The Desire to Rule

Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks

We strive to take control
Some wishing to be elite
Standing above the rabble
Kings and Queens
That may even wear a crown

Yet others are not as lofty
They wish to rule themselves
Take control of life
Just a tiny grip
Upon the world they build

So many things
Can jostle and batter us
Leaving many feeling hurt
Discarded pawns
While the bigger pieces thrive

To rule others is ambition
That society prides and thanks
To rule one’s self
Is a deeper challenge
That many take for granted

Posted in Poems | Tagged , , , , , , | 12 Comments

#Read about Guest #Author Jack Strange

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

Writing a novel and getting it published

Many people I meet tell me they have a book in them, or that they want to write a novel. They’re always intrigued when I tell them I’ve written a book myself (called ‘Celebrity Chef Zombie Apocalypse’) and had it published.

The two things they always ask me are:

  1. How did I write it? And

  2. How did I get it published?

These are the questions I’ll answer in this article. I’ll also tell you a little bit about myself and my books.

1: How did I write my novel?

When I write novels (I’ve written a few – but more on that later) I always begin with a simple idea that I feel I’d like to write about. I work on that idea and develop it into a story.

I’ll take my current novel as an example.

It began with the thought…

View original post 946 more words

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Questions 3: Forge Your Barbarian Tribe

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

To celebrate the release of Tribe of the Snow Tiger, I’m going to gear the questions toward making your own tribe.  It’s rather simple for Windemere because you need a totem, a culture focus (honor, survival, loyalty, conquest, etc.), and a specific terrain.  Usually a chosen species too, but I’m not going to push that one.  You can make that optional if you want.  Bonus question at the end for my own interest and kind of off-topic:

  1. What would your barbarian tribe’s totem animal be and why?
  2. What would be the most important aspect/focus to your tribe’s way of life and why?
  3. What kind of land would you claim?

To help, I’m going to answer for Timoran except for the ‘why’ parts:

Snow Tiger, Honor and loyalty, and lower mountains.

Bonus Question:

  • Is there a topic you want me to tackle on this blog?

I’m sliding back into the weekly topic system that I had a year ago to give myself a little more focus on stuff.  So I wanted to see if anybody out there wanted me to talk about anything specific.  Yes, I know this question tends to not go anywhere on this blog, but I figure I should ask.

Posted in Questions 3 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 44 Comments

Five Star Treatment – When Evil Calls Your Name by John Nicholl

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Janowyn, the Elvish bard, on Lisa Burton Radio #RRBC

coldhandboyack's avatarEntertaining Stories

Welcome to another edition of Lisa Burton Radio. I’m your host, Lisa the robot girl.

Today we’re talking with Janowyn, an Elvish bard from The River Kingdom. “Welcome to the show, Janowyn.”

“Guren linna gen cened – in my language, I’m telling you that ‘my heart sings to meet you and your friends!’ I’m very happy to be here, Lisa. Please, call me Jano.”

“Thank you, Jano. Now, we’ve had elves at the writing cabin before. They showed up when Craig wrote The Cock of the South. In fact, the enchanted beer horns were a mistake made by a young elf at one time. I think it’s fascinating that you were raised by humans. What can you tell us about that?”

“Sounds like those elves spent far too much time with the dwarves! Goodness… where do I start with being raised by mortals?! Well – in some ways it’s true…

View original post 1,668 more words

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Demands from the Dwarves of Windemere

Yahoo Image Search

Yahoo Image Search

We have taken over the Windemere blog for today because we’re tired of being ignored here!  All we see are posts about elves, humans, half-elves, halfling, calicos, vampires, gnomes, and even orcs.  Why is there no respect for the dwarves?  Is it because we’re shown to be gruff and blunt?  Do your real world sensitivities make it difficult to deal with us?  Maybe it’s because we only show up as blacksmiths, drunks, miners, mercenaries, and thugs.  Never see us as a love interest unless you pretty us up and thin us down.  Well, we don’t appreciate being depicted as half elf/half dwarf abominations.  A real dwarf is callused and burly of beard.  Put down the autograph book, Brocker, because that’s not we’re here for.  We want to make a statement and give our demands to all those snobby fantasy authors:

Uh . . . Who has the demand list?  I thought someone was writing it down during the meeting.  Why would I do it when I was standing on the table and talking?  I don’t care if you would have had to put your ale down.  Hook the rim of the mug with your teeth and tip your head back to get a sip.  We’ve all had times where both our arms were broken and we needed a drink.  Now we look like idiots when we’re not.  Just get carried away with our celebrations and being the best brewers on the planet.

