So, I started the elf book tonight. It's been in my head mulling around for a month and a half, and it's been on several pieces of paper for nearly the same amount of time. I love the first chapter, and I love the way the story unfolds in my head. I'm really going to have fun writing this.
Only problem is I'm three chapters into my other book. Even at my longest periods of writing, I didn't mix the first two books I wrote. I'm told that it can be dangerous, mixing both story lines and voices.
Ah, well--it's a learning process, no? I still haven't completed the first million words that I'm supposed to throw away, anyway.
That said, I'm going to start my word count entries at the bottom of the blog again. I doubt any of my readers really care what the word counts are, but it serves as a great source of accountability for me.
2012 should be a great year for writing!
-TOSK
Word Count:
Atlantis: 2294
Elf: 531
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
The winner
*cue announcer voice*
AND THE WINNER IS....
Um, before I make the grand announcement, how many of you recall what winner I'm talking about?
Maybe I should refresh the topic. When Cataclysm first came out, I ran a contest: for every mention on Facebook or Twitter that I heard about, I put that person's name into a hat in a drawing for the honor of naming a character (most likely after themselves, but I'm leaving the option open) in a future book. Specifically, the elf book; if you're not sure what I'm talking about there, check back a few blog posts to the one where I mentioned what I have in store for next year.
Of course, "into a hat" is a bit relative, me being the techno geek I am. Instead, I took the number of entries I had and listed them in Excel. Then I kinda randomized them a bit by shuffling some of the higher-character names down the list and vice versa. For those in multiple times, I moved their entries around so that they weren't right by each other; I don't know why I felt like doing that, since it made absolutely no difference on the odds of winning, but I felt like it. Then I told Excel to pull a number out of its RNG (Random Number Generator) and....
*cue announcer voice again*
THE WINNER IS....
Sue Darby!
Congrats, Sue! I'll be in contact with you in person on Facebook.
-TOSK
AND THE WINNER IS....
Um, before I make the grand announcement, how many of you recall what winner I'm talking about?
Maybe I should refresh the topic. When Cataclysm first came out, I ran a contest: for every mention on Facebook or Twitter that I heard about, I put that person's name into a hat in a drawing for the honor of naming a character (most likely after themselves, but I'm leaving the option open) in a future book. Specifically, the elf book; if you're not sure what I'm talking about there, check back a few blog posts to the one where I mentioned what I have in store for next year.
Of course, "into a hat" is a bit relative, me being the techno geek I am. Instead, I took the number of entries I had and listed them in Excel. Then I kinda randomized them a bit by shuffling some of the higher-character names down the list and vice versa. For those in multiple times, I moved their entries around so that they weren't right by each other; I don't know why I felt like doing that, since it made absolutely no difference on the odds of winning, but I felt like it. Then I told Excel to pull a number out of its RNG (Random Number Generator) and....
*cue announcer voice again*
THE WINNER IS....
Sue Darby!
Congrats, Sue! I'll be in contact with you in person on Facebook.
-TOSK
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas, all
Rachelle Gardner, an agent whose blog I read religiously, posted this a couple of days ago. It's definitely good enough to copycat. It's a video of a flash mob that happened December 18 at a mall in Redondo Beach, CA.
http://www.rachellegardner.com/2011/12/merry-christmas-2/
MERRY CHRISTMAS, all! That, or Happy Yule, or Happy Hanukkah, or Merry Festivus, or whatever greeting brings you the most happiness.
-TOSK
http://www.rachellegardner.com/2011/12/merry-christmas-2/
MERRY CHRISTMAS, all! That, or Happy Yule, or Happy Hanukkah, or Merry Festivus, or whatever greeting brings you the most happiness.
-TOSK
Saturday, December 24, 2011
A (sorta, kinda different) Christmas Story part 3
Christmas morning brought two teenage girls leaping onto Matt and Crystal's bed; the twins had made their ritual of excitability a Christmas Day tradition since they were very young. Crystal was glad to see that Matt, who was up every other morning well before dawn, was still in bed and had even feigned sleep for the girls' benefit.
