Update

As it says on the title a little update.

Unsurprisingly NaNoWriMo didn't go too well, brilliant start but life and college got in the frakking way, not finished, no where near the finish and a day and a half to do it. Sucks cause I wanted Running out of Space finished this month so I could bounce it out to alpha readers, but that's life.

Don't get me wrong I have been writing, but it's not been RooS, it's been my High Fantasy series, which admittedly is in it's infancy and requires a whole lot of prep work, creating the world alone is huge, something a whole lot of writers just do as they go along, admittedly do it myself all the time, never really been the one for huge prep and planning, but this is one that you have to do hard and with deep thought.

Finished the planning part of my graded unit for my HND, and thank god it is, heavy of importance since hitting every mark is worth 40% of the project, might drop a few but hopefully not many.

Filling out my application for the degree year through UCAS, the fact that I have to pay for it is actually a pain in the ass, I don't remember having to the last time.

Anyway that's me done, update you again in a bit.

My Country

A little unusal for me in that I'm going to talk politics.

Anyone who known me for any amount of time is of the knowledge of that I am what you would class as a rampant Left-Wing Warhawk Nationalist Republican and I have no problem with articulating my views.

I consider myself Scottish, not British and have always felt this way.



I think that the current political set-up both North and South of the border are corrupt and out of control.

I think that far too many of the elite of England have a say in how my country is run.

I know my country pays more tax per person than we recieve back.

I know that the Oil of the North Sea won't sustain my country for as long as anyone claims, I also know that the Nationalist's projections are far closer to the truth than any Tory or Labour government has ever claimed.

I know that a disproportionate amount of Scottish blood has been spilled for the United Kingdom than the English.

The bullshit that's spilling from England about the shipyards if we become independant is a pure falicy, that the armed forces of the United Kingdom don't contract out to other countries to build their equipment is pure fiction, and as if it matters, if we become independant we're going to need 25 warships of our own, which will keep Scottish Shipyards in buisness for years to come, if we become independant there won't be English shipyards to pick up the slack, and again as if it matters, the yards are already using their knowledge for sustainable energy that no English led goverment would ever let us continue with if we didn't have our own devolved government that can tell them to go fuck themselves.

A lot of people say oh, we have a devolved goverment that does lots of things that we wouldn't get to do if it was purely up to the English, so why rock the boat. If you vote no, Whitehall and Westminster will take it as a sign that Holyrood isn't working and tear away the powers that it already has, the last time there was an Independace referendum the bastards took away every single thing they could get away with, we got Maggie Thatcher and two decades of Tory governments who stripped away every industry they could think of to try and kill us off, like every silver spoon fed government the English have ever had have tried to do to us.

Next year is the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, which is of significance but we weren't truly independant of English rule for another sixty odd years until we were sold up the river by James the VI in his power grab that's known as the Treaty of Union in 1707. That's right we've been getting sold up the river for over three hundred years.

I'll be honest I consider anyone, if you are born and bred in my country or have lived in my country your whole life, who have lived through successive Conservative and Labour governments that don't give a shit about my country, and have read all the papers and information written by both sides of the argument and those learned members of both camps who have written papers on the issues involved in the referendum, and still vote No, a Traitor.

But then that's my opinion, I was raised to be a proud Scotsman, and also believe I was raised to be a Proud Nationalist and Republican.

Oust the Queen
Oust Westminster
Get rid of the United Kingdom

And

Freedom for the Kingdom of Scotland

NaNoWriMo Update

Just a little update on the progress for NaNoWriMo

Wrote another two thousand odd words today, O'Hearn being a total asshole towards his enemies as is his norm, piss him off enough and he'll just kill you, piss him off too much he might actually just disable the spine.

Anyway my hand is killing me cause I did it with pen and paper, best way to be able to be able to prove that it's an original story. Now it needs to get typed up, hate having to type up notes, and I wouldn't subject anyone else to trying to read my handwriting. The fact I can't just dictate it onto the damn word processer is a pain in the ass, the fact that it costs a lot money to get a decent speach to text program is beyond ridiculous.

Anyway I'll update the end of week count on the 8th and see how far we have gotten to the total.

NaNoWriMo

Yes, I did it this year, committed Running Out of Space to NaNoWriMo, at least at this point I'm already halfway to the finish line before I even start, I know it's probably cheating a bit but here's the site.

http://nanowrimo.org/

You can sponser me doing it too, it's for charity so if you can please do.

Cheers

David

Time

Hey guys,

Been a while since I posted so I thought I would today. Basically, not had the time for a whole lot of writing other than those that are going to be submitted for anthologies and magazines, sent out a whole load of people the parts of Running out of Space that I've written so far, and currently waiting for the returns, got a short story sitting with a potential publisher int the book Fantasy for Good just waiting to hear back about that, I've got about a dozen short stories to finish writing, or even start, so Return from the Empire's next part isn't written yet, but I've got six days to finish five of the stories so when they're done, I'll go back to that and work on the magazine submissions after I've finished RftE, when I've got news on any of them I'll let you know.

A lot of free time is being eaten up by college studying and the graded unit for it so that's another reason it's been so long, so far it's going well though, hopefully in the coming weeks the free time's going to be freed up since studying won't be so intensive and the graded unit plan's almost finished weeks ahead of schedule.

Looking forward to the 25th of November for Tash Bash at the Classic Grand, a charity gig for MacMillan Cancer Support, loads of the friends that I rarely get to see should be there.

So, keep on the look out for updates on future published work (hopefully) and the next part of RftE.

Cheers

Davie

***Also for those who have already read RftE, it's been edited so it isn't so confusing and crap, alas this is what happens when you are a turd and don't edit shit when you write it.***

Reluctant Prophet Blog

Well another stop on the Blog tour train.

This time with the Reluctant Prophet, as per usual I ain't read it, I swear I really mean to and the only reason I read Shadow is because I read it way before it came out so I new it was going to be awesome and bought it. I do plan at some point to read all of them and when I eventually get my finger out and publish (One is coming, first draft will be done in a few weeks, one is in it's infancy and I still can't read Burn all the way through without almost wanting to smash the keyboard.)

Anyway, shouldn't rant about my own shortcomings, should give Gillian a hand for completing her manuscript and getting it published, now knowing Sammy one of the owners of the Publisher as I do, and knowing how she's raving about it, it's probably top notch just not for the mainstream publishers, who let's be honest are getting stupid at the moment, but Kristell Ink like so many small publishers have become a welcome home for the great fiction that wasn't being published.

I digress from my usual rant and here is the actual stuff I should have been posting:                      

The Reluctant Prophet

by

Gillian O’Rourke

There’s none so blind as she who can see . . .

Esther is blessed, and cursed, with a rare gift: the ability to see the fates of those around her. But when she escapes her peasant upbringing to become a priestess of the Order, she begins to realise how valuable her ability is among the power-hungry nobility, and what they are willing to do to possess it.

Haunted by the dark man of her father's warnings, and unable to see her own destiny, Esther is betrayed by those sworn to protect her. With eyes newly open to the harsh realities of her world, she embarks on a path that diverges from the plan the Gods have laid out. Now she must choose between sacrificing her own heart’s blood, and risking a future that will turn the lands against each other in bloody war.

