikotales.com.

WEUN ACADEMY PRONOUNCATION GUIDE

Everyone reads names differently—and I love that. But a few readers have asked how I originally intended them to sound. 

So I finally did it: Weun Academy Pronunciation Guide is now live!

It’s a permanent addition to the D’mok Revival site, and I’ll likely create one for each book going forward. Let me know what you think!

NEBULA AWARD

I’m officially a full member of the Science Fiction Writer’s Association (SFWA)—which has been an amazing and very supportive community. For those that are unfamiliar, SFWA is also the home of the renowned Nebula Awards.

Both Weun Academy and Toriko Tales are now on the reading list and eligible for consideration for the 2026 Nebula Award! 

No matter what happens, it’s incredibly exciting to even be in the conversation.  I’ll keep you posted!

LATEST ENDEAVORS

Most of my time lately has gone into post-release work for Toriko Tales, but Matt and I have also been experimenting with something fun…

We’ve been playing around with a HoverDome: Red Canyon Run video game concept! 

Quick background: HoverDome is the hoverbike racing arena featured in D’mok Revival and Weun Academy. We successfully kickstarted the board game edition a few years ago. This is just a creative side project for now—but it’s been a blast to explore.

Next up after a short break: Continued work on the next Weun Academy story. 

I’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

I genuinely love hearing your thoughts—the good and the constructive. It’s how I grow as a story teller and learn how to connect better with you.

If you’ve read D’mok Revival, Weun Academy, or Toriko Tales, I’d love to know:

  • “Who your favorite characters are”
  • “What you want to see more of”
  • “What surprised you”
  • “Or what didn’t land for you”

And/or if you’re reading something else great, tell me about it!

You can always email me or DM me on Facebook. 

THANKS AGAIN

Your support truly means the world to me!  Stay warm, and talk to you soon!

— Mike Zummo

P.S.  If you know someone who’d enjoy these stories, feel free to forward this along. I truly appreciate it!

December News Letter

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Hello there and Happy Holidays! 

What a year!  It’s hard to believe Weun Academy was launched not even two months ago, and my next D’mok Revival Expanded Universe novel will be out in weeks! Let’s dive right into the rest!

CAMPUS MAP

Big news for Weun Academy fans!  Matt, who also did the amazing cover, put together an official no-spoiler campus map! We thought it would be great addition so all Weun Academy’s students could get around easier.

https://www.facebook.com/DmokRevival (see the pinned post)

HOW DO YOU SAY THAT?

Okay, I’ll be honest—I know the character names are pretty “unique.” People ask all the time, “How do you pronounce that?” My first response is always: “How do YOU pronounce it?”  It’s okay if you have your own way to say it. I actually appreciate people creating their version of this universe.

That said, if you really want to know how I do it, I’m planning to release a pronunciation guide in January on http://www.dmokrevival.com, under the Weun Academy book.  I’ll provide a link the next newsletter too.

WEUN ACADMEY NEXT

There are some truly voracious readers who love Weun Academy! Despite the heft of the first 145,000-word book, I’m already being asked: “What’s next?” And more importantly: “When’s it coming out?”

I’m humbled and incredibly thankful for your excitement!  I’m already fifteen chapters into the next Weun Academy work. It currently picks up the moment The Shadow Maker ends (literally).

Originally, I thought it may be a connective novelette that would lead into the second full novel—but it’s starting to feel more like the second novel itself. TBD! 

I don’t have a specific timeframe on it, but I would like to get out at least one major book per year.  Maybe by this time in 2026? Maybe…

TORIKO TALES

On the tail of Weun Academy is my next major book Toriko Tales: Toriko vs The Crowned Paw!  http://www.torikotales.com for lots of details.

It’s tonally very different—though still part of the D’mok Revival literary universe. The story centers on Toriko, who has been a part of my scifi series since book one, and takes her back to her homeworld Tericn.

Since they’re cat people, there’s plenty of cat puns to keep the mood lighter.

However, I won’t sugarcoat it! At its heart, Toriko Tales is a story about AI ethics (or the lack thereof), betrayal, deception, and dark family secrets. If Weun Academy kept you guessing, just wait and see what happens in this one.

HEARING FROM YOU!

I love feedback—the good and the challenging. I don’t think there’s “bad feedback; some of it just isn’t as easy to hear. It’s how I learn what resonates with people and how I get better.

Always feel free to email me or send messages on Facebook. 

If there are other forums you visit and talk with authors, please let me know.  I’m happy to join new spaces and be available!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AGAIN!

