Descriptions & Time Capsules

It's been a quiet bit of time on this blog, nearly a year, but for good reasons. I've been busier than usual and reflections and expansions of the written sort have taken a back seat.

So let's catch up on some news, eh? I have two new stories out! One is my typical fantasy fare, good stuff and I'm proud of it. The other is a piece of realistic fiction. Also good, and also proud of it. You can find both stories in the Time Capsule anthology released by Wolfsinger Publications.

The first recent story is called How the Wish was Won. It was based on a selection of time capsule contents. While there is no one single protagonist, there is a brave and gallant knight, a possessed soldier, an unpossessed soldier, a mysterious underground creature, and a woman of the woods, along with some elvish lore and an ancient outpost in the deep forest.
Here is an excerpt:

Five seekers quested for their Heart’s Desire. One from the east, one from the west, and two from the south.
The fifth seeker, you ask? No cardinal direction guided its way. Its dark path twisted and turned in the unlit underground. And yet it too quested, the same as the others.

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The whole idea of hiding something away fascinates me, especially with the recent find of not one but two time capsules beneath a civil war statue scheduled for movement elsewhere. Time changes, changes more than anyone can predict. The stories hidden inside this anthology were written with this idea in mind, that things change over time. Authors were given lists of time capsule contents to choose from, with no clues as to why the items were originally sequestered. With a list and nothing else, they came up with fantastic stories that bear a tangential tie with the original depositors, as discovered by the notes from the capsule content authors at the end of the story.
For those who wish a peek behind the writing curtain, my two stories evolved in very different ways. For How the Wish was Won, I ran the story by a few readers, including my youngest daughter. An interesting note is that all readers so far have come away with a different idea of the ending! What will you find when you buy it?

Here is another sneak peak at How the Wish was Won:

Sanders and Palmer dug into the black earth, occasionally stopping to vomit. The ground came away in shovelfuls. The men looked at each other with insane glee. They would find the treasure!
With a wounded retch of rotted roots, the earth caved in, throwing them into a hollow nestled among the roots of the trunk.
“What in God’s name?”
They coughed and hacked as the air cleared. By the sunlight they noticed a small tunnel leading away.
“Drag marks. Look. Someone got here first.”

My second story in the anthology is The Importance of Things, a piece of realistic fiction. Unlike the first story, this one came fast and furious. Deadlines are great at inspiring lazy writers and Carol Hightshoe is a wonderful motivator! Although not fully noted in the story, it is located in a particular place within the continental United States, and I hope readers from the area will recognize it. The people at the heart of the story are not real though. They are, like most literary inventions, fictitious blends of various characters I've been or have had the misfortune and/or good grace to stumble across. I hope I did them justice.
Here is a sneak peak at The Importance of Things:

“Daddy found it in the backyard.”
“Yes, well. That’s where I buried it. Forgot about it back there.”
They both stared at it.
“What is it?”
“It is a time capsule.”
“Time? Like a clock?”
“Don’t they teach you nothing in schools these days?”
“I’m only in second grade,” Tommy said with a pout.
“No excuse.” His voice held an edge. Tommy cringed, but Grandpa Tom only ruffled his red hair.

What did Grandpa Tom bury in the backyard? Buy the e-book and find out! You can find both stories in the Time Capsule anthology released by Wolfsinger Publications. Other authors in the anthology include Deby Fredericks, John Lance, Dana Bell, and Ryan Kinkor.





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Never have I read a more accurate description:

"One woman makes a din, two women a lot of trouble, three an annual market, four a quarrel, five an army, and against six the Devil himself has no weapon."

Mad Griet, from the Flemish. Must use this somewhere in my writing.

Fantasy story set in French Colonial Era

26 DEC 2018

As this year comes to a close, I find myself working on a new short story. The impetus came from an anthology call, titled Coffins & Dragons. It got me to thinking about all sorts of possibilities. And then when it came time to set the story somewhere, I decided to set it in an alternative French Colonial setting. Right here in Louisiana! Below is what I have so far. I'm sure it will change so much as to be unrecognizable by the time it gets printed. Enjoy:

Storms 

“What are we to do, Thomas? Father was due back two months ago and the storms are coming.”

“We’ll think of something.” A southern wind blew through the remains of Thomas’ hair.

“How will we defend the colony? We cannot head south. The Robber is there…”

“I’ll think of something…”

Thomas has a problem. Well, two problems really. A dragon who raids from the northwest and vampires to the south. His father had not returned from a trip to get aid for the colony. The storms were forming to the west, and that meant the dragon would soon be coming to hunt. What was he to do? Would this be the end of the colony in Louisiane?

The dragon attacks were nothing new. They had been going on since the very founding of the colony. Some years the dragon did not come, but when he did it was always on the leading edge of the warm summer storms. Last two years had been dragon-free. The dragon had never been absent three years in a row. He would be coming soon with his fiery breath and hunger for livestock. No doubt about that. The colonists used to head downriver and hide in the swampy bayous under the huge cypress trees, but that was not an option anymore because the vampires in the south were growing in strength and numbers.

The greatest threat from the south is known throughout the colony as the Robber of Life, though his real title is René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, late of the first rulers of Louisiane. When he was alive, René was the first explorer of the region, coming down from the north to claim the land for King Louis. He settled at a bend in the mighty Colbert River, now called the Mississippi. For the next several decades his people, the French, ruled the newly-founded Louisiane.

