Even When Experiments Fail They Still Give You Useful Data

So, you may have noticed I didn't start posting any serial episodes.

After four weeks and tens of thousands of words, I realized that the serial format just doesn't mesh with my style as a writer. As a result, I tossed those words.

I suppose it was a good experiment, and I wouldn't have known that it doesn't work for me unless I tried it. That said, it kind of ruins my desire to bounce around a bit more, but every single writer on the planet has that problem, so boo hoo, I can just put on my big boy pants and do some prioritization.

Some of the ideas and plots I was looking at for the serials may be recycled into full-length novels in the future.

So, where am I at now?

The good news is, I'll finish up the primary draft of THE FINAL CITY this week, and go into editing following Christmas, with a tentative release date of January 15.

That book will of course finish off the Osland Trilogy, and I'm exploring my options for further YA paranormal work depending on how the last book is received, though I'm generally sticking my plan to write (well, really, extensively edit an existing draft) the second in my Cleansing War saga fantasy series for a spring 2015 release.

Distance

During recent vacation travelling, we drove over 1200 miles. My children handled it like champions. When I was young, a 120 mile two-hour drive seems interminable. 

We also live in the age of the plane. Years ago, when I returned from Korea, I recall the flight taking about ten hours, and I thought that seemed long.

All of this rattled around a bit in my head the other day as I was working on some writing and research. In MIND CRAFTER, the plot takes place in one location for the most part, whereas in the sequel, some characters need to take a little road trip. As I decided on the transportation and did a little research to nail the times and distances, I found myself amused by the reality that a long and fairly uncomfortable trip for my characters basically placed them as far as I might travel just to get to a certain "local area" store.

A Genocidal Cult, A Capricious Empress, and a Naive Magical Scholar: Mind Crafter

To be a crafter is to control the essences of the world. To be a crafter of House Lran is to control the very essence of being, the mind. Feared by others for their ability to read and alter minds, the Lrani are known across the Larangian Empire for both their powers and mental discipline.

Shala, a talented young Lrani scholar, is obsessed with her research and has little concern for the mundane banalities of the outside world. A chance trip to a market rips the woman out of her isolated life after she chooses to use her crafting to stop a massacre. When the eccentric Empress Tua Van orders Shala to investigate the involvement of the mysterious Cult of the Cleansing Gods, the scholar doesn't know if she’s looking into a centuries-old conspiracy or just the paranoid delusions of an unstable woman.

With an unpredictable empress, suspicious palace officials, and strange nightmares all wearing her down, Shala is determined to find the truth before she ends up disgraced or killed.

-----

Mind Crafter is now available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords.

It will soon also be available at Apple/iBookStore and Sony.

Mind Crafter Delay

There's been a bit of a delay due to some scheduling issues with my proofreader. Mind Crafter will be delayed a few days. Alas.

Schedule for Mind Crafter and The Eternal City

So, just wanted to drop a few schedule notes.

My next book, Mind Crafter, which is a conspiracy-driven fantasy tale, will b released on June 1st.

The sequel to The Emerald City, The Eternal City, will be released on August 31st.

Thanks for reading.

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday #11: Magic User's Guide to Educational Reform

Welcome to #SFFSat – Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday - a chance to post snippets from a piece of speculative fiction. Want to join in? Check out the site and links to other great speculative fiction authors at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday and follow the hashtag #SFFSat on Twitter.

In honor of completing the draft of my fantasy WIP, Mind Crafter, I'm putting up a snippet from that work that gives some insight into the protagonist, Shala. She's a scholar-mage who doesn't quite understand why everyone doesn't value knowledge and access to knowledge as much as she does (btw, a crafter is a type of magic user and silja is an abstract strategy board game kind of like a cross of chess and go):

     Ansa looked down at her hands, an uncomfortable expression on her face. “Mistress, I don't know how to read. I can write and read the characters for my name, but no more. I am sorry. You shouldn’t have been sent such a foolish girl.”

    “A mind that can grasp silja with such ease is never one I would call foolish,” Shala said, keeping her voice neutral. “Well, I suppose I must teach you how to read. You will find it a useful skill. With a quick mind like yours, I am sure I can teach you many of the most common characters in a rather short time.”

     The ways of the palace befuddled Shala. Not cultivating basic reading in the servants of the important officials seemed absurd. At House Lran, none of her fellow crafters would tolerate an illiterate servant.

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday #8: This is what we call a tongue lashing

Welcome to #SFFSat – Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday -  a chance to post six sentences from a piece of speculative fiction. Want to join in? Check out the site and links to other great speculative fiction authors at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday and follow the hashtag #SFFSat on Twitter.

This six is from my fantasy WIP, Mind Crafter:

The protagonist has just angered her empress during a conversation about the protagonist's place in story's society. I'm cutting into the center of her tirade:

". . .I will rip off my chains, and I will rip off the chains of millions if I have my way. You acquiesce to yours and act as if being bound makes you superior. It is disgusting and unbecoming an intelligent woman. Your arrogance is laughable and your delusion pathetic. A barbarian child is your superior. At least they understand a slave’s life is no true life."

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday #7: What is life?

Welcome to #SFFSat – Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday -  a chance to post six sentences from a piece of speculative fiction. Want to join in? Check out the site and links to other great speculative fiction authors at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday and follow the hashtag #SFFSat on Twitter.

This six is from my fantasy WIP Mind Crafter. 

