It’s been a rough February! We’ve been dealing with some kind of virus that plagues us with dizziness for the last two weeks. The temperature will be tantalizingly warm, and then drop into snow the next day. We are eager to both feel better, and to get to spring.
Thread of Souls: Book V
We announced the title of the fifth book in the Thread of Souls series! It is titled “The Deep Hollows”. Be on the lookout for more excerpts and information from the book.
We are currently writing the final chapter. After that, we go into some rounds of editing before finalizing it for our ARC readers. We expect May / June release.
New Merch!
We’ve got some new merch in our shop! We have a Taliesin top that comes in a variety of colors and styles. We also have the cover of our Phantom Five book available as wall art. It’s offered a poster print, canvas print, metal print, and as framed art.
Audiobook
Since the release of the Phantom Five audiobook last month, Dorian has been hard at work on the audiobook for Ash & Thunder. He’s about a third of way through the book at this point. You can listen to Phantom Five via Amazon, Audible, or iTunes!
It’s that time! We’ve been writing this book since late in 2022 and are closing in on being completely finished. Our anticipated publication time will be in May of 2024.
We’ve known what we wanted to title this book for a long time given where this book takes place. With a pretty intense ending to Book IV: Asunder, Book V will definitely be one wild adventure.
So here we are! The big title reveal.
Thread of Souls
Book V
The Deep Hollows
It’s been so much fun to explore the region that Taliesin and Ruuda come from, a place we’ve only see in flashbacks in previous books. It has its own unique terrain, plants, animals, and cultures that we haven’t encountered before.
While waiting for The Deep Hollows to be available, you can check out this excerpt from the upcoming book! Don’t forget to read the previous books if you haven’t enjoyed them already!
The first month of 2024 is coming to a close. It’s been an exciting time and we are eager for all the things planned ahead for Thread of Souls!
Audiobook
That’s right! Phantom Five is now available as an audiobook on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. It’s narrated by our own Dorian! He is a professionally trained voice actor that has done work for commercials, promotions, and YouTube before. He’s done a wonderful job of bringing the book and characters to life.
New Merchandise
Brother Zok fans can rejoice! We have two Zok-specific merchandise in our store. A sticker with the Holy Dragon symbol on it, and a typography t-shirt. Both are available for purchase on our Redbubble shop.
Brother Zok Shirt
Book 5 Work
I can’t believe we’re actually near the end of writing the fifth book in our Thread of Souls series. We literally just have the climax left, which will encompass a handful of chapters. After that the road ahead brings plenty of editing and designing the book cover. Right now, the plan is an end-of-May release.
Stay tuned for Book 5 reveals including more excerpts, the title, the cover, and the summary!
We are so excited to finally announce the release of the first audiobook in our Thread of Souls series. Phantom Five is out and available via Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. It was narrated by our very own amazing Dorian.
It has been a long process in getting to this point. From trying two voice actors that didn’t work out, to setting up our own booth, and to figuring out the ACX system to upload the book.
We actually had the book finished in December 2023, but the ACX review is a very long process and customer support isn’t the smoothest experience. Our biggest hurled was that they pulled our legal names over our pen names and could not fix it for us. Eventually we accepted it since we list all four names under Amazon, anyway.
We are so happy with the final product and so excited to bring it to you!
I have enjoyed drawing my entire life. I’ve never done it in any professional capacity and never had any training. But there is plenty of my art hanging around our home. So I’d like to take a moment to share some art with you.
This feature is art of Jade the druid, a major character in our Thread of Souls book series. Enjoy!
It was well over a year ago now that we decided to hire a professional book cover designer. We are both creatives and artists, but we didn’t have the tools, time, or graphic design experience to really create the covers we wanted. After many weeks of searching through freelancers on Fiverr, we found Vivien.
We have worked with her for all four books in Thread of Souls and are looking forward to continuing to work with her for the rest of the series and many books to come! We chatted with her about her inspiration, how she goes about designing books covers, and how she got started!
