Auston’s Comments (group member since Jul 24, 2024)

Auston’s comments from the Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" group.

Eric wrote: "So, when I started talking about my own book, Denithor the Librarian, I started referring to it first as High Fantasy, but then also as Sword and Sorcery after a while. Initially, ..."

This is just my personal belief, but I feel like it's the readers job to label a books specific genre. Of course, as authors, I feel like we're entitled to our own opinions about how we'd like our work to be categorized, but ultimately, our primary responsibility is to present the stories we've been given - to explore certain ideas in a way that are most tangible for others to digest.

As to your questions about what qualifies as S&S and what's to far outside the realm, this is where I feel like modern day fantasy has an identity crisis to deal with. With a market oversaturated with "Romanticy" novels, authors are desperately trying to find a way to stand out among the crowd. Or rather, they're trying to find a way to stand out among the algorithm. And as a new author myself, I can say that this is nearly impossible. Especially when you feel like your novel falls into none of these genres. I wrote a low-fantasy novel tailored toward young men, chocked full of contemporary moral values... How do you even market something like that in this day and age? Is it fantasy in the traditional sense? No. If anything it's more in line with literary fiction. Does it have elements of S&S in it? Yes, but again, not in traditional sense. The "magical" elements are more in line with spiritual experiences rather than anything that might resemble spells of sorcery. Heck, I don't even have elves or dwarves in this fantasy world.

I know I'm rambling, but I say all this to say that, unless an author went into writing a story with the clear intent of adhering to a very specific genre (like S&S), then I personally feel like it's next to impossible for that author to do so after the story's been written. In short, as of right now, the lines have been blurred so much, it's hard to tell what is what anymore.

I know this probably didn't answer any questions, but thanks for opening the discussion.

Hey there everyone,

I know I'm not the most active member of this community (or really social media a whole), but I wanted to let you about the fantasy novel I wrote for my wife, as well as how this project has evolved over the last year or so.

Among the Spires of East Fleet follows the story of a retired soldier who struggles to move on after the loss of his wife. Looking for a fresh start, he moves to another country in hopes of finding peace. However, no sooner does he arrive in this new land, he accidentally ends up starting another war.

A novel centered around redemption and selfless sacrifice, this book was supposed to be a stand alone story for my wife; one that highlighted more contemporary core values like honor and devotion as opposed to some of the more trending "Romantisy" tropes. However, the further I dove into this project, the more the story just seemed to reveal itself to me. Almost like it had already been told and it was just my job to write it (as cliche as that might sound). So, that's what I plan to do. As of right now, I have 8 books lined up for this series: 3 in the Almaris Chronicles, 4 in the Borther's War (prequel to the events in the Almaris Chronicles) , and one collection of short stories. I'm currently finishing up the second book with the hopes of releasing it sometime this winter, and I just hired a voice actor last week to begin narrating the audio books. Hopefully, the first one will be released sometime around mid-July.

All that said, I know there are a lot of other books out there that have a lot more traction than mine does. But I'd be remiss to say that I really do feel like there is something in this story that sets it apart somehow. I know every author feels that way to some degree (or at least they should), but as someone who had no intentions on every writing a book, let alone publishing it, this story has really gripped me by the shoulders and refused to let me go.

And yeah... I'd like to share that with ya'll.

Like I said before, the audio book is being recorded right now and should be finished sometime this summer. Until then, this book is free on Kindle Unlimited as well as bookfunnel (see link below).

Thanks again for taking the time to read this, and if you do pick up the book, I'd love to know what you think.

Your friend,

Jenkins


BOOKFUNNEL LINK:
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/158speowqo


AMAZON:
https://www.amazon.com/Among-Spires-E...

About to start reading Watership Down again. I haven't read it in a couple years, but I've always thought it was one of the most underrated fantasy/fiction novels ever written.

Hey everyone,

Auston here. Author and Founder of AnabolicAuthor, I love to write/read low-fantasy novels and flash-fiction.

I'm in the middle of re-launching my books series (because let's be honest, I had no idea what I was doing the first time around LOL). But all in all, I just wanted to join this group because I feel like you're all more in line with my kind of readers. Needless to say, but I'm not a fan of the current fantasy romance trend that's sweeping through right now.

Anywho, I hope you all have a great day!