Light: Buryoku: Book 2 - Releasing January 30th!

Hey there, super-people!

I wanted to provide you all with an exciting update on the second book in the Buryoku series, which is a series of fantasy, cultivation books! For those of you who haven’t read the first book in the series, it’s an absolute must-read. You can pick up Power: Buryoku: Book 1, here.

The second book continues following the adventures of our protagonist, Roy, and his friend and accomplice, Aika. Powerful forces are gathering on the continent of Buryoku, which is never kind to the weak. Faced with this impending doom, Roy will have to make a monumentally difficult choice.

You’re definitely not going to miss this one! Light: Buryoku: Book 2 is available for pre-order now, and it will be released on January 30th! You can pre-order the book by clicking on this link here!

Additionally, there’s more exciting news on the horizon! To celebrate the upcoming release of Light, Power, the first book in the series, will be available at a steep discount! Starting on January 29th and running until February 1st, Power will be available for a mere 99 cents! Now is the best time to jump in!

Think about it. For the price of a bag of potato chips at your local gas station, you can pick up a fantastic book from your favorite author. Does a bag of chips enthrall you with a thrilling and fantastical tale, filled with great characters, world-building, and suspense? I didn’t think so.

And for all you audiophiles out there, there is further good news. Audio recording will begin next week for Light, and the release of the audiobook can be expected in either late February or in early March. The recording will be done by the uber talented Mare Trevathan, who also did work on Power.

I hope you guys are as excited about this release as I am! For now, I’m signing off! I’ll see you on release day, which to reiterate, is January 30th, 2020.

One last thing: I’m including a look here at the full cover art of the book so that you can bask in all its glory! Enjoy!

Roy and Aika fighting a Savage Buck, a fantasy creature from Aaron Oster’s Light: Buryoku: Book 2

Rise to Omniscience: Book 4 Update

Hey everyone!

I want to provide you with an update on the work that has been done so far for “Rise to Omniscience: Book 4!”

I don’t have a title for the book just yet, but there will be an announcement coming soon.

Work on the book has been well underway for quite some time, and it has been quite a while since the release of Skyflare back in July.

Editing of the book is nearly complete, the cover art is well underway, and the book should be available for pre-order very soon.

I’m hoping to have the book released by October 31st, so stay tuned on my Instagram and Facebook pages for an update.

Book 4 in the RTO series raises the stakes more than ever, as you’ll be able to see from the preliminary sketches of the book’s cover.

On the cover is Morgan locked in mortal combat with the Infernal-Bane Lyvern, the monstrous beast from Starbreak. The battle is sure to be thrilling, so make sure to pick up the book when it comes out!

Now, please enjoy some fantastic cover/concept art for RTO Book 4!

Have a great day!

Morgan, the main protagonist from Aaron Oster’s “Rise to Omniscience” series, locked in combat with the Infernal-Bane Lyvern.

Concept art from Aaron Oster’s upcoming “Rise to Omniscience: Book 4”

Free Books Incoming!

Hey everyone!

In honor of the upcoming release of my brand new book, “Rampage: Land of the Elementals Book 1,” a select book will be completely free for you to grab on Amazon for an entire week!

That’s right, for each of the weeks leading up to Rampage’s release on September 26th, you can grab a free copy of one of my books! Starting today, you’ll be able to nab “Somerset,” which serves as a prequel to Rise to Omniscience, free of charge!

The week after, I’ll probably be giving Supermage away for free, so stay tuned for that as well.

If you wanna read more about why Rampage is going to be one of my greatest books ever, make sure to read yesterday’s blog post!

Don’t forget to tell your friends to pick up their copies for free while they can, and please like, comment, and share!

Keep on being super!

Rampage - New Book Announcement!

I’m incredibly excited to reveal the first book in my brand new series, “Land of the Elementals!” The name of the first book is “Rampage”, and I’m sure that it will prove to be an exciting and thrilling read!

Rampage is a truly enormous book, and is nearly a year in the making! The total word count for Rampage is over 158,000 words (around 470 pages!), which is a truly staggering number, especially when you take into account that most first books in a series rarely go above 100,000 words.

It has really been a wild ride since I started working on this book. I’ve released five other books in the interim, and finally, this one is nearly releasing! Writing a book of this scope and magnitude was really difficult at times, but the final product is really amazing, and I’m so happy that I stuck with it until I saw it completed.

Rampage is an epic fantasy book, along the lines of “The Wheel of Time” by Robert Jordan, and “The Stormlight Archives” by Brandon Sanderson. If you want to read more about what makes something Epic Fantasy, you can check out this great article on Fantasy-Faction. The shortened version is this: Epic Fantasy takes place in world other than our own. Pretty obvious. Also, they’re long.