Under French rule, the colony suffered through many trials and tribulations: devastating diseases like Yellow Fever, floods, neglect from their European-based rulers, attacks from the natives, and the occasional raids from the dragon that came from the West with the summer storms. Rene died one year while trying to return to the colony with supplies.

After his death, the colony was taken over by the French brothers Iberville and Bienville. The colony tried to hang on through all the problems, but one self-inflicted issue the early pioneers could not abide was the loss of the few young ladies of the colony. There weren’t many Frenchwomen to begin with, and the ones that were there were not the greatest stock, being women of ill repute forced to come to the colonies. The women started to disappear in greater numbers than expected. The colony might not survive their loss.

The only bright spot during this time was the French brothers were able to stave off the dragon’s attacks. This made the colonists happy and they worked hard to keep the colony alive. But then the source of the brothers’ abilities came out: they were using the blood of the missing women to protect the colony. This was magic of the New World.

The people rose up and overthrew their bloodthirsty rulers.

The Brothers Bienville and Iberville had mastered magical secrets of the new continent and they were able to fly forth from the castle and continue their evil experiments from the comfort of the swamps south of the colony, further down the Mighty Mississippi.

There they strengthened their alliance with the bloodthirsty swamp natives, the cannibalistic Atakapa, and in return their powers were increased further and they were granted the secrets of the re-risen. Their first true test of their new power was the raising of the first explorer, René Robert Cavelier, and his assistant Henri de Tonti, the Iron Hand. Their return marked an increase in French power again in the region. But the colonists were afraid and stayed away from the southern swamps.

From that moment on, the colony was truly on its own. The French King across the sea did not want to waste any more money or people on a rebellious colony with so many problems, especially one where the dead came back to life.

Thomas’ people [Spanish?] took over the colony.

The colony’s largest problem was now they had no defense against the storm dragon. How would they survive his next visit?

When the winds shift and come from the south, the people worry about the vampires coming from the south instead. Basically, the people of Louisiane feared winds from any direction. And when the winds blew from both directions, well, that’s when the worst storms blew and all colonists stayed inside and took shelter from the storms powerful enough to blow houses down.

Picture for today is an old old map of the Gulf coast...

Ice Pirates

03 July 17: I'm working on a pirate story this week. It's set to either go into an anthology later this year or be my first solo publishing attempt. 

Part of the behind the scenes writing stuff I want to share today is character creation. But first a little bit about how I write. My stories are organic. What I mean by that is I don't start out with what story I want to write, but instead I let it develop from an idea and I go from there. 

For this story I started with a prompt from the Fantasy Writers group on Facebook, who has released anthologies in the past and has produced some good writers already. The prompt was demons and winter. Well, I have already written a winter tale for a seasonal anthology, no demons in it though. So I had an idea for a story about the Ice Pirates, a group in my world I am building who live in the North and come down to hunt sometimes. No, not Vikings, but yeah, something like that. In winter. 

So the kernel of my idea was based on some writing I did a few days ago, about how assassins traveled to the New Lands, smuggled as fabric and furniture aboard ships. I started writing about a ship, making the long voyage across the ocean and they get attacked by pirates!

But wait, that doesn't happen yet. It's still a nice sea voyage.

Then the Ice Pirates attack! And there's an obnoxious passenger, who was promised the ship would not encounter any pirates. 
I can't forget the demons though, from the prompt. 
There may be a little Princess Bride influence there as well.

Okay, back to character creation. I needed a strong captain and an even stronger first mate. The captain was easy, had loads of captains in my military career. He's good. But the first mate was a little harder. I tried to give him a good name. Sea Dog Sam. Don't ask who I based him on, he's a mix of this fellow and that. From there he blossomed into a guy who might have been an Ice Pirate on previous voyages. From there he became an integral part of the plot once I brought along the demons. And then there's Cheeks, the ship's load master, and a few other sailors. Right now I am still working on the demons themselves. Nasty bunch they are, real evil. I think the Ice Pirates might be the good guys in the story after all.  


EDIT: Favorite line written recently for this story: 

Over the next few hours the crew of the Breaker ran her as fast as she could go, leaving mists behind them like ink squirting from a squid. 

Any favorite lines from anyone else writing?
Happy Writing to my writers out there and Happy Reading to everyone! 

New Short Story - The Legacy

I have a new short story released out into the wild! Woot Woot!

You can get it now for 25% off over at www.createspace.com/7040219

Enter in the discount code: 9HW5GHYR to receive a 25% discount on purchases. This code is valid for this month ONLY!

My wife Cheryl Toner has a story in the anthology also. Hers is a murder mystery, a murder most foul, in the Pentagon of all places! All the tales in the anthology revolve around or take place during the winter.

My story is called The Legacy, and deals with what happens when an ancient witch, the eldest of five magical sisters, dies. Here's a taste:

“Well, that’s it then.” Destra said as they helped each other get back on their feet. She was always the practical one. She hugged her stomach and hung her head, still shivering. “Anna’s gone.”

Twilight was soon replaced by the stars and coruscating colors of the northern lights. The three old witches shuffled back indoors. Anna and her would-be rescuer never surfaced.

The arctic air grew colder by the second. A keening noise ran away, out into the darkening and was joined by wolves howling deep and long in the night. That sad susurration traveled far and wide through all the lands. Those who were able to hear the Death Knell knew what it signified. The eldest had passed. The entire family would mourn tonight.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go buy it!

And feel free to share this post shamelessly across all social media platforms my homies! lol

Picture today is of a woman dying, and much like in my story, she is releasing something as her last act, something precious flying its way to her eldest son. His legacy.