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The Power of Story
Tidestep: The Water Anchor follows a restless blacksmith’s apprentice whose search for a stolen ancient artifact draws him into a conflict over memory, mortal freedom, and the hidden forces shaping history. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
This story was the convergence of some concepts that had been circling around in my head for a few years. First, I listened to a number of podcasts where they discussed what it would look like if humans were not alone. Would a being who watched intervene, or would they just observe? Second, screenwriting taught me the power of story, and a few other podcasters reinforced it: humans are hardwired to hear and decode stories better than other forms of information. Third, I loved fantasy stories when I was young, and I wanted to try one that tied all this together.
How did you develop the novel’s central idea that knowledge can be preserved, distorted, forgotten, or weaponized?
Mostly through studying history, politics, and religion. It turns out there is no one “history” that is correct. Anyone who’s lived through enough of it sees that what ultimately gets recorded and believed is a subjective view, personalized to the person recording it. Politics is a different but similar example: various major political groups have recorded overlapping histories differently, according to their beliefs, over the last decade. Which one gets passed down is still an open question.
Which member of Zaphiel’s company was the most challenging, or enjoyable, to write?
Every character has enjoyable and challenging moments while writing, but I think Marek was the most fun to write because she does so many things that are unexpected. Rylor was also very enjoyable because there were multiple scenes that turned out much differently than I thought they would when I started writing them. Rylor just decided to do or say something different than what I was planning.
What does the Water Anchor represent beyond its role as an artifact within the story?
I don’t want to give away too much because the role of the Anchor Stones will become clearer over the series. Each Stone represents what our distant ancestors thought were the essence of the world: water, fire, air, soil, spirit. From Zaphiel’s reading of the runes on the stone and the epigraphs on the header pages at the beginning of each of the book’s five parts, a reader can see the stones are clearly thematic. Water signifies service, flow, and reflection. Each of those themes is present in this book. The entire ensemble of Anchor Stones will form a complete picture when the series completes.
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When eighteen-year-old blacksmith’s apprentice Zaphiel is entrusted with delivering a simple message, he expects little more than a journey beyond the only home he has ever known. Instead, he discovers poisoned waters, a stolen ancient artifact, and a deadly corruption spreading across the land.
Joined by an unlikely band of companions, including a mysterious dog who knows more than she should, Zaphiel is drawn into a perilous quest that reaches far beyond the borders of his quiet village.
As buried secrets emerge and powerful enemies close in, they must confront forces that have shaped Arthios for ages and uncover secrets others have killed to protect.
But there’s another voice woven through their quest: a secret journal spanning fifteen thousand years, written by someone who has seen this story play out before, and may even know how it’s supposed to end.
Rich with unforgettable characters, immersive world-building, ancient mysteries, and relentless adventure, Tidestep is an epic fantasy that blends the wonder of classic heroic quests with the depth and intrigue of high-concept fantasy storytelling.
Perfect for readers who love sweeping fantasy series, memorable companions, stories that reward close attention, and heroes who discover that courage is forged one impossible choice at a time.
One quest. One stolen relic. One hidden journal. One unforgettable adventure.
Tidestep – The Water Anchor
F. A. Calder’s Tidestep: The Water Anchor is an expansive epic fantasy built around two intertwined narratives. The central adventure follows Zaphiel, a restless blacksmith’s apprentice whose simple errand leads him into a poisoned settlement, the theft of an ancient Water Anchor, and a widening conflict involving the warlord Kaelor, the Pale Keeper, and forces older than recorded history. Interspersed chapters present an instruction manual addressed to the amnesiac Evelyn, preserving knowledge about immortal Seers, enigmatic Liminals, cosmic Thresholds, and artifacts whose purpose has been obscured across thousands of years. This layered structure gives the novel the immediate momentum of a pursuit while steadily revealing that the pursuit belongs to a much larger struggle over mortal freedom and the shape of history.
The novel’s strongest element is its evolving company of companions. Zaphiel begins with confidence in his strength and practical knowledge, but the journey repeatedly requires him to depend on qualities he doesn’t possess. Verlin’s theatrical bravado conceals pain and considerable ability, Alenya’s guarded intelligence grows from a history of manipulation, Marek communicates through writing and gesture while perceiving possibilities hidden from others, and the Liminal Rylor introduces a form of wisdom that’s playful, evasive, and often incisive. Nara, the mysterious dog who gathers and guides them, provides the group with both emotional warmth and narrative direction. Their conflicting temperaments produce humor without weakening the danger, and their gradual bond gives substance to the book’s recurring idea that burdens become bearable when they’re shared.
Calder’s worldbuilding is concerned with knowledge itself: how it’s recorded, distorted, forgotten, and used to control. Alenya’s observation that “Magic is what people call a thing when they’d rather wonder than learn” captures the book’s preference for inquiry over easy mystification. The Anchor Stones, rune-marked chain fragments, masks, dreams, and historical annotations operate as parts of a coherent cosmology rather than decorative lore. This makes the explanatory passages substantial, sometimes deliberately so, but their cumulative effect is important. By the final chapters, questions of memory and identity have become inseparable from the physical conflict, especially when Zaphiel pays a devastating personal cost for resisting the mask’s influence.
Tidestep is a novel about agency, responsibility, and the consequences of choosing a path without complete knowledge. Its opening instruction, “Make the choice and bear the consequences of the path,” becomes the governing principle of both the adventure and the cosmic history surrounding it. Calder combines quest fantasy, philosophical speculation, encoded mysteries, and an affectionate ensemble story in a novel that rewards close attention. The conclusion resolves the immediate fight while deliberately enlarging the conflict, leaving the companions united by grief, inherited purpose, and an oath that will carry them into the next volume.
Pages: 430 | ASIN: B0H7TBLVL6
