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C M Debell

@cmdebell.bsky.social

870 followers 710 following 310 posts

She/her. Writer and reader of stories. Fantasy forever. Lymond ❤️. Freelancer by day. SPFBO9 semi-finalist. Free book via my newsletter https://www.andeira.net/newsletter linktr.ee/cmdebell

www.andeira.net

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · May 29

If you like any of these things, you might like The Many Shades of Midnight

- Political fantasy
- Character-focused
- Multi POV
- Standalone, 350 pages
- No romance

(Also anti-capitalist rage and people taking action, if anyone needs that in their lives right now)

books2read.com/u/brev8w
💙📚🪐

Front cover of The Many Shades of Midnight by CM Debell
Quotes from reviewers:
'Some of the best character arcs in fantasy'
'Dark, gritty and impossible to put down'
'I was absolutely consumed by this book'

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

#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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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 11h

He really has no fun in this one. It's one of my favourite stories though😂😂

C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 11h

#WIPSnips 10th October 'prize'

I have this one! It's not a WIP, but here's a snippet from In Midnight's Shadow. Alyas is proposing to steal a famous treasure from a temple and Esar just knows this is a Very Bad Idea.

#writesky #booksky #writingcommunity #writingfantasy

Quote from In Midnight's Shadow for WIPSnips 10th October prompt 'prize'

“That was the easy part.” Alyas unfolded a sheet of parchment. “Getting hold of this was much more difficult.”
It was another sketch. Though ‘sketch’ didn’t do it justice. In the centre of the page, surrounded by crabbed notes, was an illustration of the Empress Ivane casket, colours and details picked out by a skilled artist. Esar scanned the notes, what he could read of them, then the faded signature in the corner. Not any artist. The artist. Eirik Hagan. One of the most famous Isyr craftsmen who had ever lived and the man who had made the box.
He met Alyas’s eyes with a sinking feeling. “Where did you get this?”
“Same place I got the Isyr. The Temple of Yholis. Their library is a treasure trove.”
Esar dropped his head in his hands with a groan. “You robbed Yholis so we can rob Ithol? Have you lost your bloody mind?”
“I didn’t steal it,” Alyas protested, retrieving his prize. “I borrowed it.”
“Do they know you borrowed it?”
“If I’d asked, they might have said no.”
“Then you stole it. And I don’t want to know about the rest. We’ll have no friends left by the time this is over.”

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Adam Holcombe @adamholcombe.bountyink.com · 1d

A box of paperbacks arrived at my house yesterday. If I get to 20 preorders (the halfway point to what I got with A Necromancer Called Gam Gam), then I'll do a giveaway!

books2read.com/BountyInc

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Reposted by C M Debell

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

#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

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

#WIPSnips The word for October 8 is DUNGEON

"Dungeons" come up a few times in the series but just this once in THE RILL LORD. Interestingly, Dorilian has not yet ended up in a dungeon--though he's often threatened with being tossed into one. As is recalled here...
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Screenshot of a text excerpt from THE RILL LORD, sixth and final book (April 2026) of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. The snip shows post-battle Dorilian relaxing with Robdan and relating his thoughts about the palace they've just taken:

With a sigh, Dorilian flung himself back upon the rumpled bed covers, the wings of his Armor spread across his broad chest like those of an exhausted eagle. He stared up at the flickering shadows on a ceiling traced with gold. “Have you noticed that this palace is a cold place? The ones who lived here are all dead now. All gone.”
Surprised by such melancholy, Robdan wondered what demons strove with the shadows of Dorilian’s memories. Stefan perhaps. It had been here, after all, somewhere in this vast palace, some tower room or deep dungeon, that Stefan had planned to incarcerate him—the same palace in which the ill-fated Sordaneon Hierarch Labran had ended his world-weary days. But Dorilian was thinking along different paths.
“This palace is hollowed, Robdan Aelfricson. One generation has passed, and all its history is unwritten.”
Robdan wished he had wise words to put to rest that sense of a past being lost. Even for him, Stauberg’s past dissolved into inconsequence, doomed by the finite limits of human memory. For Khelds the Malyrdeons had left behind only ancient, hallowed halls that, empty now, spoke in echoes of antiquity.
“Do you know,” Dorilian asked in a voice filled with pain, “I still hear his footsteps?”

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 2d

#WIPSnips 8 October 'dungeon'

Considering that I write fantasy, I couldn't find 'dungeon' in any of my books, written or in progress. I did find this snippet from a historial fantasy that I am wrestling with that has kind of the right vibes.

