Battle Creek, MI -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/28/2014 -- A 5-star review for Rys Rising: Book I posted on March 8th at Barnes and Noble’s website noted the novel’s disturbing corollaries to real society. The author Tracy Falbe considers the ability of fantasy fiction to examine dark issues in a dramatic setting one of the genre’s most compelling attributes.

“Good fantasy should be exciting on a visceral level, but epic stories need roots that go deep into human truths,” Falbe said.

Offered as a free ebook at her website, Rys Rising: Book I begins the story hinted at in bits and pieces as historical back story in her other fantasy series The Rys Chronicles. The magical race known as the rys populate her novels and the elite among them can live for thousands of years. Therefore there are some rys characters from her first series whose youthful tragedies and triumphs are told in the Rys Rising series. For example Onja is just reaching maturity in Rys Rising: Book I, and the series tells how she became a goddess and queen to numerous peoples as she is shown at an advanced age in The Rys Chronicles.

“Readers of both series are often impressed with how I flip around their sympathies and hatreds with various characters. Things are different in their youth in ancient times,” Falbe said, referring to feedback from her fans.

The series is set on a broad stage encompassing two human civilizations and two magical races, the rys and tabre. The tabre rule the people of Nufal as their religious leaders. As the epic progresses, Onja will impose her own divinity upon the western tribal kingdoms and start a new religion to challenge the tabre. On the human level, the story portrays people in a world controlled by ruling elites exploiting human societies for their own agendas.

Rys Rising: Book I retails as an ebook for $2.99 at online retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, and Smashwords but Falbe still provides it free worldwide to visitors at her web store Brave Luck Books.

Authors typically reward readers who engage with them directly online with extra freebies, discounts, and news about upcoming novels. Additionally readers who want Rys Rising in paperback can find a 15% off coupon at her site. Because retail outlets provide authors with no way to know who their readers are, these extra incentives to draw readers into a relationship are used by authors like Falbe to keep her name on people’s radar.

For readers who enjoy the first Rys Rising book, they can also receive a discount from the author on the whole ebook series.

Falbe said, “I know people have plenty of authors to choose from so I encourage them to sample my work with free series starters. This way some people discover a fantasy series they really appreciate.”