Barnum has a magical touch when it comes to talking about his stories and developing his world.  The Forsaken Isles is in such good hands, and it’s an awesome opportunity to go back to it often as a reader.  Barnum takes good care of his series, and his fans, making sure that there’s tons of content, with more always on the way.  Everyday Angels, the fourth book in the Creation subseries, is like the cherry on top.  It brings together a bunch of threads and lore from earlier stories, and wraps it all up with a bow.

Ceanne is not a typical paladin. She became a knight later in life for one. Her angel is younger than most. But, her faith is strong. When political rivals visit the temple and challenge her Order, Ceanne will find herself on the front line of a battle between Good and something all together alien and evil beyond comprehension. 

Join her journey as she takes up her sword, learns her angel’s name, and wars with primordial forces of alien malice. This novella will thrill you with its fast plot, sympathetic characters, and unique take on magic and divine beings in a classic god and dragon versus demon battle. 

That blurb only scratches the surface of this powerful, quick read.  If you’ve picked up the book based on that blurb, you’ll know that Barnum sidestepped a small bit to catch you off guard.

Everyday Angels follows a paladin on what seems like any other day of his life.  The introduction to the tale seems academic and based heavily in building up the lore of the Forsaken Isles.  But the story quickly ramps up into stunning action when a threat of utmost power comes down on his order.  Holy power from a celestial companion, as well as some unexpected allies and an insane foe make this a breathtaking entry in Barnum’s Creation series.  Don’t take my word for it though.  Check out Everyday Angels on Amazon today!

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Creation I – Tales of Goodly Might bundles the four novellas that released since March.  The Healer’s Making, The Temple of the Golden Serpent, The Blue Sun Staff and Everyday Angels are fantastic reads on their own, and they’re even better as part of this collection.  Not only are they entertaining reads, but they help you understand the mechanics and lore of Barnum’s impressive world.

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With Creation: The Blue Sun Staff, you get another affordable story from the Forsaken Isles universe, all bundled up with Barnum’s incredible talent.  This one tells the tale of Lionel, whose faith compels him to undergo a great quest, and it’s just as gripping as the other Creation novellas.  It helps to flesh out the Forsaken Isles, and bolster it with extra lore.

While an evil empire marches to slay a demonic god, a team of heroes embarks on a quest against evil itself. Join Lionel, a young paladin seeking the Blue Sun Staff. It is said this ancient relic has the power to reveal hidden malice and malignant purpose. 

If Lionel can retrieve and harness the Blue Sun’s power, he can prevent an apocalypse and stymie evil. To do this, his band must win over an ancient vampire or defeat it. There are two other vampires though, and they are gods in their own right. 

With faith as your mightiest weapon and hope your only defense, enter the Abyss with Lionel and face your destiny. 

Barnum is a phenomenal writer, and if you haven’t yet had an experience with him yet, these Creation novellas are lovely little bite-sized introductions to his writing style, as well as the Forsaken Isles universe.  It wouldn’t be a reach to think that once you’ve tried one, you’ll be anxious to dive into the rest of the series.  For now, though, why not start off with this latest option?  Check out Creation: The Blue Sun Staff on Amazon today!

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In Barnum’s latest work, The Temple of the Golden Serpent, he ventures into a new part of the Forsaken Isles.  A new continent takes center stage, and you get to follow along with a battle priest named Jerranic as he deals with various faiths in the world.  Barnum is known for subverting expectations and stepping around common tropes, and if that’s the kind of fantasy you’re interesting in reading, he certainly does not disappoint.  He also continues along with his generous world-building, using this story to develop the Forsaken Isles further while still delivering a complete package that revolves around new thrills and drama.

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Eric K. Barnum is back with a bite-sized (but delectable) take on his Forsaken Isles series. Indeed, though it’s smaller fare, The Healer’s Making captures all of the best qualities of Barnum’s writing and storytelling and delivers it like only he can. You’d be hard-pressed to believe you weren’t starting another of his epics, right from the first page. As the author is now known to do, he gives a great look at the world through the eyes of one of the Forsaken Isles inhabitants.  The prose is such poetry, you won’t want to put it down.

In a world wracked by years of war, a raging fighter finds hope of redemption in healing. Ending faith by blade and trading in the instruments of murder for mending, will his faith be able to save the day?

