There are five members of the Heloderma family. You have the stocky Gila Monster found in deserts and four species of the more agile, humid-liking beaded lizards. All of these lizards are venomous with the glands found at the end of the lower jaw. They chew their venom into their prey because they aren’t strong enough to inject it. This is only used for defense as well as hunting.
These animals range from near threatened to vulnerable. Much of the problem is human encroachment into their habitat, but a bigger problem is mythology. Being venomous, there are many stories about helodermas having toxic breath, toxic spit, amazing leaping abilities, and simply being dangerous to humans. In reality, they aren’t a threat, but people get scared and destroy them. As you can imagine, a key to protecting these lizards is education along with breeding programs.
Couldn’t find much else that was exciting, so let’s get to the pictures and videos for more:
The week started with Spring Break finishing up. Nothing special happened there besides typing in 5 chapters worth of edits to Darwin & the Halfling Hunt. It wasn’t as much as I had hoped before I got my son for a day. Almost got a 6th chapter done, but life got crazy without warning.
Mostly, it’s work. School ends on June 26th, which means we’re in the last push towards summer break. Subject units are being wrapped up. Finals and regents are being prepared for. Concerts are set for those in music programs. Field trips are happening for a few others. Extra help is going on after school most days. That’s just what my son is dealing with and I haven’t had time with him since I dropped him off at school on Wednesday morning.
From the teacher side, it’s just keeping the kids motivated and focused. Being in a life skills program, we don’t have tests coming. We do have field trips and trying to get our students to continue making progress while the school energy changes. The air is thicker with restlessness as everyone is thinking to summer. It’s really strong this year since we had a long spring break. A taste of the future and a delicious one at that. I’ll be working for most of the summer though, so not much will change for me.
Sticking with the school stuff, our students had their first Unified Basketball game. This is a league where teams are composed of special and general education students. It’s for kids who want to play, but can’t get on the general teams. The gen-ed students are there to guide the special-ed students, so they’re not scoring or controlling the ball. It was a lot of fun and our team won. Just really wish they didn’t make it such a nail-biter. I won’t be at 2 of the 3 games next week due to my son having stuff, but I’ll get to the one and then the final game the week after. All of the support and excitement definitely drained me of what little energy I had left.
The rest of my time was composed of small victories. Finished all of the posts for June and am going to try to finish July before the end of the month. I like getting all of the summer posts set up to make the off time easier, but I’m definitely running out of topics. Starting to question why I’m even here any more . . . Oh, there was also the Facebook post I made that some people just fucking missed the point of. This is the post itself:
“So, being in Oswego did get my brain thinking about the whole author thing. I’ve been mulling over the thoughts for a few days now too.
For those who don’t know, I’ve wanted to be an author since I was 15. I started creating Windemere for my stories when I was 18/19 and spent the college years using some free time to build up the world and books. Then, I took my 20’s off to ‘achieve stability’ before attempting to become a full-time author. Didn’t write any new books, but I did outline a bunch. 30’s was when I finally tried and came rather close to achieving my career author goal. That all fell apart around age 37 and now I’m 44 still puttering around with my stories while no longer feeling confident. Okay, everyone is up-to-date on Charles the author.
After doing some thinking, I’m still going to write the core books of Windemere. This would cover Darwin Slepsnor, Sin, Ryusuke prequel, Ruins of the Zodiac God, War of the Tainted, the Elysium Saga, and a possible Rayne one-shot. All of these books combine to cover the main story of my world with everyone else being secondary. They will still be outlined on some level when I need a break from the books, but writing them might never happen or be saved for if I can ever retire. I will publish when I get the money and time, but I can’t afford more than cover art. That means no promos to actually sell my stories. Don’t have the time and confidence to do promos like I used to as well.
Honestly, this decision still kind of hurts because writing has been a key point of my personality and existence since I was in high school. Just don’t have the mental push and ability to do it at the same level these days. Being in Oswego and feeling the spark come back for a few days brought the truth into focus. My life is too stressful and chaotic for me to write when I actually have the mindset and energy. There’s also . . . Yeah, I’ll say it.
