Crystal Shade: Introduction

By Istvan Szabo Ifj

There are three types of angel stories in the world; the religious, the mainstream, the Crystal Shade. Discover Crystal Shade, the world's only Auralight Fantasy*.

63 pages long exclusive release with five short spoiler free chapters and many extras introducing the world and the development of Crystal Shade.

Additional content:
- Introduction of the main character in her own words
- Introduction of the world in the words of the main character
- Crystal Shade: Angeni in the words of Book Reviewers
- First full chapter (CS:Av1 / CS:Ep1, Chapter 1 - Crystal Nightfall)
- 29 Concept and Design Arts (All made by the author)
- Real Life Certificates of a Guardian Angel
- Crystal Shade's 1st Birthday (Exclusive Pictures)
- Crystal Shade: Afterlight (First Poster Art)
- Author biography and links.

*Auralight Fantasy (a.k.a. AuraFantasy or Auralight) is a new variation and mix of many genres. While it contains many Epic Fantasy, Young Adult, and close-to-Science-Fiction, close-to-Steampunk mechanical and / or fantastical elements, such as aura-powered flying and other machines and weapons, or a strange world with a blue sun, it also includes biological-fantastical elements, such as aura beings with superpowers, living in different spirit realms of an otherworldly ancient society with an atmosphere not just felt, but seen as emanating from person, places and other living and non-living things. The term "Auralight Fantasy" was coined to reflect the more overtly fantastical tones of Crystal Shade.

• Language: English
• Publisher: XinXii
• Release date: Apr 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9786155293054

Istvan Szabo Ifj

Award winning author, director and graphic artist Istvan Szabo, Ifj. was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1981. Istvan penned his first short stories, the science fiction story, City on the Rings of Saturn, as well as the historical fiction for a literature competition, entitled One Day in the Legion in Elementary School. But he discovered a true love for writing in high school, enrolling in advanced Hungarian and English classes and submitting short stories to various writing competitions, and magazines, as well as self-publishing his works in his school to entertain his classmates. The military thriller short story series, Revenge, a story similar to the movie Toy Soldiers, was a school-wide success. After high school, Istvan attended Information Technology and Technical College, while he also applied to the Marine Military Academy (he always wanted to be a military fighter pilot, and he received his first pilot training at the age of 14.) and Georgetown Law School (he was an avid fan of JAG. :) ). After college he then spent the next few years trying other jobs and careers, including marketing manager, graphic artist and web designer. But he also spent a short time as an insurance agent, movie ticket taker and working in a souvenir-store. He admits that these last two jobs were his favorite and most relaxing non-freelance jobs he ever had, because of the good company, and the free movies, popcorn and souvenirs. Summer jobs, a.k.a. the best days of a different life. :) In 1999, Istvan wrote his first screenplay, the sci-fi drama Mercurion, which was requested by many U.S. agencies, but unfortunately the story never went into production. From 2002 to 2004, he wrote the two hour long pilot and twenty additional episodes for a new Star Trek series, Star Trek: Beyond Frontiers. Star Trek: Beyond Frontiers set 10 years after Star Trek: Nemesis, describing the journey of the U.S.S. Concordia (NX-92337). They're on a mission to find answers for the deadly events revolving around their own sister ship, the U.S.S. Olympia and Section 31, a civil war taking place inside the Federation, and a mysterious phenomenon even the Borg is afraid of. But the story never went beyond the pitching phase, as Paramount already planned to cancel the Star Trek franchise with Star Trek: Enterprise. In 2003 Istvan wrote a page long short story, called Crystal Shade, which in 2005 became a nine episode long TV mini-series project. This later became the foundation of the Auralight Fantasy book franchise, Crystal Shade: Angeni, which outlines the prelude story of the screenplays. However, due to various circumstances, and to avoid any spoilers, the details of the development and pitching of the Crystal Shade TV mini-series are still classified. However in 2008 one part of the development visited the U.S. Air Force Entertainment Liaison Office. In 2004, a Hungarian based game-development studio, along with one based out of Paris, France, took notice of Istvan. The two companies entrusted him to complete a story for their newest video game. Reviewers and newspapers praised the story itself, however Istvan is not proud of this work, mostly because the story development wasn't in his hands and the end product was far from the idea and screenplays he initially wrote and pitched. But he received various credits for this project, including designer, sound-editor, tester, manual writer, and translator. Later in 2005, shortly before Istvan started to write the Crystal Shade TV Mini-Series, a Hollywood screenwriter by the name of David Freeman was so impressed with Istvan's abilities that he invited him to London as his guest. Mr. Freeman shared some insights with Istvan about the art of screenwriting. Before he turned freelancer, Istvan made one additional game and one additional design project with the studio where he was also credited a few more times in various fields. In 2007, Istvan produced his first short movie 15 Minutes of Fame in which he was the screenwriter, director and storyboard artist. 15 Minutes of Fame won 3rd Place at the UPC-AXN Film Festival 2007, and was the personal favorite of the audience, the critics and Hollywood producer and jury member Andrew Vajna, the producer of Terminator, Total Recall, Die Hard and other great movies. In 2009, Istvan turned his old screenplays Mercurion and Star Trek: Beyond Frontiers into a new ten episode long sci-fi thriller series, called as Nightfall. While this sci-fi story also was requested by various movie studios, due to various circumstances this story also had the fate of Crystal Shade. The book adaptation of the world's only Darklight Science Fiction, Nightfall is scheduled for 2014 / 15. Between 2009 and 2011, Istvan wrote Crystal Shade: Angeni, the world's only Auralight Fantasy. Volume 1 was released on November 11, 2011, 11:11GMT, and since that time the book is available on 6 continents, in 65 countries and 200+ territorial and regional retailers. While the book is not a fast and easy mainstream read, it has received positive reviews, with critics calling it a "beautiful and elegant writing, a unique fantasy world with a storyline you won't feel you have anything to compare it to." The introductory book, Crystal Shade: Introduction, which presents the development in the words of the author, was released in 2013. The sequels of Crystal Shade, Afterlight and Volume 2 are scheduled for 2014. In 2011 and 2012, Istvan also released two of his short stories in his 7 Post Meridiem series. The noir detective novelette, Pale Moonlight and the extra short noir sci-fi drama, Anno Humanae Salutis, received positive reviews. Anno Humanae Salutis also made it to the Amazon best seller list on February 25, 2012, five days after its release. The next short stories in the 7 Post Meridiem series, the noir detective novelette, The New York Homicide, and the noir sci-fi short story, Deus Ex are scheduled for 2014 / 15. Istvan loves to create new worlds, and expand his brands toward additional marketing areas. As a professional artist, he also loves to make all the graphic sketches of the characters, weapons, items and worlds he created. He has also has created illustrations, character art, short CGI animations and marketing materials for various projects, such as foreign movie projects Descent (Australia), Brandish (United States) and for the independent movie studio Syzygy (United States, credited for 65 episodes), as well as for his own works, Crystal Shade, 7 Post Meridiem, Nightfall and Project Nephthys. Istvan is also the owner of Sapphire Guardian Publishing and its renowned subsidiary, Sapphire Guardian Formatting and Conversion Services, and he has worked on dozens of books for both independent authors and professional publishers.

