Loose Ends

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I’m working on the last few posts for Queen Titania’s Court today. Some of the authors who contacted me have fallen off the map since. That’s a bit disappointing, but I can adjust. I hope to get it all finished and scheduled, so I can focus on MisCon, next weekend. We’ve had our reservations and memberships for quite a while, but it’s time to seriously prepare. So far I only know about the writing workshop. I need to print out the author’s excerpt and plan for that. There’s also supposed to be a book seller who will consign for indy authors. I need to find the details and decide what books to bring.

It’s supposed to be pretty hot today, so I’m bailing here to do yard work while it’s still a bit cool. Hope you all have a good weekend!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, Facebook, Instagram and/or CounterSocial.

No Thank You, Evil

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The mandatory state testing has everyone’s schedules mixed up at my school. One of the ways I’m trying to balance that is by starting some of my reading/writing groups on a role-playing game. These are 4th and 5th graders, so I’ve chosen a very basic one. It’s called No Thank You, Evil.

I think most everyone knows that the premise of a role-playing game is to make up a character and have adventures in the world of the game. Because this is at school, I’m modifying the game in some ways. I’m de-emphasizing battles and looting of treasure. Instead, they’ll be in social situations where they have to work as a team. These are special ed students, so they’ll be solving puzzles and the like, which coincidentally will have to do with their learning goals.

We’ve barely gotten started, but they seem to be enjoying the change of pace. It should be a fun way to wind down the school year.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, Facebook, Instagram and/or CounterSocial.

Woman at Work/May 2023

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What’s Happening? It’s hard to believe, but we can see the end of the school year from here. It’s only 6 weeks in my district. That makes me a little frantic to help my kids learn just a bit more. Only problem is, we’re about to do the high-stakes testing that will take up four of those weeks. This is making the kids frantic, as their familiar schedules are switched around. We’re all just frantic, some days.

What I’m Working On. Queen Titania’s Court is only a month away, too. I’m gathering the contributions from all the authors, and also putting my parts together. I’m going with Orlik, one of the wyrmlings from Masters of Air & Fire. It should be fun to revisit his character.

What’s Next? There’s no word on reprints of The Seven Exalted Orders, so I’ve been putting together covers for Minstrels of Skaythe, Volume 2. This will collect the fourth and fifth Minstrels of Skaythe novellas. I’m not sold on that title, and may try to come up with something more intriguing.

Fun and Games. I’m mostly playing Skyrim these days. The 10t Anniversary edition added a lot of fun new content, and I’m enjoying it. Unfortunately, the new game I was trying keeps crashing. I enjoyed what I could play of it, and check back every once in a while to see if they’ve patched any of the bugs.

See you in the comments!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, Facebook, Instagram and/or CounterSocial.

Social Media

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Like a lot of us, I was on Twitter to connect with friends and fans. I first began in 2012, consecutively with starting my blog, Wyrmflight. Over the years, I curated quite a bit to maintain a positive tone there, and I got a lot of useful information. Publishers with submission announcements, that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, the change of ownership has effected my experience, so I began looking for alternatives. So far I’ve landed on CounterSocial, where I’ve begun the process of connecting and curating for a positive experience.

Anyway, here’s a little look at my content (“toots”) from CounterSocial. If you’re interested in following me, a link is in the footer.

April 20: “Working on a new short story idea. Something something Pied Piper dragon hoard heist with rats? Should be fun to see how it comes together.”

April 23: “Let’s get this garden started! Yesterday I put in some Johnny Jump-ups for quick color, then seeded California poppies and blue salvia. Today I’ll seed beets, lettuce, onion sets.”

April 26: “I don’t know where all these self-declared experts get the idea we don’t want Biden to run again. Chasing headlines, maybe. Or wishful thinking. It’s never about one candidate. It’s about all of them. Which one, compared to the others, is better for the nation?”

April 29: “Bought at the Master Gardeners sale today: 2 ea Genovese basil, 1 Snow White tomato. The Tomato just sounds interesting!”

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, Facebook, Instagram and/or CounterSocial.

The Gellboar

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How about some mid-month marketing! The Gellboar is a stand-alone dark fantasy novelette. It’s set in a world where mages caused a traumatic dimensional battle in the recent past. As a result, men are not allowed to do magic. Not everyone is willing to live with that, and some of my characters take extreme risks to reach their dreams.

Interestingly, this is a story that began as a dream. “I,” in the dream, was a man cross-dressing. Not in drag, per se, but really trying to pass as female in his professional life. “I” was teamed up with a woman who dressed as a man. We were protecting a child from a strange monster.

It’s hard to remember much else of the dream, with so many years gone by. However, in any story process there are adjustments. Especially so when beginning with a dream, which very much follows its own logic. I decided that the Gellboar, my antagonist, was an alien refugee from that other dimension. And, just as Dan was male passing as female, I decided the Gellboar should be a female passing as male. Or as much as an alien might approximate, anyhow.

This is probably one of the oddest things I’ve ever written. It’s interesting, though, how drag performance and cross-dressing are so much in the news recently. This is as good a time as any to shine a light on my dark fantasy, The Gellboar.

The Gellboar

The Holy Mothers have decreed that only women can be trusted with the awesome powers of sorcery. But Dan can no more live without magic than he could go without breathing. Disguised as a woman, he struggles to provide for his sickly daughter through illicit magic. But his life of lies has drawn a darker eye than that of the Holy Mothers…

Buy it now on Amazon or Books2Read.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, Facebook, Instagram and/or CounterSocial.

Call For Submissions

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Every June, I host a fantasy book event on my blog, Wyrmflight. It’s called Queen Titania’s Court, and this is my invitation to fellow fantasy authors. The setup is, you pick one character from one of your books, and that character is invited to a Midsummer Ball in Queen Titania’s Court. You’ll answer a couple of questions and have a chance to share your purchase links.

Interested? Check out this page for all the details! Not a fantasy writer yourself? Feel free to share the opportunity with someone you know!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, Facebook, Instagram and/or CounterSocial.

Work In Progress

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We authors are always talking about our works in progress. For the moment, this is mine. I’m currently in the throes of switching over from a conventional web page to WordPress for hosting purposes. Slowly but surely, I’ll be adding content.

The page I’m working on now is all about my series, Minstrels of Skaythe. I hope to get that together within the next couple of days.

If you’ve just come by to check me out, thank you! And if there’s something particular you’d like to see in an author’s site, I’d love to know what it is. Just drop me a comment.

Cheers!

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, Facebook, Instagram and/or CounterSocial.