"Mmm, good morning, girls," he said, sitting up. "Why so excited?"
"It's Christmas Day, Dad!" Heidi said, completing the ritual. "This is going to be the best Christmas ever."
"Is it? Did you guys fly the thrakkoni to raid a shopping center when I wasn't watching?"
"Dad, that's not what Christmas is about," Linda chimed in, disapproval plain on her face. "I mean, we did, but it was only for wrapping supplies. You had nothing for wrapping gifts here. Some of the committee wanted to raid the library for paper, but Natalia stopped them."
"Good for Natalia. So, if you didn't fly away to get gifts, what did you use?"
"You'll see. C'mon, get dressed! Let's get downstairs!" Linda scampered out, followed closely by Heidi, leaving the adults in peace to get dressed.
The family arrived in the grand hall to find all of the humans milling around the huge tree that RJ's group had brought in. The Crystal-angel's head nearly brushed the projection of the sky, and from the top down hung dozens of yards of garland made from popcorn and berries. Ribbons and painted balls were wired to the branches, and Crystal was proud of her experimental magical efforts that had paid off with hundreds of tiny flickering lights set in the boughs. Under the tree were piled colorfully-wrapped boxes, all the same shape and size.
"Not bad," Matt said, nodding his head in approval.
Krista looked up from the ground floor to see the family standing at the railing above. She clapped her hands twice, quieting the crowd. As people turned to face the tree, she began to sing, "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful." Other voices joined. Soon the entire population was meshed in song, and Crystal was glad to hear Matt's baritone enter the mix.
Singing done, the girls skipped down to join the rest of the people in searching through the boxes under the tree. Crystal and Matt followed and stood near the group of mages, watching the sorting process. Soon everyone had a box labeled with his or her name, and on cue they opened them.
"Pine cones?" Matt asked Krista.
"We gathered them," Krista said. "Each of us picked one person to exchange a gift with, and then we found a pine cone in the woods, decorated it with paint and glitter, and wrote one special wish for the coming year on the bottom. It's better than a bauble bought at Walmart, don't you think?"
"Absolutely, I do. It's quite a bit better. But where did you get all the glitter?"
"We caught a pixie in the Forbidden Forest and shook her upside down till we got enough."
"Huh," Matt chortled, his mirth building into a full belly laugh. "Well played, dear."
"Sorscha and Breenda helped us go liberate some decorating stuff from the remains of a couple of stores back home. The survivors had already ransacked the food supplies, but I guess we were the only ones to see the usefulness of glitter and shiny paper."
Matt gazed around at the joyful conversations filling the main hall as people showed off their gifts. "Impressive. Very well done, in fact," he said. "And now, I have a surprise."
The huge oak doors leading in to the grand hall opened suddenly, and a mountain of a man dressed as Santa Claus walked in. "Ho ho ho!" he said, his magically-enhanced voice booming.
"Santa?" Krista and Phoenix both looked sideways at Matt, voices sardonic.
Matt shrugged. "What's Christmas without Santa Claus? We've gained a few smaller children this year as we've rescued survivors of the cataclysm, so it seemed important. Besides, he wanted to join us."
Crystal recognized the figure and chuckled. "Wasn't the Norse version called Sinterklaas, or something like that?" She strode over to the man and hugged him.
"I take it Crystal knows who that is," Phoenix said.
"Correct. That's actually Thor under the red suit and beard," Matt said. Birch, the Norse mythology expert, gasped.
"And here come Thor's--or, more accurately, Valhalla's--thrakkoni. Aren't they more attractive than standard reindeer?" Matt continued, pointing outside to where creatures with the bodies of winged horses and the chest and heads of women were landing. Off each one's back leaped a fur-clad human warrior, and then the thrakkoni transformed into humanoid shapes.
"Those--those are Valkyrie, aren't they?" Birch breathed. He looked at Matt, eyes wide. When Matt nodded, Birch said, "They're gorgeous."
