Hello, readers! Author Jacob Gamber here. You may have seen that I am publicizing a new story here on the Idea Engine: Tales From the Earthen Sky. It is a YA fantasy novel of similar ilk to my upcoming debut, Mani, but is an entirely separate tale. I will be updating it chapter by chapter every Friday for the foreseeable future, and it will likely run for a long time, as I have extensive notes. While few people know about it as of yet, I hope that it will somehow gain some traction over time, providing an intriguing narrative and a free taste of my work, and one day I’ll come back and divide it up into volumes to be published—regardless, I’ll keep posting.
As far as inspiration for Earthen Sky goes, I was influenced largely by the Korean webtoon Tower of God. When I stumbled across that gem in 2019, it quickly became one of my favorite stories of all time, despite being vastly different from the more traditional genres I was used to. Tower of God is a serial comic about a boy who stumbles into a sort of theoretical tower, where every “floor” is an artificial environment as big as a world, where newcomers undergo increasingly difficult tests by floor administrators. A magical force known as Shinsu permeates the Tower and can take various forms, and gets thicker the higher one ascends. The Tower is meant to weed out the “worthy” from the “unworthy,” testing them and strengthening them if they survive to make it farther. But don’t be fooled, it’s high fantasy with incredible worldbuilding, a dizzying cast of characters, vast scope, and shockingly well-thought-out story arcs.
All that to say, it got me thinking. I began to assemble ideas for Earthen Sky, mixing some existing and spontaneous ideas of mine, and set out to merge the modern progression brand of fantasy with the more standard western high fantasy—mixed with a heavy dose of Sanderson-style sci-fi themes (which I’ve come to love). I wanted to make a comic of my own, since I thought a sky theme with winged characters could look very cool on page, but alas, I am no comic artist. So I converted it to a web novel, and here it is. I’m also usually an outliner, but my main notes and outline details for Earthen Sky are in the broad strokes, so I’m experimenting with discovery writing.
Five chapters are out currently, so go ahead and check it out if you’re interested! I’d love to read any comments you have on the chapters, whether it’s criticism, thoughts or typos in the manuscript. Till next time!