Ray Strong's Blog, page 2

Zephyr's Flight takes off with great reviews

The launch is Monday May 5! In the meantime, I thought I would share some more recent flattering reviews.


“The writing is simply superb … We feel Astria’s pain, fear and defiance; we genuinely root for her.“ - Matt McAvoy Book Review

“a thrilling and exciting reading experience. …energetic, thoughtful, and moving” – IndieReader

“[an] emotionally charged fantasy that takes readers on an exhilarating journey of defiance, sacrifice, and the enduring power of love. … Strong’s world-building is nothing short of spectacular, blending the beauty and danger of a fantastical realm with the tension of an impending war. … Strong’s prose is lyrical and evocative, capturing the grandeur and peril of Astria’s world with equal skill.” - Ryan Atkins, Educator, UK

“a fresh take on the fantasy genre. We follow Astria as she battles challenge after challenge, falls in love, faces enough pain for a lifetime, and remains to face the next day. … The world … is fascinating … a fantasy land with dragons and Seers, but it’s different from other dragon fantasy books of this time.” 5*/5 Becca Olsson for OnLineBookClub

“An unforgettable coming-of-age tale set against the backdrop of mythical creatures and faraway lands.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Award-winning author Strong delivers high-quality fantasy fiction with a fierce, relatable heroine … Readers will applaud Astria’s victories each time she survives pulse-pounding peril and be warmed by her loved ones’ willingness to risk all on her behalf. The book explores themes of faith, friendship, loyalty, and the merits of true love while posing the poignant question of what one is willing to sacrifice for free will. There is also a powerfully moving contrast between selfish, controlling love and that which is based in mutual respect and partnership. This is a coming-of-age story that seamlessly blends fantastical elements with real-world issues such as gender inequality, imbalance of power, slavery, and inhumane treatment.
“The author’s talent for emotive writing shines through as readers share the characters’ fears, frustrations, gut-wrenching pain, and exhilarating joy. Strong’s storytelling technique is wonderful … Fantasy lovers will appreciate this imaginative tale of dragons, graxes, seers, and oracles set in a world possessing three moons. Strong’s personification of the various aspects of nature and the Wild lends an otherworldly intrigue that is positively captivating.” - RECOMMENDED by the US Review

“Zephyr's Flight by Ray Strong tells a story of courage and determination … an epic fantasy filled with action, exhilaration, and wonder. … the world-building is impeccable.…
“The dragons are just as much characters as the people and have a prominent place in both the history and future of Astria's village. …
“[T]he novel develops into an intricate and epic adventure that deals with the harshness of war and the people and animals who lay down their lives for others.
“Zephyr's Flight implies much more than just a dragon flying; it symbolizes the yearnings and dreams of young people in a harsh and unforgiving world.” 5*/5 Delene Vrey for Readers’ Favorite

“the world-building was fantastic… You really do feel like you’re sitting at the edge of your seat at times, needing to know what happens next.” 5*/5 by Ellie Mitchel of Bookish Beyond.

A nice ***** review for Zephyr's Flight on Goodreads!

Satviki posted a 5* review on Goodreads for Zephyr's Flight

"The story follows Astria as she attempts to fulfil her dream of becoming a dragon Rider and helping the dragons. Following her journey was a rollercoaster of emotional reactions, celebrating the highs of pride and joy at Astria's triumphs, and mourning the lows of her sorrows. In Zephyr's Flight, Ray Strong has woven an truly emotional tale with a strong heroine, who is unapologetically herself despite living in a world that seeks to crush her spirit. Strong developed the characters very well, allowing the reader to become invested in Astria's success. I was certainly invested in her success. The ending was also amazing, heartbreakingly bittersweet with just a dash of beautiful hope. I enjoyed reading Zephyr's Flight, and fans of well written Fantasy with dragons and strong heroines will enjoy Zephyr's Flight as well."

