We haven’t done a Spool of Souls in forever! It’s time to give all of you an update on Thread of Souls and our current projects.
Writing Book V
Book V in our Thread of Souls series is in the process of being written, with an anticipation of publication in Spring of 2024. As the books get more involved and the series plot thickens, more time is needed for each book. So 12-month releases are unlikely haha. Part 1 has been completed and gone through its first two rounds of edits. We are currently in the middle of Part 2.
Audiobook
We only have one chapter left to record for the first audiobook of Phantom Five. After that, we’ll go through the editing process and then release it! We are only a team of two, and we do work full time on top of running Thread of Souls and Game Sandwich. We are excited to soon be getting the first of many audiobooks released!
New Merch
We have a launched a handful of new merchandise in our Redbubble shop! These include a Jade typography shirt and sticker, a Drybarrel Ale shirt, a Phantom Five phone cover, an Ash & Thunder journal, a Path of the Spiders bag, and an Asunder scarf!
Our Lives
This year has been a busy time of transition. We’re coming off both being laid off from our FT salaried jobs, a period of unemployment, and getting back to work in July after moving to a new state. We’re finally settling back into a routine and returning to our Thread of Souls projects. We also sold our car and bought a new one, a sexy yellow hatchback! All in all, it’s been crazy busy and we’re ready for things to slow down haha.
Hello all! We can’t believe how long it’s been since we last posted. There’s been so many changes in our lives the last handful of months that we’ve neglected the website. We’ve had changes in location, new career opportunities, and even a return to graduate school. It’s been busy! But the books and associated projects are still carrying on. Since we haven’t gotten to update you in a while about what is in-progress, here is an overview of what we’ve been working on the last few months!
Thread of Souls Updates
We’ve been doing minor updates to the interior and exterior of the books. We’ve given our author names an updated look and removed some non-essential info from the interior About the Authors page, such as social media links.
Book V is progressing well! Part 1 is finished, and we are moving on to Part 2. We still anticipate a release date in early 2024, but of course our focus is on telling the best story possible. Keep on the lookout for excerpts and other announcements as they are released!
Audiobooks
Finally, finally audiobooks are in-progress! They are being voiced by our very own Dorian, who has professional instruction and experience in voice acting. We communicated with a handful of other voice actors, but in the end no one knew the world and the characters better than Dorian. It was just a matter of finding the time haha. Expect Phantom Five very, very soon with the others to follow across the rest of this year.
Website Updates
As we revamp and re-evaluate our online presence, expect some changes to the website. The two biggest ones we’re most excited about is adding a Characters page and a World page. This will give some fun insight into Corventos and the characters you follow.
Be on the look out for more regular posts from now on, and thank you for your support!
It doesn’t matter if you are an aspiring or experienced writer, when it’s time to choose a book title it can feel overwhelming. You want it to catch a reader’s attention, you want it to convey the theme of the book, and you want it to feel unique to the story you are telling. It can all be overwhelming! We outlined three simple strategies below to help you in naming your book. These are strategies we put into place when we choose book titles for our Thread of Souls series.
The Aesthetic Title
You may want to choose a title that focuses on the specific aesthetic of your story. Is your story dark and moody? Is it romantic and epic? Is it violent and strategic? If you have an idea of the vibes of your story, you can begin to create a short list of words related to them. Try not to fall into the stereotypical trap of young adult novels with edgy names, but instead choose words that relay the moods and themes of your work.
For example, if you book is romantic, you might want to include a color of passion in the title, like red or purple. Or aesthetics associated with romance such as flowers, fire, silk, the night, or chocolate.
Animals are also good metaphors for themes in your book. Foxes are associated with being cunning, owls for wisdom, dogs for loyalty, elephants for sturdiness, or spiders for laying traps.
Consider other symbols and what they mean. A full moon is often associated with power. Storms are often associated with troubling times. Rain for rebirth, a garden for life, an apple for temptation, and so on.
Here are some real-life examples: Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White, and Midnight Beauties by Megan Shepherd.
The Prominent Name Title
You may choose your book title based on something prominent within the story itself. This could be a character, a location, or an item of note. This brings the focus onto something instrumental to your story’s plotline.
Some examples of stories named after characters: Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare, The Book of Mordred by Vivian Vande Velde, and Pendragon by D.J. MacHale.
Some examples of stories named after locations within: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien, Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, and Out of Africa by Karen Blixen.
Some examples of stories named after an item within: The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis, Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, and The Singing Sword by Jack Whyte.
The Fairytale Setting Title
Sometimes you might want to cement the grand scale of the story you are telling. This is especially helpful if you are telling a book trilogy or series. This allows you to be flexible with subtitles, as well! When going for this type of book title, choose a synonym for “story” and then something else from the list above, such as a character name. We’ve got some great examples below!
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, and A Song of Ice and Fire from George R. R. Martin.
