L.L. Stephens

All over Hellas, wherever men gathered—dining rooms, bathhouses, wine shops, markets, symposia—they argued. In the aftermath of the battle at Kynoskephalai, men of Hellas and Macedon could not understand how the phalanx, which had been the superior battle formation for generations, had been defeated by the upstart barbarian Roman legion. It became almost an obsession, and every man—as well as more than a few women—had an opinion on the subject. Everywhere she went in Delphi and the Sanctuary of Apollo, Pythia Xanthe was surrounded by men arguing.

List of daily post prompts for indie fantasy authors for March. Today's is: Saturday Snippet Hosts: @chesneyinfalt.bsky.social and @lvrussell.bsky.social

Day 7 of #FantasyIndiesMarch

Another unedited snippet from Book 7 of my Oracle of Delphi series WIP. This is from around 197 BCE, and mentions the subject of one of the hottest debates in Greece at that time: the Macedonian phalanx vs. the Roman legion.

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#WIPSnips The word for March 7 is MASSIVE

In THE RILL LORD, our heroes face the series villain at an imposing (and "massive") fortress. This is a small snip... but it doesn't spoil anything and it certainly sets the scene.
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Left side is a text excerpt from THE RILL LORD, sixth and final book (April) of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. Snip follows Robdan's thoughts as he gazes upon an artifact of the World's creation: Beyond the harbor, far out to sea beyond the veil of the Wall, shimmered the green and violet edges of the Rift. A wound in the fabric that separated the Second Creation’s Three Worlds, it was nonetheless beautiful. Robdan wondered if it was true that the Leur folk had sacrificed their lives to create that barrier to magically maintain their Creation in its three separations. The First Creation’s myriad Worlds archived in a forever past. A single new World in which the Creation continued. And one World, Gsch, forever caught in the moment when the First Creation was destroyed. Imprisoned by magic, that Devastation had happened and not happened and was yet happening, just on the other side of a fragile shield of living energy, the Last Gift of Leur. This World was ever but moments away from Devastation. The side of the image is a meme showing daily writing prompts for authors of fantasy fiction.

#FantasyIndiesMarch 7: Saturday Snippet

In this snippet from THE RILL LORD, Robdan ponders the cosmology of Leur's Second Creation. What are the Three Worlds That Are One? And why does how they are constructed matter? #epicfantasy #WritingCommunity

Thanks!

#WIPSnips The word for March 6 is PURSUE

People "pursue" many things: fame, prey, each other. They also "pursue" appearances. In this snip from THE RILL LORD, Arne defends the wearing of fancy clothes.
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#FantasyIndiesMarch 6: Good fortune

This year I switched gears and stepped out of the rat race. Entirely. It's a good place to be. I'm focusing on my books, my husband, my family, and my friends. 😊

The Triempery maps. Dominique did such beautiful work with these. They're in the final two books (I will be commissioning maps for the earlier books too) and also on my website. I always say "Give me a map and I will travel the world!"

The Series So Far: A Sordaneon Recap This is a recap of the first book in the Triempery Revelations series. It's also an experiment to see if there's interest or any benefit to me in creating recaps. It SPOILS the ending, which most read...

I put a recap of the first novel of the Triempery series, SORDANEON, on my website. I don't put recaps of preceding novels in the books of the series. Mainly that's because after years and years of agent queries, I have synopsis trauma.
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www.triempery.com/post/the-ser...

Massive Darkness 2 foam inserts for a PACK720 case. Shown are painted and unpainted miniatures of the bosses: the Reaper (gray), Michael (gold with white winters), and two unpainted bosses.

Foam inserts for the Massive Darkness 2 miniatures. Shown are mobs and mob leaders.

The wife is free from writing! Let’s organize my game stuff!”

Husband and I are putting our Massive Darkness 2 minis into one carrying case. That’s a lot of painted (and still unpainted) minis. #miniaturepainting #boardgame #Pack720

Cover of Dunnett’s The Game of Kings

Have to have Dorothy Dunnett here. She was so extraordinarily good. This begins her Lymond Chronicles. She was someone I knew, later, was so gracious to someone so much younger, before I’d written anything. Plus her husband Alastair taught me to put a little water in my whisky. #worldbookday

#WIPSnips The word for March 5 is DESTROY

So much destruction in THE RILL LORD. Circles and circles of ruin.

In this snip, Emyli ponders a ruin she could have prevented. She foresaw someone she was sure would destroy things. But did she see truly?
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#FantasyIndiesMarch 5: Risks in WIP

The risks in THE RILL LORD involve having your world torn apart. Battle kills. Sorcerers enslave or torture (or kill, they do that too).

Humans risk becoming inhuman. Inhumans risk being destroyed.

Pride risks a fall. Love risks loss. All is at stake.