(Zephyr's Flight is still on pre-order until 5/12,.so this is from and advanced copy posted at NetGalley. I hope you'll read it when it launches. Ray)

Excerpt from Home: Interstellar, ‘Songlines’

If you haven’t read Bruce Chatwin’s “The Songlines,”I encourage you to (not a purchase request, just a recommendation). There, hewrote about the indigenous cultures of Australia and their relationship withtheir land. It’s truly profound.

Decades ago, when I read the book, it stunned meand led me to read more about pre-European Australia. Just this week I broughtup the book in a conversation because it’s timeless. I will give none of itaway to allow you to enjoy the story and the culture he writes about. His bookis not science or history, and criticism from those points of view falls flatagainst what he is expressing. You need to read it with your heart, not yourhead, and read with a childish sense of wonder. If you want to know what ‘walkabout’ really means, read Chatwin.

 

Regarding the excerpt . . .

The environment of Haven in “Home: Interstellar” islike Central Australia: the Outback, where civilized Westerners would have difficultylasting even a few days.

The passage below focuses on Meriel Hope, theheroine of the book who is recovering from severe injuries. She is staying withher love interest, John, and his two pre-teen girls, Sandy and Becky, who losttheir mother a decade earlier. John calls their home a farm, but it’s actually adesert irrigated by groundwater. During a trip to ‘walk the fence,’ Merial andSandy talk before bed, and Meriel recognizes her relationship with the stars.

 

“Songlines” From Home:Interstellar, Chapter 13

 

Meriel sat with her back against the chuckwagonwith Sandy snuggled under her arm and Becky asleep in her lap. Together theywatched Thor set on the Western horizon and the stars that followed. Like Johnand the rest of the work crew, they were tired from the long three-day trek.Without it, the groundwater supply would remain uncertain and larger critterscould sneak onto the farm through the gaps in the electric fence.

Much of the trek Meriel spent in the wagon, so herinjuries would not slow them down. Tomorrow morning, they would be home for thestart of the Harvest Fair. And at the day’s end, she would make her decision toleave or to stay, a decision she did not want to make.

“Do you know about the stars, hon?” Meriel said.

Sandy smiled. “Only to wish on.”

“How?”

“Mommy said that everything that’s made is made instars, so wishing on ’em makes the wish stronger. Here, close your eyes and sayafter me.

 

            “Star light, star bright,

            All the stars within my sight.

            Wish I may. Wish I might.

            Grant the wish I wish tonight.”

 

“That’s it?” Meriel asked.

“Yup. But then you have to cross your heart, so thestars know you mean it.”

Meriel did as instructed. “What did you wish for?”

“Oh, you can’t tell your wish or the stars willforget.”

“What star did you wish on?”

“Me? I wish on that big one there,” Sandy said andpointed to a bright star in the south.

“That’s Aldebaran,” Meriel said. “And the fuzzypatch there are the Pleiades. It’s also called the Seven Sisters.”

Sandy kept her eyes on Meriel. “Do you miss them?”

“Who?”

“I’ve watched you look at the stars, Merry. Are yougoing back to space?”

Perceptive girl. “I’m not sure, hon. I’m a spacer.”

Sandy bit her lip and turned away.

“I talked to your father. It might not be safe foryou to be around me.”

“You’re just saying that ’cause you want to leave.”

“I don’t think I would be a good mom.”

“I don’t need a mom. She’s been gone a long timenow, and no one could replace her, anyway. I know Becky does, but that’s onlybecause she doesn’t remember her much.”

Maybe she does, and I won’t match up. “I won’t go away forever,hon. My family is coming here, and you are part of that. I’ll always return.”

“For them?”

“For you.” She took Sandy’s little hand. “You’relike me when I was a kid. Strong. Full of ideas. And you love your littlesister.”

Sandy gazed at her with a smile. “Yeah.”

They were silent for a while as a meteor arcedacross the sky.

“Merry, is space your home? Your song?”

