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L.L. Stephens

@triempery.bsky.social

1.8K followers 570 following 1.8K posts

L.L. Stephens, author of epic fantasy Triempery Revelations series and other SF&F fiction. SFWA member. Player of board games and painter of minis!

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · May 10

Five out of six books are now published! I'm hip deep in editing Book 6 for release in early 2026...

◾️Gods coming of age
◾️Transformations
◾️ Betrayals
◾️ Everything will be on the line

#epicfantasybooks #Sordaneon

Graphic shows all five published books of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens: (from left to right) SORDANEON, THE KHELD KING, THE SECOND STONE, THE GOD SPEAR, THE WALLED CITY.

The main heading says "What changes him changes EVERYTHING.

The subheadings say (from left to right above each book): Dorilian inherited a god... Stefan a throne... Hans wanted to fix what they broke. He thinks maybe he did. Dorilian is about to find out.

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Reposted by L.L. Stephens

Jazzpotato @jazzpotato-paints.bsky.social · 7h

Finished the investigators, finally got the whole box done..
#cthulhu #CDMD #miniatures

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 10h

#WIPSnips The word for October 11 is WELCOME

What is welcome? What is not? Sometimes it's simply a little human company. And finding out what that company might really be about. (In this case, food.)
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Triempery

Screenshot of text excerpt from THE RILL LORD, sixth and final book (April 2026) of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. Snippet ends a scene with Dorilian and Robdan, wherein Robdan talks with Tutto about Dorilian... and what comes next.

Dorilian lay in so complete a surrender to sleep that Robdan considered moving him under the blankets. But he decided not to chance waking him and left him as he was.
He notified the captain of the Hierarch’s bodyguard, who notified Tutto, who brought a blanket that together they placed over him. “He’ll be madder than hell when he wakes,” Tutto confided when he and Robdan retreated to near the hearth. His gruff voice was friendlier than it had been. “There was more he wanted to do in these last hours. But Leur knows he needs the sleep. Gifts such as his drain a man, even with his Leur blood. He drives himself harder than any of us.”
“I’m surprised he stopped in to see me.”
“He told Legon he thought you, if anyone, might have something at hand to eat.”
Robdan blinked. “Yes, well…”
“Good thing. He needed that too.” The man’s dark eyes commended Robdan’s consideration. “He doesn’t trust kitchens. Seldom eats without a tester.”
“Me?”
“A sensible move. No one would bother to poison you.”
Robdan’s good feeling about the evening dissipated. Dorilian had done much the same thing at Merath, sleeping in his bed because no one would look there. “I see.”
“If it helps, not even for a royal feast would he endure being with any man whose company he did not welcome.”
“Oh? Well yes, thank you. That does help.”
Tutto nodded. “Good. Because you’re going to be with us a while longer. Catch some sleep yourself. I hope by now you’ve learned to pack light and move like a thief in the dark.”

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 10h

#OctoberWorldbuilders 11: Cooperative game/sport

The Highborn play games to develop their gifts. These games sometimes entail a high degree of cooperating because individuals might not be in the same room... or even city.
#epicfantasy

Yellow highlighted text on a background of dark brown and autumnal trees; text offers a list of daily worldbuilding prompts for writers of fantasy fiction.

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 10h

#FantasyIndiesSpooktober 11: Saturday Snippet

Here's a snip to remind readers what kind of person (and villain) Nammuor is. The World has magic in its making, and he's a sorcerer determined to harness those energies. #epicfantasy

Left side of image is a graphic meme. The body of the meme has white letters on a spooky gray background bordered with ghosts, blood and ghouls. The letters are text offering a list of daily writing prompts for authors of fantasy fiction.

