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When a Series Is Like An Old Friend
I’m seeing posts from some fans re-reading the Triempery Revelations series in advance of the release of the final book, The Rill Lord , next month, I’m delighted to note that many are discovering something I already knew: The Triempery Revelations is a generous re-read. The writing of this epic fantasy took place over many years. Decades actually. It was imagined as one story, a single book, though it grew too large to be published as such. Still, the story was imagined

L.L. Stephens
Mar 243 min read


Women of the Triempery
Illustration by CB Lansdell When I mentioned to my husband that I was writing a post about women in the Triempery universe, he said, “What? All two of them?” He later amended his remark to concede that there are three. To be fair, there are more than three. It’s also true that it’s easy to underestimate the importance of women in the series. After all, the womenfolk aren’t as numerous—or flashy—as some of the male main characters. For one thing, women are in fewer positions

L.L. Stephens
Mar 126 min read


The Series So Far: A Sordaneon Recap
Art by Larry Rostant This is a recap of the first book in the Triempery Revelations series. It's also an experiment to see if there's interest or any benefit to me in creating recaps. It SPOILS the ending, which most readers consider amazing, and also the rest of the book. This recap is intended for readers who have already read Sordaneon and wish to refresh their memory of events. *************************************** Seven-year-old Dorilian Sordaneon witnesses his mothe

L.L. Stephens
Mar 45 min read


SPOILER: Rill Lord Art
As I do for every book, I've commissioned illustrations for The Rill Lord. These are from Jamie Noble . Fair warning though: these illustrations depict scenes certain to spoil key events in the book! If you care at all about reading a pristine, totally unspoiled finale of a book... skip this post until after you've read The Rill Lord . If you prefer to read a book completely without outside images competing for space in how you envision the story... skip this post until aft

L.L. Stephens
Mar 32 min read


THE RILL LORD: Chapter 1
This is the first chapter of the final book of the Triempery Revelations series. It follows almost immediately after the events of The Walled City . In this chapter Nammuor and the weasely Epopte Quirin have an important conversation. There's talk of Dorilian and the Rill and battles to come, peppered with Quirin's observations on the people and stakes involved. It's a great set-up for the book and one I hope readers will enjoy. If you haven't read The Walled City or the pre

L.L. Stephens
Feb 1311 min read


Writing: Editing The Rill Lord
I've just handed first edits of The Rill Lord back to my editor. There are several rounds of edits, beginning with the ones I conduct myself before turning in the finished manuscript. Next come a couple rounds of edits from my "first readers," both of them people with strong editing skills who I trust to point up weak parts of the story, character arcs, dialogue, or plot. Only after they have seen it do I pass the manuscript along to my publisher. There are no spoilers in the

L.L. Stephens
Dec 10, 20253 min read


SORDANEON, Chapter 1
This is the first chapter of the first book of the Triempery Revelations series. In short, it is the beginning. 1 The Rill grieved, and Dorilian listened. Other voices drew him along shadowed corridors and into the courtyard. Nights in Sordan were never dark. Rill glow from the City’s heights paled the sky and silvered rooftops, walls, and even the flowers in the trees. He’d run barefoot through the immense palace’s empty halls and pillared courts and seen

L.L. Stephens
Oct 27, 202513 min read


Character Note: Chyralane Rannuleonis, In the Path of a Nightmare
The Triempery series has a variety of villains. Nammuor is the main villain, of course, but he’s not the only threat faced by the other main characters. Foremost among this second tier of villains is Chyralane, Denizen of Phaer: murderer, schemer, and almost Nammuor’s peer when it comes to the number of times she appears in the series. Is she a sorcerer in possession of a god-infested device of immense power? No. But she’s leader of the Seven Houses and that’s almost as na

L.L. Stephens
Oct 24, 20258 min read


Triempery World Map
Full World map of the Second Creation as it is understood in the Triempery novels. When I started writing the Triempery series of novels...

L.L. Stephens
Sep 9, 20253 min read


Character Note: Emyli Stauberg-Randolph
Emyli is the first female main character introduced in the Triempery Revelations series and she stands solidly atop the female character...

L.L. Stephens
Jul 16, 202510 min read


The Rill Lord: Excerpt of Chapter 2
Many things enter into the series' conclusion in The Rill Lord and some make their appearance early. For one thing readers get to return...

L.L. Stephens
Jul 7, 202515 min read


The Collected Doodles
Doodles are casual sketches or scribbles. When arrayed around a book cover, doodles are often silly (and occasionally profound) comments on the contents of the book within. Take, for example, my doodle for Sordaneon . First, let me note that this doodle is my very first effort. It's clunky. No variety in the doodles at all! Woeful failure to use color. The more I look at this doodle the more I want to redo it. That said, it is recognizably a doodle and a fun one. Sordaneon

L.L. Stephens
Apr 9, 20252 min read


Author-Created Memes
I created this meme in 2022 following the publication of The Kheld King . In 2021 when I published Sordaneon I didn't need a meme or...

L.L. Stephens
Apr 9, 20253 min read


Cover Art: The Walled City
As readers of the Triempery Series know, each book's cover presents a microcosm of the story within. The elements may be concrete or...

L.L. Stephens
Apr 9, 20252 min read


Character Note: Nalf Rhys Thegn
Nalf is one of those series characters who pops up in early books in minor ways—and then becomes a more major character later. I think...

L.L. Stephens
Apr 4, 20256 min read


Looking at the Finish Line
The first book of the Triempery Revelations series, Sordaneon , was published in 2021. Since then I’ve published a new book in the series...

L.L. Stephens
Apr 2, 20253 min read


Character Notes: Dorilian Sordaneon
Dorilian Sordaneon is an important guy. The first book of the Triempery Revelations series is named after him. Every event that happens...

L.L. Stephens
Mar 25, 202512 min read


King, Hierarch, Nuarch -- Titles and Rank in the Triempery Series
While making additions and deletions to the Appendix for The Walled City , I noticed there were no listings for titles used in the...

L.L. Stephens
Jan 27, 20257 min read


The Walled City: First Chapter
The Walled City , Book 5 of the Triempery Revelations series, is a chonky, battle-filled book. It starts out on a hopeful note, however,...

L.L. Stephens
Dec 2, 20245 min read


The Triempery Series at a Glance
I wrote the Triempery Revelations series over a period of more than 20 years. As such, it is a sweeping, many-layered tale with a host of characters whose stories span decades and whose relationships grow and change over the course of the series. Some characters reveal surprising powers; others devolve into monsters. Their universe is one I wrote and rewrote and wrote all over again several times over until I got it right. The series is fully written. Six completed books are
L.L. Stephens
Apr 4, 20224 min read
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