holiday gift guide
The Spool of Souls: Updates & News

Thread of Souls 2021 Holiday Gift Guide


This is our first year to cover a holiday gift guide for fans of Thread of Souls! We hope to expand the list each year beyond this one with more books, merchandise, dice, and other goodies!

Our focus this year is where you can purchase the TOS books, as well as in what formats. These make excellent gifts for the people in your life that love reading, fantasy, D&D, or all of the above! Or yourself, of course. Treat yourself.

Formats Available:

Currently all three Thread of Souls books are available in paperback and ebook format. The plan is to have all three also in hardcover by the end of this month. Audiobook will be coming next year!

Where to Buy:

The best place to buy all of them is on Amazon: Thread of Souls (3 book series) Paperback Edition (amazon.com)

Ash & Thunder is available through Barnes & Noble: Thread of Souls: Book II – Ash & Thunder by Scott Roepel, Ashley Roepel, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

Alibris has all three books available: Thread of Souls: Book I: Phantom Five by Roepel, Scott, and Roepel, Ashley: New, Paperback, $12.07 at Alibris

Ash & Thunder is on ThriftBooks, though for the same price as Amazon: Thread of Souls: Book II – Ash &… book (thriftbooks.com)


Thread of Souls
The Spool of Souls: Updates & News

Thread of Souls News


Hello all and happy December! We are starting a new blog series called The Spool of Souls. This will focus on updates to the world of Thread of Souls so you don’t miss out on any big announcements.

There is plenty to talk about! As you can see, the website has been revamped. Our previous focus was on fantasy / D&D storytelling with Thread of Souls as a minor focus. But with three books already released, plans for further growth, and ever-increasing sales numbers, we have made TOS the primary website focus. But we will still share plenty of goodies on how to tell a good story, D&D, as well as fun story prompts.

We have a new logo reflective of the book series as well as new cover photos. This change affects the website as well as all of our social media presence. We also have changed our social media “handle” from Tal & Ru Travels to Thread of Souls. Tal & Ru Travels is still our LLC that all our creative works fall under, but this new name helps better define who we are.

We are excited to be released a new string of content for your entertainment. Here is what you can look forward to coming this month:

  • the launch of weekly videos on our YouTube
  • more art from the world of Thread of Souls
  • Lore drops that happen daily on Twitter and weekly on Instagram
  • Hardcovers of all three Thread of Souls books via Amazon

Thank you for all the support and love! We are so excited to see the growing fanbase for Thread of Souls.


Thread of Souls
The Spool of Souls: Updates & News, Thread of Souls

Thread of Souls: What You Need to Know About the Upcoming Third Installment


The third book in the series, Path of the Spiders, is coming soon. Here is everything you need to know about the next installment in this epic fantasy series!


Thread of Souls: Path of the Spiders is coming August 27th! The third book in this 5-star rated fantasy series picks up where Ash & Thunder left off: the character groups were split up, each now facing their own dangers. Let’s take a look at this new book!

The Summary:

The words seemed to come unbidden from her, born out of nature themselves, as she said softly, “The world is in danger. We have to stand strong. The mind eaters are growing in power. And the spiders . . .”

Zok frowned, leaning closer as her voice dropped to nearly a whisper. “What about the spiders, Jade?”

The words rolled from her mouth again, almost outside of her control, barely audible. “The spiders are all gone. And nature feels it. And nature is afraid.”

“The adventuring group known as the Phantom Five is torn apart. While one group ventures through Artemis’ war-torn homeland, Unolé is flung across the planes with healer Taliesin, warrior Ruuda, and soldier Wash. All the four of them want is to go home. But this new world has its own dangers, and its own mysteries. They are forced to make dubious alliances to survive, and every escape attempt is blocked with a new threat. The shadow of the eerie ziggurat looms over the land, as do rumors of its growing army inside.

But within ancient temples, slave auctions, and blood rituals lie answers. Answers about Unolé’s stolen sister, Wash’s fugitive past, and the question that Taliesin ran away from home for. Where have all the spiders gone? Now they must ask themselves one final question. How much are they willing to risk for these answers?”


An intriguing mystery that has been talked about the last two books come into focus this third book. The missing spiders. Taliesin has discussed his interest in this event plenty, and other characters such as Jade have noted that it has been awhile since they’ve seen a spider.

The summary also tells us that we are at last entering the Southern Kingdoms, Artemis’ home that she has always avoided talking about. Rumors have spread to other characters of violence brewing in the Southern Kingdoms. Perhaps within lies answers to why Artemis has refused to return in all these years.


The Cover

To discuss the cover, first let us take a look at the last two book covers. Each were designed to show hints at the story within.

In Phantom Five, we see lots of references to the story within. We see the desert known as the Expanse pictured, along with the ruins of Soleia that the group explored. In each corner we also see a depiction of the Sunsword Brother Zok obtains near the end of the book. In the center we see a feather, a reference to the feathers Unole gets at the start, but colored red like her mask. We also can see a subtle spiderweb in the bottom left corner. Foreshadowing?

In Ash & Thunder, we see a depiction of the castle of An’Ock that the group travels to. We can see a bow and arrow in each corner, a reference to the enchanted bow that Artemis obtains from her duplicate. We also see blue fire in the center. It is a mix up of the fiery red dragon fought at the end of the book, as well as the blue lightning-breathing dragon fought in the middle. The dark gray background alludes to the storm that surrounded the blue dragon. The spiderweb in the corner is much more prominent.

Finally we get a reveal of the third book’s cover! There is a ziggurat depicted in purple on the front, likely the one from the book’s summary. We see ravens in each of the four corners. The center image is two spiders inside a vial. And now in addition to the spiderweb in the bottom left, we also see one on the top left. It goes along well with the book’s promising title.


The Creation of the Book

This will avoid any spoilers as the book isn’t out just yet. The book has been in progress for the past year. As it is based off a D&D campaign, a critical point in the campaign was really a guiding light for the events of this book. One of the players had a schedule change, which prompted the party to split and two separate games to be played that followed the two different groups.

Unole’s feathers leads her and talkative healer Taliesin, pragmatic warrior Ruuda, sardonic soldier Wash, as well as the coatl Teshuva, into another plane altogether. Meanwhile Artemis is dragged off to her homeland and is pursued by the insightful Druid Jade, the enigmatic Wizard Skar, and the complicated Paladin Brother Zok. Let’s not forget about easy-going pirate Sen, who is still in the capital city An’Ock.

It was Unole and Wash’s players that needed to split off from the rest of the group. To compensate for the smaller party, Taliesin and Ruuda were created. Although in the books we have followed Taliesin and Ruuda’s story from the start.


How to Check Out This Book Early

This Saturday we will post a four-chapter excerpt of the book! You can also read reviews of the previous two books on Amazon and Goodreads to see if it something you would personally enjoy. Feel free to further explore the world of Corventos on this site!

The book will be available in paperback or ebook format, and an audiobook is planned for the future.

The book will be able to be purchased via this link on August 27th: Amazon