Ethra
I first conceptualized Ethra at age six, and it has undergone countless mental revisions and expansions since that first story. It is a massive project - I have outlines for over fifty Ethra novels.
This page has information about my world as well as updates on my progress developing it. If you're interested in my worldbuilding process or just want to read some short fantasy fiction, this is the place for you!
This page has information about my world as well as updates on my progress developing it. If you're interested in my worldbuilding process or just want to read some short fantasy fiction, this is the place for you!
Ethra Stories
Invisible Warrior. A soldier questions why he fights when he doesn't receive recognition.
Vengeance. Londaen has spent half his life tracking the man that murdered his parents. But does he have what it takes to kill a man in cold blood? Brothers in Arms. Tamarg is an orcish captain in a war that's lasted several years. His childhood friend, Trussk, is fighting for the other side. Arms Between Brothers. Trussk is a peace-loving orc, yet he still finds himself engaged in war. A war that pits him against his childhood friend, Tamarg. |
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The World of Ethra
If you're a fantasy nerd like me, you probably love pouring over old, dusty tomes of lore about the worlds in which your favorite stories take place. Maybe you've read The Silmallirion by Tolkien or a similar fictional history textbook by another author. If that's your shtick, and you want to learn more about the world I'm creating, then enjoy these articles - written by some of Ethra's greatest scholars and intellectuals.
Evolution of Intelligent Species. An account of the various sentient races of Ethra, written by Exelis Grafeas, a scholar from the Agryen Empire.
Evolution of Intelligent Species. An account of the various sentient races of Ethra, written by Exelis Grafeas, a scholar from the Agryen Empire.
Progress on my Projects
There are two novels I'm spending a great deal of time on right now: A Temple of Lies and Crown of Ice (thought I might rename the latter). I have finished the first draft of A Temple of Lies, the novel I'm writing in my grad program. It clocked in at about 600 pages, 153k words. I'm currently restructuring it and planning which scenes to add and remove for a second draft. Crown of Ice is on its third draft. A group of fantastic beta readers recently finished reading the second draft and providing their feedback. I'm hopeful that after another revision of Crown of Ice, it will be strong enough for me to start querying agents!
A Peek into my Novel
As I work on various larger works in Ethra, I'll offer snippets of the project here!
I'm currently working on a novel titled A Temple of Lies, book 1 of the Kotenian Chronicles. It's going to be a whopper of a book; I'm deep into revisions and it's shaping up to 800 pages. It follows 7 POVs in the region of my world depicted on the maps below. (Yes, the maps have evolved over time. If you compare the maps to the globe above, you'll see some discrepancies. Part of the ongoing creative process.) The map on the left is political, and the map on the right environmental.
The continent of Koten is the home of a once-great empire that has fractured into six smaller nation-states and one functioning kingdom, Cyrannica. To the south of Cyrannica is an enormous desert home to the Mutrai peoples. Northeast of the Kotenian nation-states is the woodland kingdom of Skandersylva, and farther north still are the Great Black Woods, home of the dreaded ruks.
I'm currently working on a novel titled A Temple of Lies, book 1 of the Kotenian Chronicles. It's going to be a whopper of a book; I'm deep into revisions and it's shaping up to 800 pages. It follows 7 POVs in the region of my world depicted on the maps below. (Yes, the maps have evolved over time. If you compare the maps to the globe above, you'll see some discrepancies. Part of the ongoing creative process.) The map on the left is political, and the map on the right environmental.
The continent of Koten is the home of a once-great empire that has fractured into six smaller nation-states and one functioning kingdom, Cyrannica. To the south of Cyrannica is an enormous desert home to the Mutrai peoples. Northeast of the Kotenian nation-states is the woodland kingdom of Skandersylva, and farther north still are the Great Black Woods, home of the dreaded ruks.
I found this cool website called Artbreeder, which lets me blend pictures together and use some fancy photo manipulation (I don't really know how it all works) to make photorealistic fictional characters! I used it to make the seven POV narrators of A Temple of Lies, as well as some of the major secondary characters. I know some people prefer to imagine their own images of characters - after all, storytelling is a communal act that starts with the author and ends with the reader - but for those who like seeing the images I have in mind as I draft the story, here they are!
From top left to bottom right, meet Eleni, Manell, Farrentain, Duhima, Natasza, Cosiman, and Avel, the seven narrators; and a larger but far from exhaustive supporting cast, Bekah, Lenza, Ramin, Tamgobard, Lilian, and Nikol.
From top left to bottom right, meet Eleni, Manell, Farrentain, Duhima, Natasza, Cosiman, and Avel, the seven narrators; and a larger but far from exhaustive supporting cast, Bekah, Lenza, Ramin, Tamgobard, Lilian, and Nikol.