How did you get started as a designer?
I’m self-taught and got started with designing my own book cover nearly five years ago. I collect hobbies and am constantly looking for new ways to be creative. I’ve done pottery throwing, jewelry making, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, furniture repair, painting…the list goes on! Once I started looking into cover designers for my second book, I realized that digital design was a creative avenue I hadn’t pursued before. I love a challenge and I love learning new things so I jumped into the world of book design and haven’t looked back!
I love being part of bringing someone’s book to life. The design process is typically one of the final stages to publication and it’s fun to share in the client’s excitement to release something they may have spent years working on.
How do you begin coming up with ideas for a book cover design?
Every cover design project starts with the client brief. I like getting a list of several items important to the story—they may not all be included in the final design, but it gives me more options to work with. I also like to get some examples of covers that the client likes or thinks fits the tone of their novel well.
Mix that with market research and I typically have a pretty good idea of where to go for the concepts. I usually have a mental image of the concepts and then jump into compositing images. Some ideas don’t work at all and about half of my projects reach a point where I think “this looks terrible, I don’t know what I’m doing!” Much like writing a book, I have self-doubt, no matter how many covers I’ve designed. I’ve learned not to listen to that doubt though and look at each project as a challenge to improve my craft.
Do you have a favorite book type of favorite book genre to design for?
Fantasy books hold a special place for me since that’s what I got started on. My first client was a romantasy author I’ve known for years. I told her I wanted to get started in design and would design the cover for her latest book for free. I had a lot to learn at the time, but I’m so thankful for her! Fantasy books are the most challenging for me, but the most rewarding!
Are there any book covers done by others that you are a big fan of?
So many! I’m constantly looking to improve, and drooling over other designer’s work is part of that. I like to analyze book covers now in a way I never did before. Looking at ways images are layered together, how typography can be its own design element for the book, how other designer’s choose color and contrast to make a cover pop. Some designers I follow are Micaela Alcaino (Ig: @micaelaalcainodesign), Franziska Stern (Ig: @coverdungeonrabbit), and Lexxie (ig: selkkiedesigns).
Do you do any other design work?
I mainly provide interior design and formatting, and book cover design. I work across all genres, and can provide marketing materials as well (ad mockups, social media banners, etc.).
Happy New Year! We did our look back at 2023, and now we look ahead at what is coming for Thread of Souls in 2024.
The Books
The fifth book in the Thread of Souls series will be released this year. Right now, we are looking at the end of May, but it is still too early to set any date in stone.
The audiobook for Phantom Five has been completed! It’s currently in the official ACX review stage and out of our hands. We will post an announcement once it is published! Be on the lookout for the Ash & Thunder audiobook later this year!
The Merch
We have a fun lineup of a lot of new merchandise coming across the year. The official plan is to release two new items each month. We will keep you posted on our monthly check-ins with what is new in our shop.
The Website
You can expect more ongoing blog posts across 2024. We have three a week planned, but there may be more if we have more news, or less if we are on vacation. Things you can expect to read about:
More from our “How to Become a Writer” series
Book and game reviews
Updates, excerpts, and first-look reveals for the books
Song recommendations for your TTRPGs or other creative endeavors
It’s been a wild year for us here at Thread of Souls. Setbacks in being laid off and moving twice put multiple projects on hold for months. But we still have had plenty of exciting things get accomplished. Here is our 2023 Year in Review!
The Books
We had no new book publications this year since the most recent book, Asunder was released in December of 2022. As these books get more complex and the plot deepens, it takes longer than a year to get them together.
We are currently 80% of the way through the fifth book, and recently released an excerpt preview. This year has been filled with a great deal of writing and editing. It’s been exciting to see this new story come to life!
The audiobook for Phantom Five is also in the final editing stages. Ideally, we’d like to release it before the end of 2023.
