In this episode of Vox Auctoris, I open with a story from Plutarch that has lived rent-free in my head for years—one of those strange historical footnotes that refuses to explain itself, and therefore becomes more interesting the longer you sit with it.
The story appears during Plutarch’s account of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, one of Rome’s most effective—and most terrifying—dictators. As Plutarch tells it, Sulla is camped with his legions across the coast east of Italy, preparing to cross the sea and reclaim Rome after his war against Mithridates in the Roman East.
Near Sulla’s encampment is a sacred grove, ancient even by Roman standards. The locals claim the grove is inhabited by spirits—dryads, satyrs, old things that predate Roman order. At some point, the villagers capture a satyr and drag it before Sulla and his officers.
They attempt to question it. They bring translators. They try multiple languages. They ask it questions about fate, about what is to come. The creature never speaks. It only emits a raw, otherworldly roar—something closer to an animal scream than human speech. Eventually, frustrated and unsettled, Sulla orders it released.
And that’s it. Plutarch moves on.
What’s always fascinated me isn’t whether the satyr “really existed,” but why Plutarch included the story at all. Plutarch was not a journalist. He was a moralist, a philosopher, and a storyteller. Parallel Lives is meant to teach lessons. So what lesson is embedded here?
The ancient world took omens, portents, and signs seriously. Birds flying the wrong way. Donkeys behaving strangely. A twitch in the left hand. These weren’t superstitions—they were data points in how reality worked. When you accept that framework, the world feels fundamentally different. Meaning leaks in everywhere.
I talk in this episode about how that worldview contrasts with our modern one, and how I personally approach stories like this. I’m agnostic. I tend to see myths as metaphors, not instruction manuals. But metaphor doesn’t mean “false.” Sometimes it means “operating on a different layer.”
That leads into a philosophical idea I ran across recently: the distinction between magic and prayer.
The argument goes like this: prayer is an act of humility. You ask a higher power for intervention. Magic, by contrast, is an act of command—you compel lesser powers to obey your will. Whether or not you believe in either literally, it’s a powerful lens for understanding how people relate to authority, agency, and fate.
That lens matters for writers—especially fantasy and sci-fi writers—because belief systems shape behavior long before they shape plot.
Writing Updates
On the writing front, things are moving fast:
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The Heart of the Wasteland is now my top priority. I’ve cut roughly 10–15k words so far and am auditing character arcs one by one, making sure every major character’s fate makes sense both emotionally and thematically across the series.
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Beta copies went out last Sunday. Questionnaires will follow soon for those who want to provide structured feedback.
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Wyrm Rider has officially grown from a planned novella into a full-length novel and is now 99.9% complete. I’m carefully shaping the final battle and closing moment before sending it fully into revisions.
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After that, I’ll be moving straight into Storm Rider, the next entry in Dragon Riders of Zerath.
Dictation continues to reshape my process. Telling the story aloud has made scenes more visual and instinctive in the first pass, and it’s opened a different door in how I approach narrative momentum.
Book Recommendation: The Sun Eater
I also spend some time in this episode talking about a series that has absolutely grabbed me: The Sun Eater.
It’s a space opera in the truest sense—fantastical, philosophical, occasionally brutal, and beautifully written. If you like science fiction that borrows the emotional and thematic weight of epic fantasy, this series is worth your time. I’m currently deep into Demon in White, and it’s rare that a series pulls me in this hard.
If you’re an audiobook listener, the narration is excellent.
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Thanks for listening, reading, and supporting my work. I appreciate it deeply.