Randy Schilling – Author

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October 2026 Author Update

New Books, New Adventures, and a Pack That Won’t Behave

From My Desk

From the desk of Randy M Schilling | October 25, 2026

Hey everyone,

October has been a hell of a month.

Between writing, publishing, keeping the website moving, an October cruise, and trying to explain to fictional men that I can only tell one story at a time, I’m beginning to suspect I misunderstood the word “retirement.”

I thought there would be more sitting around. Technically, there is. I’m just at a keyboard while a growing collection of stubborn men argues inside my head.

And then Pandora and Nemo remind me that none of those men controls the treat supply, so perhaps I should get my priorities straight.

Before we get into the book news, thank you. Every reader who takes a chance on one of my stories helps make this possible. Watching these worlds grow, and realizing that other people care about the characters living in them, still catches me off guard in the best way.

The Line Between Us Is Here!

The Line Between Us released on October 15, and Cole Hartley and Tristan Bennett are finally out in the world.

Cole is an Alpha and captain of the wrestling team. Tristan is an Omega and captain of the swim team. Both are competitive, stubborn, and entirely capable of making my job more complicated than necessary.

They’ve been stepbrothers for about six years. Now they’re college roommates, too.

Because apparently sharing a family wasn’t complicated enough. Let’s add shared living space and feelings neither of them can neatly put away. Excellent decisions all around. 😂

Writing this omegaverse gave me room to explore strength, instinct, vulnerability, and choice in a world without homophobia. Their love doesn’t need that particular obstacle to matter. Trusting another person, being honest with yourself, and deciding what you’re willing to risk can be plenty difficult on their own.

What I love about Cole and Tristan is that neither of them needs to become smaller for the other to be strong. An Omega can be fiercely independent. An Alpha can be vulnerable. And falling in love can ask more courage of both of them than anything happening on the mat or in the pool.

If you haven’t met them yet, you can find The Line Between Us on my Books page. If you’ve already read it, I’d love to hear what stayed with you.

A Personal Request: I Want Your Honest Reviews

I want to give this more than a quick “please leave a review” at the bottom of a newsletter.

I want to become a better writer, and honest feedback is part of how I get there.

I love the stories I’m telling. I also know that loving a story doesn’t mean I’ve gotten every part of telling it right. There’s always more to learn about pacing, dialogue, clarity, character development, and making an emotional moment land the way I hoped it would.

So if you’ve read one of my books, please consider leaving an honest review wherever you read or bought it. A few thoughtful sentences are enough. What worked for you? What didn’t? Did a relationship feel earned? Did something move too quickly, drag on too long, or leave you confused?

I’m not asking you to hand me five stars just because you want to be supportive. You can support me by telling the truth. If you loved something, I’d like to know why. If something needed work, I’d like to understand that, too.

Public reviews help other readers decide whether a book is for them. More detailed feedback can be especially useful to me privately, particularly when it involves spoilers or a specific passage you want to discuss. You’re welcome to send me a private message through my contact page. Tell me which book you read and what you’d like me to know. You don’t have to turn your reading time into an editing assignment, but if you want to share more, I’m listening.

One of my goals as this grows is to be able to hire a professional editor when it becomes financially feasible. I want that experienced set of eyes, those difficult questions, and the chance to learn from someone who can help me strengthen the work. Reader feedback matters enormously, and professional editing is another investment I hope to make in these stories.

In the meantime, I’m going to keep writing, keep learning, and keep trying to make the next book better. Thank you for helping me do that, including when the useful thing to hear isn’t the easiest thing to hear.

The Warborn Pack Isn’t Finished With Me

Apparently, giving these men a home only encouraged them to bring more stories through the door.

The Commander’s Wolf brings Connor and Magnus into the spotlight. Connor’s journey and Magnus’s formidable presence give me plenty to work with, and Magnus’s ancient Viking roots certainly don’t make him any less opinionated. There’s strength here, but also the much harder business of letting someone see what’s underneath it. I’m looking forward to sharing more when the time is right.

The Alpha’s Foundling takes us into the trouble surrounding neighboring Red Creek. When an injured young wolf named Evan needs shelter, Mac and Melvin’s decision to protect him carries consequences beyond their own front door. For Mac, leadership means more than being the strongest person in the room. Sometimes it means deciding how far you’ll go for someone who has come to you needing a home. I’ll leave the rest for the book.

