Call of Fire

by P. E. Padilla

  If you liked this story, you might enjoy some of the other books I’ve written. They are listed in the last couple of pages of this book. Once again, thank you for reading,

  P.E. Padilla

  p.s. If you would like to get information on upcoming books, please visit my web site at pepadilla.com and join my PEP Talk newsletter.

  I also appreciate any comments I receive, so please feel free stop by my web site and comment on the site itself or to send me an e-mail at pep@pepadilla.com.

  Author Notes

  Creating this book was a strange process for me. It didn’t start out as the rest of my stories do, and it didn’t progress in the same manner, either.

  This book began as a summary of a story and a cover. Both were created by someone else. The cover is what caught my eye, but I loved the story as well. I bought them. This is very unlike my normal process where I come up with a concept and then build a story around it, eventually getting to the point where I’m ready to contract a cover artist and get a cover made.

  With some of my books, I haven’t even come up with a title before the book is actually written. With this book, the title was already right there on the cover I bought from the start.

  It was an interesting process, taking someone else’s idea and making it my own. Truth to tell, I don’t even clearly remember which parts of the story were my own and which were present in the original. It doesn’t really matter. The fact is, I took what I bought and I turned it into something that was my own creation. But it was tougher than I thought it would be.

  I had difficulty finding “flow” when writing. The story, though complete, is shorter than most of the other books I’ve written, significantly so. It eventually came together, but it took more effort and spawned more frustration than I would have thought it would. As a comparison, book two is almost twice as long as this book.

  Would I do it again? Yeah, probably, but I’d have a better idea of the difficulties before I started and would allow myself extra time to get it done. The process probably made me grow as a writer, so it will benefit me in future projects in ways that I can’t quite put a finger on right now. Suffice it to say, I had to learn to think in slightly different ways than I’m accustomed to, so I guess it was a good thing.

  The second book in the series, Hero of Fire, is completely my creation, and it’s closer to the length of many of my other books. It will be off to the editor soon. Even before that, I’ll start writing book three, Legacy of Fire. I plan to release the books about a month apart from each other, so there won’t be a lot of waiting around to finish off the trilogy.

  I could go on and on about how this book is different than most of my other stuff (shorter, less magic, the world is not as complex, etc.), but I won’t. Instead, I’ll get back to writing the next book in the series so you won’t have to wait as long to get them.

  For your amusement, I’ve included an alternate cover I had created. My PEP talk newsletter subscribers voted and the original cover won out. I love them both (the covers; I have more than two subscribers!), but am happy with the choice.

  Call of Fire -Alternate Cover

  About the Author

  A chemical engineer by degree, air quality engineer by vocation, certified dreamer by predilection, and writer by sheer persistence, P.E. Padilla learned long ago that crunching numbers and designing solutions was not enough to satisfy his creative urges. Weaned on classic science fiction and fantasy stories from authors as diverse as Heinlein, Tolkien, and Jordan, and affected by his love of role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons (analog) and Final Fantasy (digital), he sometimes has trouble distinguishing reality from fantasy. While not ideal for a person who needs to function in modern society, it’s the perfect state of mind for a writer. He also writes young adult action & adventure under the pen name Eric Padilla, and lives in Southern California, though he would like to be where there are more trees.

  Website:

  pepadilla.com/

  E-mail:

  pep@pepadilla.com

  Also by P.E. Padilla

  Adventures in Gythe:

  Vibrations: Harmonic Magic Book 1 (also available as an audiobook)

  Harmonics: Harmonic Magic Book 2 (also available as an audiobook)

  Resonance: Harmonic Magic Book 3

  Tales of Gythe: Gray Man Rising (also available as an audiobook)

  Harmonic Magic Series Boxed Set

  The Unlikely Hero Series (under pen name Eric Padilla):

  Unfurled: Heroine is a Tough Gig (Unlikely Hero Series Book 1) (also available as an audiobook)

  Unmasked (Unlikely Hero Series Book 2)

  Undaunted (Unlikely Hero Series Book 3)

  The Shadowling Chronicles (under pen name Eric Padilla):

  Shadowling (Book 1)

  Witches of the Elements Series :

  Water & Flame (Book 1)

  Song of Prophecy Series :

  Wanderer’s Song

  Order of the Fire Series:

  Call of Fire (this book)

  Hero of Fire (out March 2019)

  Legacy of Fire (out April 2019)