Phoenix Rising

Today’s Fiction Friday features the unpublished work of my close writing buddy, Kyrias.  Her current project’s name?  Estyria.  Estyria follows a character of the same name on her adventures in the fantasy land of her birth.  A land stuck in a mess with a drought the least of their concerns.

I’m uncertain how much she wants me sharing.  Switch to why I brought it up.  I just finished what she has of book two after finishing the second complete draft of book one (I also read the first complete draft of book one before that).  She improved by gads.  I loved version one of book one quite a bit.  She changed a lot in version two and at first I missed a few things she tossed out, but by the end…impressed turns out an understatement.

I’m unbelievably proud of my writing buddy.  Sure, version two needs more polishing, but looking at the vast improvement between version one and two…yeah, she can definitely handle it.  I can’t wait for promotion time when she finishes and releases it.  She even scrimped and piled savings for a cover by Phoenixlu.  So jealous!  I just got a sneak peek of it too.  Equally awesome, and more-so if Phoenixlu makes the changes Kyrias suggests.

She shared part of book two with me because she’s stuck.  I find myself so enrapt with her story that I’m at a loss for suggestions.  All I know is, I reached the end, pouted, and turned my kindle pages hoping more reading material surfaced.  Oh, as for “Phoenix Rising,” Xunfeng is the main character’s birth name (hint, Chinese fantasy setting).  “Phoenix” is one of her nicknames (most often used by her grandparents).  Which reminds me, she stopped using yeye when referring to the grandfather.  I meant to ask her why, I liked that detail a lot too.

I simply cannot get over how much her version two improved.  She worked hard and I eagerly anticipate promoting it directly upon release.  Now, I just need to get my lazy bum in gear and catch up to her!