Know Your Elf Tribes Part 2: Crescent Moon

Crescent Moon
Primary Territory: Eastern parts of the Forest of Mists and wilderness surrounding the ruins of Sinder'in
Notable Members: Highlord Dumitore, Ishari, Queen Tiralia (deceased)

In contrast to the Forest Song, the elves of the Crescent Moon formed the heart of the now defunct elven Empire which once spanned the Green. Led by Highlord Sinder'in, one of the last of the Firstborn elves to remain in the Green, they were the first tribe to lay down roots and seek to build a permanent city. Named after its king, Sinder'in grew to become the greatest city the Green has ever known. Though other tribes would follow suite and build cities of their own, none ever surpassed Sinder'in in wealth, achievements in the arcane arts, or military might. Though officially no one tribe or city ruled over any of the others, Highlord Sinder'in ruled the Empire from his Gleaming Halls in all but name. There the other chieftains would come to meet, forming the Council that governed the Empire, but it was Sinder'in who always had the final word.

When Ssvalith appeared in the Green, he was viewed as a minor threat. He was a problem for the humans of New Odyssey to deal with, and truth be told many hoped that the two problems would solve themselves. Disregarding warnings from the Singers of the Forest Song the elves of the Crescent Moon decided not to assist the human kingdom against the dragon and his growing army. It would prove to be a deadly mistake. When the humans were defeated Ssvalith turned his gaze towards the wealthy and powerful cities and palaces of the Empire, of which Sinder'in was the greatest prize.

One by one the strongholds of the Crescent Moon fell to the armies of wyrms created by Ssvalith until at last only Sinder'in remained. Though it would take over a hundred years to breach the city's walls Ssvalith's forces would be victorious. The defenders might have held, had not the dragon himself showed up for the final battle. While the Highlord Sinder'in and the remaining Council members who hadn't yet found a way to flee struggled to come up with a way to turn the tide, Ssvalith personally destroyed the Gleaming Halls, killing all those inside. With their legendary ruler dead and the city in rubble those remaining fled to the wilderness. Of a tribe once numbered in the millions, only twenty thousand remained.

Of all of Sinder'in's many children only two survived, Tiralia and Ishari. Tiralia, having long since recognized the wisdom of Eyell'sevvet, the young leader of the Forest Song, immediately joined her people to his. She would eventually grow to love him and the two would be wed. Ishari, seeking to be close to the new power in the Green, became Eyell's chief advisor and confidant. This left the title of Highlord of the Crescent Moon open until it was claimed by Ishari and Tiralia's cousin, Dumitore. Dumitore would ever seethe over the reality of how far his once glorious people had fallen and to this day, over two centuries later, seeks to revive the Empire.

The Crescent Moon is still considered the most civilized tribe. They have established several permanent fortress-cities throughout the Green, though none have a population greater than a few thousand. Only soldiers maintain the nomadic lifestyle espoused by King Eyell. Crescent Moon warriors can be easily recognized by their heavy plate armor and their preference for curving scimitars over other weapons. As for magic, the Crescent Moon boasts a small but powerful cabal of Spellweavers, mages who prefer the cold reliability of arcane spells over the often unpredictable and uncontrollable use of the Song.

Two Ends of the Pen Interview

My interview with Debra Martin at Two Ends of the Pen is up! Check it out here. Many thanks to Debra and all other bloggers like her who go out of their way to give us little guys some more exposure.

Know Your Elf Tribes Part 1: Forest Song

In the third book of the Tales from the Green series, The Tainted Sliver, I go into much more detail concerning the various elf tribes which wander the Green. They have been mentioned throughout books 1 and 2, but usually only in passing. Over the next month I plan to go into more detail concerning their different backgrounds and culture. Normally stuff like this would stay in my notes, but as long as I have a blog why keep my notes to myself?

We start with the Forest Song tribe, the group of elves which are first seen in The Magic Flute.

