Signs, signs, everywhere signs.
So, there I was.
Got your attention? Good, because this is some weird/fun stuff.
I don’t believe in associating unconnected things with each other. As humans, we’re pattern-seekers who are desperately trying to understand the world around us and our place in it. We tend to focus on those things we’re already primed to believe and those which positively serve us. It’s rare that you’ll hear anyone talk about a “sign” they saw and how it resulted in absolutely nothing.
This past weekend, I experienced a coincidence on the side of a dormant volcano that was just too fun to not share.
To set the tone, I’m releasing a novella and six novels in a fantasy series this year. The series is called Battleborn, and book 0 is called Bloodborn. The story world is set up in Bloodborn. It’s still a full story, that comes to a very satisfying conclusion, but the novella is designed to get you into the world we spend six books exploring, across two separate trilogies, in the Battleborn series.
One facet of the worldbuilding in this story is the “Mark” Olmarian men yearn to earn. See, in this world, women are born free and with full autonomy once they reach maturity. Not so for the men. To become Freed (followed by a very… interesting cultural ritual that’s not appropriate to discuss here), boys/men must earn their Mark. How do they do that? Well, they too kill an “important” enemy of their people.
Once done, and if they survive, viola. Mark earned. Freedom, and all its joys, experienced!
So, obviously, all Olmarian men focus on earning that Mark. The cover of Bloodborn shows you what the Mark looks like. Here it is.
A Funny Thing Happened Along The Way
I spent 2021 writing eight works (one Zodiac book, and the seven Battleborn works). 1.8 million words. That’s a lot of work, and why I only released two books last year. This year, I’ll release at least eight books.
Yeah… this is essentially the birth year of Battleborn.
So imagine my utter humored shock when, with the Battleborn books on my brain, I was snowshoeing on Mt. Rainier (a glorious place to visit, if you’ve never been) and saw this in the sky:
Yep. No joke. True pic. No manipulation. No filters. No photoshopping (as if I’m even capable of doing that).
The shape. The angle of intersection. Even the perfectly imperfect squiggle of the lines between the cover (that was done eight months ago) and the two contrails… this stuff is a wonderfully romantic coincidence.
As if I wasn’t already looking forward to getting the Battleborn books into everyone’s hands, this solidifies it for me.
Life inspires. Of that, there is no doubt. All you have to do is look for its signs.
If you’re a creative, never forget to keep looking around your world. Who knows what it’s trying to tell you.
Keep being epic!
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