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Don Massenzio Today’s perfect 10 interview session is with author Lucinda Clarke. The questions in these interviews are designed to gain more insight into the inspiration, background and strategy of the authors that stop by. Please enjoy this edition of … Continue reading
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I am so pleased to be part of the launch of Charles Yallowitz’s final volume of the Legends of Windemere series. Welcome, Charles.
A big thank you to John for letting me write a guest post to celebrate the release of Legends of Windemere: Warlord of the Forgotten Age. This is it. The final volume of my fantasy adventure series that I’ve worked on for . . . carry the 1 . . . divide by pie . . . 19 years!? Wow, I finally did that actual math on that and caught myself by surprise. Anyway, one of the more common subplots I used in this series is romance. Characters fall in love, have their hearts broken, make mistakes, plan futures, and lock lips. I enjoyed writing these because it felt like rewards and promises to my beleaguered heroes. They also ended up being some of the…
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Don Massenzio Today’s perfect 10 interview session is with author Mary Clark. The questions in these interviews are designed to gain more insight into the inspiration, background and strategy of the authors that stop by. Please enjoy this edition of … Continue reading
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In the final hour, I made a discovery. Legends of Windemere: Warlord of the Forgotten Age was going to be the end and I had to close things up. This included some tidbits that I didn’t realize I had added in earlier books. Clues and hints that there was a bigger mystery that the champions were ignorant of. It shouldn’t be too surprising since the prophecy had been around for thousands of years and Gabriel has made tweaks where he could. The man wasn’t even the one who started this prophecy since it was made by his predecessor. So, what is the secret?
Unfortunately, I can’t tell, which makes this an awkward post. Thankfully, I locked the doors to stop people from walking away . . . Probably shouldn’t have kept Timoran’s axe in the room though. Anyway, a lot of this stems from me sensing that something was rather off about the prophecy in general. To sum up, the champions are supposed to awaken their power centers, which will help them gain enough power to stand up to Baron Kernaghan. Once ready, they travel to Shayd and get to his prison where they battle him for the fate of Windemere. Seems simply, but changes were coming with characters speaking about where the Baron would appear. Preparations were made, which means something is already expected to go wrong. Is this a destined error? Can’t say, but the champions begin to realize that some pieces have been left out and their final challenge has a curve to it.
Again, sorry about the vagueness, but it had to be done. What I can talk about is the idea of heroes being in the dark about their own future actions. This isn’t the same as the fact that we don’t know what is coming and have to act in the moment. I’m talking about when a character is prepared for one path and discovers that there are some parts they weren’t told about. Imagine being given directions to a new restaurant where you were going to get a free meal. Sounds great and you do whatever you need to be accepted into the fancy establishment. On the way there, you come across a bridge that wasn’t on the map and then a fork you weren’t warned about. Unknown to you, both roads meet up again later though. Again, a mystery that is sprung on you when you thought you had all of the information. Things get even worse when you discover that while the meal is free, you have to mix your own drink. A slight annoyance to some and a major disaster to others.
This brings up the thoughts on how a hero would react to such things. Confidence and clarity of mind are essential to a stable hero, especially in the finale. With the champions, they start off rather shaken and this hits them again. Do they continue thinking they are fighting for what the originally believed in? Do they feel used and manipulated? It’s not an easy truth to learn when you think you had all the answers. Even worse when you aren’t given any time between the revelation and battling for you life against a malevolent immortal.
Plenty of heroes run into stuff like this too. That last minute twist that can stop them from achieving victory. At the very least, it creates enough doubt that they are fighting at partial strength until they recover. I’ve actually tried many times to put myself in their shoes and consider how often this happens to normal people too. All of us can probably think of having plans that are changed at the last minute without our knowledge. Then again, that could just be me. Either way, we can relate to the frustration that comes from being kept in the dark. I really like that way of thinking for this too. It really is like the champions were traveling in the dark and have been abruptly brought into the light when it comes to the prophecy.
Wow, it really is hard doing this without mentioning the actual twist. Maybe I should stop before I say too much. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.
It’s Christmas day! And of course being the 25th it’s time for Meet The Author. This month I have a fantasy author. I have so much respect for authors in fantasy/ paranormal / sci-fi genres. The talent needed to create a ‘new world’, is a whole new level of creativity. Let’s get to know Charles’ style….