"Indeed," Thor said, smiling as he walked up. "Under normal conditions they're as dangerous as they are beautiful, but there'll be no fighting today. I've brought my crew over from Valhalla to share the day. Matt, didn't you say something about a feast? I'm starved."
Matt, the god of war, jovially made a show of sizing Thor up. "Well," he said, "there goes one cow. I hope my thrakkoni have made enough food."
"When have they not?"
"Good point. Let's go eat."
The two gods led the crowd into the dining hall for a holiday feast.
--------------------------------
Hope you enjoyed this hastily-put-together story. Also, I hope you all have a joyous and merry holiday season, no matter what you call it, and no matter how many or how few Walmart baubles you receive. A well-done gift of love, hope, and joy is, to my opinion, worth more than all of the NinjaKitchen 1000's that will fit under a tree.
-TOSK
"Mmm, good morning, girls," he said, sitting up. "Why so excited?"
"It's Christmas Day, Dad!" Heidi said, completing the ritual. "This is going to be the best Christmas ever."
"Is it? Did you guys fly the thrakkoni to raid a shopping center when I wasn't watching?"
"Dad, that's not what Christmas is about," Linda chimed in, disapproval plain on her face. "I mean, we did, but it was only for wrapping supplies. You had nothing for wrapping gifts here. Some of the committee wanted to raid the library for paper, but Natalia stopped them."
"Good for Natalia. So, if you didn't fly away to get gifts, what did you use?"
"You'll see. C'mon, get dressed! Let's get downstairs!" Linda scampered out, followed closely by Heidi, leaving the adults in peace to get dressed.
The family arrived in the grand hall to find all of the humans milling around the huge tree that RJ's group had brought in. The Crystal-angel's head nearly brushed the projection of the sky, and from the top down hung dozens of yards of garland made from popcorn and berries. Ribbons and painted balls were wired to the branches, and Crystal was proud of her experimental magical efforts that had paid off with hundreds of tiny flickering lights set in the boughs. Under the tree were piled colorfully-wrapped boxes, all the same shape and size.
"Not bad," Matt said, nodding his head in approval.
Krista looked up from the ground floor to see the family standing at the railing above. She clapped her hands twice, quieting the crowd. As people turned to face the tree, she began to sing, "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful." Other voices joined. Soon the entire population was meshed in song, and Crystal was glad to hear Matt's baritone enter the mix.
Singing done, the girls skipped down to join the rest of the people in searching through the boxes under the tree. Crystal and Matt followed and stood near the group of mages, watching the sorting process. Soon everyone had a box labeled with his or her name, and on cue they opened them.
"Pine cones?" Matt asked Krista.
"We gathered them," Krista said. "Each of us picked one person to exchange a gift with, and then we found a pine cone in the woods, decorated it with paint and glitter, and wrote one special wish for the coming year on the bottom. It's better than a bauble bought at Walmart, don't you think?"
"Absolutely, I do. It's quite a bit better. But where did you get all the glitter?"
"We caught a pixie in the Forbidden Forest and shook her upside down till we got enough."
"Huh," Matt chortled, his mirth building into a full belly laugh. "Well played, dear."
"Sorscha and Breenda helped us go liberate some decorating stuff from the remains of a couple of stores back home. The survivors had already ransacked the food supplies, but I guess we were the only ones to see the usefulness of glitter and shiny paper."
Matt gazed around at the joyful conversations filling the main hall as people showed off their gifts. "Impressive. Very well done, in fact," he said. "And now, I have a surprise."
The huge oak doors leading in to the grand hall opened suddenly, and a mountain of a man dressed as Santa Claus walked in. "Ho ho ho!" he said, his magically-enhanced voice booming.
"Santa?" Krista and Phoenix both looked sideways at Matt, voices sardonic.
Matt shrugged. "What's Christmas without Santa Claus? We've gained a few smaller children this year as we've rescued survivors of the cataclysm, so it seemed important. Besides, he wanted to join us."
