Ego Alert!

Now I definitely feel like I'm glowing with the ego boost delivered by Howard von Darkmoor on his blog. I met him over at SFReader Forums recently, where he expressed an eagerness to see Tower of Light when it's ready, and he added a link to Avatar Lore from his blog.

I never expected to see a post about von Darkmoor's thoughts on Avatar Lore & Tower of Light when I checked in again, and boy was I surprised.

Such a sweeping endorsement for a rookie like me. Thanks again, Howard, and many blessings upon you for this gesture of solidarity. I promise not to let it go to my head...

(What's that? Of course I'm the best fantasy writer that ever lived... No I am not full of myself...)

The Lore of the Avatars

This is my Blog Apocalypse post, which is related to a charitable event started by UrbanMonk. I got "tagged" with this "meme" thing, which is something like a chain letter but without all the unpleasantness, thanks to Crabby McSlacker. Anyway, I thought it was something worth participating in, so I've "tagged" Leah at The Goat's Lunch Pail in return.

If I can't post on my blog anymore, what should I say in my last post? I've been building the world of the Avatars for my fiction for years now, and I am quite passionate about it. Yes, there is other work that I'd like to do, because I want to experiment with different kinds of fantasy, but I must admit that I have a lot of time invested in this particular story.

I've developed a fictional culture in a mythical land called Hunjan, and it's quite complex. There are a number of clans and each has its own patron god or goddess, and its own variation of the "core" culture. And this is just for the prehistoric past of this world.

In modern times, the world changes from a sudden influx of magic. It pretty much endures an apocalyptic event of its own, in fact...

In short, please...READ MY WORK!

Thank you all putting up with my blundering attempts at creating a blog.

The Short Fiction Blues Part 2 (Or, Not So Blue)

I've got comments from Baen's Slush again, and this time it's much more promising - although it may mean not publishing in Baen's Universe. Everyone who has read "Hex Moon" agrees that it sounds like the opening to a novel, which it is, but I originally conceived it as a stand alone short story. I guess I can't get around that and I'll need to search for markets that accept novel excerpts.

Still, I'm happy. Several people to comment said that "Hex Moon" is a great story and they enjoyed it very much. All I can ask for now is for someone to publish it!

Fire and Other Poems

I did it again. This time it's a book of poetry called Fire and Other Poems, and this one you can actually see when you look at my storefront. I don't know exactly how it works, but apparently - since I listed Sanctuary of the Mind as "mature" - it doesn't seem to show. I can see it when I log in to Lulu because I have my settings at this level, but I can't get it from here. I'll try to figure out if it matters or not for those who don't have Lulu accounts (I hope not).

Sanctuary of the Mind

Well, I did it. I've uploaded my old story to Lulu, after doing as much editing as I could stand. Hopefully I did all right. If I didn't, I can always do it again since it's so easy to do, but I'm going try it out and see how it fares.

It isn't fantasy, and it isn't my favorite story, either; but it isn't bad. I did it in PDF download only, so it's pretty cheap. Originally, I had it in print form too, but, frankly, the price was too high for a work that's only 11,000 words. There's still plenty work to do with promotion, of course.

The novelette is called Sanctuary of the Mind, and here's the description:

Leslie Perk was not a good person. There was a time when he might have cared but it was long gone. He was a drug addict and a thief, and his feelings for his girlfriend were offensive at best. Still, he might have changed, might have become a better man and salvaged his love for Jackie. This was his hope, until something sinister occurred that seized control of his life . . .

Mystic Moon Summary

I've written a (very) brief summary for Book Two of Coven of the Worm. I think maybe it's too short, but if it works I'll go with it (at least for now). If anyone thinks it needs more information, or it could be written better, let me know and I'll get off my lazy ___ and do something about it. Here it is:

Eric is the son of David Yeng-Chi, who had unleashed Pure Intensity and wreaked havoc on a small Maryland town in 1995—all in the name of revenge. When Eric discovers his true identity, he sets out to fulfill his destiny, which is to assemble a Coven and use it to release his evil god on Earth.