Hello nice to meet you! Tell us a bit about you where are you from and other than writing what else do you enjoy?
Nice to meet you too and thank you for having me. I’m from Long Island, New York, which is that long pronged piece of land you see at the bottom of the state. People say it looks like a fish, but I think it’s more like an alligator with its mouth open.
Besides writing, I do low key stuff like reading manga, watching anime, and cooking the dinners around here. The…
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Thanks for the interview.
Hey, all. A Merry Christmas Eve, first and foremost. Secondly, I’ll be rolling out a bunch of interviews starting today, starting with this first one. Then another tomorrow, and on Tuesday, I’ll go with the ones related to “A Twist of Fate: A Collection of 11 Twisted Fairy Tales” (set for release on January 2nd!). I’ve also been hard at work on book 6, which should be out this coming week.
Now without any further ado…
As he approaches his destination, the half-monkey pulls out his notepad and looks to the list. The destination is Rainbow Tower, and he knows that this interview is going to be a different one for him. Usually, Travis is used to one interviewee. Possibly two. But this time, there’s a list. And he realizes that one of the names on that list is familiar to him. His tail twitches a little, as he wonders…
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First of all:
Cover Art by Jason Pedersen
That’s how the week ended. The rest of us was one chaotic day after another. Monday was the medical thing where the wait was longer than the procedure. It was weird going under, but nothing went wrong and I just have to make sure I drink enough water to counter what’s going on in me. Tuesday was . . . errands? I remember running around a lot and doing a little work on Ichabod Brooks. Wednesday had my son home with a bad cold, so I didn’t get anything done then. Thursday . . . requires it’s own paragraph.
Now, my son was okay to go to school on Thursday, but began flipping out about getting on the bus. He was afraid he’d throw up, but also didn’t want them to leave without him. We waved the bus on and little him calm down before I drove him. Then I brought my car to get an oil change while my wife went to work and my parents took care of their own doctor thing. At some point, the Internet/Cable/Phone went out because somebody said hello to something important with their car. This is bad, but what’s worse is when you get a call that your son is in the nurse’s office. I had no car and the mechanic’s phone (as well as the pediatrician) weren’t working. My wife tried to get there, but hit massive traffic. I eventually got a ride when my parents returned and we brought the little guy to a nearby clinic where it was found he had: THE FLU. Not that he showed any symptoms other than a mild fever. Finally got my car after this and then the medicine, which allowed us to return home. Now, explain to me what type of flu makes it hard to keep water down, but he can devour a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos without any side-effects. To keep myself safe, I’m on meds as well.
Friday had the kid home and he wasn’t an easy customer. He’s simply terrified of throwing up and got it in his head that food causes it. Lots of butting heads until the afternoon when we settled down. At least it did for him. I had to handle:
Needless to say, I release my newest book in a similar fashion to someone climbing a mountain and only having the energy to raise their hand in victory. I’m exhausted and find that I’m simply happy to have released the book. The euphoria and pride isn’t there like when I finished writing, which could stem from me seeing that as the bigger emotional hurdle. Considering I’ve been saying good-bye to the champions for months, I might have brought myself to a point where publishing was a sense of closure. It isn’t easy either because I keep wanting to talk about the endings. Who will be angry at the deaths and will others be angry that certain characters survived? What about the endings that are fairly brutal and designed to leave a bad taste in the mouth? I tried to create a spectrum from happy to miserable endings here. Yet, I can’t say anything more than that.
My son is off this week, so it will be a lot of Legos and video games. It really depends on his mood and the weather is supposed to be unforgivingly cold. That makes it hard to do things with a kid who is susceptible to colds and has asthma. Honestly, I’m not too upset since one can have fun around the house. Might be nothing more than a few trips to the library though. Keep trying to think of an indoor place with animals, but not having any luck. Guess ending the year on a low key note isn’t too bad after everything else that happened.
I have no goals for the week. I’ll be keeping an eye on the new book and trying to promote it as best I can. Holidays are tough and most of my promos will be going live in January, which makes sense. Feel free to buy a copy and/or help spread the world. I’d like to do more guest posts, but that might be a challenge with the kid being home. Anyway, we’ll see what happens.
