Author’s Notes // Before the Fire Burns

Rush, a headstrong 14-year-old, never knew true sadness—until now. After a party of raiders brings tragedy to his town, his whole world is plunged into chaos. One obsession rises from the ashes of death. Revenge.
He stows away on an airship, embarking across the kingdom to find the man who caused him pain. But not everyone is on board with his spiteful quest, especially after he provokes the nation’s military. Pursued by crushing fears and searching soldiers, Rush’s task won’t be easy. But it will be worth it.
Or so he thinks.

That was the blurb for the Benefield Bookmark’s new weekly story, Before the Fire Burns. “Weekly story?” I hear you ask. “What’s that?” I’m glad you asked.

If you’ve been around my blog for any length of time, you’ve probably seen Cryptic Walls, a Christian contemporary mystery that I released chapter-by-chapter throughout one quarter. At the end of that book, I promised a second one debuting on September 6; this is it. A new chapter of Before the Fire Burns (title subject to change), a Christian fantasy story, will release every Tuesday until November 29.

This book is a first for me in several ways. For one, it will be the longest thing I’ve ever written at about 35,000 words. That’s still much shorter than the average novel, but it’s over 10,000 more words than Cryptic Walls. Had this book followed the initial word count, I would be about done by now; however, I’ll still have some writing to do after chapter one comes out.

Also, this is my first book to have illustrations (not counting stick men illustrations). A friend of mine will be creating a drawing for every chapter—keep reading for a peek at chapter one’s art.

This post is, as the title states, some notes and introductory statements about the story. Don’t expect much substance here; it’s basically an appendix with extra resources, but at the beginning, so you can reference them throughout. The real action will begin next week.

So, without further ado, here are a few pictures and songs to fully immerse you in the fantasy world of Arcia. All graphics are my own unless stated otherwise.

The Art

The flag of Arcia.

A diagram of the Embark, an airship featured prominently in the story.

Chapter one illustration.

The Music

I’ve listened to one album non-stop through the drafting process: Forgotten Odes by Eternal Eclipse. If you want something dramatic to listen to during the intense battle scenes, give it a try! Below are a couple of the album’s best songs, but if you like those I recommend you check out the entire album.

Chapter one comes out next week on September 6! If you want to get notified when it releases, sign up for my email list below.