Crystal recognized the figure and chuckled. "Wasn't the Norse version called Sinterklaas, or something like that?" She strode over to the man and hugged him.
"I take it Crystal knows who that is," Phoenix said.
"Correct. That's actually Thor under the red suit and beard," Matt said. Birch, the Norse mythology expert, gasped.
"And here come Thor's--or, more accurately, Valhalla's--thrakkoni. Aren't they more attractive than standard reindeer?" Matt continued, pointing outside to where creatures with the bodies of winged horses and the chest and heads of women were landing. Off each one's back leaped a fur-clad human warrior, and then the thrakkoni transformed into humanoid shapes.
"Those--those are Valkyrie, aren't they?" Birch breathed. He looked at Matt, eyes wide. When Matt nodded, Birch said, "They're gorgeous."
"Indeed," Thor said, smiling as he walked up. "Under normal conditions they're as dangerous as they are beautiful, but there'll be no fighting today. I've brought my crew over from Valhalla to share the day. Matt, didn't you say something about a feast? I'm starved."
Matt, the god of war, jovially made a show of sizing Thor up. "Well," he said, "there goes one cow. I hope my thrakkoni have made enough food."
"When have they not?"
"Good point. Let's go eat."
The two gods led the crowd into the dining hall for a holiday feast.
--------------------------------
Hope you enjoyed this hastily-put-together story. Also, I hope you all have a joyous and merry holiday season, no matter what you call it, and no matter how many or how few Walmart baubles you receive. A well-done gift of love, hope, and joy is, to my opinion, worth more than all of the NinjaKitchen 1000's that will fit under a tree.
-TOSK
Thursday, December 22, 2011
A (sorta, kinda different) Christmas Story part 2
(Continued)
Matt leveled his gaze at Krista. He said, "Yes?" and his voice drew the word out from a growl to a hiss.
"Weren't you also the Norse God of Justice?" she asked.
"Well, yeah. So? War to the Greeks or justice to the Norse--pretty much the same thing. What's your point?"
"Well, I'm wondering if we'd asked to celebrate Yule or Saturnalia, whether you'd have approved that."
"Yule, sure. At least that holiday wasn't named after someone else."
Krista shrugged. "But you get the whole first month of spring named after you, in addition to one of the days of the week. Why are you getting so pissy over one day named after someone else?"
Matt sighed. "Okay, point taken. Go ahead and celebrate the day. Call it Christmas, or Yule, or Saturnalia, or Hanukkah, or Festivus, or whatever you wish. RJ, you're in charge of the tree. Go find a good tall pine for the great hall, but don't go near the Forbidden Forest."
"Forbidden Forest?" Krista asked. "Are you being serious, Matt?"
"Of course not. This isn't Hogwarts."
The timid mood broke with Matt's joke and turned celebratory. RJ spun on his heels and left to gather a tree-cutting detail. Krista called Phoenix, Birch, and the other mages to her to plan decorations. Matt, meanwhile, pulled several strands of energies to him and began knitting them together close to his chest. He thrust his hands out toward the knot of humans, opening them with a flourish. Krista and Crystal both gasped.
"That's--beautiful!" Krista said, reaching for the tree topper that Matt had created. Crystal smiled, trying to hide a blush, as she realized that the little angel was actually a replica of herself, with a glowing aura surrounding the flowing white dress.
"Thank you," Matt said. "I'm sure you can find enough supplies around the estate to decorate adequately. There's only one problem remaining, and unfortunately it will likely completely ruin your celebration."
"What is it?" Krista asked.
"There's no WalMart available."
Krista's smile lit up her face as she winked conspiratorially at Matt and said, "Oh, I think we can manage."
(To be continued)
Matt leveled his gaze at Krista. He said, "Yes?" and his voice drew the word out from a growl to a hiss.
"Weren't you also the Norse God of Justice?" she asked.
