Holo Writing

Authors Jacob & H.P. Holo

Monster Hunter Rise

The Isekai Skies audiobook is out!

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Another month, another audiobook! 😀 Monster Punk Horizon #2: Isekai Skies is now out on Audible and ready for your enjoyment! 😄

DOWNLOAD IT HERE

Tess Irondale once again did a fabulous job bringing all of H.P.’s characters to auditory life, and we’re excited to continue sharing her work with you.

Especially since readers, thus far, seem to be enjoying Book 2 as much as – if not more than – the first one! 😄

Check out what some have had to say:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved the first book with all my heart and the second one has ear wormed right into my very being! Sometimes you worry that a sequel just won’t stand up to the first. Especially when the first book was as amazing as Monster Punk Horizon … but fear not. Isekai Skies has risen to the challenge and surpassed my hopes! New characters to love and new monsters to awaken our imaginations. Jaz, Pix and the Dragon Pig Pirates are kicking ass and taking names once again! Don’t miss an exciting moment! On to book 3!

Frances Cooper

Amazon Reviewer

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ WOW. This book is unlike any other I have ever read! Being the second book in a series, I was pretty nervous, because I feel like second books tend to be less spectacular than the first. But this sequel did not disappoint one bit! It was so enjoyable to read – there are few books that make me audibly laugh out loud, but I’m so glad that this is one of them!

The way the author ties in these classic nerdy elements is incredible and nostalgic. The character development is outstanding – the characters stay consistently themselves, so you still know and love them while reading, but they also have so much growth throughout the story as well.

I had no idea where the plot was going to go after the first book, and I definitely didn’t expect it to go the way it did, but I have zero qualms about it. And the magic systems and fantasy world building is so awesome – unlike anything I’ve ever read. Literally, just wow. Such a fun read – can’t wait to read the third book!

Melisa Longhurst

Amazon Reviewer

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ … Imaginative, inventive and light-hearted …

Isekai Skies follows in the same vein as Monster Punk Horizon, where the two main protagonists Jaz and Pix become embroiled in more shenanigans. This time with the aid of Kaito, who has mysteriously been sucked through a portal from a future Earth. Kaito thinks he is in some sort of fantasy adventure, and it is up to Jaz and Pix to keep him in one piece.

I love [this] pair, they are such a refreshing change from the normal, run of the mill heroines. They are so good as a double act, and yet they are as different as chalk and cheese. I find the banter between them clever and full of humour. They are backed up with an array of terrific characters, friends and foes alike. Kaito’s initial naivety does make for interesting reading as he gets to grip with his new surroundings … Isekai Skies is more character-driven than anything, and it is not surprising, considering the talent on show. That does not mean the storyline is lacking because it isn’t. It is packed with action and adventure, and there is never a dull moment.

Isekai Skies is a thoroughly entertaining and engaging read, and I enjoyed every little bit.

John Derek

Goodreads Reviewer

We hope you enjoy it as much as these did! 😄

Excess (Monster Punk Horizon #3) – Cover Reveal!

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If you’ve been following us these past two weeks, you’ve seen the first two books in my new series, Monster Punk Horizon, and now Jacob and I are delighted to bring you the cover reveal for Book 3! 😀

Art by Jackson Tjota

Excess (Monster Punk Horizon #3)
by Jacob & H.P. Holo


🌟 GameLit 🌟 Crafting 🌟 Adventure 🌟 Comedy 🌟


✨ Coming December 23rd, 2021 ✨

Audio Release Date TBD


🐉🐉🐉

Loot Like Your Life Depends On It!

Losing a trusty weapon is like losing a close friend, and Pix’s beloved capacitor blade is on its last legs.

Fortunately, she has a plan to craft a new, even better weapon. Unfortunately, her plan involves hunting down a vicious migrating monster that has more teeth than some hunters have brain cells. Even worse, this new creature has riled up the apex monster of Skull Harbor, and both of them are spoiling for a fight.

But Pix has one thing they don’t: a party foolhardy enough to take them both on.

She’ll need all the help she can get, because it’ll take all their combined luck, skill, and oversized weapons to put down these two monsters. But her friends have her back. After all, there’s awesome loot to be had!

