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Characters from The Bow of Destiny: Hastra

Note: This is a re-post, but for those interested, it’s useful. I’ll work on some new, fantasy-related posts to mix in with some of my older ones like this as well as some posts about new books in the coming months. Please feel free to share on social media or re-blog these posts. Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!

This is the third of several posts revealing more about characters from The Bow of Destiny. The first in this series was about Athson and the second featured Spark, while the third covered Limbreth.

For those who have read my free short story, What Is Needed, you’ve met the Withling Hastra. What are Withlings? They were a mystic order devoted to the deity Eloch. If you’re interested in the Withlings, the e-book is still available on all major book retail sites. But here’s a little more about Hastra. She’s been alive for several centuries serving Eloch through many adventures while working against Magdronu’s efforts. Her mystic powers come from Eloch and can come in many forms and at timely moments.

The Withlings were fond of a saying among them, “What is needed, is given.” This simple sentence means that they rely on Eloch to provide what is needed at any time – or not. If nothing happens, Withlings are willing to let things play out no matter how dire things are at the moment or how bad circumstances turn out. This means sometimes a miracle of some sort will be done at the hands of a Withling while at others nothing they take no mystical action. As part of their faith, Withlings learn to be with Eloch spiritually so they are attuned to know what they are supposed to do. Withlings can also be prophets and counsellors. However, there are but a few still living at the time that The Bow of Destiny begins.

As you can imagine, Hastra is rather old, wise, insightful – and faithful. However, all her mystic practice does not make her perfect and certainly doesn’t make her all-knowing by any means. She’s just as apt to make mistakes as anyone. I liken Hastra’s appearance to that of Judi Dench. Though very old, Hastra is rather spry mostly because it’s Eloch’s will that she be nearly ageless but who knows for how long? Not even Hastra knows…

To find out more about The Bow of Destiny, click over to one of these online retailers:

Amazon BarnesandNoble Smashwords

ibooksdownload

Kobo
About the Author

P. H. Solomon lives in the greater Birmingham, AL area where he strongly dislikes yard work and sanding the deck rail. However, he performs these duties to maintain a nice home for his loved ones as well as the family’s German Shepherds. In his spare time, P. H. rides herd as a Computer Whisperer on large computers called servers (harmonica not required). Additionally, he enjoys reading, running, most sports and fantasy football. Having a degree in Anthropology, he also has a wide array of more “serious” interests in addition to working regularly to hone his writing. The Bow of Destiny is his first novel-length title with more soon to come.

Prequel short stories to The Bow of Hart Saga:

Trading Knives – Kobo, iBooks & Barnes & Noble, Smashwords & Amazon

What Is Needed – Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, Smashwords & Amazon

trading knives

bow of destiny

what-is-needed

The Bow of Destiny Commentary Pt. 1: The Beginning

the-bow-of-destiny-by-p-h-solomon1

I thought it would be interesting to share some commentary about the beginning of The Bow of Destiny now that the book has been out for a while, sold well and the next book should be released in just a few months. The Bow of Destiny has a curious beginning for many people that’s at once perplexing, confusing and intriguing. This effect is done on purpose and I’ll share a bit about it now.

The Bow of Destiny is written using the technique of deep point-of-view where readers hopefully become deeply engaged with the perceptions of the point-of-view character. There are a few other aspects mixed into this, one being that there are little, to no, dialogue tags in the book – all the dialogue is contextual. Secondly, with the deep point-of-view, internalization is signaled – or tagged – with physical actions by the character. As such, the internal thoughts, mood and emotions of the character are not italicized since these are deep enough into the character-reader engagement to not be set apart in such a way. Lastly, when italics are used it is for a specific, ongoing experience for the POV character. In such cases, hallucinations, dreams, memories, visions and other such experiences of the character are italicized as a special indicator that something different is happening for the character. I also used a present tense instead of past tense to cue the reader that this is a present experience for the character. It’s important to note that the tense only has changed and not the character POV.

There are other details to consider in the opening of the book of which a reader should be aware. For instance, Athson is hunting small game when the story begins and he has a choice between his prey, a pheasant and a wild rabbit. This signifies that Athson will be presented with choices all along his upcoming journey in the series. Athson believes that he’s making the best choice for his shot with his bow and arrow – the easiest one. However, when presented with more information, he makes a split-second decision and changes his aim to the pheasant.

Athson

This quick change from rabbit to bird amid varying wind conditions shows that Athson is an expert with the bow. He is also functioning under the belief that he makes good and wise decisions with the information he has. Thus the stage is set for him to begin making decisions which become increasingly difficult and challenging to him and the overall outcome. This one decision shows both what the character thinks about himself and his relationship to his world and that this belief will be challenged in ways he has not considered.

Athson is a challenging character for many reasons, some of which I’ll get into during some upcoming commentary about him in this opening set of scenes. However, Athson’s choice, mixed with the discussed aspects of writing this blog series, couple to allow the reader to experience Athson’s belief in himself for good or bad.

