Ash Stral, Science Fantasy Author
Recharging the human spirit, one story at a time.
I’m Ash Stral, a science fantasy author who aspires to inspire and change the world for the better with my stories, one individual at a time. Ultimately, however, whether my books ever change the world for the better or not, I would be happy knowing that my books are to that one individual what my favorite books were to me.
I’m always learning and evolving as a writer and artist. Once upon a time I quit a PhD program in Physics because I had known for a long time that my true calling lay in daydreaming and creating stories that spark adventure and meaning for those who seek it.
I don’t believe that reading (or consuming other forms of art) should be about escaping from life and reality. It should be about feeding and recharging your soul and spirit with life affirming values so that you can live your best life.
Humans need art (including literature), in the most literal sense. As much as our lungs need air, our souls need art. To live. And so, never ever say that you read to escape life and reality, at least not in front of me. For you shall see a vein throbbing in my forehead if you do. You should not want to escape life and reality! You may want to escape pain and suffering and the drudgery of your life. You may want to escape the prison that your life has become. To correct it. To raise it back up to what life ought to be! Best lived fully grounded in reality.
Favorite Quotes
“Romantic art is the fuel and the spark plug of a man’s soul; its task is to set a soul on fire and never let it go out.”
~ Ayn Rand
“That which is not worth contemplating in life, is not worth re-creating in art.
~ Ayn Rand
“Misery, disease, disaster, evil, all the negatives of human existence, are proper subjects of study in life, for the purpose of understanding and correcting them—but are not proper subjects of contemplation for contemplation’s sake. In art, and in literature, these negatives are worth re-creating only in relation to some positive, as a foil, as a contrast, as a means of stressing the positive—but not as an end in themselves.”
~ Ayn Rand