I greatly appreciate your support and interest in my stories. I would like to get to know you better and continue learning from your feedback.

I wish each of you a safe, memorable, and wonderful holiday. 

Here’s to 2026!

  • Mike (Zummo)

P.S.  Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter again! Please forward to your friends and others that would be interested!

How did we design Weun Academy’s cover?

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If eyes are the windows to the (Human) soul, then the cover is that for books. Everyone – EVERYONE – judges a book by its cover. You get milliseconds for people to decide if they’re going to skip you book all by what it looks like.

There’s a lot of pressure to get a cover right. It has to convey the right theme, look visually appealing, be appropriate to attract your target market, have the right tag line…

When Matt and I began the cover work our starting point was “what should it show?” My D’mok Revival books followed very traditional (read “old school”) space scene covers that were far more reflective of classic science fiction (of the 60’s and 70’s). We’re now in 2020’s, it needed to reflect what attracted people TODAY. So we wanted to go with more of a scene from the book. We talked to some of the Beta readers and selected a few specific moments.

WARNING… Mild spoilers ahead due to images. I’ll hold off on explaining too much.

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Okay? So here they are…

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Arriving at the gates to the school

Eisah exploding with power

Seigie Weun Statue

The Man of fire

We even tried developing some of the concepts, specifically the Seigie statue and the “Crystal Gate” to the campus.

I also tried mocking up some things using Midjourney.

But it wasn’t coming together in a way we really loved.

I then participated in JD’s book marketing cohort in the fall of 2024. We did more of a contemporary book study. I even went out to Target and Barnes and Nobel and took pictures of what was on the shelf, studying what the market put out.

Because this book was going to a YA and NA market it needed to have people on the cover in some way. That set us on a path that began as the Seigie statue. At one point we also tried something far more unique and artistic, before Matt had an inspiration on his ipad and our direction dove toward the main visual we have today.

Here’s an animation showing that end progression taken from Matt’s ipad (using procreate). Yes, he sketched it by hand on his ipad. I watched him apple pen stroke over apple pen stroke carve this from the ether.

From there we evolved the branding for Weun Academy including fonts, finalizing the series emblem, evolving book blurb content.

And we ended up with what we have today!

Final thought on this: the work we did shaping the “Crystal Gate” entrance to Weun Academy actually transformed the description that ended up in the book. It was originally just a gateway in the forest, a large gateway with statues on either side. When we attempted to think like “the architects of Weun Academy’s campus” we thought about what experience we wanted to have students or anyone else coming through the forest to that way on to the campus. We wanted this (preferred way for new students to arrive) gateway to supercharge one’s excitement, to create an anchoring to the D’mok Warriors that came before them, to see their own potential in the statues of the heroes from the (still recent) past. It’s funny how production work can loop back and impact the source material before release! Anyway, I found that interesting and wanted to share.

  • Mike

Weun Academy Fashion – Dress Uniform

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Let’s continue the exploration into the fashion of Weun Academy: The Shadow Maker with exploring the official academy dress uniform.

Taking a page from military schools and organizations, students and faculty have a different attire when attending formal events versus their everyday learning and training uniforms.

A formal sport coat features a front flap and four decorative buttons. In the right light, onlookers can catch a subtle floral pattern across the purple material. Boards on the shoulders indicate their rank, while the same D’mok Classification pin is displayed on the raised collar.

For those with special duties or status, an honor sash or braided cord (“Aiguillette”) worn on the shoulder.

Matching the form and function of the academy jumper, the official and multi-function academy emblem is pinned to the chest. Completing the look, simple black pants bearing a single, vertical, purple stripe down each side are worn.

Weun Academy Fashion – Student Jumpers

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Fans have mentioned how vivid descriptions are in Weun Academy: The Shadow Maker. Among them are the descriptions of what everyone is wearing. Let’s dive into the behind-the-scenes thought process around some of those fashions!

Let’s start with the academy jumper. Uniforms are common among schools across our world. While controversial, some suggest they promote equality and reduce social pressure, reduce bullying based on appearance or wealth, build community and a shared identity, improve focus on academics, increase safety through identifying intruders, simplifying morning routines, and reinforcing discipline and professionalism.

The Japanese culture heavily influenced Weun Academy with their school uniforms along with portrayals in across manga and anime.

Looking to other beloved series, the first two Harry Potter movies used standard robes and uniforms. In the sci-fi space Ender’s Game (2013) was a heavy military focused school that had uniforms for their students. Every version of Star Trek had their students and cadets in uniforms.

