If you don’t get it, don’t worry, you will… when the stars are right.
I Saw Mommy Kissing Yog-Sothoth
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Monthly Archives: April 2010
All Hail Cthulhu
Senta and the Steel Dragon – Illustrations
“Let’s walk around the deck for a while before dinner,” Yuah said. “You can be my escort and everyone can start talking about us.”
Images Copyright 2010 by Clipart.com
His Robot Girlfriend tops 6,000 Downloads in one month!
I was pretty excited when His Robot Girlfriend was downloaded 6,000 times. Now it’s been downloaded more than 6,400 times in the last month. I’m pretty chuffed. I’ve even sold a few paperbacks this week. While I make no money on either the paperback or the ebook, I hope it’s doing what I intended it to do– give me a little bit of exposure and advertising. It seems to be. If you’re one of my readers, thanks.
Look out Library of Alexandria
My ebook library has been growing continuously over the past two years now, as I download books on a daily basis from Feedbooks, Manybooks,and Smashwords (sometime buying a book from Fictionmania or the Sony ebook Store), and now my library has topped 5000 books. By my calculations that gives me more great books at my disposal than were to be found in the great and famous Library of Alexandria. Yeah me!
The Voyage of the Minotaur – Setting: Lands
The Voyage of the Minotaur is the story of a group of settlers founding a colony in a distant mysterious continent. It is a fantasy world and I could name the continents and countries anything that I wanted. I really don’t remember where some of the names came from now. Mallon is the continent in which the story takes place. I think of it geographically as Asia. The colony is set up in the country of Birmisia and there is another distant colony in Mallontah. I think of them as China and India, respectively. Physically, culturally, and socially, these lands are not anything like Asia, India, or China, but putting them in that frame helped me imagine how settlers from a continent similar to Europe might see them.
Brechalon: Chapter 5 Excerpt
Yuah knelt down and used the button hook to fasten the twenty eight buttons on each of Iolanthe’s shoes. As she fastened the last button, Yuah had to smile appreciatively. These shoes cost more than she made in a year, but unlike most wealthy aristocratic women, Iolanthe paid a premium not because the shoes were encrusted with jewels, but because they were exceptionally well-made, and they were very comfortable.
“What are you smiling at?” demanded Iolanthe.
“Nothing, Miss. I would never smile in your presence.”
Iolanthe pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes.
“What do you think about moving to some faraway land, Yuah… say for instance Mallon?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Yuah feigned.
“Oh please. I know you’re all a bunch of spies. There is nothing that goes on in the house that you and your father and the cook don’t know about.”
“I’m just the servant, Miss. You’re the mistress.”
“You’re cheeky too. I would fire you in a minute if it weren’t that Augie is under the impression that you are his sister instead of me.” Iolanthe stood up and brushed out her dress. “Have you heard from him, by the way?”
“Yes, Miss.” Yuah had gotten at least three letters from Augie since Iolanthe had last asked her. He did indeed think of her as a sister, and she thought of him as a brother. She sent him a letter for everyone she received. They were the same age, two years younger than Iolanthe, and six years younger than Terrence, and had spent an enormous amount of time together as children.
“And?”
“Hmm?”
“And what did he say?” asked Iolanthe, pointedly.
“Oh. He wrote mostly about the native…people. Can you call them people? They aren’t really people are they?”
“It matters little what you call them,” said Iolanthe as she crossed the room to the cheval glass.
“Well, he’s been talking to them and learning their language. Isn’t that marvelous? Imagine talking to reptiles. And he writes about the creatures that live where he is. It’s all quite amazing.”
“Amazing that he hasn’t managed to mess it all up.”
“Not at all,” replied Yuah, raising her chin defiantly. “I think Master Augie is doing the family proud.”
“My family,” Iolanthe reminded her.
“Yes, Miss.”
“Still, he’s not the brother you would prefer to hear from, is he?”
Yuah’s face turned red. “I don’t know what you’re talking about… Miss.”
“Returning to my previous topic.” Iolanthe carefully placed her new hat atop her carefully coifed hair. “Life would be different for you outside of Brechalon… in a colony, I mean. Colonial life is different. You wouldn’t be a servant any more. In fact, you could probably afford servants of your own. You might be quite an important part of the community.”
“Are you trying to tell me that in the colonies I might marry Terrence?”
