Culmination, Ouroboros, and the Flame of Artistic Creation

All right. I’m coming down to the wire on the release of my next full-length novel, Crown of the Orphic Queen. This novel has been in the works for over a year, and it has undergone many changes in concept, overarching plot, character traits, and a vast assortment of other changes that might take up this entire post.

I’ve added locutions from the Muses: Calliope, Erato, Clio, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Urania, and Thalia to help guide Seph and Hadrian to their fated revelation in the Under Library.

These sections of the story will be whispers from the beings that inspire men and women to create in the arts. Seph and Hadrian hear them whisper through the halls of the Great Elysian Academia, creating a stir of mystery in the reader.

There are chapters that begin with the torch of wisdom, meaning the last lines of the chapter create an underlying, secondary story to the entire novel that will be uncovered as the reader goes through the book.

I have listed it as an entire piece in its own section at the end of the book.

The companion novel, The Man Who Paints Fire, will be released next month, near Halloween, but not for any specific theme.

Comparing the time I’ve spent figuring out Crown of the Orphic Queen to the companion novel, the time is not over 12 months, meaning I must really scrub through the prose to keep it at the same level as the other book.

The other novel also has the mystery of the giant snake that eats its own tail, Ouroboros Termatiko, whom Hadrian has been chasing around the halls of Elysian Academia for the better part of the first semester. Careful eyes will notice the main novel’s cover also has an infinity symbol in the serpents.

The initial cover for the novel was a placeholder until I could figure out how to create something in the same vein as the main novel’s cover, while incorporating the mystery of Termatiko.

Snakes in Greek understanding are links to the world below, so I thought it would fit to have Hadrian unravel a mystery pertaining to the Ouroboros as his initiation into the secret age comes to a head.

The stories collide in the last third of each novel. Ouroboros Termatiko will not appear in Crown of the Orphic Queen except in brief mentions because I wanted the companion novel to have a bit of a different story than the main novel.

In any case, Crown will be released on the day I intended for this year, followed by Fire since I need them to be at exactly the same level and I had to redo the cover and accompanying art.

Some artists might want to use some algorithm to make these things in an instant, but actual artists are meticulous about their craft and take the time needed to make sure a piece that cannot be mistaken for anyone else’s work comes through at the end of the process.

So please look forward to Crown of the Orphic Queen in less than two weeks and the companion novel at the end of the next month.

There’s definitely something special here, in my opinion. A mystery worth unraveling in both novels, to bring an ancient tale into the modern age in the way only I can as an artist.

I don’t know why, but I have a super amazing feeling about these two books.

Hopefully, it’s a hint from on high, but all things come from the Almighty, so success is ultimately up to Him.

That being said, I love these books from the depths of my soul.

I hope this works out!

Happy writing!