If they manage to survive…

Preorder Here!
Or Read a Sample of Book One Here!

Excess is unique from the previous two Monster Punk Horizon books in that it’s a collaboration between me and Jacob!

While I was writing Book 1, Jacob became so fascinated with the world he watched me create that he wanted to write a story in it – and since he was between books in the Gordian Division series at the time, he took the lore I’d already established in Book 1, created a new monster, and churned out the rough draft of Book 3 before I’d even started Book 2! 😄 I then went over it after I’d finished Book 2 and  H.P.-ified the parts Jacob had marked “write whatever here.”

Excess is slightly different in style, too, in that it follows Pix more than Jaz – which is to say, it follows Jacob’s Monster Hunter character instead of my Monster Hunter character. 😉

As you may have guessed from the vibe of the covers, one of Monster Punk Horizon‘s original inspirations came from our nights playing Monster Hunter World together. It’s not quite fanfiction; in fact, my first step when designing the series was to create a world whose basic mechanics and essential history were independent of the various fictions that inspired it, but that still allowed me to pay homage to those fictions and to insert Easter Eggs for fans. 

Even so, our gameplay experience in Monster Hunter World is very much in the DNA of the Monster Punk Horizon series, and particularly in how Pix and Jaz came to be in the first place. Jacob and I have wildly different play styles, his very strategic and mine very … not.  😆 Plus, when I play video games, I have a tendency to invent headcanons totally separate from the lore of whatever game I’m playing – especially in games with stories as simple as Monster Hunter World‘s.

Because of that, Pix and Jaz had personalities and backstories before I even knew I was going to write Monster Punk Horizon, solely because I needed a way to entertain myself during loading screens, and making up stuff about our player characters was a fun way to do it. It’s no coincidence, then, that Jaz is the Leeroy Jenkins of the pair (me), while Pix is the methodical gamer who likes to go in with a plan (Jacob). Stories told from Jaz‘s perspective – that is, Books 1 and 2 – are thus rather more chaotic than stories told from Pix‘s perspective, which I think brings a nice balance to the series as a whole.  After all, even worlds as crazy as this one need a break from the craziness every now and then. 😊

Excess (Monster Punk Horizon #3) is set to release on Kindle Unlimited this December, and is already available for preorder.

And again, if you’d like to be one of the lucky people to read it early, be sure to join the Pug Scouts – our VIP Street Team! 😀 I’ll be sending out eARCs soon, and all you have to do in exchange for your free book is post a review once the book is live!

Join Our Street Team Here!

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Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.

Isekai Skies (Monster Punk Horizon #2) Cover Reveal!

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Last week, you saw a peek at Book 1 in my new GameLit adventure comedy series, Monster Punk Horizon. 😀

Now, since the second is going to crash-land soon after its release – a month, to be exact – here’s the cover reveal for Book 2! 😮

Cover art by Jackson Tjota

Isekai Skies (Monster Punk Horizon #2)


🌟 GameLit 🌟 Portal Fantasy 🌟 Adventure 🌟 Comedy 🌟


✨ Coming November 18th, 2021 ✨

Audio Release Date TBA

🐉🐉🐉

I Got Engaged and Ended Up in Another World!

An epic convention. An epic cosplay. An epic engagement. It was the best night of Kaito’s life—until the ground opened up beneath him.

Well, technically, a portal did. Either way, it sucked.

Now, trapped in another world with rampaging monsters, he’ll have to learn to survive. Fortunately, this world is conveniently similar to his favorite video game. And he’s got monster hunting experts (?) Pix and Jaz to show him the ropes.

With their help, he might last long enough to find a way home.

But if not, at least he’ll have fun hunting monsters before he dies!

Preorder Here!
Or Read a Sample of Book One Here!

Last week, you met my series protagonists Pix and Jaz, two girls who just want to hunt monsters and pay off their college loans. They were born and raised in the monster-dominated world under the Dazzling Skies, so named because its sky is taken up by thousands of glittering portals to other worlds, which constantly dump interesting loot and monsters for them to hunt –

And sometimes people for them to save.

Which makes the Dazzling Skies a perfect setting for an isekai story.