It only seemed “logical” to design something for Weun Academy’s futuristic school for those with superpowers.

Here was the original design…

Because training was both academic and very physical, the uniform had to be versatile, cloth breathable. Footwear had to be classic and functional. I wanted to include the school colors including the purple tones. I wanted something that someone in real life could see themselves buying and wearing (at least to cosplay and at conventions)!

I also thought about ways students could could determine the classification of someone’s abilities. The pin on the neck represents one of six D’mok Classifications (the sprit, the body, the mind, the world, the universe, the beyond). Perhaps there could be a secondary connecting pin that could indicate more specific sub-classifications.

On the chest, the Weun Academy emblem would serve as a communicator, holographic emitter, localized computational device with embedded AI, etc.

The final design is inspired heavily by Star Trek DS9, TNG, and Discovery. I feel this result would be something that could fit well into that property while still being distinct.

Weun Academy is launched!

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It’s been a few days now. Weun Academy is fully released with all formats available on Amazon.

This feels like it’s been a VERY long time coming. For those have been keeping track, it has! So many things in my life and in the world have changed since I started writing it.

My son’s original start-of-3rd-grade school outing inspired the experience when Eisah arrived at Weun Academy. And the speech D’abar gives after the bad stuff happens (trying to avoid spoilers) was what I wrote to make sense of my sister-in-law Kristen’s passing. My son graduated from high school at the start of 2025… That is how much time has passed.

In my professional life I’ve moved between jobs. In my personal life I met someone wonderful who then became my spouse!

Oh and the world went nutz with Covid and politics…

When the book released I had one hope: this book would surpass the performance of my first book (D’mok Revival: Awakening) back in 2013. That book reached #18 in space opera before I very stupidly had KDP send out free books which yanked me from the paid ranking… A mistake that I never recovered from.

This time… I DID BETTER!

#15 on AMAZON’S BEST SELLER LISTING and…

WOW WOW WOW!!!! Over the moon on this. Considering I don’t have a developed follower listing, this is amazing. I really appreciate all my friends and fans of the original D’mok Revival series that made this possible.

Now… I get to do this all again for Toriko Tales. I DID push out the launch to the end of December versus the beginning. More time would be good to prepare everything more thoroughly.

That’s all for tonight!

Nearing Weun Academy’s Launch!

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It’s so hard to believe, but here we are! October 30th is coming so fast.

I’m learning a great deal about BookTok and AuthorTok. I’ve started posting some content. Matt and I will be doing a few segments on cover creation hopefully later this week!

I have my Facebook ads ready to go! They had a great click rate when I tested them… Though the AAA content on Amazon needs a bit of tuning yet.

While there will be a campaign to get the word out–including one through the Science Fiction Writer’s Association (SWFA)–I could use your help and would greatly appreciate your support!

Spread the news far and wide about Weun Academy.

You can use the official landing page: https://www.weunacademy.com

OR send people to the main D’mok site with book embedded link: https://dmokrevival.com/index.html?book=WeunAcademy

I really appreciate it!

Weun Academy Final Blurb

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They say the cover is what makes someone pick up a book, the blurb on the back makes them buy it.

Writing a blurb well is very tricky. I’m glad I had some practice at the at JD’s marketing cohort last fall. Here’s the latest Weun Academy blurb!

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Sixteen-year-old Eisah Tanner lives by one rule: blend in.

As an Earther on the fringes of a Martian colony, he keeps to the shadows, evading Redborn bullies who hunt his kind for sport. But when their cruelty erupts into a tactical assault, a dangerous power ignites within himone that can’t be hiddendrawing unwanted, extraterrestrial attention.

Whisked to New Eden, a sprawling space station in the heart of the galaxy, Eisah enters Weun Academy, a school for gifted outcasts. With a fresh start, he aims to master his superhuman abilities and finally belong. However, this alien world proves as treacherous as the power he carriesand some enemies hide behind friendly faces.

When a brutal strike rocks Weun’s community, shifting loyalties and hidden agendas drive Eisah and his friends to uncover answers and forge a path forward. Learning who to trust becomes the hardest lesson. As enemies close in, he must unravel a web of lies, betrayal, and something far darkerbefore shadow consumes them all.

Step into Weun Academy, where mettle is tested, chosen families are defended, and the fight to find your place in the universe begins.

