Epic Fantasy Books by Alikai Bronach

I really like this show. I watched it with one of my teenage sons and it was one of the few TV shows we've ever watched together. As a child of the 80s and 90s, I can appreciate the nostalgia of it, the good old fashioned values and togetherness of the friends. I never played D&D but I am a fantasy novelist and a gamer who has played World of Warcraft since day one (one of many digital evolutions of D&D). Click the above image to download my free  Stranger Things  Season 5 wallpaper. My friends and I were more into watching movies and playing Nintendo 64 at sleepovers, but the principle was the same. A cozy space with no adults allowed, snacks, cubbies and recreational entertainment. As for the biking all over the neighbourhood, that was something I did (or ride my horse), but my friends didn't have such affluence and usually walked everywhere. They would have loved Stranger Things , but as a youngster I avoided anything remotely horror or thriller. It wasn't until ...

How to find a good fantasy novel? There are a lot of fantasy novels available, so how do you choose a good one? Depending on your tastes, some fantasy stories will appeal to you more than others. Perhaps you are looking for something action-packed, something character-driven or something literary. Perhaps you want lots of fantasy creatures, elves, dwarves or fairies. Or maybe you are looking for something very different to the typical fantasy, but still firmly in the fantastical. In 1996, I had not yet found my ideal fantasy novel. Although many blurbs covered themes, storylines and characters I was looking for, none of the books actually did so as completely or enticingly as I wanted. That is part of the original reason I started writing  The Psion Saga . What I really wanted, and what I would have considered an excellent epic fantasy novel, was the following: Animals and fantasy creatures, especially big cats and dragon-like flying creatures A setting in which women can...

I'm writing book 7 of The Psion Saga and there are a lot of sections in the point of view of a non-binary character named Riftweaver. I relish a challenge and pushing my skills with British English while embracing logical and necessary change.  I found myself using the term 'themself' instead of 'himself' or 'herself' and having to cancel the auto correction offered by Microsoft Word to 'themselves'. I wanted to check what I'm doing is right, so I asked Microsoft Copilot this: AI prompt: With a non-binary person would this grammar be ok: Rift pulled themself up into a sitting position. Copilot's answer Yes! "Themself" is a grammatically acceptable reflexive pronoun in this case. While "themselves" is traditionally used more often, "themself" is increasingly recognized when referring to a single non-binary person . So, "Rift pulled themself up into a sitting position" is correct and aligns with inclusiv...

I am about a third of the way through DragonAge - The Veilguard, playing as a warrior. I made him look like the character from my books, Talon.  I love how expressive BioWare have made the characters, especially your hero, Rook. Before this game, my number one favourite game of all time was DragonAge Inquisition, followed up by Final Fantasy X. I have also been a long-term player of World of Warcraft, since vanilla.  I loved Horizon Zero Dawn and got partway through Horizon Forbidden West. I appreciate games like the Ark Survival series, Valheim and Conan Exiles for the setting and survival aspects, but find them a bit too hard. No Man's Sky occupied me on multiple platforms for hundreds of hours. But there's nothing quite like seeing your character up close and personal in the movie cinema-style cut scenes and live action of BioWare's masterpieces. The dialogue feels believable. The characters are well-rounded. There's sometimes a bit too much talking and not enough op...

As authors, it behoves us to know whether we are writing in British English or American English. The choice between the two often comes down to the locality of your publisher, or if you are self-publishing, to personal choice.  Pick one and be consistent. That's my advice. Because I am Australian and Australia is a Commonwealth country, I write in Australian English, which adopts British spelling, not American. It is endlessly frustrating when, despite choosing Australian English as my language in Microsoft Word, the spell check continues to put red squiggles under every word that the Americans decided to change. I found myself asking why did those pesky Americans do this? It's so inconvenient. The differences in spelling between American and British English primarily stem from historical linguistic changes and efforts to standardize spelling in the 18th and 19th centuries. Here's a brief overview of why these differences developed: 1. Noah Webster's Influence The most ...

My son and I had some fun tonight with Firefly, Adobe's AI. It's changed a lot since I last used it. The prompt: A boy who loves frogs on Saturn. The generated image: Often AI gets a few details weird. It especially struggles with hands and feet. I took it into Photoshop and used generative AI and some manual touching up with the paintbrush, healing brush, dodge and eraser tools. I first fixed the frog feet, which don't look right in the original. After fixing the AI-generated frog feet: Photoshop really struggled with the top foot of the frog on the right, so I copy-pasted its other foot and changed it a bit to deal with that. Then I noticed that the boy's right hand and foot are not looking right. So I used generative AI to fix both of those in Photoshop as well. Here's the result: There are a few other oddities I touched up quickly. Not putting any serious time into this, as it's just been for a bit of fun. See if you can spot them! Peace!