The Reluctant Prophet is the story of one woman who holds the fate of the world in her hands, when all she wishes for is a glimpse of her own happiness.ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Before settling down in the Emerald Isle with her husband and three dogs, Gillian O’Rourke lived in Melbourne, Australia.   She received her first fantasy book from an English teacher at the age of fourteen and has loved the genre ever since.  Although she writes fantasy, she occasionally dabbles in the paranormal.  Gillian currently works in the healthcare sector, helping adults with disabilities live as independently as possible.

LINKS

http://www.twitter.com/gillywrites

http://gillianorourke.com

Amazon US link

Amazon UK link

AN EXCERPT FROM THE RELUCTANT PROPHET—

I had never been able to see my own future, not the way I could see it for others. Even now, on my unanticipated return to Rycroft, a part of me rebelled at the thought of facing a past I believed long behind me. If I had known then what a luxury it is to go home, I might not have dismissed it so.

As an initiate to the Order, I learned from women far wiser than I that the past was a wraith that could come back to haunt the future. I imagined it looming overhead like a hidden cloud, waiting, maybe over many years, to rain upon me when I least expected it, not a soft, white thing, but an angry, vengeful thundercloud. Perhaps I had lived too long in the calm now, because I once again began to feel the storm approaching. Entering the village, I steeled myself to face it, but despite the many prayers I had said for courage, that long-forgotten anxiety crept its cold tendrils into my soul.

I escaped the painful memories this place forged in my childhood, and had taken a chance to make my future a safer, happier one. But now I had come full circle, and it was the temple above Rycroft village that held the balance of my future within its cold, imposing walls.

I followed the path past the village with the other initiates, and climbed carved granite steps meticulously shaped by skilled stonemasons. Upon a stone archway were the effigies of the three Gods we Sinnotians worshipped. Lo, Creator and Destroyer, an armoured warrior with the head of a wolf, carried an array of weapons, but it was the large war-hammer in his hand my eyes gravitated to. Beside him stood Era, the graceful feline-faced goddess of emotions, and of life and death. Finally, at Era’s left hand, stood Tyrus, master of elements.  He was the God I most often found myself drawn to, his wise, owl-like features faced the valley directly upon Rycroft.

An expectant hush fell over the group, followed by soft murmurs from the young women. They praised the Gods in whispers, for this sight we beheld as we moved forward, heading for the path into the mountains, awed even the noble-born among us. Like a flock of white doves, innocently seeking an arbour to rest in, we wore the modest robes all initiates of the Order wore, to signify their intentions to serve the Gods. But only a select few would ever don the red robes of a fully-fledged priestess. The final testing awaited us. I already knew that most of the girls would return home dressed in the same clothes they had worn before their training began, and all I could do was to hope I would not be one of them.

I glanced over my shoulder, catching a final glimpse of my birthplace, and the anxiety melted away; it was behind me now. A veil of calmness enveloped me as I turned my gaze to the temple looming ahead. Its exterior was a thing of perfection, as if the Gods themselves had used a hot sword to cut through the stone. Barely a window could be seen from this low vantage point. A shiver ran across my skin. Like the tip of my tongue verging on speaking a forgotten word, an elusive vision teetered on the edge of my sight. The sensation faded away before fruition, however, and was replaced with awed anticipation for what I was soon to encounter.

It would take several days to test the initiates in their obedience, faith and humility. At the end of the ordeal, I hoped to find myself clad in the red robes of a Priestess of Oraccles.

Give me strength, I begged the Gods as we settled into the long climb. My legs began to burn and the summer sun was growing hot with the afternoon. The priestess ahead turned and eyed each one of us. Most of the initiates did not notice her quiet surveillance, but when my eyes met hers, her gaze narrowed before she looked away and sharply directed the girls to quicken their pace. Her scrutiny left me wondering whether the testing had already begun.

*

Days of inflicted pain, humiliation and cruelty brought me close to the brink of madness, closer to my gift, leaving me weary in body and spirit. I did not know which part of me hurt more, but when my eyes met those of the head priestess, the superior who would decide my fate, the keen pain of expected failure rose in my chest. Her dark eyes seemed to swallow me whole. I felt both hot and cold at once; days of obedience, suffering and fasting had blurred the days into one long torture. I longed to sit and weep, but my body was too sore to do anything but kneel slowly, stiffly into a submissive position. Many girls had failed, and now I was to learn my own fate. My ears were ringing and I almost cried out when my knee, cut open on a sharp stone during one of the tests, sent pain reverberating throughout my body. I kept my eyes upon the superior’s face. Lined and calm, her expression betrayed nothing.

I flinched when an unexpected vision assaulted my senses, propelling me from the room and into a place I barely caught a glance of. A trace of darkness; a laugh, a dark green eye. Each small glimpse offered me no more than a confusing jumble of images I could not piece together to make a whole picture. Swaying, I wondered if I was ill. My body throbbed and the days of fasting, beatings and silence became as fractured and unreal as my visions. The testing had taken its toll, but I needed only make it through this last moment. As I fought to return to myself, I worried again that I would make it this far, only to be rejected because of what I was: a peasant.

The superior rose. My awareness had been completely focused on her and I had not noticed an inch of the marble-columned room I had been brought to. The distracting sparkle of candlelight danced on a pool of water and I looked away quickly, not wishing to see the future reflected in those waters. The superior’s thin lips moved, but I heard no sound. The ringing in my ears worsened and my heart rate trebled. When she stood before me, she lifted her hand and smeared something powdery against my forehead. Her touch sent waves of premonition into my mind, making my skin shiver and creep. Fighting the urge to succumb to the sight left me weak and trembling.

I was not altogether myself when I managed to overcome the visions. My chest constricted when a distant voice – certainly not the superior’s worn croak – spoke to me, gently whispering, ‘Esther . . . Esther,’ over and over.

All the while the superior’s mouth moved, but I knew nothing of her words. The room tilted and the first spark of emotion lifted the older woman’s eyes from blankness. For a moment I believed I was succumbing to the visions her touch was invoking, but I slipped instead into waiting darkness.

WRITE.

As I say, writing is what I haven't been doing a whole lot of recently.

Spent most of the past couple weeks is studying in my spare time.

I really need to start siting down for a couple hours a night writing.

But tonight while in the pub (funny that, me writing in the pub) I felt myself going back to what I had planned on being my autumn main project before Caleb of Bifrost pulled me back into the Magiverse, I began writing Crime fiction, based in Glasgow, something I'd been planning on doing back in the summer. I had got so caught up in working on the Military Sci-fi stuff, that the research I had been planning to do got put on the back burner which frankly was a little rude to Logan Scott who was going to help me out.

Any way, I think if I get a good three hundred pages out of this, it may be awesome, also it may be a pile of crap and too close to the truth.

I think the next blog may be another Blog tour jaunt, I'm drunk so I can't remember.

Shadow of the Wraith Blog and Review

Howdy Folks,

Just me with yet another Bandit Book Blog, this time it's a book I've actually read, enjoyed thoroughly and have read again since, which is a pretty good indicator of whether a book rates a thumbs up from me, I read it over and over again.

The Book is called Shadow of the Wraith, by an ever so nice gentleman who lives on the Emerald Isle, by the name of Ross Harrison, I reviewed it for my friend Sammy HK Smith, the publisher of my own work, for her blog when she interviewd Ross for her blog, and I'm going to put it up again along with everything else you need to know to purchase a copy of this fine piece of fiction.