If you’re unfamiliar with the word – “isekai” is a Japanese term meaning “different world” and refers specifically to light novels and anime in which a character is transported from their familiar world into a fantasy world, often with distinct video game trappings.

I was indifferent to the isekai genre when I first encountered it several years ago, but as the genre developed and began to play with and parody its own tropes, I grew to love it – especially Overlord, The Rising of the Shield Hero and – I kid you not – Reborn as a Vending Machine, Now I Wander the Dungeon (Review here, btw! 😀).

And, while I hadn’t set out to write isekai stories at the inception of this series, I quickly realized that the basic structure of the world I’d set up lent itself well to such stories. This structure, in turn, would allow me to show the bizarre world of the Dazzling Skies from an outsider’s perspective.

Book 2‘s protagonist, Kaito, is from a strange world himself – a far-future version of our world where everyone has hyper-advanced biotech altering their perception of reality, and where a particularly angry breed of cow changed the course of history – but the world under the Dazzling Skies is far stranger than anything he’s ever encountered. Though, fortunately for him, it does share some similarities with his favorite Immersive Video Game series … 😉

Isekai Skies (Monster Punk Horizon #2) is set to release on Kindle Unlimited this November, and is already available for preorder.

And again, if you’d like to be one of the lucky people to read it early, be sure to join the Pug Scouts – our VIP Street Team! 😀 I’ll be sending out eARCs soon, and all you have to do in exchange for your free book is post a review once the book is live!

Join Our Street Team Here!

In the meantime, keep your eyes on the blog next week for the cover reveal of Monster Punk Horizon #3!  😀

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Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.

Introducing Monster Punk Horizon – a New GameLit Series from H.P. Holo!

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Yesterday’s blog post told you there’d be interesting book-and-monster-related news, and here it is!

It’s been a looooong time coming, but I’m excited to announce that I finally have a new series coming out! 😀

What new series is this, you ask? 😮 Well, read on!

Where my last book The Wizard’s Way was a love letter to all things steampunk, this series is a love letter to all things monster – hunting, collecting, researching … and sometimes, befriending and bribing into badass kaiju battles. 😄

See, while I was in the process of writing The (still-in-progress) Wizard’s Circus, I flipped through some of my early writing notebooks from middle school and junior high. Around that time, I was obsessed with Pokémon, Digimon, Monster Rancher, and virtually every other monster franchise that was coming over from Japan at that time – and it showed in my writing. There were monsters and monster trainers/tamers/friends everywhere, and as I continued to flip through these notebooks, I realized that decades later, I’m still into these kinds of franchises.

After all, as of recently, Jacob and I have been spending our weekends competing in Digimon Card Game tournaments, and even before that we spent most evenings playing Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise together!

It was then that an idea hit me, and would not let go until I’d brought it to realization – a series that pays loving homage to all those monster franchises in much the same way The Wizard’s Way did to steampunk fantasy.

And so, without further ado, I present to you Monster Punk Horizon, a GameLit fantasy adventure comedy coming soon to Kindle Unlimited! 

Cover art by Jackson Tjota

Monster Punk Horizon #1

🌟 GameLit 🌟 Fantasy 🌟 Adventure 🌟 Comedy 🌟

✨ Coming October 14th, 2021! ✨

Audio Release Date TBA

🐉🐉🐉

Monster Hunting for Fun and Profit!

Pix and Jaz are two girls who just want to hunt monsters, craft armor, and pay off their college loans—but when a colossal new monster falls through the portals in the Dazzling Skies, it’ll take all their skills to survive it.

Their skill levels? Slightly above noob.

Fortunately, they have their oversized swords, a lot of sass … and one giant monster friend who might help them out.

For a price…

Preorder Here!
Or Read a Sample Here!

The eBook is already up for preorder on Amazon (and paperback and audio are coming), but if you’d like to be one of the lucky people to read it early, be sure to join the Pug Scouts – our VIP Street Team! 😀

Join our Street Team Here!

I’ll be sending review copies out to Street Team members soon, and all you have to do in return for your free copy is post a review online once the book releases! 😀

In the meantime, keep an eye on the blog for next week’s cover reveal for Monster Punk Horizon #2! 😄

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Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.