Not only that, but it allows us to explore a race that was only witnessed in short stories or deleted scenes.  The kaja are one of the first anthropomorphic races I’ve written about—we haven’t had a chance to play with centaurs or minotaurs, but we did have a story about kobolds.  In any case, this is definitely the longest tale I’ve told where an anthro character is the star of the show.  Kaiyonani is an awesome character who is only going to grow as we give her and her dragon companion some meatier stories in the future.

Kaiyonani knows what it’s like to be a cat of the Kehara desert. The harsh sands around her tribe’s oasis are hot and savage, and there are enemies abound throughout the region. The one thing her people had to rely on was their fierce dragon ally, Iraneth.

But now, the dragon is dead.

Kaiyonani’s grandfather fulfilled the role of dragonspeaker. It is a title that is passed down from one kaja to the next, though it usually changes hands because a mortal has died—not one of the majestic winged creatures they call friend. The next dragonspeaker has been named, and to everyone’s surprise, it is Kaiyonani who is destined to take up the mantle. She must venture across the desert, to lands unknown in order to make the bond with her own dragon companion,

But can she survive the cruel wilderness and dangerous creatures that call Saveon and the Kehara Desert home?

Dragonspeaker just released today, and it’s available for the low introductory price of just 99 cents.  You can’t beat that!  Why not check it out on Amazon today?

The post Dragonspeaker has released! appeared first on Tellest.

We’ve got a campaign going on to try and get Dragonspeaker in front of as many people as possible when the book releases on the 23rd of this month.  It’s on a platform called Thunderclap that is 100% free.

Now, that might sound like something that you’d see our other Tellest hero Bolt take credit for, but it’s actually a cool social media experience.  With Thunderclap, an author (or musician, artist, etc.) calls on his allies to band together and cry out an important message in solidarity, all at once.  Just like with Kickstarter, the campaign is only successful if enough people lend their hand.  In the case of Thunderclap, it’s not your money that your pitching in, but your voice.

Since Dragonspeaker is a new series, it needs all the help that it can get.  I would be extremely appreciative if you’d consider taking a stop over to our Thunderclap campaign page.

There, you’ll see the message we want to send out when Dragonspeaker releases:

Just below that, you’ll see a set of buttons that you can click on to lend your support:

You can click on any or all of those buttons to add yourself to that “supporters” number at the top right of the first picture.  Remember, we need 100 supporters total in order to get the message out.

After that, Thunderclap will take care of everything for you.  They’ll post a message on your behalf to your chosen social media feed.

Kaiyonani thanks you, and I do too!

Dragonspeaker releases on the 23rd of May, and I’m hoping to give it an explosive debut.  Tune in for more news along the way!

The post Dragonspeaker Thunderclap appeared first on Tellest.

Note, because of how much work went into this one, we’re going to be a little less verbose when discussing it.

We had five sketches that we ultimately ended up passing on in order to get to the final piece.

Our sixth choice was the one that we ended up loving the most, and it was just fantastic:

Over the course of time after that, Red ended up doing a whole mess of changes to further the quality of the art.  Check out the slideshow below to see all the changes that went into the art over time.

We finally ended up with a final piece that was beyond breathtaking.

I’m really hoping that Kaiyonani makes a big splash when her book comes out later this year!

The post Interim Cover Art – Dragonspeaker appeared first on Tellest.