Princess Jholiera

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The elven princess in Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Elven Princess is not a particularly inspired character.  She’s a stock elf and a stock princess, though I flatter myself that I gave her a bit of personality.  She has to have some to deal with Eaglethorpe in their day to day dealings.  She’s his foil, his sounding-board, and at one point (SPOILER) his foe.  I tried to weave a little Shakespeare into the tale (something I did much more blatantly in the second EB story) by making her take up the disguise of a boy.

One thing that I notice of course, is that people either hate or love Eaglethorpe Buxton, but it’s usually him and not his world or the other characters that brings out this diverse reaction.  I would love for someone to write me and tell me what they think of Jholiera.  Incidently I just randomly threw together some sounds to make an elven name.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in 3D

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My son took me to see Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3D last Friday.  We had a great time.  As far as the film goes, it was a little of a letdown, not that I expected a great film, as The Phantom Menace is the low point of Star Wars.  It is so bad that I have actually heard people say things are “episode 1 bad.”  Since the movie wasn’t made for 3D, there were no cool 3D effects which shot out the screen at you.  I expected this, but one would have thought Lucas could have added some, especially when the spaceships blow up.  Also the 3D seemed to make some of the very cool effects look less realistic.  I’m not sure why, but there you go.

I saw an article on Yahoo the other day in which a commentator espoused the superiority of I-III over IV-VI, saying that the plot was richer and more complicated, that the politics were more layered, and the effects were of course superior.  I have two words for him– JarJar Binks, possibly the worst Science Fiction character ever created.  I also find him racist (JarJar Binks, not the writer), though I’m not exactly sure why– maybe it’s the pigeon English he speaks.

On the plus side, the fight between Obi Wan and Darth Mal may be the best Jedi fight scene ever.  And everyone wears such cool hooded robes.
I have to say I’m not a huge fan of 3D anyway, but when it’s done right (like Avatar) it’s pretty impressive.  I’d go see Star Wars just about under any condition, but really, it wasn’t worth $20 for the 3D, especially when I have the DVD at home.

Weight Watchers

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After having a series of problems with clogged arteries over the past few years, I decided last year to really make an effort to lose weight.  I started Weight Watchers and it’s a great program.  I also signed up at a Fitness Center.  There really is only one way to lose weight– eat less and excercise more. 

I like Weight Watchers as a system and it really works, but I hate the meetings.  I can’t stand sitting around with a bunch of people who are trying to convince each other that the latest low fat yogurt tastes better than cheesecake.  It doesn’t.  So, I switched to Weight Watchers Online.  Same program, less money, no meetings.  I’ve lost nearly 25 pounds.  I’m still overweight, but I’m still working on it.

On the exercise front though, I ripped a hamstring last week so badly I couldn’t walk.  It’s almost better now, though I’ve been using a cane this past few days.

Ellwood Cyrene

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Ellwood Cyrene is Eaglethorpe Buxton’s best friend.  He is more or less right out of my old D&D campaign.  He is rather overaffectionate  toward Eaglethorpe, and the latter constantly has to remind himself of how manly they both are.

Spoiler Alert

In Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Sorceress, we find out Ellwood’s Secret (one of them).  He is really a she.  What that means for their friendship and what other secrets he/she may have, are forthcoming in a future volume.  Hint: Ellwood’s name gives a bit of it away.

Hysteria

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Hysteria is Eaglethorpe Buxton’s horse.  I don’t know how I came up with the name, I just remember giggling as I wrote it.  It probably goes back to the evocative names in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” an awesomely funny play in which the Romans all have names like Lascivious and Stupendous.  Of course, Hysteria is such a great name, because it tells us that she isn’t the steady warhorse a real hero should have.  Also hysteria is such a great word, full of meaning and rife with sexism.

Eaglethorpe Buxton

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I don’t know where the idea came from to write an Eaglethorpe Buxton story, but he does owe a lot to several other authors and stores.  His origin as a medieval story-teller comes right out of D&D and in fact the world in which he lives (including the Queen of Aerithraine) is from the D&D campaign I started as a young man and continued right up until my kids and I used to play.

