Legends of Windemere: Warlord of the Forgotten Age – Guest Post by Charles E. Yallowitz #Fantasy #Magic

Thanks for letting me be a guest. Have a fun week.

Teri Polen's avatarBooks and Such

I’m thrilled to welcome Charles E. Yallowitz for a guest post about magic systems.  Charles recently released Warlord of the Forgotten Age, the last entry in his fifteen book Legends of Windemere series.  Fifteen books – what an accomplishment!

Thank you to Teri for offering to host a guest post and helping to promote Legends of Windemere: Warlord of the Forgotten Age.  This is the final book of my fantasy adventure series, which has spanned 15 volumes.  One of the most key factors for the series has been the magic system.  Spells have flown, rituals have been done by both sides, ancient traps have been sprung, and enchanted items have been wielded throughout it all.  This is to be expected since I made Windemere a high magic world and it all started with a simple system that eventually grew into something larger.

The original idea begun with the…

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I’m a Guest on Mind, Pen, And Spirit

Check out my Guest Post
Thank you to Karen Ingalls

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Show Me Yours …

Harmony Kent's avatarStory Empire

Hello SErs! Already, we’re a week into 2018. I hope you’ve all gotten off to a great start. For today’s post, I’d like to take a look at showing rather than telling.

How you choose to write your narrative can make a huge difference to your finished book. It can make the difference between grabbing  a reader or sending the cat to sleep.

Just this week, I received a book for editing. Intended as a fictional work, it actually read like a thesis. Written in a dry, passive, and distant manner, it showed no obvious POV voice at all and read more like a list of events. All a great shame, as its premise shows great promise. So, what can turn this around? What’s the difference between showing and telling?

While our choice of POV can affect how close up and personal or not we get with the characters, we…

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Claws of Wind

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A roar from all around

Precursor to pain

As the icy wind cuts deep

Surpassing clothes

And driving through flesh

Stabbing at the bone

We wish to stay inside

Because the gale always finds skin

Yet we never get our wish

And march whimpering

Into the embrace of icy claws

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Meet Guest Author, Gregg Savage…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatarChris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

I have ended up here, because I managed to earn myself a bonus year of life.


Somewhere between October 13, 2016, and October 13, 2017, I convinced myself that I was 37, and not 36, years old. During a trivia game with some friends, I was asked my age. Having never been one to shy away from repeating the figure, I confidently replied that I was 37, to which my astutely mathematical friend responded that, since I was born in 1981, this was incorrect. In line with modern customs, I promptly asked my smartphone assistant to tell me my age. “You are 36 years old, Gregg,” the assistant responded in a slightly unsettling, motherly tone.

OK. So, I was never going to be a late-blooming mathematician, but, I did score a bonus year and that was pretty neat. It was August 2017, so I had up until October to figure…

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Time to Crack the Knuckles, Open the Laptop, and . . . Never Mind

(Video chosen by 8-year-old who won’t stop singing the chorus.)

The first week of 2018 has come and gone with me feeling like time is nothing more than a human construct.  There isn’t a single difference between 2017 and 2018.  I really don’t want to go on a negative rant, but then I wouldn’t have a post.  There will be a positive at the start and end though.

Let me first say one positive of the week is that Warlord of the Forgotten Age is doing okay.  Selling decently for a holiday and early year release.  I’ve given up on the Top 100 list because it’s just insane what goes on there.  Erotica everywhere along with books that seem to show up, get 40-50 positive reviews in 1-2 days, and get to the top of the lists like a rocket.  No idea how they do that.  So, I’m just happy to stay afloat and that’s still iffy right now.  Overall, I’ve sold 33 copies of the finale, which isn’t too bad.  A lot of my promos are starting to kick in now, which I hope will give it the opening boost.