How We Chose the Thread of Souls Names
“Thread of Souls” relates to everything that is published within our fantasy world. It not only goes with our theme of multiple character POV’s and how they influence each other, but also of the prominent goddess of death in the stories and her theme of threads. Readers familiar with Greek mythology will easily recognize the allusion to the Fates.
The eight-book series we are currently on is dubbed the “Spider Octology”. This is not only because of a prominent god feature and the number of books in the series, but also is thematic since spiders are associated with laying traps.
Here is a breakdown of the subtitles of the four books published so far:
Book 1 – Phantom Five. This is named after the adventuring group the Phantom Five created across the story.
Book 2 – Ash & Thunder. Not only is this title a bit aesthetic for the chaos and violence in the book, but it also directly relates to two major battles that take place within.
Book 3 – Path of the Spiders. Many secrets are uncovered in this book regarding Taliesin’s missing spiders.
Book 4- Asunder. The story begins with many of our heroes split apart, and thus the group has been torn asunder.
We hope this has been helpful to you! We’d love to hear how you came up with the names for your stories below!
Hello all! It’s been a while since we posted. This month has been particularly turbulent for us with a lot of life changes. We’re hoping to get some stability back soon and be able to post content more regularly. That being said, we have a time-specific announcement.
Thread of Souls as our brand is leaving social media channels. This includes the accounts we previously had on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, DeviantArt, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, and more. The decision for this is pretty simple. While we had some great interactions with the community, the toxicity of the social media space eventually overpowered the fun. It was hard to browse feeds without seeing hate content, even from within a typically welcoming and loving community. And in good conscious it’s hard for us to stay on platforms like Twitter when we disagree with the ethics of how business is being conducted.
While we received a very small percentage of some online bullying, others have had it much worse and that is not the reason we removed our accounts. We are clearing out sources of hate and negativity in our lives, and leaving social media happened to be one of those.
So what does our online future hold? Our website will remain as it is. Over the course of a month or so you’ll see a series of changes as we adjust to the need to give certain aspects of Thread of Souls more of a platform on this website. One of these will be introducing a brand-new video page, where previously videos were simply incorporated with the blog posts.
You will still be able to come to the site to see all the things we had on here and across social media. This includes art, videos, merchandise, photos, and a blog that features Thread of Souls, book and game reviews, and informative pieces for storytellers.
We appreciate everyone that has engaged and followed us for years. This website will now be the central hub of our content, and we look forward to continuing to engage in the future with all of you!
Thank you for the love and support!
Dorian & Talia
P.S. – We’ll be sure to give an update about life after leaving social media in the future for those also seeking to leave it behind and look for alternatives!
Another P.S. – There will not be any social accounts from us without an accompanying blog post on our website. Anything you see claiming to be “Thread of Souls” not supported here is a fake account.
Here at Thread of Souls we are honoring International Women’s Day with a post about our female characters. As husband and wife co-authors, it is wonderful to take this day to celebrate not only Talia’s contributions to the books, but also the women of Thread of Souls that make it what it is.
From Talia
Hello! It’s me, Talia (aka Ashley) co-author of Thread of Souls and co-owner of Tal & Ru Travels LLC with my amazing husband. Growing up, I was exposed to a lot of sexism from my adoptive family on what a woman should or should not do, say, or believe (and a man, too, but that’s for another time). I am proud of separating myself from those punishing viewpoints, and proud to have a partner that thrives with me in fully embracing ourselves and our dreams for the future.
I have been writing all my life, even before I could properly spell words. I wrote my own books, and when I was old enough to have my own laptop I got into the world of fanfiction and won many awards for my works. Even though I drifted away from my path as an author by following bad advice, I have re-discovered my purpose and passion when I began Thread of Souls with my husband (then-fiance.) You can learn more about my journey here.
Being a female business owner and author, it gives me a wonderful opportunity to showcase characters for who they are in their hearts and souls, and not who they are as defined by gender. I am proud to push a narrative forward that shows complex female characters. Jade was my first character created for Thread of Souls, and the last 8 years with her have been wonderful. Dorian created two of our other major female characters, Ruuda and Jasita. If I had just met Dorian at a TTRPG table and saw the character he was playing was a dual-wielding, super strong, female dwarf with a beard I would have fallen in love with him all over again haha. And if I had met him again when he created and played Jasita, an asexual, analytical, numbers-focused researcher, I would have fallen in love a third time.
We do not create characters with defying harmful stereotypes in mind. Rather, we create a person. As complex, flawed, and beautiful as people are in real life. Men who cry. Women who don’t need romance. Bisexuals that are not horny. Black characters that are kings. For us, we simply ask Who is this person? Where did they come from? What do they want? And How does that shape their personality?