“What do you mean, hon?”

“Like your home isn’t a place, but a path.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Our teacher told us about a place on Earth calledAustralia that’s kinda like Haven—real dry with animals and people that don’tlive anywhere else. She said the native people don’t have any place to settledown ’cause the land is poor and can’t sustain them. But they have trails theywalk over the course of a year or more.” Sandy scooted over and between themdrew an irregular shape in the dirt that returned to its starting point. “Thatwas their route. And many tribes would walk the same land but have differentroutes.” She drew other closed shapes that meandered back and forth and crossedeach other. “And as they walked, they sang of the places they passed, the hillsand the plants, their ancestors and the spirits. They called them songlines.”

Meriel imagined tribes of people following Sandy’slittle fingers as she traced their trails in the dirt.

“You know them all, don’t you?” Sandy asked. “Allthe stars.”

She nodded. “Pretty much. One of the first thingsthat spacers do when they arrive somewhere is to orient themselves to the starsand constellations.”

“Tell me.”

“Well, my first spacewalk was near Wolf 359. That’sover there.” A star hovered above the horizon, and she pointed to it. “That wasthe happiest day of my life, well, before I met you and your sister.” Shesqueezed Sandy’s hand. “My mom and pop died near Procyon. The Princessis docked there at Enterprise Station. Over there is Lalande 21185, close towhere I met your father. That’s behind Thor now, and you can’t see it.” Merieltook the fringe of Sandy’s shirt between her fingers. “The Crab nebula glows ateal color like your sleeves.”

“You make the stars real for me, Merry. That’s yoursong. You just don’t have a melody for it yet.”

“My route could be my home?”

Sandy nodded and snuggled into her arms. “Just makepart of it here with us.”

Meriel hugged her and nudged Becky under her otherarm so the three of them could stretch out. There they watched the last sliceof Thor set with stories of the stars until Sandy fell asleep.

As Meriel drifted off, the memory returned of herand her sister sleeping in her father’s arms after their adventure on thedino-sims. For the first time, she realized what her father felt that day. “Oh,Papa,” she murmured and tightened her embrace of the girls, though the tearstickled her cheeks.

. . .

Using the visor she had dug out from the rubble, Merielfound a reference in Galactipedia and listened.

 

The native peoples ofAustralia still walk their songlines, paths unique to each tribe or languagegroup. While they walk, they sing of how the gods sang the world into being: themountains, the streams, the plants and animals, and all the features of theirworld. Those songs brought forth all the distinctions of rock and food andpoison that made their home possible to live in. And when the gods finishedtheir songs of creation, they taught their people the songs and lay down andbecame the land. For many thousands of years, every time the people walk theirsonglines, they sing their world and their gods back into being.

 

(end excerpt)

 

Happy reading.

Ray

 

Oh, and if you’re interested in some interestingtitles, check these out:

Free Adventures here

April Fantasy and Science fiction here,here,and here

Free Fantasy here,here,here,here, and here

Seven Books, One Legendary Saga — “The Dragon’s War” Release Schedule Unveiled!

 

 

I promised to keep you up-to-date on the series. The publisher (ImpulseFiction) has given me permission to announce the series' release dates:

 

The Dragon’s War Series               Available

1Zephyr’s Flight                    May 12, 2025     * On track

2The Wounded Sky              June 16, 2025     * Ontrack

3The Book of Chaos             August 11, 2025 * On track

4 Aeterna’sWings                 October 2025

5Angel of Death                    December 2025

6The Storm Queen               February 2025

7The Empress’s Winter       May  2026

(*)Preorders are available at most online retailers.

 

 

Hope’s War Series                           Available

1Home: Interstellar              Amazon Now

2Pandora’s Razor                  Amazon Now

 

Andif you are interested in other fantasy and scifi books,

checkout hereand here.

