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Swells Over Still Waters
Welcome to the world of Yath, a varied seascape teeming with immense creatures and rife with floating islands. Petsune is a devout priest, but he’s from the despised nation of Coldor. His birth nation was the betrayer of the Alliance. Chapel is the captain of a strange crew on an even stranger ship called The Painful Lady, yet he fears being a leader. His father led the North War against Coldor when they betrayed the Alliance.
The two strangers are brought together by Chapel’s personal goal to right his father’s wrongs, and each learns more about themselves and the dangerous, yet beautiful, world. Then, the King is murdered by Coldor assassins, and everyone’s histories seem to collide. Chapel and Petsune will need to confront their past and, either let it dictate their future, or learn from it and use it to create their own path forward.
(The hardcover edition comes with three bonus stories that take place prior to the main Blood in the Clouds, Holes in the Sky, and Fire in the Water. The hardcover edition also features a specially designed cover, created by the author.)
SWELLS OVER STILL WATERS is a heartwarming tale of self-discovery, spiritual and interpersonal devotion, and confronting the past. It will appeal to readers of books such as the Brotherband Chronicles (Johnathan Flanagan), Tress and the Emerald Sea (Brandon Sanderson), and The Queen’s Thief series (Megan Whalen Turner).
The two strangers are brought together by Chapel’s personal goal to right his father’s wrongs, and each learns more about themselves and the dangerous, yet beautiful, world. Then, the King is murdered by Coldor assassins, and everyone’s histories seem to collide. Chapel and Petsune will need to confront their past and, either let it dictate their future, or learn from it and use it to create their own path forward.
(The hardcover edition comes with three bonus stories that take place prior to the main Blood in the Clouds, Holes in the Sky, and Fire in the Water. The hardcover edition also features a specially designed cover, created by the author.)
SWELLS OVER STILL WATERS is a heartwarming tale of self-discovery, spiritual and interpersonal devotion, and confronting the past. It will appeal to readers of books such as the Brotherband Chronicles (Johnathan Flanagan), Tress and the Emerald Sea (Brandon Sanderson), and The Queen’s Thief series (Megan Whalen Turner).
452 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 26, 2024
2 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Keith Long
1 book15 followersIt is said Keith is so bright, his intellect could guide a ship safely to shore. Witnesses report that he dresses so sharply, they thought he used a whetstone. I am told that Keith is a world-renown author and his works have been called “life-changing”. I have it on good authority that he is an extremely funny guy who always has the perfect witty comment and only ever at times befitting such remarks. It is rumored that he once said something so funny, several dozen people around the globe laughed mildly without knowing why. Here is a quote from a venerable source that refers to Keith as, “a pretty good guy”. A respectable and preferably unnamed rival once said off the record that they looked up to him (though this may have been a poor attempt at wit, as Keith is 6.1 and the unnamed individual is a trifling 5.9). What else… Ah, he frequently tips over 20%, which is something. Uhh… he makes a mean grilled cheese, I guess? I mean it’s pretty good, nothing to write home about though, honestly. What else… puh… Ummumum… he’s… a half-decent driver, I mean a few accidents, sure, but nothing crazy. What? Keep it rolling? Yeah, sure — sorry. Anyways, I guess since you made it this far you’ve earned the truth. Keith is really just a guy, pleasant enough that if you strained to remember him, you’d think something like, “oh, yeah, that guy. He was alright.” He writes as a hobby, certainly no one asked him to, so just bear that in mind. He’s got, let’s see here, two kids — boys, 3 and 5. That’s not their names, just their age. Okay, I am seeing my director wave frantically at me now, I’ll wrap this up. He was born in ‘96, and he’s been married since ‘17 - whoa, alright, he married fairly young. Yeah, no, that’s — there’s nothing wrong with that, good for him. Ah, somebody is pounding on the glass to my sound booth, I think that means I’m done, lemme just make sure I got everything off this paper… hmmm, oh it says he’s got a Bachelors in theology — hah, what a nerd. Okay, I think that about wrap—“
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 1, 2025
I think with fantasy in general, I struggle to get into the story, especially if it is paragraphs upon paragraphs of description and not much dialogue. This book was different. I loved the unique voices of the characters and the development. This is what I want in a story, no matter the genre. I want characters that come to life.
I was swept out to sea with the enchanting, gentle push of Keith's writing style. The world building, adventure and characters were so satisfying. My favourite thing overall was how much the adventure reminded me of The Legend Of Zelda: Windwaker with the ship's crew trying to work Petsune out and vice versa. Loads of fun.
I was swept out to sea with the enchanting, gentle push of Keith's writing style. The world building, adventure and characters were so satisfying. My favourite thing overall was how much the adventure reminded me of The Legend Of Zelda: Windwaker with the ship's crew trying to work Petsune out and vice versa. Loads of fun.