Eaglethorpe’s line “The Queen of Aerithraine, with whom I once had the pleasure to spend a fortnight” is pretty much stolen inspired by Baron Munchausen, and his line about Catherine the Great.  He also has a bit of Lemony Snicket in him (great books, A Series of Unfortunate Events).  I have always loved unreliable narrators and I tried to make Eaglethorpe one.  Of course, he is a bit more than unreliable.  He’s a complete liar.

In order to make the plot work, Eaglethorpe had to be a bit heroic.  He knows how to handle himself with a sword.  He can kick the crap out of goblins.  But he’s not the hero he thinks he is.

A Change of Pace

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I’ve written about the characters from Blood Trade, Women of Power, His Robot Girlfriend, and Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike, and then I started in on Senta and the Steel Dragon.  If covered book 0 and book 1, and I don’t know about you, but I’m tired.  It’s time for a little change of pace.  So starting tomorrow, I’ll talk about the characters from Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Elven Princess.  Then I can go back to Senta with book 2.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: The Steel Dragon

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The last character in Senta and the Steel Dragon is the second title character for the series– the Steel Dragon himself.  In fact, when the series was originally planned as a single book, the title was going to be “The Steel Dragon.”

Spoiler Alert

The Steel Dragon goes through more change than any other character in the entire series.  In Book 0, he only appears as an egg afterall.  🙂  In The Voyage of the Minotaur he is little more than a pet for the sorceress Zurfina, though she saves the term “Pet” for Senta.  We don’t even learn the dragon’s name until the very last word of the book.

The Steel Dragon grows (a lot) and increases his intellect and various abilities a great deal from book to book.  In the final book of the series, Book 5: The Two Dragons, he is as large as a railroad car, though still tiny compared to the other dragon in the story– yes, he’s one of the two dragons mentioned in the title.

I hoped the 25 regular readers of this blog have enjoyed a look at the characters in this book.  In the next few days, I’ll start my way through Book 2: The Dark and Forbidding Land.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: The Clergy

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When the Minotaur sails toward the new colony in a faraway land, there are several members of the Church of Kafira who are along to see to the worship needs of the colonists.

Spoiler Alert

Father Ian:  Father Ian is the priest on the expedition and he is really only there as cannon fodder– or in this case, dinosaur fodder.  From the very beginning, he was intended as a T-Rex milkbone.  I actually had a little fun writing him to be more or less incompetent and a bit goofy, knowing that I was going to kill him off later.

Sister Auni: Sister Auni is an acolyte (since in the Church of Kafira, priests and acolytes are both male and female, she takes the place of a nun).  She is competent and helpful and a source for healing magic.  I made her really skinny to make her a bit distinctive.  It’s all the more so because, unlike the laywomen, she doesn’t wear a bustle. 

Brother Galen: He is the other acolyte and barely makes an appearance in the story, though he is a bit more important (though not much more visible) in the later books.

The Voyage of the Minotaur is the first book in the Senta and the Steel Dragon series, and is available wherever fine ebooks are sold.

Update: Misc.

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Two things:  First, I sometimes get an idea or a scene in my mind and really hold onto it until I need to sit down and write it out.  This was the case with a half dozen little beginnings of stories that I might  will write assuming I live long enough eventually.  Second, I get my best ideas as I’m lying in bed, just about to drift off to sleep.  I used to forget them when I fell asleep, but something about being older has allowed me to hold onto them.

The other night I had one such idea and several days later I sat down and wrote the first two pages of what might be a Blood Trade sequel.  I don’t think I’ll write anything else on it for a while because I don’t really have a story; I just had a scene.  Also, Blood Trade is one of my least popular books.  I really feel like I need to focus on books that people want to read– top of the list being the next Robot Wife book.

It did feel really good to write this little bit though– surprising, since I writing the first book was such a wringing experience.