The Merch
We added a handful of new merchandise items in our Redbubble shop. Two of our favorites are the Jade shirt and sticker, and the Ruuda-themed Blessed Brew shirt. You can find them here.
The Soundtrack
Our first Thread of Souls soundtrack was released! We’ve been working with the amazing Sean Gartner who has composed such incredible music for the books. You can find it anywhere that you stream music.
Game Sandwich
Dorian launched a new gaming news website called Game Sandwich this past spring. He brought together a group of people who had all been laid off from the same gaming website to create their own platform and promote the stories they felt people wanted to read, rather than what corporate bosses who don’t follow the industry think is “in”. It’s seen absolutely incredible growth this year. Check it out!
Our Lives
Definitely a time of change! After being part of a 50% unexpected company layoff, we moved from our rental house and helped take care of an old family home that turned out to be haunted. Once we got back on our feet, we moved to Chicagoland and have had the best time! We have visited the beaches, gone to museums, joined in on festivals, and even bought a new car. Despite the challenges, we have nothing but gratitude as we come to the end of the year.
What about you? What has been your favorite part of 2023?
Happy holidays! We love this time of year so much. We watch holiday movies every Friday, and we do 12 Days of gifts to one another. As you know, we moved into a new place six months ago with pretty much nothing (not even a bed or a sofa), and it’s been great to see the new home finally take shape.
I drew four holiday cards this year featuring characters from our Thread of Souls series. We have Taliesin with “Merry & Bright”, Jade with “Oh Christmas Tree”, Jasita with “Let it Snow”, and Ruuda with “On an Open Fire”.
It’s that time of year! We’ve already given our recommendations for gifts for the storytellers in your life, and the gifts for the TTRPG players in your life. A lot has been added in the world of Thread of Souls gifts across this year. Here’s our recommendations!
For the Readers
Thread of Souls is an epic fantasy book series. This is not a children’s gift, but is suitable for 16+ depending on the maturity of the adolescent. There is a good deal of profanity and adult themes and situations, but nothing too graphic. The books are available in paperback and ebook. Phantom Five is currently the only hardcover, and the Phantom Five audiobook is in the final editing stages. You can easily find all the books on Amazon, but Barnes and Nobles’ website as well as other online book retailers have them for sale. We have zero control over what goes on the shelves in brick and mortar stores, so we can’t say if they are available at your local bookshop or not.
In the Thread of Souls “Spider Octology”, ten adventurers are caught in a web of deadly secrets, warring cults, and untrusting alliances when they meet a cult runaway seeking freedom. They must overcome their differences in order to stop a god’s release from an abyssal prison.
Thread of Souls is an award-winning eight-book epic fantasy series based off a TTRPG campaign. These stories weave a world of deep history, cultures, and lore with a fascinating pantheon of good and evil gods. Adventure across the vast world of Corventos while diving right into the heart and soul of a diverse and colorful cast of characters whose passions, strengths, and failures drive the story.
Thread of Souls is a must-read fantasy epic that blends swords and sorcery, dragons and mythical creatures, and fully realized locations that take your breath away. From the desert wastelands of the Expanse, down the twisting caverns of the Deep Hollows, through the beautiful streets of the lakeside capital city, and all the way to the icy tundra home of the Citadel.
Thread of Souls series summary
For the Comfy Shirt Lovers
Our Redbubble shop features plenty of fun t-shirts inspired by Thread of Souls. We currently have a Thread of Souls logo shirt, a Jade shirt, and a Blessed Brew shirt. Many of these comes in various types, such as long sleeve, fitted, or tank top, so be sure to explore your options!
For Those Who Like Free Gifts
Give the gift of music! Our Thread of Souls soundtrack is available all places that music is streamed. Depending on what streaming service you use, you don’t even have to pay! Enjoy songs such as “Chill Tavern”, “The Utterer”, and “Jade’s Theme”.
