The Ayrelon Times

First, check these links out and circle back to this post to found out who/what/when/where... if you're interested. https://www.ayrelonpress.com/ https://www.ayrelon.com/ https://www.rlparkerfantasy.com/ A while back, a fellow author, and friend, named Mike Conley switched his website around to reduce his monthly costs, and found a solution so obvious the rest of us just didn't think about it. Well, the rest of "us" members of that particular Discord community. I just got the chance to pull the trigger on migrating my websites off of SquareSpace onto Google Sites myself, and I've got to say... I think the switch has been pretty amazing, so far. You'll notice: New graphics An improved color scheme An improved layout, and menus Smoother performance And the fact that my blog is now external, but wrapped inside a page of the site(s) Now, there were a few slightly tricky, or tedious steps involved. I plan to film a tutorial video for YouTube some time this week and...

I haven’t posted a blog in some time, so I figured I’d catch everyone up on what’s been happening, what I’m doing, and what’s up next from me, R.L. Parker, and the world of Ayrelon in general. As some of you might know, a few things happened quite rapidly at the end of 2022. First, I published Dusk, my third novel, on November 15th. It’s launch was decent from a pre-order perspective, and I was excited to continue promoting it. To do so, I joined TikTok and that ended up taking over my life for the next few months. I’ve grown my TikTok account a great deal, made a lot of new writer / reader friends in the process, and helped many authors along their publishing journey. All of that has been amazing, but to say it took a lot of my time would still be an understatement. Even with a new social media platform as a distraction, I managed to write the first draft of Enveloped by Dark’s Embrace in November, December, and February (I took most of January off). It currently clocks in at 195k w...

ROLEPLAYING VS DICE ROLLING, THE VALUE OF STORYTELLING AS A DUNGEON MASTER, AND WHAT IT MEANS AS A WRITER. This topic has come up a lot on social media recently. As a former hardcore pen & paper roleplayer, and current author, I figured I might have a unique perspective that will at least be an entertaining read, if not help some of you with your games, or your approach to novels. Now, I’ve covered some of my thoughts in previous blog entries. You can go hunt them down and read those first if you’d prefer, but it totally isn’t necessary. Without further ado, let’s get into it… after all, this is going to be fairly long. Why now? With the popularity of Stranger Things, many people around the world are being exposed to Dungeons & Dragons for the first time. They get to watch kids on screen have a blast playing a game they have no understanding of, and for some that piques their interest. So they jump online, or talk to friends, and try to gain an understanding of this strange gam...

Drakahl is a member of a species known as the Toor. Created by Titans many eons ago, Toor appear as nearly human-sized Titans, usually standing between 7 and 9 1/2 feet tall (213.3cm to 289.6cm). He appears quite young, even though he is centuries old and often passes as a human barbarian; hiding the fact that he is Toor. At the start of Bathed in the Blood of Ravens he can be seen wearing armor forged from draconic flesh, empowered by demonic souls, which grants him otherworldly strength and power. He wields a sentient blade named Strambáneur that drinks souls and feeds their power to both itself and its wielder. Read more about Drakahl ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Delriahna is a feisty, no-nonsense woman who helps her husband, Andor, keep control of the town council through political maneuverings and her widespread influence. She is well versed in the nuances of the court, and how to sway people to a common cause through intrigue and subtle nuance. Her day is equally divided between her duties in support of Andor’s position, and raising their daughter Tylee, who seems intent on driving her insane. Read more about Delriahna ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Nightweaver most commonly appears as a decrepit, hunched over, old hag who seems barely able to stand, let alone walk. This state of extreme aging is a side effect of an unwanted contract with a demonic host, who saps her of youth and prevents her from spending prolonged periods in her natural state. She is a being of unknown origin, who appears human. Her actions indicate that she is operating decades ahead of even the most powerful, knowledgeable people in the world toward a goal that only she understands. She has been a thing of legend among cultures the world over for thousands of years. Descriptions of her have been found by Mordechai that predate remembered, recorded history. Read more about Nightweaver ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Mordechai is a myth to some, and an enigma to others. He often introduces himself as a mere student of Fel’Vizsiour, and is glad when others believe that lie. Unlike most spellcasters, fame and glory has never been of interest to him. Instead, he seeks lost knowledge and the truth of his origins. He appears to be a very fit and trim human, with elf-like facial features and personal style. Read more about Mordechai ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Lyla (Lie-la) is a small, plump, energetic woman with a heart of gold who sees the good in everyone. She has a sharp wit and takes most things in stride, and enjoys going back and forth with Gaerin in pointless conversations poking fun at each other. Her skill with clerical spells and prowess with a mace made her an invaluable companion in their adventuring days, but she was more than happy to settle down, work the land and keep her husband fed when they returned to Mooncrest. One thing everyone notices about Lyla is that she treats everyone she meets like family. Read more about Lyla ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Gaerin (G-air-inn) is a tall, stocky, muscular former adventurer now retired and living a peaceful farming life just outside of Mooncrest. He studied and is well versed in all forms of armament, but always preferred to wield a warhammer and shield. He has a dry humor, and often quips back and forth playfully with his wife Lyla, with whom he shares a deep bond. He is a driven man, with great focus, and is not happy unless he has something he can obsess over. For over a decade, that obsession has been training Laurence to be a better fighter than he is, using lessons he learned at Fel’Rechaun and on the road as an adventurer. Nothing matters more to Gaerin than family. Read more about Gaerin ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Kyrilis (key-rill-iss) is renown Kingdom-wide by all those familiar with those in key positions of the Arkhanian Legion as one of the most, if not the most, skilled martial combatants in recent times. She is so skilled in both Griffin-back scouting and melee combat that the school of Fel’Rechaun, where she is based, reduced their funding for Griffin Riders down to one, and dismissed the rest of the unit back to the Afyr homelands as unnecessary. Few know Kyrilis on a personal level, and fewer still can be counted among her friends. She is a powerful force, and would rather be seen for her strengths and accomplishments than as a woman. Read more about Kyrilis ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Gahl was an unreasonably strong and skilled warrior, far superior in both physical capabilities and skill than most of the warriors in the land. He was known far and wide as Gahl the Raven, or simply The Raven, for the crest that was emblazoned upon his armor and weaponry. He first fought for Arkhan Vaelin, and was a true believer in Arkhan’s goal to unify the lands and forge a Kingdom from the warring fiefdoms. Read more about Gahl ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Arcturus (ark-T-err-us) is a cynical old man, who through long years has learned to dismiss the world for its failings. He has lost both faith in the ruling class, and his patience for the council that governs Mooncrest. His love for family, though, is unwavering and often pushes him toward rash—often harsh—decisions. He has seen too much loss in his time, and wishes nothing but to prevent such loss from befalling Gaerin, Lyla and young Laurence. Read more about Arcturus ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Laurence is a tall, lean, and fit teenage boy full of energy and ambition. Not yet an adult, he enters our story with excitement for his future; full of hopes and dreams. He is task-driven and mission-oriented by nature, as are all Ravencrest men. His upbringing taught him to pay attention to details, keep his eye on the bigger picture, and value the people around him. Everything about his nature will be put to the test as his tale unfolds. Read more about Laurence Ravencrest ! I’m going to be publishing a short series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. For those that have read the book, you know I had to start with Laurence. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

