I’m N.L. Bryar, author of Fantasy stories. I aim to instill wit, turn-of-phrase, and punchy action. I aim to bring to life characters with haunted pasts, with gifts at times blessed and at times cursed, and with burdens they struggle to carry upright.
I love to write Urban Fantasy, such as the upcoming “The Curse of the Unholy Grail,” with hopefully other modern-mythic tales to follow.
Contact me at //nlbryar.page/contact.
Bio(s)
Given that my debut novel follows a dhampir — half-human, half-monster wrestling with her dual-nature — it’s only fitting you follow dual author biographies.
Human-Mode
Seattle had always been my home base, though I’ve lived in some other vibrant places amid dynamic people, such as New York City (where I studied engineering) and Nice, France (where I studied café culture). All these places foster a will to imagine and create a world beyond the ordinary. Discoveries and interactions that grow the soul. And entertain the senses.
Add a dash of love for sci-fi and fantasy. Reading it, watching it on TV and movies (and, yes, even designing and playing D&D campaigns), and you come to feel the medium of story — places and people our mind reflects upon — can also give people a dash of vibrancy. (Not that I’m ready yet for the pretense my stories will grow the soul. But hopefully will entertain.)
As Ursula K. Le Quin put it:
“For fantasy is true, of course. It isn’t factual, but it’s true. Children know that. Adults know it too and that’s precisely why many of them are afraid of fantasy. They know that its truth challenges, even threatens, all that is false, …”
Monster-Mode
Where did these notions come from? How did they gel to certainties? This vine that slowly wraps around my thoughts and strangles the doubts that had grown tall before it? The story rises and blooms out of it, breathes its fragrance, hums its rhymes. I was compelled to study it, tend it, refine it. “Sing, O Muse, the anguish of the dhampir.”
Her magic ripens, fruits I sample on timid lips, until I learn to mouth the rhymes she bears. They conjure forth mythical visions, weave clairvoyant thread, reach fingers out in psychometric touch. Magically wrought verse that imparts inspiration, forms connection, and brings a thimble of jubilation to the witnessing choir. No small sorcery. But I am humbled and honored to echo the spell I must now cast.
May I prove worthy of the Muse’s visitation.
I write in the penumbra between Reason's lit island and Myth’s black ocean.
What Happens Here
The blog’s primary themes are these: Firstly, my upcoming novel, The Curse of the Unholy Grail, about the world-building and magic-system, the characters, the myths and inspiration, the backstory of the writing, and its progress to publication. Secondly, what helped me transition from engineer to novelist, writing resources I’ve found, effective tips for tools I’ve used, opinions on craft, examples of good writing. Thirdly, a distant third, miscellany like the sculptures thing.
I hope the site will be a community both for fantasy fans and fantasy authors. (Especially among heretics who talk about vampires outside of romantasy. Je suis vraiment désolé.)
I aim to post content weekly, typically without email notification (but you can Subscribe via RSS). Content triggering subscriber-list emails comes roughly monthly.
Site Policies
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