In Rampage, you’ll travel along with our protagonist, Arbor, who has his entire world turned upside down in one night. Fate often has a cruel way of bending us to its will, and Arbor learns this in the harshest way possible. However, he isn’t willing to take such a beating sitting down and ventures out into a dangerous world to exact his revenge.

You’ll get to meet a variety of super cool races in this book! In addition to humans, there are elves, dwarves, gremlins, and salamanders. (There might also be some others, but I won’t be spoiling anything now.) Each of the races all have unique histories and ways of living, which go far beyond their mere physical appearances.

Also, can we talk about how amazing this cover art is?! The insanely talented people over at MiblArt have really outdone themselves! I love the way that Arbor and Grak (who’s a gremlin, by the way) look, and the cover overall is super cool and atmospheric.

In fact, it’s so good, that if the book is successful, I might just print out some hardcover copies and do some signed giveaways. So it’s really in your best interests to make this book do well!

“Rampage: Land of the Elementals Book 1” releases on September 26th, so make sure to mark your calendars.

As always, if you enjoy my work, please like, comment, and share with your friends!

Now here’s a look at the cover in all its glory!

Book Cover of “Rampage: Land of the Elementals Book 1” an Epic Fantasy book by Aaron Oster

Release Day for Power: Buryoku Book 1 is Finally Here!

The big day has finally arrived!

Power: Buryoku Book 1 released today at midnight! Sales are going strong so far, about as much as I expected from any new series! If you haven’t already snagged your copy, then what are you waiting for?! You can get a copy of Power, here.

I even got my first review, and it’s a glowing recommendation!

Work on the audiobook is nearly complete, and the link to purchase it should be up sometime this week.

As a new series is now releasing, I wanted to take the time to thank you, my readers.

Only a few months ago, I was working a dead end job that I hated with a passion.

The first book I released was a commercial failure, and the future for me looked pretty bleak. (Maybe not as bad as it seemed for Roy, but bad nonetheless.)

Cut to now, and I’ve already released five books, and have gained a loyal and amazing fanbase.

I was able to quit the job I hated, and now get to spend my days doing what I love: Writing.

But without you guys, none of this would be possible. After all, you could have the best books in the world, but if no one buys and reads them, then it’s kind of pointless.

So thank you for being such a loyal and amazing fanbase!

You know where to find me if you wanna reach out.

Keep on being super!

Here’s an amazing picture of Roy, the main character in Buryoku, done by the talented Lukasz Poduch!

Book Cover Announcement! Power: Buryoku Book 1

Hey everyone! I’m incredibly excited to present to you the book cover for Power: Buryoku Book 1!

Buryoku is a brand new series of Martial Arts inspired fantasy books, and “Power”, the first book in the series, will be releasing on August 29th! The pre-order link should be up early next week, so stay tuned!

You’ll be introduced to Roy, a person who has very little, and is treated horrendously by those around him. In Buryoku, Martial Artists cultivate the essence in the world around them to perform incredible feats, beyond your wildest dreams.

However, Roy does not have the Power needed to cultivate the essence around him. Coupled with the fact that he was adopted into the clan, it makes for a miserable existence for him. Not only is he seen as a freak and an outsider, but the members of his adoptive clan never let him forget what he is.

But, one day, Roy is given a once-in-a-lifetime chance that will change his life forever. You’ll just have to read the book in order to find out what happens!

The cover for the book details one of the most important and pivotal scenes in the entire book, but I won’t be giving anything away here.

Richard Sashigane, my amazing cover artist, really worked hard to bring the world of Buryoku to life. Everything, from the atmosphere, to the Asian lettering and architecture really brings a sense of realness to the world.

I really hope that you guys enjoy this new series! It has definitely been a blast writing it, and the response so far from the beta readers has been incredible, with them praising the world, the story, and the characters!

Have an amazing day! Remember to mark your calendars for August 29th!

As always, if you liked this post, please like, leave a comment, and share it with your friends!

The Sonic-Cerberus Chicken: From Idea to Creation

I’m very excited to present our second beast feature from Rise to Omniscience. If you weren’t aware, we have an amazing artist, Daniel Simon, who’s been working on character and beast art for RTO. The last time, we covered the creation of the Ice-Bristle Wolf. If you haven’t seen it already, then you can check it out here. Now, please join us as we take a deep dive at the creation of the Sonic-Cerberus Chicken!

Some of you may remember the Sonic-Cerberus Chicken from Starbreak, as it was the first creature that Morgan got to try his signature “Starbreak” move on. It's a chicken approximately 7 feet tall, with three heads. Each head is a different color, and that color carries down the rest of its body, giving it a three-toned appearance. The left head is black, the middle one is light tan and the left head is deep red. It's feet are bright yellow and have a set of wickedly curved claws. It also has a smattering of scales throughout it's feathers, and they extend in a line from their crests to their beaks, providing a sort of crude armor for their heads.