Shadow of the Wraith (by Ross Harrison)

Review by David Muir

Right, Sammy asked me to do this review for her, maybe because she thinks I've got loads of free time (which I do, but don't needed reminded of) and I had only thus far read the Book in bits and pieces, Up on Authonomy and while not distracted by boobs and booze, I read a couple of the chapters after the parts on the site, but had enjoyed it so thoroughly I gave it a 4 star rating on good reads without actually reading the whole thing).

Anyway did finally read the whole thing and did most of it today, in fact I read 75% of the book today, and while there were bits missing from the draft that I had seen part of and bits added, it still holds on to it's essence. Which is frankly, (stealing a Castleism) is So Awesome! Great characters, most of them completely looney tunes. There's a main character who is more than he seems (which by the way I never saw coming and I normally see these things coming, until it was right in my face), who seems to live half in the real world half in the movies, hero complex much, along with his trusty sidekick, a relationship much like a certain Mr Reynolds and Mr Cobb, it has a wisecracking Android who throws off one liners that even Bender would be proud of (but sadly not as rude) along with the odd movie quoute (though the Arnie one was wrong), an assassin that learns to play nice with others, a bad guy who isn't a guy at all, intrigue and plot twists that makes your head spin a bit.

Anyway the story starts with Travis Archer, the focal character of the story, former Terran Alliance military operative, now bounty hunter who is chasing a mark he's been after for a bit, he finds him only for his bounty to be nicked by the Krathan Assasin Juni Lien. Mr Archer not so happy about this so when he goes looking for her on the ethernet (galactic internet) he finds his old team mate Jay Miller, has a bounty on his head, Archer feeling nothing but a sense of loyalty, and probably a good dose of his hero complex. This precipitates into an investigation for the alliance to find the Star Wraith, big honking ship that's been running around the stars knocking ships off left right and centre for years. They get the old team back together and add a number of aliens, including the Krathan Assasin eventually the aforementioned wisecracking Android.

There is intrigue abound as they are ordered to blow the Star Wraith, find out that it's actually built by the alliance, and basically steal the ship until they find out what is really going on. Now I'm sure I could reveal the whole plot to you, but that would be a waste, because you wouldn't get the enjoyment out of reading the book, so hopefully this should wet your appetite.

I did find the book awesome but there were also not so awesome parts to it, while the wisecracking robot was great at times it did feel as if some of the earlier witty spark between Archer and Miller which I found quiet interesting was transferred between the android and the guy who now owns him, and the too and fro between the team-mates wasn't used as well after that pint, and it felt like sometimes his jokes and one-liners were there just for the sake of it.

I felt that possibly it was a little too short. I think that sometimes it was too easy to get from a to b, the end hook was a little contrived and the author will know which bit I'm talking about, but maybe that particular character is the hook for the second because I understand the book is meant meant to be part of a series and while a lot of authors do that leave a hook (I do) so you know there's more to come and also leave it with a proper ending (which there is), I felt that the book itself is that hook and there wasn't any need for it to be that easy to get the information they needed to get to the end bit. I felt at times the author wanted to get his story out on the page (digital as mine may have been it's still a page) it maybe just felt a little too fast, though nominally the first book in a series is the shortest one.

I liked the way the parts of the book were broken up with the headings, but sometimes and I don't know if this is just the way it was formatted on my Kindle but on the same page without any spacing you had two different perspectives for characters in the same bit, but again maybe the formatting on my kindle.

All in all I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes Science Fiction, Space Opera or as Ross put it Space Fantasy. It is all in all a good first book, and the fact that it is self-published shouldn't put you off because I have seen writers who actually got a book deal nowhere good as this.

Purchase Links:

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007ZBK6QA

ePub: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/210824

Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0957592906

Also available from a variety of other retailers.

 

Blurb:

It sounds like a simple assignment: track down the mysterious Star Wraith and put an end to its rampage. But when Travis Archer and his team of inept soldiers find themselves the most wanted people in the galaxy - hounded by assassins, terrorists and their own military - they realise the Wraith is just a symptom of a much larger problem... Finding war raging between one army intent on destroying an entire species, and another that will destroy the galaxy, Travis must put aside his fears and his past to uncover the truth behind it all. To become the hero he's always imagined.

Shadow of the Wraith is the first book in the NEXUS series.

Kindle ASIN: B007ZBK6QA

£2.49 $3.79

ePub ISBN: 9781476390390

£2.49 $3.82

Paperback ISBN-13: 978-0957592902

£7.99 $12.10

About the Author:

Ross Harrison has been writing since childhood without thought of publication. When the idea was planted by his grandmother to do so, it grew rapidly, and after a bumpy ten years or so, here sits the fruit. Ross lives on the UK/Eire border in Ireland, hoping the rain will help his hair grow back.

Links:

http://www.ross-harrison.com

http://www.facebook.com/StarWraith

http://www.twitter.com/AuthoRoss

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ross-Harrison/e/B007ZSUY06/

Childhood = Ruined

So,

I come home from the pub and the Cathouse this morning and switch my computer on, fairly happy and ready to type out all of the notes and story that I had written while getting drunk off my ass as is par for the course on a night out for me.

Then I sign into Facebook which I haven't checked since about 14:00 local and find out that Ben Affleck is going to be Batman,

I consider myself to be a tolerant, easy going guy, but this shit, pissed me the hell off.

Ben Affleck destroyed Daredevil for me and I loved Matt Murdock almost as much as I loved the on the Marvel side X-men, Spidey, Iron Man and the Hulk and Green Lantern and Batman himself on the DC side along with 2000AD and Hellboy while I was growing up and maturing.

George Clooney in the shit piece that is Batman and Robin will not have fucked up Batman and could not have ever  as much as this dipshit will.

Hell, I'm a better actor than Affleck is and I suck, I think I got a D in Drama in second year of High school and my acting hasn't really improved since, but I'd be more convincing as Batman as this asshole and I'm unfit and outweigh him by a couple stone,  as an older, out of shape Bruce Wayne but still, I'm eleven years younger and a whole lot more in tune than Affleck could ever be.

Fuckin Warner Brothers execs that are bringing this tosswit in are probably the same idiots that let Ryan Reynolds play Hal Jordan and allowed Parallax to be his opponent when Hal Jordan was fuckin Parallax.

Anyway, not happy and if he continues to remain as Batman, I won't be going to see Superman Vs Batman and the Justice League movie, even though I was really looking forward to them.

If this crap continues I am done with DC and my kids (if they ever materialise) will be brought up on Marvel and 2000AD and I will exclude all DC after now.

An excerpt and some thoughts.

  Little bit of Running out of Space, one of my works in progress, it comes in after the main character Caleb O'Hearn has been talking about the history of Psionics and language in the Magiverse to demonstrate his genetic memory from his Magi heritage, that bit is about six hundred words itself and it's a little bit lecturing but part of the rolling history into the story without it being just flung at you so I'm not going to post that. After the excerpt there are a few thoughts of mine on shared universes and collaboration between writers and shared timelines.

****************

'But it's funny to watch you drone on and not even realise it though, but also educational. Learned a little piece about my own heritage while bored shitless about yours.' Kerry-Anne told him and he flipped his middle finger at her. 'That wasn't Magi ancestor knowledge, all of your Magi ancestors were Hunters, Guardians and Soldiers. Where did that come from?'

'Sarah of Trenton, her sire's sire was a Professor of Germanic Languages at the University of New Amsterdam.' He replied with a grimace. 'When the hippie pothead wasn't on a commune.'

