Immortal Wars: Light, Blood, & Tears Part 1

(Disclaimer: A warning to those who continue.  This is a sequel to a previous story.  Both of these were written in the mid-1990’s.  While the first one was slightly edited and vanity press published, this one has not been touched in over 20 years.  I figure I should do something with it and people may get a laugh or fright from how I used to be.  Every author comes from somewhere, so this is part of my origin.  To that end, I am deeply sorry for whatever nightmares I will inflict on the literary world and the American English language.  Enjoy?)

On the farthest, darkest side of Pluto, is a structure of festering evil.  It is an enormous, ebony tower that resembles the legendary Tower of Babel.  Though there are no visible windows, the hallways are filled with a sickening, red light.  Occasionally, a swift shuffling is heard or a pair of sinister eyes can be noticed within the eerie gloom of the hallways.  This is the evil immortals’ highly protected home, the Black Tower.

“This should do the trick.  Now, where did I put that pink bottle?  There it is.  Can you hand me that small, pink bottle of cyanide on the shelf?” asks a gorgeous blond while she works with very a complex chemistry setup.  This woman calmly stares at the bubbling test tubes with her fiery, green eyes and she keeps her skin-tight clothing covered by a pale lab coat.

“Cyanide?  Do you think that toxin seem a little too potent and deadly for our intentions?  We do not want to kill any of them, Adriana.  That will certainly not help any part of your plan,” answers Startrix with her dead-leaf voice.  This woman has terrifying, orange eyes, but the rest of her body is covered by ugly, metal armor.

“Speak for yourself, Startrix.  After the beating all of us took over a year ago, half of those idiots are lucky to be breathing.  It took months for me to finally calm down from the embarrassment of being defeated by a group of novices.  But with your vision powers and my superior skill in the field of chemistry . . .”

“Skill in chemistry?  That is a very big understatement when it is pertaining to you, seducer.”

“Please don’t get a sense of humor until the end of the immortal wars.  I only need to add a few more things to the drink.  Pass me that golden box that you’re sitting on.  And please try to be gentle with it.  The contents are extremely old and fragile.  A I think one of them is explosive.”

“Here.”  The armored immortal tosses the medium-sized box and watches Adriana catch it without even looking at it.  To the mysterious immortal’s surprise, the voluptuous chemist takes out three large bottles of strong liquor.

“Orion rum?  Ursa whiskey?  Draco scotch?  Those are some of the strongest alcoholic beverages in this universe.  Orion rum is even illegal on a few of the planets because it can kill plant life.  Unless you plan to make everyone drunk, they do not have any practical use in your potion!” exclaims Startrix as her friend pours the three liquids into a large witch’s cauldron.  When she adds the test tubes that she was working on, a small puff of rainbow smoke spurts out of the potion and hits Adriana right in the face.  Before turning to her ally, the blond genius tries to clear her head of the hallucinations that appear in front of her eyes.

“I knew I should have forgotten that damn whiskey.  I hate the side effects of that stuff.  Unless there really are blue and purple bunnies playing soccer in the air.”

“Not this time.  Here take this drink.  It should help clear your head.  After quickly sending you through all the stages of a drunken haze.  Please do not breath on me until the potion takes effect.  Now, what are those alcoholic drinks for?”

“Hiccup.  Oh, the alcohol.  Hiccup.  They’re for taste, silly.  Cyanide tastes worse than a basket of rotting eggs.  There we go.  My head is all clear and the annoying stupor is gone.  God damn it.  I got sulfur dust all over my new outfit.”

“What a devastating shame.  But, when have you tasted cyanide?  Uh, what are you doing, Adriana?”  The younger immortal is starting to peel off her blue shirt when Startrix turns to look at her.

“Its called changing my clothes.  You should try this particular activity one of these days.  You can’t wear that gothic armor for eternity.  Besides you used to be as beautiful as I am.  So just calm down, old woman.  Don’t forget that when I was a child, you were the one that gave me a bath.  Well, that is until you got fired for leaving me alone in a large house.  Father always was overprotective of me.  The point is that my naked body is nothing new to you.”