If you like something a bit shorter, give this immersive e-novella a try. At 41 pages if paperback, this will give you a taste of the Forsaken Isles, and a wicked craving for more!

As I’ve said before, even though it’s shorter fare, it’s not lighter by any means. Barnum comes out swinging and delivers a compelling story that you can’t get enough of. The best news is that you don’t necessarily have to. More of these novellas are on their way in the months to come. For now, get started with this first book.  Check out The Healer’s Making on Amazon today.

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We can never pass up an opportunity to show off some of our favorite authors and their series.  In today’s case, Eric Barnum has completely refreshed the website for his series, Forsaken Isles.

We recently just promoted his latest story, Set’s Dream, as well, and he’s already hard at work on his fifth book.  Barnum is one author you should really keep an eye out for!

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Hey there folks.  This has been a tremendous year for fantasy, and we’re very proud of the other authors we’ve had the opportunity to write alongside.  With so many stories in front of us, I’m glad that Tellest has been able to highlight a few of the ones that rise to the top.

One of those stories that we were able to bring to your attention was Eric K. Barnum’s Dar Tania, a tale that had a deeper, more philosophical and religious bent than you’re used to seeing in modern fantasy, but that was explored without being overly preachy and build Morbatten and the Forsaken Isles in an awesome way.

Well, Barnum is back, and he’s ready to rumble.  Dar Tania 2: Set’s Dream is a different kind of tale.  It takes place five years following the events of Dar Tania, and the high priestess of Tiamat isn’t the central character in this piece.  While she still is present—as the title should indicate—the real focus is on the ranger, Bruce, and his peculiar companion, a medusa named Syliri.  It’s rare to see such a character get such high billing, and it makes the story that much more interesting to breeze through.  There are a few other characters that join the ranks as well, and they’re all as entertaining as the last.

An immortal medusa falls in love with a human ranger on the cusp of Morbatten becoming an actual empire. Part of Dar Tania’s dream is that a mighty empire of human races and their allies shall fill the valleys of Morbatten. Priestesses and the paladins serving them will rise up under war banners and march with the heavy tread of battle for Tiamat’s glory.

For five years, Syliri and Bruce have been exploring the area the dragons consider to be part of Morbatten. More interesting monsters are petrified and brought back for Dar Tania and her fighters to study. During another routine scouting mission, they find a death cult of hill giants and goblins extracting gold from the eastern mountains. The true nature of their enemy rears its demonic head. But, will the true nature of medusa or the true nature of humankind shine brightest in the trials that lie ahead? 

Join Syliri and the love of her life, Bruce, as they confront the power of this dark nightmare. With her petrifying gaze and his mastery of the bow and sword, they begin to unravel a creature of such dark purpose that even the god emperor himself gives pause.

Set’s Dream is a worthy successor to Dar Tania.  It isn’t quite the same as the book that preceded it, but it also doesn’t try to be.  What you’re left with is an entertaining, satisfying story that has more traditional twists and turns.  Barnum excels at breathing life into his world, and his characters, given more room to develop, will garner your attention, if not your affection.  If Dar Tania was the hook that was trying to get you into the boat, this tale is the boat you want to get into.

Barnum currently has four books out, with more on the way.  Be sure to check out Dar Tania, which sets the stage for the world of the Forsaken Isles, and do check out Dar Tania 2: Set’s Dream on Amazon today!

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Dar Tania, provides a solid foundation for Barnum’s other books in his series, but it stands strong even on its lonesome.  It does what it sets out to do, introducing you to not only the history of the Forsaken Isles, but also to Barnum’s strong writing and interesting characters—not to mention its divine dragons.  Woven together, each of these individual threads becomes something magical.

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You’ve likely seen our big push for the first book in his Forsaken Isles collection, Dar Tania.  Today, you get to see what we talked about, what makes Barnum tick, and understand just what makes his series so ridiculously appealing.

Tellest: Welcome to the interview.  It’s great to have you here.  We’ll start you off with one of the questions that I ask all our interviewees, because I think it’s always such a fun discovery for fans and readers.  What inspired you to start writing?