Fouang cleared his throat, obvious irritation in his face--no doubt angry over being made to wait.

Tua resisted a snort. She would make him learn his place. 

“Do you know what living is, Vice Minister?” she said.

“I am no philosopher. I would say living is not being dead.”

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday #6: Feasting Upon Vengeful Rage

Welcome to #SFFSat – Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday -  a chance to post six sentences from a piece of speculative fiction. Want to join in? Check out the site and links to other great speculative fiction authors at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday and follow the hashtag #SFFSat on Twitter.

This six is from my fantasy WIP Mind Crafter. The protagonist has been summoned to a clandestine meeting with her empress when she realizes the decor of the room she's in is a bit disturbing:

Shala’s breath caught. The paintings were not simple battle scenes. A young soldier in gleaming armor, his face contorted in pain, hoisted an imperial standard aloft while everyone burned around him. Everyone in the empire would recognize the face of Prince Daro, the greatest casualty of the Battle of the Golden Valley. Others lands might forever downplay such an inglorious defeat, but the empire feasted on the Golden Valley to feed their rage even ten years later. The recognition of the prince refocused her attention on the other paintings and their titles: “The Treachery of the wicked General Narakeen”, “The Final Stand at the Golden Valley”, and “The Cowardly Tiger burns the Noble Hawk.” 

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday #5: No trespassing means no trespassing

Welcome to #SFFSat – Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday -  a chance to post six sentences from a piece of speculative fiction. Want to join in? Check out the site and links to other great speculative fiction authors at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday and follow the hashtag #SFFSat on Twitter.

This six is from my fantasy WIP Mind Crafter:

Frigid air knifed at his skin. Howling winds whipped through the mountains. Flurries of white flakes filled the entire area rendering any attempts to see beyond the immediate vicinity futile. A clawed hand gripped his shoulder. His blood pounded in his ears. The Vali had finally come.

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday #4: Always find the positive in a given situation

Welcome to #SFFSat – Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday -  a chance to post six sentences from a piece of speculative fiction. Want to join in? Check out the site and links to other great speculative fiction authors at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday and follow the hashtag #SFFSat on Twitter.

This six is from my fantasy WIP Mind Crafter.

In this six, the protagonist (Shala) finds herself having a most curious nightmare in which she's a foreign woman on a doomed ship. For reference, in this book, a crafter is a type of magic user with specialized abilities. Shala is, when she's awake at least, a mind crafter.

Through the sheets of rain and flying debris, she spied a golden-haired woman yelling into the storm. Why hadn’t the damn Caranian air crafter protected them? Despite all the silver they'd given her, they were still going to die. A fellow Dassian would have done more for them. Jalisia cackled into the wind. A fellow Dassian also would have wanted double the silver.

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday #3: We're already measuring your coffin

Welcome to #SFFSat – Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday -  a chance to post six sentences from a piece of speculative fiction. Want to join in? Check out the site and links to other great speculative fiction authors at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday and follow the hashtag #SFFSat on Twitter.

This six is from my fantasy WIP Mind Crafter.

In this six, the protagonist (Shala) finds herself talking to the Vice Minister of Harmony (basically a government internal security/secret police type ministry). The Vice Minister proceeds to gleefully describe the process of "Clouding", a procedure that strips the magical power away from errant crafters (the term for magic users in this setting):

"First, you see the panic settle over their face," Vice Minister Fouang said. "Then, the pain. Oh, how she writhed.” He stepped toward Shala, his face almost mirthful. “Then I saw it in her eyes, the exact moment they carved her soul. The screams would haunt your nightmares, Fifth Shala."

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday #2: Chilling With the Empress

Welcome to #SFFSat – Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday -  a chance to post six sentences from a piece of speculative fiction. Want to join in? Check out the site and links to other great speculative fiction authors at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday and follow the hashtag #SFFSat on Twitter.

This six is from my fantasy WIP Mind Crafter.

In this six, the protagonist finds herself summoned to the imperial palace after an act of heroism. Instead of a small private meeting, she instead has meet the empress in a formal audience with hundreds of people watching.

With her heart threatening to break into a sprint, Shala forced her face into practiced neutrality. She walked forward with her head down until she stood before the stairs to the throne dais. After she lowered herself to her knees, she placed her forehead and hands on the carpet. Whatever respect and deference a member of the Fifth Circle of House Lran might expect from common citizens, she knelt now before the Empress of the Larangian Empire and would pay proper respect.

“You are before Empress Tua of the Van,” a man’s voice announced. “She who sits on the Silver Throne. Defender of the land, protector of the people, head of Larang and heart of the empire.”

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday #1: Reading someone's mind isn't always fun--for them

Welcome to #SFFSat – Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday -  a chance to post six sentences from a piece of speculative fiction. Want to join in? Check out the site at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday and follow the hashtag #SFFSat on Twitter.


This six is from my fantasy WIP Mind Crafter.


In this scene, the protagonist, a type of crafter (mage) specializing in mind magic is about to be interrogated telepathically by her superior about a massacre she witnessed. Here we see just why this type of mind magic isn't casually used as he begins to probe her thoughts:


The small tap grew into the prick of a needle. Shala quashed her defenses and instead concentrated on the Cleanser incident. Again, the bodies, the wailing, and the blood filled her mind. The prick of the needle became the throb of a dull ache. A long moment later, the pain coalesced into a ball of fire. Her breathing quickened and she dug her nails into her palms.