Left side of image is book cover of THE GOD SPEAR, Book 4 of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. Cover is orange and gold and shows a young woman walking down a country lane toward an odd hill crowned by antlers. Right side of image is a text excerpt from THE GOD SPEAR. It showcases the series villain, Nammuor, who wears a god-infested Diadem and is becoming dangerously... violent. If Erenor could not control this wretched city’s population, Nammuor would do it for him. These people too were creating—aimlessly, without intelligence, pathetic imitations of their god. They were creating disorder. Inciting complications and outcomes and unpredictability. The Diadem clamored to instill order, to sweep clean the chaos. Nammuor stretched out his hands. He could not remove these flesh things of Leur from existence— even the crystals of Highborn blood in his Diadem did not enable him to do that—but he could alter them, slay them, reduce them to their raw materials. Fry them. Freeze them. Open the ground to swallow their numbers. He could... exhaust himself by doing these things. Drain his body of resources and his Diadem of precious power it might not restore for weeks, perhaps months. If Dorilian was making moves, Nammuor needed to be more prudent.

It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is OPEN.

In this quote from THE GOD SPEAR (Book 4 of the Triempery series) readers see Nammuor, the series villain. He wears a god-infested Diadem and this bit shows how his mind is starting to slip its leash...
#bookqw #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Tidbits and Easter Eggs: Epigraphs Though they first appear in Book 3: The Second Stone, epigraphs—the short bits that appear at the start of each chapter—were a part of the Triempery series from the start. I wrote a post on my Faceboo...

Anyone curious about use of epigraphs and reference to in-world sources in the Triempery Revelations series can look at this blog post from my website, which explains how I use them and gives many examples:
www.triempery.com/post/tidbits...

#WIPSnips The word for March 4 is MEDIA

"Media" as a word does not appear in THE RILL LORD or in any of the Triempery books. The concept exists, however (and probably an in-world word for it). So I will give examples of "media" through epigraphs that appear in the book.
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#FantasyIndiesMarch 4: Do your characters believe in luck or fate?

Most humans believe in luck, I think, so my characters do also. Just not completely.
As Dorilian says in THE RILL LORD, “I've never waited for fate to fall upon me. Fortune comes more often to those who put themselves in its path.”

Ebook cover for ‘A Light for the Dead to Follow’ by Rebecca Crunden. Cover image is of a skull surrounded b y red-pink flowers. There are vines at the top beside the title. The title font is black and maroon, the name font is white.

🗡️ fantasy novella
⚰️ accidental reawakening of dead immortals
🏹 gallant knights
👑 evil kingdom 🤝 evil queendom
🌲 enchanted plants and forests
🥀 romance and friendship

🔖 link: mybook.to/mUVTmR
💌 itch.io: rebecca-crunden.itch.io/a-light-for-...
📖 gr: www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...

[ #booksky ]

This map is perfect, utterly perfect, for the book in which it appears. 😊 This map and a map of the larger domain are both in THE RILL LORD.

Coming to you in two more days, with the sequel in two more weeks!

Yes, April 26. ☺️

SPOILER: Rill Lord Art As I do for every book, I've commissioned illustrations for The Rill Lord. These are from Jamie Noble. Fair warning though: these illustrations depict scenes certain to spoil key events in the book! I...

Put up a new blog post showcasing some art. ☺️ The art itself could be considered spoilers for THE RILL LORD, so consider yourself warned if you want to avoid those.
www.triempery.com/post/spoiler...

It’s pretty bad when you get spam for other authors.

#WIPSnips The word for March 3 is COUNTER

To "counter" is to present an opposing opinion... and Emyli does so in this snip from THE RILL LORD. Which god is at work in this climactic moment? The Mother, or the Highborn gods? Because something odd is happening...
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#FantasyIndiesMarch 3: Lies or rumors

The lies about Dorilian start in SORDANEON (Book 1) and follow him for six books. He's an ass, but he's not a regicidal ass. Stefan really does a number on him. Murderer. Traitor. As a result whole nations hate Dorilian.

He's gotten used to it. Mostly.

Peril's Gate Live Discussion YouTube video by Tom Orange

Coming up this SATURDAY in time for the Audiobook release of Ships of Merior (concurrent):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWSo...

#WIPSnips The word for March 2 is MOST

I like using "most" as a superlative: the "most" delicious, the "most" beautiful. Or as in this case from THE RILL LORD, the "most" secret. The fate of Quirin, the weasely Epopte, is about to take a nasty turn...
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Triempery

#WIPSnips The word for March 2 is MOST

I like using "most" as a superlative: the "most" delicious, the "most" beautiful. Or as in this case from THE RILL LORD, the "most" secret. The fate of Quirin, the weasely Epopte, is about to take a nasty turn...
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Triempery

#FantasyIndiesMarch 2: Characters' guilty pleasures

Dorilian sometimes likes to hang out with lower born people (anonymously, of course). He never talks about this with his peers but he craves honesty and learns a lot from people whose lives differ so significantly from his.

List of daily post prompts for indie fantasy authors for March. Today's is: Introduce yourself & WIP with emojis Hosts: @chesneyinfalt.bsky.social and @lvrussell.bsky.social

Day 1 of #FantasyIndiesMarch

Hi again, I'm Diane and yep, you guessed it: I'm still working on my historical fantasy series, the Oracle of Delphi. I'm writing all the books first, then will revise and release them hopefully in 2027. Oh and here's my emojis: 🐍🏺📜🏛️

Happy March! 🎉

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#WIPSnips The word for March 1 is FACE

"Face" the music... "face" the facts. Or just have a "face." In this bit from THE RILL LORD, Dorilian confronts some unhappy Khelds. They've just learned who he really is.

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Triempery