I know some people will read this or hear about it then cheer in victory. Over the last few years, I’ve come to learn that there were several people actively trying to stop me behind my back when I was a full-time author. Some saw me as competition and wanted to hinder my sales or take my support system. Others simply hated my books and felt it was their job to destroy me. One person I trusted actually had absolutely no faith in me and went about sabotaging me for their own selfish needs while still telling me they believed in me. That’s the one that left the scar that I doubt will ever heal. Been struggling with all of this knowledge for years and trying to not feel like these people defeated me. Yet, I really think they did. So congratulations to those assholes who wanted me to fail and lose confidence in the one ability I thought I could always rely on. Pat yourselves on the back and celebrate. Let’s hope karma never finds you.
Anyway, I’m going to jump back into typing in the edits for ‘Darwin & the Halfling Hunt’. 2024 is an editing year since I want to make sure the 5 books I finished in this series are consistent before I dive into the second half. To anyone who bothered to read this whole rant, thanks for listening.”
A bunch of people did respond saying they understood and gave sympathy towards certain parts. Others did the usual ‘you can do this!’ responses, which annoyed me because I was explaining why I can’t do the author thing like I used to. People seem to think that having no money, time, energy, or solid support system towards being a career author means you can’t get anywhere. It’s a rich/popular person’s game these days. Finally, some people responded solely by talking about themselves, which made me want to pull back from the writing world even more.
What did the rant mean? I’m not 100% certain. All I know is that I still love writing, but I’m not in a position to do more than write my stories with no major push towards publishing unless the money and time come into play. So, I’ll be publishing slower than ever with no real expectation of selling anything. The main goal is to get the core Windemere stories written. That means Ichabod Brooks, Phi Beta Files, Bedlam, Mylrixians, and all of the other side stories will be put in notebooks with only a hope that I can ever write them. I’m 44, so the chance of me writing over 100 books before I’m in the ground isn’t very high. Especially since retirement probably isn’t going to happen without a lottery win or a societal collapse. Not sure what this means for the blog either, but I think I have what little self-worth tied into this to miss a day.
So, goals of the week?
Type on more Darwin & the Halfling Hunt edits.
Get car inspected.
Watch more ‘Great Teacher Onizuka’.
Son’s concert.
Play more Pokemon Go since I made an account to act as my son’s sidekick. I need to get myself to a high enough level and get better Pokemon to be of any use.
Puzzle time when free.
Laundry.
Start buying groceries for the weeks I’m on my own for dinner. Got interested dishes set up.
While ability thieves appear simple and fun, I’m sure there are some guidelines that can help keep them under control. Also, an author should be careful about making this the only defining feature of the character. Let’s get to the hopefully helpful tips.
Try to put some limitations on the power. It can be a maximum amount of powers that they have or needing time between using each one. This way, you don’t have a character running around with god-like powers. A hero like this would eliminate all sense of tension since it’s hard to believe they’ll fail. A villain would seem to be an impossible person to defeat unless the powers are eliminated.
Clearly define how they are stealing the abilities. If it’s by touch then that’s how it has to be for their entire existence. They can’t suddenly switch to a new capture method without an explanation or reason.
Try to have a list of powers and abilities already in your head. If you wing it, you might end up coming up with a power for every situation. Now, you’re back to the god-like status issue. The list doesn’t have to be revealed in the story through any method other than usage. Simply get a sense of their repertoire instead of adding powers as you move along.
Remember that stealing an ability doesn’t mean immediate mastery. The thief won’t know the exact limits, usages, and weaknesses even if they have seen the ability in action. There can be rules they are unaware of since they didn’t get the power through training. Since they aren’t getting the power with permission, they won’t bother asking the original owner for details either. Trial and error might be the only way to go.
A character who steals abilities should be more than their ability. Give them a personality and dreams beyond what they can do. It can even be them hoping to live a normal life with a power that they see as cursed. This would be Rogue from X-Men, who eventually developed romantic interests and other traits. A power is great for a starting point, but a character needs to grow beyond it for longevity.
Stealing an ability or power doesn’t always include shapeshifting. If the stolen ability has a physical trait then that makes sense. Otherwise, you’re working with an enhanced shapeshifter who is copying instead of stealing.
Consider if people will like a character who steals the abilities of others. Doesn’t usually make for a trusted ally, especially if the theft causes pain or death. They tend to be social outcasts and are followed primarily by those who see them as fear-inducing leaders. Characters like Rogue are fairly rare since the villain route tends to be the norm.
