The Water of Awakening, Chapter 1-4 “The Farmwife and the Volva”

My latest book, The Water of Awakening is set to be released on July 7 on Amazon. In in, Helga, a young newly-married woman, is put on a quest for a strange artifact in return for a cure to her husband’s mysterious illness. This artifact, the Water of Awakening, is held by a clan of strange creatures on the edge of Fay, where reality and dreams are one and the same, and road is long and dangerous. Helga quickly quickly realizes that she is out of her depth, but persists and finds friends in unexpected places. If this free preview…

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The Water of Awakening, Chapter 1-3 “The Farmwife and the Volva”

My latest book, The Water of Awakening is set to be released on July 7 on Amazon. In in, Helga, a young newly-married woman, is put on a quest for a strange artifact in return for a cure to her husband’s mysterious illness. This artifact, the Water of Awakening, is held by a clan of strange creatures on the edge of Fay, where reality and dreams are one and the same, and road is long and dangerous. Helga quickly quickly realizes that she is out of her depth, but persists and finds friends in unexpected places. If this free preview…

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The Water of Awaking, Chapter 1-2 “The Farmwife and the Volva

My latest book, The Water of Awakening is set to be released on July 7 on Amazon. In in, Helga, a young newly-married woman, is put on a quest for a strange artifact in return for a cure to her husband’s mysterious illness. This artifact, the Water of Awakening, is held by a clan of strange creatures on the edge of Fay, where reality and dreams are one and the same, and road is long and dangerous. Helga quickly quickly realizes that she is out of her depth, but persists and finds friends in unexpected places. If this free preview…

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The Water of Awakening – Chapter 1-1 “The Farmwife and the Volva”

The Water of Awakening A Novel of High Adventure Here begins my latest book, The Water of Awakening is set to be released on July 7 on Amazon. In in, Helga the farmwife sets out on a quest to save her husband, who is sick with a mysterious illness. The adventure turns out to be much more dangerous than she was initially led to believe – full of monsters both familiar and unfamiliar. If this free preview piques your interest, please consider pre-ordering it. If you join my mailing list, you can get more free books and content, and if…

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The Chronicles of Narnia Analysis/Review (series overview)

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, besides being a significant achievement in children’s literature, is often the first fantasy series that readers are exposed to due to its widespread popularity, solid stories, and accessible language. In the video below, I go over what you can expect from the series, including its christian allegory, its format in relation to the development of children’s literature, and why I think it is still worth reading today. I will continue this series, going over each book in the series in greater detail and analyzing the themes and stories present in more depth.

If you are interested in my own fantasy books, be sure to sign up for my mailing list for advance access to my projects. My latest novel, The Water of Awakening, will be released on July 7 and may be pre-ordered on Amazon.com. 

David V. Stewart is a fantasy and Historical Fiction writer, the author of Muramasa: Blood Drinker and Prophet of the Godseed.

Return of the King Movie Adaptation – Analysis

Fellow fantasy author Mattew J. Wellman joins me to talk about Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s Return of the King, the third part of Tolkien’s epic fantasy classic, The Lord of the Rings.

Writers of the dawn is:

David V. Stewart – Fantasy and Historical Fiction Author, musician

Matthew J. Wellman – Urban Fantasy author, musician

Malazan Book of the Fallen overview, review, and analysis

Today we decided to give an overview and rough review analysis of Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen, an epic fantasy series set in a universe devised with Ian C. Esslemeont. In it, atypical fantasy races engage in a divine struggle to determine the fate of an old and complex world, and happens to be a favorite series for both of us.

Writers of the dawn is:

David V. Stewart – Fantasy and Historical Fiction Author, musician

Matthew J. Wellman – Urban Fantasy author, musician

Stormlight Archive/Way of Kings review and analysis (with Matt Wellman)

Matt and I talk shop about one of our favorite books, The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson, and we also talk about the follow-up Words of Radiance, and some of the technical problems it has compared to the first book in Stormlight Archive. We both agree that The Way of Kings is an excellently well-constructed fantasy novel where Sanderson uses his flashback narrative techniques to create plot points that wouldn’t be possible in a more straightforward style.

Writers of the dawn is:

David V. Stewart – Fantasy and Historical Fiction Author, musician

Matthew J. Wellman – Urban Fantasy author, musician

Reading Fantasy – What books should you start with?

So, are you looking to get into fantasy, or at least do a little exploration of this massive genre? In the video below, I go over some books that I think are a great place to start. I tried to curate the list to include titles that are diverse in terms of setting and style, so if one doesn’t appeal to you another might, and I did my best to talk about titles that are accessible for a wide audience and don’t require you to already have a large amount of experience in the genre to understand. This list, for…

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