The original wasn’t bad. However, this version works hard to quickly introduce Eisah, provide some background, his aspirations, and introduce the big threat.

I like how it suggests Eisah used to seek shadow for protection. However, it transforms into something deadly. It’s an interesting juxtaposition that unifies and completes the concepts within the blurb.

“Learning who to trust becomes the hardest lesson” is a newly added phrase that hints at core struggles and plays off the location being an academy.

Hopefully this will get people to read more!

Branding Development

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It’s hard to believe, but my book series is now 13 years old with seven released works! Though it’s been a while since I’ve released a new book, I have two new ones coming out yet this year. With the new editions comes a branding update. I wanted to share with you the journey and how things evolved over time.

Zummo Books, LLC

This is my “parent company” responsible for all production, publishing, manufacturing, advertising, and distribution. To be honest the original left-ide version started as a very basic legal entity. I wasn’t thinking about brand. Even the name wasn’t very inspired (but very functional).

My original logo played off what my friend Tara began calling me (“Z”). while I wasn’t very focused on the look and feel, the simple letter and books label got things started.

As we approached the two new books in 2025 Matt redesigned the logo. Using two books he reconstructed the “Z.” I really like his font update for “Zummo Books.”

D’mok Revival

This was my debut series! I spent a ton of time on the cover and crafting something intense, interesting, and feeling very space opera-ey… I wanted the wordmark to feel very classic ala Dune, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. I heavily modified a futuristic font and added the golden bars on either side. The top version lasted in all books, media materials, and the Web site until September 2025!

Matt’s updated design (lower version) is coming out this month. It feels more robust and modernized but still retains the original overall style. It’s interesting how just the shape of an apostrophe can make all the difference too, but it does!

D’mok Revival Emblem

It wasn’t until Weun Academy that emblems came into the picture. Before that it was all wordmarks! Sometime around 2016 Matt made the first emblem… Years later I would craft one for D’mok Revival… Intending to look like a Northstar beaming brightly on the horizon (or Rhysus up in the atmosphere blazing in light)… Matt still needs to do an updated version of this. Seeing I don’t fully need this until D’mok Revival book 5 comes out (likely a few years), he has time.

D’mok Universe

We needed a concept to put on the back covers of my first two spin-off series from D’mok Revival. It had to show it was in the same literary universe without confusing people that it was an edition of the D’mok Revival series! In the end, Matt and I feel it holds true to the original while clearly spelling out what the labeled book is offering: a piece of the D’mok Revival expanded literary universe.

Weun Academy

My first spin-off series!! Originally the hands of Segie Weun (originally spelling) with her famous green crystal floating in the air, the Weun Academy Symbol intended would become the emblem worn on all students and faculty (and double as a communicator / AI assistant source). There was a etched stone motif for the outer hands and a 3d rendered crystal as pictured on the left. The updated version, which will appear on the cover and within the Weun Academy book content is now flattened with versions provided for use based on color vs B&W, and background.

It’s simple, elegant, and I love it.

Weun Academy Wordmark

While we had an emblem, we still developed a wordmark. As you can see we “attempted” to look like a real university(-ish). We also attempted to play off the D’mok Revival wordmark. They were all pretty rough (to be nice).

The above version is taken directly off the cover. We have a more “academic looking” font with some flourishes. The emblem is on the spine and inside the book content.

Toriko Tales

My second spin-off series! The very first placeholder emblem started as Toriko’s outline, then a cat’s paw, and finally transformed to a kitty head with a Dragonball Z eye glass device.

Once we started working on “real emblems” Midjourney came into the picture. As a springboard for ideas (not final renders) a range of cat/robot/cinematic emblems were generated.

Then came the updated “let’s represent the virtual and real worlds including robotics/AI” approach.

A rough version based off my original placeholder led the approach followed by a collaboration with Matt.

Finally we landed on the versions above that Matt and I both really love. It even creates some unease with the viewer when looking at the “digital side.”

Evolution over time and the future

What a ride! I’m so proud of how far branding has come–and impressed with Matt’s amazing skills and contributions! I’m very thankful to have such a creative and invested partner in something so fundamental to my life!!

Can’t wait to see where the third spin-off series, Wayfinder, goes. If you want a little preview… He’s an emblem I did years ago (yes, I’ve known about this spin-off for a long time). Clearly Matt did not work on this. But it’s what I have for now. 😀

Amazing visuals are required to make even the best story get noticed. I’m very thankful for all the time, effort, and creativity Matt continues to put into the D’mok universe.

And that’s all for today!