About

About Austin

I’ve been reading fantasy since I was little, and began writing it in 2016. Harry Potter was good, but I most loved the stories of Redwall which Brian Jacques told, and figured that I may as well try my hand at writing it. I’ve enjoyed the process, so I started this site to build an audience. My influences tend to vary, but fiction highlights include E.R. Eddison (The Worm Ouroboros, A Fish Dinner in Memison), Robert Jordan (“The Wheel of Time” series), and Ursula K. LeGuin (the Earthsea books).

I also read quite a bit of nonfiction, mostly in history or philosophy. This is both a personal interest, and research for my own writing.

Additionally, I play a lot of roleplaying games, and have begun writing for them as well. I played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5E and Pathfinder in high school, and found RuneQuest 3 in college, courtesy of a friend. Currently, I play the newest edition of RuneQuest in a weekly game, and occasionally play D&D 5E. Most things I try at the table turn up in my writing one way or another.

My academic background is in philosophy, classics, and music. I graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2015, and I currently have a Masters in Creative Writing (Fiction) in progress through National University.

About Akhelas

“Akhelas” is the imprint under which Austin publishes fiction and RPG content, as well as the name of this blog and website. It’s named after the primary land of his novel-in-progress, The Fall of Jiharel. You can find out more about his works over on Projects.