So let’s honor some highlighted female characters from our books below. There are so many more that we can’t possibly feature them all! Monster-hunter Encarna, vampire tyrant Corentin, high priestess Maiathah, and much more. Happy International Women’s Day, and may you continue to showcase complex female characters in your own stories!
The Characters
Ruuda of Clan Drybarrel is a pragmatic, fierce, and no-nonsense dark dwarf. She dual-wields a sword of fire and a war hammer, named Liquor and Forge Breaker respectively. Ruuda loves animals, and would rather spend a night camping under the stars than in the finest tavern in the world. Her love of beer comes from her Clan, which have been brewers for generations. She is the youngest of 12 children and is used to speaking up to get her voice heard. Growing up in a caste system, Ruuda never received a Blessing from their god, the Forge King. This has left a bad taste in Ruuda’s mouth for all things religious and celestial in nature. She has sworn to find the Forge King and make him pay for not Blessing her.
Jade Galanodel is a wild elf druid that lives a nomadic life traveling Corventos. Connected with nature, she avoids cities if at all possible, and is highly judgmental of the urban way of life. She travels with her rescued pet fox, and follows the signs the spirits of nature give her. An accomplished herbalists and cartographer, she is a powerful spellcaster that stands up against injustice. So long as it happens outside of the city walls. Those people can keep their own problems. After losing her fiancé in battle, Jade searches for a new purpose in life. She may have just found one with the mysterious creature known as Rehanine that attempted to kill her in her home city of Oceala.
Jasita Yolarin is a high elf crystalmancer, researcher, and telepathic prodigy. Growing up in the beautiful capital city Eleste’si to historian parents, she was identified at a young age for her talent and taken to the prestigious Citadel. A place of magical study, law, and authority. Jasita did not fit in well with the other students. She found emotions confusing and relationships complicated. Facts and numbers interested her far more. Especially the study of ancient and forgotten elven history that involves dark elves. Jasita excels in everything she puts her mind to, so long as it has nothing to do with people, and is happiest with a book in her hands. Her life is shaken, however, when she encounters a dark elf that has runaway from his home.
Hello again! Got some exciting news for the start of this month!
Book 5
The fifth book for our Thread of Souls series is in progress! The very first chapter was actually finished on Friday! It’s been a few weeks of finalizing the outline and creating a timeline for the book’s writing, editing, prepping, and release. We’re so excited to start this journey! This is a book big for us since we are starting the second half of the Spider Octology. As the months progress, we will definitely share more about the book with art, excerpts, and a title release.
Hardcovers
Finally, finally, hardcovers for Thread of Souls are a thing! The hardcover for Phantom Fivejust released. We got the proof in and are very happy with the results, it’s definitely a beautiful book! You can expect the hardcovers for Ash & Thunder, Path of the Spiders, and Asunder to all go live this month.
Art Commissions
Talia draws all the art for Thread of Souls, giving life to this world through cultural concepts, character designs, weapon designs, and more. We also plan to release a graphic novel in the future, and right now we’re both working hard on getting everything set up for that. If you like Talia’s art, she is offering commissions! Check out her DeviantArt page to learn more.
The Holy Dragon, also known as Halathras, is one of Thread of Souls‘ dragon gods. As one of the Protector Gods, they are worshipped by those who follow honor, loyalty, and truth. They are commonly depicted as a large gold or platinum dragon who resides within a section of the Celestial Plane called the The Platinum Halls.
Significance in the world
The Holy Dragon, along with Iosis the Blight Dragon, created the first dragons in the world of Theretos. Through their creation, the dragons molded and shaped the land. During the Divine Wars, the time period where the gods fought one another on the Material Plane, the Holy Dragon battled the Blight Dragon on the Elemental Planes. Dragons took sides during the fight and in the end Halathras defeated Iosis.
After the Divine Wars came the construction of the Gate of the Gods. This barrier prevented gods from returning to the Material Plane, though they could still aid their followers through as needed. Halathras watches from their seat in The Platinum Halls, granting boons and powers to those who worship him.
Who follows the Holy Dragon?
The Holy Dragon is followed by valiant warriors, healers, paladins, and leaders. Those who worship the great platinum dragon agree to follow a creed to put all other before themselves. Paladins take up the following oath.
I devote my life to follow you, Holy Dragon. In your example I will be honest, and keep my word in all things. I will protect others as though their life is greater than mine. I will show mercy to my foes, but punish those who do evil. I will obey those with just authority. I will answer for my actions and ask forgiveness for any wrong I have done. And in all things I will be honorable. May you guide my steps and my voice, so I may always serve you justly.”
Thread of Souls Phantom Five
What is the Holy Dragon’s symbol?
The Holy Dragon’s symbol is a golden eye. Warriors and paladins carry a shield or armor depicting the eye while clerics and healers wear robes of white and gold.
Zok spun his hammer, taking out his shield that was emblazoned with the golden eye of the Holy Dragon. He readied his stance. “Round two.”’