"Well, yeah. So? War to the Greeks or justice to the Norse--pretty much the same thing. What's your point?"
"Well, I'm wondering if we'd asked to celebrate Yule or Saturnalia, whether you'd have approved that."
"Yule, sure. At least that holiday wasn't named after someone else."
Krista shrugged. "But you get the whole first month of spring named after you, in addition to one of the days of the week. Why are you getting so pissy over one day named after someone else?"
Matt sighed. "Okay, point taken. Go ahead and celebrate the day. Call it Christmas, or Yule, or Saturnalia, or Hanukkah, or Festivus, or whatever you wish. RJ, you're in charge of the tree. Go find a good tall pine for the great hall, but don't go near the Forbidden Forest."
"Forbidden Forest?" Krista asked. "Are you being serious, Matt?"
"Of course not. This isn't Hogwarts."
The timid mood broke with Matt's joke and turned celebratory. RJ spun on his heels and left to gather a tree-cutting detail. Krista called Phoenix, Birch, and the other mages to her to plan decorations. Matt, meanwhile, pulled several strands of energies to him and began knitting them together close to his chest. He thrust his hands out toward the knot of humans, opening them with a flourish. Krista and Crystal both gasped.
"That's--beautiful!" Krista said, reaching for the tree topper that Matt had created. Crystal smiled, trying to hide a blush, as she realized that the little angel was actually a replica of herself, with a glowing aura surrounding the flowing white dress.
"Thank you," Matt said. "I'm sure you can find enough supplies around the estate to decorate adequately. There's only one problem remaining, and unfortunately it will likely completely ruin your celebration."
"What is it?" Krista asked.
"There's no WalMart available."
Krista's smile lit up her face as she winked conspiratorially at Matt and said, "Oh, I think we can manage."
(To be continued)
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Guest Post: Victoria Watson
TOSK says: I'm pleased to welcome fellow Trestle Press author Vic Watson to the blog today:
Vic says: First of all, I’d like to thank Stephen for having me on his blog today.
‘I Should Have Seen it Coming’ is available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Should-Have-Seen-Coming-ebook/dp/B005V0JGIQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1320241893&sr=1-1
So, you like to write, huh? You think your stories are good and the select few you’ve shown them to agree. So where do you go next?
I personally started a Masters degree in Creative Writing at Northumbria University (UK) in 2008. I decided to do this so that I could hone my craft and be given some rigid deadlines. One thing I struggle with as a writer is keeping focused and I find a deadline helps me to keep my eye on the ball/prize etc. During the two-year part-time course, I made some great contacts (including agents and publishers that did guest lectures), learnt to share my work with a large group and accept their criticism and praise and I feel I also became braver as a writer. I no longer wanted to write chick-lit, I wanted to write serious, intelligent pieces. The course also gave me the opportunity to experiment and try lots of different styles in order to find the right one for me.
I’m not saying a degree is for everyone – it’s expensive and time consuming – but it really helped me. There may be colleges near you that do shorter, less expensive courses to get you in the writing frame of mind. There are other ways though. You could set up and blog, like Stephen’s wonderful page, and preview your work on there and ask for feedback. You could look for writers groups in your area. If there aren’t any, set one up and put adverts on Twitter, Facebook, in your local supermarket, post office etc. Or you could even go to a reading group as you may find a lot of aspiring writers there.
I finished working on the Masters in September 2010 and sadly have not spent a lot of time on my novel since. However, I still meet up with former classmates to jolly each other along and share work. It is important to have a support network. I have been working on flash fiction and short stories mainly this year had a piece of work published in an anthology and in October 2011, I had my first e-book ‘I Should Have Seen it Coming’ published by Trestle Press.
“How?” I hear you ask!