“It is not new to anybody.  Most men that are alive in every galaxy have seen you in the buff.”

“Shut up about my freaking private life, Startrix!  How many times do I have to hear those slut comments?  So, I like spending a lot of my time with men.  Just because it’s true doesn’t mean you can keep talking about it!  Now, what did you want to know about?” says Adriana while she wriggles into her usual dark pink bodysuit.  She starts pouring the simmering potion into seven large cups of silver and then the last of it goes into a jewel-encrusted goblet.

“You seem to know about the effects and uses of cyanide very intimately.  It is something I have wondered about for years.  Considering you have used it in every potion that you ever made,” states Startrix.

“Well, it is a rather funny story if you think about it.  When I was eighteen, my father took me to this big feast for some political big shot in Rome.  It might have been for that egomaniac called Julius Caesar, but I don’t remember, or care, because he isn’t important.  Anyway, Cybro was there and he had tried to poison one of the important guests with cyanide.  I accidentally drank the cup of poison and became very sick.  Every doctor in Rome tried to discover how I survived.  Cybro was especially angry once he found out that his plan was foiled.  He still hates it when I mention this story.  Does that answer your question, old friend?”

“More or less.  Cybro must really hold a grudge if he still hates you for that incident.  But it is time for the meeting.  Do you think they will go along with your plan?”

“Of course they will.  I am their leader and my plan is nearly perfect.  Aside from that, they don’t have much of a choice.  Just one thing, Startrix.”

“What?”

“If you make one more sex joke toward me, you’ll need a lot more than your full platemail armor to protect you.  Understand?”

“Crystal clear,” mumbles the eerie female as she follows the blond immortal into the blood red hallway.

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Andy’s Action Armor Archives: Free Polish with Every Suit

Final Fantasy

Coming right over!  Wow . . . You definitely came to the right place. No adventure would survive wearing regular clothes.  I’m surprised nobody jumped you for that shiny sword, especially in this part of town.  Now, let’s go into the back and get an idea of what we’re working with. Please keep your clothes on, sir.

Seems we’re looking at speed and stealth given your build and weapon.  That means no heavy armors even with magic to making them lighter.  Our products have a limit to the amount of spells they can hold before their integrity dissolves.  Even one that is enhanced to be more durable will start to fall apart if you put too much on there.  So, the best we can get platemail to is about a quarter of its weight and that’s only if you do nothing more than spells to make it lighter.  Chainmail might work, but I’d recommend leather.  We also have hide, scale, wooden plate, fur, this black shiny one, cardboard, paper, loincloth only, and evil vampire tooth.  Wicker too if you don’t make getting laughed at.  Leather is a good choice and now we’ll move on to modifications.

No, not magical.  There’s plenty we can do before we start flinging spells around.  I assure you that our methods are not actually flinging.  So, we can go with smooth leather or one with studs around the chest and shoulders.  There are suits that you attach over your clothes in pieces or full armor with clothes sewn inside.  For you, I would go with the former in case you have to switch out quickly.  Oh, you’re not an assassin?  Then, the latter could work out.  If you’re willing to wait for an extra three days, we can sew chainmail patches over your vital areas like the heart and liver.  No to the groin because that can lead to things getting caught down there.  I think we can put a few metal plates in there as long as they’re not big enough to bring down your flexibility.  Along the spine?  That would take an extra week and you staying here for measurements.  We’d have to craft each piece to exactly your body, which isn’t easy.

Now for the magic.  What do you want?  Well, we can do almost anything, so there’s no point in going through a long list.  Talk to me and I’ll let you know if it’s possible.  Small force field to cover your head?  It will only blow non-magical weapons that aren’t any bigger than a longsword.  A great maul will sends your skull into the next village.  Warning sense is a popular item.  We have it in psychic message, uneasy feeling, ear buzz, itchiness, strange sneeze, or sweating in the direction of the danger.  Last one isn’t very popular, but it is subtle, so good choice.  Self-repair is a big one and would be the only other thing that you put on.  Look, magical armor is hard to damage in the first place and we have a warranty.  Blinding flash and a perfect direction sense, especially when heading home.  I get the sense that you’re the type to get lost or run if things get too dangerous.  That’s not a bad thing, buddy.  Means you’ll live longer.

