Dear reader,
A few quotes from reviews of my first two novels:
“World-class epic fantasy.”
“A definite must read.”
“…had me hooked from the first page.”
“A gripping read with a cliff for a conclusion!”
“…it totally fulfills this ambition, and in a way I particularly loved.“
Yes, you’ll have a great time visiting the fantasy worlds created by Rune S. Nielsen.
In The Doomsayer Prince Omnibus, you’ll discover a gripping new world. One full of epic characters that feel real, unique magic, and action scenes that’s a mix of Assassin’s Creed and historical fiction. Can the Doomsayer Prince save everyone? No. Can he save anyone?
If you want a lighthearted experience, pick up A Company of Adventurers. A real fast read about a motley party of rugged adventurers in over their heads. Smiles and suspense mix just like elements inspired by Tolkien’s works blend seamlessly with solid role-playing game vibes.
Can I trust that you’ll finish writing both series?
I already finished one series during 2025, and I’m working hard on finishing the other.
I began writing fantasy in 2018, published my first novel in 2020, and I regularly publish new ones. Please see the full list of novels below.
What else can I do on this site?
You can buy books and merch in the shop. And please sign up for my free yearly newsletter, plus a quick notification when I publish a new book. Read this if you want to know more about the ideas that I had when I began writing my first novel.
Best regards,
Rune S. Nielsen
NOVELS BY RUNE S. NIELSEN
Rune S. Nielsen’s epic/high fantasy debut novel, Doomsayer Prince, was published in 2020. A book so huge, 292K words, that the print shop couldn’t print it.
This was the original cover, long out of production. The cover was later changed to draw attention to the main character, Mage Prince Phytiax.
The original layout included hand drawn maps and images by the author. They are still used today.
In 2022, Doomsayer Prince was re-released as two separate 600-page books.
What was part 1 of the original novel is now titled The Doomsayer Prince, and part 2 is titled The Vulture Sentinel.
You can still get the original version of the book; look for the Omnibus Edition with the grey cover.
A new novel, A Company of Adventurers, was written during the COVID-19 lockdown and published in December 2021. This was the first novel in the Tales of Kjeldale mini-series.
In 2022, Rune S. Nielsen released the third book in the Artifact War Series, The Arch of the Zhi’el. And in 2024, the fourth book, Shattered Age.
The two books are also sold as a combined book, as the Shattered Age Omnibus.
Most recently, in 2025, Harbingers of Twilight, the second and last book of the Tales of Kjeldale mini-series, was published.
Two books are in the works. They will conclude the Artifact War Series.
In other words, four books have been released of the planned six-book series, and these books are available in two formats, either as four books…
…or two.
LIST OF NOVELS
EPIC/HIGH FANTASY
The Artifact War Series
(Mostly the same info as above, just as a list.)
Doomsayer Prince (published in 2020.)
Later re-released in two formats:a)The Doomsayer Prince, Omnibus (2022.)
The same book, except for a new cover, layout, and an added article about the series.b) The Doomsayer Prince, Book One (2022.)
c) The Vulture Sentinel, Book Two (2022.)
Parts 1 and 2 of the original book were published as separate books alongside the third book in the series.The Arch of the Zhi’el, Book Three (2022.)
From this point on, the books have a similar look and length.Shattered Age, Book Four (2024.)
Shattered Age, Omnibus (2024.)
When the fourth book was published, it was also combined with the third book in an omnibus. This gives the reader two choices: buy the cheaper omnibus editions or the still very reasonably priced standard edition books.SWORD & SORCERY FANTASY
Tales of Kjeldale Series
A complete two-book mini-series.A Company of Adventurers, Book One (2021.)
Harbingers of Twilight, Book Two (2025.)
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
My love of fantasy began early on when my mother introduced me to The Lord of the Rings. At the same time, my father told me stories about history and archeology, focusing on ancient battles, castle sieges, and Vikings. In high school, I discovered role-playing games and read a ton of books. When the time came for me to write my first novel, The Doomsayer Prince, I immediately picked the epic/high fantasy subgenre.
As a reader, I love the classic epic series, and there are several on my Top 20 fantasy authors of all time list, as well as modern epic fantasy novels.
Writing epic fantasy is an undertaking, and the worldbuilding alone takes a long time (and is ever-expanding.) But I enjoy adding depth and nuance to the world and fiddling with character arcs. Also, I already had a great idea in the drawer and an urge to write it.