I was thinking about ability thieves and the different methods that appear in fiction. Some are more malevolent than others. I think a few categories might be argued aren’t actual thieves, but I’ll up them in for those who associate them with the concept. In fact, I’ll start with the big one.
Mimic
This is more of a general superpower. One could say that ability thieves branch off them and I can see why. A mimic is able to copy another person completely, which can include powers. There’s an X-Man named Mimic who can copy other abilities without transforming. This can be different from shape-shifters because those only take the forms without the powers. A lot of gray area in this category, which is why I’m putting it first and leaving at as the basics.
Physical Touch Borrow
This is Rogue. For those who don’t know of the character, Rogue can steal abilities from others through skin-to-skin contact. The powers are taken along with energy and psyche, so there is a downside. A character like this only gets the stolen powers for a little bit unless an accident happens. For example, holding on for too long and causing a permanent adoption. The original holder tends to be left powerless or out of commission as well. A more villainous example would be All-for-One in ‘My Hero Academia’, who can also bestow stolen powers on others.
Visual Copy/Theft
A character like this will see a superpower being used and be able to use it on their own. It might not be on the same level, but they only have to see it in action. You see it more commonly with fighting styles or spells. It doesn’t usually remove the power from the source either. Various restrictions are on this power such as only able to hold a few at a time or severe reduction in potency. There is a downside here where the person might not know all of the dangers. For example, Rando in ‘Yu Yu Hakusho’ is a demon who steals the abilities of people and then kills them. He gets the abilities by seeing them in action, so he’s quick to learn and eliminate the source. This means, he doesn’t always know the dangers of what he’s using. A small issue in specific situations could mean he gets himself killed.
Surgical Theft
This would be Sylar from ‘Heroes’. This villain steal powers and appears to have no limit to the amount he can hold. This is done through doing some kind of surgery and taking part of the source’s body into himself. Been a long time, so I don’t remember exactly. I’ve seen this happen in comics too where a new character has been given powers by having surgery. Pretty sure there’s a long line of ‘surgically implanted Wolverine healing factor’ characters out there.
Secret Collector
Not sure what else to call this, but it would be Chrollo from the manga ‘Hunter x Hunter’. He has a ‘magical’ book that contains all of the abilities he has stolen, but I believe all of the owner are alive. He loses a power if the person dies. The theft doesn’t leave any damage on the target either. Within an hour, he needs to see the power, ask about it with answers, and get the target to put their hand on his book. They won’t know the power is stolen, which makes him more dangerous than other categories. This means there is no telling what powers he has because there’s no trail.
I thought I had more, but suddenly lost track of my thoughts. Hopefully, I can think of more examples and categories before this post goes live. Anyway, enjoy and share other ideas in the comments in you can think of any.
Here we are at the other half of the split team story. Charms of the Feykin doesn’t really follow Delvin, Sari, and Fizzle alone. They got a few scenes in the previous volume to create suspense about their adventure. This starts with the other champions going in search of Delvin and Sari who have gone missing. It doesn’t take very long for them to find out what happened and see that there is something weird going on. A jungle city of those with fey blood and a powerful priestess claiming Delvin and Sari are great heroes to be worshipped? How can that go wrong?
The biggest goal of this story was to push the Delvin/Nyx relationship to its inevitable conclusion. There was never any mystery about them eventually turning into a couple since Delvin was open about his feelings. Nyx wasn’t and that was where I needed to have a story that forced her to be honest. Not that it wasn’t clear that she liked Delvin, who might be the only one who didn’t pick up on the truth. Anyway, a big chunk of the story involves these two on top of figuring out the mystery of what’s going on in the jungle with the Feykin, this priestess, and a cult determined to wipe them out. A fun backdrop for a romance.
Speaking of the jungle . . . I could never figure out a good name for this place. Characters kept calling it the Southern Jungle even though there wasn’t any other on the continent. I had this issue with the desert too. For some reason, I couldn’t imagine these two areas having official names that every group agreed upon. Given that both are inhabited by individual groups and independent cities, I thought there would be a variety of names for them. Those outside of the regions would refer to them by biome since you can’t list a ton of names on a map. In 2016, I noted this in a post and stated that every tribe had their own name for the jungle. Also, that any person who did try to name it tended to be conquerors who would get defeated by the local fauna. Maybe this place simply refuses to be tamed and named.