The right side of the image is a text excerpt from THE KHELD KING, Book 2 of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. Text shows a malevolent sorcerer, Nammuor, at work in his lab:

A drop of sweat trickled onto the upper lashes at the corner of Nammuor’s right eyelid, where it hung for a moment before sliding down into his eye. The resulting sharp sting pricked his awareness and he blinked. His focus wavered. On the verge of completion, the fine blue energy tube he had been creating between a pair of glowing blood crystals failed to stabilize; the thread of incandescence warped, expanded outward and disintegrated altogether.
“Imbecile!” Removing his hands from the crystals and the glittering, red-jeweled Diadem on which he had been working, Nammuor turned in rage to confront the quivering acolyte at his feet. A dozen cloud-wort wands tipped with spun cotton dropped from the youth’s shaking hand to spread like accusing fingers on the obsidian floor.

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Reposted by L.L. Stephens

A.J. Calvin @ajcalvin.bsky.social · 1d

#FantasyIndiesSpooktober 10
Free Friday / Explain your WIP with emojis

Emojis are about my speed today (my insomnia was bad again last night)

My current WIP goes like this so far:
🎨😭🐉 🎨 🙂 📨 😊 👑 🎨

FantasyIndiesSpooktober prompts list
Day 10: Free Friday or explain your WIP with emojis/gifs

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you. But you might be onto something. I mean... yeah. People.

L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 1d

#WIPSnips The word for October 10 is PRIZE

The "prize" of this snip is the Triempery itself, in particular the throne of Essera. Emyli has many regrets, among which failing her father is the most painful. She doesn't regret rejecting Deben.
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Triempery

Screenshot of text excerpt from THE RILL LORD, sixth and final book (April 2026) of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. This snip relates a conversation between Emyli and a friend named Kathanos about Emyli's refusal to marry Deben Sordaneon, who later sired Dorilian on another woman.

“Yes, I’ve thought of it.” Emyli rose to pace before the fire. Sunlight poured through the tall windows and still the room felt cold. “And I have paid the price for failing my father. Don’t think I haven’t realized how well Nammuor seized the opportunity I created. Had I been Deben’s Hierarchessa and my son next to sit upon the Eagle Throne, would Nammuor have turned his eye upon that prize? What gain to him then to kill my father? Then indeed Essera and Sordan would have been united under a Highborn Sordaneon ruler of Marc Frederick’s blood! How that would have silenced the Seven Houses!” She laughed, the hard laughter of one who sees clearly but too late. That Stefan had not been that Highborn Heir her father had so desired, fell on her rejection of dynastic politics.
“Highborn or Kheld, your sons would still have stood in Nammuor’s path,” Kathanos counseled. “They might have died sooner, not later. None of us know the might-have-beens. I but wish for you to ponder your harshness toward Dorilian and who it is you are truly hating. Consider too the possibility that Handurin sees him more clearly than any of us. To Handurin, Dorilian is not a might-have-been, nor is he a should-not-have-been. To Handurin, Dorilian simply is. And think of this too—that the cleanness of that perception, the clarity, the trueness of it, is what has reached Dorilian’s heart.”

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 1d

#OctoberWorldbuilders 10: Competitive game/sport

Pelekys is played on horseback by riders vying for a heavy (dull but still deadly) axe. Teams must have at least five riders to contend. First team to score three cracks of the axe against the opposing team's goal post wins. Wagers add excitement.

Yellow highlighted text on a background of dark brown and autumn trees; text offers a list of daily worldbuilding prompts for writers of fantasy fiction.

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 1d

#FantasyIndiesSpooktober 10: Explain your WIP with emojis

THE RILL LORD: 🏡 🏰/👻🫡 🥣🧸🪄 🔥🎇 🤕😭🔎🩸🌨️❄️📚 ⛰️⚠️ 🔥🪄☠️ 😭🌥️🌟

Ta-Dah!

White text on a spooky background bordered by ghosts, blood, and ghouls; text offers a list of daily writing prompts for authors of fantasy fiction.

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Reposted by L.L. Stephens

Indie Book Spotlight @bookspotlight.bsky.social · 2d

📝 400+ pages
🥀 urban fantasy
🌃 set in washington state
🔥 slow burn
🤍 romance and angst
🗡️ demons and vampires
📕 first in a duology

🔖 universal link: mybook.to/D3rL5
💌 itch.io link: rebecca-crunden.itch.io/the-wish-and...
📖 goodreads: www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...

