The Lyre of Reverie doesn’t look, at first glance, to be much more than a beautiful instrument that a bard or minstrel would pluck their fingers across, but it hides a great secret.  If you aren’t already certain of what that is based on the name, it can put people to sleep—but only if the person working at its strings is a skilled musician indeed.

We haven’t had too many bards yet in the world of Tellest.  Who can you see being the worthy wielder of this powerful artifact?

We’ll be back in just a couple of weeks with more artifacts from the world of Tellest!

The post Concept Art – Lyre of Reverie appeared first on Tellest.

When Hozure asked to try something a little different with one of my characters, I was all about it.  We threw bard-turned-general, Anson Fysis, to the wolves:

These looked like Yoshitaka Amano sketches from Final Fantasy VI.  I liked the concept of a few different outfit choices, which we didn’t usually have before.  Now I can’t get the idea of Anson and two buddies who all roam around like minstrels in these three outfits.

After that came a sketch that showed Anson in a bit more of a pose with the chosen outfit we gave him.

Finally, here you have Anson Fysis in all his glory.  Hozure did an excellent job, as always, and he took us on a different journey to reach the end.  Well done!

The post Character Art – Anson appeared first on Tellest.

We’ve got a nice new collaboration with RedPear to show off, which almost completes our look at the main heroes from The Bindings of Fate.  Seriously.  So close, I can taste it.

This week, the hero who gets the treatment is Anson Fysis, our bard-turned-guard captain.  He’s got this positive outlook on life that carried him through some incredibly hard times, and Anson has shown time and time again that his indomitable mirth makes him a force to be reckoned with.

As always, in capturing such a thing, we started off with a black and white sketch.

We determined that, while Anson starts off his journey kind of like a country bumpkin, we wanted to move away from the ponytail business a little bit.  We loved the lute though, so we kept that in further revisions.

After we moved on with the unkempt variety of Anson’s look, we of course set out to see the awesome-ified version that Pear always takes us to.

There were some things that were altered here: most notably the nose, which was made a bit rounder.  Anson was actually a character that had been formed by the inspiration of a childhood friend – he named the character and everything.  And while Anson has evolved so much over time that the original character is lost beneath thousands of pages of text ever since, I think this version of the bard still captures a lot of that original essence.

The colored version of the piece is even more impressive, as we’re bound to expect from the talented RedPear by now.  She did a great job on Anson, and we can’t wait to show you one or two last pieces from this collection!

The post Art: Anson Fysis by RedPear appeared first on Tellest.

This is the story of Sarantos’ fantastic journey. Come along for this unusual adventure and prepare to be surprised at every turn.

In this fiction/fantasy book, Sarantos is a young human male born on Earth, but currently residing in the home of Wallis on the world of Yarrowtopia. He is 30 years old with dark curly hair and a sensitive nature. He writes lyrics and plays guitar. He is being taught by Wallis on the skills of using magic, which he converts into lyrics and sings his spells like a bard of old. He started a band in this new land. He is in love with Leigh and is best friends with Brad. He has traveled from where he didn’t want to be to where he wants to be via a message from a dream. Mika, rescued him and brought him to a world where he found his one true love, Leigh. He loves singing and enjoys his band while still appreciating the luxury of a shower on his new world, which he incorporated to work with the help of Wallis. Little did he ever realize the adventure of a lifetime that would unfold…

Sarantos is an absolutely prolific artist.  If you’re interested in following someone who refuses to let his fans down, you can find his website here.  He also has a YouTube channel that is updated on a 16regular basis.  And last but not least, arguably the reason you came here, the link to his book, here.

The post Fantasy Book Promo – Not Where I Wanna Be appeared first on Tellest.

In 2011, I was finishing up my second book, but the first one was just sitting in a desk somewhere.  At that point, I was completely oblivious to both Kindle and Amazon’s KDP program, and jumping in was both exciting and nerve-wracking.  Five months later, I had two books on virtual shelves.  With that kind of ongoing momentum, at the height of their popularity, I was selling 300 copies per month.

Because The Enemy Within took so long to write, I went about 18 months without a release.  Popularity has since died down, but that’s all about to change.

Similar to 2011, Amazon – or rather, an affiliate, ACX – introduced me to the voice of Tellest.  Brandon Cassinelli is, by far, one of the most talented people I have ever had the privilege of working with.

ACX is an audiobook program that connects authors with voice talent.  Similar to my jump into KDP, I had a lot of nervous energy going into ACX.  I took the plunge, and set up an account, and an audition piece for The Bindings of Fate, thinking, it’ll probably be months before I hear anything from anyone.

Brandon auditioned within 24 hours.  I must admit, I expected along the line that I’d have to turn down a few offers.  When I say that Brandon is the voice of Tellest, I mean it implicitly.  I don’t think that there’s anyone else out there who better matched the feel and quality that I was looking for.

Rhianna happened to be in the room with me when I listened to the audition piece, and she saw my mouth drop.  I had never been so excited for Tellest before that moment.

To top it off, Brandon is one of the best people I’ve ever worked with.  He’s unbelievably hard working and remarkably talented, yet he’s down to Earth and decidedly humble.  His warmth and care for both the brand and the people he works with gives me faith in humanity.  I hope you all give Brandon a listen at some point.  You won’t be disappointed!

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