Izabela Raittila's Blog, page 3

‘Reign in Hell: A Gothic Romance’ cover reveal and a visitor’s guide to the Nine Circles of Hell.

Hi everyone, I hope that you all had a good summer. I’m back from my break and I have some good news for you. I’ve now overcome my writer’s block and I’ve started writing again. But instead of resuming my projects related to the Gragiyan Empire universe, I’ve decided to work on something new.

‘Reign in Hell: A Gothic Romance’ will be my second attempt at a dark fantasy/ Gothic horror. The name is a reference to short play of the same name, which I wrote as a teenager. This book will a revision of that story, a dark fantasy adventure set in Hell after the Apocalypse featuring some of the same characters but with a brand new plot.

2000 years after the Apocalypse, Lucifer’s return to Heaven and the demon war that left Hell split into two parts. The tale follows cherub angel Malakai and his demon girlfriend Meredith, as they travel through Nine Circles of Hell to rescue a young girl named Cherry Li Lim. Here’s a cover I made using Canva and a visitor’s guide to Hell. Inspired by the Bible, Jewish folklore, various underworld myths, Neil Gaiman’s and Mike Carey’s Lucifer series and Dante’s ‘Inferno’.

Here’s a guide to each of the Nine Circles of Hell:

The West

Western demons are melhi, descendants of Lucifer. They feed by eating human flesh. The human souls they consume come back to life, but remain trapped in Hell and same cycle repeats itself.The only exception is the nephalem Prince Samael (a melhi demon-angel hybrid). He doesn’t kill his victims. The other demons bring him fresh blood to drink.

Circle 1

King Melhum’s Palace on a island floating in a river of lava. The humans are kept in cages surrounded by flames.

Circle 2

The caves of Amduscias. Amduscias lives alone and spends his time hunting and eating humans.

Circle 3

Samael’s dungeon full of wild cats. The cats are his pets. Other demons bring in humans for the cats to eat. Samael is a gentle creature due to being part angel. He loves and cares for his pets. He is compassionate and often weeps watching as his cats devour human flesh. One human is picked as a source of blood, kept in a cage where he or she is slowly drained by other demons of blood for Samael to drink.These humans don’t come back from the dead. Shortly after their deaths, one of the cats gives birth to a new cub.

Circle 4

Prince Memnoch’s lair, a large fortress on top of a hill, full of humans waiting to be roasted alive and a massive wine cellar. Yet, not all the sinners are trapped inside the filthy cells of the dungeon. A number group spend their days outside, were they are forced roll large boulders up the hill.

Circle 5

Prince Asmodeus’ prison for naughty children. Decorated with dolls with a massive cauldron full of children being boiled alive. Asmodeus eats them.

The East

The Eastern demons are the descendants of Lilith. They feed by drinking human blood. The souls they feed on turn into parched husks and remain in the Circles. Their fate varies depending on which Circle they’re in. They’re either trapped inside the monsters that consume them, swimming in the river or stuck in a cage.

Circle 6

Baba Yaga’s hut made of sweets and chicken feet. As the humans try to eat parts of the hut, she and her coven feed on their blood. They then throw humans of a cliff where they are ripped to shreds by a harpy named Lamia.

Circle 7

A large goblin named Surma sails through a river of human bodies.

Circle 8

Queen Mazikeen & Princess Lucretia’s lair inside a volcano, sinners surrounded by flames. Queen Mazikeen and her daughter Princess Lucretia and their subjects are succubi, beautiful enchantress demons who seduce their victims. Their palace is full of cages where human males are chained. The succubi seduce, have sex and play sadistic games with them before feasting on the blood, drinking them dry.

Circle 9

Meredith’s home, the guards tower. The lilim feed humans to a giant serpent named Azaghal.

‘A Gothic Romance’ cover reveal and a visitor’s guide to the Nine Circles of Hell.

Hi everyone, I hope that you all had a good summer. I’m back from my break and I have some good news for you. I’ve now overcome my writer’s block and I’ve started writing again. But instead of resuming my projects related to the Gragiyan Empire universe, I’ve decided to work on something new.