Now for everything else that happened:

  1. Another review disappeared from Beginning of a Hero.  No idea which one, but it does seem to be a positive.
  2. My son went full tantrum when it came to getting on the bus.  It was to the point where we couldn’t get his shoes or jacket on, so we had to wave the bus on.  As soon as it left, he would snap into a state of happiness and start getting ready for me to drive him to school.  Part of it is because he likes me driving him, but a deeper issue is that he’s terrified of throwing up on the bus.  This caused chaos with my mornings where I either planned to crawl back into bed or dive right into editing War of Nytefall: Loyalty.  He takes the bus home though, so it’s only in the morning.  Monday will be the next test for this.
  3. I had to rethink my biking in the morning because of this issue.  It used to be 30 minutes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I’m going to change it to 15 minutes every day of the week and see if that works better.  This might not be a negative, but it tells me that my days give me less time than they did even a year ago.
  4. SNOW DAY!  I should have seen it coming for Thursday since that was the actual storm.  No idea what went wrong either.  I did shoveling and then it I couldn’t get a moment of peace to edit.  There were other adults around, but my son is obsessed with a Lego Batman game that he only plays with me.  Nobody could talk him out of playing and I was told I could edit in the morning then play in the afternoon.  Didn’t work out that way and I was derailed until the evening, which was tough as well because somebody, not the kid, was chatty.
  5. SNOW DAY AGAIN!  Oh come on!  I understand that there was worry about the roads being dangerous.  The temp being in the negatives sucked too.  It’s just that I really needed to edit since this book has some plot holes that require me to focus and not take extended breaks.  At least I think so, but the one person who has read the book simply shrugs when I ask.  Think they just went through the motions or took so long that whatever happened at the start was forgotten like when I write it the first time.  I spent the day running errands and playing the game.  He gave me 1.5 hours to edit in the morning, but it was like the day before with me waiting for him to walk into the room with questions.  I really pray next week has no breaks and he gets on the bus with his motion sickness bracelets.

The other positive is that I heard back from a cover artist for War of Nytefall and we’re working on a theme for the overall series.  I like what she’s suggested so far, which involves a story-related symbol on each one.  It’s more simplistic than Legends of Windemere, which makes some sense since it isn’t the same kind of adventure.  There are still great battles, but they have a different flavor.  I’m looking forward to when the book is fully edited and the cover is ready to go.  The plan is early April for the first one, which I hope gives me time to recover enough funds to do a proper promotion.  Not 100% certain what that means any more since I don’t get a lot of sales and reviews using social media and the usual sites.  Still, I’m being optimistic about this since I’ve wanted to debut Clyde for years.

Goals of the week?

  1. Finish editing War of Nytefall: Loyalty.
  2. Be more consistent with biking.
  3. Hope:  No driving kid to school.
  4. Review the outline for Quest of the Broken Hearted.
  5. Set up a file for Quest of the Broken Hearted because I want to start writing the day after Martin Luther King Junior Day.
  6. Look over outline for War of Nytefall: Lost because I don’t want to take extended breaks.
  7. Read more Trigun Maximum.
  8. Possibly sleep.
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Smorgasbord Saturday Meet and Greet – Bloggers Watering Hole.

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David’s Demon Design Department Store

FMA- Human Transmutation

Welcome and try not to breathe in too much of the sulfur.  We’re in the middle of a clearance sale, so the summonings are coming fast and a little sloppy.  Oh, step around that puddle, which I assure you was a satisfied customer until they slapped their purchase on the rear.  Succubi like being in control and they can get nasty if they think you’re insulting them.  This is why we had you sign the form at the door and wait until all of the scans were done.  Don’t want some pompous priest coming in here to ruin business for a day because they assume demons are always evil.  Ill-tempered and prone to violence in many cases, but evil is rather extreme.  Most of them only do what their masters tell them, which tends to be a lot of housecleaning and cooking these days.  So, what are you looking for?

Ah, this is the best day to ask for a personalized job.  We have spawn pits on the other side that help us design an unlimited amount of creatures.  Any aspects that haven’t been seen before can be created by our Demon Lords.  No, we don’t get our products from Hell because the tariffs on that place are insane.  This is some alternate source called the Chaos Void, which we’re allowed to use for a smaller fee.  Now, are you looking for battle, assassination, spying, romance, or simply to scare people?  All five does make it harder to narrow things down, but let’s go over body types.  We have lean, muscular, scrawny, bony, hairy, naked, skinless, short, fat, tall, and the list would keep going if something hadn’t eaten part of it yesterday.  Towering male with dark purple skin and a collapsible rib cage is rather specific, but I’ll put it on the form.  Yes, you can change to female or alter the color at any point.