As you can imagine, there is zero reference for a three-headed chicken in the real world, so it’s in cases like this where an artist really has to use to their imagination and creative vision. Daniel started off with a preliminary sketch that looked like this:

Sonic-Cerberus Chicken Preliminary Sketch

Even the preliminary sketch for this beast took a bit of time, as figuring out the positioning of the heads, as well as the effect it would have on the proportions of the body, was quite time-consuming. After this sketch was made, Daniel changed up the pose a bit, to make it look more sinister and aggressive.

Sonic-Cerberus Chicken Sketch 2

I really liked the positioning of the heads in this one, it gave the chicken an almost prehistoric vibe. It sort of reminded me of a dinosaur. (Which is accurate as modern birds are their closest relatives.)

Once we settled on this pose, the lines were drawn on more finely, and the line-work of the chicken became more prominent.

Sonic-Cerberus Chicken Final Line Work

After the lines were completed, Daniel moved on to coloring. He had to play around a bit with different variations of color to get one that looked the best.

Sonic-Cerberus Chicken Preliminary Color

Sonic-Cerberus Chicken Colorwork 2

Daniel and I decided that although we did like this look, it would look better if there was some variations in the color of the wings. It would provide some much needed contrast.

Sonic-Cerberus Chicken Colorwork 3

By changing up the colors of the feathers, it gave it a more natural, chicken-like look. After we settled on this pattern, Daniel made a background, and added some finer details and shading work.

Sonic-Cerberus Chicken with Cave Background

As you can see, Daniel colored in the scales, as well as adding some more shadows and texture.

Sonic-Cerberus Chicken with Cave Background 2

He then added highlights and shadows to the scales of the chicken. He also played around with the coloring of the wings, so one color bled into the next, to give it as much of a natural look as he could.

Sonic-Cerberus Chicken with Cave Background 3

The coloring was nearly complete but Daniel decided to change the color of the underside of the left wing from red to yellow. This was done to provide more contrast, as the leftmost head was blending into the wing too much and was becoming lost.

After this change was made, Daniel sent us the final version of the Sonic-Cerberus Chicken!

The Sonic-Cerberus Chicken, from Aaron Oster’s Starbreak: Rise to Omniscience Book 2

In this final piece, Daniel changed up the color of the eyes, added some effects, and tightened up the lines and colors.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this weeks deep dive look into the creation of the Sonic-Cerberus Chicken! Please stay tuned for the next one! If you enjoyed this post, please leave a like, comment, and share with your friends!

Book Update - Power: Buryoku Book 1

Hey everyone! I’m super excited to announce that Power: Buryoku Book 1 is currently in the editing stage!

Buryoku is a departure from Rise to Omniscience, my previous series in several ways. Buryoku is a fantasy, cultivation series, and it’s going to be truly awesome!

 In it, you’ll travel along with the protagonist, Roy, as he embarks on a fantastic journey. Along the way, he’ll encounter many fantastical beasts and hilarious characters, as he tries his best to amass the power he needs to survive in his world.

I sent the book out to some beta readers and the response has been tremendous, with many of them praising the character development, magic system, and world building.

In this post, you’ll also see a picture of Aika, one of the main characters, whose role has yet to be revealed! There’s also artwork of Roy on the way, so stay tuned for that as well!

Look out for Power: Buryoku Book 1 when it launches in September! I hope to have a concrete release date soon!

If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment and a like, and feel free to share it with anyone else you think might enjoy it! Keep on being super!

Best,

Aaron

Aika, a main character in Buryoku, the upcoming series from Rise to Omniscience author, Aaron Oster

The Ice-Bristle Wolf: From idea to creation

So for all of you who have read Supermage, you know that one of the defining challenges for Morgan was his battle with the Ice-Bristle Wolf. The wolf was technically at a rank that Morgan couldn’t possibly hope to beat, yet despite that immense challenge, he persevered and overcame it. In addition to being such a defining moment, the wolf is also among the coolest beasts visually in the series. In the coming months, we’ll be doing a series of posts where we describe the creation of new beasts in the Rise To Omniscience series! The awesome artist behind the artwork is Daniel Simon. His work is really awesome, and you can check out his work on his website, or follow him on Instagram or Twitter. Now join us as we take a deep dive into the Ice-Bristle Wolf’s creation. Enjoy!

The description for the wolf is as follows. It’s a massive wolf, with icy blue and white fur, and ice-like teeth and claws. Its body gives off a blue aura, and it’s able to harden the fur on its back, making it sharp enough to cut steel. So, initially, we started off with a preliminary sketch on paper.