Social networking played a massive part in my getting published with Trestle. In March this year, bored stupid due to illness, I started using Twitter. I have to admit, initially it was for celebrity tidbits but I soon realised there are far more interesting people out there! After a couple of months on Twitter, I decided to start blogging. Because I have a background in reviewing, I used my blog (http://elementaryvwatson.wordpress.com) to do book reviews and social comment. Through this, and Twitter, I built up a network of new writer friends including Darren Sant (another of Trestle’s great authors). Darren liked my blogging and asked me to do a couple of guest posts on Close to the Bone (www.craigrobertdouglas.com). After featuring a few of my articles, the guys behind the site: Darren, Craig and Lewt asked me to become a permanent member of the team which I was thrilled about.
During my Twitter time, I added a lot of people who I was interested in: writers, agents, publishers and journalists. I find Twitter to be a great source of entertainment as well as a great professional tool. I added Giovanni Gelati, a friend of Darren’s, who also happened to be head honcho at Trestle Press. This is how I got published. I now have two e-books available through Amazon – ‘I Should Have Seen it Coming’ about a woman who loses her job due to outsourcing and then pretends to be psychic in order to make money and ‘Keeping Quiet’ the story of an elderly woman looking back on her life of keeping the peace and the choices she’s made. Both stories have twists at the end.
When (yes, when, not if) you get published, unless you’ve signed a multi-million dollar deal with an international publishing house (and if you have, congratulations!), you will need to do a lot of self-marketing. Again social networks like Google+, Facebook and Twitter are really important. You can make friends with people and, if you have a blog, offer to do interviews or reviews of their work in exchange for them reviewing yours. You could offer friends free copies to write Amazon reviews for you. There’s also Goodreads.com which is a great site for readers and writers. The aim is to publicise your book to as many people as possible. Promotions like free books or competitions are also very helpful.
You need to be proactive throughout the whole of this process. This is something I had difficulty with as I often felt I was being cheeky by asking people to do me favours. But most people are happy to help out. No-one is going to critique your draft if you don’t ask them. You need to approach an agent – they are so busy they will never know you exist unless you contact them. Likewise, no publisher is going to knock your door down and beg to publish your work.
You need to have faith in your work. Remember, though, with the advent of e-books, there are opportunities to self-publish and it is regarded as a legitimate way of getting yourself noticed, not derided the way it used to be.
As a starting point, please feel free to have a look at my blog as I have branched out and am also publishing flash fiction and featuring up-and-coming authors so feel free to submit something to me. My email address is victoriawatson2008@yahoo.co.uk. You can find me on Twitter @vpeanuts and I’m on Facebook as Vic Watson. I’m also on Goodreads.
Happy writing!
‘Keeping Quiet’ is available for download in the US at: http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Quiet-ebook/dp/B0060D8O18/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1320240801&sr=1-1
‘I Should Have Seen it Coming’ is available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Should-Have-Seen-Coming-ebook/dp/B005V0JGIQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1320241893&sr=1-1
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
A (sorta, kinda different) Christmas Story
"The approach of Christmas brings harrassment and dread to many excellent people. They have to buy a cart-load of presents, and they never know what to buy to hit the various tastes; they put in three weeks of hard and anxious work, and when Christmas morning comes they are so dissatisfied with the result, and so disappointed that they want to sit down and cry. Then they give thanks that Christmas comes but once a year." - Mark Twain
-----------------------------------
Commercial break! My publisher, Trestle Press, is running a special deal between now and Christmas Eve. Buy any Trestle book during that time, and you get another one of your choice (and same price) for free. If you haven't already purchased Cataclysm, then, now's a great time to do so. Once you do, let me know and I'll put you in touch with the guy who can provide you with the freebie of your choice.
Buy it at Amazon.com!
Buy it at BN.com!
Buy one get one FREE!
And now--on to the story
-----------------------------------
Crystal stood in the throne room shifting her weight back and forth. Rellgll's reports were always interminable.
Outside, Matt's magic had created a winter wonderland that beckoned to her. Land that was normally green was now carpeted in the fluffiest, cleanest snow Crystal had ever seen. As much as she enjoyed riding across the glades on Lady in the summer environment Matt's shell normally maintained, there was something about trotting through the white fields with the fog of cold breath trailing both horse and rider that Crystal found intoxicating.
