It has been brought to my attention that I have failed to publish my monthly Self Published Fantasy Releases list for the last 2 months... Sorry, I've had some excuses going on and I won't bore you with them.
So I am publishing March and April together!
robjhayes.co.uk/self-publish...
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Out today! The final book in the series.
Happy book birthday to The Rill Lord, the spectacular conclusion to the Triempery Revelations.
Here's my overexcited review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I don’t really know. I only send books and never pay for added insurance. FedEx comes insured for $100 value. My books, while good, aren’t worth more than that. 🤔
I use FedEx a lot, especially for international. Costs a fortune but they get it there.
Selfie of author’s hand holding a copy of THE RILL LORD at an airport. Close examination will show an airplane in the background.
I’m traveling today, so there’ll be no snips or meme posts. Instead I give you this selfie of THE RILL LORD at an airport on its launch day. 😊
Thank you. 😊
It kind of ended up on THE GOD SPEAR cover. Which is a book with no Dog Men in it, and that's not their hill... but the artist liked the image too!
#WIPSnips The word for April 20 is PSYCHOLOGY
"Psychology" is not a word used in THE RILL LORD, so I went with "mind." But this snip is a full on take of... psychology. Dorilian's, as approached by Hans.
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Triempery
#AprilWorldbuilders 20: Symbols/motifs
Claws. Canine profile with open mouth and lots of teeth. The Maw against the sky. Giant antlers (think moose) bracketing a throne. The curled shape of a pup.
Dog Men symbols can be found on clothing, weapons, dwellings, and furnishings. And border warnings.
#FantasyIndiesApril 20: What words do I tend to overuse in my writing?
I don't really know. Probably words like "nod" and "smile" or "sometimes." I go through my writing weeding out those kinds of words, but a few too many always sneak through anyway.
Until publication of THE RILL LORD on Tuesday, the publisher is running a sale on ebooks of the entire series. SORDANEON is at $1.99 and each ebook in the series is $1 more until RILL LORD at full price.
forestpathbooks.com
#WIPSnips The word for April 19 is SIGNATURE
An interesting word. THE RILL LORD has a good example of a "signature" writ in flesh. Nammuor, the villain of the series, pursues a body of unsurpassed splendor...
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Triempery
#AprilWorldBuilders 19: Job or task in society
Dog Men as a people are so isolated they don't perform specific tasks for the larger society around them.
Later, Dog Men will perform a very specific task that is revealed in THE RILL LORD.
#FantasyIndiesApril 19: Nicknames in WIP
Personal nicknames are shortened names: For, Lev, Redd.
One fun nickname is the Kheld name for Dazunor-Rannuli: High Hole, which is short for High Holy, the name the Khelds gave the city when they first saw it and the Rill.
#WIPSnips The word for April 18 is FANTASY
There is no use of "fantasy" in the final book of the series. But there's a good one in THE WALLED CITY. Dorilian and Aubrey parted on rough terms in their last encounter. Now they must face each other.
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Triempery
#AprilWorldbuilders 18: Birth or death rituals
The Dog Men put great emphasis on naming the newly born and do so at birth. Names are given to honor and bestow the qualities of beloved or renowned elders or ancestors.
After death, Dog Men corpses are bedecked with finery and weapons and burned.
#FantasyIndiesApril 18: Saturday Snippet
Here's a snippet from THE RILL LORD. It's a sliver of a battle scene about to get completely out of hand.
[Illustration by Jamie Noble, @thenobleartist.bsky.social ]
The capital letter in Wall is important here. 😉
Banner showing the six book covers of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. From left to right: SORDANEON (gold), THE KHELD KING (blue), THE SECOND STONE (blue green), THE GOD SPEAR (orange gold), THE WALLED CITY (white gray), THE RILL LORD (gray red).
With the Triempery Revelations series ebooks on sale at Forest Path Books this week, I'm going to direct anyone curious about the series -- or who is already reading it and wants to know more -- to my website.
Maps, excerpts, lore, and more.
www.triempery.com/blog
G'morning #WIPSnips!
Looks like Bluesky will stay living for the duration it will take to make this post, which is nice to see again.
Had to go a bit vibey for this one.
#WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity
Cover for Togther is a Distant Star, A sci-fi and fantasy anthology on Belonging The cover shows two hands, each with half a star, as they reach toward each other to piece it together. The background is many warm colors, orange and reds and purples, lovingly created by Coe (C.B. Lansdell), and has elements of skulls, a tree, clouds, a dragonfly, stars, and a pendant
Coming May 19th! A scifi/fantasy anthology featuring 11 authors from 6 continents (we were, unfortunately, unable to find either an Antarctic researcher or a penguin to join us)
Together is a Distant Star contains stories of "belonging" mostly by women, queer, and otherwise marginalized authors.
A START THE SERIES SALE! Promo for the Triempery Revelations series ebooks by the publisher of that series, Forest Path Books. Image shows the books of the series, with Sordaneon in the middle, flanked by The Second Stone and The Rill Lord, atop a stack of The Walled City and The God Spear. An image of The Kheld King book cover in ereader is shown in front. Publisher website is at bottom: https://forestpathbooks.com
Until publication of THE RILL LORD on Tuesday, the publisher is running a sale on ebooks of the entire series. SORDANEON is at $1.99 and each ebook in the series is $1 more until RILL LORD at full price.
forestpathbooks.com
#WIPSnips The word for April 17th is DURATION
A tricky one, this. I ended up choose a word that makes "durations" possible. Time. In this snip from THE RILL LORD, Hans talks with young Levyathan Sordaneon about Time... and the Wall Entity that guards it.
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Triempery
#AprilWorldbuilders 17: Cultural interactions
The Dog Men avoid humans. They have good reasons. They do engage in some trade with nearby communities.
They also have a spokesperson, a Lord of their choosing, who talks with Essera's King or other authorities if talk is needed.
#FantasyIndiesApril 17: How do I choose my next WIP?
It chooses me. The characters start talking... to each other, doing things in world. I follow. It might be a novel. It might be a short story. But as the characters live and breathes, I create the World in which they do so.
#AprilWorldbuilders 16: Laws, rights, or discrimination specific to Dog Men
Humans are forbidden from entering Dog Men land, though humans do and many die as a result.
Dog Men are forbidden by law to lay hand on the Highborn.
Text excerpt from The Second Stone, third book of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. Excerpt features a storm. The Kolpos rose and fell in gigantic swells. Every muscle, every movement—every trick Hans had ever learned or even overheard coupled with a few earned by sheer prayer—served to keep the tiny boat from capsizing or, worse, from being dragged back onto the rocks that edged the forsaken shore like teeth. Arne doggedly did what he was told, trusting completely, too terrified of the crashing waves and wild wind to do anything less than throw himself headlong into the struggle. When the waves started dying, Hans did not think it could last… but then one star shone through the thinning clouds and then two more and he knew for a fact that the storm had passed.
#FantasyIndiesApril 16: Flash fiction about a storm.
It's not flash fiction exactly, but it does feature a storm. ⛈️
#WIPSnips The word for April 16 is WHEEL
Kheld women lay the Wheel with sacred woods and rune stones, hoping to foresee trouble or find solutions. In this bit from THE RILL LORD, Aubrey and Emyli disagree about how best to do this.
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Triempery