It’s almost the end of February, and it’s time for the Urban Fantasy Author’s update. Since the release of The Shadow Storm, I received quite a few messages and comments where readers ask about my progress with the next book of the series. So, today I want to give you my status update on the sixth book of the Shadow Enforcer series as well as other news and updates from the Fire Salamander World.
Or should I call it Salamanderverse? What do you think? Does it sound good?
What am I currently working on?
As I mentioned, currently, I am working on the sixth installment of The Shadow Enforcer series, and at this point, I am over 90K words into the first draft. It means I am about to dive into the writing of the third act, and Damian and Cole are ready for the final battle with their powerful adversary.
So, what can you expect from the sixth book of the series.
1. The story starts six months after the events of the previous book. If you read The Shadow Curse and the teaser excerpt included with it, then you probably noticed that Damian was gone, and Cole was left alone to face the magical mayhem unfolding over his city. Can he do it alone? That remains to be seen... But the main question is, what would Cole and River do to find Damian and bring him back home? 2. Like in all previous books, the sixth installment has elements of Slavic mythology weaved into the story. This time, the divine twin-brothers, Chernobog and Belobog, will make an appearance, and they will play a serious role in Damian's and Cole's future. A small hint for you: two powerful Slavic deities who happened to be twin brothers--the Light and the Darkness. 3. The ancient prophecy that has been hanging over Damian’s and Cole’s heads like the Sword of Damocles will finally come to pass. But keep in mind... just like everything else in the Fire Salamander World—things are not what they appear to be...
Ask The Author
Question: How much worldbuilding takes place in your stories?
I received this question from a few readers, and I thought, why not? Let’s talk about worldbuilding in the Salamanderverse. 😉
Answer: I write Urban Fantasy, so you would think that since the story is set in our time and world, there wouldn’t be a lot of worldbuilding going on. After all, come on… Florida and Arizona have been around for centuries, right?
That can't be further from the truth.
When it comes to the Fire Salamander World, which currently includes two series: The Fire Salamander Chronicles and The Shadow Enforcer series, a lot of worldbuilding had been done even before I wrote the first words of The Burns Fire.
The main events of the Fire Salamander Chronicles are taking place in South Florida, and the events of the Shadow Enforcer series are set in Arizona. Also, you probably noticed that some parts of the story are happening in different areas of the US, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
Quite a few supernatural orders and organizations are functioning among the unsuspecting humans in our world. If you've read either of the series, you're familiar with some of them. To name a few: the Wardens Order, the Guardians Order, the Sisterhood of the Sun, the Assassins of the Sephtis, the Knights Defenders of the Veil, and the infamous Destiny Council.
In my future series, I hope to explore one more magical organization (or rather a powerful supernatural family), which I mentioned in passing in the Shadow Storm.
But here is what requires the most worldbuilding. There are several fantasy locations in the Fire Salamander World that don’t exist in our everyday world and time. Let’s talk about a few of them.
1. Kendral, a.k.a. The World of Magic. Kendral is located outside our world. It's a locked magical realm, and no one can enter it without the permission of its Master.
This is the place where everything we believe to be myths, legends or fairy tales come to life. A layer of elemental power and magical energy -- The Original Power -- surrounds Kendral, and anything magical is possible there.
Four Elementals - Fire, Water, Earth and Air - rule some parts of this world, but above them all, stands the Master of Power who rules the Realm of Magic as the Master of Kendral. At some point, Master Mrak Delar held this position, but he stepped down, relinquishing the throne to Master Alliandr, the Young Master of Power.
2. The Land of Dreams, one of three magical nexuses located in our world. This is the land where all Slavic myths, legends and fairytales come to life, where the ancient gods of Slavic pantheon roam freely, and Baba Yaga flies in her magical mortar, driving it with her broom (actually, she prefers a more modern method of transportation).
There is only one entrance into the Land of Dreams, and it’s guarded by a powerful seer, the Lady Gatekeeper. Even though the name of the nexus is The Land of Dreams, more often than not, dreams there turn into nightmares.
3. The Isle of Legends is the second magical nexus, but since I haven’t visited it in my books, I prefer not to talk about it just yet. Maybe you’d like to take a guess and, based on the name of the nexus, tell me what it is and where it is located?
4. The Destiny Council Realm. A strange and mysterious place which is equally divided between the Darkness and the Light. The history of the Destiny Council realm is complicated. Built thousands of years ago at the dawn of Creation by the gods of different pantheons, its sole purpose is to keep the natural balance intact and allow destiny to run its course.
Powerful and merciless, the Destiny Enforcers are tasked with keeping people of our world safe from anything supernatural and prevent the exposure of the World of Magic to humans. The history and purpose of the Destiny Council realm is explored more in the Shadow Enforcer series since Damian is a member of the Destiny Council team.
As you can see, quite a bit of worldbuilding goes on in the Fire Salamander World. A big part of it happened before I started on my first series, but as I continued writing, the world kept growing with the story.
If you like what you see and would like to explore the Salamanderverse further, the Fire Salamander Chronicles (complete series) and the Shadow Enforcer series (in progress) are available on Amazon, FREE with Kindle Unlimited.
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