She wanted to be outside, but the business to come was too important.
A few moments of silence brought her attention back from fantasies of rides across snowy fields to the end of Rellgll's report. She looked up at Matt in time to see him nod permission to speak toward RJ, who stepped forward nervously. Crystal glanced around the room at her fellow humans; they were all as tense as their chosen leader.
"Yes?" Matt asked, his voice making it clear that he sensed RJ's unease.
RJ cleared his throat and dove in. "Matt--Mars--Sir--um, we've--the humans, that is, have all conferenced together and discussed the period of year, and we believe that it would be in the best interest of everyone involved to hold a morale-raising celebratory event on...."
Matt cut him off, his face stern, "Cut the crap, RJ. What do you want?"
RJ glanced around for support, panicking over being bumped out of his planned speech. Ah, well, Crystal thought, careful to hold her thoughts away from the telepathic link to her husband, you can take the president out of the college, but not the college out of the president.
Clearing his throat, RJ plunged ahead bravely. "We want to celebrate Christmas."
"I'm sorry," Matt said, a wicked smile playing across his face. "I couldn't hear you."
This from the god who can hear a gnat fall on the other side of his estate, Crystal thought drily, still holding her thoughts closely to herself.
"Christmas. The holiday. We would like your permission to celebrate Christmas."
"You want to celebrate--Christmas?" Matt asked. He was playing with RJ the same way Crystal had watched cats playing with mice before making the kill.
"Yes. Is that a problem?"
"What do you think? You want to celebrate Christmas? As in Christmas? YOU'VE COME TO THE GRECO-ROMAN GOD OF WAR TO ASK TO CELEBRATE CHRIST MAS?"
At the end of the chamber, the bell other deities used to signal their approach chimed softly into the silence, its vibrations apparently caused by the explosive power of Matt's last sentence. Everyone but Sorscha had shrunk away from the angry god; Crystal, meanwhile, recovered quickly and barely managed to keep from chuckling at the oddly ironic bell-ringing.
Krista stepped around her cowering husband and cleared her throat to speak.
(to be continued)
---------------------------------
Writing about religion is hard. Hell, any communication about religion is hard. I've spent a decade and a half managing classrooms, and I can tell you from personal experience that I can't even say the word "religion" in a group of people without offending somebody.
Well, all right, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but still....
A good friend of mine on Facebook wrote a book that's sorta-similar to Cataclysm. She then had a good friend who's Christian get on to her about her book because it talks about other gods. I had something similar happen with Cataclysm, too. In fact, the expositional chapter (the talk over dinner) almost got yanked because a) it didn't contain any action, and b) it veers off into sacrilege if you're sensitive to that. In fact, that chapter pokes fun at nearly every religion or pantheon out there. Oh, and c) exposition tends to be a very bad thing to have in prose; it's hard to maintain suspension of disbelief when one guy's just standing there lecturing. Anyway, I went back and forth on it and revised it several times, and ended up--well, it's there. Flip past it if you don't like it. It's fiction, anyway, as in not-intended-to-be-considered-true. Or as in suspend your disbelief, but don't really believe. Say after me: there is no Hogwarts, and Frodo doesn't really exist. And TOSK doesn't really hate Christmas.
So all that said, this story I'm telling (in three parts) is less about Return of the Gods and more about my own thoughts on Christmas and its meaning. I hope you'll all enjoy it.
Oh, and buy my book.
Buy my book.
Buy my book.
-TOSK
-----------------------------------
Commercial break! My publisher, Trestle Press, is running a special deal between now and Christmas Eve. Buy any Trestle book during that time, and you get another one of your choice (and same price) for free. If you haven't already purchased Cataclysm, then, now's a great time to do so. Once you do, let me know and I'll put you in touch with the guy who can provide you with the freebie of your choice.
Buy it at Amazon.com!
Buy it at BN.com!