'Your warrior attitude would be an embarrassment to him as much as he's an embarrassment to you.' Kerry-Anne chuckled at him. 'Hell his granddaughter was an embarrassment for joining the FIB. He considered the whole notion of war and Big Government pointless.'

'War is fuckin pointless.' O'Hearn sighed and Kerry-Anne gave him a look of surprise. 'Show me a true warrior that wouldn't rather he never had to fight again, and I'll show you a damned liar or a homicidal maniac that should never be in uniform, like dear old dad. It is true, I am never more alive when I am chasing down prey or fighting hand-to-hand in a struggle to the death, but I've been stabbed, shot, sliced open, gouged, blown up, and had to heal from those wounds too many times in what has not been the longest life. I would really rather that I could spend the rest of my considerable life time with my feet up until I'm old enough that it's the end for me and one last battle for me to shuffle off the mortalish coil and sit in Bilskirnir until I am needed  once more.'

************************************

 This plus everything else I'm working on, is running through my mind constantly, interlinking all the Magiverse stories can be a bit of work, especially when you are jumping two thousand years from the time of Gabriel to the time of Caleb,  and even when I jump just under a hundred years to my cyberpunk work, totally inspired by Continuum and Shadowrun, Corporate governments and Megacorporations.

Haven't seen series two of Continuum beyond the third episode been too busy with writing and painting soldiers. I can have TV shows in the background if I've seen them before but if it's new I have to actually sit and concentrate on it. But I'm getting off topic.

When I'm doing the Cyberpunk I have to remember what the map of Gabriel's Terra looks like even though it's all in my head (not the best idea, right now it's a bit fluid), trying to fit the Corporate Nations later in the timeline to nations from earlier in the timeline and then having to remember to use the right names in Caleb's time can hurt your head sometimes but I love reading shared universe fiction, and seeing how they evolve and how the stories evolved from where, granted you don't normally see three different periods on a timeline at the same time but that's me, glutton for the punishment I put upon myself.

I always wanted to be one of those authors that inspires collaboration with his fellow writers, I think that's what makes the Roleplaying, Comic book and TV & Movie shared universes so fun to immerse yourself in is the vibrant and many voiced reality, that no-one person is telling the story. Don't get me wrong they always need a strong hand to guide the ship and some of my favourite books series are written by one hand but I still believe it doesn't happen nearly enough in Sci-fi and Fantasy fiction that many hands help to form a better universe unless they tie in with a TV series or Movies or RPG's. 

Often enough authors will have others write for short story anthologies from their Universe which they edit,  but I think personally that D&D settings especially the Forgotten Realms Novels and even the Games Workshop forever dubbed the Evil Empire, fictional universes are made so much better, deeper and more real by the dozens of authors that write in the universe, though I'm sure most authors wouldn't like giving up money they would make writing their own work. 

People I'm sure will quote the expansions of the Cthulhu Mythos, the Man-Kzin Wars that added to Larry Niven's Known space, the expansion of Asimov's Foundation series and the adding to Lyman Frank Baum's (A prophet was he) Oz, the additions to Robert Howard's (Himself a Cthulhu Mythos expander) Conan, to me but I will also point out none of these except the Man-Kzin wars were ever done in the original author's lifetime.

But I won't deny that's always something nice to see, people trying to anticipate what would this author have written about next if he hadn't passed onto the halls of Valhalla, and I do applaud that, I would however like to see more authors collaborating to expand their own universes.

That's my end for today, off to the Falkirk District Wargames Club tonight, so dinner and work out an army, which I should have done last week when I was sitting on my arse at the club.

Healer's Touch

As part of the bloggers tour that brought you Seasons of the Dead, it now brings you Healers Touch, unfortunately this is a couple of days late, because I finally replaced my PC (yay) and spent the first twelve hours after replacing it minus time for food consumption and other things that we won't name I played Star Trek Online (withdrawal from Gaming much?) also apart from that I've been busy writing my own stuff, and I'm going to stop myself from ranting and droning so without  further ado.

HEALER’S TOUCH

by

Deb E Howell

For Llew to heal, something must die.

Llew, a young pickpocket who lives as a boy on the streets of a wild-west mining town, finds her real problems begin when she survives the gallows. Forced to run, she persuades a group of fighters escorting a young girl to her wedding to let her travel with them across the badlands. On the journey Llew faces hostile tribesmen, desperate bandits and, the enmity of her own companions should they find out who and what she is: a girl, a fugitive, and a feared Healer. One of the fighters, Jonas, possesses superhuman prowess as a warrior, and carries the knife able to ‘kill the unkillable’; the knife that can kill Llew. Despite being of races at war for centuries, they are drawn to one another.

During the journey, they encounter Braph the magician, Jonas’ half-brother and potential nemesis. He pursues them as they journey across the sea to the continent of Phyos and at the moment Llew finally feels safe, he abducts her. He begins to take what is most precious to him: her blood.

Healer’s Touch is a mesmerising mix of fantasy, steampunk and Wild West adventure – and even a dash of romance!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bio:

Deb E was born in New Zealand’s North Island, but her parents corrected that within months, moving south to Dunedin and staying there. Childhood nights were spent falling asleep to cover versions of Cliff Richard and the Shadows and other Rock ’n Roll classics played by her father’s band, and days were spent dancing to 45 LPs. Many of her first writing experiences were copying down song lyrics. She graduated to scientific reports when she studied a fungus in the Zoology department of the University of Otago, trading all traces of popularity for usefulness... then traded both for fiction.

Deb lives in Dunedin, New Zealand with her family and a menagerie of pets.

Links:

Website/Blog: http://deberelene.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deberelene

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/deberelene

and many more...

REVIEWS

REVIEW BY JO TOON,

SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND

Healer's Touch is set in a fantasy world where magic and the Wild West era have combined. Llew is a street girl with the ability to heal herself, whose life is changed beyond recognition when she tries to steal a knife from a stranger. Disguised as a boy, she is forced to leave her home, the gold-town of Cheer where she has lived all her life, and accompany the stranger, Jonas, and his companions on their mission, crossing country and continents. Along the way she learns more about Jonas, and the ancient emnity between the two races, the Aenuks and the Kara. She also discovers where she fits in in this battle and that her ability to heal herself and others is more dangerous than she could ever have imagined.

Healer's Touch is Deb E. Howell's debut novel, and is an absolute page turner of a read. The setting of a Fantasy book against a Wild West era background provides a novel viewpoint to the quest story. The world which has been built is intriguing, and the history of both the races and the main characters is very well written.

There isn't a dull moment in the story, with the action starting from the first page. Deb E. Howell has a great knack of building the tension up subtly without ever making it seem forced, and mixing it with moments of calm and sudden bursts of energy. She draws the reader in to the world and brings it to life, allowing us to discover the landscape, people and history along with Llew as she starts her journey from the small frontier town of Cheer, Aghacia, to Rakun in Brurun and beyond.

The principal characters are very much frontier town folk and are very well rounded and realised. The secondary ones could have possibly done with a little more fleshing out, to give us a bit more of an insight into their history and motivations, and I am hoping that this will come in the second volume of the series.

Overall, this is an excellent read, and a very promising start to a series; I am now eagerly awaiting the next book!