Book preview

CRYSTAL SHADE: INTRODUCTION

(Sapphire Edition)

by

István Szabó, Ifj.

Illustrations by István Szabó, Ifj.

Edited by Orlanda Szabo

XinXii Edition

‘CRYSTAL SHADE’, ‘ANGENI’, the Crystal Shade logo, the Angeni logo, characters, names, and related indincia are copyright © István Szabó, Ifj.

Illustrations by István Szabó, Ifj. copyright ©2011.

Text copyright ©2011 by István Szabó, Ifj.

Crystal Shade Publishing Rights © István Szabó, Ifj.

’CRYSTAL SHADE’ created by István Szabó, Ifj.

E-Book Distribution: XinXii

http://www.xinxii.com

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the authors. For further information regarding permissions, write to [e-mail].

ISBN 978-615-5293-05-4

First digital edition of Crystal Shade: Angeni published on November 11, 2011 and first paperback edition published on January 15, 2012. First digital edition of Crystal Shade: Episodes published on February 29, 2012. First digital edition of Crystal Shade: Introduction published on March 28, 2012 and Crystal Shade: Introduction (Sapphire Edition) published on July 24, 2013 by István Szabó, Ifj.

Budapest, Hungary

www.crystalshadeangeni.com

To everyone who lives to dream and dreams to live.

Table of Contents

1 – INTRODUCTION

2 – BREATHING CHARACTERS

3 – A LIVING WORLD

4 – A STORY SPEAKS FROM THE SOUL

5 – A NOVEL LIVES IN ITS LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTION IN MY WORDS

CRYSTAL SHADE: ANGENI IN MY WORDS

CRYSTAL SHADE: ANGENI IN THE WORDS OF BOOK REVIEWERS

CRYSTAL SHADE: ANGENI, VOLUME 1 EXCERPT

ADDITIONAL CONCEPT ARTS

CRYSTAL SHADE’S 1ST BIRTHDAY (EXCLUSIVE PICTURES)

REAL LIFE CERTIFICATES OF A GUARDIAN ANGEL

1ST COMMEMORATIVE FLIGHT CERTIFICATE

2ND COMMEMORATIVE FLIGHT CERTIFICATE

CERTIFICATE OF PARTICIPATION

FLIGHT CERTIFICATE STATISTICS

CRYSTAL SHADE: AFTERLIGHT

CRYSTAL SHADE: ANGENI & CRYSTAL SHADE: EPISODES

OTHER WORKS BY THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

1 – INTRODUCTION

Thousands of stars could tell thousands of stories... and many tiny chapters could tell many short stories. In many cases writers are telling in the introduction who the characters of the story are and what will await you in the book that hopefully you're going to read. I won't do that as writers and storytellers shouldn't strip any of you, dear readers from the sense of exploration with any sort of spoilers. So in these chapters I will tell spoiler free elements about this book, mostly of its development and background. But first as I love to follow my good manners I'd like to introduce my world to all new friends who hopefully will join and follow Crystal Shade. So this first chapter is about the necessary introduction, which is setting up the very-very basics of Crystal Shade, but as I promise spoiler free presentations, I keep most of the surprises for the novel itself.

Crystal Shade: Angeni is the first in the trilogy set in the rich and detailed Crystal Shade universe created and written by Istvan Szabo, Ifj., and the first volume was co-written and edited by Orlanda Szabo. It is about the life of a young, daydreaming soul, the seven-year-old Grace who always dreamt of becoming a guardian angel; like those who guarded and guided her people and prepared to bravely fight in a dreaded mythical event, the Crystal Shade - which never came. It's not like Grace ever wanted to see Demons. Or wants to know what evil and darkness is - things that no one ever knew on her world and as the legends says, the Crystal Shade carries within -, nor does she want to die to be reborn as a guardian. But she thinks the mysterious life of angels is so noble a fable that it sounds exciting - until it actually happens.

In Crystal Shade: Angeni, we're inviting the reader to live the life of a young soul who is reborn as a mature Guardian Angel. We'd like it if the readers would discover a strange home world and its secrets along with her. Evolve with the character, understand her motives, her thoughts and foremost her decisions, even her darkest hours as she tries to learn the reality of the mythical Crystal Shade event. It's a story about a soul who loves to dream, just like everyone else. But just as the crystal has its own shadow, sometimes restless dreams and revealed secrets can insinuate darkness into life and the world itself.

One of the key phrases in Crystal Shade; Thousands of stars could tell thousands of stories. While angels and demons play the key role in Crystal Shade, the trilogy tries to present these mythical and mysterious creatures in a completely different way than the well known ones as well as trying to bring them closer, to present them as less rigid and / or almighty to the readers. Because angels and demons, spirits, souls and other religious creatures are sometimes alienating readers, in Crystal Shade we present these creatures independently so that everyone may read and enjoy regardless of origin and belief.

The first volume explores the early life of a young daydreaming soul who is destined to reveal the forgotten past of her home world and to seek the answer to the eternal question; what the legendary Crystal Shade really is.

Basically this is what Crystal Shade is all about; a story about the life of a daydreaming soul whose life hopefully may go unnoticed and will be liked or loved by you, the readers, just as we loved to write it. In the second longer chapter I will include a few things about the characters of Crystal Shade. As I don't want to spoil anything, I won't tell who they are or what their roll is in the story. I will let the Crystal Shade trilogy do this instead of me. I'd rather tell you what philosophies led us during their creation to make Crystal Shade into a hopefully unique reading experience.

Crystal Shade is an Auralight Fantasy (a.k.a. AuraFantasy or Auralight) which is a new variation and mix of many genres. While it contains many Epic Fantasy, Young Adult, and close-to-Science-Fiction, close-to-Steampunk mechanical and / or fantastical elements, such as aura-powered flying and other machines and weapons, or a strange world with a blue sun, it also includes biological-fantastical elements, such as aura beings with superpowers, living in different spirit realms of an otherworldly ancient society with an atmosphere not just felt, but seen as emanating from person, places and other living and non-living things. The term Auralight Fantasy was coined to reflect the more overtly fantastical tones of Crystal Shade.

2 – BREATHING CHARACTERS

What you think, you will become... this was one of the keys during the development of the characters. In this second tiny chapter, I tell you few spoiler free elements about what perspectives led to their creation.

The three volumes of Crystal Shade: Angeni tell one life, one long path from one perspective - if we don't count the perspective of the storyteller. In many stories characters built up from stereotypes. They may have a destiny that must be fulfilled because others told them to do so and demands. They may use weapons, swords or bows which is defined only by their class. They may know trivial skills that anyone else may learn anytime, but only the hero knows because the character is