Author: estherv (Page 2 of 2)

I've been writing since I was 12, making up stories since before I could remember. I'm committed to becoming the best writer I can be, and I embrace all the mistakes and garbage writing that has to come out before then.

List of Projects

October 8, 2022 / estherv

Below is a list of every work in Project Thrive, organized by section. At the end are unconnected stories that can also be read on this website.

ARC

Earth

The Disconnect
Everything

Histories

Short Story #1: The Ark
Short Story #2: Killing Hanrue
Short Story #3: Murder

Renegade

Untitled Short Story #4
Hostile Shadows

Observers

Anna
The Fires of Darkness
Darkness
Casey Shroy
Untitled Darkness/Casey Shroy Sequel

Prophecy

Epilogue

Havens

Unconnected Stories by Esther Velez

“The Night”

“The Night” – Short Story

October 8, 2022 / estherv

by Esther Velez – August 29, 2022

He tried not to remember. That was the only way he could make it through. Keep yourself busy. Never let yourself be alone. Never have a moment to think.

He told himself it was helping.

After his family was asleep, it had become his habit to sit in the field, listening to the sounds of the wind, the trees, the animals scurrying through the grass. On most nights, he wouldn’t hear anything else and he could go back to his wife and his bed and sleep.

But on nights like tonight, he could almost hear it. It started off quiet, mixed in with the sounds of the night. Then it grew louder and louder, filling the silence between the noise, until it was the only thing he heard. It was his brother’s voice: calm, friendly, suddenly turning afraid. Pleading. Horrified. Gone.

He stayed like that, knees deep in the earth, the rage he had once felt crushing his ears again as it pounded through his head. And then it was gone, reduced to a whisper.

He reached down and grabbed a fistful of dirt. It crumbled under his touch, cursed as it was to yield him nothing. Even the earth would not let him forget. He stood up, the silence covering him in darkness. His wife would ask him why he came out here, but she would never understand.

Suddenly another voice filled the silence.

“What have you done?”

It was an ancient voice. Familiar. Terrifying. Gone.

“Listen!“

He was trying.

Additional Art by Mateo Velez

See more of his work on IG: @lordoferewhon

What Is Project Thrive?

March 21, 2021 / estherv

What is Project Thrive?

It’s a series of novels, games, and concept albums that will tell various interconnected stories over the next four years. Multiple storylines will converge in unexpected ways as we explore a vast connected universe. Some stories will be set on present-day Earth and others are set on distant planets in the future. All stories will cover various time periods and will not release chronologically.

The first set of stories will be released in 2022 and features several novels and an RPG video game.

Who is working on Project Thrive?

Right now, it’s just myself and my brother Josiah. We each specialize in different areas, but we’re working together to wrangle these stories into something enjoyable. And who knows? Other people might join us in creating this universe along the way!

Why a connected universe? Also, what does Project Thrive mean?

It didn’t originally start out as a connected universe. Over the past ten years, I’ve been writing various stories but never seemed to finish any of them. As I started to chip away at the ideas, I thought it would be fun to have everything connect. The only problem was that my stories were all over the place. Some took place in the future. Some took place on other planets. How would it all connect?

As I started looking at themes, though, I noticed that they were all very similar. I began to think about how a particular incident would affect various characters and the first part of the connected universe was born. After a few years, Josiah put several of his stories in the universe. We began to narrow down larger timelines and the official Project Thrive universe was born. As for the name “Project Thrive”, it’s a codename of sorts that will make more sense once a few more books come out 😉

When is the first book coming out?

Quarantine is slated for release Jan 2022. You can read about the creation of Quarantine and check out an early excerpt here.

The next project is Anna, an RPG video game, which will be released in April 2022. Follow the development of this game here.

How can you support?

Follow the journey. Go behind the scenes of creating these 24 stories over the next 4 years. See the hard work that it takes and be inspired to work on your own creative projects along with us.

Read the stories. We’ll post excerpts of the stories as we get closer to release dates. Let us know what’s working and what’s not.

Four years ago, I started working full time as a teacher. Since then, I’ve struggled to complete any writing projects. I want to change that. The past four years were over in the blink of an eye. I want to see what we can get up to in the next four. Join us as we begin Project Thrive!