That’s really all we need to go over.  Few minor things like if you want matching boots and gloves with the suit.  Also, let us know if you want any special emblems, which you can come back to us for.  We’re always happy to personalize stuff in more ways than spells.  What’s in that bag?  It’s our first time customer gift.  You get our card, a stone to contact us in emergencies once a month, armor polish, armor oil, clean rags, repair kit, next of kin notification form, and shoulder clips in case you want a cape.  You’d be surprised how often that last one comes up.  Now let’s get to measuring . . . Please pull your pants back up, sir.

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Check This Out: Rural Voices

With me on the blog today is another of my classmates, the awesome Nora Shalaway Carpenter (woot woot). Nora has been here before (click here) and is…

Check This Out: Rural Voices
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When You’re Stuck: WIP Staying Power

Hi, SEers. Mae here today for my first post of 2021! I hope all of you had a spectacular New Year. Let’s hope 2021 is going to be FAR BETTER than the…

When You’re Stuck: WIP Staying Power
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Music of Legends of Windemere: The Merchant of Nevra Coil

Cover art by Jason Pedersen

Welcome to the three songs of Legends of Windemere: The Merchant of Nevra Coil.  This was the first of 2 books that just appeared in my mind after I began publishing the series.  It means there aren’t many notes on these two stories and I made them for specific reasons.  The purpose of this book was to focus more on Yola Biggs the exiled Chaos Goddess, who is with Baron Kernaghan.  I wanted to have her to more than mischief in the background and give her some evolution as well.  This helped set things up for when she takes a bigger role in a later story.  I got to do more with the gnomes, Nyx, Trinity, and a bunch of other smaller things that could have become hanging plot holes if I left them alone for too long.  Anyway, let’s get to the crazy fun since Yola seemed to commandeer 2 of the 3 songs.

This ‘Mad Hatter’ by Melanie Martinez, which I first ran into with the above Anime Music Video.  I used this because the real video seemed a little too much for some people in my regular audience.  Anyway, Yola Biggs is crazy and unpredictable.  Her antics are at the core of the chaos that ensues in this story.  A part of this song that I thought worked best for her is that she’s proud of being unhinged.

This goes for Yola Biggs too.  It’s ‘Unstable’ by Chaotica and the rapid speed made me think of how she operates.  This one also connects to the section that takes place in what would be a psych ward.  Of course, this goes into full disaster and the minor instability becomes a massive upheaval.  Guess being unstable is a big part of this story even though it stay under the surface.

I was trying hard not to give all the songs to Yola and insanity.  Once I switched my mind to the gnomes and their flying city, I realized that there was a song.  A perfect song for that entire species.  There you have it.

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#4 Post of 2020: Does Fantasy Have to Be Medieval?

(Post originally made on January 6, 2020. That’s staying power.)

Joan of Arc

Various questions come up when someone wants to write high fantasy and many of them are completely understandable.  They may deal with magic, various races, and creating a world that isn’t Earth.  Yet, there are other questions that you can see why they are asked, but they come off as shocking.  It makes one wonder about the entire genre and how it might not have evolved as much as many believe.  I’m going to touch on one of those questions here:

Does a fantasy story have to take place in a medieval Europe/Dark Ages setting?

The obvious answer is ‘No’.

As long as the genre doesn’t require a specific setting type like Westerns and WWII dramas, you can do whatever you want.  Even those ‘restrictive’ areas have some wiggle room, so nothing is set in stone.  The rules are incredibly flexible with fantasy, which really only requires that there be a magical, mystical element that can’t be chalked up to science.  This means you can do the traditional medieval setting or take inspiration from any time period.  You can also ignore that and try to make something entirely from scratch.  It is much more important to make the world work than to follow what you believe is a genre trend.

