Hail, adventurers! It’s high time for an update, though it’s certainly a mixed bag—as this year has consistently proven itself to be.
A Language, You Say?
I do say! I’d had some ideas for Ambergrovian language(s) for years, and 2024 allowed me to decide what I wanted that language to be: Grovish, a universal magical language for all peoples of Ambergrove. Well, perhaps it’s more of an alphabet. Check out the new page in the About section, Grovish Language, to view a breakdown about this language and to download it—yes, download it!—as a useable font on your computer!
Website Updates
In addition to adding the Grovish Language page on the website, I’ve made a few other updates. The About tab has been updated to include separate pages with additional information about Ambergrove’s pantheon and its calendar—though the calendar contains spoilers for the Dragonwolf trilogy, so beware! I have also added some additional minor updates and removed the cumbersome sidebar from the desktop version of the website. A mini overhaul, but an overhaul nonetheless.
Q4 2024
It’s September already! As we near the end of 2024, there are a few things left on the schedule for the year. Chief of those things is the completion of the second companion book for Tales of Ambergrove, the Adventurer’s Guide. Like Dawn of the Dragonwolf, the Adventurer’s Guide is a D&D core book. However, whereas DotD focuses on Mara’s story, adventure, and the world in the time of the Dragonwolf trilogy, the AG is a full core book for the world as it will be for the remainder of the Tales of Ambergrove saga. Spoilers below!
At the end of the Dragonwolf trilogy, the Lost Age ends and the Age of Magic begins. This has changed quite a lot about the function of the world and the beings we will see there. Mara saw dryads and naiads, but there were so many more. Ember met agniads and other magical creatures in Ember in the Forge, and she will meet many more before her story’s end.
Thus, the AG includes a full list of playable races as of the start of the Age of Magic. This means players can be elemental giants. It also includes a full list of playable classes and subclasses. This means players can be Elementalists (elemental magic users). A full spell list is included as well, along with equipment and special items, companion creatures, known NPCs, and other beings, and a dozen player characters from the Dragonwolf trilogy or Hammer and Flame.
If all goes to plan, this book should be published before the end of 2024!
Two events remain this year, and both are coming in the next few weeks. Next is a new event for Tales of Ambergrove, Clayshire Castle Medieval Faire. This is a two-day festival held the final weekend of September. The immersive guidelines for booths for this festival mean that the booth itself has had a thorough overhaul. There are two new tents with period tent covers (one is light blue and orange and one is blue and light brown), there’s a painted wooden sign for the booth with D&D playtimes and a list of items in the booth, and there are new and upcoming items that will be available, like healing potions with d4s!
The following weekend, the first weekend of October, is the annual MCPL Author Fair! This is an inside event, so no tent or hefty wooden sign, but we’ll be there once more with all the stock we have and some of the trinkets and things. The author fair has been moved this year to the main library in Martinsville, Indiana, due to the increasing size of the event.
For more about these events, check out the events page and the hosts’ websites.
Finally, Ember on the Anvil. I have not forgotten about Ember, tumultuous as this year has been. Once publication of the AG is complete, I will be back to work on EotA regularly. I hope to round out the year with the completed draft of EotA.
A New Publication!
Last week, I announced an exciting new publication and the associated new page on the website. This year, I began writing short stories for publisher calls. One such short story has been selected for publication. Now, having “Tales of Ambergrove” for my website and social media instead of “H. T. Martineau” was a choice. I wanted the stories to stand on their own, and I’m writing for them, for Ambergrove, and not for fame or recognition. However, that puts me in a predicament when it comes to other publications outside of Ambergrove.
However many additional publications there may be, short stories of this kind will be listed on the Other Publications page in the Tales tab. Where mentioned, the page will note the genre, audience, and other pertinent information.
When it comes to “Cross My Heart and Hope to Rise,” the short story selected for the Black Cat Tales anthology, it is important to note that the genre is entirely different. This story is dark fiction. There’s elements of a thriller. It broaches the heavy topic of domestic violence. It is in no way an extension of the Tales of Ambergrove saga*. While lovers of Ambergrove may appreciate this story as well, please do not go into it expecting the story to be of similar content, just as readers of the short story shouldn’t expect the tales of Ambergrove to fit that genre. Please review the listed genre and other pertinent information on a case by case basis when checking out this and any future short stories.
That said, this anthology is likely to be absolutely fantastic, full of a wide variety of black cat stories. Check back in the coming months for more information about its publication as the publisher permits.
*Although I have not previously made it known in this professional capacity, I am a survivor of domestic violence. I created Ambergrove as a world with its own flaws, and although I have not explicitly said so thus far, Ambergrove is a world free of domestic violence and sexual crimes. This will be addressed organically in Ember on the Anvil.
The Personal Setback Continues
What else is going on? Well, unfortunately, I have now been unemployed for longer than I was employed at the fantastic job I got last year. I’m still looking, but I’ve finally reached a point when I’ve realized there’s only so much applying I can do, and it would be best for me to spend this time applying for a few positions a day and then working on various other tasks. So, I will be getting back into the gamified exercising I enjoy (RingFit on the Switch and Supernatural on the VR headset—highly recommend), I will be working on various home improvements that are in my wheelhouse, and I will be working on EotA.
Back in March 2020, I was furloughed from my full-time position due to the pandemic. In that time, I spent a few days feeling sorry for myself, and then I launched into writing Ranger’s Odyssey in earnest. I finished the first draft of the first tale of Ambergrove because of this unfortunate event that left me without full-time work for a little while. Somewhere along the way, I’d forgotten that, so when I found myself without full-time work once again, in March 2024, I handled it differently (worse). Wasting my time in the day worrying about not having full-time work doesn’t help anything or anyone. So now, I am putting in a full day’s work on Ambergrove every day until I find another full-time job.
It’s hard to look at something like a layoff in a positive light. It’s hard to stay positive the longer that uncertainty continues. However, for my entire life—and in your own as well, I’m sure—I have found solace and comfort in the reading of fantasy tales. This is exponentially so when it comes to stepping through the doorway into Ambergrove and telling the tales of its world myself.
It is right and understandable to feel terrible when unfortunate things happen. It is understandable to spend at least a little bit of time wallowing in that darkness. However, sometime, we all must begin our journey toward the light, and that’s what I’m doing now. Feel your feelings, rest your mind when your mind needs resting, but after you’ve done so, set yourself on the path forward once more.
Publication of Further Books
That said, there is one setback to Ambergrove. I learned yesterday that the avenue I had used to publish the previous tales is now closed to me. I hope I will be able to press forward and squeak by to release the Adventurer’s Guide later this year as planned, but publication of the next novels may face some additional delays as I figure out the best way forward. I will be working on them. I will continue to work on them no matter how uncertain their publication may be. Worst case, they will not be published for a little longer—and when they are, they will be published all together because they’re all ready!—which isn’t too terrible at all.
Time will tell. At the very least, I hope I have given you some adventures to look forward to, and I have a lovely adventure ahead for myself as my personal ship makes its way through these rocky waters.
Until next time, adventurers!
Tales of Ambergrove 