Next week, I’ll dig a little deeper into this opening scene and attempt to offer a bit more about Athson’s state of mind. I found this scene difficult, tricky and daring all at once so there are a lot of layers to what’s going in with Athson that set the stage for the whole story. Thanks for reading today. Please leave comments below and check back next week for another post about this topic.

To find out more about The Bow of Destiny, click over to where you can also find it in Kindle Unlimited and now Audible (Whispersync available):

Amazon

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About the Author

Multi retailer Bestselling Author, Fantasia Reviews Book of the Year Author 2017 & 2018
U. S. author, P. H. Solomon grew up with a love of books including fantasy. Always interested in odd details, history and the world around him, P. H. has found an outlet in writing where he mixes a wide range of interests from the regular world, history and anthropology into his fantasy books.
His epic fantasy series, The Bow of Hart Saga, brought a fresh viewpoint to the genre where magic, myth and mysticism mingle. Described by readers as a “mixture of the classic fantasy past with new ideas.”
Trading Knives (0.1)
What is Needed (0.2)
The Bow of Destiny #1
An Arrow Against the Wind #2
The White Arrow #3
The latest series, The Cursed Mage Case Files is a mash-up of classic Sherlock Holmes, The Dresden Files and Harry Potter into a unique fantasy world where magic is both an arcane practice and a technological power to be harnessed. Join Mandlefred Mandeheim and Wishton Ackford as they team up to investigate magical mysteries.
The Order of the Dark Rose #1
The Unseen Hand #2 (upcoming)
The Nine Jewel Heist #3 (upcoming)
More books:
Curses Dark and Foul
The Black Bag
Find more about P. H. Solomon as well as articles and research notes, plus a free stories, at https://www.PHSolomon.com

The Bow of Destiny Character Interview: Spark

Spark

Note: Fantasy Friday is a new feature for Archer’s Aim. This is a re-post, but for those interested, it’s useful. I’ll work on some new, fantasy-related posts to mix in with some of my older ones like this as well as some posts about new books in the coming months. Please feel free to share on social media or re-blog these posts. Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!

As I mentioned on on release day (couple of years go), I added an animal character to The Bow of Destiny at the suggestion of a beta reader. What I settled on was a dog based on my German Shepherds and named him Spark. If you haven’t read the part of the scavenger hunt from Monday please take a look since it shares a funny way of communicating that my male dog has – his tail. That’s correct, when you ask him simple questions he wags his tail for yes and doesn’t for no. So Spark does the same thing. However, Athson is the only one who can see him besides, you, the reader. But, Athson doesn’t quite understand that Spark is communicating with him. Now that you know, you can read the book and understand something additional happening in the book.

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With that in mind, I decided to interview Spark for a bit of unique fun:

Q: How are you today, Spark? Er, I mean, are you well today Spark? (Gotta stick to the question rules!)

Spark: wag, wag, wag.

Q: So you’ve been with Athson since he was orphaned?

Spark: wag, wag, wag.

Q: Do other people see you?

Spark: no tail wag.

Q: Are you real?

Spark: wag, wag, wag.

Q: Is there a reason you follow Athson?

Spark twists his head sideways and lets loose a low growl.

Uh, right, we’re not getting int that now (and that question didn’t follow the rules).

Q: Let’s find out your favorite place. Do you like Auguron Forest?

Spark: wag, wag, wag.

Q: Do you like the Troll Heaths?

Spark: no tail wag

Q: Do you like Chokkra?

Spark: one, slight tail wag.

Hmm, guess he’s got an opinion that we can’t quite understand at the moment.

Q: Do you like Athson?

Spark: pants , wag, wag, wag.

Q: Do you have a deeper propose in the series?

Spark: cocks his head and growls again.

Uh, well I guess he doesn’t want to talk about that.

So that’s Spark and now you are in on the secret that not even Athson has figured out. I hope the interview was unique and fun and you’re a little intrigued with the book.

Spark appears throughout The Bow of Hart Saga. To find out more about the character, click the links for The Bow of Destiny, An Arrow Against the Wind or The White Arrow. The entire series is not available on Audible from Podium Publishing:

Amazon

 

About the Author

P. H. Solomon lives in the greater Birmingham, AL area where he strongly dislikes yard work and sanding the deck rail. However, he performs these duties to maintain a nice home for his loved ones as well as the family’s German Shepherds. In his spare time, P. H. rides herd as a Computer Whisperer on large computers called servers (harmonica not required). Additionally, he enjoys reading, running, most sports and fantasy football. Having a degree in Anthropology, he also has a wide array of more “serious” interests in addition to working regularly to hone his writing. His first novel, The Bow of Destiny was named 2016 Book of the Year by Fantasia Reviews and is the first book of The Bow of Hart Saga. The sequel novel, An Arrow Against the Wind, was released in April of 2017. The third book of the series, The White Arrow, is due to be released during the Fall of 2017. P. H. Solomon also authored the award winning short story, The Black Bag, which won best published short story at SCWC 2012. P. H. is also a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

Prequel short stories to The Bow of Hart Saga:

Trading Knives – Amazon

What Is Needed – Amazon

Download and listen to the prequels for free at AudFans

   Trading Knives 1   What Is Needed 4