REVIEW BY ELISA NEVILLE (blogger/reader)

lostinsidethecovers.wordpress.com/

This is an epic fantasy adventure and is a tiny bit reminiscent of an Eddings book or something similar. Llew is a healer, but knows nothing of her people, history or abilities.  She has to get out of town fast when she heals herself in public and the townsfolk come after the “witch”.  She hooks up with a girl and her guards who are going across the countryside to meet her new arranged husband.

Llew has been hiding in plain sight as a boy since her father disappeared when she was 11.  She hasn’t had an easy time of things, and even though she makes friends in her new travel companions, things aren’t that easy.  Her abilities are a double-edged sword, sure she can heal, but she pulls the life force from living things and can kill people, animals and plants using her healing powers.  Because she is so dangerous to living things, her kind is not popular in many countries and she will either be killed, studied or sent to a breeding program to make more like her.  Not good options.  Llew starts to find out who and what she is, a bit of a coming of age and taking responsibility for ones actions - I always love stories like that!

Jonas is also gifted, but with strength and speed and is the mortal enemy of the healers.  So guess what happens…

Llew is a strong heroine I loved reading about.  She is pragmatic, women aren’t treated very well but she has learned some tricks and stands up for herself physically and verbally.  I wanted to cheer her on a few times when she stood up for herself.  I was also embarrassed for her a time or two when she couldn’t control her mouth.  Double edged sword.  It is funny, I was reminded of the fairy tale Ring of Consequences while reading this story, because the ring grants wishes, but you never knew what the result of the wish would be: something good and something bad, that dang double edged sword again!

This story does have a little romance in it, but it is pretty PG13 and stays fairly clean even though there are definitely adult “situations”.  There is a lot of death, some curse words and they have to deal with rape.  Nothing violently written, and it was “well done” but it was still a bummer and the characters struggle with it – as they should.

Ok, so this is an epic fantasy, and there are three books planned for the series and I was super worried it would end with them in the exact middle of a quest on the trail or something, and while there is more story to tell, it was ok.  Shew!  It wasn’t one big book cut into three parts (cough, LOTR cough).  But I want the next book NOW!  There are some things, and some decisions, and what will happen and somewhat about that guy questions I would really like to get some answers to.  So this is a rainbow day (happy yet sad) I am happy to have read this early, but I read it early and now have longer to wait!  My life is so tough. I give this book 4.5 glowing stars (out of 5).

SHORTER REVIEWS/SNIPPETS

“There isn’t a dull moment in the story, with the action starting from the first page.” — Jo Toon, Science Fiction & Fantasy Association of New Zealand (SFFANZ)

“It has been a while since I rated a book 5 stars for more than the fact that I liked the story… but I have to say Healer’s Touch was definitely a truly well earned 5.” — Miz Reader (Book Blogger).

“Deb E. Howell comes out swinging!” — Craves the Angst Book Blog

“Howell is only scratching the surface of her writing talents and worth watching as the series develops.” — Noor A. Jahangir

“Healer’s Touch brought very real, very wet tears to my eyes on several occasions, and this is one of the signs that let me distinguish between good authors and great authors. …I really felt this book.” — Hypervorean Book Blogger

“From the first chapter Llew grabs hold of your heart and you are there fighting with her.” — Eclipse Reviews

“…an epic fantasy adventure and is a tiny bit reminiscent of an Eddings book…” — Lost Inside The Covers Review Blog

“Healer’s Touch Delivers Transfusion of Originality to Fomulaic Fantasy Genre” — Author Dean Lombardo

“…a must read for all fantasy lovers especially those looking for a new slant on the genre.” — Amazon Review

An Excerpt from Healer’s Touch—

“Llew!”

He gathered her to him. So alive moments earlier, now limp. All he could see was blood. It covered her hands, soaked her shirt and pooled on the ground. He clasped her chin, turning her to him. The touch sent a tingle through his fingers even as more blood gushed from her open throat and he jerked his hand away, letting her head fall back. His eye was drawn by movement in the grass. One of Llew’s hands had fallen to the ground and the grass around it was dying in an ever increasing circle.

Jonas swallowed down his revulsion and dumped her unceremoniously on the ground, jumping to his feet. In a daze, he reclaimed his knives from the corpses, taking them to the water’s edge to clean with vigorous sweeps of his fingers down the blades. He berated himself for even toying with the idea of getting involved with her. What did he really know about her? He knew her name. And now he knew all he needed to know.

He wiped the half-clean blades on his thigh, sheathed them in his vest and drew the big knife at his hip. He cradled it in his hands, watching the moonlight fly off as he tilted it back and forth. There was one purpose to this knife’s existence: to kill the unkillable. And there was no safer time to make an attempt on the life of an Aenuk than when they were already half dead.

Jonas turned from the water. The meadow was now like a hayfield. Each blade of grass, each leaf of clover, each dandelion had given its all to provide but a tiny fraction of the energy – jin, as it was known in Turhmos – needed to bring a person back from near-death.

She lay unconscious, but her breathing was steady now. He had limited time to act. He crouched beside her, knife hovering over her back right where her heart should be, assuming Aenuks had a heart. But this was Llewella. She wasn’t like the Aenuks he had faced on the Turhmos killing fields. She wasn’t trained to fight, to continue to fight, and to take the enemy with her when she faced final death. She was merely a girl doing what she had to do to survive.

PURCHASE LINKS

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/323265

Amazon US (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DJE8NSK/

Amazon UK (Kindle): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Healers-Touch-ebook/dp/B00DJE8NSK/

House of Steel

Howdy folks,

Now normally I don't harp on much about the books that I read, but this is one that any budding Military Sci-fi writer should read.

It's called House of Steel: The Honorverse compendium.

This book is primarily for the fans of the books by David Weber, which I have can say proudly I am.

The first part is the story I Will Build My House of Steel, a superb story on King Roger III of Manticore from the days before he became King to the day Manticore received the news of Barnett being taken by Admiral Alexander. The story is superbly written and really enjoyable, telling of the military buildup of the Manticorian fleet and how they built such a technological advantage.

The next section is colour photographs of the flags, crests, insignia, ribbons, uniforms, rank insignia, patches and ships of both the Manticorian and Grayson Navies.

The next section is the Companion itself which has information on both the Star Empire and the Protectorate, Astrography of the nations, the history, the governments, the important people, all the armed forces including equipment and personalities.

The next section is the part I was most interested in it was Building a Navy in the Honorverse which is an explanation about how David Weber designed his fleets to define the structure of the organizations, designing the capabilities, mission, layout, how they are supported, how they are managed, from personnel, logistics, how the organization is funded and how all that is pulled together.

Next is the Frequently asked questions, none of which surprisingly enough I had.

The next part is all about BuNine themselves and the people involved.

I liked it, and would recommend it to fans of the Honorverse and Military Sci-fi writers.

Seasons of the Dead

Howdy folks,

As part of a Blog Tour group I've joined I'm bringing you details of the first book in the Tour.

It's called Seasons of the Dead and it's by a brilliant writer named Paul Freeman, those of you who have Strange Tales will have read The Map which was his short story in the anthology or you may have read his other release Tribesman, which I haven't read yet, but it's on my to read list, especially after reading his contribution to Strange Tales. This has been added as well, but as more books get added to the list every frickin day it might be a while.




I'm sure it will appeal to everyone who watches the Walking dead and loves Resident Evil (the games, not the movies cause they blow.)

 

So it begins!

 

 

Season Of The Dead, a zombie apocalypse book like you've never read before.

"It is said that unto everything there is a season...these are the stories of a group of survivors during the season of the dead."

