Today I welcome Charles Yallowitz back to Journey to Ambeth, with a rather big announcement. His first Legends Of Windermere book, Beginning of A Hero, is now permanently free! So if you feel like visiting a new fantasy world, now’s the time to download a copy and discover the Legend for yourself.

Here’s Charles with more…

Thank you to Helen for helping to spread the word that Legends of Windemere: Beginning of a Hero is now free. Now this might not be big news to people because nobody knows what Legends of Windemere is besides an indie book that is part of a series. The name does have a fantasy ring to it too. Anyway, I’ve been asked to give a little introductory to Windemere to go along with the big news.

It’s the first book of my fantasy adventures series . . . That’s not enough? Okay.

Legends of Windemere follows the adventures of Luke Callindor, who is a half-elven warrior from a famous family. He has run away from home to prove he is worthy of the surname that is connected to so many heroes. Being young, impatient, and reckless, Luke gets his first adventure by lying to a royal messenger and inadvertently putting himself in the path of a demonic assassin. Beginning of a Hero is all about Luke learning what it is to be a hero and how he has a long ways to go. Things do not come easily to him and he makes several mistakes with the help of some new friends. There’s also a small dragon named Fizzle who loves apples and learned Tradespeak from a child.

As the series progresses, Luke’s destiny is revealed and he meets others who are in the same situation like Nyx the Prodigy of Rainbow Tower and Sari the gypsy. I can already hear people groaning about the Chosen One, but it doesn’t really work that way in Windemere. Gabriel the Destiny God crafts the fate of the good and bad, but there is still free will. He can only say that these heroes will face their challenges or even make it to the great battle in some shape or form.

Yet, they are the ones who decide on how they get there and if they’ll win. For example, a character does something in Curse of the Dark Wind that throws their destiny off and makes them unpredictable. So fate, destiny, Chosen One status, and all of that isn’t as cut and dry in this world. I have a guest post going up on L.Marie’s blog about this topic, so I won’t spoil it here.

Each book of the series has a new challenge for Luke and his friends. Since this is an ensemble cast series, the adventure may focus on different characters in each book. One book might be all about a threat to Luke Callindor while the next focuses on Nyx atoning for a mistake. The events do effect the continuing story since the characters change in the aftermaths and the main plot is still going. Yet, this isn’t a series where one book is simply a continuation of the last one and nothing new is added. I actually prefer this method because it makes it easier to evolve the characters. If there’s one thing I love to do, it’s make my heroes and villains evolve.

Legends of Windemere is a series that focuses a lot on action, humor, and character interactions to get the plot moving. I write in Present Tense Third Person (watches stampede for the door), so things such as flashbacks don’t really fit the style. I have to depend a lot on dialogue to explain things, so my characters aren’t all-knowing and have some level of curiosity. As a supporting character says in a later book, “How can I learn if I don’t ask questions?” That’s a big part of the series in a way because you have these destined heroes learning how to fit into their role. It’s a lot of responsibility on their shoulders and I’ve made sure that Luke and his friends don’t always see it as a good thing.

As you can sense, there is a lot to say about the series and the adventure starts with Beginning of a Hero. Luke Callindor might not be the only main hero in this series, but he’s the first one that the audience meets. I know he’s green around the edges and doesn’t operate like a hero right away, which is just how he is. Much like me when I wrote the story, Luke doesn’t know everything about his path. We stumble, fall, earn scars, and search for reasons to continue moving forward. Some may see the title as the first step of a young half-elf who will become an unstoppable warrior. Yet, the truth is that it’s where Luke Callindor learns that it isn’t your skills, heritage, or destiny that makes you a hero. It’s what you fight for and how you handle obstacles that earn you the title.

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