‘A Gothic Romance’ will be my second attempt at a dark fantasy/ Gothic horror. The name is a reference to short play of the same name, which I wrote as a teenager. This book will a revision of that story, a dark fantasy adventure set in Hell after the Apocalypse featuring some of the same characters but with a brand new plot.

2000 years after the Apocalypse, Lucifer’s return to Heaven and the demon war that left Hell split into two parts. The tale follows cherub angel Malakai and his demon girlfriend Meredith, as they travel through Nine Circles of Hell to rescue a young girl named Cherry Li Lim. Here’s a cover I made using Canva and a visitor’s guide to Hell. Inspired by the Bible, Jewish folklore, various underworld myths, Neil Gaiman’s Lucifer series and Dante’s ‘Inferno’.

Here’s a guide to each of the Nine Circles of Hell:

The West

Western demons are melhi, descendants of Lucifer. They feed by eating human flesh. The human souls they consume come back to life, but remain trapped in Hell and same cycle repeats itself.The only exception is the nephalem Prince Samael (a melhi demon-angel hybrid). He doesn’t kill his victims. The other demons bring him fresh blood to drink.

Circle 1

King Melhum’s Palace on a island floating in a river of lava. The humans are kept in cages surrounded by flames.

Circle 2

The caves of Amduscias. Amduscias lives alone and spends his time hunting and eating humans.

Circle 3

Samael’s dungeon full of wild cats. The cats are his pets. Other demons bring in humans for the cats to eat. Samael is a gentle creature due to being part angel. He loves and cares for his pets. He is compassionate and often weeps watching as his cats devour human flesh. One human is picked as a source of blood, kept in a cage where he or she is slowly drained by other demons of blood for Samael to drink.These humans don’t come back from the dead. Shortly after their deaths, one of the cats gives birth to a new cub.

Circle 4

Prince Memnoch’s lair, a large fortress on top of a hill, full of humans waiting to be roasted alive and a massive wine cellar. Yet, not all the sinners are trapped inside the filthy cells of the dungeon. A number group spend their days outside, were they are forced roll large boulders up the hill.

Circle 5

Prince Asmodeus’ prison for naughty children. Decorated with dolls with a massive cauldron full of children being boiled alive. Asmodeus eats them.

The East

The Eastern demons are the descendants of Lilith. They feed by drinking human blood. The souls they feed on turn into parched husks and remain in the Circles. Their fate varies depending on which Circle they’re in. They’re either trapped inside the monsters that consume them, swimming in the river or stuck in a cage.

Circle 6

Baba Yaga’s hut made of sweets and chicken feet. As the humans try to eat parts of the hut, she and her coven feed on their blood. They then throw humans of a cliff where they are ripped to shreds by a harpy named Lamia.

Circle 7

A large goblin named Surma sails through a river of human bodies.

Circle 8

Queen Mazikeen & Princess Lucretia’s lair inside a volcano, sinners surrounded by flames. Queen Mazikeen and her daughter Princess Lucretia and their subjects are succubi, beautiful enchantress demons who seduce their victims. Their palace is full of cages where human males are chained. The succubi seduce, have sex and play sadistic games with them before feasting on the blood, drinking them dry.

Circle 9

Meredith’s home, the guards tower. The lilim feed humans to a giant serpent named Azaghal.

Twitter (or X as it’s now called) Q&A and why I’m taking a break

It’s been two years since my last Q&A session on Twitter so I decided to it was time to host a new one. I have close to 6000 followers on there, almost twice the amount I had back then. A lot of my followers are authors too. Yet despite this, only a few people asked questions. With the recent changes made to Twitter recently, this may be the last time I host one of these. I’m taking a break from the platform and I’m not sure when I’ll return to it.

Here are the questions and my replies.

@JayVBatista asked:

1. Where (and when) to you like to write?

I write whenever inspiration strikes me but I don’t always have the time due to my day job. I mostly write in the evenings, in my living room at home.