#writesky #writingcommunity #writingfantasy

“It sounds,” she said, “as if you’re trying to convince yourself.”
There was a long silence. Darri’s voice, when he finally answered, held a note of despair. “Not even in my worst moments. How could I? They are my brothers.”
And Reis he even loved, probably more than the boy deserved. But if Reis was conflicted in his loyalties, that was hardly his fault. None of these three were truly to blame for where they found themselves.
“Then it is what you do with them that is keeping you from the sleep you need?”
“What are my options?” The frustration was evident in his voice. “I cannot simply forgive and forget, go back to how things were.”
“Nor should you, I think. Especially Iro. But—”
“But Iro has spent too much of his life in a cage already? Do you think I don’t know that? He is what we made him. Should I be surprised that he hates me?”
“We?” Merionn shook her head. “Darri, that was none of your doing. There are many people Iro could hate for what was done to him and to your father. Maelys, Carwel, perhaps even Edelyn. But you were a child. It was not your fault, and you could not have changed it.”
“I was a child then. Not now. Now it will be my hand on the key and no other’s. And so help me, Merionn, I mean to throw that key into the deepest lake in Llyn.”

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · May 29

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 3d

It's definitely making the waiting very difficult :)

C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 3d

#WIPSnips 7 October 'safe'

I have lots of 'safer', 'safety', 'safely' in this WIP but so far only this one use of 'safe'.

#writesky #writingcommunity #booksky #writingfantasy

Quote from Northern Steel for the prompt 'safe'

“Hengyr told me… that he knew you were alive. Tais, I didn’t know, I swear it. I didn’t know.”
Hengyr. Her husband. It made it worse, somehow, hearing her say his name. “What would you have done if you did?”
He couldn’t keep the bitterness from his voice and Istra looked away, unable to meet his eyes. What did he expect? He had seen where she lived, the luxuries she enjoyed that he could never give her, never give his daughter, not even if he lived a hundred lifetimes. Of course she wouldn’t have exchanged that for more of the same hardship she had tried so long to escape. It was just one more thing he couldn’t blame her for, but Yholis, it hurt. Because he might not have been able to give them much, but he would have given them everything.
“Do you love him?” he demanded roughly, turning the knife on himself, as if he wasn’t bleeding enough already. “Did you love me?”
“Why? What can it matter now?”
“It matters because we have a daughter! You might be able to forget that, but I can’t. I couldn’t, not once these last five years. I need to know, Istra.”
She stared at him, exasperated. “Did I? I don’t know. You were safe, kind. You were there. Did you love me? Or was I just a distraction from Cat?”

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 3d

These snippets are making me very nervous!

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

#WIPSnips The word for October 7 is SAFE

The opposite of "safe" is "danger" and in THE RILL LORD nearly every use of safe spoiled an imminent or in-progress danger. But I did find this bit where Hans tells Aubrey why Dorilian gave him a sword... and more.
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #epicfantasy

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 is part of a scene where Hans recovers after a battle... and comes to full grips with his heritage.

“Yes,” Aubrey said. Her skirt swept around the chair as she came to stand at his side. “A great many secrets are coming home to roost this day.” Looking pensive, she touched the curved hilt of the Gweroyen Sword Hans had leaned against the arm of his chair.
“He gave it to me.” Hans understood why she touched it. The chicken he was eating suddenly tasted like sawdust and he set it back on the plate. Wherever Dorilian was right now, he wasn’t eating a chicken dinner. He sought the right words. “Marenthro told me it belonged to Amynas Malyrdys a long time ago, before the Return. I don’t think Dorilian knew that; I think he believed it was Derlon’s sword, but he showed me how to use it. He said he wanted me to be safe.”
Aubrey gave him a tremulous smile. “Levyathan told me he was generous. I—I never thought of him that way.”
“He gave me this damn Kingdom, think of that.”

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 3d

Three and I've gone too far 😂

C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 3d

I usually give mine the back up of a second cup

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 3d

This series is addictive!

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Stephen Cox But Spookier @stephencoxauthor.bsky.social · 3d

Proof whatever the author's intentions, a reader can miss them.

Paul Haine @paulhaine.bsky.social · 3d

Kemi Badenoch claiming Terry Pratchett as her favourite author is wild

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Rob J. Hayes - author of The God Eater Saga @robjhayes.bsky.social · 4d

October is upon us and the ghouls have come out to play... maybe. You'll have to check the list of Self Published Fantasy Releases to be sure.

robjhayes.co.uk/self-publish...

Self Published Fantasy Releases – October 2025

Visit the post for more.

robjhayes.co.uk

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 4d

haha, he's lovely

C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 4d

#WIPSnips 6 October 'miss'

When your characters have enough problems without a crown prince who should know better popping in for a visit.