Thread of Souls Phantom Five
He supposed he’d always been drawn to the things the Holy Dragon valued. Kindness, honor, loyalty, honesty. Doing good to others and helping out whenever one could. He was in his early twenties when he swore his oath to the Holy Dragon and became a paladin. And he felt his life was fuller because of it.”
Thread of Souls Phantom Five
The Temple of the Holy Dragon was beautiful. Settled on the coast, its gardens were immaculate and it rose three stories tall, all white and gold. Stained glass windows of blue reflected the sun.”
Happy February! A bit late on the draw this month, but we have our Spool of Souls monthly update on what we are currently working on, and our new releases.
Upcoming Book Releases
After a big delay due to an injury, we finally have a date in mind for the publication of the promised lore book “Jade’s Alphabet of Animals”! We’ll be sending it out to ARC readers in March, with publication in April. It will be our first picture book, and will give whimsical insight into lore for Thread of Souls. If you are interested in being on our early reader ARC team, please reach out!
Podcast
We’ve mentioned before that we will be launching a behind-the-scenes podcasts that talks about the creation of the books. That was supposed to launch this week, but we’ve had a few setbacks just with our own scheduling. Life gets hectic. We hope to have it going later this month, and it should be available the same place as our newly released soundtrack.
Merchandise
Our Corventos map blanket is here! It is so beautiful! We have that and many more items available in our Redbubble store. Our roadmap for the year is to release a new product each month, so keep on the lookout for them!
DeviantArt Subscriptions
If you are one who likes to support artists, we have recently opened up subscription tiers on DeviantArt. These include early access to art as well as once-a-month requests. If you haven’t visited our DeviantArt yet, check us out! That’s the main place for all Thread of Souls-related art, and we occasionally host contests, a well!
It’s an exciting day! Our Thread of Souls soundtrack is officially completed and live. This is volume 1 of what hopefully is multiple albums all exploring Thread of Souls through music. Our friend and composer, Sean Gartner, has truly created beautiful and moving music.
Our Composer
Sean Gartner has been a part of Thread of Souls for a long time. He was one of our original players at the table when we started this TTRPG back in 2015. Even though he moved away in 2016 and wasn’t able to play anymore, we’ve always kept in touch. He has read the books multiple times, and was so inspired by these stories that he wanted to compose music for them. We had a chat through video call about our vision for a soundtrack for the books and for all things TOS, and was so happy he was on board! As you can tell from the songs, he is extremely talented! He’s also just a fantastic man all around, a loyal friend, and has a super kind heart. We cannot be happier to have him create this music.
What Songs Are There?
We have 14 tracks on this first album. If you have tuned into our Twitch livestream, you’ve heard Lively Tavern during our breaks! Jade has her own theme, we have Into The Gloomdwell from Path of the Spiders,The Utterer from the exciting battle in the same book, and much more!
Where To Find the Soundtrack
There are so many places you can listen to and/or download the songs! These are:
There is plenty to talk about here! We wrapped up 2022 with a meeting reviewing the past and planning the future of Thread of Souls. Here is what you have to look forward to over the coming year as we focus on making you laugh, and giving you moving stories with impactful characters.
The Books
Next month we will release the hardcover versions of all available Thread of Souls books! We also will be having two publications this year, which is the first time we’ve done so. After many delays due to injury, Jade’s Alphabet of Animals is finally coming in April! We also will have the release of the fifth book in the Thread of Souls series at the end of this year.
We’ve had questions about when audiobooks will be released. We had to pivot our expectations after the person we hired dropped off contact. So now Dorian will be doing the audiobooks! He has experience in voice acting as well as training, and we’re really excited to bring these to you. We don’t have a solid date yet, but it will be this year.
Merchandise
We have a lineup of new merchandise concepts to release across the year. We’ll be releasing one new item each month, and we have a lot of really fun ones that fans of the books will appreciate! We’re still working with Redbubble, and currently you can get a lot of merchandise with our logo on it.
New Ventures
We’re taking Thread of Souls down some new avenues this year. We are going to Twitch! We actually have had a couple of streams already, and by the end of January we will be streaming 35 hours a week, 6 days a week. This will include video games, board games, and a “behind the scenes” series.
We are also launching an official Thread of Souls soundtrack. Our friend and composer Sean Gartner has done 14 tracks for us so far, and we’re eager to finally make them available for all of you to listen to! These will be up most anywhere you can listen to music.
We’ll also have a podcast up each week starting in February. This will be the audio recording of our “behind the scenes” series that will be live on Twitch.
We are so excited for this new year and all the things happening! It is only the two of us doing all this, we don’t have a team and we don’t have a large fortune backing us. So you following us on this website and social media, joining our patreon, donating, or support in any way means the world to us and enables us to continue to do this. Thank you!
