This past week we gave the spotlight to the Rising Shadows, the first book in Phillip Blackwater’s Epic Fantasy series, The Pillar of Creation! Our Roadies brought a wide selection of content to this show with reviews, interviews and other posts. Now it’s time to bring the show to an end and it’s my pleasure to present you with the encore, including some extra content. Come and learn a bit more about the world of Rising Shadows through Phillip’s fan cast!
Shall we?
I am a fan of fiction, mostly fantasy, sci-fi, and post-apocalyptic (amongst others), and in all its forms, whether it is books, video games, movies, or tv-shows.
The first time I truly realized how much I loved fiction, was through The Lord of the Rings’ movies (like probably a lot of people). Since then, I traveled to so many different worlds: Halo, Mass Effect, Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, Witcher, and Fallout (to only name a few). It made me want to explore my own imagination and see what worlds I could create. This is what led me to writing.
What can you expect from my books? I don’t bother myself trying to be a flowery writer. What I want when people read my books, is for them to have good time and some fun. This is what truly matters to me.
When I’m not writing, I am: A husband. A father of three cats. Reading, gaming, or watching movies and tv shows. A big hockey fan. And when I’m done with all of that, I’m a big geek and collect a lot of stuff (No, I’m not a hoarder, I swear!).
As tension rises between the southern and northern nations of the small continent of Exitium in the world of Anteris, the Elves turn to their eastern neighbors, the Humans, for help. They wish to learn the ways of combat, which they are not accustomed to, for they have always wielded a power far greater than forged steel. The Shards of Creation, mystical artifacts of great and virtually infinite power, have always been their prized weapon, but times have changed. They now face the same threat as the Humans: the southern nation known as the Ethula.
Wariel Ritch, general of the Human army, will take upon his shoulders this burden. But when a shadow of a past long forgotten threatens what little stability is left in the world, he will have to leave everything behind to stop it. Medregal Tergrast, an Ethulan king, dead for a thousand years, plans his return to the world of the living to gain back his former glory and finally fulfill his destiny by gaining control of the Shards of Creation. But is he really the threat people make him out to be?
In the meantime, in the bowels of the Human Kingdom, the reign of Dana Crystaloak is put into jeopardy when people around her start questioning her decisions. If she falls, war could break out across all lands.
Click on the blog name to read their full review or other content!
FEBRUARY 14TH–THE WELCOMING
Whispers & Wonder – interview + IG spotlight
FEBRUARY 15TH
The Swordsmith – review
“All in all this was a great read for me, it had everything I look for in an epic fantasy story and more and easily gets my seal of approval to read. A fantastic character driven story awaits you, with some brilliant characters, an intriguing magic system and a wonderfully created secondary world and guess what? It’s book 1 in a series! I cannot wait for more of this, Philip Blackwater I tip my hat to you!”
@book.s_lovers – IG spotlight
FEBRUARY 16TH
Jorie Loves A Story – spotlight + excerpt
Sue’s Musings – review
“All in all, Rising Shadows is a very imaginative and well thought out epic fantasy story from a debut author, containing all the fantasy elements you could ask for: conflict between races; Elves; Dwarves; fantastical creatures (griffins, sand wyrms, Skrendar and wendigoes); an undead king; a quest; castle politics and a queen’s forbidden love for her general, even the mail is delivered via eagles!”
FEBRUARY 17TH
Sadie’s Spotlight – spotlight + IG spotlight
FEBRUARY 18TH
Beneath a Thousand Skies – review
“Overall, Rising Shadows is a fantastic debut and first entry in a new series, with all the elements of epic fantasy that you could possibly want, in a well-realised world. I look forward to where this series goes from here, with the second book currently projected for 2022 I believe.”
@beatrizfayereads – IG spotlight
FEBRUARY 19TH
Westveil Publishing – guest post + IG spotlight
“First and foremost, I am a fan of classic fantasy. I need my Dwarves, Elves, and Humans. But I didn’t want them to be the generic types that have been overly done. I also didn’t want my world to be just the typical medieval European setting.