Let’s get to the physical additions since clothing and weapons won’t be important until the demon is born.  Please consider your home because they don’t like to be cramped and will destroy your neighbors for space.  Then again, that isn’t a problem if you don’t get along with them, but that’s just my opinion.  We have plenty of wings of various sizes and there’s a sale on them.  Buy a pair of leather wings and get another free.  Have leather wings that can transform into red-feathered ones under a full moon?  That’s doable, but it will take an extra day since our enchanter is out with a sprained pinky finger.  We have a wide variety of horns and spikes too.  Good choice with the chest ones that come out when the demon compresses its body.  My wife calls that the Blowfish Special.  Anything around the head and face?  I assure you that female demons can have large horns as well, but you can wait on that as well.

Where do you stand on claws?  I only ask because we don’t recommend them if you plan on physically interacting with your demon or have pets.  Surprisingly, they enjoy petting animals and don’t realize razor sharp talons can make it messy.  Retractable is an option, but you will have to train him or her to be friendly with your dog.  Sorry, we don’t have the services to transform your mastiff into a hellhound, but I can give you my mother’s card since she knows a guy.  That’s our tail wall, which really should be switched out because the samples are starting to smell.  Either that or we still haven’t found all of the bodies from last week’s accident.  A bony tail is entirely possible.  All you have to do is being one here and we’ll strip off the fleshy parts.  Reptile tends to be the most flexible, but monkey is our top seller.

Now we come to special abilities and powers, which is where things can get a little pricey and dicey.  There is a small catalog of stomach maws that range from close range to inhalers, which are the ones that act like a black hole.  I would need you to sign another waiver if you pick one of those because deaths happen at times.  Ah, that one isn’t too bad with an extendable jaw like a goblin shark.  Regeneration can be done, but you would need to pick something that they are weak against.  This is only to give you or us a way to put the demon down in an emergency.  Sure, we can make them weak against toothpicks, but you better not bring your creature to anything with hors d’oeuvres.  Magic tends to be more focused here, so pick an element.  Sadly, we’re out of fire, which shouldn’t surprise anybody who gets here near closing.  Control over ink . . . that will take some doing since it might require interbreeding water demons with squid-like ones.

That should cover it and I ask that you not tell us what you’re planning.  We prefer to remain in the dark here.  Yes, I know there aren’t many lights here, but that’s because I didn’t pay the electric bill.  I gave it to an assistant and they had a mishap.  Nothing lethal, but they may be trapped within the Plane of Shadows and I refuse to write another check.  Last thing I want is to pay the bill and then he pops up again to finish his task.  Guess I could send a demon to get him back.  Just for that, I’ll throw in a Succubi charm ability for free.  Fine, an Incubi if you now want a guy.  Don’t be so wishy-washy, buddy.

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Meet Guest Author, Lisa Reynolds…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatarChris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Born in 1990 in the smallest county in Ireland, Louth, I was a surprise baby coming almost 21 years after my only sibling, my sister Sharon. But I was always very much loved despite the surprise. And in return I love my parents and sister very much. A lot of people say siblings with a big age difference can’t be close but me and my sister are incredibly close. As a family, me, mum, dad and Shar lived in a small town in Meath called Oldcastle with our dog who was like part of the family Cookie. In 2008, we lost my father after he died suddenly from heart trouble. It was a really terrible time. He was the kindest man you could meet: encouraging to me and my sister, a wonderful caring husband to my mum and someone who also told me and my sister that nothing or no…

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Smorgasbord Invitation blog Magazine – Guest Post – Legends of Windemere – Warlord of the Forgotten Age by Charles E. Yallotwitz

Thanks for the promo post and letting me be a guest. Hope you’re having a happy new year.

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