{"id":3973,"date":"2016-12-16T11:59:43","date_gmt":"2016-12-16T16:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tellest.com\/?page_id=3973"},"modified":"2020-07-17T11:53:01","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T15:53:01","slug":"tellest-team-michael-deangelo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/tellest-team-michael-deangelo\/","title":{"rendered":"Tellest Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Tellest first formed, it was a one person job. \u00a0Michael DeAngelo did all the writing, all the editing and even the cover design, which led to a pretty terrible set standard!<\/p>\n

Since then though, Tellest has expanded exponentially. \u00a0Michael DeAngelo has put together a rather large team, and everyone plays their part. \u00a0With a lot of awesome things coming up in the months to come, there’s never been a better time to learn about the people who bring this fantasy world to life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Main Team<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael DeAngelo<\/strong><\/div>
\n

\"Michael<\/a><\/p>\n

Tellest is the kind of world that can\u2019t be run by one person alone.\u00a0 While Michael DeAngelo creates the majority of the content, he doesn\u2019t have the finesse or patience to create any of the art with any level of professionalism. \u00a0he admits to being terrible at programming and web design. \u00a0He’d like to think that I have a decent voice, but not the studio to perform my own voice work.\u00a0 And as the world of Tellest continued to evolve and grow, he could no longer be the only writer for the series.<\/p>\n

Michael DeAngelo has more ambition than he\u00a0knows what to do with.\u00a0 When he\u00a0was seven or eight years old, he\u00a0determined right then and there that he\u00a0wanted to be a \u201csoftware engineer.\u201d That was his\u00a0pretentious way of saying that he\u00a0wanted to make videogames. He always created worlds in his\u00a0head or on paper. \u00a0He went through school with massive pads of graph paper and made labyrinths for RPGs that never saw the light of day. \u00a0He created sprawling game worlds that never really took off because he\u00a0instantly gravitated to the next thing.<\/p>\n

It never occurred to him\u00a0that writing was something that he\u00a0could ever be good at.\u00a0 Even if you\u2019re one of the people who think that last statement might be true, the Tellest series has grown to be something that he\u00a0couldn\u2019t leave behind. \u00a0Tons of people try their hands at penning a novel.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s because they want to try and get an unexpected paycheck.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s because they\u2019re bored.\u00a0 Ultimately, if and when sales are poor or reviews are worse, there is a part of them that burns up and cracks, blowing away like ashes on the cherry of a cigarette.<\/p>\n

For Michael, the Tellest books are almost like people he’s\u00a0met. \u00a0He likes to think of the novels that he’s\u00a0written as stories that have already been told, but only to him. \u00a0He feels it is his duty to tell those tales, even if only a handful of people enjoy reading them.<\/p>\n

Some of the things he\u2019d like to do with the Tellest books include, but are not limited to, a graphic novel, a slew of videogames, and a foothold in Japan (Tellest as an anime? Come on. \u00a0That would rock!).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Kevin Gallagher<\/strong><\/div>
\n

Michael\u00a0met Kevin Gallagher in elementary school, and they\u2019ve been harassing each other ever since. \u00a0They started out as enemies, but evolved into acquaintances, and eventually became friends.\u00a0 When Michael\u00a0began writing the Tellest saga, Kevin was interested right away. \u00a0When the original, ancient story was first finished, the two\u00a0began floating the idea of Kevin\u00a0continuing with one of the characters.\u00a0 At one point, he even had a rough draft written, but it kind of kicked around in development hell for quite a while.\u00a0 This was way back in the days of\u00a0the unspoken novel<\/em>.\u00a0 Seriously\u2014it isn’t spoken of.<\/p>\n

At this point, Kevin operates as a sort of modular consultant.\u00a0 He\u2019s one of the first people\u00a0Michael goes to when he\u00a0has an idea that he\u00a0wants to run with, whether it pertains to the novels or the games.\u00a0 When it comes to Steel Tip, and his past, Michael\u00a0value Kevin\u2019s opinion most of all. \u00a0Even though Steel Tip’s story is evolving without Kevin at the helm, his insight is incredibly important.<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s not working on Tellest related material, or spending quality time with his fianc\u00e9, son, and daughter (aka\u00a0<\/span>Family Adventure Time<\/i>), Kevin is leisurely pursuing other interesting ventures.\u00a0 He\u2019s headed a variety of different podcasts, currently hosting Everything is Awesome<\/i> and co-hosting Late to the Game\u2026 of Thrones<\/i>.\u00a0 He\u2019s also tried his own hand at writing, dipping into several different projects, including novels of his own, movie scripts and a web series.\u00a0 A self-professed lover of Kevin Smith, comic books, and The Batman (I\u2019m sure he would cuddle with either if given the option, and probably has cuddled with his comics), he\u2019s got just the right amount of nerdy to press Tellest forward in interesting ways.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Nace Phlaux<\/strong><\/div>
\n