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Forest Song
Primary Territory: The Forest of Mists and the ruins of New Odyssey
Notable Members: King Eyell'sevvet, Princess Kira, Ranger-captain Aerwyn

Back during the days of the Empire, the elves of the Forest Song tribe already existed much as they do now. They existed on the fringes of society, dwelling in small villages far from the seats of power. As such they were largely ostracized by polite society, looked down upon as peasants and wilderness folk by those who at the time held the reigns of power. They shunned the new magic taught at the academies of Sinder'in and the Tower at Bersalle, instead following the old teachings of the Song. Each village was led by a Singer, one versed in the magic of the Song who would carry on the traditions passed down from the Firstborn.

When the dragon Ssvalith came to the Green and ravaged the human kingdom of New Odyssey the leaders of the Forest Song tribe argued in favor of assisting them. Their pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears, and the humans were all but destroyed. With New Odyssey gone in short order the dragon's forces targeted the cities of the elves, starting with the isolated villages of the Forest Song. Though the magic of the Song was considered weak and unpredictable by the more civilized tribes, Ssvalith saw the Singers' power as a threat to his reign and targeted them for assassination. In a matter of a few short years none remained.

It was during this time that a young elf by the name of Eyell'sevvet came into knowledge of the Song. As the last Singer he gathered his people into one band and led them deep into the Mists to avoid enslavement or death at the hands of Ssvalith's minions. In time as one city after another fell, it was the Forest Song who took in the many refugees. After learning of the Prophecy of Kezerik from a journal stolen by a wayward goblin, Eyell managed to rally his race under a single banner in order to fight back against the dragon. With his marriage to the last living daughter of King Sinder'in of the Crescent Moon tribe, Princess Tiralia, Eyell was elevated to the royal blood. Though he eschewed any direct authority over the Crescent Moon tribe which was his by right of marriage, Tiralia used her influence among the nobility to see her new husband anointed King over all the remaining tribes.

To this day the Forest Song remain the most influential tribe amongst the elves. Due to their willingness to abandon their cities in the wake of Ssvalith's forces the majority of Forest Song elves survived the initial slaughter, though like all tribes they took heavy casualties in the centuries of War which followed. Even so they remain the most populous tribe. Even after Tiralia's death at the Battle of the Tangles, King Eyell still maintains a strong influence over all the tribes, though as of late those tribes most strongly affiliated with the old nobility have begun to question his rule.

Much Belated 300th Download Extravaganza

*Cue confetti and party hats*

Sometime over the last month when I wasn't paying attention the combined Tales from the Green series topped 300 downloads between Smashwords and Amazon. That's split about 2 to 1 between The Magic Flute and The Wizard's Tome, which is slowly catching up. The real question is...

Why aren't you people writing reviews!?! Come on, you know you wanna. I'll take "At least he can spell" or "It had a beginning, middle, and end" as long as you post it on Amazon.

Stuff

Trying to think of a more interesting name for my blog, so in the meantime I'm going with Stuff that Steve Wrote. It sounds less pretentious than The Writings of Steven Best.

In other news, I have reached far back into the Kindleboards archive and resurrected my old advertisment post in the Book Bazaar. Assuming anyone who has read my book actually reads this blog, head on over there and let people know what you think. Loyal reader PhilipA82 (whoever that is) called my series "Cheap and solid :)" which is pretty much the closet thing I've gotten to a review so far. Many thanks for the positive feedback, or any feedback at all for that matter.

Speaking of reviews, in other other news I'm looking into review blogs for getting some semi-professional feedback. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have some real reviews on Amazon. If you're a reviewer of fantasy eBooks who needs some more material for your website let me know.

New Book Descriptions for Amazon

Not the exciting new material I promised, but I did finally get off my rear and write some more compelling descriptions to my two eBooks. They should update to Amazon in a day or two. Check them out below, and then get curious about the whole story and buy a copy! Do eet! As always the links are to your right, and the price is an always affordable 99 cents.

Tales from the Green Book One: The Magic Flute
For a young boy named Alex Samuels, suburban life is a meaningless waste of time. Wake up, go to school, get kicked off the baseball team, beat the latest videogame, repeat as necessary. As he nears his thirteenth birthday his apathy knows no bounds. Things had been different when he had been a child, though. Back then he had believed in magic.

