A New Start

Hello everyone, this is 'ESB' Stringfellow, and I have a lovely bunch of coconuts, and this is...

An Update Regarding The Author's Books!!!

I am as pleased as punch to announce that I have taken the chance to republish my books on Amazon! All of the links to the right in the "Books by the Author" section have been updated and will now take you to the new versions of my books, where none of them, I promise you, are priced at four hundred dollars (I'm still scratching my head at that one). If you find that the links don't work, or that they're taking you to the wrong place, then tell Amazon as well as myself, and we'll try to figure it out together.

Now, what are the differences, you must be wondering. Basically The Five Year Pilgrimage series is unaltered, but there are a few things in Path of a Hero I'd like to mention. For one thing, I cleaned up some more writing mistakes, but I also took the opportunity to take out the word okay whenever it was used by someone who was not Magus. Why? Because I felt that was a slang/informal word that should be used more sparingly, thus helping to make Magus' way of speaking stand out more, and I only thought of doing that until AFTER my first time publishing Path of a Hero.

A couple other changes I did had more to do with gaining newfound knowledge over the years, which made me want to make things more appropriate. One of them was General Demana's outfit, which originally was on the sexy side, but after learning that was an overused and even problematic trope, I decided to give Demana a new outfit that reflects her status as a warrior more. The last change I did was refer to Sa'Phi'Ro's sword, Muramasa, as an odachi. When I first wrote Path of a Hero, I never bothered to ask if a katana-like sword that was six to seven feet long was named anything else, and to my slight embarrassment, I asked rather on the late side. But that has been changed now, and hopefully for the better.

If you are, by any chance, someone who has purchased and read Path of a Hero before, you might find that these changes are not great incentives to buy it again, and I will not blame you. All that I ask is that you tell your friends/family, if they had not read my book yet, to give this version a shot (that way, I'll actually get royalties).

Oh, and also, I added a relabeled map of Trino.



Now you can follow Cyan and Magus' "Path" to "Heroism"

Hopefully, that does turns out good (I haven't had the pleasure of seeing it myself yet outside of digital previews) and you'll be able to read the labels well enough. My fingers are most definitely crossed!

Now, there is the other difference that will stand out with all of my books that I had published with America Star Books, and that is the covers. I would like to share them with you now...

Where Darkness slowly engulfs the Light.

So, first up is the Path of a Hero cover, which I feel captures the idea of Cyan slowly losing his Light to Darkness. Not really half Darkness and half Light, but the sense that Darkness is indeed growing.

A Temple With a View!

Book I: Chi had to have some earthy hue to it, so I created a cover that had some various shades of brown to it. I also wanted to have a temple in it, to convey to the readers the location that this story takes place, the Tu Long Academy.

Blinded By The Light!

In Book II: Sui, there are two things going for it: A water theme and magic, and definitely lots of magic. So I used this mystical looking image that I found and gave it the best watery color that I could get.

Enter The Dragon!

Shockingly, Book III: Ka's cover came out looking almost exactly the same as its original! I found myself wondering if America Star Books had used the same cover creator that I did! And I must confess, I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to find a dragon image/emblem that I could use, but I lucked out!

The Colors of the Wind?

Hmm, starting to wonder if I had done right with Book IV: Fu's cover when in comparison to the others. I still like it, but I can't help but wonder if I could've done better. Oh well, I'll be sticking with it, no doubt, even if it does seem to lack a certain wind factor.

A Heavenly Light.

And finally, we come back to Book V: Ku, where I did a little color addition at the top and bottom of the cover so as to not have pure white there whenever it gets printed into a physical book (a flaw I had discovered only after getting some copies for myself).

So, what do you think? I know they don't quite have the cool factor of the old covers, especially when they're all missing that wonderful katana sitting beneath the words, which had become something of a regular recurring theme. But hey, I make do with I got, and the main thing is that my books are all on Amazon now and at much more reasonable rates.

If you find yourself having trouble, again, contact Amazon and inform me as well so that I can also contact them. This is my first time publishing on my own, with so many books at once. Things are bound to have a bump or two along the way (trust me on this).