Daniel is an Avatar of the gods, and only he knows how to find the others like him. It is his destiny to gather the Avatars and lead them to battle against the Defiler before he can wage war on Heaven. Together with Dawn Lu, Linda Levinston, and FBI agent Carl Timmers, Daniel searches for Eric and his coven—hoping to find them before they can succeed with their diablical plans.

The No Scanner Blues

I would love to add pictures of my family to this blog, but since I don't have a Web cam or a scanner I have to wait for others to email them to me. My ex could help me out with some pictures of my son, Aidan, if she'd take the time to do it. Maybe she'll get around to it (I hope).

My son is great. He loves video games, remote control cars, water guns, and spending time with his Dad - of course. He was born deaf, but that doesn't stop him from behaving just like any other nine-year-old boy. Unfortunately, both of his parents are hearing, so that's left him about a year behind in communication skills. Otherwise, he's a smart kid and good at math, and Maryland School for the Deaf is a wonderful school.

I'm proud of him, and I love him very, very much.

Trying Something New

When I noticed that it doesn't cost anything to publish a book with Lulu, I thought I might have something that I'm willing to part with for that price. I certainly don't want to publish my novel that way; I'd much rather hold out for an agent (although this might take as long as ten years or more). But I have an old novelette that I'm not as concerned about - partly because it really isn't my genre - and I don't plan to try very hard to get it published through traditional venues. So I thought, "Why not?" Who knows, maybe I'll make a few dollars from it . . .

I'm setting it up now for upload. When it's done, I'll post an update.

The Short Fiction Blues

I received more comments for my story "Hex Moon" at the Baen' Bar Slushpile. People liked it, at least, and I followed all the suggestions for revision the best that I could. It's just that some of the comments seemed misplaced. With the following sentence, I was told to make sure my tenses match:

"The Covens assembled outside the village, preparing for their journey to Luma territory."

And yet, I found this sentence (and many more like it) in Dave Duncan's Upland Outlaws:

"She walked in silence for awhile, trying very hard to shake off the aftertaste-of-nightmare feeling."

I was also asked how the Bone Wizard knew Q'La's name.

“I know your name. Your brother is mine, and now so are you.”

Well, I thought it was pretty clear when she says, "Your brother is mine . . ."

Maybe I'm wrong. If isn't clear, then I'll have to go back and change that point. No biggie.

Tower of Light Update

Submissions are finally coming in for Tower of Light Magazine. Surprisingly, the first couple of stories I've read so far are rather good. The first issue will hopefully be ready to come out sometime in June at this rate. Of course, I'd like to see more before I decide what's going in, so I might still hold off until July. We'll see . . .

Moving Along . . .

I've submitted a proposal for Estranged Earth to the Ethan Ellenberg Agency. This is so far the third agency I've tried, so it probably won't be the last. That won't stop me, of course! I just hope I don't have to wait until I'm fifty to get published (which very well may happen, since it's only ten years away) . . .

No matter what, I'll keep trying, and I'll post my progress here.

The magazine is starting to move along too. I've got three stories so far, and I think they're all pretty good. And there should be an interview . . . but I'm still waiting on that.

I'll close with this: Any writers out there who might be interested in submitting a story to Tower of Light, please review our guidelines. Tower of Light is now a paying market. It may not be much, but the pay rate is $5.00 for stories between 500 and 4000 words, and $10.00 for 4000-7000 words.

Also, if you're interested, you can buy your books from the Tower of Light Bookstore (in association with Amazon.com).

On the Short Story "Hex Moon"

"Hex Moon" is a short story I wrote that takes place in the same world as Estranged Earth, except that it's 10,000 years in the past. It's about a character for another book I've started, and I liked it so much that I've decided to use it for the prologue (even though it's rather long for this purpose).

This story is related to the events in Coven of the Worm because of a mystical link between the main character in "Hex Moon" and a character in book two - among other things.

Anyway, I just submitted it to be considered for the Sword and Sorceress 22 anthology. If it gets published in that, I'll be celebrating months. Here's keeping my fingers crossed!

Sigh. Another rejection, and I thought "Hex Moon" would be perfect for SS22. Well, I've submitted it for inclusion in Baen's Universe now. We'll see how that goes.