Ice-Bristle Wolf Paper Sketch

After the sketch was done, we moved on to the line work for the wolf. It went through several revisions, filling in the finer details of the wolf, trying to make it appear as lifelike as possible.

This was essentially the final line art of the wolf…

… but we just wanted to change the positioning of the fangs so they were more inline with the face.

After we settled on the final line art, we began the process of coloring the wolf. Since there wasn’t really a real-world creature to reference, Daniel just went with his imagination and creativity.

We took the basic line art of the wolf, and added blue shading, as well as darker shading on the snout.

We then added light gray shading on the main body of the wolf to give some contrast.

We then colored the eyes, claws, and fangs, and also added more colors to the body of the wolf.

At this point, the coloration of the wolf was almost complete. We added glow effects to demonstrate the icy aura of the wolf, and added shadows to the underside to make the effect more prominent.

Finally, after all adjustments were made to the coloration, we added a wintry background, some shadow work, and the wolf was complete!

We really hoped you enjoyed this deep dive into the Ice-Bristle Wolf’s creation! You can look forward to the next piece in the series, the Sonic-Cerberus Chicken, in the coming weeks! Please like, share, and comment below if you enjoyed!

Welcome!

Hey everyone! It’s me, your favorite author! I’m very excited to introduce you to my very own blog, which I’ve affectionately dubbed, “From the Bean Bag of Aaron Oster.”

The incredibly original name came about as I do much of my writing on my amazing bean bag chair, as it provides the perfect combination of comfort and conforming to my body. The bean bag I’m currently sitting on is the Yogibo Short, so if you want to have your body hugged by the same bean bag as a famous author, then click here.

In this blog, I’ll be presenting a wide variety of various content. There’s no real rhyme or reason to anything I do, so these blog posts will mimic that and will vary based on my mood. Expect to find things like top five and top ten lists; movie reviews; video game reviews; thoughts on books I’m reading and many other, exciting things.

I can’t tell you to expect much, but I can tell you that you’ll receive a boatload of my sardonic wit and humor, as well as my unabashed and honest opinion on everything under the sun. I hope you enjoy!

Monster Hunter World Review

Although Monster Hunter World originally came out in January 2018, I’m writing this review now because A. The Iceborne DLC is coming out in September, and B. This game more than any influenced my imagination for the creation of monsters. (There’s also the fact that I didn’t have a blog before this.) Anyway, if you haven’t yet played it, spoilers are too follow. Enjoy the review!

Version played: PS4 (Standard)

As you may have guessed, I am an avid gamer. Starting at the ripe old age of six when I received my first Gameboy and played Pokémon Yellow for this first time, I was immediately hooked. It wasn't until I was well into my teenage years that I finally began playing console games after I bought myself a PS4.

Of all the video games I've played over the years, there is one that stands out as the greatest: Monster Hunter World. I received the game as a gift from my brother right after it came out, and I have logged more individual hours in this game than any other.

For those of you who do not know what it is, Monster Hunter World is a game in which you hunt monsters and harvest their organs to strengthen yourself. No, not in a creepy witchcraftian ceremony where you sacrifice their hearts to the gods of blood, but in the slightly less creepy way of using their body parts to craft weapons and armor.
In case you're wondering, I believe that I had to kill around twenty of the same monster before I had enough parts to craft the weapon of my choice: the Insect Glaive, all the way to its final iteration in that specific tree. And yes, while it may seem cruel to continuously track down and murder monster after monster, all for the sake of a better weapon, don't think too hard about it. The weapons and armor are bad ass, and that's all that matters.
The game itself boasts an open world set in specific regions, each a different landscape, and each containing their own breeds of monsters. As you progress through the game, you will unlock new regions, and the challenges will obviously grow tougher. But, the harder the monster is to kill, the better the weapons and armor you'll be able to make from their corpses.

I believe that my single greatest inspiration for Rise to Omniscience, came from this game. The idea of having characters go around and kill high-level Beasts, using their cores to advance their own power just spoke to me, and creating ever more terrifying and bad ass looking Beasts is something that I enjoy immensely.

If you're a gamer and enjoy monster slaying as much as I do, then I can't recommend this game enough. Sure, in the beginning when you have to fight the Anjanath, or are forced to face Nergigante you'll want to throw your controller through the screen, (I almost did) but after you finally kill them (Nergigante took me about 15 tries the first time), the sense of accomplishment will be immense.
And don't worry, I paid Nergigante back by killing it a further 57 times over two separate games to craft the coolest looking armor. I also took immense pleasure in driving that wretched race closer to extinction for all the times I died facing it the first time.

In conclusion, just buy the freaking game. They're coming out with their first DLC this September, and I can hardly wait to kill a whole new breed of monster.