Four individuals fight to survive as the zombie apocalypse crashes over the world in a wave of terror and destruction. Color, creed, and social standing mean nothing as the virus infects millions across the planet.

Sharon: a zoologist from Nebraska, USA, has worked with the virus, and has seen the effects on the human mind. She knows more about the virus than nearly anybody alive, and far more than she wants to. Gerry: from Ontario, Canada, he gets his first taste of the virus from inside a prison cell. Locked up after an anti-government riot, his prison guard transforms before his eyes into a flesh craving zombie. Lucia: a chemist from Pittsburgh, USA, flees from a furry convention dressed as a giant squirrel, and escapes from the city in a Fed-Ex van. She's a girl who knows when to run and when to fight. Paul: thinks he can sit out the apocalypse in his apartment block in Dublin, Ireland, until the virus comes to visit, bursting his bubble and leaving him with no choice but to face reality or perish.

All four begin perilous journeys in mind and body as they face daily trials to survive: Four threads, four different parts of the world, one apocalypse!


Amazon US

Amazon UK





Any how, if you can support this great writer in his second novel and if you like this you can find Tribesman on the Amazon sites too.

Kristell Ink Rafflecopter

By request of my friend and fellow geek Sammy HK Smith proprietor of Kristell Ink I'm posting this.

<a id="rc-5d5c321" class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/5d5c321/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
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Submit I tell you

Okay, it's been ten days since I last posted and I've submitted stories to two places that pay for submissions, and a horror Anthology Burial Day's Gothic Blue Book for 2013 and I've had one rejection back, but funny that it didn't really bother me at all for some reason, but I worked it out after some deep thought, I realized I really don't care where something get's published as long as it eventually does which has spurred my writing on just a little bit.

It might just be because I've only ever before submitted one piece for professional publishing before in Strange Tales from the Scriptorian Vaults which means I'm on a 50% for pro-publishing, I'm sure after dozens of rejections from all over the place I'll feel differently, what I'm wondering is, what if I don't give a even after that possoibility.

I have as big an ego as anyone and I like to know my writing is good or bad or in the middle but when i saw the rejection all I thought was, maybe the next person I submit the story to will like and if not maybe the next, it freaked me out a little that I wasn't freaked out by it. And when I submitted Mississipi Mayhem to Burial Days all I thought was on to the next one which you don't really need to worry about it cause it's half done already. It's only just when I've stopped and thought about it  started to worry where the hell was the guy who was worried sick about his submission to Strange Tales.

All in all I've come to one conclusion.

I'm just weird.

O'Hearn

There was a blog here that was written for the Military Sci-fi series main character I am writing but since I changed a whole lot of things about the story the story didn't actually fit in with the character and the path he was taking it just didn't work with the arc.

 

Writing, writing writing

So,

The first of the short stories first draft is done, there are three more on the list, yesterday I wrote a total of just under three and a half thousand words,just over two thousand words were on the Military Sci-fi book, working Title Running out of Space, because I suck at titles. This combined with everything else, made a very productive day.

Happy writer, and happy mind.

Been a While

Hey folks,

So it's been a while since I blogged, and I thought maybe I should about now.

My PC died it's final death after six years of use and the laptop died within a couple of weeks of that , not long before my back-up drive went caflooy with all my work gone, that which wasn't backed up in emails was gone, the whole second draft of Burn, Forest City, Burn which was a couple of chapters and fixes from completion, gone, the typing up of half a dozen other ideas, gone, dozens of short stories, gone, five years worth of research into various things, gone. So you can imagine I wasn't the most pleasant of people to be around for a couple of weeks until I had a new plan. Quite a bit of the writing was written down before it was typed up so all was not lost, but a hell of a lot was my usual off the cuff, fly by the seat of my boxers writing and that's all gone now, never to be seen again.

It took ages for them to figure out what was wrong with the Laptop and still aren't sure what is wrong with the bloody PC, I go the laptop back but still not replaced the PC yet, frankly I'm probably better off, I get more work done without the distractions, not able to play STO, LOTRO, Skyrim or Football Manager, that's a solid thirty hours a week that can be used towards doing other things. 

No PC meant no gaming, and it took me almost a month and a half to remember my Playstation 2 (Never bought a console from the last generation, never saw the point when most of the games on consoles are on PC anyway, the Xbox exclusives tend to come out on the PC a year later as well, so what's the point, and I like my keyboard and mouse controllers, much more flexible than a control pad). Still got about fifty games for it, with many classics like Prince of Persia, God of War, Hitman, Metal Gear Solid, Red Faction among others and the first game I play, Quidditch World Cup, I really don't know what's wrong with me sometimes, it's like I've got a compunction to do weird things. The next game I played was Masters of the Universe, which is an absolute classic (sarcasm), which I have no idea why I bought it. I think there was a 5 for £30 offer in Game at one point and I was stuck on the fifth game, I saw that and thought, I'll buy that.

That's enough of the past, currently using Dropbox for back ups, straight from the computer to the web, no more big ass usb external drive, no more fucking about with the little USB drives and if a computer dies, just install Dropbox on another 'puter and walla me files are all there. Also easily shared with the people that are alpha readers of my work.

Still can't even look at Burn at the moment, every time I try I just want to curl up into the fetal position and cry, fortunately a lot of the work was hand written and I know what needs taken out and where things need work, it's just doing it is the issue.

I'm working on a couple of other books at the moment, one a Military Sci-fi and the other an Epic Fantasy at the same time I'm got invited to do another submission for another Kristell Ink Charity anthology, this time based around the gods of Olympus, got a tailor made main character for that :). In addition, I've decided to write a whole load of submissions for magazines and anthologies of Sci-fi and Fantasy, which means the next six months are going to be a tad on the hectic side.

I'm also working on the rules systems for a space combat game for my military Sci-fi book series and a wargame for me epic fantasy series. It's hard, but I thought, I've been playing the games for twenty odd years I ought to be able to through together a couple of sets of rules, cross marketing them with the books when they get released. (I know most of the time I'm a pessimistic old codger, but with the writing I don't get pessimistic, even if sometimes the writing is pessimistic).

Oh, yeah, Star Trek: Into Darkness is fuckin awesome, as is Man of Steel, if you haven't seen either of them go see them, I don't know where the critics got the average ratings they've been giving Man of Steel, so it messes with the origin story a little, I think it was smart the way they've done it. Even if you are a Trekkie that hates the idea of the alt Universe, you must see Into Darkness, while it is not as good as Wrath (But come on, how could you better Wrath of Khan) but still an awesome movie with plenty of call backs to the old movies.

Anyway, that's going to be me for this post.

See ya.

Hello folks

Howdy folks,

Been while since I've posted, so lets get an update for you, my computer went ballistic on me, as in total fuckin Armageddon of the system, so haven't been PC gaming at all in almost six weeks, been using this netbook that I'm using to write this.

This is due to the fact that I realized that i spent far too much time gaming and if I can't game then I won't, though I still watch far too much TV for my own good. So, basically, I still fart about with too much time spent watching downloaded TV but I write more than I had been.

Netbooks suck ass though, they are waaaaayyyyyyy too small and waaaaaaayyyyyyy too slow, which is why I have my keyboard and mouse plugged into this thing and don't try and do too much at the same time.

Anyway, hoping to have some short stories up soon, and will update on status of Burn when I have any updates.

