This past week we gave the spotlight to A Time of Ashes, Ru Pringle’s Fantasy novel, the first in the Fate and the Wheel series! Our Roadies brought a wide selection of content to this show with reviews 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 A Time of Ashes through Ru’s playlist!
Shall we?
Ru Pringle began his writing career at the age of 18, paying university bills by writing features for outdoor and climbing magazines. After a stint as an environmental scientist, he became a full-time writer, gradually veering towards travel journalism. He has also worked as a tree- and vineyard-planter, footpath builder, roofer, joiner, plumber, yacht crewperson, youth hostel warden, mountain and trail guide, oil-painting salesman, cook, sound engineer, and didgeridoo and mandolin tutor.
His first two books were published in the summer of 2018: A Time of Ashes and Hunting Gods, the first parts of the fantasy / SF epic Fate and the Wheel. A dark near-future thriller, October Song, followed in October 2018, then the irreverent music-themed SF comedy Surfers and two-part epic space opera The Seed in 2020. He is now in the final stages of editing a fast-paced science fiction thriller. He lives in the southwest Highlands of Scotland.
A quest through a thousand worlds. An aeons-old foe. Not even the gods can help. It’s killing them, too.
IN THE YEARS BEFORE THE CORRUPTION CAME, Murrin Kentle lived in a world where the largest island could be walked across in a day, and humans traded and fished in bladeships made from the bones of the gigantic and bizarre sea monsters patrolling its stormy, bottomless oceans. As a truthkeep of the Brotherhood of the First Mind, it’s been his duty to fight the decay of knowledge with religious fervour. A fervour he has increasingly struggled to maintain.
Before the Corruption came, Sheehan hahe Seeheeli was a carefree countess of the Shi’iin. Amphibious and fiercely matriarchal, her people have maintained an uneasy coexistence with the human scholars dominating the islands. Then an emissary of the gods brings news of an impending catastrophe. Now, she and Murrin must embark on a desperate voyage in the hope of salvation, although both the subject of their search and the path they must take remain stubbornly obscure.
Before the Corruption came, a wild young man named Coll grew up in a desert town, consumed by rage over what was done to his mother. His thirst for retribution will set in motion a train of events not even the gods could fully have foretold.
NOW THE CORRUPTION IS HERE, and nothing in Murrin’s world, nor any of the worlds of the Sundered Realm, will ever be the same.
Click on the blog name to read their full review or other content!
JUNE 23RD – THE KICKOFF
Whispers & Wonder – interview + IG spotlight
JUNE 24TH
Beneath A Thousand Skies – review
“This is definitely a world I want to return to, and I think A Time of Ashes will appeal to anyone who likes a book with that epic scope while meandering the boundaries between SFF. This was an enjoyable read, and overall it did an excellent job of establishing the world and characters and setting the foundation for the rest of the series, and I am interested to see where Pringle takes it in future books.“
JUNE 25TH
@kattwritesworlds – IG spotlight
JUNE 26TH
Sadie’s Spotlight – excerpt
JUNE 27TH
@fantasybookcraz_mum – review + IG spotlight
“I don’t know what to say about the world building and writing style! It’s simply amazing and I was able to visualise the scenes as I was reading. I was captivated from the start to finish. Such a brilliant page turner and I was able to finish reading it in two nights.”
JUNE 28TH
Book and Nature Professor – review
“A Time of Ashes is astounding and should rank among the finest in fantasy novels. The large number characters that are diverse in personality keep the reader engaged in the story. Mr. Pringle’s world building is spectacular. Bringing to life the number of worlds he has in this book remarkable. The book runs the gamut of emotions, and the reader feels them all.“
You Drive me Crazy, Greg Brown (from Dream Cafe)
There are personal reasons this appeals to me, but it feels like one of the ‘truest’ expressions of being in a relationship with someone you clash with but love so deeply you end up staying with anyway, in a state of mutual puzzlement, that I find it irresistible. Books are generally about interpersonal conflict, so its edge energy fits a writing vibe perfectly.
So Tell It Like It Is, Yvonne Lyon (from These Small Rebellions)
Just a cracking song with tremendous energy and drive and a pertinent message about the difficulties of navigating a world run by opportunists and sharks when you’re battling your own biases and prejudices. Being an epic arrangement and massively catchy also helps! Actually, this entire album and any song on it – come to that, almost anything by Yvonne Lyon – could be on this list.
The Sun’s Comin’ Over the Hill, Karine Polwart (from Faultlines)
OMG, this song … Everything’s in there, the entire human experience wrapped up in a glowing little bundle of sorrow, joy, humour, desolation, hope … it’s life condensed in a way I can’t think of matched by any other song. ‘Six rain ridden summers and he still had an eye for me / He kissed me each evening, he told me he’d die for me / And then he ran off the road, full of whisky and irony / He always meant what he said’. Genius. As well as being a diabolical ear-worm, the song is a lesson and a great reminder on how to write.
You Outta Know, Alanis Morissette (from Jagged Little Pill)
This song still stays with me for it’s sheer unadulterated venting of spleen, in which it’s remains as breathtaking as when I first heard it longer ago than I care to admit. Despite which it’s also very funny in a wonderfully ****ed-up way. It’s incredibly visual and borderline unhinged: I can *see* the writer so full of bile and rage she’s almost bursting. It’s very useful for getting to the place I need to be to write dark, rage-filled passages.
Firestarter, The Prodigy (from The Fat of the Land)
I still haven’t heard much that’ll match this for sheer in-your-face attitude. It maybe sounds a little dated now, but it remains a great soundtrack to have in your head while writing epic battles …
If you are interested in A Time of Ashes and would like to get in contact with Ru Pringle, you can find him on social media:
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