#writingcommunity #writesky #booksky #writingfantasy

Quote from Northern Steel for the prompt 'miss'

Very deliberately, she set the bottle on her desk. With some force.
Krado blinked at her in surprise, oblivious to the tension. “Really, Cat. I don’t see what the fuss is about. No one knows I’m here—”
“That’s the bloody problem! What do you think your guards will do once they realise you’re missing? Gods, they’ll tear this city apart.” And anyone who got in their way.
“But they don’t know,” he said patiently. “They think I’m in seclusion, contemplating the state of my soul or something. They won’t find out for, oh, hours.” An airy wave of his hand served to underline the vagueness of this estimate.
“They won’t find out at all,” she snapped, “because you’re going back. Osk—”
“No.” Krado leant back in the chair and crossed his legs at the ankles with a casual smile that nevertheless conveyed the immovable force of the imperial will. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 4d

#WIPSnips The word for October 6 is MISS

Dorilian misses a lot of things as his life changes... and changes again. In this snip from THE RILL LORD he meets up with the Khelds again after a long absence and realizes another change about to happen. #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Screenshot of a text excerpt from THE RILL LORD, sixth and final (April 2026) book of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. Snip is a portion of a scene in which Dorilian rejoins Hans and the Khelds. Here he accepts a breakfast while they still don't know who he is.

Nalf guffawed. “Sit down, damn you.” He kicked out the next bench. As he did so, he eyed Dorilian up and down. “You’re dressed like a gods-bedecked Staubaun this time out. Almost manage to look like one too with that big ring and so much gold on your buttons. Gerd! How can two civilized men expect to talk over empty plates? Get the man a porridge or something.”
Dorilian took the offered seat, knowing he might never again get to savor such Kheldish bluntness with impunity. He only now realized he had missed it, this earthy honesty of feeling. He would miss it even more when they learned to know him on sight. Gerd set a bowl of porridge in front of the Thegnard, then moved around the table to take a seat himself.

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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 5d

To Dream a Darker Realm takes place in 1988 when department stores displayed walls of TVs... do they still do that? Do department stores still exist? I haven't been to a mall in a loooong time 😂

Maddie's POV:

#WIPSnips #amwritingfantasy #writesky 💙🪐📚

Her dreams didn’t work exactly like a Magic 8-ball or a deck of Tarot cards. If they did, they’d be easier to explain away or ignore. She divided them into two categories. Category One, little-d-dreams, like sitting for an exam in a class you didn’t know you were taking or forgetting your pants. Category Two, capital D Dreams, the ones normal people didn’t have, where images flickered in her mind like TV screens in department stores, each showing a different moment of the same episode. In a day or a week or a year, something would happen, and she would have an unnerving memory of having dreamed it, turning it on or off like switching the channel.

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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 5d

#WIPSnips The word for October 5 is STORE

Today we take a look at Nammuor, who in THE RILL LORD is refining his end game by maneuvering a minion and contemplating poison. Attacking the godborn requires nasty weapons.
#epicfantasy #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 relates a conversation between the villain, Nammuor, and the Epopte Quirin about how to use a crippling poison.

“The Rillblood can be caged again.” Quirin kept his voice calm, centered. “The Sordaneons were ever the most useful of their breed. I know the drug that will render Dorilian helpless. It must be administered in minute amounts, directly into the spine. Ingested, it is poison to them. Once under its influence, Dorilian can be kept conscious but would be incapable of performing any thought or action, however small.”
Nammuor studied the Psilant. “I’m aware of this drug. You may recall I have a store of it.”
A store you do not know how to properly use. Quirin glared with rebuke. “You mean you kept some back from the massive doses you used to poison the wine at Permephedon?”
Laughter, dark and indulgent, rang out from the sapphire gleam of the Halesseon Throne. It wrapped about Quirin with an intimate appreciation. “Did you see them after, Quirin? How long do you think it took them to die, unable to move or blink—or breathe? Dorilian went mad from it, I hear, raging as they died one by one, twitching on the floor like bugs.”

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Joanne Hall @hierath77.bsky.social · 5d

Nearly at 50% - let's gooooo!

Joanne Hall @hierath77.bsky.social · 8d

www.kickstarter.com/projects/191...

We're hopefully doing a Welsh folklore anthology - gyffrous iawn! Please back and/or share widely!

They Are Still Here (Maen Nhw Yma O Hyd)

An anthology of contemporary fantasy stories featuring creatures and characters from Welsh mythology and folklore

www.kickstarter.com

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 7d

The Stuff With Fantasy Free Fall event starts today! 200+ books are free until 5th October.

Check out the sale at stuffwithfantasy.com/event/68930d...

#freebooks #stuffwithfantasy #indiefantasy

Collage of front covers of fantasy books in the Stuff With Fantasy Free Fall book event from October 3-5th 2025
www.stuffwithfantasy.com

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