The Final Draft

At last, the final draft of Estranged Earth is complete, and I can start submitting queries again. It took a long time to get it right, but I believe it was worth it. I tried to clean up all the awkward prose as well as rearrange passages to make the point of view conform to guidelines, then I added to or changed small parts of the story. It should be easier and more enjoyable to read now.

I'm also free to finish the sequel, which is still in the draft stage but is about 50,000 words long so far. Hopefully this one won't take quite so long to finish as the first. If I'm lucky (and diligent), I might finish it in time to pitch them both to agencies and/or publishers (on the theory that two books of the same series are better than one).

Summary of Pure Intensity

Here's a brief summary of my novel:

Linda Caldwell attends Putty Hill Senior High with her friends Jane and Candy, where she meets and falls in love with an intriguing young man named David Yeng-Chi.

David seems perfect for her, but he has a dark secret. His father Hamaki had trained him to use a deadly mix of martial arts and magic in the service of his god—Chai'Huon Ju, the Defiler. David is a descendent of the Worm Clan of a long forgotten prehistoric nation called Hunjan. There were other gods and different beliefs among these people, but the Worm Clan had believed in Chai'Huon Ju's legacy of evil.

As the relationship between David and Linda grows, Linda begins to have prophetic dreams warning her to stay away from him. The visions are so insistent and frightening that she surrenders to them and breaks up with David. Enraged, David resolves to have revenge by conjuring his god to Earth.

Linda has a secret too, however—one that might help to save her soul from the Defiler. Prophecy was merely the first of her abilities to develop and—she soon discovers—there were more powers to come.

Imagine My Surprise

To date, I have one published novel. The sales are still low because I haven't put a lot of work into promotion. I was too eager to publish and jumped at the opportunity when I should have put more work into the manuscript first. So I've completely revised it and changed the title.

Imagine my surprise when I found it was still for sale! It no longer includes a description, but it's still on Amazon. The book in this published form is called The Defiler's Rule: Pure Intensity.

However, it's still a good story, even in this version. Avid readers might grow frustrated with the awkward prose in some places and the constant shifting of POV, but otherwise some people might still enjoy it as it is.

It might not stay on Amazon for much longer, but—for anyone who is interested—Pure Intensity is still available right now.

I planned Pure Intensity as the first book in a dark fantasy series, which I'm still working on. However, I have completely revised the manuscript and changed the title. Of course, when published I may not get the title I want, but what I'm going with for now is Coven of the Worm, Book One: Estranged Earth.

My Favorite Genre

Fantasy (and the possibilities therein) is easily my favorite genre. My obsession began when I was nine years old and my uncle lent me The Hobbit and The Lord of Rings.I don't think I have any one favorite author - just lots of "favorites." These would include Stephen R. Donaldson, Mercedes Lackey, David Drake, David Gemmell, and so many more . . .

Personally, I would add Roger Zelazny, but apparently many fans consider his work sci-fi. I do understand why they feel this way, because the "shadows" of Amber are remarkably similar to the many worlds theory in quantum physics (all possible universes exist along the probability wave of the real universe). But I think of it as a classic example of genre blending, and therefore I think Zelazny was a master of mixing science fiction with fantasy.

Of course, as I grew older I knew I wanted to write fantasy, but I wanted to do things that stretched the conventions set by Tolkien. In fact, I would have to cite Zelazny as one of my influences here, because what I like the most is genre blending. I like to read and write stories that mix some conventions of science fiction, horror, and even romance (don't laugh - I'll admit it's not at the top of my list but I might give it shot one day) with fantasy. Some of these sub-genres include dark fantasy, romantic fantasy, superhero fantasy, future fantasy, science fiction and fantasy and science fantasy.

Tower of Light Fantasy Forums

Tower of Light Fantasy is a free forum for fantasy and science fiction fans and writers, and the official boards for Tower of Light Free Online Fantasy Magazine.

I'm just getting started on both, but the work seems to be coming along fine. The forum still needs active members, and the magazine is open for submissions. There are boards on the forum to discuss fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and historical literature. Writers can also post some of their work (in part - not complete stories) on the Critiques board for comments from other members.

Submission Guidelines for Tower of Light magazine can be found on the forum, too.