December 6, 2024
This world is so fascinating! I can picture it so well, the second time I went to read it I was kind of surprised there weren’t drawings, that I had pictured everything myself😂.
The plot is intriguing and easy to follow and the character voices are so unique! I wanna learn more about this world.
The plot is intriguing and easy to follow and the character voices are so unique! I wanna learn more about this world.
May 9, 2025
Brilliant. Brings Tolkien to mind but still all its own. So good!
December 31, 2024
This novel is so easy to read! I love how Keith incorporated unique voices to each character making it so easy to visualize and become fond of each of them!! The descriptions of unique architecture, plant-life, wildlife, and so much more really help create a beautiful fictive world to get lost in.. you know i’ll be a good book when it has a map, it’s own languages, cultures, & religions!!!
April 21, 2025
I went into Swells Over Still Waters with zero idea of what to expect and was immediately blown away by the craftsmanship evident in every chapter. Long has created an entire civilization complete with a belief system, language, and history, as well as a whole world of sea creatures rendered in incredible detail. And on top of all that, it’s filled with adventure, humor, pathos, and a band of fully fledged characters that make me wish I could join them on the high seas.
Plus, each chapter starts off with a fictionalized excerpt. Sometimes from the world’s history books or its literature. Sometimes from a book on nature or a captain’s log. They always add to the story told in that chapter and, honestly, could stand alone as a compendium of some heretofore unknown civilization.
It’s thoughtful and thought-provoking. A story of found family and the triumph of gentle hearts in a world that often conspires to harden them. Swells is an impressive feat and a great read!
Plus, each chapter starts off with a fictionalized excerpt. Sometimes from the world’s history books or its literature. Sometimes from a book on nature or a captain’s log. They always add to the story told in that chapter and, honestly, could stand alone as a compendium of some heretofore unknown civilization.
It’s thoughtful and thought-provoking. A story of found family and the triumph of gentle hearts in a world that often conspires to harden them. Swells is an impressive feat and a great read!
September 5, 2025
This book rules. Captains courageous meets treasure island. Great fantasy, great characters
July 10, 2025
In the past year I have read scandalously few novels as I have been reading and writing literally hundreds of short stories. "Swells Over Still Waters" broke through this attention barrier and was a thoroughly engaging read on many levels. It also contributed to my being sunburnt - a small price to pay.
At its basic level, this is a "Chosen One" story set in a fantasy scenario.
It also benefits from the "band of heroes bound together on a desperate mission" flavour that underlies the Tolkein stories that most readers of fantasy love.
I am not going to give any plot spoilers away becasue I hate those.
Borrowing as it does from these classic fantasy story tropes, what sets it apart from many fantasy novels I have given up trying to read (in fact fantasy is something that I once loved, but rarely seek out now) is the amazing world that Mr Long created within which to tell his story. I have not read anything like this so as to try to give a comparison. Perhaps Ursula le Guin would be the closest I could get, or perhaps the worlds of Helliconia by the legendary Brian W Aldiss.
In that sense, this novel seemed to me to be two works of fiction woven together - there is the incredible depth of the world itself which is layed out for the reader by way of:-
historical hierarchies;
fascinating flora and fauna and their ecosystems which seem at once familiar but also completely alien and magical;
Beautiful Poetry
Folk tales
Diaries of past explorers
Creation myths
Philosophocal tracts
Religious ceremonies and beliefs
Sea Shanties (yes, you heard me correctly)
Riddles and fables
Political intrigue
Linguistics
Mythical beasts and sentient soothsaying entitites ( you will love these)
A lot of fish.
And floating within and about all of this, the band of friends on their mission, with their different backgrounds, temperaments, humours, losses, doubts, loyalties and inspirations.
Mr Long manages a difficult task of bringing to life a varied bunch of characters - many you will recognise from the pantheon of character tropes - the self doubting reluctant hero, the man with a secret, the urchin, the tortured soul, the gentle giant, the warrior, the doubting thomas, the martyr, the monster, the misguided villain - he gives them all a voice and they gradually come to life as the story unfolds.
One aspect I did very much like was that despite the rich fantasy setting, the dialogue did not often stray into FANTASY SPEAK - the characters spoke normally, not in some psuedo ye olde worlde lingo - this is a trap I fall into myself whan I write fantasy shorts - Mr Long does not stray into those realms except where it is essential to the nature of the character speaking - this makes the characters accessible and real - the world is fantastic, but these are just folk you can empathise with.
I did find that occaisionally, the interaction between these characters led to some slightly - "he said, then she said then they said then he said the she said then they said" passages of dialogue - we have to remember that this is a gang of adventurers and Keith has given them all a role to play and something to say - it is a challenge to write these sorts of scenes and he manages it so that the reader knows what is going on, which is of course rather important.
Conversely, where there is dialogue between two characters, this is in some places incredibly deep and philosphical, and frankly, brilliant.
