Tag: indie author

Fantasy Art Wednesday

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Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing!

Last week’s image was so peaceful and green. By stark contrast, this valley is completely barren. Nothing grows here…except apparently dragons. You can see them emerging from what seems to be a cold mist. The smell of damp stone, mud, and foul water greets my nose, along with smoke and scorched earth.

Is this narrow place the dragons’ safe haven from would-be hunters, where they have the advantage of a clear line of sight? There doesn’t seem to be anywhere to hide. Perhaps it is only a nesting area for young dragons. They remain here until they are old enough to fly off and settle in distant regions, seeking treasure to hoard.

What is on the other side of the mountains framing our view? More of the same? Burnt countryside? Or green slopes and fields, tended by a few brave souls who dare to live so close to danger? If the creatures are a danger at all. (Your world, your rules.)

Whether these dragons are despised or revered, there is sure to be plenty of lore surrounding this rocky valley. What rumors have you heard in your travels? We’re all waiting expectantly to hear a good tale…

dragons

Fantasy Art Wednesday

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OK, I GIVE UP!!! Trying to schedule this ahead (like I do every week) and WordPress is having some kind of meltdown. It refuses to schedule my post, and is just publishing it. So, I guess that means it is Wednesday–enjoy my post a day early. 🙂

Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing!

Beautiful and solemn, this image draws my gaze upward and makes me feel like I’m in an elven cathedral. I can almost hear the gentle lapping of the water and the sound of the oar being pulled slowly through it. There are a variety of songbirds calling from tree to tree, but otherwise, this is a quiet place. Who is the hooded figure? As the boat approaches the arched entrance, what is waiting on the other side? Are those buildings, or markers? Monuments or grave stones? Light is shining through the canopy onto what looks like a young tree or maybe something more mysterious. At this distance it is hard to tell, but whatever it is, it seems significant.

Could you travel to this place, if only you knew the way? Or is it in another realm…one that only exists beyond life as we know it? Let your eyes explore the intricate swirls of the gateway, and take in the soft, peaceful glow, as your mind explores the many possibilities.

elven cathedral (my title)
Industrial Forest by Remy Hoff

Fantasy Art Wednesday

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Wow, it’s Wednesday again already?? Get inspired with this week’s fun fantasy artwork and a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing!

The existence of this pool seems nothing short of miraculous. Aside from rain, what could be feeding it up so high on that tower of rock? I imagine this would be a place of pilgrimage, where the waters of this hard-to-reach place are surrounded by speculation and myth. Perhaps they heal, or impart hidden knowledge. They could be transformative, changing one substance, or being, into another. Could it be that in it’s reflective surface you can see things beyond normal human sight? Or the pool might serve as a hidden gateway from one realm to another. There are so many possibilities, limited only by the bounds of your imagination…

Titans Grail by Jameswolf

“Titans Grail” by James Wolf

Fantasy Art Wednesday

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Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing!

I’m sad to say, last night was the season finale of Deadliest Catch. It will be another year before I can follow my favorite captains into the Bearing Sea again—someplace I’m nowhere near adventurous enough to go to myself! But I guess it put me in the mood for a voyage into a different kind of deadly sea…one stirred up by the imagination…and maybe a monster or two.

There’s got to be a good story behind this striking image. What is that horrible creature lurking below the water’s surface? Its tentacles wrap around the doomed ship, but also seem to be holding up the chest filled with gold. Did those on board try to appease it with wealth, only to anger it instead?

The second boat is trying to make a hard turn away from the creature. With prayer and luck it just might get away, else it will share the same fate as its sister ship. Should any of these sailors survive, their tales will no doubt spark legends, many of which will grow over time to have a life of their own. It’s no wonder sailors are such a superstitious lot!

What does such a creature want with gold anyway? Does it collect wrecks as a dragon hoards treasure, or is there perhaps someone waiting on the ocean floor to receive it? Someone who is using the beast to hunt, much like hawks can be trained and released to bring back game.

But these are only some of the possibilities. What do you see?

by Nicholas Ferrand

Artwork by Nicholas Ferrand

It’s Release Day for Into the Shadow Wood!

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Release day is always an exciting event for an author–when all the hard work is done (at least for the moment) and their labor of love starts showing up on virtual book shelves everywhere. If Into the Shadow Wood isn’t available at your favorite retailer yet, don’t worry, it won’t take much longer. The paperback version should be out by the end of this month.

If you’re a fan of Journey to Aviad–and Einar–you’re going to love this companion book to the series. Celebrate with me today and check it out!

Amazon     BN     Smashwords     Createspace     Kobo
(More retailers coming soon…)

Into the Shadow Wood

Once a proud member of the Sovereign’s prestigious personal guard, Einar has lost everything: his home, his Sovereign, and his purpose. Most of his closest friends have either been killed in battle or executed. His friend Nevon died trying to fulfill a dangerous oath…one that Einar disagreed with, but now feels honor-bound to take up in his stead. The quest plunges Einar into the depths of the dark and twisted Shadow Wood, testing the limits of his strength, his beliefs, and his sanity. What he finds in the Wood is far more ominous than anything he’d expected. If he’s not careful, Nevon’s fate might end up being his own.

ISW Cover Large

Fantasy Art Wednesday

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Welcome to another Fantasy Art Wednesday! Get inspired each week as fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing.

It has been a long, exhausting day of walking through harsh mountain terrain. You’re cold, hungry, your muscles are aching, and the sun is about to set. Suddenly you come upon this place, nestled onto the top of a nearby peak. The windows are lit up with a friendly glow, and there is smoke rising from the chimney. The musk of burning wood that carries on the wind makes you long for warm, dry clothes, and a hot meal. But this is a strange place to live, remote and barren, with no good place to grow food, keep livestock, or even hunt for game. Who lives there, and how do they survive in this harsh climate?

When I saw this image, it instantly made me think of my short story about Delevan, a young man whose village was destroyed by wyverns (sometime in my world’s extensive history). Salvaged from the wreckage was an important tome, and Delevan was entrusted to deliver it to a monastery in the mountains for safekeeping. The journey was not a simple one, and he met an unexpected danger on the way…But that is only one possible story. What’s yours?

House in Mountains

(Artist Juan C. Barquet)

 

Into the Shadow Wood Cover Reveal!

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It is finally here! I’m so excited to reveal my completed cover for Into the Shadow Wood.

This novella is a companion book to my Wind Rider Chronicles series. The story follows one of my favorite characters, Einar from Journey to Aviad, as he plunges into the Shadow Wood. You may remember some of the rumors going around Tyroc about this place, but for the first time, you will get to experience some of its secrets for yourself–including an important revelation about Braeden that you won’t want to miss! The ebook version will be released first, followed by a print version shortly after.

Into the Shadow Wood

Once a proud member of the Sovereign’s prestigious personal guard, Einar has lost everything: his home, his Sovereign, and his purpose. Most of his closest friends have either been killed in battle or executed. His friend Nevon died trying to fulfill a dangerous oath…one that Einar disagreed with, but now feels honor-bound to take up in his stead. The quest plunges Einar into the depths of the dark and twisted Shadow Wood, testing the limits of his strength, his beliefs, and his sanity. What he finds in the Wood is far more ominous than anything he’d expected. If he’s not careful, Nevon’s fate might end up being his own.

ISW Cover Large