As my bio explains, I am a storyteller not a formulaic writer. I don’t create some construct following industry-prescribed structures and fill in the empty spaces with content. My chapters aren’t perfectly sized to fit some mold, my scene breaks will probably upset the uber-literary. This deviation from the “norm” extends through every facet of my work. The characters, conversations, descriptive text, all of it. Why? Because I care more about the story than I do the craft. I write what feels right; what flows best as I tell my tale. Scene breaks are used to provide breathers for my audience, or shift point of view. Chapters are used to provide an overall tone for a collection of scenes, as they pertain to the main “thread”. I will never be the author that can tell you exactly how long my chapters are, especially in advance. I’m okay with this. I don’t write by chapters, I simply don’t think that way. When I attempted to write that way back in 2010, I failed miserably. I got so lost in ...

There seem to be mixed opinions on Self Publishing, or being an ‘Indie Author’, that run rampant among both readers and other authors. Regardless of where you are in your publishing journey, you’ve probably already considered doing it all yourself—and if you haven’t, that day is coming… First of all, if you’re expecting me to tell you that self publishing is better or worse than traditional publishing, you’re about to be disappointed. Every author is unique, so every single one of them will have different experiences with their publishing process. Just because traditional publishing did wonders for Author A, doesn’t mean Author B will see the same level of success. Vice versa for self publishing. Ultimately, whether or not you self publish is a choice for you and you alone. However, if you do choose to self publish, there are a lot of things to consider and you’ve got a lot more work ahead of you than your traditionally published peers if you want to do it better, and break through the...

We recently started Audiobook recording preparations and noticed that some of the content in the book didn’t quite roll off the tongue the way we like when read aloud. So, I took a two week break from everything else and focused on reading the book out loud to myself and polishing the content so that it read smoother. I finished that process late last night and then immediately formatted the new copy for e-book through Draft2Digital and uploaded then uploaded the new version to Smashwords, Amazon KDP, and Google Play. Once that was complete, I set about formatting the paperback copy in Adobe InDesign. My goal wasn’t just to get the updated content in place, but to reduce the overall printing cost of the book and make it more affordable for my readers… IE: for you. In short, I succeeded. Here’s a longer breakdown of the before & after details: Old Version :: 5x7 Paperback Pages - 786 Font Size - 9.5pt Projected Profit - $2.53 Price - $32.99 Print & Distribution channel fees - $3...

 I can't believe it's finally here!

Waves... Hello! I am Charlotte Mallory, cover designer for Bathed in the Blood of Ravens ( I can’t believe I can say that ). I was also a beta reader and am extremely excited to read book 2! I met R.L. Parker through a writing Discord group hosted by T.L. Bodine, when he reached out for cover art. He asked me to do a pen and ink drawing, and I admit this was the first full pen and ink drawing I had ever done. My mediums are usually graphite, oil paints, and digital art… but holy cow did I fall in love with ink art. Not only did I get to expand my skills as an artist, but I am so thrilled that he loves the cover so much! I am a writer myself, so I know how personal a cover can be. Okay, so enough about me… As a reader stumbling upon new authors, I am usually very hesitant because you never know how things will go. The book can always start out great, but how does it end? Does it derail at all? Does a political message get shoved in that is so on-the-nose it’s annoying? Does the author ...

So… a funny thing just happened. I finished formatting the ebook files, and was hopping around to get everything set up. And… when configuring Draft2Digital profile for the book, it didn’t let me specify a “start selling on” date, only a publish date. As a result, pre-orders instantly went live on 6 sites weeks before I intended them to . Yay?! Feel free to visit any of these retailers to place your pre-order, any time you wish. They may take a few hours, or a day, for the individual sites to put the pre-order live… but it’s there. It’s out in the wild. It’s… real . UPDATE : Publish date has been moved up to June 25, 2021 !!!! E-Book Pre-Orders Now Available On: Amazon Kindle Angus & Robertson Apple Books Barnes & Noble Bol Gardners Google Play Books !ndigo Kobo Mondadori Odilo Scribd Smashwords Thalia

The folks at Indie Book Butler were kind enough to interview me, and blast it to their social media. Feel free to hop over and check it out .