Category Archives: Writing

Eaglethorpe Buxton Bits

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I spurred Hysteria forward, though truth be told
I did not spur her precisely because I do not wear spurs.  Spurs seem unnecessarily mean and pointed and Hysteria is possessed of something of a fragile ego.  If one speaks harshly too her, she is likely
to go into a mope for weeks on end and jabbing her haunches or belly with pointy metal objects could send her into a serious downward spiral of depression.  It would be a sad thing to see.  So I encouraged her forward.  I urged her forward.  I coaxed her forward.  I asked her to go forward and she went forward, which now that I think about it, is the direction that she is usually most likely to go.

Hysteria, as a name for a warhorse, just came to me.  I just love it.  Hysteria is of course not something you generally want your horse to have, but there’s more to it of course than that.  The word hysteria, is such a gender biased word, hysteria being a supposed female weakness, hence its connection with hysterectomy.  I haven’t named any other horses in the series, at least until book 4, Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Amazons, in which there is a horse named Susan.

Eaglethorpe Buxton Bits

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“All the country knows the name of Eaglethorpe Buxton and it knows that he is not one to harm children or ladies, nor old people or the infirm.  Rather he is a friend to those who are in need of a friend and a protector to those who are in need of a protector and a guardian to those who are in need of a guardian.”

“So long as it is not a pie that needs guarding,” said he.

Unlike my other stories, I don’t plot Eaglethorpe Buxton.  I just let it go.  Some may think that’s obvious.  So, I never expected as I was first writing the story that pie would play such a huge part, but after the first story, there just had to be pie in all the others.

The Young Sorceress Characters: Pantagria

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The last character I want to talk about from The Young Sorceress is Pantagria– the angelic demon who is the embodiment of addiction.  I love writing Pantagria in The Voyage of the Minotaur, but had written Brechalon, The Dark and Forbidding Land, The Drache Girl, and The Two Dragons without being able to include her.  The Young Sorceress was my last chance.

I love the dialog between Yuah and Pantagria in this story.  They have a complex relationship, one having loved Terrence and the other having been loved by him, and lovers with each other.  Of course my favorite line between them is when I get to steal my favorite line from Hamlet.

“Don’t speak of him!”  Yuah’s hand became a claw with which she threatened to lash out.  “Don’t you dare say his name!”

 “I loved Terrence,” Pantagria hissed, her eyes taking an evil gleam.  “Forty thousand dressing maids with all their quantity of love could not equal my sum!”

I hope you enjoyed my few thoughts about these characters.  To all of you who have taken your valuable time to read this book, you have my thanks.

Answering a Review

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I’ve been making a concerted effort not to read bad reviews, and I’ve been doing a pretty good job of it.  I am just happy to know that good reviews greatly outweigh the bad ones.  But recently I read one of the very few negative reviews of Princess of Amathar and wanted to mention a few things brought up.

I won’t repeat the review or argue about the reviewer’s opinion of my writing.  He or she is entitled to his or her opinion.  I just want to talk about a couple of specifics.  Here is the passage in particular–

A little bit of Burroughs’ Princess of Mars, a kock-off of Larry Niven’s Ringworld, a few other sources are cannibalized for this book… our hero is transported to an alien world “for some reason”… he remains nonplussed at this teleportation and the nonsensical and random events that come afterward.

I have always said that this book was intended as a tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs.  The fact that it is dedicated to him might hint at this.  I have read Ringworld and enjoyed it.  And two things in this book are ideas that I probably borrowed from Niven– the idea of a world built long ago by an unknown race and that it was populated by that race for some unknown purpose.  I would bet Larry Niven didn’t invent these concepts, but he really does a great job with them.  I didn’t invent the idea of a hollow world (a Dyson Sphere), and I didn’t get it from Ringworld.  I read about it as a kid and had already begun the story before I read Ringworld.  The two planet types really only superficially resemble one another.  The reason for the hollow world was another tribute to Burroughs– to his Pellucidar stories.  The idea of the hero not knowing or worrying about how he got to his new world comes right from Burroughs (though they changed that in the John Carter movie).  So does the idea of completely different alien races living seemingly next door to one another.  So does the fact that even though they have energy weapons, the characters fight with swords.  If those things seem nonsensical or random, you my friend are not a true Burroughs fan.