Cheers

David

It's ma Birthday

Yes, today I turn 30, and unlike most people I'm sure would do, I'm not going to look back at my life so far with nostalgia, I have plenty of that when I bump into old workmates or friends that I haven't seen in ages, and I get nudged towards the nearest decent pub for a quick drink and a blether before they have to go meet their significant other or get their sprogs. Me on the other hand, I just go to my pub, the pub that I tend to end up in even if I've been elsewhere in Glasgow on a night out, Rufus T. Firefly, my spiritual home, where half of my best writing is conducted, while heavily under the influence of Pints of Strongbow Cider or very occasionally double vodkas.

No, today I am looking to the future, and hopefully by the time I hit 31 being on my way to publishing Burn, Forest City, Burn, (since I haven't bothered my ringhole doing any editing, because I've been busy on other stuff, in the past four weeks, I really have to get on that) or one of the other novels I'm in the midst of writing.

Also by that time maybe I'll have met my future wife, but I highly doubt that, you have to actually bother your arse chasing skirt to do that, something I can't really be arsed with. I'm as shit at it as I ever was, well maybe not as bad as I was when I was a spotty, bumbling 16 year-old with no clue about life, all I could talk about was Football, Ice Hockey and RPG's but at least now I have added several more topics to my repertoire, like more sports, different types of games, comics, fantasy and sci-fi in general, but also current affairs and by that not who the lastest media darling is dating, instead why on the Gods' green fuckin Earth would the Congress of the United States which in my opinion is filled with the biggest bunch of backwards, moronic, Right Wing Conservative and Bleeding Heart Liberals yahoos you could ever meet, would take two weeks off that would coincide with their fuckin government going broke

 Yes, I am a massive geek, so what, I'm also highly intelligent, just foul mouthed and never know when caution is the better part of valor, the number of jobs or units I've been removed from for saying far too much or bollocking the wrong person, is more than I can count on my fingers and toes.

All I want to do today is veg and booze, so I will bid you a good day

Bored

Yeah, so it's been a couple of weeks since the last post and I have been writing but I still have not even bothered editing Burn since I decided I'd have this round of edits done by my 30th which is on Wednesday, so I'm not holding my breath on that one. I've been working on other things, but also I've been reading a lot, mostly stuff that I've already read, re-read the Vatta's war books, and some others, but a few things for my friend who runs a publishing imprint, read some good stuff, some not so good stuff and some truly terribly written crap.

I've been re-reading the books by a guy called Clive Owen, former Bobby (that would be Police officer in Great Britain, not that it's so great), he wrote four books about Police and policing in the late 70's, and they are top of the drawer fan-fuckin-tastic, they are hilarious, at times a little disturbing but I read them and can see in the cops in the book cops I personally know, and pine for the good old days when crooks got what they deserved and got treated like the scum they are.

 Most people who know me know I'm a fairly liberally minded person but I come down on the fairly harsh side of law and order, scum should be treated that way, and should reap what they sow, but then we have had too many bleeding heart liberals campaigning on behalf of us all that say criminals are humans too and should have all the rights everyone else, WRONG, they are thieving, murdering, raping scum and thus they should be treated accordingly. But thanks to bleeding hearts we are in a position where Criminals live far better lives in prison, they get there TV's, there games consoles and their satellite TV and three square meals a day, so they commit crimes they go to back to the cushy life. I mean shit, there was a massive kick up by bleeding hearts in the last election how prisoners weren't getting to vote, nor fuckin should they, they're criminals, personally I think if you've been convicted of any crime that requires any jail time at all you shouldn't get to vote at all, no matter if you've done your probation, voting should be the right for behaving like a proper member of society your whole fuckin life but what the fuck do I know. 

Anyway, got off on a tangent there. So, Clive Owen's first book in the series is called Horse's Arse, read it, it's good. And I'm going to go do something else, like got to sleep maybe since it's after twenty past three in the am.

Interesting

Yeah, so, for the last say 12 hours, (yes, it's after 6 in the morning here) I've been working on nothing other than huge amounts of back story for My Military Sci-fi series (not got a name for it yet, as we all know I suck at titles) what I've been doing was firstly set up the way that the main character's Star Nation's Navy was set up, how each individual section of a fleet from a fleet all the way down to the lowest possible level, which is a huge amount of planning for me, and I actually enjoyed it even if I've just realised I screwed up with the other organizational chart I made up, for the particular section of the fleet that the main character is about to start serving with at the beginning of the book, but I've got every CO for every ship that I've set up so far, every flag officer for each of the fleets, but what's so interesting to me is that this has got me wanting to go forth with writing this despite the fact I've still got the next draft of Burn to finish (I left it alone to do this because part of it was doing my head in, I know the bit I was working on does work because I had the additions and the subtractions to make it work written down, but I can't find the damn pad that has it.

My normal thinking is write, write, write until I sparko from sleep deprivation, if I don't start seeing things and convince myself I've had conversations with people I haven't, one time I was convinced a week had gone by, this is after 4 days of no sleep working on a project that I should have had finished weeks before I did, that was funny, but I have taken a step back and allowed myself to digest everything, that I'm doing, I'm adding character that otherwise, if I just wrote as I always do, wouldn't be there. Don't get me wrong, every single named character I write, even if they're barely in a page of text, all feel real, but this makes the whole world feel more real, and it's weird.

If this seems rather rambling, I've been up since half five Tuesday afternoon, so it's fairly sure to say that I'm a bit tired.

Progress report #1

So, after yesterday's vehement rant I thought I would return to sanity for a little bit and give you all a low down on what's been happening as it comes to my writing.

You may have read a couple of the posts with short stories, and seen a couple of new ideas for characters, but a couple of the characters I've been working on I haven't written short stories for.

I'm of course working on the newest draft of Burn, Forest City, Burn, adding new bits and losing crap bits, once I'm done what I've got down on paper into the computer, I'll have probably added just under ten thousand words and only taken away three or four, leaving it in the 70k range. The original story I felt concentrated too heavily on the good guys without really fleshing out the dark side of magic in the Magi universe.

When I need time away from Gabriel and co but on the same block as them, I've been working on a series called Daemonhunters surrounding the escapades of Maximus Kane, a Daemonhunter, specialist wizard and his sidekick Sarah Bardot, human Cop in the city of Omaha. They're fun characters to write, because they are easy to write, in my mainstay sub-genre of Urban fantasy, so different from Gabriel and co.

Also been working on some Military Sci-fi when I need a break from the fantasy genre, it's still in the same universe as Burn, but ten thousand years later when the human race has reached for the stars and expanded across the Milky way galaxy, befriending, enslaving and decimating alien worlds as we have gone along, and what was once a United Earth has been split asunder by warlords and politicians. Main character is a Naval officer who has many adventures. I'll get around to a short story for it eventually but now it's just something to jump to when not working on other things.

  Lastly when I want to get a little bit more realistic (though it's me, if I tried to do something without a little fantastical fun it would be weird) I've been working on a comic book hero, who I eventually want to write the script for comics but right now I'm doing an origin story novella, and a series of short stories, when I'm done with the first short story I'll be posting it up here. As a huge fan of the comic book medium, but with absolutely fuck all ability to draw, paint or sketch, I'm pretty much screwed when it comes to comic books, so I'm writing what I am. It is really good fun, the character is kind of a cross between Cyborg and Batman, with a little Slade Wilson thrown in for good measure (Yes, DC characters, I know so unlike me to be dropping the DC).