Nace (not his given name\u2014nobody is that cool coming out of a womb) and Michael\u00a0happened to meet when they worked at the same company. There were very few positive experiences that could be taken from those dark years.\u00a0 Among them, however, was the friendship cultivated with Mr. Phlaux.<\/p>\n

Nace is the reason the books are\u00a0edited into a coherent mass.\u00a0 Before, they were just the scribbles of a madman.\u00a0 He deciphered and cleaned them up, and now they sparkle\u2014in their own way at least.<\/p>\n

Nace is the editor of the Tellest books.\u00a0 He polishes the work\u00a0that and\u00a0shines it up so nice that you think you\u2019re looking at a gem.\u00a0 He challenges Michael\u00a0when his\u00a0ideas are good, and he rips into him\u00a0when his\u00a0ideas are stupid.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0also works on making the presentation all the more magical.\u00a0 He\u2019s made communication with the outside world more fun and added better ideas.\u00a0 Most surprisingly, he\u2019s added to the saga.\u00a0 His stories, Becoming a Man, <\/i>and Becoming a Monster <\/i>have released and add greatly to the Tellest universe.<\/p>\n

One thing is for sure.\u00a0 Tellest would be a much darker place if it wasn\u2019t for the light Nace shines on it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Rhianna DeAngelo<\/strong><\/div>
\n

\"RED\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When The Enemy Within was about ready to be released, Michael\u00a0knew that he\u00a0needed to find an artist who was able to express his\u00a0creativity naturally. \u00a0He reached out to the people on his\u00a0social network, and someone recommended he\u00a0speak to Rhianna Brennan.<\/p>\n

She was immediately enthralled by the offer, and jumped on the chance to put her skills to the test.\u00a0 Primarily an artist of physical talents, Rhianna wanted the opportunity to try a change of pace and try to work in the digital realm.<\/p>\n

While her art is no longer featured on any covers, it still exists in various touches here and there in the world of Tellest. \u00a0Front covers were initially designed by her and expanded upon by our later artists.<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t to say that Rhianna isn\u2019t still involved in matters of Tellest.\u00a0 She is the Alpha Reader, the\u00a0muse, the First Lady of Tellest.\u00a0 When something doesn\u2019t make sense, or needs some kind of tweak, she\u2019s usually the person who steers Michael\u00a0in the right direction.\u00a0 She also had her very own Tellest story published, and it’s become a lot of people’s favorite: Midwinter Requiem<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In October 2015, Michael and Rhianna wed, and now work as a team to find new stories to tell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Aaron Canton<\/strong><\/div>
\n

Coming off the heels of a successful 2014 Kickstarter, Tellest tried out a few interesting things to spruce things up. \u00a0Among them, was a writing prompt contest with prizes that was ran for a few months.<\/p>\n

Aaron Canton was one of the winners of the writing prompt experiment, giving us a story called A Practical Warrior<\/em>. \u00a0After that, a little more communication led Michael and Aaron to open a collaboration where Aaron would flex his writing muscle and provide more tales to this growing world.<\/p>\n

With such heroes as Jadie Rivers and Laika the golem-maker, Aaron had a delightful way of telling stories. \u00a0He’s the second best talespinner by volume, and we hope to continue working with him well into the future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Erika Castro<\/strong><\/div>
\n

As Tellest neared its 2016 Kickstarter follow-up, Michael knew that he was going to run into some issues with scheduling everything, paying attention to various social media accounts, and so on.<\/p>\n

He was lucky enough to meet Erika Castro, a fantasy nerd like the rest of the Tellest crew. \u00a0She handles the media end of things (which have slowed since the Kickstarter), and offers up some advice when it is needed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Brandi Salazar<\/strong><\/div>
\n