Eric K Barnum: I have an analytic mind; it’s my professional career at the moment. When I found myself analyzing books, movies, comics, and games in light of this idea for a novel, world and universe, I realized it was time to start writing. I wanted to tell a story where magic and gods made balanced sense. The confusion between what is magic versus divine is something I address as a core theme in all my writing.

T: Surely you’ve had some works and authors that helped to inspire you along the way.  Do you have anyone you’d be able to specifically reference as an influence?

EB: About 10 years ago, I decided to find and read as many of the “old stories” as I could get my hands on. Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Grendel, Cantebury Tales, Diary of Genji, Art of War, Bhagavad Gita, Way of the Pilgrim, Apocrypha, both religious and enduring stories. A common theme, for me at least, was a story of balance between the divine and our world… that then gets thrown off somehow. Contrasting this to the high fantasy genre where the hero and main characters are either out of balance or trying to restore balance, I realized that if you interject “magic” – or in scifi “tech” – into those same stories, they kind of fall apart. Gilgamesh and Enkidu just aren’t the same story if, when they go to Upanishaptim/Noah (of Noah’s Ark), they get magic. That whole story wouldn’t exist with magic. So, how do you balance them? I started making notes and jotting thoughts down from the stories I had read. Not critique, but if from this lens of magic being out of balance, is the story still epic? The Forsaken Isles started taking shape.

T: The Forsaken Isles world that you’ve built has a huge focus on magic, religions, and of course dragons.  How did you manage to keep track of everything?  Do you have a Forsaken Isles bible you made for yourself?

EB: I do. It’s a collection of now-ratty notebooks with handwritten and printed notes, sketches, and spreadsheets. Tolkien’s Silmarillion really drove it home to me that organization of stories, characters, and places is key to a great tale. I also have pictures from various Dragon magazines cut out and taped into various parts of my notebooks for fun too.

T: The Silmarillion eventually found its way into the hands of the people.  Martin’s got the World of Ice and Fire.  Do you think as your world and the stories therein continue to grow, people might see a fleshed out version of those notebooks to help understand just how vast everything is?

EB: In the 1980s, Marvel Comics released this campy series around an evil book called the Darkhold. Characters would interact with it, get magic, and clash with the superheroes. It was goofy fun. What you’re asking, I think of as my Darkhold Project. Much the same way you have Tellest, I plan on eventually releasing “The Darkhold Project”, which will be a story of the multiverse incorporating notes, but told from the perspective of souls trapped in the Darkhold. Bomoki’s Gate introduces the Darkhold where it is used to try and determine why Bomoki wants a certain objective. In my next book, Syliri & Bruce, the Darkhold is introduced in more detail. It’s a book that is also the middle realm of the Abyss. Rather than being a demon lord, like Lolth or Orcus, it’s a sentient book that influences and participates in the world through the pages of itself. It knows things through soul capture. As it finds something new and different, it manipulates its readers to the soul it next wants by sharing fragmented bits and pieces of knowledge. It’ll have awesome artwork where my sketches, like this one, will be fantastic. I do sketches like this for all combat scenes in my writing.

T: Your books have some familiarity with the Forgotten Realms books that a lot of fantasy readers have grown up with.  At the same time though, Dar Tania and the subsequent stories invoke a breath of fresh air in the genre.  How did you toe the line between something that’s been established in writing before and a brand new, powerful story?

EB: To the extent that my stories are about clerics and paladins in a dragon-based religion, I can see that. The similarity ends there. The Dragonlance Chronicles and War of the Twins are some of my favorite books. How did Raistlin become so evil? Yet, even when reading these, the interaction of magic and the gods felt weird to me. Hickman and Weiss were probably too bound to 2^nd Edition Dungeons and Dragons rules on the heels of TSR’s Deities and Demigods publication. It’s the story of a mortal mage, Raistlin, who opposes an evil god, from whom he seems to derive his magical powers. Magic is either presented as a limitation to being a god, or somehow not accessible to its worshippers. In a world with non-godly magic, what does anyone—god or mortal—get out of worship? Is it really just healing, as The Forgotten Realms suggest? Why wouldn’t everyone just worship and practice Magic?