And The Alpha’s Promise, a Mac and Melvin novella, gives us something a little more intimate: a familiar cabin, a promise made years ago, and time with the life these two have built together. There’s tenderness, teasing, and Mac approaching romance with the confidence of a man who believes a properly organized plan should solve everything.

Melvin, naturally, has opinions.

I’m keeping release dates to myself until they’re ready to announce. For now, know that there’s more Pack ahead, and I’m very happy to keep spending time with them.

A Little Something Behind the Scenes

There’s also another idea quietly taking shape. I’m keeping the details to myself for now, but I’m excited about it.

Yes, that is the whole teaser. Look at me, practicing restraint.

Life Beyond the Keyboard

October also has a cruise in the mix, which is a useful reminder that there is, in fact, a world beyond my desk.

Whether my imagination understands the concept of taking time off is another matter. I can put the keyboard down. Getting the characters to stop talking is apparently a separate booking.

And through all the writing and travel, Pandora and Nemo remain an excellent reminder to pay attention to the life happening right in front of me. Stories matter. So do the small, ordinary moments with the ones who make a house feel like home.

Even when those moments involve being stared at like I’ve committed a serious offense by taking too long to get up.

Nemo Has Graduated!

Last month, I shared that Nemo was headed off to service dog training. Now I get to share the part I’ve been looking forward to: Nemo has graduated!

I’m so damn proud of him. He’s already doing an amazing job, and watching him put what he’s learned into practice means more to me than I can really explain.

Graduation doesn’t mean the learning stops. He’s continuing to learn, and we’re continuing to grow as a team. There’s more practice ahead, more to discover together, and plenty of reasons to celebrate how far he’s already come.

Thank you again to Dog Training Camp USA in Louisville and USA Cares for helping us reach this point. This is a big milestone for Nemo, and a meaningful new chapter for both of us.

Of course, I suspect he considers the praise very nice but would prefer that all future congratulations come with treats. Fair enough. He’s earned them.

One Last Thing Before I Go…

I’d like to clear up a possible misunderstanding about who runs this household.

It is not the retired Army guy. It is not the author. It is not even whichever fictional Alpha currently thinks he’s in charge.

It’s Pandora and Nemo.

I provide the food, open the doors, and occasionally request permission to use a portion of the furniture. They supervise, judge my response time, and make sure I never become too impressed with myself.

Twenty-seven years in the Army, and I still answer to somebody. These two just accept payment in treats.

Thanks for reading, for caring about these characters, and for being part of this adventure. It means a hell of a lot.

Until next time,

Randy M Schilling

Paranormal worlds. Fierce love. Found family.

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FROM MY DESK: AN AUTHOR UPDATE

23 September 2026

Hey everyone,

It’s been a little while since I’ve sat down and written one of these, and considering how much has happened lately, I figured it was probably time.

First, thank you.

Every download, every review, every comment on a post, every message telling me which character you fell in love with, or occasionally threatening me over something I did to one of them, 😂 still means more to me than I can adequately put into words.

When I started publishing these stories, I hoped I might find a few readers who enjoyed the same kind of worlds I love creating: paranormal romance, military brotherhood, found family, stubborn men, dangerous creatures, and characters who sometimes have to fight like hell before they figure out where they belong.

Somehow, this has grown into much more than that.

🐺 THE WARBORN PACK KEEPS GROWING

The Warborn Pack has become something much bigger than I originally imagined.

What began with Mac Carter and Melvin Hayes in The Alpha’s Panther opened the door to an entire world of shifters, soldiers, ancient creatures, the Council, Valker, and the strange family that continues forming around Mac and Melvin.

Then came Matt Reynolds.

The Hyena’s Guardian took us beneath a mountain in Romania, where Matt discovered that the most dangerous thing waiting underground might also be the one thing he never expected to find, a mate.

Theron quickly became one of my favorite characters to write, and judging from some of your reactions, I’m definitely not alone there.

And I’m nowhere near finished with the Warborn Pack.

There are characters whose stories are still waiting to be told, relationships that are only beginning, and parts of this world that readers haven’t seen yet.

Some of those stories are already written.

Others are currently living inside my head and refusing to leave me alone.

Apparently retirement means I no longer have a commanding officer, but fictional characters have happily taken over the position.

🐺 THE ALPHA’S PROMISE

And because apparently I wasn’t quite finished spending time with Mac and Melvin, there’s The Alpha’s Promise, a Warborn Pack novella that takes them back to a familiar cabin, and a promise Mac made years ago.