So, hopefully I can finish this draft of Burn by the time my 30th comes along, that's twenty-six days away, if I don't quiet make it I'm sure I'll hit it there abouts, once that's done I can concentrate on something else while it's away, waiting with anticipation for the return.

Rant time

Evenin folks,

It's time for another patented (pun intended) rant from your friendly neighborhood crazy.

A friend of mine posted this on facebook and I became fairly annoyed because of it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21380003

This is a pretty much a fuck you to the company Games Workshop, so anyone reading this from the company, try threatening me with legal action, go the fuck ahead, you can suck my balls, it's called freedom of speech assholes.

As a former player of Games Workshop games, former purchaser of your products, if find it a joke. You screw anyone who buys your products with over priced figures and games, there are plenty of 28mm producers who price their products far lower than yours and yet they are much smaller than you, don't see how you justify that same as I don't see how you justify screwing someone who is just trying to make money to do what they love doing and make some money from it, the Trademark on Space marines is meant to protect the Space Marines from being copied by others for profit, but I find it funny when you have Quake, Timesplitters, Halo, Dead Space, Mass Effect and Starcraft, which as we all know is a thinly veiled 40k knock off, you haven't sued Eidos, EA, Blizzard or Microsoft for using the Space marines in their games, it's because you are afraid that if you did you would get laughed out of court, but you sue someone who would have absolutely no way of fighting you because they don't have the money to do it back doors the term becoming IP of Games Workshop. It's not only despicable, it's downright corrupt, but then I'm not surprised by that coming from the Evil Empire of Wargaming.

I've got two words for that.

FUCK YOU.

As a Science fiction and Fantasy writer I find it absolutely appalling that you are trying to co-opt a term that has been used in Science Fiction for over eighty years, considering you assholes got the idea from Traveller and Laserburn, so my Space Marines from my Military Sci-fi series become unusable, I don't think so assholes, and you can go ahead if/and when I publish it to try and sue me, take me to court all you like, I live in the UK and oh, yeah, we have a little thing called Legal Aid, so the kind of thing that works against Americans that can't afford it doesn't happen here.

In short, FUCK YOU, you greedy, thieving assholes.

Saturday Night Blogging (part 2)

Part 1 closely followed by part 2. This is a story that has been edited a couple of times, various bits added and subtracted until I was happy with the end product because when I looked at it until that last time it just felt it wasn't right.

I felt after what I've been doing and talking about today that two examples of different ways I write, the first totally unplanned, unedited, uncut, this was submitted to a short story thread on a writing website after it had been edited a couple of times were appropriate for me to share.

Now a little of the back story of Gabriel and Susie's reality has changed since I finished this story, but I haven't edited that because it's fiction and fiction is fluid, when it get's published in a book then it'll get fixed, but now it's just this a case of this is something I've written, enjoy it and let me know what you think, this story is only about a thousand words.

Fury of the Ages

 

 

Gabriel of Alba’s fist met flesh and the Sorceror rocked back. The Gabriel grabbed his opponent by his collar and landed a headbutt upon the foul dark magic user’s nose. Blood and cartiledge exploded from and he ducked down. The War Master of the Magi’s free fist met the recidivist’s neck and smashed his spine.

His partner Susie Owens, Wizard of the Sydrian School, fought her opponenets Magic for Magic, shields being pummled with spell after spell. She faced three Priory members at once and was just about holding her own, when a lightning bolt shot from Gabriel’s hand and exploded two of the dark magic shields.

His own shield was being peppered with spells as he stalked towards the Mistress of the Priory, her people and the Daemon’s that they had conjured using the life force of a Magi child protecting her like a living shield.

He caught two of the Priory by their coat tails as they tried to flee from him, his own hand wreathed in flames and sparks igniting the cotton of the men’s coats. He knocked the men clean out so they were incinerated by the flames enveloping them.

Gabriel refused to allow the remaining children of his people to die at the hands of these soulless wretches share that first boy’s fate. Lightning bolts and fireballs flew from his hand as Priory member after Priory member fell to his fury.

The Mistress saw the fire in his eyes, white hot and filled with the fury of the light. She directed the half-ton eight foot, almost reptilian, Cordisangui daemons to either kill him or at least weaken the furious War Master.

A feral roar issued from his mouth, almost like the roar of a lion, as a double headed axe, wreathed in white flame appeared in his hand, for him to swing at the first Daemon that came into reach.

He bisected the daemon, groin to head, and then sliced the next in two, he beheaded a third and transected a fourth, each with a single stroke of the weapon.

“I am Gabriel, Son of Galdanis and Shiona, War Master and Warrior of the People. I am Death Incarnate.” He bellowed at the top of his lungs in the Warrior tongue of the Magi

His axe clove left and right, taking arms, legs and heads from human and Daemon alike. Susie had dispatched the last of the three Priory members in her path to the children, slamming him into a wall with a sickening thump. She unshackled them, but they all stared in awe of the de facto leader of their people.

The Magi War Master was like an engine who wouldn’t stop. Lightening bolts, fireballs and shards of ice flew from his free hand as the axe took apart yet more of the Priory.

He reached the Priory mistress and grabbed her by the throat, his eyes had changed into those of pure white light, and his accent was no longer that of a man born and bred in Glasgow, she had never heard the accent before.

“I am here to serve justice for the life you have taken and those that you would end.” He told the Priory Mistress who’s eyes were full of fear. “I name thee Omnino diabolus incarnatus inredux by the ancient laws of the Magical world, I cast your rotten soul back to your Dark Masters in hell.”

With a single twinge of his wrist he snapped her neck and threw her lifeless corpse to the ground, then launched the axe with eery accuracy so it decapitated the last of the remaining Cordisangui daemons.

His hands dropped, along with his head, then were lifted up to the sky and a bolt of lightning struck him. Using his body as a conduit it began forking into every living member of the Priory, electrocuting them on the spot.

Another roar issued from his open maw, the power surged through the body of the War Master and it would be awe inspiring if Susie wasn’t sure that he was no longer in control of it. She ducked and dived in order to avoid the forks as they continued to keep aloft the desiccated and charred remains of the Priory.

She reached him and tried to shake him to awareness.

“Gabriel, stop it you are going to die if you don’t stop it.” She said, almost crying at him, she realised she wasn’t getting through with his own name. “Michael, Stephen, Liam, Angus, Shaemus…”

She continued on using the names of his ancestors until she reached back almost a million years. His eyes returned to their normal colour.

“How long?” Gabriel asked her, sagging and almost falling to his knees, his voice back to normal. “How long Susie?”

“Almost before Pythia.” She replied with a concerned look on her face. “It’s getting worse Gabriel, I don’t know if I can pull you back if you push before Pythia.”

“Don’t worry,” he said with a tight smile. “You will, at least the children are safe.”

“You are far too important to let yourself lose control like that. You must not let it happen again, you are magic’s future.” She said with a wet growl, she was almost sobbing.

“No, my dearest friend Susie,” he replied with a smile, holding her tightly, and pointing to the children. “They are the future of magic, I am but a conduit for that future to spring forth and I always was.”

“They Prophecies…” He interupted her with a hand.

“The Prophecies are vague and inexact, in due time I will fulfil them and you will see just how vague.” He let her go and walked towards the children. “Come let’s return these lucky ones to their parents and break the news to the ones who are lost, may they rest in the embrace of the Great Father and Mother until it is their time to walk the world again.”