Tag Archives: progression fantasy

Summer love

Hot love

The heat is on across the world. As a result, we all experience heat waves and a thirst for rain. Summer love is in the air. Ah, but maybe, just maybe, we are looking forward to the Fall a little early. No?

Thought of as a cooler summer clime, Europe suffered its third summer heat wave, fueling ravaging wildfires and threatening millions of people. Across Iberia, Portugal and Spain recorded over 1,000 heat-related deaths. In France, hundreds of people fled wildfires. Heck, a runway melted in the UK! Wales, the ancestral home of the Bran Family across the worlds of the SalvoVerse, recorded its highest temperature EVER. China, Canada, and the US. Everyone suffered from the rising heat.

Is this new? Well, we are in an interglacial period that began at the end of the last glacial period, about 10,000 years ago. Namely, the dawn of the Sedes and the recovery from the Tor’Clonic Wars. Since the end of the last Ice Age, temperatures spiked. These temperatures rose to ranges higher than those we are currently experiencing. Indeed, one such period known as the Medieval Warm Period led to increased examples of ergot within grain crops like rye across Europe. What followed was a plague of werewolves.

Werewolves?

Ergot is the name given to a specific form of Claviceps purpurea, a parasitic European fungus, which grows on rye and related cereals like wheat and barley. Besides the burning, nausea, chills, and pain, ergot poisoning also causes mass hallucinations and irrational behavior. Gripped by mass hysteria brought on by the consumption of the fungus, it is likely those who saw werewolves believed it. Likewise, others believed themselves to be werewolves.

Don’t let tales of ergot poisoning fool you. True werewolves exist. Heroes such as John Davies. Creatures like the Thanes, Sepul harrier troops, elder vampires, and the Jagard roam the realms and histories of the Earth.

All this talk of werewolves aside, temperatures after the Younger Dryas spiked and largely remained higher than today. Besides episodes like the 8200 Year Event and the Little Ice Age that corresponded with the celestial devastation of Ragnarok, the global temperatures held above those of today. We face far warmer periods than the present, and people have constructed structures and modes of living not intended for the regions of historically tropical and even desert climates. Unique structures and different approaches to settlement are required to remain in the different regions of the planet. The Earth will do fine without us. What will the future bring?


Get the Battle Avatars revised editions on Amazon today!


Want to stay up-to-date? Follow author Ed White and the Battle Avatars page on Facebook for daily interaction.

Creativity is doing!

We love to reveal secrets. Come, join us.

March Madness indeed! What a month. Secrets revealed.

Here at A First Salvo, the Salvonites remain busy! A new series plotted and the first novel outlined. A further two series in development. Battle Avatars books one and two revised additions awaiting release.

Whew!

Battle Avatars’ revision tightens points and polishes the titles for the audience of progression fantasy. Our series delves into several core secrets of the SalvoVerse and in revising the books, we revealed some of them, while honing the end of book one and start of book two. The transition between the two asks further questions and sets the tone for the continuation of the series in the future. The scope and risk David Grey finds himself in is apparent.

We hope you enjoy or experience it for the very first time.

Join us soon for the announcement of the Battle Avatars revision releases!


Want to stay up-to-date? Follow author Ed White and the Battle Avatars page on Facebook for daily interaction.

Creativity is doing!

Love is in the air!

Love is in the air, exciting and new…

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, we got to thinking about connections, history, beginnings.

In the beginning

Long, long ago, A First Salvo began as a studio of writers and arts eager to tell stories. We worked as a group and merged our childhood tales into a larger, cohesive whole known as the SalvoVerse.

Today, that history reinforces our dedication and the strength of the world-building found in our stories.

Our goal was to create stories—it always has been. We gathered together and shared our characters, our gaming adventures, our favorite movies, comics, and TV shows. This was all as the internet was flourishing and the potential was incredible—what might we achieve? Fast-forward and the world of social media, block chains, and the wider internet has opened up the information highway to deliver content to everyone.

Character

In those days gone by, as we developed system mechanics by which our stories and characters could function, we understood the importance of a sound foundation.

Much like RPG statistics, each of our characters interacted with a sound base understood by each of us. If Van achieved some feat of strength, magic, or martial arts skill, we knew how that compared to other characters. It didn’t limit the stories; it enhanced them. We paired this with the story-building techniques of the lie, the truth, the ghost, and the wound. The backgrounds and histories of our characters drove the plots—the stories—we forged. The decisions and actions taken by the characters became our own, as we knew what they would do and say. Whether outlining or pantsing, we knew.

Characters drive stories. It isn’t the stories that pull us in; it is what happens to the characters in those stories. Even when a story is “plot driven,” character guides the plot.

The possibilities are endless.

Love in in the air.
For Norm.

Creativity is doing!

Uncover the latest updates in the Battle Avatars community.

Join us in March for the latest exclusive news on the Battle Avatars Series.


Can a game save your life?

David Grey is dying. His only chance for a cure is ley bending life force to transform his body from salesman to warrior. Living full time in Lenscape Online, leveling up, he must cultivate or die.

Leaving his old life behind, he must complete every quest, battle monsters and beasts, and unlock the power of the Battle Avatars, healing himself in the process.

But when murderous invaders devastate the lands of Lenscape, David must hunt them down. The catch: if he fails, there won’t be a Lenscape to live in.


Want to stay up-to-date? Follow author Ed White and the Battle Avatars page on Facebook for daily interaction.

Battle Avatars

Creativity is doing!

JOIN THE CULTIVATION GOODNESS!

Thank you for celebrating the Chinese New Year with us! Cultivation in progression fantasy novels.

On February 1st, author Ed White teamed up with 11 other authors for a Chinese New Year party in the Cultivation Novels group on Facebook.

Come see the AMAs, interviews, and much more!

Want to take part? Don’t forget to join the Cultivation Novels group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cultivationnovel

Winners of the Ed White giveaway on February 1 will gain free copies of the revised Battle Avatars during the March Battle Avatars promotion!

Creativity is doing!