Sorry about that mistake, but our anger persists.  Dwarves have been pigeonholed into a handful of roles and we think it’s time for us to branch out.  A few authors have done this and we thank them for it.  The case of our best ale is in the mail.  See, we can even be poets.  Our romantic sides are horribly overlooked.  You don’t think we know anything about flowers?  Elves might be the types to dance among the roses, but they have no idea about the perfect soil to keep a plant going.  We can even give you a bouquet with enough roots to make them easily placed in the garden instead of left to die in a vase.  I don’t care how it’s pronounced, Brocker!  And you want to talk about jewelry?  Where do you think all the pretty gems come from?  It isn’t halflings or humans toiling away in the depths of the earth.  So when a dwarf wants to give you jewelry then you know you’re getting the highest quality present.

This isn’t even our biggest issue.  We can find love on our own time, but what we can’t do is take the main role of a story.  That is the author’s choice and we are routinely refused the title of protagonist.  Dwarves get all the other roles, including main antagonist at times.  So you think we can be evil bastards and not noble heroes?  Well that’s all levels of racist.  We are tough and noble warriors with a love of ale, honor, and righting wrongs.  I guess we could be casters and priests too.  Our people aren’t known for our thief skills, so I’ll give you that.  Oh, and stop with the berserker dwarf who dies defending the group from an army.  That stereotype is so wrong and ignores the fact that we are cunning tacticians.  You act like every dwarf is an angry drunk.  Would you like it if I said every human was a horny drunk?  No because that’s a generalization and . . . I know most elves are like that, Brocker.  Stop ruining my point!

Don’t get us entirely wrong here.  We do love our ale, axes, and mining.  Not to mention our luxurious beards.  Still, that doesn’t mean we should be banned from the juiciest of roles.  So next time you’re writing a fantasy story and thinking of a good hero, consider the dwarves.  We think our time has come.  Yes, we can drink now, Brocker.  I guess some of us are the stereotype.  Pass me a mug.

Posted in Legends of Windemere | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 35 Comments

Teaser Tuesday: Guardian of Aintaranurh

This is a taste of Tribe of the Snow Tiger, which is now available for Pre-Order.  There is a cut in case there are bigger spoilers than I realize.  Anyway, this kind of introduces an interesting character that can give Yola Biggs a run for her money in terms of chaos and mischief.  First, don’t forget:

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Continue reading →

Posted in Legends of Windemere, Teaser Tuesday, Tribe of the Snow Tiger | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

New Book Fanfare – An Honest House by Cynthia Reyes

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Legends of Windemere: Tribe of the Snow Tiger is Live for Pre-Order! #ASMSG #fantasy #Bookboost

Now Available on Amazon for Pre-Order!
Coming to your Kindle on June 1st!

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Timoran Wrath has a shameful secret that is about to see the light of day.

The noble barbarian has always been a constant source of strength and wisdom for his beloved friends. His loyalty has been unwavering and they know that he would never hesitate to lay down his life for them. Even in their darkest hour, the champions know that Timoran will come through and fight to the bitter end. Now they must return the favor as he reunites with his tribe and willingly faces the executioner’s blade.

Is it possible that the honorable Timoran was nothing more than an illusion?

Don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads ‘To Read’ List too!

Excerpt: The Snow Tiger

Yahoo Image Search

Yahoo Image Search

“The snow is too bright and level for me to see anything clearly,” the barbarian growls. The sound of shuffling and mild cursing draws his attention to Nyx who has sunk up to her nose in snow. “What are you doing, fire sprite?”