Until next time, my dear readers.
Sincerely, 'ESB' Stringfellow'

Come to Vayu-Vata for the Adventure, Stay Because You Got Captured By Demons

Hello everyone, this is 'ESB' Stringfellow, and I am the one who let the dogs out, and this is...

The Synopsis For Book IV!!!

Let us dive right into it, shall we?

Spirits of adventure... Guided by the wind... Dreams of freedom... A love without end...

 Cyankazu Omondi and Magus, warriors, spell casters, heroes and adventurers, have traveled far and seen many things on their journeys. And now they have arrived to the desert kingdom of Vayu-Vata, where their greatest story thus far was not about the destination, but the road to get there.

The two travelers face many new adversaries... thieves of the desert, a monstrous lion, a savage draco and demons of the sands... all because they promised to help a recently freed slave named Alee to rescue his beloved.

As though guided by the Winds of Fate, Cyankazu Omondi, Magus and their new allies embark on an adventure of trials worthy of the greatest heroes of legends.

 

Rather shiny, ain't it?

So, this synopsis kind of gives the best details about this book, but for the sake of making this a longer post, I'll just go into more detail!

 

Now, when I wanted to write this story, I was truly racking my brain trying to think of something, something undeniably awesome, but on the fun, adventurous side. Fresh from the ending of a war, I really wanted Cyan and Magus to have a nice and smooth story, one that gave them something exciting to do, but didn't require them to make bold or Fate-of-the-World type choices. And thus the premise of the story became this: They find a traveling merchant that owns slaves, and being the heroes that they are, Cyan and Magus free them. One of the slaves, named Alee, asks for their help. There is a woman, named Morgiana, also a slave, who he is desperate to return to and free as well. However, she is under the service of the country's most vile and feared ruler ever, King Zaman, a monster of a human being if there ever was one. After hearing his story, our heroes agree to help!

 

But... to save Morgiana and maybe even dethrone an evil king, Cyan, Magus and Alee must cross the great desert, the Mazan Desert. Not only do they have to cross it, they have to contend with... well, obstacles, I guess we can say.

 

First, they face a group of deadly thieves called the Desert Riders, and in the process they free a magical-infused horse named Rakhsh. He's like Magus, meaning that he is a normal horse who was just granted the gift of magic at his birth, which allows him to communicate via telepathy and cast some spells. I sure hope you all enjoy the interactions of Rakhsh and Magus as much as I enjoyed typing it.

 

After that, there is a monster lion, then getting lost in the desert after being robbed under mysterious circumstances, finding an enchanted oasis, fighting a dragon, then the dragon's master, then the dragon's master's master, who is a demon.

 

All of this is to say that getting to Alee's girlfriend is going to take some serious trials, the kind that create true heroes. At the end of this spirited adventure, Alee will find the strength that he needs to make the choice that will better the entire kingdom.

 

Now I think is the time to remind you all that I have two different covers for this book. The one above is the one used for the physical copy, which was made by my former publishers (still no idea what exactly happened to them), but the one below is used for the Kindle version.

 

If this invokes the thought of a desert, then its job is done.

 

I was able to secure the digital rights to Book IV: Fu before America Star Books went under/disappeared/ran away, which is why I got this cover for the Kindle. The font may lack that certain... Dazzle... but it is truly the best that I can do on my own. Maybe one day I'll get lucky and I'll be able to get a better cover, but for now this is it. Besides, as long as the cover looks interesting enough, hopefully it'll entice people to read the synopsis or take a look inside. After all, it's what's inside the book that counts.

 

Beautiful, Scenic, and lots of things to eat (you)

 

Now, if I could have your attention for a bit more, I would like to inform you that, out of all of my books, this is the one that would be great to have as your first. Remember, The Five Year Pilgrimage doesn't have to be read in order, each story is independent on its own. So, if you were to pick just one story to help give you an idea of what to expect but don't want to read the nearly 600 hundred pages of Path of a Hero, then this, my dear readers, is the perfect jumping on point. It's exciting, it has heart, humor and lovable characters, and chances are good that this one won't make you cry at the ending (that would be Book II: Sui).

 

And that is where I think I'll call it that. Until next time, my dear readers.

Sincerely, 'ESB' Stringfellow