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L.L. Stephens @triempery.bsky.social · 9h

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 · 9h

#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 · 7h

#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

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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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 1d

It's definitely making the waiting very difficult :)

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 1d

#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 · 1d

These snippets are making me very nervous!

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

#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 · 1d

Three and I've gone too far 😂

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 1d

I usually give mine the back up of a second cup

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 1d

This series is addictive!

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Stephen Cox @stephencoxauthor.bsky.social · 1d

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

Paul Haine @paulhaine.bsky.social · 1d

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 · 2d

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 · 2d

haha, he's lovely

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 2d

#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 · 2d

#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 · 3d

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 · 3d

#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 · 3d

Nearly at 50% - let's gooooo!

Joanne Hall @hierath77.bsky.social · 6d

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 · 5d

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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Angela Boord @angelaboord.bsky.social · 4d

From To Dream A Darker Realm...

A flashback from Sergei in the interlude. (Dr. A is talking about the Cold War; this is set in 1988.)

#WIPSnips #amwritingfantasy #WriteSky

I stared at her. “Do you know how hard it is to make friends when you can’t say anything? I don’t mean surface friends—acquaintances—I mean real friends.”
I thought I had one real friend. Mary Bishop. But she wasn’t going to college; she was staying in Bent Creek. She didn’t like school, and she wanted to get on with her life.
Doctor A sighed. “I know this has all been harder on you than it should be. But you need to have these experiences, Seryozha. Maybe you can’t have them the way the majority of other young people do, but you can have them, within certain parameters. I know it might be impossible to understand, given how ordinary your day-to-day life seems, but there is always the threat of someone from your mother’s old division discovering you or even infiltrating our ranks. This is war, Sergei, even if it doesn’t look like it. The research your mother was involved in was very sensitive, and we have evidence that other people who tried to exit that program were hunted down and killed.”

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 4d

#WIPSnips October 4 - 'hunt'
I don't have 'hunt' in this WIP, but I do have 'follow' in this scene, and it has the right vibes.

#writingcommunity #writesky #booksky #writingfantasy

Grey Coat stuck with Tais as he left the temple square, and the familiar prickle settled between his shoulder blades. He wasn’t imagining it. The man was following him.
He assessed his options. He wasn’t far from the edge of the Silks. The sensible course would be to let the gate guards deal with his shadow. He had been intending to take the blades to Vir anyway, and he would have bet a month’s pay that it was only because of the Isyr that he had a shadow in the first place.
On the other hand, he was tired and fed up, and beating answers out of someone suited his mood far better than prudent retreat. So, he changed course and headed not to the Silks, but towards the streets around the garrison. He would be on familiar turf there, and Yholis help any thug caught threatening a former soldier on their own ground.
Grey Coat wasn’t stupid, however. As soon as it became apparent where he was heading, his shadow stopped skulking. He also multiplied, another man appearing out of the side streets to keep pace with Tais as Grey Coat closed in from behind.
Tais stopped. They weren’t going to let him reach the garrison. Well, fine. His hand was tight around the hilt of the Isyr sword, and he was itching to use it.

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

#WIPSnips The word for October 4 is HUNT

THE RILL LORD, Book 6 of the Triempery series, brings many characters into focus in new ways. Here is Cortogh, a feared and ferocious Dog Man. His role was always destined to be an important one.
#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #Triempery

Screenshot of a text excerpt from THE RILL LORD, sixth and final book (April 2026) of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. Text presents the thoughts of the Dog Man Cortogh after a great battle.

It had not occurred to Cortogh to join other searches for the living or the dead. He had not been asked and it fell to each kind to search for their own. The Prince’s arrival had stirred him from such thoughts. Only now, as he looked upon their faces did Cortogh lift his head and know what he must do. What Baran would have him do, and all the Hen Kyon since Emrysen Malyrdeon had laid upon them the bane of their own pride.
If the Highborn Prince Sordaneon were out there, who better to find him?
Hadn’t Cortogh’s kind been bred to hunt that holy blood and bring it back to the Masters? The Highborn, he repeated an ancient truth, are hard to kill—but they are not hard to find.
Cortogh eased his body from the corner in which he’d curled and made his way unnoticed to the door. Wrapped in their loss and pain, none of the humans paid him heed. His lip turning, his heart still heavy for his father, he opened the door and stepped out into the cold. A storm was rising and already the first stinging granules of sleet stung his exposed face.
He lidded his eyes and lifted his nose to the wind.

Illustration of Cortogh, the Dog Man, one of the characters of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephen. He appears bestial, with a feral face and fangs and wearing barbaric attire. He is shown in battle, wielding a sword and an axe. The battle can be seen being fought behind him.

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

#WIPSnips The word for October 3 is HIBERNATE

The only thing hibernating in the Triempery is the Rill, and I never use that word. So I've opted for "slumber"... and this description from THE WALLED CITY of the Rill god's hibernation by one of the Dog Men.
#epicfantasy #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Screenshot of text excerpt from THE WALLED CITY, Book 5 of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. Snip is of Hans talking with Baran, leader of the Dog Men, a quasi human race that remembers the Rill god's origin and evolution.

“The memories of my people are thick; we remember the Godborn race of old. We remember the gods. Derlon Sordaneon’s body is in that thing that runs between Permephedon and Sordan. If you could cut it, such parts of it as can still bleed would bleed Godborn blood. Whatever properties Godborn flesh has, it shares. It grows. It heals on its own. And it knows its own. It took Derlon’s cells many years to do, many centuries, but he has grown throughout the entire system. The crowns you see, the stations being used because they served the early needs of Staubaun-kind, are nothing. They are just hairs on the surface of the Rill beast. The rest is underground.”
Hans recalled the schematic he had seen at Sordan, the red lines, the blue ones, green and gold. Spokes and hubs of ancient purpose. “You mean the Rill—”
“Is everywhere. It underlies all the lands—and maybe more. The Aryati knew this. They feared what Derlon could become. What he would become. They had a plan to poison him, early, when it could still be done, but their effort failed. Now the Rill is truly Immortal and a god. But it is still Godborn—Highborn, yes, and still Sordaneon.” Baran leaned forward and drew a line in the air, then indicated the space below it. “Beneath the land, under the hills, the Rill stuff slumbers. What do you think would make it erupt to the surface, send forth new growth, new empires?”

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C M Debell @cmdebell.bsky.social · 5d

#WIPSnips today is 'hibernate'. I can't find a hibernate but sleep, or lack of it, is something that comes up a lot in my Tales of Isyr series.

Alyas has a problem with sleep, but he can sleep when he’s with Cassana.

#writesky #booksky #writingcommunity #writingfantasy

“You’re poor enough company after one sleepless night. I’ve no wish to experience your claws after two. So let me stay awake for you, and I promise, if you need me to, I’ll wake you.”
It wasn’t hard to imagine what he was afraid of. Or why, when he couldn’t stay awake any longer, he had found a place to hide away. What must his dreams be like for him to fear them that much?
“Cassana.” Barely more than a breath, it was the first time he had ever called her by her name, and it ached with exhaustion. His hand found hers and twined them together in the darkness.
“Sleep, Alyas,” she murmured. She squeezed gently and felt him, finally, relax against her. She was so tired it hurt, but she could stay awake if it meant he would sleep. Which he did, almost as soon as he surrendered, and did not, as far as she could tell, suffer the nightmares he so obviously feared. And as his breathing evened out, her own eyelids slid closed.

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