It isn’t hard to see why people think it should be medieval worlds or expect them to run the way our history did.  Tolkien and Lewis set that standard, which tends to go along without many changes when you look at the big ones.  ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Dungeons & Dragons’, and even series that take place on a future Earth that has magic seem to go for the European aesthetic.  Castles with kings and knights traveling in search of adventure or a dragon to rescue from a fire-breathing princess.  You’re going to find more series that follow this tradition than blatantly go against it.  So, new authors get the feeling that this is a requirement instead of a suggestion that most people take.  Although, can you really blame them?

I’ve seen many readers go after a fantasy book because it isn’t historically accurate.  A suit of platemail isn’t correct or rules of etiquette don’t meant with medieval standards.  You can have a reader complain that the heroes are bathing regularly or that there are indoor bathrooms.  Had those tossed my way a few times.  As soon as you have the set pieces of medieval Europe, you’re bound to have people assuming that it will be Earth history accurate.  This doesn’t make much sense to me when it’s a place like Windemere, which isn’t Earth.  Yes, they have settings similar to the traditional, but they also have more modern things like the emergence of indoor plumbing.  This means you can’t suddenly say that something isn’t supposed to be that way because it could very well be right since it isn’t Earth.

Well, that’s my opinion and statement on this.  I’m going to be playing more with the idea when I finally get to the fantasy tip book.  What do you think about the belief that fantasy stories need to be in medieval Europe?

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War of Nytefall . . . Any Questions?

Cover Art by Alison Hunt

So, I’m preparing things to build hype for a spring release of War of Nytefall: Savagery.  This is a book where Clyde faces a monster that may be more powerful than himself.  It results in him having to do something that he never thought he would do:  Train.  Of course, that leaves his friends and long-running enemies behind to deal with the new threat.  Supporting characters such as Kai Stavros rise to the occasion.  Oh, and Mab is going to have to really face her drug addiction here.

By the way, these aren’t spoilers.  Some are hints at what is to come and others have been established in the previous books.  You can’t promote a new book of a series without talking about what’s already happened.  Sorry.  That’s simply how it works if I want my posts to make sense.

That being said, this post is about gathering information on what I should talk about when hyping the new volume here.  As with any series, I’m sure people may have questions.  It can be either from reading the books or noticing what I’m doing here.  Feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll try to answer in a post either in March or April.  Yes, that’s a long ways off, but I need time to get things set up these days.

So, what would you like to know about Clyde, Dawn Fangs, and whatever else comes up in War of Nytefall?

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First Week of Work in 2021: Survived!

Last weekend . . . I wrote and rested up as my holiday break ended.  My son was with his mom, so I kind of had the time to write.  It was slow going and I’ll get into that later.  I’m writing this around 10:30 PM on Friday and I’m drained.  Getting this post ready to go is my last act before sleeping.  I’d do it in the morning, but I really want to work on Do I Need to Use a Dragon? as much as possible.  My son comes back tonight and I’m going to be doing March blog posts the nights when he’s here.  So, this is my last chance for a while to really get things done unless I pull a late night.

Currently I have 28 sections left of Do I need to Use a Dragon? and I think I can get it down to 25 before the end of today.  The original plan was finishing the ‘Character’ section and leaving on the ‘Quest’ group of 20 and the outro.  That means I come up 4 short of my goal . . . How?  Well, I took my time getting into on Saturday, but I figured 2 instead of 3 was good enough.  I got 2 down on Monday after work, so I thought I was golden.  Then, I got nothing done on Tuesday because of a faculty meeting that was followed by a really bad evening.  Wednesday was 1 while Thursday was a miraculous 2.  Friday was none again because I decided to be social instead.  That’s the end of the stumbling of Charles the hapless author.

