Tales from the Circle

  Outlaw Mage by K. S. Villoso follows the adventures of Rosha, a young woman with the ability to do magic living in an empire where she's an outsider. This book is full of what I love most about Villoso's work: those raw, deep observations about what it feels like to be an outsider trying to find or make a place for yourself in a society that doesn't have a place for you except on the sidelines. There's a fast-paced, action-packed story full of magic and secrets and even empire politics, but those few, scattered thoughts where Rosha is trying to come to terms with the way others see her, the way the empire treats her and her family, those are what raise this book above others of its kind and convince me that K. S. Villoso will one day be considered one of the greatest writers of this generation.  "The Empire of Dageis, mighty conqueror, the bastion of civilizations, envy of the world. And yet its people cannot grasp how a mere Gorenten child could make a pebble fl...

I'm steadily working on my WIP now and I don't have too much to share on here. Also, I recently saw a post (which I can't find to link to anymore!) on reddit that asked worldbuilders to share the background behind a specific law in their worlds and how it came about. Anyway, I got to thinking about this, because I have a scene in Children of the Dead City that does exactly that and I thought it would be fun to share.  It shows some teachers taking their students on a little field trip to show them a monument to the story behind a specific law. This excerpt explains the story of how the "Dragon Warriors" - previously called "Dragon Riders" a long time ago in their history - came to have a rule forbidding magic.  This excerpt is from chapter 44 of Children of the Dead City, so if you were planning on reading that novel already, you may want to just wait and read it in context. I don't think it's too, too spoilery, but still, I thought I'...