2. Do you listen to music when you write?

Yes, I listen to heavy metal and industrial music when writing. It really depends on the story. E.g. for the ones featuring the Enai clans
I often listen to neofolk music such as Faun and Wardruna. With the action-packed stories like ‘A War of Blood, Mountains and Sand’, and ‘Fereidun and the Pit of Snakes’ I normally have some power metal playing in the background such as Powerwolf and Sabaton. With ‘Tiriyanin’s Riddles’, it was Gothic rock and synthpop.

3. Who is your favorite author?

My favorite author is J.R.R. Tolkien.

4. What do you like most about where you live? Is it inspirational?

I love the Finnish landscape with all the lakes and forests plus the long winters. Yes, the forests and Finnish folklore have been a inspiration for some of my stories.

@DanFitzWrites asked:

Did you take inspiration from any real-world spiritual/cultural hunting traditions for your hunting story?

Good question. Yes, the idea of leaving an offering for the deity of the forest and the hunting is present in various mythologies. Lord Silyan is inspired by the Finnish forest god Tapio who was also a hunter.

@MBlackrane asked:

Are the people/setting based on any real-world cultures?

The setting is fictional, but Gragiyan Empire is inspired by ancient Rome. The military province of Arhia is based on Greek Sparta and Arabic nations such as Iran with their patriarchal society. Their neighbours, the Northern nation of Misoa is inspired by Viking-era Scandinavia.

Though part of Gragiyan empire, the desert province of Niralis has it’s own distinctive culture inspired by ancient Egypt and various African and Arabic nations. E.g the custom of drinking mint tea after a meal comes from Morocco, their funeral rituals are ancient Egyptian.

@JessSFrankel asked:

What do you think stands out most about your stories? Would it be the narrative, the characters, the pace, action…or something else?

Good question. I think it’s the characters and the elaborate world building. I put a lot of effort into creating the different regions that make up my fictional universe. Each area has its own distinctive look and culture.

@allensonarmory asked:

What would you say is the percentage difference in your writing between ‘write what you know’ (personal knowledge, experiences) and inspiration/researching for the story(ies)?

That’s a tough one. I’d say it’s about 40%. Me writing what I know,
I’m a mother and a wife, so a lot of my stories feature families and several
characters have aspects of my personality. I spend a lot of time researching various myths, ancient history, inspiration from other fantasy books and other things. For example, the scenes at the military academy and the hunts in ‘A War of Blood, Mountains and Sand’, were influenced by my husband’s military training and his experiences as a hunter.

That’s all the questions. With regards to my newest projects, I planned to resume writing my short story ‘Fereidun and the Pit of Snakes’ during my summer holiday. Sadly things didn’t turn out the way I hoped. I made very little progress on the story, which I discovered will need some restructuring and rewriting. Finding the inspiration has also been a struggle. Instead I wasted far too much time on social media especially Twitter. I’ve stopped this in attempt to control my social media addiction and spend more time with my family. Some days, there was simply no time for any writing. I think that it might be best to have a break from writing for while and resume once I have both the time and inspiration.

New artwork of Harus and Risa at The Desert Lily

‘I’ve recently commissioned the artist Syed Muhammad Faizan Hassan, better known as Sora, to illustrate a scene from my new grimdark fantasy short story ‘Fereidun and the Pit of Snakes’. This is the most detailed and complex artwork I’ve ever requested as it includes not just the characters but also some details of the Desert Lily tavern itself. In this scene Harus has just arrived at the tavern after a long camel ride through the desert.

Here’s a snippet of the scene along with the artwork:

“A maid arrived and took Skurben to a stable whilst Harus entered the tavern. He was greeted by the aroma of freshly roasted chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and goat cheese. A familiar face appeared and threw her arms around him. The tavern owner, Risa was a short, curvy, tanned Mahate woman in her mid-twenties with long, luscious dark hair and hazel eyes.

“Hello Risa,” he greeted her before they kissed.

“Welcome back. I was wondering when you would show up,” she commented as they sat down.

“Yes, sorry about that. The journey took a bit longer than expected. Poor Skurben must be exhausted, I know I am,” Harus replied as a maid poured some palm wine into his goblet.

