Coven of the Worm

Book One: Estranged Earth

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.


Book Two: Mystic Moon (in progress)

Eric is the son of David Yeng-Chi, who had unleashed Pure Intensity and wreaked havoc on a 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 diabolical plans.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

A Scout's Heart

It took long enough, but I finally finished the draft for another short story in the Avatar world, called "A Scout's Heart." It takes place around the same time as "Hex Moon," or rather some years afterward to be more precise. Now it's time to go over it and make revisions and other necessary corrections. Hopefully I can make it good enough to be accepted by a magazine, or perhaps even an anthology. I certainly plan to make the effort.

Now, if I could just finish those books too, and another short that has nothing to do with the Avatar world. :)

I want to write novels, of course, but I'm taking the time to create a few shorts anyway. I personally hope I can do well in either form.

"Hex Moon" is still held up at Baen's Universe and I need to allow them about four more weeks before I ask them what's going on. From what I understand, they've actually closed to submissions not long after I submitted and they probably won't publish it anyway. It looks like they have at least a year's worth of issues already booked up, although I could be misinterpreting the posts. Well , there are always other markets to try...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck with "A Scout's Heart!" I hope it finds a home in a magazine or anthology. :)

Crabby McSlacker said...

Worms! I want to hear more about Worms! I hear hints about worm clans and such and I'm intrigued and I need me a wormy fix pretty soon!

Just kidding, you can blog about whatever you want. (But I am looking forward to hearing what exactly you are up to with the worms.)

So I just noticed the blogroll link, thank you very much! I've updated mine as well.

Dawn said...

Thanks for the link, Michael.

You're finishing stories and getting them out there. That is more than most people ever achieve. Success builds slowly but it has already started for you.

David L. McAfee said...

Ok, newb question:

What is Baen's Universe?

Michael said...

Thank you everyone for your fine comments!

Sorry I haven't been around for a while. I've had some issues with my health and I'm still recovering, so it will be slow going for a while longer. Everything should be back to normal in about two weeks, though.

Thomma Lyn: Thank you! I hope so too.

Crabby: "Coven of the Worm" is a working title for the series, although it could also be "Coven of Blood." Among the prehistoric Hunjan people, there are a number of clans and each one is named after an animal. The Worm Clan has a history of extremism, where some of their number attempt to summon their god to Earth.

Dawn: Thank you, although I still haven't published anything traditionally. I hope to get there one day.

David: Baen's Universe is a sci-fi fantasy magazine, which pays quite well if you can get in. I should have a link here somewhere...

Crabby McSlacker said...

Hi Michael!
So I'm looking to do a major blogroll update pretty soon, and I'm thinking of going to a small-blogroll system rather than my original "Please everyone, lets swap links" approach. (I'm starting to get some folks coming on the site who seem a little marketty and immediately want to trade links, so I'm trying to figure out how to keep the blogroll a little less open to everyone than before).

I'm not sure if you're still updating the blog or visiting Cranky Fitness? So I may tentatively take you off for now (please feel free to do the same for me). But if you start hanging out again I'd be happy to put you back on. (I miss your comments about your son's nutritional quirks!)