What I did, and really for anything in my novel, is ask myself questions and answer them. No, I’m not crazy! I am just a logical person, who tries to find reasons for things to happen, and for things to be. And I would do that constantly during writing, when my characters arrived at a new place, or met new people or races.”
@theenchantedshelf – IG spotlight
POV Characters
Wariel Ritch
It took me a while to find who I would want to play Wariel if my book was ever turned into a movie. But when I saw Tom Welling in Lucifer, I stopped having doubts. Like a lot of people my age, I saw Tom Welling as Clark Kent in Smallville a while ago, and seeing him again, years later and more mature, made it clear to me. Wariel is a veteran soldier, a hardened general. I thought Tom Welling, with a bit of gray in his beard and hair, was a perfect fit. Plus, Tom still looks beef as hell! Perfect for my soldier. Seeing the Superman of my childhood in Wariel’s golden armor, and be the face of my fantasy series, would be a dream come true.
Runner-up: Henry Cavill
Ilisa Riversong
I saw Marie Avgeropoulos in The 100 and really liked her. What made it easy to cast her as Ilisa, is that I think of my Elves as Roman or Greeks. I took inspiration for the main city of my Elves from them, with their white buildings, columns, and statues. With her Greek heritage, this was a no brainer to me. She has the exact look I imagine when I think of Ilisa.
Runner-up: Alexandra Daddario
Medregal Tergrast
This choice might surprise some people, even more if you’re like me and know Terry Crews mostly as a funny guy from Brooklyn 99, but I just think he looks exactly like I picture Medregal looking like. Medregal has gone through a lot, has lived long, has been a king, and ruled his people. I didn’t want a young actor to portray Medregal, I wanted someone experienced. And seeing Terry outside of his comical sergeant Jeffords would be quite interesting, don’t you think?
Runner-up: Idris Elba
Dana Crystaloak
I haven’t seen a lot of Nikola, aside from The Last Airbender and the Transformers movies, but I liked her. What really struck me about her is her piercing green eyes, which is exactly how I imagine Dana looking like (especially with the pale hair on this picture). She’s quite younger than Tom Welling though (eighteen years to be precise), but Wariel is a bit older than Dana too, around five years. Since Wariel is a hardened soldier, and Dana has been pampered in a castle, I think it wouldn’t look out of place for the two actors to have such an age difference.
Warold Trebor
The choice to cast Alex Wolff as Warold Trebor was easy when I saw this picture. Seeing Alex’s hair like that made me think that’s probably what Warold would look like if he didn’t grease them up and kept placing them all the time. So far, I think I’ve only seen Alex in his limited role in the new Jumanji movies, but, like all the actors I’ve chosen so far, I liked what I saw of him.
Next character is a spoiler, skip if you haven’t read the first novel.
Saharen
I think Zendaya would fit the bill perfectly for Saharen. She has the look in her eyes that she’s going to take shit from nobody, just like my Saharen. Plus, I’d like to see Zendaya kick some ass instead of only being Spiderman’s girlfriend. I’m eager to see her in the new Dune movie!
Runner-up: Logan Browning
Side Characters
Timili Ilita
I think I only saw Alan Van Sprang perform in Shadowhunters, and when I saw this picture, with the look in his eyes, it made me think of Timili Ilita immediately. My Elven king is the kind of man to impose authority, and I just thought that his gaze in this picture was very fitting. I just wonder what Alan would like with white hair and a white braid. Not sure about that part…
Heddrien
I really liked Avi in The Walking Dead as Siddiq. Even though his character was one of the good guys in the tv show, I’d like to see him play the deranged and maniacal Heddrien.
Lidia Crystaloak
The last character I found someone for is Lidia. I didn’t really see Jaime perform, aside from Sif in the Thor movies (I should probably give Blindspot a try). This picture though represents what I think Lidia exactly looks like: the short dark hair and the intense gaze with pale eyes. The only thing not fitting in the picture is the jewelry (since Lidia hates it), but that can be arranged easily.
Edgard and Edward Ironfist
For the life of me, I can’t find twin actors that are young, big, and tall and would fit the bill for Edgard and Edward. I need help!
If you are interested in Rising Shadows and would like to get in contact with Phillip Blackwater, you can find him on social media:
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