Another part of this story is Sari. If I had to change anything, I would try again to push her more into facing her trauma. She reveals that Kira being the one to stay with Luke Callindor isn’t sitting as well as she thought it would. So, she’s lashing out and doing other things to make herself feel better. There’s some manipulation of her as well, but that’s a plot twist. Sari’s actions do make sense and I got her to vent a bit. Yet, I again found it nearly impossible to get her to face the pain she keeps holding onto and gathering under a mask of being happy. She really does focus on making others happy in order to avoid facing her own demons. I struggle with the idea that she’s a lost opportunity even though it is realistic that some people will hide their pain by helping others in the hopes of it going away. Maybe having one out of six champions be unable to handle their trauma in a healthy way works. I just feel bad that this is the book where she came the closest to getting some healing and it simply didn’t work.
Charms of the Feykinis probably the only book where I got to make every champion shine in some fashion. Each one got at least one great moment and I hit a perfect balance between them. With six protagonists, it’s really hard to pull this off without bloating a story or stretching events. Everything fell into place this time. The other books were good with this, but I feel this one hit the balance so perfectly. Wish I knew the secret on how it happened, but it is what it is.
Questions to consider:
How would you feel if the person you were interested in started dating someone else?
Do you think racism always has to exist in fiction?
If you could change into a creature that combines different animal parts, what would kind of chimera would you become?
The concept of an ability thief is fairly common. There are different levels of the ability as well, which can range from killing the original owner to simply copying it. Guess that makes the ‘thief’ part not true since the term implies that the original owner no longer has the ability. Anyway, I thought this would be an interesting concept to explore.
This power tends to be held by villains, especially if it involves killing the original owner. I see it a lot in anime like ‘Yu Yu Hakusho’ and ‘Hunter x Hunter’ . . . Come to think of it, those were made by the same person. Anyway, there’s also the old series ‘Heroes’ that used this for their top villain. All of the characters become deadly adversaries who have a multitude of abilities, which means the heroes don’t know what they are going to get. It can get worse as the story progresses since the villains don’t stop gathering powers and will continue getting stronger. It almost puts a timer on the adventure because there will eventually be a point where the ability thief is unstoppable.
Authors can go too far with this, especially if they don’t reveal all the stolen powers. This gives them an easy out for letting the villain win or simply survive. All you have to do is give them an ability that solves the problem. Same can be done with heroes, which means the threat of defeat is nullified. The only way to stop them is to have them lose their stolen abilities, which is a challenge and ends up destroying the character. Having them set out to gather more abilities from scratch can make a reader wonder if they have any purpose other than stealing powers. So, this type of villain or hero can lead an author down an iffy path.
I talk about powers, but this can be done with other traits. There are characters who can steal fighting styles and various skills. It isn’t on the same level as the power/magic thief, but it works off the same principle. They’re basically mimics, which I would put in the same category. In fact, the ability thief is the same as the mimic, but there isn’t always a physical change. People tend to think of mimics as shape-shifters that steal the identities and abilities of others. The ability thief remains the same unless a physical change is part of the stolen ability.
Personally, I like this power, but I don’t like seeing it used so often. It can be very broken and a long-running story seems to always require the ability thief become almost god-like. This results in their defeat being unbelievable. I like them more as short-term enemies or obstacles, which means they can’t grow too powerful. If they’re heroes then I prefer to have a cap on their abilities. Although, I think a heroic ability thief is easier to work with since an author will have to establish their repertoire and can’t pull a surprise power out of nowhere. The hero doesn’t get as much time away from the audience as the villain, so it’s harder for them to secretly go god-like.
Not sure if I’ll ever attempt one of these characters. I did have a similar concept in mind with a character who had a different power depending on the personality that is in charge of the body. Unfortunately, I started seeing that turn up in comics and other stories, so I haven’t touched the character for about 20 years. Still not an ability thief, which is still something that I’ve seen so much that I don’t think I can do anything unique with it. Not enough for me to feel like I’ve added to the overall concept. With a concept like this, I would like to try something new since it has so much potential to go off the rails. Guess I’ll have to tinker with the concept when I get an opportunity.
So, what do other people think of ability thieves or the concept?
Legends of Windemere 