I also explore the paladin archetype in depth and it is unique. The archetypal characters of mages, fighters, etc. are familiar to all high and dark fantasy. The inclusion of dragons as a key element and the way they interact with the world can be explored on my blog at darmalcor.weebly.com or through the stories themselves. Like angels serving a goodly god, dragons worship and serve their own gods and their own agendas. There are micro and macro-scale battles of peoples, ideas, and religions. The Isles are Forsaken not because they needed a name, but because they are populated by refugees from the ancient empire of Merakor, which fell to the dark elves during a nexal inversion. The refugees forsook Merakor for the isles.

A nexus is a concept different in my world. They serve as travel points between planes in the multiverse. The world of the Forsaken Isles is in the center of the nexuses of Creation/Good, Chaos/Abyss, and Warp/Evil. When thing happen, like the dark elves wiping out the good empire of Merakor, it actually moves the entire world closer to the nexus of Chaos. This creates a cascade of destruction, cataclysm, and change. Similar things can happen if the world moves closer to Creation or Warp with the results you’d expect. Time flows because of these nexuses interacting with the world.

T: Speaking of the flow of time, Dar Tania, Malcor’s Story and Bomoki’s Gate all came out within a short amount of time and the latter two are fairly expansive.  Can readers expect to continue seeing your books release at an accelerated pace like this?

EB: Yes. My fan reactions and reviews on Amazon have suggested that there might be more appetite for the 100 page books. I personally prefer large books in my own reading. I find them more satisfying and immersive. As such, my initial publication goal was to have Dar Tania and Malcor’s Story release within sight of Bomoki’s Gate. My next two books will be shorter ones, like Dar Tania. One will pick up 5 years after Dar Tania. The other will pick up after Bomoki’s Gate. Following that, I have 10 candidates for another larger (400 pages +) book, but want my writing to be more informed by reader feedback. So far, these characters in Dar Tania have been very popular: Dar Tania, Princess Alaura, the ranger Bruce, and the white dragon patriarch Ynt’taris.

T: Your character names are so exotic sounding.  How do you come up with them?

EB: The people of Dar Tania’s tribe began as barbarians. This book is about their transformation into a ‘modern’ magic-wielding empire. The nations around them came from Merakor. They have more traditional names. Part of this comes from having played a lot of RPGs where players could not come up with cool fantasy names. My concession to such players was, “Okay, fine. Name your warrior Stephen. Your character’s family came from Merakor.” I also try and come up with names suggestive of how a character is.

T: The Forsaken Isles books are a bit darker and focus on some heavy dramatic elements.  Do you think it’s also suitable for a younger audience?

EB: I first read The Hobbit when I was 8 years old. I imagine my writing as PG13 with R-Rated themes. As a movie, depending on how graphic some of the violent combat scenes became, I can see my writing being R-Rated. This is not my desired goal though. I want readers to appreciate brutality as the tactical expression of ideas at war. To that extent, I have had a few younger readers enjoy Dar Tania. They have all been prolific readers familiar with the fantasy genre. I certainly never attempted to write for a younger audience. But, when I started seeing a few reviews and emails from young readers and their parents, I decided to incorporate them by using easier names, like instead of “main gauche” for an off-hand blade, I would write “long dagger”.

T: What do you find challenging in writing fantasy?

EB: Interviews with my test readers have shown that the more I struggle with writing a character, the more they love it. As my readership expands, I’ll be curious to see if this remains a theme. In Dar Tania, one of the hardest characters to write was Prince Rowland. I thought for sure that readers would see him as a trope, a foil for other ‘good’ characters at best or a decadent noble staid in his inheritance. I was shocked when readers told me they saw him as a tragic character. I use my blog at darmalcor.weebly.com to explore some of these ideas in more detail.

T: Because your books take place in vastly different time periods in your world, you’re forced to leave some people behind.  Has that been difficult for you?

EB: Time is kind of relative when you have some races, like elves and dragons, living forever. It matters to shorter-lived races but, in all fantasy, it’s stretched out. Because gods are actively involved and exist in a different sense of Time, I actually have fun with it. When Time first started moving, the immortal Eldar reacted to it differently but universally considered it a lethal poison. As such, writing in the contemporary time frame of Malcor’s Story and Bomoki’s Gate, there are enough references to the foundation era of Dar Tania that I view Dar Tania, not as a time gapped story, but as a story-version glossary and history of Morbatten. Even though it’s set many centuries before “contemporary” time, for those with magically-lengthened lives like the priestesses, you’re only talking about four generations.