Nyx shivers while squinting into the distance, her eyes coated in bronze energy. “The reason you can’t see anything might be because you’re too tall. I’m trying to see if there’s anything that breaks the level ground. My eyes are enhanced right now, but I don’t . . . wait a second . . . I think there’s something buried out there. A beast of some kind? It’s a very subtle up and down motion that reminds me of something breathing. It just stopped moving, but I don’t know what that means. I’ll lead the way.”

Not waiting for a response, Nyx pushes through the thick snow and uses wind magic to gradually shift the powder out of her path. She does her best to move quietly and avoid disturbing whatever they are approaching, but the crunch of frozen grass beneath her boots makes the half-elf cringe with every step. A violent sneeze threatens to erupt from her nose, stifled quickly by a silence spell around her nostrils. Rubbing at her cold legs, Nyx is thankful when Timoran puts a vest made of black fur over her. The Ifrit hair warms her body and drives away the looming cold that has been brewing in her chest for the last few minutes. With renewed energy, the channeler walks a little faster and adds a simple heat spell to the wind that is steadily clearing the path.

“Wow. Such a beautiful creature,” she whispers when she steps into a circular clearing that surrounds the dead beast.

The enormous snow tiger’s blue and black fur is thick, the hairs sparkling when touched by direct sunlight. It has long incisors of glistening white that jut out of its mouth due to their size and sharpness. A slender tail lies limp in the exposed grass and still twitches as the muscles continue to lose their tension. Powerful legs and massive paws are splayed on the ground, giving the body the appearance of having peacefully died in its sleep. The gaping wound in the gorgeous snow tiger’s side is the only sign of an attack, the surrounding fur matted with aromatic blood.

Timoran’s rage boils when he spots the three cubs that are mewling and pushing against their dead mother. Judging from their size and faint, black stripes, he assumes they are no older than three months. Rusty manacles are attached to their back legs, the chains running to a stake that has been driven into the muddy earth. Restraining his anger, the barbarian moves within reach of the animals and gently breaks the metal bindings that are bruising their ankles. Scared and confused, the cubs cower against the still warm corpse and hiss whenever one of the adventurers comes close. One of the snow tigers bravely charges at Timoran and bites his boot, proudly returning to the others when the towering figure moves away.

Need to catch Legends of Windemere from the beginning?  Then click on the covers below!

You can start for FREE . . .

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Or grab the $4.99 ‘3 in 1’ bundles!

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen 3D Conversion by Bestt_graphics

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen
3D Conversion by Bestt_graphics

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

 

Also Available:

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Interested in a new adventure?  Then grab your Kindle & dive back into the world of Windemere!  Don’t forget an apple for Fizzle.

Author PhotoAbout the Author:

Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After his wife decided that she was tired of hearing the same stories repeatedly, she convinced him that it would make more sense to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house under orders to shut up and get to work, Charles brings you Legends of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you, and his wife is happy he finally has someone else to play with.

Blog: www.legendsofwindemere.com
Twitter: @cyallowitz
Facebook: Charles Yallowitz
Website: www.charleseyallowitz.com

 

Posted in Legends of Windemere, Tribe of the Snow Tiger | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 41 Comments

20 Questions with Author John Howell

An insightful and entertaining interview with John Howell.

Unknown's avatarDon Massenzio

Photo by Tim Burdick

Today we sit down with author and blogger John Howell. He is also my hero of sorts becoming a full-time writer after many years in business. This is something I am working toward in the next ten years or so.

Please enjoy this very interesting 20 questions session with accomplished author and blogger, John W. Howell.


Q1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I guess the first real desire to be a write hit me in college. I remember my friends and I trying to decide what we really wanted to do. I wrote a few poems and short stories and thought that this would be a great way to make a living. Unfortunately, the practical world rose its ugly head, and I sold my soul to Procter and Gamble.

Q2) How long does it typically take you to write a book?

I write one-thousand…

View original post 1,557 more words

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments