Category Archives: dragons

Looking Behind and Looking Ahead

by
megrad2

Graduation from SPC on May 4, 2013

I have not made a post in quite some time. I apologize. When you’re a college student/author/publisher/editor/part-time employee it’s hard to find time to blog.  I am enjoying a nice summer break, though, so I hope to be able to catch up on my posts.

First, let me catch you up on the recent past. After a grueling spring term, I graduated from St. Petersburg College with my Associates of Arts degree on May 4th. It may not seem like a very significant accomplishment to some folks, but it means the world to me. I am an older student (47…not afraid to say it) who was told in high school by a guidance counselor not to waste my time with college. I wish he could have been there as I not only proved that it wasn’t a waste, I did so by graduating summa cum laude with a 3.95 G.P.A. and by being a finalist for one of SPC’s most prestigious academic honors, the Apollo Award. I didn’t win, and that doesn’t matter. Just to be considered for it is a huge accomplishment that will no doubt have a lasting effect on my life.

Ahead lies my goal for a BA in English Literature. I’ve chosen to remain in this area and transfer to the University of South Florida—St. Petersburg campus. I’m not quite ready to move out of Tampa Bay or Florida yet. The St. Pete campus of USF is gorgeous. It sits right on Tampa Bay with lovely water views from nearly every building. I’m looking forward to starting my classes in the fall…one of which includes a literature class on the occult. Hell yes!

Now for the present and future of other aspects of my life.

This summer while I am off I have many goals. Here are a few.

  • Employment. I lost my student job at SPC, so I’ve been working on updating the resume and creating a portfolio. I hope to use it to land my next job.
  • Writing. I have lots of writing goals for this summer.
    • More Blog Posts. That’s a priority. Need to get back into writing more frequent updates and doing the writing prompts again.
    • Parker’s Pygmalion. I’ve decided to upload my Phi Theta Kappa award-winning short story to Smashwords as a free e-book. I have to start doing this indie thing soon anyway, and this is a good story to start with. If it works out, I will likely add it to Kindle on Amazon as well.
    • Kill the Crow. I’ve begun putting the stories into one document. I still need to finish writing and editing a few of the tales for the book, and get it formatted for publishing. Once  that’s done, I will upload it to Amazon…maybe Smashwords again, too.
    • Quellseek: Army of Empaths. I have people who will murder me if I don’t finish this novel,  so I’m working on it. The biggest problem I’m encountering is that the plot bunnies have tortured me with another great idea, one which I’ve started the research on already.
    • The Dragon Siblings. See above. I’ve got Phandara and T’kanyae (a.k.a. Kane Anthony) Morphyrades story starting in my head and I’ve begun a research project on it involving (fictional and real) sorcery and alchemy.  I don’t even have a title for this yet and have no clue about the scope of it, because Quellseek and that series MUST come first. The tale of Rafael Errick, Emory Atarem, Marta Sanis, Alverin Ness, and Wellynd Niles/Well-and-Truly must be brought to a close and that could take 2-3 years to tell it all. The Dragons will happen at some point, though. They’ve sort of already happened in some pre-cursor/same multiverse short stories.
  • Publishing and Editing. 
    • The Were-Traveler. Yes, I also edit and publish a speculative fiction magazine. It’s a rewarding venture I dove into like a madwoman and for the moment I’m enjoying it. Not quite ready to give it up yet. I recently posted the descriptions for up-and-coming issue themes. I’m looking forward to some of the upcoming themes. I may have to pen something myself for the Lovecraft/Poe issue. So tempting.

Life is going to be a challenge for me once school starts again in August. I have decided to attend USF full-time, which means I will have even less time for the other parts of my life than I do now.

Going to do as much this summer as possible…got to get it while the gettin’s good.

2013: Adaptations

by
© Redshinestudio - Fotolia.com

© Redshinestudio – Fotolia.com

Here we are, this year coming to a close and staring down the barrel of a new one.

2012 was a great year. Many good things happened. I won some awards both for academics and for writing. I didn’t publish as many short stories, but I feel like the ones I did publish were better stories. I got paid for my first story, Nowhere Land, and that story got some great reviews. I had my first reprint: my story The ABCs of the Apocalypse was reprinted in The Best of Friday Flash, Volume 2. I had a vampire story, The Bloodletter’s Tale, published in the Flashes in the Dark e-zine. I have a story called The Apprentice’s Mother, being published in the Sunday Snaps anthology soon.

I ventured into journalism, writing a story for the school online newspaper about President Obama’s visit to one of our campuses.

I was nominated by my school for the All Florida Academic Team. I had a short story win two academic awards.

I did not do everything I planned to do in 2012. I’m still working on getting my book of short stories finished and out there in the world.

That being said, my list for 2013 contains some items of old business.

There are also some major changes in store for me in 2013, some life adaptations that I’ll be making. But as a friend of mine, Sophie Solitaire once told me: “You have to adapt or you will die.” Sophie is a character in my post-apocalyptic story Sophie Solitaire: Confessions of an End-Time Girl. 

2013 Goals:

Writing/Publishing Goals:

Kill the Crow – Get the stories that are going in it finished, get them all assembled in anthology format and find beta readers for the book. Find out how I can publish to both Smashwords and Amazon. If anyone reading this can help me with beta reading or publishing suggestions, please comment. I need all the help I can get.

Quellseek: Army of Empaths, Book 1 – This is the novel I started for NaNoWriMo this year. I want to finish it and let it sit for a bit before I start editing. I’ve also begun note-taking and planning the second book of the series: Blood War. 

Blood War: Army of Empaths, Book 2 – The second book of Army of Empaths. I won’t give too much away, but Quellseek ends with some cliffhanger stuff. I want to start work on Blood War right way, while the momentum and juices are still hot and flowing.

Army of Empaths, Book 3 – I want to begin planning what’s going to happen in the 3rd book while I’m writing the 2nd book, taking notes as I go along on anything that might be a loose end that would need wrapping up. We don’t like loose ends.

Short stories  — I’d like to get some short stories written, I don’t know if I’ll have time. If I get invited to write another eMergent story, I’d definitely say ‘yes.’ I love working with Jodi Cleghorn and the eMergent crew.

I’m also planning a children’s fantasy about a dragon princess, but it’s just in the beginning/tinkering stages right now. And I’m playing with the idea of putting  a volume of poetry together.

The Were-Travler — My first year as a fiction magazine publisher went pretty smoothly. Ever since the mag was listed on Duotropes, the submissions have been pouring in. It may be that I’ll need someone to help me with it eventually, but I’m having a lot of fun with it and definitely plan to keep it going.

Academic Goals:

Find a new school. In May, I will receive my Associates degree. I need to make up my mind about what university I’m going to attend to get my Bachelors. I need to make this decision soon. It hasn’t been easy. I’ve applied for some scholarships, we’ll see what happens. 

Awards. I’m trying to get another short story ready for Phi Theta Kappa Regional Awards for this year. I’m also entering a poem.

Survive Spanish 2. I need to pass this class in the Spring. It will count toward my BA. I haven’t been able to practice my Spanish much since I took Spanish 1 in the summer, so this will be hard. I may have to get a tutor. :(

This is what I hope to accomplish for 2013. If I can achieve a fraction of it, I’ll be happy.

I wish everyone a successful and happy new year ahead!

Series-ously: My Best Reads of 2012

by

kitty readerI gave myself a reading challenge with Goodreads this year. I set a goal of reading 50 books (that’s 1.04 books per week). Even though that was a daunting figure, and I did not succeed, I did manage to read 43 books! Only 7 short of 50, and the year is not over yet. I plan to challenge myself to the same goal in 2013.

Some of the best reads I’ve had in 2012 (most of which have been series):

  • A Song of Ice and Fire Series, by George R.R. Martin.
    • Series-ously, these books are freaking fantastic! Like Tolkien for grown-ups. Sex, war, dragons and these strange creatures called the Others that create zombies out of the dead. So good it’s an HBO miniseries. Can it be more awesome? Oh, and there’s a wise-cracking noble dwarf. So good, I’m in the process of reading them all again. And this time, not from the library, but spending my own bucks on them. That should tell you how good I think these books are. Here’s a listing of the books in their proper reading order, though I warn you, if you haven’t read the books, you WILL become hopelessly addicted. Hopelessly. Did I mention the dwarf? Tyrion Lannister is the coolest wine-swilling, whore-mongering dwarf ever!
  • We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson
    • I always include a healthy helping of classic reading in my intellectual diet and this book is one of the best classic gothic scary stories I’ve consumed in quite awhile, with one of the scariest protagonists. Jackson’s writing is superb, and if you’re a writer, you should read her just as a study of the craft, never mind the enjoyment you’re sure to receive in her exquisite storytelling. But I’ve been a fan of her work for awhile.
  • Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine #1), by Ransom Riggs
    • A fantasy that contains all of my favorite elements (except dragons). Creepy kids with supernatural powers, a hero discovering himself, horrifying monsters, and time travel. There is also the fact that the author scoured the world for weird photographs and then wrote this strange and surreal novel around those photographs. It’s a favorite of Tim Burton, who is considering making a film of it.
  • The Hunger Games Trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
    • This is my top post-apocalyptic series of the year it beats out the one following just by a hair, mainly because the hero in it is a girl. I like strong female characters and Katniss Everdeen is one of my favorites. The fact that she’s not perfect and seems to become more emotionally scarred as the series progresses only makes me love her more, because the struggle she endures makes her stronger, and more sure of herself in the end. Here is the reading order for those who haven’t indulged in the Games:
  • The Chaos Walking Trilogy, by Patrick Ness
    • I loved the premise of this series. Mankind has journeyed to other planets. A religious group founds a planet where they can escape the craziness of the technological world they came from, live in peace, and get back to the basics in life: farming, worshipping, living simply and purely. Sound idyllic? Think again. Due to the Noise Germ, animal thoughts can be heard aloud…and so can men’s thoughts. But not women’s thoughts. This leads to mistrust between the sexes and eventually war, war against each other and against the indigenous species known as the Spackle. Interesting and sometimes infuriating to read (the POV character is the illiterate boy hero and Ness writes in his voice, complete with spelling and grammar faux pas that normally would send me into fits, but somehow seems right in this book). Also has one of the most despised villains I have had the joy of hating in awhile (Mayor Prentiss—he’s even more despicable than Cersei Lannister and would even give good ‘ol King Joff a run for his money, too). This series is also being considered for a film. The reading order:
  • Temeraire Series, by Naomi Novik
  • Anathem, by Neil Stephenson
    • This book is not for everyone. It’s a hard science fiction book that takes place on another world, but a world that shares similarities with Earth. They have convents (on this world called ‘concents’) but the monks are not the religious. They are the scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers. Secreted away and kept a close watch on by Warden Regulants and the Inquisition. The story is told through the first person point-of-view of one of the ‘avout,’ a young man named Erasmus who is with the astronomy branch of the order, the Edharians. When Fraa Erasmus’ superior, Fraa Orlo sees something strange in the night sky, Erasmus’ sheltered life comes to an end. There is a spaceship from another world orbiting Arbre, and soon Erasmus and his friends will play a pivotal role in dealing with the alien visitors to their world. I really dug this book. I dig science and I kind of dig math, and those bits are good, but I really enjoyed some of the philosophical interactions between the fraa’s and suur’s (female members of the avout). The “nerve-gas farting pink dragon” scene where Erasmus gets “planed” by his mentor is hysterically intellectual. My brain thanked me for reading this book! Stephenson demonstrates spectacular world-building skills. I totally believe in the possibility that an Arbe-like planet could exist out there. And if it does, it may well be the Hylean Theoric World.
  • Must Love Dragons, by Monica Marier
    • Last, but never least. I love to read Indie authors, and Monica is one of my favorites. I’m not saying that because she’s an online buddy of mine, I’m saying it because she writes some kick-ass stories. Monica takes fantasy elements and blends them like an artist. Like Dali, all funky and stuff. Toss in humor and adventure and you’ve got Must Love Dragons. The hero of the tale is a Ranger named Linus Weedwhacker (hows that for a name?), a half human/half elf who has gone back to work because his wife (a feisty red dragoness) is pregnant. Again. Linus gets caught up in a caper that involves killing an ice dragon. His Ranger co-workers on the quest are an elf, two spoiled elf kids, and a giant man who is more than he appears to be. I wrote a review of this book earlier in the year. I’m currently reading the second book in her Linus Weedwhacker series, Runs in Good Condition, and her Madame Bluestocking’s Pennyhorrid is on my To-Read list for 2013.

I wish you great reading joy in 2013!

Lucky Seven Meme Post

by

I was tagged on Facebook by Janet Lingel Aldrich for the Lucky Seven post. Here are the rules of the meme, according to Janet’s post:

1. Go to page 77 in your current manuscript
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next seven lines as they are – no cheating
4. Tag 7 other authors (Done on Facebook) (UPDATE: Tried to do on Facebook but they blocked me and wouldn’t let me post it. Sigh.) Anyway, I pick Jim Bronyaur, Donald Conrad, John Wiswell, Tomara Armstrong, Rebecca Besser, Rebecca Dobbie and Daniel Ritter (aka Reginald Golding). Will tweet you all the meme-goodness! Participation not required, but what the hell, eh?

My contribution is from my 2010 NaNoWriMo (a winner at 50k words, but not yet finished) The Mages of Morrow:

“Aye,” Ragan agreed. “We can try it. I’d like to see if it works, too. I’ve seen plenty of those old photon objects, like my knife…but I ‘aint never seen one that works. No one would mess with you if you had a weapon like that. Of course, a good blast on the highest setting would take care of our obstinate dragon, too.”

Tom grinned. “Ragan…if you power up this machine and it charges my photon packs, I’ll stick around…for a few days at least…to see if that dragon turns up. Then we’ll show it what for!”

NaNoReMo: Reviews of Frankenstein & The Book of Dragons

by

Get your paws on a good book!

I participated in this NaNoReMo (National Novel Reading Month) thing where a bunch of us writers read some classic books for the month of January, a great idea that writer John Wiswell came up with.

I decided to read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Book of Dragons by Edith Nesbit. Both books were free downloads from Amazon’s Kindle store, and I have the Kindle app on my iPhone. It charges on the stand by my bed at night, and I have the habit of reading from it before going to sleep.

Frankenstein: I’ve seen the different movie versions, from Boris Karloff to Gene Wilder’s comic performance, but I’d never read the book. I was very surprised by it. It’s told through the vehicle of letter-writing. A man exploring the Arctic by ship, Robert Walton, begins writing letters to his sister home in England, telling her the tale of the strange man they encounter, emaciated and ill on the ice: Dr. Victor Frankenstein.

Walton relates Frankenstein’s tale of horror to his sister: The doctor became fascinated with a new branch of science involving the animation of flesh. He created a hideous creature. This is the part of the story that’s familiar to us.

But what surprised me was that unlike the films, the monster is intelligent. He begins his life with an aesthetic outlook that the cruelty of mankind (and especially the rejection of his creator) obliterates within him until he becomes increasingly bitter and violent. He tries to reason with Frankenstein, asks him to create another being, an Eve, if you will. Frankenstein’s refusal and the subsequent losses he endures at the hands of the monster, his resolution to pursue his creature in order to end it’s existence makes the story an exciting read.

I’ll end my summation of it with this: Either you will be put off by the format and disparity between the book the films and hate it; or you will enjoy comparing and contrasting it to the films. The latter is the experience I had.

E. Nesbit 1858-1924

The Book of Dragons: Edith Nesbit was an English author and poet who wrote over 60 books for children. I wanted to read this book because I’ve been reading (and writing) a lot about dragons lately and I’d heard about Nesbit’s dragon stories for children.

The Book of Dragons was compiled and published in 1900. There are a total of eight short stories. Here are my favorites, with a brief summary:

The first story, The Book of Beasts, tells of a young king who finds a magical book of creatures. When he opens the book to a picture of any creature, it escapes from the book. Naturally, the boy king Lionel accidentally lets loose a dragon on his kingdom.

Uncle James, or The Purple Stranger is a charming tale of a place called Rotundia where elephants are the size of puppies and rabbits the size of elephants. And there is a purple dragon, but he’s not friendly like you’d think a purple dragon ought to be.

The Island of the Nine Whirlpools. I loved this story. It has a princess locked in a tower, under a curse, and guarded by a dragon. Sound familiar? Well, Nigel is no Shrek, but he may have what it takes to rescue the princess from the dragon. As someone who appreciates (but doesn’t enjoy) mathematical problem solving, I had to applaud Nigel’s brainpower.

There’s other great dragons in this book, including an ice dragon (The Ice Dragon, or Do as You Are Told) and an awesome dragon made of iron (The Dragon Tamers).

I really enjoyed these imaginative dragon tales. I think they’re great stories, for children of all ages. :)

A Books and Reading Review: “Must Love Dragons” by Monica Marier

by

Reading improves language skills. What? You expected me to say something like "I can haz book?"

So, how’s everyone doing with National Novel Reading Month (NaNoReMo) so far?

What’s that? You don’t have a book to read?

I can help you there.

Monica Marier’s debut novel Must Love Dragons is the first book in her fantasy series called the Linus Saga.

The story follows Linus Weedwhacker (great name, huh?) and his cohorts as they travel across the realm together as Rangers: sort of paid adventurers.

What makes Must Love Dragons a fantastic story for me are the characters, so here’s a little insight into the main players of the novel:

Linus Weedwhacker: as an MC, he’s a ornery fellow, half elf/half human…but if you were married to a red dragon, you might be a bit cranky, too. When his wife (the sole financial support of the family) and his children go to his mother-in-law’s to wait out a difficult pregnancy, Linus goes back to work as a Ranger, despite the dangers and physical exertions of the job.

Morfindel: A young elf. Morf is a cleric in a elven religious order that makes the Inquisition look like Tea-time with Barbie and Friends. He and Linus get off to a rocky start, but as the story progresses, through adventures and battles, the two become fast friends.

Wendria and Bart: The Sfebreen siblings. Wendria, a young elf girl on the verge of womanhood studying to be a magician (and doing very poorly at it) and her bratty ten-year-old brother whose prime enjoyment involves making life hell for Linus.

Quince: The four Rangers are on the road traveling to their assignment when they meet up with a human giant named Quince. Linus and Morfindel agree to let him come along with them, although it is against the rules of their union. This is a decision that has dire consequences over and over again, as Quince is not quite what he appears to be.

The misadventures of the five friends take them from a besieged castle full of smelly reptilian creatures, to the high mountains of a frost dragon. The dangerous situations they find themselves in and the way they deal with them will cause you to get stitches in your side from laughing so hard.

Monica is a clever and witty fantasist.  She takes elements from the classic fantasy themes and turns them on their head, which is what any clever fantasist does and should do.

If you are looking for a witty, daring fantasy adventure that will make you giggle right out loud. I can’t recommend Monica’s book highly enough. I can’t wait to read the second one: Runs in Good Condition. 

You can get either book in the series in print or in Kindle format from Amazon, as well as the first book in her steampunk fantasy series: Madame Bluestocking’s Pennyhorrid. 

Monica is currently working on the third book in the Linus Saga.  You can learn more about her Monica and her writing on her website: Attack of the Muses. 

2012: The Year of the Dragon, or, The Year I Plan to Breathe Fire

by

Chinese astrology is fascinating.

I was born in the Year of the Snake, 1965. (Always knew I belonged in Slytherin. Heh.) But I was conceived in 1964, which was the Year of the Dragon. This is probably why I love dragons.

Dragon-years are good years for me, and this one will be no exception.

During the fall of 2012, the first leg of my journey toward becoming a college professor will be complete. I will graduate community college with an Associate of Arts degree and move on. Where to? Likely I’ll transfer to the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg, although I’m getting some nice emails (and even gift baskets with chocolate!) from other schools.

I’m going to focus more on writing fiction in 2012. 2011 was my toughest academic year thus far, and I was pressed to make it through this fall with only a slight dent in my GPA. I wrote lots and lots of school-related stuff, but nothing I could submit for fiction publication. That will change.

Writing goals:

  • I have a few stories to finish for the horror and sci-fi/fantasy collections.
    • When We Were Kings, fantasy, origins story. I can’t say any more without spoilers, but I LOVE this one!
    • Kill the Crow, horror. Revenge is black and feathered!
    • Eyes in the Dark, horror.
    • Lighthouse Man, science fiction
    • And a few others
  • Novella, novel: I’ve been planning a harpy novel, but the Muse won’t leave me alone about the “Journey of the Misbegotten.” Imagine an alternate world, with an alternate Hell. Imagine the devil as a mad scientist named Howard and his minions are his genetically tampered amalgamations. When Howard the Evil Creator’s greatest possession (the nine oracular pigeons) go missing, he sends a crack team of his sorriest amalgamations on a quest to track them down.
  • I’ll be writing another Literary Mix Tape story, I hope. About the song Hotel California.
  • Harpy novel. Hope I can get it started this year. Thanks to Laura Meyer for helping me think through my MC’s name: Mallory.
  • Keep working on “The Mages of Morrow” novel. Really, I’ve written over 50,000 words on the thing. I’d like to see it go somewhere!
  • BLOGGING! Going to do more of it. Still going to do prompts and such, but I want to start putting up more regular posts…regularly.

Several good things are planned for 2012. Some of them even include dragons. ;)