I was so tired this week because of the cold and work.  Not that things were crazy, but everyone was getting back into the swing of things.  So, it was too calm and mellow for me since I was still adjusting to waking up early again.  That meant I got groggy and depended on a coffee drink midday for a boost, which meant a crash.  There was also tension since you never know who behaved during the holidays and who didn’t.  I wasn’t around many people thanks to my schedule, but there are those who keep talking in dire tones and getting the more anxious members of society nervous.

Boy was my anxiety giving me some problems earlier in the week.  I don’t know what set it off either.  If it was anything, it would be getting back on schedule combined with personal events that were gnawing on my control.  This resulted in a really scary situation Monday night that I still don’t understand.  I had crawled into bed and was starting to fall asleep when I rubbed at my nose.  This had me thinking I should wash my hands for some reason, which was maybe a 2 minute out of bed, wash, and back trip.  Maybe I was colder than I thought, but I’m sure it was an unexpected anxiety attack.  My entire body just went nuts with violently shaking and my muscles stiffening to the point where I was in sheer agony.  I had my sleep apnea piece in, so I was fighting mostly to stop my jaws from slamming shut.  I managed to work my arms and hands enough to get the device out and on the nightstand, but that was it.  Just shook and twisted in terror and pain for either a minute or an hour.  Eventually, my body collapsed and I got the device back in before falling asleep.  No idea what it was or what triggered it.  Hasn’t happened since, but I’ve definitely been shaken all week when I start to go to bed.

In blogging news . . . I really need to figure out some things for Sunday blog posts.  I found that I mixed up some of my notes for future books, so I can’t tell what I kept and tossed, so it’s hard to pick from there.  Might see some repeats coming in the next few months as I sort.  Still, I’m always open for suggestions and topics to do these fun, goofy posts.  I’ll be making another bigger request tomorrow.

Television watching was mild.  I did finish ‘Harley Quinn’ and blew through ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 3.  That second series was practically devoured in two nights instead of getting a little extra sleep for work.  I watched the news a bit more because of the events going on, so I didn’t get into much else.  There’s Season 4 of ‘Slayers’ and I’ll finish that soon then go through Season 5.  That’s an anime and I’m still trying to figure out what to go for after that.  ‘Disenchantment’ comes back next Friday, so maybe I’ll watch that while thinking of something else.  I keep eyeing various live action shows like ‘Doom Patrol’, but I just don’t have it in me for anything with hour long episodes right now.  I’m just weird now.

Friday night was the big fun, but it’s rather simple.  After work and an appointment, I got together with a friend for pizza.  Then, we went to a movie theater.  The way it works is that you reserve your seats and all of the seats around you are blocked off from being purchased.  Not much out there, but this theater is pulling out older movies and we went to this one:

I’d seen it before, but I was curious about it being on the big screen. So much slower than I remember and not as violent.  Still, it’s a science fiction classic with a good story.  This started it all too.  Totally worth not writing tonight because how often will I get to see a movie like this in theaters?  Not a lot once the big blockbusters return.

Goals of the week:

  1. Time with son.
  2. Work
  3. Possible outlining
  4. Trying to sort and organizing the book/series list.
  5. Write more Do I Need to Use a Dragon? if I can.
  6. March posts that will revolve around War of Nytefall: Savagery
  7. Work on puzzle
  8. Get some extra sleep
  9. Plan a fun trip for next weekend.
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7 Tips to Writing in 2021 (Not That This Year Is Really Any Different Than Previous Ones)

Yahoo Image Search

Last year, things were a really wild road in terms of writing.  Not only for myself, but for others from what I could see.  It either felt like we had all the time in the world or couldn’t get a second to ourselves.  I managed to write the last 4 volumes of War of Nytefall last year while doing remote working.  It wasn’t as easy as one would think in lockdown since I also had to work, help my son with school, and avoid going mad from either being cooped up or watching the news for more than 15 minutes.  Again, I’m not the only one who experienced this.  It was exhausting and oddly exhilarating, which resulted in me learning a few things about writing in the future.  (Okay, I knew them already, but this experience renewed the memory.)

