L.L. Stephens's Blog, page 3

The Seven Houses

Readers encounter the Seven Houses, the Rill cartel based in Dazunor-Rannuli, in Sordaneon, early in the Triempery series. But who are these merchant families? And why are they important?

Background—The Rill

In 2/42 — in the Second Creation, the 42nd year of the Return — Derlon, called Sordaneon, one of the sons of the gods Amynas and Leur, transformed into the ,Rill. With his transformation, Derlon created an immortal Entity that united lands and peoples widely separated by the restor...

What's Coming Next?

It’s been an amazing journey, seeing how enthusiastically the first two books, Sordaneon and The Kheld King, of the Triempery Revelations have been welcomed by readers. Thank you to all the many people around the globe who have taken this world and its characters into your minds and hearts. The response has been wonderful! Now is as good a time as any to chat with my readers about what’s coming next.

Book Three of the Triempery Revelations, The Second Stone, will continue to follow Dorilian So...

The Kheld King: Epilogue

SPOILER ALERT!

Do NOT read this post if you want to read The Kheld King without foreknowledge of events. This blog post includes so many spoilers it should be printed in red. In bold letters. DO. NOT. READ.

On the other hand, if you have finished reading The Kheld King or even if you are one of those readers for whom spoilers don’t affect your reading experience one way or the other, have at it.

This post includes the original last chapter of the book. It doesn’t directly include the endi...

Coming Soon...

Now that readers are starting to dig into ,THE KHELD KING, here’s what will be coming to this website and blog.

* In a month or two I shall post the original final scenes of THE KHELD KING. Yes, the manuscript when first submitted to the publisher had different end scenes. Not a different ending. But different scenes. So those will be fun to share.

* Posts about some of the scenes in THE KHELD KING that either 1) gave me fits, or 2) were a hoot to write. Author insights on what makes scenes ...

LORE: Seven Springs in Agalor

Seven Springs in Agalor is the most famous poem of Issahan, Lahgael's national poet.

This poem first appears in The Kheld King, when Levyathan mentions being familiar with it to the Lahgaelan Governor Jooar Zetharnna. We furthermore learn that Dorilian has read the poem to Levyathan, who proceeds to quote the first verse.

Here is the full text of that poem:

In Agalor the sun breaks black rock

Upon salt-moon heights and reaches not

Into dark valleys where secrets remain hidden.

There I came up...

LORE: The Vermillion Aqueduct

In 2/185, the city of Gignastha was founded on the shore of the poisoned lake Sar’Pryannis by the Highborn prince Deben Sordaneon, who later became Hierarch Deben II. Deben was charged by his father, Deben I, to secure the region for the still young and growing Triempery. The city’s location the on the westernmost cliffs above the lake allowed exploitation of fresh water—essential in view of the lake’s contents being undrinkable—and a wealth of other natural resources, including timber, minerals...

LORE: Mulsor

Thaa knelt and gathered a handful of that pitiful flaked earth into one hand, let it dribble from cupped fingers into a little pile. Thaa did this again and again, lovingly, as one strokes the hair of the dead.

“Mulsor lingers. Great Mulsor! The Aryati turned her to dust. The sea flooded in and carried her away. Time itself cannot forget her. The children of Leur do not die.”

Thaa rose and pointed to the flickering vision of the dead City, forever trapped in the ghost of the World’s rememberin...

Dual (or Dueling) Points of View

When I wrote The Kheld King, I had a few goals.

First, of course, was to create the bridge narrative between the events of Sordaneon and those of the already completed rest of the Triempery series. I figured readers would want to continue from where Sordaneon left off. After that ending? Yeah, they would.

Second was to relate firsthand events that resonate—powerfully—through the remainder of the series. Originally, in the next four books, these events were merely referenced—incidents, deaths, ...

What Editing Looks Like: Example from The Kheld King

Just for yucks and giggles, I'm going to show how the process of editing looks and feels to the author. I will use an example from ,The Kheld King, which is being released in September. And which I just finished editing. Yippee!

The author finishes a book and it is good. A hell of a fine story.

Full of pride, the author sends the story to their publisher. Here it is! Let's publish it and let the readers have their fun (because I, the author, already had mine--just look at this great book!) Th...

Storytelling Through Art

Anyone familiar with me will know I love art. On my travels I seek out art museums and the shops of local artists. When I attend cons, I will be found either browsing for new boardgames or hanging out in the art gallery.

Fantasy art is one of my first loves and it's no secret I buy some books solely because they have great cover art. Art speaks to me.

When approached by Forest Path Books about possibly publishing the Triempery series, I asked right upfront for assurance that I would have a sa...