About
Edited: 12/17/2022
The Brotherhood Archives hosts stories set in the Dias Brotherhood and is a chronicle fantasy series written by L.J. McEachern.(Formerly known as Lady Ander and L.J. Ander)
It all started out with Hy'Ruh-Ha. A single short story written as a writing exercise for another novel. Since she possesses no self-control, continued it. She then posted it on RoyalRoad as a serialized experiment. It was supposed to be a stand-alone fantasy novel. However, still possessing very little self-control, L.J. McEachern continued it.
The Archive itself is written by Lord Theris'Heron, chronically the elves that have influenced him. A pseudo-biography, if you will.
The setting is a high fantasy world, however the story is drama with slice-of-life influences. There is no sub-genre for such a thing in fantasy. When this is the case, one must create a suitable classification. It is called Chronicle Fantasy. A little pretentious, but what is one to do?
What is Chronicle Fantasy?
Chronicle fantasy is a fantasy sub-genre that closely follows the life of a fantasy character. Stakes are personal, and scale is medium to small. Basically, slice-of-life elements with low stakes that are important to the characters.
Basically, L.J. mcEachern believes that fantasy is a highly versatile genre. It shouldn't be limited to pure action and adventure and anchored to large central conflicts all the time.
What's with the novel, novella collection, novel, and novella collection pattern?
It was written that way to fill in downtime between novels when it was originally posted on RoyalRoad and WordPress.
All stories are meant to be read in order?
Yes. Here is the order:
Hy'Ruh-Ha(reposted)
Crossroads(Story Collection)(reposted)
Edict(currently in progress)
Changes(Story collection)(ucomming)
When it's Dark(working title)(drafted &revisons needed)
Eroden(upcoming)(in the process of being drafted)
Rating?
Let's just call everything pg-13 at this point. It's pretty safe for work.
Content Warning and Such:
There are some things that happen in this story that aren't appropriate for younger readers and that sensitive readers may not care for. This series is on the heavy side in terms of subjects and themes. It's not pure light-hearted, 100% cozy, or dark. I wouldn't even call it gray. Basically, this isn't a series to shut off your brain too and read. I am not about to list everything that could upset someone because I don't know what would. However, I can tell you there is no rape or sexual assault however, it can be talked about. There is some language, fantasy violent, and act that may leave characters bleeding and hurt.
Another note: I (L.J. McEachern) don't really consider this LGBT+ content. However, there is content in the archive that I'll leave reader to decide for themselves. *Spoiler* One of the main character is asexual. As well as a handful of other characters. With an upcoming character who is intersexed. At some point, what they are is discussed in the context of the culture and setting of their world.
Other thing to keep in mind: The stories do contain religious content.
While I don't consider any of these stories Christian writing at all, however, my faith echoes in them. This novel depicts members of a religious order. The characters are religious and may talk about their religion from time to time. This is me self-indulging myself with something I very much wanted to read.
Why did I remove all the stories except Hy'Ruh-ha and Crossroads from RoyalRoad:
I was planning to revise the entire series so I needed the old stuff gone. Second, while I liked being on the platform in the beginning, I slowly learned RR doesn't benefit my writing. The demographic isn't right. And to be honest, no platforms seem that appropriate. The world of algorithms only benefits certain kind of content and that is the most popular. Such a thing was making me miserable. I didn't want to basically have to write something I didn't want to get readers. I mostly write for myself. And I myself don't want to write lit-rpgs or progression fantasy to do it. I've zero interest on either of those. I like playing games, not writing them. Gaming is a tangible experience for me. Taking that away makes it unfun. As for progression. Story telling to me isn't about a character getting stronger with every action they do. Certainly, there is progression in character development. However, Edict, for example, is me pretty much taking a character, and throwing a wrench in their gears. Life isn't all about climbing higher and higher, being unstoppable. Sometimes the rope gets cut, snagged, and broken with you having to deal with it.
The Author:
L.J. McEachern is a dyslexic fantasy writer who spends vast amounts of time daily attached to a keyboard. It's a product of introversion, and she enjoys living the hermit life.