Facts about Rune S. Nielsen
Born Rune Schiermer Nielsen on the 16th of January 1970 in the city of Skive in Jutland, Denmark. Began writing articles in high school (he even got paid for some of them) and later earned a bachelor's degree in Journalism. Rune S. Nielsen has worked for a number of companies and institutions, including the EU Parliament, Kanal 2, Jubii, Microsoft, and the Carlsberg Group.
He lives in Denmark in a house share with his wife, their cat, the heroically fluffy Mr. Muffin, and his best friend and the friend’s family. When he’s not writing about imaginary kingdoms or dreaming up characters, Rune enjoys walking around the nearby lakes.
FUTURE PLANs
Rune S. Nielsen is currently working on several projects, like the Doomsayer roleplaying game, but dedicates most of his time to writing. He is working on the fifth book in The Artifact War Series, titled All-Master.
Where to begin
- A RECOMMENDATION
If you like a fast pace and a quicker read, begin with A Company of Adventurers. You can read through that in a few days (it’s around 300 pages,) and though it’s the first in a series, it can be read on its own. Sword and sorcery meet epic fantasy. It reads like a sword and sorcery novel, but the series has an epic-scoped plot (which will be more apparent once the sequel comes out.)
Suppose you like epic fantasy with grand plots and love that the setting is thought through and differs from other stuff out there. In that case, I recommend beginning with the Doomsayer Prince. Since there are several versions, and you might not know which to pick, I’d pick the eBook if it must be cheap, and if you want to indulge yourself (or give it as a gift,) I’d pick the two-part version in paperback as you get the maps in larger detail than the eBook, with pretty fonts. I would pick the part one and part two paperbacks over the omnibus edition and the hardcover versions, as they are actually easier to read and cheaper, too.
RUNE’s Creative Sides
Rune S. Nielsen is an indie writer who not only writes but gets involved in every part of the book-selling and book-creation process. From doing his own marketing to doing the layout and book cover design. He participates in book fairs, helps authors for free, and draws his own maps and vignettes.
How does he help other authors?
He’s put all his self-publishing secrets into a free guide that you can simply download and use, and he does interviews with authors (also a free service.)
Reach out if you need help or would like to be interviewed.
Rune 2006.
What I did before becoming a writer
As a child, I wanted to draw and write superhero comic books. As a teenager, I wrote magazine news and reviews about games and computers. In my twenties, I went to university and got a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Specializing in TV and culture journalism.
Childhood
Dreaming up stories goes all the way back to my childhood. Growing up at the edge of a town between a farm, forest, and the army base (where my father worked,) I discovered secret places to dream up stories, and I plan to never stop.
Youth
During my teenage years, I fell in love with fantasy paperbacks imported from the UK and was amazed at how cheap they were compared to the translated versions we got in Denmark. Early on, I loved the Fighting Fantasy series, and from there quickly progressed to role-playing games.
Rune 2013.
Work
As a journalist, I started out as a lowly intern, working at an EU communications department in Luxembourg. Then did local news on Danish TV (on Kanal 2.) Became the (only) editor of a small local newspaper, Ballerup Weekend, in suburban Copenhagen. From there, I became editor-in-chief at the biggest Danish website at the time, Jubii (the “Danish Yahoo” if you like.) Then, at Microsoft, as a web editor at MSN, making this the second time I worked for the biggest Danish website.
Rune S. Nielsen in his brother’s garden, 2015.
My last job before becoming a writer was in a communication role at Carlsberg, the world's third-largest brewery group. For ten years, I worked in the international headquarters, dealing with corporate communications.
Rune S. Nielsen, 2023.
Doomsayer RPG
A role-playing game set in the world of the Artifact War Series is in the works (no planned release date.)
Rune does the cover design for all his novels, and helps other authors for free…
About this website
I hope you will immerse yourself in my work and thoughts on this site. As I can’t help myself, on rare occasions, I review other people’s hard work in the reviews section, not out of a desire to criticize but to tell you about the things I enjoy. I ONLY review stuff I enjoy.
Image use and copyright
The photography on this site is copyrighted respectively:
Alexander Trolle, Rune Schiermer Nielsen, and Stine Schiermer. Maps on this site are copyrighted and created by Rune Schiermer Nielsen (freehand drawing mostly, and one map created with Inkarnate.) The drawings on this site are copyrighted respectively John Kim, Rune Schiermer Nielsen. I also use free fantasy images from Pixabay.com. Thank you to those who created and uploaded those, like JAKO5D, thommas68, 8385, Prettysleepy2, Mysticsartdesign & KELLEPICS. Other images are given to me by authors and competition judges whom I interview. These are used exclusively in the two interview sections.