The recent release of a novella by local author Travis Ludvigson, coupled with recent releases by Cayla Kluver, Nate Aeseng, and Walter Rhein, may soon give the Chippewa Valley another acclaimed scene: fantasy literature. Called Yare’ Darkness Bound, the book is the first in a three-part series called The Nephilim Chronicles, the main focus being on angels, demons, and the release of an ancient, menacing evil.

“It’s a supernatural thriller set in the modern world and centered around this medieval creature named Yare’ who’s imprisoned in a tree,” Ludvigson told me. “Jacob Williams, the main character, comes across the tree and inadvertently releases Yare’ into the world.”

Jacob is completely oblivious to the creature’s release, Ludvigson said. As a man with no belief in the spiritual world, Jacob quickly becomes a target, as the only means for the creature to remain forever free from imprisonment is to kill Jacob.

“I had this folder full of ideas, and this one just kind of moved to the forefront over time. I decided to just finally write it.” – writer Travis Ludvigson

About the same time, a helpful priest becomes Jacob’s mentor and attempts – quite vigorously – to get him to believe in the supernatural as it may be integral in saving his own life.

“Essentially, it’s a story of good versus evil,” Ludvigson said. “It touches on the different aspects of making the right choice and free will, all the while following this frightening, adventurous hunt.”

Ludvigson’s imagination goes back a long way. Although this is his first published book, he said he’s been interested in writing for as long as he can remember.

“I’ve written short stories since I was a teenager,” he said. “I enrolled in a lot of English/creative writing classes in college – I had this folder full of ideas, and this one just kind of moved to the forefront over time. I decided to just finally write it.”

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Ludvigson’s varied experiences informed his writing – and they go way beyond college classes. For instance, he served for eight years in the intelligence branch of the Air Force, traveling all over the U.S. as well as Egypt, Turkey, South Korea, and northern Iraq. In 1991, he began training in martial arts, and is now a black belt. His skills were enough to win him the third round TKO heavyweight in full contact while stationed in Korea.

“I would definitely say my experiences were inspiration for the book,” he told me. “For example, the fight scenes in the book … instead of writing standard scenes, I choreographed every one of them to make sure they were believable – I really wanted to incorporate what I’ve learned over the years.”

With Yare’ being a novella-length story, Ludvigson said the next two in the series will be full-length novels. Although there is no estimated release date at the moment, Ludgivson told me the next two books will move backwards in time – first to the Dark Ages, and then to the time of Emperor Constantine.

Yare’ was released in July, and is now available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, as well as The Local Store.

Until the next book’s release, Ludvigson remains confident the first edition will prove entertaining to a vast audience.

“I’ve had readers from teenagers up to people in their 70s,” he said. “Each one has found a certain part of the book they’ve enjoyed. I think it’s got a really wide appeal.”

More information on The Nephilim Chronicles, as well as Ludvigson’s other works, is available on his Facebook page, titled “A Drop of Ink - The Written Works of Travis Ludvigson.”