Fueled by his grandpa's fairy tales of his own supposed adventures in a magical world known as the Green, Alex had once believed he too could be a hero. That is until well-meaning parents had quashed his dreams with a harsh dose of reality. He long ago gave up on believing in fairy tales; too bad they never gave up on him! When his grandpa gave him the old wooden flute for his birthday it became one more piece of junk in his closet. That is, until, real life monsters from out of the old stories come to visit. Now, swept away by the magical song of the flute Alex finds himself in the Green, a wild land in which humans are a myth long forgotten. Join him as he rediscovers friendship, heroism, and the magic of his childhood that was once lost.

Tales from the Green Book Two: The Wizard's Tome
The Tales from the Green saga continues! Though he struggled for weeks to find a way back to Earth, Alex finds himself returning to the Green to help his new found friends face the evil of the dragon Ssvalith. Even as he and the elf princess Kira embark on a quest in search of answers that will aid them in their fight the forces of the dragon begin to stir. Rampaging trolls answer the call of dark sorcery. The proud dwarves march against their former allies, the elves of the Mists. Wyrms skulk in the shadows.

To unravel prophecy and restore order to the Green, Alex will have to make new allies, endure new hardships, and face foes thought long vanquished. His grandpa's old stories won't be enough this time in guiding him toward his goal. The answers he needs may yet lie in the Tome of Kezerik.

Slow blog, busy month

Just a quick update since I haven't posted much lately. I'm busy actually writing instead of blogging about writing or promoting my books, and unfortunately all the projects I am working on are far from complete. I'll try to get something preview worthy to post in the next week or so. Gotta keep things interesting around here.

Simply Settings at Red Adept

This was originally posted on May 25th so I'm a little late in finding this, but Red Adept Reviews has been posting author comments from a Kindleboards thread about how authors come up with their settings. You'll find my contribution in Simply Settings Part 6.

The original thread was written back in April, as you'll notice that I mention that The Wizard's Tome isn't out yet, which it most certainly is now. Still, besides that one dated comment it still offers a pretty good insight into my motivations for choosing the Green as the setting for my debut series of novels.

Ugh Sick...

I have strep throat for the first time in like fifteen years, so consider this a wasted week. While one actually gets some good story ideas while experiencing delerious fever dreams, it is hard to write them down. As for promoting your books, well that goes out the window.

After four days of rest and some precious antibiotics I am on the road to recovery, but it still feels like ground up glass in my mouth everytime I swallow. Do you realize just how often you have to swallow throughout the day? I do, and it's a lot. Feel sorry for me? Wanna make your old pal Steve feel better? Buy a few copies of my books! I mean, the links are right there on the right side of the page. Only 99 cents, too, and with today's dollar like it is that's like no money at all. What, you don't want to read a thrilling and humerous fantasy adventure story just because it was written by a plague victim? Shame on you!

Yay for May!

The month of May marked the greatest sales month on my very short record. After slow but consistent sales in March and April, Amazon sales for The Magic Flute were doubled in May. The same goes for the Wizard's Tome compared to its sales in April, though considering it was released on April 24th I see it more as a strong continuation of what April started rather than a sudden upswing.

On the Smashwords end I didn't do as well as far as cash sales go, but as I have found from other authors on Kindleboards.com that's pretty normal. Amazon receives a lot more traffic, after all. Still, I did do well enough to enjoy several weeks as the #1 best seller overall with The Magic Flute, which is still holding strong. The fact that this happened long after my free coupon expired is very encouraging. Predictably the Smashwords edition of The Wizard's Tome is behind book 1 of the Tales from the Green series, but as people finish the first book I expect that they will move on to the sequel.

With all that success (on a small scale, but hey, I'm new) I'm feeling very good at the moment, but one thing eludes me still: reviews! If you, my beloved readers, want to help me attain literary stardom, please don't hold back on the customer reviews, blog posts, etc. Beyond two or three forums word of mouth advertising is all I have, so if you like my work or even if you have mixed feelings let me and everyone else know what you think.