As for the quest, it slowly unfolds through a journey that helps lay out the amazing world, and perhaps by about halfway through, a reader may feel they can sense where it may be going. But... this is not a story, in my view, where shocking twists would work better than a deeply satisfying resolution.
Most of this book is the world that Mr Long has obviously spent an enormous volume of brain power, imagination and love creating. This is what makes this novel wonderful and a highly commendable read and why I give it 5 stars.
The poetry of it sings. The beasts of it call out to you. The plants swirl, the seas swell, the towns echo and stink and swirl with life. The gods of old thrum with their ancient powers - and then the band of brothers chart about dinner and play soem insane dice game that I cannot work out the rules of - (we need an addendum for this game please)
I can only hope that Mr Long can write more stories within this world because it is fantastic and we need to see more of it. He certainly has the characters to do so, ready and waiting.
In some respects this review cannot help but be a tad biased in favour of the author because I have read numerous short stories (he has a substack - check him out please) he has written, some of which I would have to say make my jaw drop with amazement at the brilliance of their horror. This novel filled me more with a sense of satisfaction, admiration and respect for the labour of love and imagination that it represents.
I would urge you all to get stuck in
At its basic level, this is a "Chosen One" story set in a fantasy scenario.
It also benefits from the "band of heroes bound together on a desperate mission" flavour that underlies the Tolkein stories that most readers of fantasy love.
I am not going to give any plot spoilers away becasue I hate those.
Borrowing as it does from these classic fantasy story tropes, what sets it apart from many fantasy novels I have given up trying to read (in fact fantasy is something that I once loved, but rarely seek out now) is the amazing world that Mr Long created within which to tell his story. I have not read anything like this so as to try to give a comparison. Perhaps Ursula le Guin would be the closest I could get, or perhaps the worlds of Helliconia by the legendary Brian W Aldiss.
In that sense, this novel seemed to me to be two works of fiction woven together - there is the incredible depth of the world itself which is layed out for the reader by way of:-
historical hierarchies;
fascinating flora and fauna and their ecosystems which seem at once familiar but also completely alien and magical;
Beautiful Poetry
Folk tales
Diaries of past explorers
Creation myths
Philosophocal tracts
Religious ceremonies and beliefs
Sea Shanties (yes, you heard me correctly)
Riddles and fables
Political intrigue
Linguistics
Mythical beasts and sentient soothsaying entitites ( you will love these)
A lot of fish.
And floating within and about all of this, the band of friends on their mission, with their different backgrounds, temperaments, humours, losses, doubts, loyalties and inspirations.
Mr Long manages a difficult task of bringing to life a varied bunch of characters - many you will recognise from the pantheon of character tropes - the self doubting reluctant hero, the man with a secret, the urchin, the tortured soul, the gentle giant, the warrior, the doubting thomas, the martyr, the monster, the misguided villain - he gives them all a voice and they gradually come to life as the story unfolds.
One aspect I did very much like was that despite the rich fantasy setting, the dialogue did not often stray into FANTASY SPEAK - the characters spoke normally, not in some psuedo ye olde worlde lingo - this is a trap I fall into myself whan I write fantasy shorts - Mr Long does not stray into those realms except where it is essential to the nature of the character speaking - this makes the characters accessible and real - the world is fantastic, but these are just folk you can empathise with.
I did find that occaisionally, the interaction between these characters led to some slightly - "he said, then she said then they said then he said the she said then they said" passages of dialogue - we have to remember that this is a gang of adventurers and Keith has given them all a role to play and something to say - it is a challenge to write these sorts of scenes and he manages it so that the reader knows what is going on, which is of course rather important.
Conversely, where there is dialogue between two characters, this is in some places incredibly deep and philosphical, and frankly, brilliant.
As for the quest, it slowly unfolds through a journey that helps lay out the amazing world, and perhaps by about halfway through, a reader may feel they can sense where it may be going. But... this is not a story, in my view, where shocking twists would work better than a deeply satisfying resolution.
Most of this book is the world that Mr Long has obviously spent an enormous volume of brain power, imagination and love creating. This is what makes this novel wonderful and a highly commendable read and why I give it 5 stars.
The poetry of it sings. The beasts of it call out to you. The plants swirl, the seas swell, the towns echo and stink and swirl with life. The gods of old thrum with their ancient powers - and then the band of brothers chart about dinner and play soem insane dice game that I cannot work out the rules of - (we need an addendum for this game please)
I can only hope that Mr Long can write more stories within this world because it is fantastic and we need to see more of it. He certainly has the characters to do so, ready and waiting.
In some respects this review cannot help but be a tad biased in favour of the author because I have read numerous short stories (he has a substack - check him out please) he has written, some of which I would have to say make my jaw drop with amazement at the brilliance of their horror. This novel filled me more with a sense of satisfaction, admiration and respect for the labour of love and imagination that it represents.
I would urge you all to get stuck in
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews