Finally, the fifth book in the Thread of Souls series is published and available! The ebook and paperback are on Amazon. The books typically spread out to third-party sites at later dates, we don’t have any control over when places like Barnes & Noble make them available.
We are so excited to see some reviews already up on Goodreads!
“The detail and depth of world-building the authors poured into this narrative, including expanding on Taliesin’s backstory and history in even greater detail, was a welcome return to this epic fantasy series.” – Author Anthony Avina
“I can’t stop reading them. This one was also great. Deep Hollows is the fifth book in Thread of Souls Series, and in my opinion, it just keeps upping the ante.” – Dani V.
If you haven’t checked out any of the Thread of Souls series yet, we currently have the Phantom Five ebook available for free for the next few days.
It’s an exciting time! We are closing in on the publication date of June 10th for the fifth book in our Thread of Soulsseries. Titled The Deep Hollows, this book takes us past the halfway point for the octology.
Here it is!
We are really excited to depict a scene from the Deep Hollows on the cover. A location readers will be well-familiar with given how often it’s been mentioned across the first four books. Aside from a brief glimpse in Phantom Five, this is the first time the characters will actually venture through the great underground.
The blub on the back reads:
In the fifth installment of this gripping series, rebellious cleric Taliesin is captured by a ruthless bounty hunter and forced back to the cult he escaped two years ago. Now serving a new goddess, he’s deemed a heretic among his people.
Stripped of his allies and separated from his beloved, Taliesin’s survival hinges on his wits and magic. His destination: the heart of the cult, the underground city of Berenzia. Here, secrets lurk that could unravel the cult’s plans. But to uncover them, Taliesin must confront not only the expectations of the disappointed family he left behind, but also the sinister ruling priestesses. If Taliesin cannot overcome the ghosts of his past, he will never escape the cult’s clutches.
It was in April 2023 that we made the decision of leaving social media. This wasn’t a decision we took lightly. After all, we had business profiles that we used to promote our books and engage with the TTRPG and writing community. However, social media was taking a mental toll. Even though we stayed out of any discourse, it’s very hard to avoid seeing a string of negativity, threats, bigotry, and griping even with a quick look.
We left Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest. We previously gave our six-month check in. Here is our one year check in on how we are doing after leaving social media.
Improved Mental Health
Leaving social media has done wonders for our mental health. We are happier and feel more positive. The problem with a lot of social media is that you read so many negative stories, or see someone ganged up on by a bunch of strangers online. Even when you take no part in it, those memories still circle around all day.
I equate it to “doom scrolling” or watching the news too often. Because 99% of the things you see or hear will not affect your life at all. And yet you are exposed to them, and it makes you feel stressed. But when you remove that source of stress, you are able to clear the room for more positive thinking.
More Time
Social media does take up a lot of time, especially if you are self-promoting. You worry about trending topics, algorithms, engaging with others, and posting consistently. When we took that away, we had so much more free time!
Now we spend that time playing board games together, reading books together, and spending time outdoors.
Should You Leave Social Media?
That is up to you. For some, social media is their entire business and livelihood. It’s how they feed their families. And that is great. But for most, it’s simply a pastime. We saw far more book sales generated from our website here and ads on Amazon over social media. It no longer became worth it to us.
We would never go back to using it. And we are very happy that one year ago, we made the leap to give it up.
Hello! It’s been a couple of weeks since our last blog. There is a reason for that. We went to C2E2 in Chicago and caught Covid-19. We’ve been off work and sick. The worst part has been the lack of taste, which we are finally getting back! It’s good to start to feel like ourselves once again.
We’ll get back to normal 2x-3x weekly postings this week. We’ve got Thread of Souls: The Deep Hollows sent off to our ARC readers and our book cover artist. With a publication date of June 10th, we are just ironing out the final details to get it out for everyone to read!
The fifth book in the epic fantasy Thread of Souls series is on its way to you! Aside from some minor tweaks as we do our final reviews, the book is finished being edited.
The book will be available to purchase on Monday, June 10th.
It will initially be available in ebook and paperback format. Audiobook and hardcover formats will come at a later date.
Across the next month leading up to that date, the book will be formatted, the cover designed, and all final tweaks made. It’s been a year and a half of hard work to bring this book to life. It’s been with us as we moved to a new city and then as we moved again across the country. We are so proud of it and can’t wait to share it with you!
To hold you over until its official release, we do have our three excerpts from the book. One from Ruuda’s POV, one from Jade’s POV, and one from Taliesin’s POV. We also have the back of the book summary. Again, this may have some final tweaking before official publication.
In the fifth installment of this gripping series, rebellious cleric Taliesin is captured by a ruthless bounty hunter and forced back to the cult he escaped two years ago. Now serving a new goddess, he’s deemed a heretic among his people.
Stripped of his allies and separated from his beloved, Taliesin’s survival hinges on his wits and magic. His destination: the heart of the cult, the underground city of Berenzia. Here, secrets lurk that could unravel the cult’s plans. But to uncover them, Taliesin must confront not only the expectations of the disappointed family he left behind, but also the sinister ruling priestesses. If Taliesin cannot overcome the ghosts of his past, he will never escape the cult’s clutches.”
We presented you with two earlier excerpts from the fifth book in our Thread of Souls series. One from Ruuda’s POV, and one from Jade’s POV. Here is our third and final excerpt on our way to book publication!
Keep in mind the book is still in the final editing stages, and things may be changed.
All content is protected under Tal & Ru Travels LLC.
Enjoy!
TALIESIN
.
.
.
What’s happening?
Pain was the first thing that woke Taliesin’s fuzzy, drugged consciousness. He felt himself dragged across rough stone. He tried to command his body to move but couldn’t concentrate. Couldn’t focus.
Where was Ruuda?
Where were his friends?
What had happened?
Water ran across his face and he reflexively turned to the side. His entire body ached and burned. The burning was terrible. It wouldn’t stop.
Ruuda . . . His thoughts wandered, fleeting, like leaves swept away in a current.
More water splashed over his face. He couldn’t breathe. That panic allowed him enough concentration to open his eyes. He was faced with the inside of a burlap sack. It was heavy around him. Salt, he realized. The bag was full of salt, and it stung his beaten and bloody body. Rain came in through the burlap, soaking his clothes and running in rivulets over his face.
Ruuda! I need to escape! I need to get to her.
He flexed, but his arms were bound behind him. He tried to cry out but found his tongue blocked by a gag. Taliesin thrashed once.
Then the jura retook him, and all faded into blackness.
When he came to, the bag was no longer moving. He felt warmth and smelled beer and roasted vegetables. Music played nearby.
A female voice spoke. “Really? That’s Taliesin Ostoroth? You must have been paid a lot!”
A harsh, deep male voice responded, “That I was.”
I know that voice! Taliesin thought. His mind tried to claw its way back to consciousness, fighting against the jura and the wounds. The man on the ship. Hajiadal.
“What about the others? I heard he was with a group,” the woman inquired.
Taliesin heard his captor gulp down a long drink and put the glass down with a clink. Hajiadal replied, “They were staying at the Sanguine Vestibule. I hired assassins to take care of them. He brought his dark dwarf pet to the ship, though. She was surprisingly tough, I’ll give her that. In the end, my demon chased her off. She must be dead by now.”
A chorus of impressed grunts sounded.
Taliesin opened his eyes.
Fuck it all, I’m still inside the sack!
As he kicked out, he closed his eyes to protect them from the salt.
“Oh!” Hajiadal chuckled. “You’re already awake? You’re hardier than I thought.” A kick connected with Taliesin’s side. “Stay quiet. I’m enjoying a drink.”
Laughter followed.
A drink?! You’ve got to be kidding me.
Taliesin screamed through his gag at the indignity.
“I said be quiet!” Hajiadal roared. A much rougher kick followed his words, and Taliesin curled up at the assault.
As the dark elf cleric stayed still, breathing through the pain, his mind drifted again. His memories floated past, and he watched them all as one watching carriages cross a road. Ruuda on the ship with him, her fiery hair soaked in the rain. The travel through the Eleste Highlands and its rugged terrain. His new friend, Jasita Yolarin, giving him a timid smile. All his travels flashed before him in reverse order. The terrible dragon and blizzard at the Citadel, a passionate night in a mountaintop cave, the six months of imprisonment, that night at the An’Ock Coliseum, escaping the Gloomdwell, traveling down the Amakiir River with Ruuda at his side, and leaving the . . . leaving the . . .
The Deep Hollows.
That’s where Hajiadal is taking me. Back underground. Back home.
A wave of anxiety clenched his gut at this thought. But he did not linger on it long. His mind was already slipping away, and he let the jura take him.
.
.
.
More dragging awoke Taliesin. This time his mind was sharp, the fogginess of the drugs gone. He was still inside the sack, and he could no longer smell or hear the interior of a tavern. It was very quiet. The only sound was Hajiadal’s rhythmic steps.
Taliesin made a noise of complaint through his gag.
The dragging stopped. A long sigh followed.
“Awake again, I see,” Hajiadal stated. “Well, I suppose I could do with some conversation.”
A rustling noise preceded the top of the bag opening. Strong hands wrapped under Taliesin’s shoulders and pulled him free. The Deathwalker took in a deep breath of fresh air through his nose.
“You’re heavier than you look,” Hajiadal complained. “Walk a bit and give my arms a break.”
As he was set down on his knees, Taliesin quickly took in the area. It was a long, cavernous tunnel, featureless and dark. They were in the Deep Hollows already.
His gaze moved up to his captor. Hajiadal’s strong form leered over him, a smug smile on a square-jawed face. Shaggy white hair hung down to his shoulders. He wore dark leather armor. Taliesin noticed his own buckler shield strapped to Hajiadal’s back. The man was quite the contradiction to Taliesin himself who was smaller, more slender, unarmed, and with torn clothes and dried blood all over him.
Taliesin grunted through his gag, glaring up at the man.
Hajiadal leaned over and pulled the gag free, letting it drop around Taliesin’s neck. “What do you have to say?”
“Fuck you!”
“Anything else?”
“Who are you?” Taliesin demanded. “Who hired you?”
“That’s confidential.”
“How did you know so much about me and the group I came into the city with?”
“That’s confidential, too.”
Taliesin’s jaw tightened as he fixed the other man with an irritated look.
“You don’t need to worry about them,” Hajiadal stated, patting the hilt of his sword. “They’re all dead by now. Even your fire-haired dark dwarf.”
“She’s stronger than your demon.”
Hajiadal rolled his eyes, picked Taliesin up in one fluid movement, and threw him over his shoulder. Keeping the bag in his other hand, he continued to walk.
“Not ass first!” Taliesin protested.
“You are really full of complaints for someone so small.”
Taliesin craned his neck around in an attempt to see their direction, but viewing the tunnel upside down only made him dizzy. He looked back where they came from. The corridor went into darkness.
How long have I been out?
“When we fought on the ship, you said ‘she’ about the person you’re working for,” Taliesin began. “Who is ‘she’? My mother? High Priestess Maiathah? Ella Rinn?”
Hajiadal glanced back at him with a raised eyebrow. “How many people have you pissed off?”
“Plenty more.”
“Are any of them men?”
Taliesin thought of the high elf, Aust Mastralath, that he and his companions fought in the Gloomdwell. A servant of the dark god Ragseev. He’d had an army at his disposal. Taliesin had been the one to take Aust’s powerful interplanar orb from him through a spell. He was sure that man was furious at him. At all of them. Especially if he learned that the orb was destroyed.
“I’m not afraid to challenge people,” Taliesin at last answered his captor. “It’s not a bad thing to make enemies of some people. People like you.”
Hajiadal chuckled. “Not afraid of a challenge, indeed.” He sat Taliesin on his feet and appraised him. “I beat you to shit on that ship. Look at you. You’re a mess.”
“What’s your point?” Taliesin surreptitiously pulled at his wrist bindings, but they did not budge.
The other man’s red eyes narrowed. “I’ve heard you can heal wounds. Heal yourself. I want to see.”
A sardonic laugh escaped Taliesin. “Even if my hands were free to cast a spell, I’m not going to perform for you.”
Hajiadal was on him in an instant, shoving him roughly to the ground. The breath was knocked out of the cleric, and pain shot through his hands from landing on them. Hajiadal wrestled one boot and sock off Taliesin’s foot. He pulled out a knife and pressed it against one of Taliesin’s toes. The cleric froze, giving his opponent a wide-eyed stare.
Hajiadal smiled, though it looked more like a predator bearing its teeth. His voice was low and dangerous as he spoke. “If I cut this off, I’m sure you’ll heal it.”
Taliesin did not move, afraid to provoke the man further. The knife pressed against his skin just enough to draw a dot of blood. Taliesin hissed, his fingers flexing instinctively to heal himself. But with his hands bound, he couldn’t finish the movements of his spell.
Hajiadal withdrew the knife. “I thought so. Let’s go.” He grabbed Taliesin’s elbow and began to pull him along.
“Wait! I need my other boot!” The cleric hobbled on one leg, looking over his shoulder at his boot.
“Where you’re going, you won’t need clothes.”
That drew Taliesin’s attention. He gaped at his captor for a moment, struggling for words.
He’s lying, he told himself. He’s trying to scare you. He’s taking you home to your family.
“I can’t travel the Deep Hollows without my boot,” the cleric pressed.
Hajiadal let go of his elbow. “Fine. You have ten seconds to get it on. Ten . . . nine . . . seven . . . four . . .”
In a panic, Taliesin hurried to his shoe and slipped it on in an ungraceful display. His sock was balled up against his toes and his dark pant leg wasn’t tucked in. But he had it on, and that was all he cared about.
Smirking, Hajiadal shoved the burlap sack at him. The salt had all fallen out at this point, stained with Taliesin’s blood. “Carry this. I might want to put you in it again.”
“How am I supposed to carry this with my hands bound?”
Hajiadal slipped the bag over the top of his head and then laughed at his own humor. “Let’s go.”
Taliesin stared at the inside of the sack, rage burning his blood. He could still smell the scent of jura, part of the trap set for him on the ship. It reminded him of home. Of the cultivated land around House Ostoroth’s manor. But none of the memories were good.
“I can’t see,” Taliesin spat venomously. “I will not walk like this.”
“Start walking.”
“No.”
Hajiadal laughed derisively, and that was the limit of what Taliesin could take. Following the sound of the laughter, the cleric charged forward and rammed his shoulder into his captor. They both tumbled down to the hard ground. Taliesin couldn’t see, but he attacked Hajiadal in any way he could. With his knees, his elbows, and kicking his feet. The other man growled and quickly regained control. He flipped Taliesin over onto his stomach, and a hard blow cracked the side of the cleric’s head.
Taliesin’s body went limp, dazed and sick from the strike.
Without a word, Hajiadal picked him up and slung him over his shoulder. The burlap sack fell off, and it was left behind as the man strode down the tunnel. Taliesin watched it with blurred vision until it vanished into the darkness.
For this art feature we are going to highlight some creatures from the world of Thread of Souls! All art is done by co-author Talia, a self-taught artist who does this as a hobby.
All art is protected by Tal & Ru Travels LLC.
Enjoy !
Cherrisil
These little creatures live in Eleste’si, a capital city. They like to snack on the cherry blossoms that are so abundant! While some people in the city think they are cute, others get upset when they ruin carefully curated cherry blossom trees during peak season.
Stone Snakes
These are pests in the Deep Hollows. They look just like stones, and so they use the landscape as camouflage to hide and attack. Though they don’t eat people, if someone steps in the wrong area, they can get bitten!
Timberland Mammoth
These creatures make an appearance in Thread of Souls book four, Asunder. They wander the Pale Timberlands near the Citadel. The people that live there respect them and give them distance, living in harmony.
Wight
Wights make an appearance in Thread of Souls book three, Path of the Spiders. These are a frightening subspecies of undead, aggressive and menacing. They bring with them a chill sure to frighten any adventurer.
March has been a relatively quiet month on the Thread of Souls side. We’ve had a lot of personal tasks to attend to and have been tackling some challenges. But we’ve still got the train rolling along, so to speak.
Book V: The Deep Hollows
We are in the editing phase for the fifth book in the Thread of Souls series. Currently I’m reading it all aloud and adjusting it as needed. After that, I’ll pass it over to Dorian to edit. Pretty soon we’ll be able to share new cover art and the official summary! Though editing isn’t my favorite, it’s important for us to take our time in this step to ensure we have an excellent final product to share!
New Merch
We’re really proud of the two new shirts that have launched for our shop last month!
We have the Phantom Five concert-style shirt. It lists places the adventuring group the Phantom Five have been and is designed like a shirt you’d purchase at a rock concert.
We also have a tourist/resort-style Berenzia shirt. We were inspired by shirts you’d buy at souvenir shops on vacation and designed one for Berenzia.
This is an excerpt from the upcoming fifth book in our Thread of Soulsseries! While this has been edited, it is still not in its final form and may be edited more.
Jade, Sen, and Foxy traversed the Deep Hollows for weeks. After descending through the hut of Jade’s deceased druid mentor, they traveled without direction. They wandered dark and narrow tunnels, open caverns so large they couldn’t see the ceiling, jungles of stalagmites, and steep slopes. The two friends and the fox entered a whole world they had never seen before. One where plants glowed all the colors of a rainbow, where streams sparkled with bioluminescent fish, and where strange animals skulked in the shadows, deeming them too large for easy prey.
Jade knew she had Sen to thank for that. The seven-foot-tall dragonborn was an intimidating sight, built much larger and thicker than her slight wild elf form. She was proud of him. Ever since the incident with the vampires in Glenpeleg, fear had seized Sen. But now, he was stepping out into danger again and joining her on this adventure.
If only we knew which way to go, she thought.
The two hunted a creature that called itself Rehanine. Something that nearly killed Jade, her brother, and her companions in Oceala more than half a year ago. Her former mentor, the archdruid Galen’s, notes on the Deep Hollows left more questions than answers. But he had asked her to ensure nothing from the deep dark penetrated the Surface world. And she would honor that request.
Sen glanced around at the small cavern they found themselves in. “Should we camp here for the night?”
The cavern had many rocky structures with glowing green plants on them. The plants reminded Jade of seaweed, standing tall and waving slightly, though there was no water nearby. It would offer adequate shelter for the night, as well as a light source to protect them from predators.
“This looks good,” she agreed. “I’m hungry. It’s been a long day.”
They had packed lightly, and it did not take long to set up camp. It had been difficult at first to forage for food, not knowing what was safe to eat and what wasn’t. Their second week of travel they’d met a group of dark gnomes that had given them information. They were curious and amiable. Jade had started to think the Deep Hollows wouldn’t be dangerous after all until the dark gnomes gave advice on safety.
“Watch the patches of rocks, stone snakes blend right in!”
“Not everyone is welcoming of Surface-dwellers, you are lucky you ran into us and not slavers!”
“Be careful of cave-ins, they happen more frequently than you think!”
At least we learned some recipes from them, Jade reflected.
Sen had caught a few reptilian creatures to eat, cooking them with his own fire breath before eating them whole. Foxy enjoyed sharing in that meal. Jade did not eat animals and made herself a bowl of mushrooms on a bed of riverweed with some chopped up fruit the dark gnomes had referred to as ranbas that was healthy and filling. It very much reminded Jade of bananas, except for the bright blue color.
“So,” Sen began with a mouthful of food, “do you think we are any closer to this Rehanine thing?”
Jade sighed, glancing off into the darkness. “I don’t know. I’ve honestly lost all sense of direction down here. Rehanine could be-”
She broke off at the sound of laughter echoing in her mind. A voice spoke. A voice she remembered from the tunnels beneath Oceala.
Are you searching for me? Do you want to find me?
