Smythe announces fifth book in Kingdom of Florida fantasy series WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, September 28, 2020 - Author and creator Taylor Thomas Smythe announced the forthcoming release of the fifth installment in his imaginative Kingdom of Florida series of novels. The next book, which follows this past spring’s The Fountain of Youth, is entitled The Curse of Coronado and will be available to purchase late October 2020, with a Kindle ebook version available for preorder today. “I am excited for readers to experience new adventures with our good friends Oliver, Ellie, Ben, and Annie,” Smythe said. “The first four books happened over the course of one summer in the story world and told a very sequential story arc. The new book picks up a year after The Fountain of Youth, so we get to see how things have changed since we last left our heroes. Without spoiling too much, I can say that what starts in the opening pages as a light-hearted birthday celebration quickly goes awry. A mysterious package shows up and propels the children into a new quest.” Readers can expect a lot of familiar faces—and a couple new ones. “The first several chapters are full of sweet reunions with many of the characters in the Kingdom that we’ve grown to love over the past couple years,” Smythe hinted. “I think readers will be pleased that we get to explore some of the characters who maybe weren’t quite at the center of the story before.” As with the first four novels, artist Alice Waller will return to illustrate the world of Kingdom of Florida. “I was in love with Ali’s style since before we even began this collaboration,” Smythe gushed. “Around the time she was wrapping The Fountain of Youth, Ali moved out of state, but we had already begun discussing the new book and kept in touch. I love the liveliness she portrays in the faces of the characters. I think Ali depicts them really well in this new story and I’m excited for readers to see these illustrations.” The series, which draws inspiration from such classics as The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, and L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, follows the journey of a group of South Florida children as they discover a magical parallel world ruled by an evil prince. The first four Kingdom of Florida books are independently published and available at www.kingdomofflorida.com in paperback, hardcover, Kindle ebook, and — for the first installment — audiobook. The Curse of Coronado arrives in paperback and ebook later this October. The Kindle ebook edition is available for pre-order on Amazon.com now. Click below to download this release in PDF format
Triumvirate card game announced, based on Kingdom of Florida BOOK SERIES WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, September 1, 2020 - Until now, the world of Kingdom of Florida has existed primarily in book form. This fall, fans of the ongoing Florida-fantasy series will get to experience the Kingdom in a whole new way — as a multiplayer card game called Triumvirate. Triumvirate has a fairly simple concept, says Taylor Thomas Smythe, the creator of both the series and the game. “The goal of the game is to be the first player to collect one heir from each of the three royal family lines.” In the books, these three thrones are known collectively as the Triumvirate. The family names — Coronado, Mangonia, and Palafox — are represented by uniquely-colored cards, which feature vibrant illustrations by Smythe. While the goal of the game is simple, the full deck includes numerous surprises and obstacles — many of which will be familiar to readers of the four books released so far. “There are some nods, hints, and easter eggs from both the current and forthcoming books,” says Smythe, “so I think fans will love the experience of turning over each new card as they explore the deck.” Gameplay is a well-balanced mix of both chance and strategy that maximizes replayability. “When some of my friends and I were testing it, we couldn’t stop. Rounds can go quickly. You get so close to winning that you just have to play another.” Though Triumvirate is rife with Kingdom lore, players need no knowledge of the novels to enjoy play. Its sparse rules are printed on a pair of cards included in the deck, and individual cards provide additional guidance on how one can play. For some time, Smythe has been known as a deviser of games. “Every time we visit our relatives over holidays, I invent a new game using whatever we have on hand — usually decks of normal playing cards, dice, that sort of thing. I recall one game involved a Rubik’s cube and another entailed shouting the names of cheeses.” This love of game-making led Smythe to imbue one of Kingdom of Florida’s main characters with this same spirit. “In the first chapter of the first book,” he noted, “we learn that Oliver has a reputation for making up rules for games with his neighbors. But the friends are unaware that they’re homegrown rules.” Smythe worked with print-on-demand game publishing company The Game Crafter, whose business model allows designers to create and sell new games without the need for an inventory, to distribute Triumvirate. “I’ve been thoroughly impressed with the folks at The Game Crafter,” Smythe gushed. “Even when they had to shut down temporarily at the beginning of the recent pandemic, they managed to produce and ship me a test deck. The quality of the cards, the box, the colors — everything is absolutely professional.” Triumvirate: Card Game is available now via www.kingdomofflorida.com/games, or on the shop at The Game Crafter website. The deck includes 90 full-color, illustrated cards. Ideal for 2 to 4 players. Recommended for ages 8 and up.