With so many stories on the docket, it’s as important to look back as it is to look forward. \u00a0Every now and then, someone will notice an error that we’ve missed. \u00a0Brandi Salazar offers an extra set of eyes in catching those errors. \u00a0With her on board, there’s a layer of shine that Tellest can boast about even further!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Brittany Stelmach<\/strong><\/div>
\n

When Michael DeAngelo and Matthew DeAngelo started Black Furnace Games, Brittany Stelmach stepped in to provide additional support within social media.\u00a0 Every opportunity she gets, she spreads the word about Quantum Quest, Merge Dungeon and Tellest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Artists<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leo Borazio<\/strong><\/div>
\n

Leo Borazio, otherwise known as DLeoBlack, is the artist that Michael has been using since the 2014 Kickstarter. \u00a0Nearly every cover that Tellest produces uses Leo’s artistic talents, and he’s expanded to things beyond that, including concept art and special holiday themed pieces. \u00a0At one point, he and Michael were working on various comics together, but none of these ever seem to stick.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Red Pear<\/strong><\/div>
\n

Arguably the second most prolific artist for Tellest (maybe even the most prolific), Red has done a vast amount of work on character portraits, as well as interim book covers for things like NaNoWriMo. \u00a0She’s been around for a long time, and we can’t express how happy we are to have her on board our team!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Horace Hsu<\/strong><\/div>
\n

Horace is one of our newer artists, but he’s quickly proving to be a capable talent who is advancing at an alarming rate. \u00a0He’s quick to turn around fantastic full-body figures of our characters, and every time Tellest commissions him for new sets, you can see he’s picked up some new tricks. \u00a0He’s definitely an artist to look out for!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Francois Jooste<\/strong><\/div>
\n

Francois Jooste has a very important part of Tellest’s history. \u00a0He was the one who designed the logo, and he’s a huge part of making the interface look great. \u00a0Whether he’s helping out on Kickstarter campaigns or developing new logos for side projects, he’s surely shown his worth for years!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Paul Davies<\/strong><\/div>
\n

Paul is an incredibly busy man, but every now and then we get the awesome opportunity to work with him again. \u00a0He was doing the titling for us for everything that came out in the Child of the Stars trilogy and the Tales of Tellest set, he did a cover for Nace Phlaux’s Becoming a Man<\/em>, and he has given us some amazing concept art for the races of Tellest.<\/p>\n

He’s got a lot of talent to spare, and we hope to see him flex those artist muscles for Tellest more and more as we take off a little higher into the stratosphere in the future!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Audio Producers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brandon McKernan<\/strong><\/div>
\n

Though he technically was our second audio guy, Brandon\u00a0was<\/em> going to tackle one of our bigger books. \u00a0He was all set to start working on The Bindings of Fate<\/em> before we took him off it. \u00a0We weren’t entirely happy with the book in its current state, and it was our plan to clean it up, but after a while of sitting on it, we determined it was better to let it go unnarrated.<\/p>\n

Instead, Brandon’s first official work with us was for Son of the Storm. \u00a0His command over different voices is tremendous, and we’re very, very happy with what he’s accomplished for us over the past couple of years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Mark Ryan Anderson<\/strong><\/div>
\n

Mark opened us up to audio when he recorded his take on Mageborn<\/em>, featuring Adelia Kreegan. \u00a0He’s since done some work on The Tinker’s Tale<\/em> as well, and we’re looking forward to working with him again soon!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Cristina Cruz<\/strong><\/div>
\n

The newest member of our extended team, Cristina’s first big audio release is going to be dropping in January of next year. \u00a0She is going to go back and give some of our older short stories a dose of awesome by narrating them. \u00a0We’re going to have them free on the site for now to see how that goes, so keep your ears open for those releases!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Michael DeAngelo cannot do everything in Tellest on his own, but luckily, he doesn’t have to.\u00a0 Thanks to some amazing creative minds, it’s becoming a place that’s been put together with a lot of love from a lot of people.<\/p>\n

Want to help the team out?\u00a0 Visit the Tellest Patreon<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Tellest first formed, it was a one person job. \u00a0Michael DeAngelo did all the writing, all the editing and even the cover design, which led to a pretty terrible set standard! Since then though, Tellest has expanded exponentially. \u00a0Michael DeAngelo has put together a rather large team, and everyone plays their part. \u00a0With a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P1UVey-125","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3973"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22948,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3973\/revisions\/22948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}