Ray Strong's Blog

We are thrilled to announce that The Wounded Sky, the secondbook in The Dragons’ Warseries, has been honored by being named on the

 

! Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize Short List !

 

The Eric Hoffer Award is the most prestigious award fornon-traditional books in the world, and we are honored to be considered for theGrand Prize.

 

Also …

Just for fun, I’ve also posted new videos about Zephyr’s Flight below. More areposted here.

 

 The Book ofChaos, the third book in the Dragons' War series, will go live next week,4/28/26, on Amazonand Audible.Here’s a sample audio…

 The whole set can be found at Atomic Shelf here.

And of course, Zephyr's Flight and the other books in the series can be found at Amazon, here

 

Each of the regions of Juro, the land where the stories of ‘TheDragons’ War’ series take place, has its own spiritual foundation. In Nordes,the northernmost state of the North, has a belief system that, in its practice,echoes the indigenous Tsimshian peoples of Alaska on Earth This belief system iscentral to the story of Katheryn in ‘The Angel of Death’ that willrelease later this year. Katheryn is the mother of Diana who stars in the ‘Bookof Chaos,’ which will release in audiobook formon April 28.

 

Cosmology of the North

This is the story of creation a shepherd, the Prophet, taughtus because humans cannot comprehend the gods. To humans, all things exist onlywith an opposite by which to distinguish them: there is no hard without soft,no dark without light, and no good without bad. And so we tell their story inour terms.

Existence began in Darkness and Chaos. Darkness createdLight and order from its right hand, for with Light, Darkness could admireitself in all its majesty as not-light. With this creation came vanity,self-centeredness, selfishness, and the duality of our universe. In our terms,Darkness was King and Light was Queen. Light appears to fauna as Helios and thethree moons, Lon, Elein, and Fures, but is present even in the smallestfirefly.

Together, Darkness and Light created the moons, our world,and all life upon it, including the Worm of the World who embodied order andchaos to shape Juro. Vain Darkness tried to steal all the light except justenough to see itself, leaving Juro in darkness and perpetual winter. But Lightresisted and exiled Darkness to moonless nights and shadows by which light anddark distinguish each other equally.

Before retiring to heaven and turning their backs on Juro,Darkness and Light bore the demigods, the Korshas, in pairs of opposites likethemselves from which to discern vice and virtue: cruelty and kindness, slothand industriousness, … and model those virtues to humans.

The Korshas did not have the power to create worlds of theirown, and so created life on Juro that reflected their duality: male-female,good-bad, happy-sad … They created Grace and Envy, but Envy had more power fromchaos. Envy infected the Korshas until they fought each other for dominationover their limited world.

In a great basin, the pairs fought each other with fire, andmagma, and mountains, and lightning, and tempest. Darkness and Light despaired fortheir children and for the world they would destroy.

After eons of conflict, one pair of Korshas, Knowledge and Ignorance,stopped the futile fighting, and suggested they direct their energy to thelimits of the world that defined them. Together, the Korshas focused theirpowers to the gates of heaven and destroyed it, opening the heavens and thevastness of reality.

But in doing so, they banished themselves to the heavenswhere they live now as stars. They were now free to rule the universe as it is:as wide as their imaginations to the ends of the heavens.

In breaking their bounds to Juro, they freed life from theirinfluence, and their opposites were projected onto humans and the other lifethey created. And with the guidance of their mother, Light, they inspiritedanimals with the lasting virtues: the bear, the raven, the eagle, and the WhiteElk who each held part of Light to guide and warn humans.

Light gave a piece of Helios to men to create fire and keepaway the Darkness. But humans are drawn to Darkness by Light’s absence and soare prone to vice.

 

This is the story a shepherd, the Prophet, taught us so wewill follow Light and Grace and listen to the lessons the animal spirits teachus.

Name                Positionin the Pantheon

The Gods

Darkness (Chaos) and Light (Order), creators of theuniverse and the Demigods.

The Demigods (Korshas)

Pairs of opposite virtues and vices: A sample from thehundreds of Korshas are Grace and Envy, Kindness and Cruelty, Knowledge and Ignorance.Creators of life on Juro and the animal spirits.

The Animal Spirits (a sample)

·     White Elk – justice for the weak. Sometimescalled Chaucin.

·     Bear – the right path and self-knowledge. Bearsalways find water, and so the sign of the arrow expresses their belief.

o  PolarBear – steadfastness, survival in the worst of situations.

·     Beaver – industriousness. Nothing good happenswithout work.

·     Eagle – vision, focus on a goal, martial skill.

·     Lion – leadership, strength.

·     Crow – deviousness.

·     Fox – cleverness.

·     Otter – playfulness, enjoying life to thefullest.

·     Raven – death and resurrection.

·     Wolf – family and tenacity.

·     Badger – viciousness.

·     Cougar/Coyote - ambush, betrayal.

 

! News  Update ! The WoundedSky audiobook will launch next week on March 24th.