  1. Notes are incredibly valuable.  You never know exactly how long a writing period will last even when things are slowing down.  Sickness, family time, waking up with no author mojo, or simple fatigue can push you back in the midst of a roll.  If you maintain some notes about where you are, you will need less time to get back into the story once you return.  It doesn’t have to be detailed.  It can even be about how you were feeling or where you think they story is going.  Whatever works for you to get back into the swing of things.
  2. Just because you have all this free time, doesn’t mean you need to put it all into writing.  Of course, this comes from the guy who would do a section in the morning, another after lunch, and a third after dinner if he had a free day.  I did make sure to give myself some resting time between those and I’d stop if friends or family wanted me to make an appearance.  Now, this can be frustrating in the moment because you may feel like you’ve been gifted this writing time.  That’s very true if it’s usually hard to come by.  Still, you need to step back from time-to-time to avoid going stale as well as recharging.  (I am talking about a little time though instead of getting routinely yanked off projects for months.)
  3. Savor the writing experience because you don’t know how long it will last.  Once I got back to work, things slowed down again.  It was a little jarring since I’d been creating at a rate that I hadn’t felt for years.  This made me realize that I really should have enjoyed the previous moments a lot more instead of whizzing by them.  I mean, I loved what I was writing as you’ll see throughout this year, but I certainly didn’t savor every moment.
  4. Doesn’t hurt to sleep in every now and again.  You don’t even have to sleep.  Just stay in bed with a book or listening to music.  Having one day that’s a slow or non-starter can help give you the right amount of energy for the other six.
  5. Decide who you’re really writing for.  This is something that I’m going to make a post about, but I wanted to mention it here.  Many believe authors write solely for their audience while many authors feel that write for themselves first.  Last year, I sat back and tried to figure out where I fell on this spectrum.  Who was I really trying to entertain, especially since sales were abysmal?  Definitely helped a little when I thought about it.  Still cried about the lack of sales . . . Hey, I’m still human.
  6. Editing can wait.  You don’t have to jump into this stage right away and there’s no perfect period to wait.  Get to it when you get to it.  Give another story some time to earn a first draft.  Maybe outline a few others.  Read more.  Aside from you getting to go back fresh, you don’t stress yourself out about deadlines.
  7. Writing can be as big a stress reliever as TV, reading, video games, and movies.  I could argue more so since this is all in your head.  There’s no risk of reality really treading on what you’re doing with an advertisement or somebody else trying to make a personal statement.  If you want escape from reality for a bit then plunge into your own fictional world instead that of another person.  (If you are going to go to another person’s world though, I highly recommend War of Nytefall.)
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Immortal Wars: Light, Blood, & Tears Intro . . . Here We Go

Last year, I put the first book I wrote on my blog by sections.  This was called Immortal Wars: The Summoning and I wrote it in high school.  It was cleaned up a bit in college when I sent it to a vanity press.  One would call this science fiction and superhero instead of fantasy.  Still, it didn’t sell and I’ve moved all of the characters to other locations to be repurposed for Windemere.  Now . . . why am I bringing this up?

There was a sequel!

I never published this one.  Since the first volume didn’t move, I tossed the entire series away, but I’d already written Light, Blood, & Tears.  Never knew what I wanted to do with it, but I couldn’t throw it out.  This piece of work has never been edited or revisited since I finished it back in high school/college.  Common sense tells me to leave this in the dustbin, but I’m genuinely curious about it now.  It really boils down to a strange and awkward fact:

I don’t remember what happens.

Seriously, I haven’t touched this book in over 20 years.  If you asked me to explain the plot, I’d have to shrug.  I vaguely remember events going to Earth and the Museum of Natural History in NYC appearing.  Beyond that, I don’t know.  This could be the most horrible thing imaginable.  So, it could be hilariously fun since this is probably a much better example of my original attempts than the first volume.  At least I edited that at some point after college.  This one has been festering.

Come back next week for the awkward humiliation.

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