Alikai Bronach, high fantasy author (chibi-style AI generated by BING Dalle) Is it possible to write a 100K novel in four months while also working at your full time job? Yes! Absolutely! Here's how: I've been writing novels since I was 14 and am now in my forties. After having kids, I took a big break in writing, but now I'm back with a vengeance. I have a day job, but in my spare time I write. To be more specific, I plan then I write. Planning is not for everyone. I get that. For me, however, my creativity is freed when I have done the planning beforehand.  Pelsha, a member of the Kriite warriors guild (AI image generated with neural.love) When I come to write my new adult fantasy novels, I know exactly where I am going. The story tells itself as I'm going, so the plans will always change, but the essence and the logic is already nutted out. I'm going to share what I do in case it is helpful to somebody else. If not, that's OK. Each to their own. Nyno, a commo...

  This is Emperor Ciera, a skyearl, a furred and feathered dragon. He is 20 metres long and I've drawn a horse for comparison. The oldest and largest living skyearl on Chryne, Ciera is of the Keltoar breed and is over 300 years old. The battle seat on his neck is large enough to carry three people. Skyearls range in size from a large cat to a Ciera's size. They live in Tanza, the most successful Kriite nation in Chryne. Skyearls are a civilised species with their own language, culture and hierarchy. Most can speak a variety of human languages aloud. They are born with psionic powers and can use the waves to communicate telepathically with each other. Once a skyearl has bonded with a single human they become a Sleffion-kin.  In addition to using the waves for communication, skyearls can draw water molecules from the waves and breathe them out of their mouths, creating artificial clouds called shrouds. Some skyearls can also transport a hard white substance from the waves that i...

  In The Psion Saga Alikai Bronach presents a world where psionic magic is part of everyday life, from the shape-changing Rada to the telepathic Anzaii. The Kriites need these powers if they are to survive the onslaught of the flame-wielding, demon conjuring Zeikas. If you enjoy classic good vs evil high fantasy with lots of action and creatures, this is a great series for you. This audiobook series is AI-narrated as I save up to pay a male narrator to voice my series. Book 1: Tiger Eyes and Dragon Teeth https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAEDiAnRChM Book 2: Strike of the Skyearls https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAEASuCX4JM Book 3: Claws That Cut Both Ways https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAECSFmVW5M

Hi everyone! I have finished writing book 4 of The Psion Saga and am working on book 5. For those who have already read books 1 and 2, you won't have to wait long to find out what happens to Sarlice and Taeon. Book 3,  Claws That Cut Both Ways,  is being release in the next few months. The publisher Australian eBook Publisher  just has some final tweaks to do with the print layout (I do my own typesetting and cover design), ebook conversion then it will go up for sale! So excited.  I would love to know what you think and if you're interested in reading my books. Here are the blurbs for all five of these classic high fantasy adventure novels for adults and young adults (13+): TIGER EYES & DRAGON TEETH I waited longer than most Kriites to meet my first kindred. Once I had an icetiger by my side it seemed I might not be the quartermaster’s apprentice for long. The artefact that awakened rare psionic powers propelled me into danger.   I had come to the att...

I invented skyearls when I started writing Tiger Eyes and Dragon Teeth as a teenager (1998). The above image is a Photoshopped version of a DALLE AI-generated image. It did a pretty good job. I also like to use Neural.love for AI image generation.  Here's the text I just input on Neural.love to try to generate an image: A skyearl is a dragon with feathers and fur. It is like a colourful hybrid between a griffin and a pegasus. It has four lion-like paws, purple and blue fur, a horse-like head with sharp golden teeth. It's feathered wings spread wide as it spurts out clouds in its wake to help it take flight.  Here's the best image it generated: It's not quite right so I did some basic/quick fixing in Photoshop to create this (after about an hour of stuffing around): Still, the best skyearl I have is the one made by the human artist, Adele Sessler, for me for the cover art of Strike of the Skyearls : And here are some excerpts from my novel describing the skyearls and wha...

In Book 2 of my fantasy series, The Psion Saga,  Strike of the Skyearls, is the following synopsis of Book 1. Readers can pick up Strike of the Skyearls without reading Talon's adventures in Book 1 if they wish. SOTS is actually a very exciting and epic novel, with a realm-wide war in Tanza. If this is more your style, you might want to skip the coming-of-age tale in Tiger Eyes and Dragon Teeth , which sets the scene for Talon and Sarlice's adventures in the wider world. Synopsis Strike of the Skyearls follows the first book in The Psion Saga, Tiger Eyes and Dragon Teeth . Talon, an nineteen-year-old man from the Kriite tribe of Jaria, met his new Rada-kin, an icetiger. He was able to take animal form for the first time. Meeting Rekala also awakened an ancient psionic power within Talon’s blood. These rare abilities enabled him to overcome the magic of enemy Zeikas. Sent by Jaria to seek out allies for their beleaguered village, Talon was accompanied by Sarlice, a warrior fr...