Help! Trapped! Trapped!
I remember you, wild elf. I thought I’d killed you.
Help! The purple! Trapped in the purple stone!
Keep seeking. You’ll find me.
The manic laughter echoed off and away from her mind. She winced and shook her head.
“Did it happen again?” Sen asked.
“Yes, and it makes no sense just like the first two times,” she sighed.
“How is it doing this? I don’t hear it.”
Jade twirled some riverweed around her fork. “It seems to have telepathic abilities. Perhaps because you were not with us in Oceala, it doesn’t want to reach into your mind.”
Sen sniffed, smoke drifting from his nostrils. “Good.”
“I don’t understand what it’s trying to communicate,” Jade said. “One moment it’s taunting me, the next it’s pleading for help. It mentioned purple stone again.”
“What stones are purple?”
“Many. We don’t have any information to narrow it down at this point.”
“I wish we could travel faster, like I used to by ship. Walking takes too long. It feels like we’ll never track down Rehanine.”
A small smile touched Jade’s face. “Many years ago, before I lost my magic, I used to be able to fly with the wind.”
“I’ve seen you turn into elementals.”
“It was more than that,” she explained. “I would become wind, and soar over the mountains and the plains and through the trees. It was more than just taking on an elemental shape, it was becoming that element entirely. It was incredibly liberating. I would take Jasper with me. My druidic magic would envelope him, too, and we would soar together.”
A heavy frown hung on Sen’s lizard-like face. “Well, that sounds extremely convenient. Why don’t we do that now? You are strong.”
Jade laughed. “Well, it’s magic I learned while living in the Wilds with Jasper. It’s easier to be a druid there. I haven’t tried that magic since he died.”
“I didn’t know you lived in the Wilds. What was it like?” There was trepidation to his tone at mention of another plane.
Jade pet her fox’s red fur as she answered. “It was nothing like Glenpeleg. It was vibrant and full of life. A place where the influence of Tamer and Dusk was strong. The Wildar there have a deep connection to the natural world.”
“Hmmm. Well, if you feel like practicing soaring as wind, let me know. I prefer that to walking!”
“Perhaps I’ll do some meditation before bed. It’s been . . . hard to connect with the spirits of nature in this place. It’s so different than anything I’m familiar with.”
Sen offered a supportive smile. She knew spellcasting was nothing he was remotely familiar with, as evidenced by the large axe he carried with him. She liked that about him, though. He was grounding.
They ate for a moment in silence before Sen asked, “Do you miss our friends?”
“Yes . . . I do very much.” She thought of Brother Zok in his shining armor, Skar with his eccentric qualities, Artemis’ large appetite, and Unolé and Teshuva. She missed them all.
“Maybe we’ll make new friends down here,” Sen suggested.
She laughed. “Well, if we find Deep Hollowans that want to be friends with us, that will be special indeed.”
They filled the rest of their meal with memories of all their adventures together. Of sailing down the coast on Sen’s Scarlet Maiden. Of seeking out Fenvell of the Foresight to avenge a murder. Of encounters with the old spellcaster Sen had called Jenkins. And of the last time they’d all been together, saving An’Ock from a doppelgänger invasion. They reminisced about all the good times and not the bad.
When the meal was done and Sen prepared the camp for sleeping, Jade took time to meditate. With Foxy asleep in her lap, she crossed her legs and closed her eyes. She stretched her awareness outward, searching for the spirits of all the living nature around her.
It was strange. Like waking up in a tavern and being slightly disoriented with the world. Everything was there that she was familiar with, it just wasn’t the way she was used to. She felt life stirring in the strange seaweed-like plants. She felt vibrations from the rocks around, and the hum of energy that permeated the Deep Hollows.
If I can get in touch with this natural energy, then I can harness it. Learn from it. Connect with it. Use it to protect and help us.
And so Jade spent a long time meditating and building that connection before she at last needed to sleep.
In celebration of March being women’s month, we are doing a fun art feature of many of our female characters throughout the Thread of Souls books. All art is drawn by Talia, an untrained artist who just loves drawing as a hobby.