“Well, I hope you’re hungry too. I made your favorite,” Risa answered before heading back to the kitchen.”

Art by Syed Muhammad Faizan Hassan, better known as Sora.

https://www.artstation.com/soraartstop
https://twitter.com/SoraArt13

Fereidun and the Pit of Snakes cover reveal and snippet

So despite not having much time to write lately due to work commitments, I’ve been playing around with the design webiste Canva (https://www.canva.com/) lately. Whilst I’ve hired artists to create my book covers in the past, this time I’ve decided to create my own. This one is for my upcoming grimdark fantasy short story ‘Fereidun and the Pit of Snakes’.

This is still a work in progress, which I’m planning to finish this summer. Here are the opening lines:

“Nortri endunmi tiri vere jadi terz Morkrai hre dus.” was written on a sandstone slab above a large tomb bearing the sigil of a yellow cobra and a sabre. The text was an ancient Niralisian dialect which no one had spoken for centuries, but everyone knew what those words meant: “We carve our path with blood and steel until the Morkrai take our souls” – the motto of the order of Saikuda knights.”

I’ll be posting more updates about this story in the future. For now, take care and have a great summer!

‘Fereidun and the Pit of Snakes’ snippet and sketch art of Harus & Risa

So now that I’ve had a bit of break, I’m decided to resume working on my short story ‘Fereidun and the Pit of Snakes’. Progress has been slow so far as I’ve actually had to go back, revise and in some case re-write parts of the text. For now I would like to share a short snippet of the story introducing the main characters Harus and Risa. This scene is set at The Desert Lily Tavern in Maeronium, the only city in the desert province of Niralis. Here it is:

“He was greeted by the aroma of freshly roasted chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and goat cheese. A familiar face appeared and threw her arms around him. The tavern owner, Risa was a short, curvy, tanned Mahate woman in her mid-twenties with long, luscious dark hair and hazel eyes.“

Art by Sora

https://www.artstation.com/soraartstop/profile

Tweets by SoraArt13

Summer stories update

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here. A lot has happened in my personal life. It’s been a hectic and nerve wracking few months. I’ve embarked on a major lifestyle change, which has affected the time I have available to write. As much as I enjoy working on my book ‘A War of Blood, Mountains and Sand’ and my short story ‘Fereidun and the Pit of Snakes’, currently I think it’s best to put both projects on hold for now until things settle down.

I’ve also come to realize just how addicted I’ve become to social media, Twitter in particular. This started during the coronavirus pandemic when I was stuck at home and it’s gotten worse over time. While it’s given me the opportunity to interact with other writers, it also meant that I spent more time on there and less socializing with real people. It also had a negative affect on my mental health. This is something I’m trying to change.

I need to focus on maintaining a healthy work and life balance, as well spending more time with my family and friends.

I cannot say how long this break will last, it could be a matter of weeks or months, but I hope to resume writing at some point in the future. Until then I hope that you all have a great summer. See you later!

‘Fereidun and the Pit of Snakes’ moodboard and themes

So now that I’ve introduced the setting and announced the title the setting of my latest story, I thought I’d share a moodboard I’ve created recently to give you a better an idea of the themes.

Despite the title of the story, the main character isn’t actually Fereidun, but his best friend and fellow Saikuda knight Harus. This tale takes place during the early part of Emperor Vecatian’s reign, at the same time as ‘The Empire’s Golden Boy’ but on the other side of the empire, in the desert province of Niralis. It will be considerably darker and more violent than my earlier work. The genre is grimdark fantasy with several morally grey characters, no real villain, brutal violence and a drug reference. It’s the story of how Harus’ duties as a Saikuda and loyalty to his master Marchio Tiasis, affects his relationships with his best friend Fereidun and with his lover Risa. The themes include: honor, loyalty, friendships, families, forbidden love and survival.

I’m still editing the story but I’ll share it on here for free once it’s ready. Some of the characters include Risa, Harus and Marchio Tiasis will also appear in my upcoming novel ‘A War of Blood, Mountains and Sand’ which takes place seventeen years later.