Kingdom of Florida: The Golden Alligator gets audiobook treatmentWEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, July 2, 2020 - Following the successful launch of his Kingdom of Florida series in paperback and ebook formats, author and creator Taylor Thomas Smythe announced that the first installment, The Golden Alligator, will be released as a new digital audiobook. “These stories were inspired by the sorts of books my parents read to me as a child,” Smythe explained. “So to be able to offer the first of these as an audiobook, where you get to have the story read aloud to you, makes perfect sense.” He also notes that the audiobook format provides a reading option for those for whom reading can be difficult. “It was important to allow those with dyslexia, for example, an option to experience this magical world.” The process of adapting the novels to an audible format was not without its own challenges, says Smythe. “Much like the steps I took when publishing the first paperback book, recording and engineering an audiobook has a learning curve. I personally enjoy that process of watching tutorials and finding information on the internet—it’s a new skill that opens a whole new creative outlet, which allows me to imagine even more ideas of where this series—and others—can go in the future.” While there were numerous technical hurdles involved, Smythe found other challenges exciting. “When narrating a story, you have to figure out not only your own voice but those of the characters,” he said. “The good news is that I wrote these characters, so I had a pretty good idea of how I thought they should sound. That may be different than how the readers imagine it, but that’s the beauty of books.” Smythe also revealed plans to record the rest of the series, hopeful for release dates this summer or fall. “It would be wonderful to have the other three out before the fifth book drops, but they involve many hours of focused, quiet work, so it’s hard to rush the process.” The series, which has echoes of such classics as The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, or L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, follows the journey of a group of South Florida children as they discover a magical parallel world ruled by an evil prince. With four books available now, Smythe promises a fifth installment before year’s end, with more to follow. The first four Kingdom of Florida books are independently published and available at www.kingdomofflorida.com in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle ebook. The first installment, The Golden Alligator, is available now as an audiobook on various platforms, including Apple, Audible, Amazon, and others. Click below to download this release in PDF format:
West Palm Beach author re-releases Florida fantasy series, looks forward to future installmentsWEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, July 1, 2020 - With four books already released and several more on the way, West Palm Beach author Taylor Thomas Smythe re-issued his Kingdom of Florida children’s fantasy series with a redesigned look in hopes of attracting new readers. Smythe, who grew up in South Florida, says his home state was a major inspiration for the series. “I’ve always been drawn to the wild, untamed nature of the Florida wilderness, as well as the beautiful Mediterranean-inspired architecture that peppers certain areas of the state. It just seemed like the perfect setting for a brand-new fantasy world unlike those we’ve seen so often.” Tracing his love and practice of writing to his early years (in which he penned serialized Star Wars fan fiction for a few friends), Smythe finally ventured into novels when the idea for Kingdom of Florida came in the spring of 2018. “A friend and fellow Florida author—David Athey—kept using this phrase ‘the kingdom of Florida’ to describe the mysterious and enchanting nature of certain parts of our state. One day while sitting at a coffee shop, the idea came into my head to take that literally. What if Florida was actually an ancient kingdom, full of princes, princesses, magic, and creatures?” The series, which has echoes of such classics as The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, or L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, follows the journey of a group of South Florida children as they discover a magical parallel world ruled by an evil prince. Eschewing a cliched Anglo-Saxon fantasy setting in favor of a more diverse and colorful palette, Smythe remains true to tropes of the genre while devising a world that feels at once timeless and fresh. Smythe announced that the Kingdom of Florida series would get a massive visual overhaul, which includes a new website, an updated logo, more colorful and cohesive social media content, and simplified cover art for the four books in the series so far. He also plans to release audiobook editions, which he will narrate himself. This decision comes nearly two years after he began writing the series, in which time Smythe says he’s learned much about publishing and marketing a book in the digital age. “To get your book noticed these days, you need to ensure your cover is readable at all sizes,” he says. “With so many ways people can read and consume books these days, it’s vital that readers be able to identify your book from the smallest thumbnail on a mobile device to the larger print version you hold in your hand. On the original releases, the series title was far too small and thin. The new look remedies that issue and adds other helpful features, such as the book number on the spine.” Readers can expect the same, light-hearted stories (and whimsical, monotone illustrations from illustrator Alice Waller) between the covers, though, as they catch up before the next installment arrives in the latter months of this year. The first four Kingdom of Florida books are independently published and available at www.kingdomofflorida.com in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle ebook. Click below to download this release in PDF format:
|
Details
CategoriesArchives
September 2021
|