Ray Strong's Blog

 

 

This week only, Impulse Fiction is reducing the price of Zephyr’s Flight, the first bookin the Dragons’ War Saga to0.99.

 

Why? To encourage new readers, of course. Remember that ZF isnow available in six languages.

Also, on 9/24 Zephyr’s Flight and The Wounded Sky audiobookswill be available on Spotify, Apple, Hoopla and Libby as well as Audible/Amazon(sorry, we don’t control the price on these)

 

 

Happy reading …

Ray

Hi,

The Book ofChaos, the third book in theDragons’ War Saga, has won three more medals

Gold Medal - Global BookAwards - Coming of Age

Gold Medal - Global BookAwards - Teen and Young Adult Series

Silver Medal - Global BookAwards - Teen and Young Adult Coming of Age

And has an exceptional 4.6 rating on Amazon.

The next book in the series, The Angel of Death, is in beta right now,and I expect Impulse Fiction to release it later this year.

 

Happy reading …

Ray

The ImpulseFiction eBook library is now available in 5 new languages beyond English:

·      French

·      Spanish

·      German

·      Italian

·      Portuguese

… and English, of course.

 

You can access this from the book description page for anyof the books under the title at the link:

See all languages and editions

When you click there, a pop-up window will appear with yourlanguage options.

 

Oh, and the winner from the contest for the Zephyr’s Flightcover is (drum roll)

 

 

Happy reading …

Ray 

ZF audiobook is now available on . . .

Spotify, Appleaudobooks, Hoopla,and Libby(library affiliates).

As well as Audibleand Amazon.

And here are some Zephyr's Flight videos just for fun!

 The people of the North, the home of Diana, Richard, and Katheryn,believe that the animal spirits have things to teach humans. Here’s one ofthose stories the high-priestess of Nordes tells.

 

 

The Raven

In Lonnough, wearing a white robe, the high priestess sat ina semi-circle of cheering children as she finished telling a story of theProphet. Behind the children sat their parents and the village elders. A totempole stood behind her with carved images of animal spirits, the eagle at thetop. To both sides sat acolytes.

“What story would you like to hear next?” The priestessasked.

A child pointed to a figure on the totem just behind thepriestess. “The raven.”

“There are many stories of the raven. Which one would youlike?”

From the adults came a scratchy voice. “Our lands are fullof fighting, and the fallen fill our graveyards . . .”

The priestess turned to the voice: an old woman in awheelchair whose hands trembled as she gripped the arms. A young woman stoodbehind her with her hands on the crone’s shoulders and bit her lip.

“Tell them of death,” the old woman said.

The priestess frowned. “They’re a bit young for—”

The children shouted to hear the story, and the priestessraised her hand, closing her eyes to recast the story into one suitable forchildren. She opened her eyes and spoke.

“Hear the words of the Prophet.

“Vain Darkness was jealous of tiny black Raven because itcould fly in the Light where Darkness could not go. And the rebellious Ravenwould not follow Darkness’s orders like the shadows that moved as one whenLight passed.”

“Why?” a child asked.

The priestess nodded. “Darkness did not understand why blackRaven did not flee Light and stay in the shadows. Raven knew them both and didnot care.

“Knowing Darkness was vain, clever Raven swallowed all themirrors to protect himself from Darkness. Without the mirrors, Darkness couldnot admire himself. Enraged by the little creature’s defiance, Darkness killedRaven by breaking him into tiny pieces and scattering him in the shadows. Butthat shattered the mirrors as well, and unable to admire himself, Darknessbecame distraught.”

“And death?” the crone croaked.

“Death welcomed Raven,” the priestess said, “hoping toswallow his cleverness. But the shards of mirror sparkled with the tiny specksof Light the souls in Hel had retained, keeping Death away.

“Darkness asked Light what to do to restore the ability toadmire himself. Light told Darkness to put his anger aside and forgive Raven.‘Do not be jealous of Raven,’ Light said. ‘Black Raven brought dark into thelight. Find all the pieces of Raven and put him back together.’

“In the shadows, Darkness put Raven back together andthanked him for expanding the dark. In gratitude, Raven spat out the mirrors.The world was at peace again, and vain Darkness was content. But Raven knowsboth life and death and has more lessons to teach us.

“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.”

The high priestess closed her eyes and made the arrow sign.The audience copied her, and she opened her eyes again.

“Now, what lesson does the Prophet’s story teach us?” thehigh priestess asked.

The children all spoke at once.

“Don’t be vain and let yourself be angered,” said one.

“Jealousy and envy hurt the one who feels that way,” saidanother.

“Darkness wants to take over, but we can stop him if we’reclever like Raven.”

The priestess smiled. “You called Darkness ‘him’?”

“You did.”

She smiled. “Yes, I did, but ladies can be mean too.”

A girl raised her hand. “But men have the power.”

“Women also have power when they choose to use it.”

The girl smiled and sat up straight.

With glistening eyes, the crone croaked, “What lesson doesRaven bring us of death?”

The high-priestess turned to the old woman, and the crowddisappeared as they looked into each other’s eyes. Tears traced the crone’scheeks as she took the young woman’s hand.

“The light in your soul cannot be snuffed out,” thepriestess said. “Even by Death.” She closed her eyes again. “And those who livesee that light in every dawn.”

 . . .

Enjoy,

Ray

Interested in Katheryn's story?

Angel of Death will be released later this year.

 

 When dragons and Riders soar above the clouds, I'm notinventing the sights from scratch.

For years, I flew between Orange County and San Francisco.Occasionally, the weather would force us to circle through layers of clouds atsunset . . .

Sky blue above,

Darkness below, and in between,

Floating islands of orange, yellow, and red clouds.

Each circle dipped into an entirely new layer of clouds anda new experience. It remains one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

 

Years later, when I wrote Astria and Zephyr flying above theclouds, those memories found their way onto the page. An excerpt from Zephyr’sFlight captures part of that for me.

 

For Riders, flyingisn’t about getting somewhere. It’s about freedom.

 

(A short passage from Zephyr’s Flight …)

 

He soared again to carry her through the layers of cloudsthat shrouded the valley, first the reds and oranges that set the glaciersablaze, and above them to hazy yellow clouds. Above them all, the sun stillshone, while far below them, torches blinked in the shadows of the Spinethrough breaks in the cloud cover.

As the clouds changed from rose to dusty gray a thousandfeet above the peaks, she found peace, at one with the sky and the night. Whenthe setting sun left them in shade, moonlight from Lon and Elein lit thevalley.

In the clear air above the smoky valley rim, she was closerto the stars than to home. Within them, she found the constellation Nidhogg andher wishing star. “Thank you,” she said and hugged her dragon tighter.

She belonged here, and she would have nothing less.

“Olim willing, you will ride,” her father had said. “Andwhen you do, the world will never be the same.”

She smiled. And he wasright.

 

(end)

 

If you'd like torecreate some of the feelings I had while writing this passage, here are a fewpieces of music and imagery I return to:

·       thepicture below (or sunset vids hereor here)

·      listen to Ivan Torent’s Crimson Flight (here)

·      listen to Thomas Bergerson’s Promise (here)

 

 

Enjoy,

Ray

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