Preorders are available now on Audible and Amazon. I've included the audio teaser below.

Also, as a special incentive we are dropping the price of

Zephry’s Flight ebook to $0.99.

for launch week.

The audiobook for TheBook of Chaos, the next book in the Dragons’ War series, is coming in spring. I’ll keep youup to date.

Happy reading,

Ray

Zephyr’s Flight audiobooklaunches in 10 days (February 24) on Audibleand Amazonand is available for preorder now.

As promised, here's an audio teaser.

Audiobooks of thenext two books in The Dragons’ War series are coming. I’ll keep you up to date.

 

And if you can’twait for our new releases, here are some interesting reads for you.

Free Fantasy Reads

Magical Fantasy Giveaways

Science Fiction/Fantasy/LitPRG

Science Fiction and Fantasy

 

… and of course, ourbooks in the Dragon’s War series.

Another reader askedwhy my heroes and heroines always hit bottom before they succeed. Like us, they’renot gifted with superhuman powers. They must confront their limitations andgrow and adapt to succeed. In the steadfast pursuit of their mission, theirlimited human capacities (like all of us) eventually confronts the overwhelmingpower of their enemy. After defeat, it’s their spirit that rises from failureand continues the fight.

I had some guidance onthis from a man named de Merlner that I want to share with you/

 

The Phoenix (Resurrectionand Hope)

From The Diary ofNeuchar de Merlner,

Nova Conta, Section3, Spiritus (Spirit)

 

It is beyond ourfathoming how, beset by the most overwhelming of events, that the human spiritrises from despair to greatness: the selfless martyr who gives their life forothers but is sent to the stake, or to the cross, while still blessing us; or theparent who survives the death of their child.

It is why thephoenix is immortal.

And it is why thestories of resurrection are targeted for our hearts, not our heads.

 

It is because wehave all seen this that we know it to be true: that the human spirit can riseagain after destruction. This spirit is not some disembodied ghost or mysticalentity that touches us. No, it is us, as truly as our hands and our hearts. Itis this spirit that animates us: the anima of Latin philosophy; the breath oflife or psyche of the Greeks; before science and psychology obscured our viewof the universal. And if we allow adversity to conquer us, if we cannot risefrom the ashes of spiritual destruction, there is nothing left.

 

Absent our spirit,we are an empty husk. With it we are lions, and whales, and . . . human beings:not mere biological entities or notations on a phylogenetic tree or collectionsof psychological descriptions; not mere economic automatons who recreate andbreed to optimize evolutionary advantage.

With our human spirit,we are giants that roam the galaxy; that see God in heaven, and a future beyondthe stars.

(Nova Conta, Section3, Spiritus)

© 2026 Benjamin R.Strong, Jr.

 

Ray

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! News !

 

Zephyr’s Flight audiobookis live on Amazon for preorder. We’ll have an Amazon preorder and a samplereading available in a few weeks with release on February 24, 2026.

 

Audiobooks of thenext two books in The Dragons’ War series will be released soon. I’ll keep youup to date.

 

And if you can’twait for our new releases, here are some interesting reads for you.

Free Fantasy Reads

Magical Fantasy Giveaways

Science Fiction/Fantasy/LitPRG

Science Fiction and Fantasy

 

… and of course, ourbooks in the Dragon’sWar series.

 

 
This may have gotten lost in my last post . . .

! News !

 

Zephyr’s Flight audiobook is live on Audible for preorder. We’ll have an Amazon preorder and a sample reading available in a few weeks with release on February 24, 2026.

 A reader asked, whatinspired my heroines: Astria,Diana, Katheryn, Jeannine, Makashti, Meriel.

It was a statue of Joanof Arc in Paris.

Cliché? Maybe.

Everyone knows of Joan,how she led France to victory over the English and helped crown a king . . .

- And they burned her atthe stake for it.

But we know littleabout her inner thoughts, her personal encounters and traumas, how she grew,what she learned, or the virtues that armored her.

That’s a story worthtelling!

Not the superherowith spectacular powers, but the ‘every-man/every-woman,’ the regular personlike all of us without superpowers,  thrown into extraordinary situations.

What do they do? Howdo  they survive? How do they achievetheir goals?

To me, that wasEarth-Sea, Narnia, Ringworld, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings . . .

That’s the story Iwanted to tell through the eyes and hearts of ordinary people, steeled with virtue,wit, and courage, who oppose the injustice thrust upon them.

And I hope theirstories interest you as well.

 

Ray

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! News !

 

Zephyr’s Flight audiobookis liveon Audible for preorder. We’ll have an Amazon preorder and a samplereading available in a few weeks with release on February 24, 2026.

 

And if you can’twait for our new releases, here are some interesting reads for you.

Free Fantasy Reads

Magical Fantasy Giveaways

Science Fiction/Fantasy/LitPRG

Science Fictionand Fantasy

 

... and of course our books in the Dragons's War Series.