The Book of Chaos to go live Tuesday April 28!

 The Book of Chaos, the third book in the Dragons' War series, will go live next week, 4/28/26, on Amazon and Audible. Here’s a sample audio…

Another video about Zephyr's Flight

 The whole set can be found at Atomic Shelf here.

And of course, Zephyr's Flight and the other books in the series can be found at Amazon, here

Fun videos about Zephyr's Flight

 

The Cosmology of Nordes

Each of the regions of Juro, the land where the stories of ‘The Dragons’ War’ series take place, has its own spiritual foundation. In Nordes, the northernmost state of the North, has a belief system that, in its practice, echoes the indigenous Tsimshian peoples of Alaska on Earth This belief system is central to the story of Katheryn in ‘The Angel of Death’ that will release later this year. Katheryn is the mother of Diana who stars in the ‘Book of Chaos,’ which will release in audiobook form on April 28.

 

Cosmology of the North

This is the story of creation a shepherd, the Prophet, taught us because humans cannot comprehend the gods. To humans, all things exist only with an opposite by which to distinguish them: there is no hard without soft, no dark without light, and no good without bad. And so we tell their story in our terms.

Existence began in Darkness and Chaos. Darkness created Light and order from its right hand, for with Light, Darkness could admire itself in all its majesty as not-light. With this creation came vanity, self-centeredness, selfishness, and the duality of our universe. In our terms, Darkness was King and Light was Queen. Light appears to fauna as Helios and the three moons, Lon, Elein, and Fures, but is present even in the smallest firefly.

Together, Darkness and Light created the moons, our world, and all life upon it, including the Worm of the World who embodied order and chaos to shape Juro. Vain Darkness tried to steal all the light except just enough to see itself, leaving Juro in darkness and perpetual winter. But Light resisted and exiled Darkness to moonless nights and shadows by which light and dark distinguish each other equally.

Before retiring to heaven and turning their backs on Juro, Darkness and Light bore the demigods, the Korshas, in pairs of opposites like themselves from which to discern vice and virtue: cruelty and kindness, sloth and industriousness, … and model those virtues to humans.

The Korshas did not have the power to create worlds of their own, and so created life on Juro that reflected their duality: male-female, good-bad, happy-sad … They created Grace and Envy, but Envy had more power from chaos. Envy infected the Korshas until they fought each other for domination over their limited world.

In a great basin, the pairs fought each other with fire, and magma, and mountains, and lightning, and tempest. Darkness and Light despaired for their children and for the world they would destroy.

After eons of conflict, one pair of Korshas, Knowledge and Ignorance, stopped the futile fighting, and suggested they direct their energy to the limits of the world that defined them. Together, the Korshas focused their powers to the gates of heaven and destroyed it, opening the heavens and the vastness of reality.

But in doing so, they banished themselves to the heavens where they live now as stars. They were now free to rule the universe as it is: as wide as their imaginations to the ends of the heavens.

In breaking their bounds to Juro, they freed life from their influence, and their opposites were projected onto humans and the other life they created. And with the guidance of their mother, Light, they inspirited animals with the lasting virtues: the bear, the raven, the eagle, and the White Elk who each held part of Light to guide and warn humans.

Light gave a piece of Helios to men to create fire and keep away the Darkness. But humans are drawn to Darkness by Light’s absence and so are prone to vice.

 

This is the story a shepherd, the Prophet, taught us so we will follow Light and Grace and listen to the lessons the animal spirits teach us.

Pantheon of the North

Name                Position in the Pantheon

The Gods

Darkness (Chaos) and Light (Order), creators of the universe and the Demigods.

The Demigods (Korshas)

Pairs of opposite virtues and vices: A sample from the hundreds of Korshas are Grace and Envy, Kindness and Cruelty, Knowledge and Ignorance. Creators of life on Juro and the animal spirits.

The Animal Spirits (a sample)

·      White Elk – justice for the weak. Sometimes called Chaucin.

·      Bear – the right path and self-knowledge. Bears always find water, and so the sign of the arrow expresses their belief.

o  Polar Bear – steadfastness, survival in the worst of situations.

·      Beaver – industriousness. Nothing good happens without work.

·      Eagle – vision, focus on a goal, martial skill.

·      Lion – leadership, strength.

·      Crow – deviousness.

·      Fox – cleverness.

·      Otter – playfulness, enjoying life to the fullest.

·      Raven – death and resurrection.

·      Wolf – family and tenacity.

·      Badger – viciousness.

·      Cougar/Coyote - ambush, betrayal.

 

The Wounded Sky audiobook will launch next week, March 24th.

 

! News  Update ! The Wounded Sky audiobook will launch next week on March 24^th.

Preorders are available now on Audible and Amazon. I've included the audio teaser below.

Also, as a special incentive we are dropping the price of

Zephry’s Flight ebook to $0.99.

for launch week.

The audiobook for The Book of Chaos, the next book in the Dragons’ War series, is coming in spring. I’ll keep you up to date.

Happy reading,

Ray

Sample Reading from New Zephyr's Flight Audiobook.

Zephyr’s Flight audiobook launches in 10 days (February 24) on Audible and Amazon and is available for preorder now.

As promised, here's an audio teaser.

Audiobooks of the next two books in The Dragons’ War series are coming. I’ll keep you up to date.

 

And if you can’t wait for our new releases, here are some interesting reads for you.

Free Fantasy Reads

Magical Fantasy Giveaways

Science Fiction/Fantasy/LitPRG

Science Fiction and Fantasy

 

… and of course, our books in the Dragon’s War series.

The Phoenix – and More News

Another reader asked why my heroes and heroines always hit bottom before they succeed. Like us, they’re not gifted with superhuman powers. They must confront their limitations and grow and adapt to succeed. In the steadfast pursuit of their mission, their limited human capacities (like all of us) eventually confronts the overwhelming power of their enemy. After defeat, it’s their spirit that rises from failure and continues the fight.

I had some guidance on this from a man named de Merlner that I want to share with you/

 

The Phoenix (Resurrection and Hope)

From The Diary of Neuchar de Merlner,

Nova Conta, Section 3, Spiritus (Spirit)

 

It is beyond our fathoming how, beset by the most overwhelming of events, that the human spirit rises from despair to greatness: the selfless martyr who gives their life for others but is sent to the stake, or to the cross, while still blessing us; or the parent who survives the death of their child.

It is why the phoenix is immortal.

And it is why the stories of resurrection are targeted for our hearts, not our heads.

 

It is because we have all seen this that we know it to be true: that the human spirit can rise again after destruction. This spirit is not some disembodied ghost or mystical entity that touches us. No, it is us, as truly as our hands and our hearts. It is this spirit that animates us: the anima of Latin philosophy; the breath of life or psyche of the Greeks; before science and psychology obscured our view of the universal. And if we allow adversity to conquer us, if we cannot rise from the ashes of spiritual destruction, there is nothing left.

 

Absent our spirit, we are an empty husk. With it we are lions, and whales, and . . . human beings: not mere biological entities or notations on a phylogenetic tree or collections of psychological descriptions; not mere economic automatons who recreate and breed to optimize evolutionary advantage.

With our human spirit, we are giants that roam the galaxy; that see God in heaven, and a future beyond the stars.

(Nova Conta, Section 3, Spiritus)

© 2026 Benjamin R. Strong, Jr.

 

Ray

---------

! News !

 

Zephyr’s Flight audiobook is live on Amazon for preorder. We’ll have an Amazon preorder and a sample reading available in a few weeks with release on February 24, 2026.

 

Audiobooks of the next two books in The Dragons’ War series will be released soon. I’ll keep you up to date.

 

And if you can’t wait for our new releases, here are some interesting reads for you.

Free Fantasy Reads

Magical Fantasy Giveaways

Science Fiction/Fantasy/LitPRG

Science Fiction and Fantasy

 

… and of course, our books in the Dragon’s War series.

 

Zephyr's Flight audiobook preorder is live

 
This may have gotten lost in my last post . . .

! News !

 Zephyr’s Flight audiobook is live on Audible for preorder. We’ll have an Amazon preorder and a sample reading available in a few weeks with release on February 24, 2026.

Unyielding Heroines (and Audible)

 A reader asked, what inspired my heroines: Astria, Diana, Katheryn, Jeannine, Makashti, Meriel.

It was a statue of Joan of Arc in Paris.

Cliché? Maybe.

Everyone knows of Joan, how she led France to victory over the English and helped crown a king . . .

- And they burned her at the stake for it.

But we know little about her inner thoughts, her personal encounters and traumas, how she grew, what she learned, or the virtues that armored  her.

That’s a story worth telling!

Not the superhero with spectacular powers, but the ‘every-man/every-woman,’ the regular person like all of us without superpowers,  thrown into extraordinary situations.

What do they do? How do  they survive? How do they achieve their goals?

To me, that was Earth-Sea, Narnia, Ringworld, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings . . .

That’s the story I wanted to tell through the eyes and hearts of ordinary people, steeled with virtue, wit, and courage, who oppose the injustice thrust upon them.

And I hope their stories interest you as well.

 

Ray

---------

! News !

 Zephyr’s Flight audiobook is live on Audible for preorder. We’ll have an Amazon preorder and a sample reading available in a few weeks with release on February 24, 2026.

 And if you can’t wait for our new releases, here are some interesting reads for you.

Free Fantasy Reads

Magical Fantasy Giveaways

Science Fiction/Fantasy/LitPRG

Science Fiction and Fantasy

 

... and of course our books in the Dragons's War Series.

Cover reveal for Katheryn Angel of Death!

 Take a look and leave us a note. I posted the prologue and Chapter 1 a while back.

Podium inks deal for Dragons' War Audiobooks!

We’re excited!

Last year, Podium Entertainment struck a deal with Impulse Fiction to produce audiobooks for the Dragons' War Series. The first book in the series, Zephyr’s Flight, is planned for release in late February 2026.

* Release Date now set for February 24, 2026 *

 

Podium has produced many fine audiobooks, such as

·               He Who Fights with Monsters,

·               the Crowns of Nyaxia series, and

·               Spellmonger.

We are thrilled to have Elise Arsenault, a well-known actress, narrate the Dragons' War series. The audiobooks will be professionally formatted, so the quality will be top-notch. 

Stay tuned, and we will keep you up to date when the preorders and book launch schedules are firmed up.

 

Ray