Three nights away from Pack responsibilities. Just the two of them, good food, a warm fire, and Mac insisting that planning a romantic getaway is simply “logistics.”

Melvin is buying absolutely none of that.

This one gave me a chance to enjoy the life they’ve built together: the teasing, the tenderness, the heat, and the small ways they keep choosing each other after all these years.

If you’ve been missing our wolf and panther, this one’s for you.

🔥 BLOOD AND BONE

Outside the Warborn universe is Blood and Bone, a paranormal crime romance novella featuring Joe and Cory.

This one gave me the chance to play in a different kind of world: grittier, more contemporary, and dangerous in a very different way.

There’s violence, betrayal, an attempted murder, an Alpha who is entirely too protective, and two men trying to figure out what happens after surviving something that should have ended very differently.

Basically, I behaved myself.

Mostly.

🖤 THE UNBROKEN CAGE

September brought The Unbroken Cage to Kindle.

Damon and Locke’s story is different from the Warborn books, but that was part of what I loved about writing it. Getting to move between different worlds and different kinds of characters keeps me excited about writing, and occasionally gives the Warborn crew enough time to stop yelling at me.

Occasionally.

🏊‍♂️🤼 AND THEN COLE AND TRISTAN HAPPENED…

My current obsession is The Line Between Us.

This one is something different again: a contemporary MM omegaverse romance set at Hawthorne University.

Cole Hartley is an Alpha and captain of the wrestling team.

Tristan Bennett is an Omega and captain of the swim team.

They’re competitive, stubborn, athletic, fiercely independent…

…and they’ve already been stepbrothers for about six years.

And they’re now college roommates.

Because apparently I enjoy creating problems for myself.

What started as an idea for a sweet, funny, slow-burn story has turned into something I’m really enjoying. Cole and Tristan have surprised me more than once while writing them, and the heart of their story has become much bigger than the trope that started it.

At its core, The Line Between Us is about two strong men learning that loving someone doesn’t require either of them to become smaller.

I can’t wait for you to meet them.

✍️ LIFE BEHIND THE BOOKS

On the personal side, retirement continues to agree with me.

After spending most of my adult life in the Army, being able to wake up and decide that my biggest mission for the day is figuring out what imaginary people are doing next is still pretty damn amazing.

Of course, Pandora and Nemo remain convinced that my actual purpose in retirement is attending to their every need.

They may have a point.

Between writing, working on the website, creating graphics, learning more about the publishing side of this business, and planning what comes next, I’ve somehow managed to stay busier than I expected.

The difference is that now I’m busy doing something I genuinely love.

And that’s a pretty great place to be.

🐾 A BIG NEXT STEP FOR NEMO

Speaking of Nemo, he has something much bigger than supervising my writing on his calendar.

Next week, he’s headed to a four week training program at Dog Training Camp USA – Louisville to become my service dog, and I’m so excited about this next chapter for us. Check out Dog Training Camp at https://dogtrainingcamplouisville.com/

I also want to give a heartfelt thank-you to USA Cares for helping cover the cost of his training. They support veterans, service members, and military families, and this time, I get to tell you firsthand how much that help means.

After 27 years in the Army, I’m grateful to have an organization like this in my corner as Nemo and I take this step together.

Apparently, I’m not the only one around here getting a new job in retirement. Although I suspect Nemo’s preferred payment will still be treats.

You can learn more about their work at usacares.org.

❤️ ONE LAST THING

If you’ve bought one of my books, read one through Kindle Unlimited, left a review, shared one of my posts, recommended a story to somebody, or simply followed along while I build these worlds…

Thank you.

Independent authors don’t have enormous publishing machines behind us. A reader telling another reader, “Hey, you should try this book,” can make an incredible difference.

But beyond the business side of it, there’s something pretty incredible about creating people and places that exist only in your imagination and then discovering that someone you’ve never met cares about them too.

That’s the part I don’t think I’ll ever get used to.

There are a lot more stories coming.

More Warborn Pack.

More romance.

More shifters.

More questionable decisions on my part regarding what I put my characters through.

And definitely more happily ever afters.

Thanks for being here for all of it.

Until next time,

Randy M. Schilling

🐺 Paranormal worlds. Fierce love. Found family.

Visit me at:
www.randyschillingauthor.com

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