My goal was not to write Burroughs fan fiction although I did that in my younger days.  My goal was to write a book that was something like Burroughs would write today– a new book that would remind me of the things I loved reading as a kid.  I just reread Princess of Amathar the other day, and I am just full enough of myself to admit that I enjoyed reading it.

The Young Sorceress Characters: Gaylene Finkler

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Gaylene Finkler is one of the characters in Senta and the Steel Dragon.  She is the sister of Graham Dokkins, Senta’s boyfriend.

Gaylene was not in my original draft.  I needed a waitress in The Drache Girl, and I just decided to make her Graham’s sister.  I went back and added a line about her in the first book, The Voyage of the Minotaur.  From there, she just kind of grew. In The Young Sorceress, she is married and already a young mother.  She adds a little fun to the story and she’s one of the few characters at this point in the story who isn’t afraid of Senta.

Gaylene is named for my aunt.

Previews: Part 5

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Here is the cover reveal for Astrid Maxxim book 3: Astrid Maxxim and the Antarctic Adventure.  If all goes as planned, this will be the Astrid Maxxim book for 2013.

Like the first two Astrid Maxxim covers, this was created by Matthew Riggenbach of Shaed Studios.  He does great work, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

Previews: Part 4

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The three mile-long interstellar spacecraft Constellation was designed to explore and colonized the Sirius Star System.  The problem is, that it isn’t going to Sirius.  The $14 Trillion spaceship has been hijacked by its commander and is flying toward the 82 Eridani star system, and none of the 7,000 crew and colonists know why.  None of the crew members, including the commander, are ready for the shock of what they will find when they finally reach 82 Eridani.  Journey is the first volume of a seven book series.

I started on this book over the summer and really shot through the first few chapters.  I decided to set it aside as I finish up the other books on the Previews list.  I plan to have it done in the first half of 2013.  This is the first of a seven book series and I am really looking forward to it.

Previews: Part 3

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It is the year 2037, when men are men and robots are cute.  Mike Smith and his robot wife Patience take a trip to the bottom of the world, and what they find there might just shake the foundations of their marriage and human/robot society.

As it says on the Previews page, this book is coming in 2013, but hopefully it will be early in 2013.  I’m in the middle of chapter six of 16 chapters.  If I can stick to my usual pace, I should have the draft done mid-March.  Allow about a month for editing and that puts it sometime in April.  I get almost daily requests for this book, so I hope it lives up to everyone’s expectations.  Personally, I think it’s so far the best of the three.

New Versions of Princess of Amathar Now Available

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New edits of Princess of Amathar are now available at Amazon and Smashwords and should be available everywhere else within a few days.

There are not too many changes, so unless you are a real completist, you might not want to bother.  About 5 words were changed or corrected in the book.  The biggest change was with comma usage.

On the other hand, if you have not read my first book before, I invite you to check it out.  I have to say that I really enjoyed it as I was reading it through again.  I write books that I like to read, and this is especially true of this book– regardless of how that makes me sound.

Previews Update

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I’ve updated the Previews page and you may note that Kanana The Jungle Girl is no longer there. I’ve set this story aside. I’m just not happy with how it’s going. I’ve got two versions now, one written in first person narrative and one in third person, and neither seems right.

I’ve been working pretty hard on His Robot Wife: Patience is a Virtue and the way things are going, I should have it done just after the first of the year. I’m still planning on finishing the new Astrid Maxxim and the multi-part Eaglethorpe Buxton books by the end of the year. They both will depend on how much I feel about stepping aside from Patience to complete them when the time comes.

When will I get back to Kanana? I don’t know. I’ve got several new stories waiting for me to write them, as well as half a dozen sequels I want to write, and three new series of five to seven books each (including 82 Eridani). So, it may well be awhile.