Play it by Ear: Ice Sword Chronicles

Ice Sword Chronicles (ISC) has been a pet project of mine since 2009. What started out as a game between friends turned into a summer-long story about friendship, courage, truth, compassion, honor, and love. That legacy lives on.

The main characters start off in a typical heroes vs villains in a big castle tale and end up in a mirror dimension working with a group of rebels trying to rescue their friend from the clutches of the greatest evil this world knows. Mirror selves known as "Others", elemental magic, space travel, time travel, androids, high speed chases, pirates on the open seas, airships, dragons, shapeshifters, this story had everything.

We started writing ISC in May of 2009. Most of it was written by December of that year. It continued on for a bit as we got the characters up to the final encounter, but then we stopped around 2012 when all the writers moved on to bigger things and new life adventures.

ISC did not die in 2012. In 2022, I came back and wrote a sequel to the unfinished tale that takes place 13 years after the events of the main story (Fire Sword Chronicles). In 2023, I took it upon myself to re-write the first chunk of the main story into a legible, publishable format (ISC Book 1). In 2024, I started the next chunk (ISC Book 2). In 2025 I commissioned new artwork and played around with animation.

I firmly believe the best medium to convey the full ISC story, Others' similarities, technology, and magical abilities would be through an animated adaptation, but that still needs a solid written story before animation ever happens.

The story is what I've been working in the background. I've been trying to find and condense the core parts of ISC that make it incredible while still preserving the characters, themes, silliness and whimsy from those bygone years.

I think I will continue to work on ISC in the back of my head no matter what phase of life I am in. ISC gave me friendship, belonging, and purpose during the times I needed it most. I wish to pass those on to everyone who comes into contact with it.

Whether or not I reach my destination, whether or not co-authors ever join or re-join me in the journey, whether or not a fully published version of ISC ever sees the light of day, I will always cherish the adventures and the life lessons given to me by working on this project. ISC has always been a story of overcoming obstacles, cherishing those around you, faith in your fellow man, and hope for a brighter tomorrow.

How far would you go to protect the ones you love?