A Storm is Coming… "Zephyr’s Flight" Draws Near

 

The publisher (Impulse Fiction) has given me permission toannounce the release date of Zephyr’s Flight on May 12, 2025.It's now in preorder at the retailers below:

I'm really excited about this! This is the first in my newfantasy series The Dragons’ War which will ALL be releasedwithin the next year.

Preorder now (if you are so inclined)

Apple

Barnesand Noble

Kobo

Tolino

Preorders coming soon

Gardners

Fable

OverDrive

Baker & Taylor

Vivlio

Preorders on May 5, 2025

Amazon

Cheers, Ray

The Oracle's Cosmology

Common to all the mountain peoples, from Invernell toVernier, is a common spirituality that permeates their daily life and how theythink. In Zephyr’s Flight, it’s best told by the Oracle of the Seers as part ofa common oral history that long predates their slavery in the Imperium. Thishistory includes dragons even though until recently, dragons were considered mythical.

Of special interest are the Worm of the World and the threeNembs, who we call fates:

Jurdi: Goddess of what once was (the past).

Jerdani: Goddess of what is coming to be (the hereand now).

Jeluuk: Goddess of what is yet to come (thefuture).

 

Here’s thecomplete cosmology

 

Pantheonof the Mountain Clans

 

Name                  Position in the Pantheon

Olim

King ofthe gods; god of war and protector of the vulnerable.

Fairma

Queen ofthe gods; goddess of fertility and the harvest.

Yemilgan

Fallenbrother of Olim.

Warhome

Heaven forthe bravest warriors, ruled by Olim.

Folkshome

Heaven forthe virtuous, ruled by Fairma.

Evanfall

Fairma’s hall inFolkshome.

Valkyr

Wingedgoddess who guides fallen warriors to heaven.

Nembs

The threefates:

Jurdi: Goddessof what once was (the past).

Jerdani: Goddessof what is coming to be (the here and now).

Jeluuk: Goddessof what is yet to come (the future).

Einerkel

Fallenwarriors who wait in Warhomefor the Final Battle.

Ullir

God ofwinter and archery.

The Worm of the World

The Worm thatdevours Juro, builds its features, and turns rock into soil.

 

 

Olim and histwin brother, Yemilgan, wereborn of the sun (Helios) and the stars that floated free in the heavens. Eleinand Fures, children of the largest moon, Lon, created more gods and goddesseswho chose Fairma as their queen. The marriage of Olim and Fairma united day with night and peace with war into one whole.

Toorder the universe and keep a watchful eye on their children, Helios and Loncreated time with the cycles of the sun, the moons, and the seasons. Becausethe future is a consequence of the past, they also bore the three Nembs—past, present, and future.

Olim made Juro to play on, and from itspontaneously arose The Worm of the World, whose back plates make the Spine and the Archipelago that dives intothe Ocean of Daggers. At Fairma’stouch, the Worm bore the dragons, beginning with Aeterna (love) and Munte (virtue), who tamed their father. Olim has no power over the dragons, who live ina state of grace with Juro and the gods—elementals at one with the rocks andthe sky, and, like them, cannot lie.

Outof jealousy of Fairma’s lovefor Olim, Yemilgan froze the Worm and brought the Darknessthat devastated Juro. But Olimexiled Yemilgan before hedestroyed the dragons.

Fairma loves the dragons and sent them to lift theDarkness and tame the lands. From the fertile soil, other creatures arose, andhumans last of all. Seeing how smart dragons and humans were, Fairma gave them free will so that over time, theymight learn from their mistakes and live virtuous lives.

Afterall life was created, Aeterna and Munte lay down to die, leaving their children toprosper. Fairma will resurrect Aeterna if the Darkness returns, and Aeterna will choose her mate and birth the newgeneration of dragons.