“God no,” Iolanthe laughed musically. “Perhaps we could marry you off to a tradesman.”
Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Sorceress – Chapter 15 Excerpt
The three of us rode down the road to Oordport: myself, the lovely Megara Fennec, and my valiant steed Hysteria, which is to say my horse. Night had fallen, and while one could caution that it is a very good idea not to set out from one city to another in the dead of night, but to take a room at an inn and start instead the next day, I have seldom been one to follow a good idea. It was a day and a half ride from Antriador to Oordport and I wanted to make it there and back within three days. My play was no doubt in difficulty without a lead actress, though she did have an understudy, and I wanted to put things right, and maybe even settle with Myolaena Maetar before Ellwood Cyrene returned from Auksavl in five days.
“So what gave you the idea to act in my play?” I asked the lovely young woman who was pressed up against my back. “Other than hearing that my actress had been turned into a tree, I mean.”
“I read a review of The Ideal Magic in the local broadsheet.”
“Really? What did it say?”
“Well…”
“Come on girl, and tell me. We writers are a thick-skinned lot.”
“It said that your play was made of big words on small matters.”
“What a most excellent review,” said I.
“It is a terrible review.”
“No, it is a wonderful review. Big words on small matters. Why, that is exactly how I write.”
We rode all through the night. Hysteria having been well fed and watered the previous day was more than happy to clop along at a leisurely pace. After a while our conversation lagged however and I dozed off in my saddle. You might wonder that this is possible—falling asleep and sleeping while riding. I do it all the time. In fact, it is probably my single best equestrian skill, which is to say thing I can do on a horse. Unknown to me at the time was that Miss Fennec had dozed off as well. While no doubt far less skilled than me at horsemanship, she was pressed against me so tightly and had her arms wrapped around me so well, that she didn’t fall off either. Neither of us even knew we were asleep until we were awakened by a shout.
“Stop knave, and prepare to meet your maker!”
Senta and the Steel Dragon – Senta
My new series of books, Senta and the Steel Dragon has a great many characters (something over 250), but it’s no surprise that the most important is character is Senta Bly (the title character of the series). The series is really the story of her life, growing from a small child to become a powerful sorceress.
Brechalon (Book 0) Available Now!
Senta is only a six year old child and doesn’t have much part in this story. This is really just an introduction for her.
The Voyage of the Minotaur (Book 1) Available Now!
Senta begins the story as an eight year old orphan living in the great city of Brech. She is adopted by the mysterious sorceress Zurfina the Magnificent and is taken with her on a voyage to the distant land of Birmisia.
The Dark and Forbidding Land (Book 2)
Senta and Zurfina have been living in Birmisia for almost two years as this book starts. She struggles to understand the magic that Zurfina tries to teach her, as she must face the terrors of their forest home, especially a particularly agressive T-Rex and a Freedonian wizard.
The Sorceress’s Apprentice (Book 3) –
As a twelve year old apprentice sorceress, Senta has become well-known and, by some, feared. She struggles with the problems of adolescence along with her friends Hero and Hertzel and her boyfriend Graham. And she encounters Wizard Smedley Bassington for th first time.
The Coming Night (Book 4)
Senta must deal with becomming a woman and the changing dynamic between her and her friends, as well as the growing anipathy between her and a woman she thought was her friend. To make life all the more difficult, she has a rival for Graham’s affections.
The Two Dragons (Book 5)
The last book involves a war between Brechalon and Freedonia in which Senta (now a seventeen year old sorceress) and Zurfina play pivotal parts. The rough draft for this book is completed, but will probably see major changes and revisions.
Future books in the series, they will continue Senta’s life into her twenties, thirties, and maybe beyond.
Tall and thin, with blond hair and blue eyes, Senta is intelligent and witty. As a child she is precocious. As an adult, she is clever and sharp tongued.
Senta and the Steel Dragon – Illustration
The Colbshallow home was a large, beautiful, red brick house sitting back from the road in the shade of large pines and maples, along with some recently planted apple trees, on a large fenced estate. The small A-frame house, which had been Saba’s first home, on the corner of the property, was currently being rented by the Zaeri Imam Francis Clipers. Pulling into the parkway, Saba brought the steam carriage to a halt in front of the portico. The Lizzie doorman hopped down the steps to help Loana down.
Clipart Copyright 2010 by Clipart.com
City of Amathar 