Content Advisory Notice

The World of Siliar… where good people come together to overcome the evil of others…

Stories in Siliar are written with readers of all ages in mind. Because of the violence of fantasy war, however, parents and readers need to decide if exposure to those kinds of things is desirable. As the author (Bill Snodgrass), I wrote thinking of myself from my "middle school days" reading fantasy and science fiction novels. My own sons, when they were that age, read the earliest drafts. I believe that the vast majority of the content is suitable for most typical readers who might tackle a fantasy adventure series of this length.

Combat violence is present frequently throughout the stories. There is no attempt to shield readers from combat violence, ambushes, and even assassinations.

Other Content Advisory Themes

Through the years, I was criticized for having the "bad guys" appear to be not-so-bad…

"So, they force the people to hand over some portion of their crops… Isn't that like taxes? They really don't seem that evil."

Responding to this and other criticisms, I began to add implications of more obviously evil behavior. I did so while intentionally leaving out specifics, rather implying what occurred through veiled descriptions and guarded character dialog. Nevertheless, some parents/readers may want to omit those scenes.

Such scenes will, therefore, include a CA- label and will require membership in one of the paid plans. Where such a scene is in an otherwise free book, it will be available through a special "CA" membership requiring a very minimal payment.

For some CA scenes, an Alternate Summary (AS- label) is also provided. These scenes will include more generalized summary of the content that should suffice to advance the plot.

Over the years, I struggled with indicating just what the evil actions were while doing so without using graphic, specific language. While trying to make the scenes understandable, I've probably erred on the side of being vague rather than being inappropriate. That said, readers can expect that the content of sections marked CA- include some violation of human rights that would arise from the hearts and minds of evil people who are at liberty to act as they wish.

As an example of how horrific behaviors are addressed, I am including, below, two sections of text surrounding an event that took place. The two sections below represent the manner in which terrible acts of evil violence are told throughout the works in the Siliar world.

The first is the event as it played out and the second is a reflection on the event by one of the characters some time later. Both illustrate the manner in how such actions are depicted:

Jaden woke up in horror. Her head hurt, but her vision was clearing. A single candle burned nearby, somewhere across the musty room. She thought she was in a small cottage. A bedroom. Through the door, she could hear men laughing, boasting, saying awful things about what they had done to her.
She could feel that her hands and feet were tied tight. A bed. She hurt all over. The smell all around her was like dirty, wet dog. The cool night air gripped her body, all of it, with chilling, unrelenting fingers.
As the light from the room beyond the open door was blotted out by a dark, approaching form, terror welled up inside her. She would not be unconscious this time, though she wished otherwise.

Nathan looked at Jaden and nodded. He knew that she had been part of one of the Refusers’ raids that had gone bad, that she had been caught by her ponytail and dragged away to a cottage where Legionnaires took turns doing unthinkable things to her. But he did not know if she had actually told him about it, or if he knew because his interest had triggered his natural magic ability to experience what other people were thinking. Mykeal had told him that the magic triggered easily when the other person partly wanted their thoughts known and because Nathan was interested in them and wanted to understand them better. In any case, Nathan’s mind held vivid images of what had happened to her, and what was, without a doubt, among the most horrible things that could ever happen, short of death.

Some will criticize, claiming the details are too vague. Others will claim that such content is not suitable for some readers. However, these paragraph illustrates how I have handled describing evil actions throughout the Siliar books.

Beginning in Prophetess, a form of evil departing from tyranny and abuse emerges. A group of people rejected the practices growing from teachings about the Creator, Johvah. Their behaviors represent the depravity of humanity when good is rejected. Their actions grow out of most base and carnal desires, their utter disregard for what is good and right. The depiction of these behaviors is handled similar to the above examples, but the ideas and actions implied might offend some readers.

Readers should decide if they want to have access and if so, they will be required to acquire the Content Advisory membership or one of the other paid memberships.