Dragonslive at peace with all creatures except humans, because humans strive to rule.At Yemilgan’s whisperings, theSpeaker arose from the humans. The Speaker lied to the dragons and used them toenslave humans and bring the Chaos. Dragons have free will, and when theSpeaker set some dragons on their brothers reluctant to join him, the dragonsrealized what they had become and killed the Speaker and his minions. But notbefore human culture was devastated.

Toprevent the Speaker from rising again, Fairma tookfrom humans the ability to understand and speak to the dragons. But humans areclever, and a Speaker may rise again.

WithJuro in balance, humans survived the Chaos, and after the Wandering, the Imperiumwas formed. Humans now prosper alongside the dragons. But the Nembs warn that the Darkness and the Chaos can returnif humans forget the paths of virtue and instead heed the whisperings of Yemilgan.

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As a final note, some other interesting fantasy titles can be found here and here.

For the first release of the Singer/Dragon's War series, ...

For the first release of the Singer/Dragon's War series,  I may be changing titles from "Zephyr's Flight" to "To Turn the Sky Crimson." That's based on a PickFU survey of titles. Results are below. Stay tuned. Your comments are invited.

... Ray

I may be changing titles from "Zephyr's Flight" to "To T...

 

I may be changing titles from "Zephyr's Flight" to "To Turn the Sky Crimson." That's based on a PickFU survey of titles. Results are below. Stay tuned. Your comments are invited.
... Ray

Zephyr's Flight - Review

 

Hi, again …

Some very nice words and a 5-starreview from Ellie Mitchel for the upcoming Zephyr’sFlight novel. That’s the first in the Singer fantasy series I’ve been workingon for so long. Ellie is a excellent independent reviewer who posts her reviewson her blog, BookishBeyond.

(Ellie is now on Goodreads here)

From her review:

“There were many things which Iended up liking about Zephyr’s Flight, some of which are listed below.

“Firstly, the world-building was fantastic. You get an immediate sense of the intricacy of the world, its key cultures, and their core beliefs.

“I loved the writing style. It proved to be very detailed and created vivid pictures in my mind’s eye.

“The tension-building was well executed. You really do feel like you’re sitting at the edge of your seat at times, needing to know what happens next.

“I also really liked the mythology included, of the old legends about Astrid’s people and the dragons.

“In addition, I thought the bond between Astrid and Zephyr was sweet and profound from the start. They can share each-other’s emotions and pain, as if they can communicate between their souls.

“The story unfolded gradually, exploring Astrid’s adventures as she endeavours to search for her lost father, and to become a rider. Every chapter furthered the story along nicely, with not a single scene wasted.”

Thank you, Ellie!

Current schedule for Zephyr’s Flightis later this year, and other novels in the series soon after.

… Ray

Zephyr's Flight - Coming Soon

 

Hi, again …

Some very nice words and a 5-starreview from Ellie Mitchel for the upcoming Zephyr’sFlight novel. That’s the first in the Singer fantasy series I’ve been workingon for so long. Ellie is a excellent independent reviewer who posts her reviewson her blog, BookishBeyond.

(Ellie is now on Goodreads here)

From her review:

“There were many things which Iended up liking about Zephyr’s Flight, some of which are listed below.

“Firstly, the world-building was fantastic. You get an immediate sense of the intricacy of the world, its key cultures, and their core beliefs.

“I loved the writing style. It proved to be very detailed and created vivid pictures in my mind’s eye.

“The tension-building was well executed. You really do feel like you’re sitting at the edge of your seat at times, needing to know what happens next.

“I also really liked the mythology included, of the old legends about Astrid’s people and the dragons.

“In addition, I thought the bond between Astrid and Zephyr was sweet and profound from the start. They can share each-other’s emotions and pain, as if they can communicate between their souls.

“The story unfolded gradually, exploring Astrid’s adventures as she endeavours to search for her lost father, and to become a rider. Every chapter furthered the story along nicely, with not a single scene wasted.”

Thank you, Ellie!

Current schedule for Zephyr’s Flightis later this year, and other novels in the series soon after.

… Ray