Buy one get one FREE!
And now--on to the story
-----------------------------------
Crystal stood in the throne room shifting her weight back and forth. Rellgll's reports were always interminable.
Outside, Matt's magic had created a winter wonderland that beckoned to her. Land that was normally green was now carpeted in the fluffiest, cleanest snow Crystal had ever seen. As much as she enjoyed riding across the glades on Lady in the summer environment Matt's shell normally maintained, there was something about trotting through the white fields with the fog of cold breath trailing both horse and rider that Crystal found intoxicating.
She wanted to be outside, but the business to come was too important.
A few moments of silence brought her attention back from fantasies of rides across snowy fields to the end of Rellgll's report. She looked up at Matt in time to see him nod permission to speak toward RJ, who stepped forward nervously. Crystal glanced around the room at her fellow humans; they were all as tense as their chosen leader.
"Yes?" Matt asked, his voice making it clear that he sensed RJ's unease.
RJ cleared his throat and dove in. "Matt--Mars--Sir--um, we've--the humans, that is, have all conferenced together and discussed the period of year, and we believe that it would be in the best interest of everyone involved to hold a morale-raising celebratory event on...."
Matt cut him off, his face stern, "Cut the crap, RJ. What do you want?"
RJ glanced around for support, panicking over being bumped out of his planned speech. Ah, well, Crystal thought, careful to hold her thoughts away from the telepathic link to her husband, you can take the president out of the college, but not the college out of the president.
Clearing his throat, RJ plunged ahead bravely. "We want to celebrate Christmas."
"I'm sorry," Matt said, a wicked smile playing across his face. "I couldn't hear you."
This from the god who can hear a gnat fall on the other side of his estate, Crystal thought drily, still holding her thoughts closely to herself.
"Christmas. The holiday. We would like your permission to celebrate Christmas."
"You want to celebrate--Christmas?" Matt asked. He was playing with RJ the same way Crystal had watched cats playing with mice before making the kill.
"Yes. Is that a problem?"
"What do you think? You want to celebrate Christmas? As in Christmas? YOU'VE COME TO THE GRECO-ROMAN GOD OF WAR TO ASK TO CELEBRATE CHRIST MAS?"
At the end of the chamber, the bell other deities used to signal their approach chimed softly into the silence, its vibrations apparently caused by the explosive power of Matt's last sentence. Everyone but Sorscha had shrunk away from the angry god; Crystal, meanwhile, recovered quickly and barely managed to keep from chuckling at the oddly ironic bell-ringing.
Krista stepped around her cowering husband and cleared her throat to speak.
(to be continued)
---------------------------------
Writing about religion is hard. Hell, any communication about religion is hard. I've spent a decade and a half managing classrooms, and I can tell you from personal experience that I can't even say the word "religion" in a group of people without offending somebody.
Well, all right, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but still....
A good friend of mine on Facebook wrote a book that's sorta-similar to Cataclysm. She then had a good friend who's Christian get on to her about her book because it talks about other gods. I had something similar happen with Cataclysm, too. In fact, the expositional chapter (the talk over dinner) almost got yanked because a) it didn't contain any action, and b) it veers off into sacrilege if you're sensitive to that. In fact, that chapter pokes fun at nearly every religion or pantheon out there. Oh, and c) exposition tends to be a very bad thing to have in prose; it's hard to maintain suspension of disbelief when one guy's just standing there lecturing. Anyway, I went back and forth on it and revised it several times, and ended up--well, it's there. Flip past it if you don't like it. It's fiction, anyway, as in not-intended-to-be-considered-true. Or as in suspend your disbelief, but don't really believe. Say after me: there is no Hogwarts, and Frodo doesn't really exist. And TOSK doesn't really hate Christmas.
So all that said, this story I'm telling (in three parts) is less about Return of the Gods and more about my own thoughts on Christmas and its meaning. I hope you'll all enjoy it.
Oh, and buy my book.
Buy my book.
Buy my book.
-TOSK
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