Over the next month and a half, things are going to be slow on the release front, but not behind the scenes. My editor is still plugging away at The Enemy Within, and I’m still working on some ancillary content for the series.
I’ve talked about those materials before, but I’m willing to go a little more into detail now.
The big project from here on out is the novella I’ve spoken about. It’s going to focus on one of the gods of Tellest, and give readers some insight on what it means to be one of those immortal beings.
Then, before I get back to the main characters – with a Kaos prequel, in which you see his youth all the way up to his first quest – I’m going to do five short stories as part of an anthology. The game plan is to complete them entirely, and then begin releasing them on a week by week basis on this blog. When everything has been revealed, they’ll be packaged as the aforementioned anthology. I know what four of the stories are going to revolve around, but the fifth one is still a little bit elusive.
I’m not going to sit on that information forever, though. Without any further wait, here are the brief, casual synopses of the short stories I’m confident about.
Adelia
Kaos isn’t the only Kreegan, and I’m aiming to show that. When Tessik and Elly Kreegan were viciously murdered, Adelia only barely managed to escape with her life. Her survival instincts and magical intuition gain the attention of one of Tellest’s most renowned wizards, Gaston Camlann. Over time, Adelia develops her power while learning to curb the fears that she has been living with since the destruction of her family. All the while, Gaston is studying her.
Maximus
The Knights of Virtue are a sect of powerful champions, most whom helped to develop the glorious city of Atalatha. But, as tough as they are to defeat, their story is even harder to infiltrate. While their most fabled journey is still a ways off (I’m also undecided what medium I want to use to tell it), one man in particular has garnered special interest. Maximus Xanders somehow has the instinct to create amazing things, such as the clockwork steed, Equinicus. But how exactly did the Knight of Virtue gain that ability? And at what cost?
Icarus
The first of the as-yet unpublished characters in the short story collection is a side character from what was originally going to be a Steel Tip prequel from long, long ago. Icarus is an elf that lives on Arthica in the archipelago of Ippius, from where Steel Tip hails. He is one of the oldest beings on Tellest, and has a lot of interesting tales to tell. One thing that sets him aside from most of the other elves of the region is his temperament with humans. It is typical for most elves to shy from humans, if not openly detest them. Icarus had aligned with Jason Dactyls, the king of Ippius, and agreed to train his young son to be a protector of the kingdom. Along the way, though, one of his own famous tales is told.
Bolt
In The Enemy Within, readers will be given some insight to a new character with an interesting power. Bolt’s backstory, perhaps, is even more intriguing, however. Raised by dwarves, yet not one of them, this hero has dealt with a backlash of the people he grew up with. Along the way, though, his adopted father never strayed far from his side.
Those are the big four right now. I still have to figure out what I want to do with the fifth one, but it’s important to know that each of these characters will somehow play a part in the massive pentalogy that I’m developing over the next few years. Somehow, each of these folks will be part of the growing loom that is the Tellest mythos, and these prequel materials will help to give some insight into what makes each of them tick. By the time the anthology is ready to be released, they might be joined by other stories, but these ones are mine alone, and now you know the reason.
You may wonder why you haven’t seen your favorite character in the above list (a lot of people seem to gravitate toward Dirk). While I would love to write something for each of the people who help to shape the Tellest series, there just isn’t enough time to devote to everyone. That isn’t to say that we won’t see their backstories. I’m always talking about trying to expand the Tellest universe. Maybe soon I can discuss those plans a little more.
Michael DeAngelo
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