Cover for The Wish and the Demon, book one in the Half Swallowed by Shadows duology, by Rebecca Crunden. Cover shows three men's silhouettes standing in the middle of a road in winter. There's dark red trees and snow on the ground. One figure is approaching the other two, surrounded by shadows.

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Reposted by L.L. Stephens

Gregory Kontaxis @gregkontaxis.bsky.social · 2d

Signed & numbered editions of The Return of the Knights and The Fall of the Giants — my first two novels — are available now from @TheBrokenBinding.

Each set is hand-signed, individually numbered, and limited to just 100 bundles(link in first comment).

Pre-orders are open!!!

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Reposted by L.L. Stephens

Stephanie Burgis @stephanieburgis.bsky.social · 2d

This week's Thursday snippet comes from Wooing the Witch Queen, which is on sale in the UK this month for only 99p! Snap up my sweet, nerdy hero and the terrifying witch queen he falls for: stephanieburgis.com/books/wooing-the-witch-queen

#romancelandia

An image of the front cover of Wooing the Witch Queen shows a sinister witch queen in a spectacular beaded dress embracing her handsome and adoring new librarian (in a black wizard's robe) inside a library of magic filled with crows and masks and flying books. Above and beside it is this snippet from the book:
Felix had never been more grateful for his concealing mask and cloak than when he'd emerged onto the tower roof to find Queen Saskia with her head thrown back, lips parted, a cloud of crows swirling around her and energy crackling so intensely through the air that it lifted the hair at the back of his neck.
It should have been a terrifying sight: the wicked witch of Kitvaria no doubt summoning a terrible storm of magic to rain down upon her enemies.
But it had stopped his breath for quite a different reason.

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 2d

#WIPSnips The word for October 9th is BATTERY

There are battery equivalents in the Triempery universe, but not one use of the word "battery." However, so I found this snip in THE RILL LORD in which Emyli tells why her feelings toward Dorilian are so hardened.
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Screenshot of text excerpt from THE RILL LORD, sixth and final book (April 2026) of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. Snip is part of a conversation Hans has with his mother, Emyli, and the wizard Marenthro about why Emyli's feelings against Dorilian are so hard:

To Hans’ surprise, Marenthro interceded. “Not overlook—forebear,” he advised quietly. “They both were wounded by that battle. Dorilian survived not because he won, but because he withdrew.”
Visibly seething, Emyli turned, her own pain evident beneath an overlying bitterness. “Yes, he could withdraw. I will not smile upon him for it. He could throw the force of his Highborn birth, his station and his Hierarchate, his Rill and his brilliance against a man who was struggling just to hold onto his crown and his people’s way of life. Dorilian could batter and bleed Stefan and Essera, humiliate and goad and leave no ground for compromise—and then he could withdraw. Because he is Sordaneon, descended from his own gods; because he inherited the greatest fortune in three empires; because he brought the Rill to Teremar and knew it, and no one can take what he is or what he has away from him—he could withdraw! He could lay down that sword because he never had to take it up in the first place! It was always his choice.” She sighed and shook her head. “Do not ask me to approve of what he’s done.”

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 2d

#OctoberWorldbuilders 9: Board games in my book's world?

Readers can follow a chess game (yes, a single game) through the entire series. The game is begun by two characters and moves continue to be made by others, mirroring aspects of the plot.

I had a lot of fun with it. ♟️

Yellow highlighted text on a background of brown and autumn trees; text offers a list of daily worldbuilding prompts for writers of fantasy fiction.

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 2d

#FantasyIndiesSpooktober 9: Favorite paranormal creatures

Well, unicorns. Of course. Because magical horse.
And I'm rather partial to basilisks. 😉

The amaru of Inca legend is awesome, dragon-like and mysterious. But not as fun as a unicorn.

White text on a dark spooky background bordered by ghosts, blood, and ghouls; text offers a list of daily writing prompts for authors of fantasy fiction.