T: You’re a father of three.  Do your children ever influence your writing, in or outside of the Forsaken Isles?

EB: I have three daughters, who love different genres.  But, we bond over anime like Full Metal Alchemist, Studio Ghibli movies, and Bleach. I like to imagine that, one day, they’ll read my stories. Until then, they ask and I share the stories with them storyteller style around campfires. The other thing is that the fantasy genre struggles with women characters sometimes. I blame the 1990s for sexualizing everything. I want my stories to have strong female characters who approach things on the same—but different where being female makes it different—footing as male characters. The reviews by women appreciating strong female characters tells me I’m on the right track. Having more female participants in the fantasy genre would be a good thing.

T: Between having three children and a day job, how do you find the time to write such expansive stories?  What would you recommend to other writers who are trying to nail down a schedule?

EB: Even with a busy job, I get a lunch break. You’d be amazed at how many words you can pen to paper when you only write 15-30 minutes a day. That gets you through the hard parts of a first draft. Other times, the story writes you and suddenly you’ve written pages and pages. You don’t get to the epiphany moments if you don’t slog through the harder parts. Unless you’re a devil for outlining, you’ll also lose your story thread and character sense. It’s important to write every day. Everyone has 15 minutes. I don’t have very many vices except writing and hiking so it works out for me. There’s so much info about writing out there, from blogs to books to read about writing, but at some point, you need to start writing. Most people at my work show up at 9. I hit the gym at 6, and am at work by 730. That gives me 1.5 hours at my work to know if I’ll have time to write.

T: What are you working on, and when can we expect your next book to drop?

EB: In my world, there are two kinds of creatures: those that existed before Time flowed – the Eldar, and those that came after – the Fallen. The dragons worshipped by Dar Tania and her people are eldar dragons. The story introduces a gorgon named Syliri who acts as a zookeeper for the dragons. They collect monsters for Syliri to petrify so that Dar Tania’s fighters can get a sense for size, weaknesses, and strengths of various creatures. A ranger, named Bruce, falls in love with her. I plan to release Syliri & Bruce as two 100 page novels in late summer and am almost done with my first draft of each. Their story is one of unlikely love, their exploration of Morbatten’s borders, and their fight against Set’s Dream. In my world, Set is a demon god so powerful that the others bound Set in sleep forever deep in the Abyss. In his dreams, Set spawns monsters throughout the multiverse. Dar Tania introduces this concept – that monsters are terrible not because they’re necessarily evil but because they’re trapped in Set’s Dream and do not see the same world we do. Syliri & Bruce will be set 5 years after Dar Tania.

T: Are there any other sneak peeks you can give us at upcoming characters and creatures we might see?  With ten possible books hiding in the wake, you’re sure to have plenty of storytelling ammunition!

EB: Paladins will always be a focus for me. I love them. While each story might have a variety of ‘bad guys’ there will always be a main bad guy: Dar had Rowland, Malcor had Talai the Khasran Lich, and Bomoki’s Gate had Bomoki and Orcus. Syliri & Bruce will feature the Slaads. Slaads are extraplanar monsters who exist in the most twisted hierarchy imaginable. At their highest levels, they seek to awaken Set, the Mother of Nightmares. By intruding into Set’s Dream, they gain power and use it to consume life thereby increasing their own power even more. These are not the slaads you’ll find in old TSR reference guides.

There is also a civil war brewing around Dar with some of the tribes not understanding how and why their entire culture has changed. I already discussed the Darkhold Project. On a different project, while I haven’t had time for reader feedback yet, I have a big story to tell about a race whose god goes insane. So that they don’t die as a race because of their god’s insanity, they raise up a hero and send the hero to slay and replace their god. It pits magic against godly power and the will of the Tehran world against their own god. For readers of my books, you might appreciate who twisted this world from a dominion perspective.

Thank you for the interview, Mike. This has been great. I wish you all the best with Tellest. I’ve been enjoying your Mageborn story. I hope you and your readers enjoy Dar Tania. May these worlds of imagination inspire your own.

T: And thank you for the opportunity, Eric!  This has been a very entertaining look inside your head and the world of the Forsaken Isles.  We wish you the best, and can’t wait to see what you have in store for us.  Many happy returns!

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