In this brief update, I share why this week’s Dark Blade Forged reading is on pause (hello, sore throat), reflect on a full and meaningful year of writing, travel, faith, and family, and look ahead to what’s coming in 2026—including To Speak and The Dark Blade Trilogy. A gentle check-in about creativity, calling, and giving ourselves grace.

Tyrean's Tales Website

Light Reflections

The Dark Blade Trilogy Kickstarter

Winter in the Pacific Northwest carries its own storytelling language—salt air and tide lines, ferry crossings, evergreen rain, storm winds, and the cozy glow of small-town community. In this episode of The Truth About Storytelling, host Tyrean Martinson talks with Susanne Bacon, author of the Wycliffe novels, about writing sense of place so vividly readers feel like they can visit tomorrow.

Susanne shares how she builds her fictional Puget Sound town of Wycliffe (between Olympia and Seattle) using real regional textures—Olympic Mountain views, island silhouettes, waterfront parks, ferry terminals, and the changing smell of high tide vs. low tide. We also dig into how her journalism background shaped her as an observer of people and community, and how listening to real stories helps her craft believable characters without writing one-to-one from life.

This episode also arrives in the tender beauty of Christmas—Tyrean reflects on Christmas Eve worship, carols, and singing “Silent Night” by candlelight, remembering that Jesus is the Light of the World—our Emmanuel—God’s light shining in the darkness.

Find Susanne Bacon HERE

Tyrean's Tales

In this solo episode, Tyrean Martinson shares seven fiction and reflection writing prompts inspired by the worldbuilding philosophy of Irish science fiction and fantasy author Damien Larkin. Drawing on themes of layered realism, military-influenced settings, terrain-driven storytelling, and organic world growth, these prompts invite writers to create believable, lived-in speculative worlds. Released during Christmas week, the episode also reflects on Immanuel—God with us—and the quiet presence of hope in the creative process.

Find the prompts from this episode at Tyrean's Tales