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Reposted by L.L. Stephens

Tru Skies @trudieskies.readindiefantasy.com · 3d

Not done a #WIPSnips in a while, but we just happen to have a couple of dungeons in the end game 😂

A screenshot from my WIP, The Chosen Con, with the following text:

“If you’d come with us, sir,” said one of the Argents.
What now? They’d escort me to [redacted]—my—rooms and let me run riot alone? Lock me inside? We took the elevator down to the second level and entered a nondescript corridor lined with rooms.
No. Cells.
Oh, they’d brought me to the fortress dungeons. Of course, the Archons had their own private dungeons. Why wouldn’t they?

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Reposted by L.L. Stephens

[email protected] @darkspires.bsky.social · 3d

Kindle and Kindle Unlimited on all Amazons. Paranormal Romance with a twist.. Who is good and who is not? Will the seemingly evil kill? Or will the apparently good? One path leads to life, but which? www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...

Darkspire Reaches

Amazon.com: Darkspire Reaches eBook : Lesley, C.N.: Kindle Store

www.amazon.com

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 3d

By the events of the final book readers witness the world's most disastrous arranged marriage, genocide, sorcery unleashed against cities and armies, and some affirming romances and friendships. One friendship changes Dorilian forever... and maybe it will be enough to save the Second Creation. Fin.

L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 3d

Dorilian starts the series as a teen but grows into a man. His life sees the crumbling of a great empire--the Triempery--and the rise of a malevolent Aryati-imprisoned god. Along this path emerge other characters, evil Rill-obsessed cartels, a Time-spanning Wall (another of the Three), and trouble.

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 3d

Leur and a human, Amynas, sought to grow the Leur godhead by creating a human-god hybrid, the Highborn. Dorilian is a descendant of that effort. The Highborn have gifts tied to the original hybrids, the Three. Dorilian's bloodline ties him to the Rill, a god-machine inhabited by one of the Three.

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 3d

The series starts in Sordan, one of the Five Cities. Only three Cities are left. They were created by Leur, the Creation god, for an extinct race, the Aryati. The Aryati got too big for their britches age ago and destroyed the Creation. Leur sacrificed much of its godhood to create a Second World.

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 3d

The main character of the series is Dorilian Sordaneon. The story follows him from his mother's murder (which he witnesses) when he is seven. Dorilian is... unusual. He is godborn, not completely human. But he is a little human and maybe human enough to not become a tyrant-god.

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 3d

Sorry to get to this late. I could not imagine doing this on a phone.

My WIP is the Triempery series. Five books published (and you've been there for most of that journey) and the sixth book will be published in April. I'm wrapping things up!

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 3d

After you look it up--it's quite a fascinating sport--take a look at the novel THE HORSEMEN, by Joseph Kessel. That book is the source inspiration (for me) for this game. I read the book as a teen and it left quite an impression!

L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 3d

It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is STRONG

Below is a key scene from SORDANEON, first book of the Triempery Revelations series. In it, Marc Frederick--a man Dorilian has considered an enemy--counsels him about strength and its price.

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Sordaneon #bookqw

Left side of image is book cover of SORDANEON, Book 1 of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. Cover shows a small lone figure facing a golden, fantastic city with a core of shining power.

Left side is a text excerpt from SORDANEON, showing a scene between Dorilian, the young MC, and older, wiser Marc Frederick:

“You are crueler than any blade to deliver hope only when hope is gone. He would have ruled this land in a way I never could, been truly just in a way I never could be. He would not have had to fight the way I did.” When Dorilian looked away, Marc Frederick laughed hollowly in recognition of the reason. “Oh, you think I fought because I wanted to, don’t you? You would think that, given your history. But think again—and take a good, long look at yourself when you do. Because you are less like him than you want to believe, and much—much—more like me. You fight because you can, because you are strong and tough and have the stomach for battle that others do not. Because others will look to you to fight their battles for them—and you will do it, because they will have convinced you that you must. You will fight until you have killed or enslaved or silenced them all, every perceived enemy, every people that does not speak and think and act as you think they should—and then you will step back one day and see what you have wrought. You will see that you are alone. You will have wanted to create a world for people like you, only to find that there are no others like you and never will be. But then it will be too late. You will have destroyed even hope.”

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