tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40071837445939569182024-03-15T21:09:29.657-04:00L.J. McDonald - Fantasy AuthorWorld-building at its finest.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger160125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-78537434895454834472016-12-27T14:56:00.001-05:002016-12-27T14:56:42.171-05:00I'm still hereHey, it's been a while. I hadn't realized how long of a while it was, however. Sorry about that. I've been dealing with real life stuff, Meanwhile, something went wrong with my email, so I haven't been getting notificiations from this page, and while I have been trying haphazardly to fix it, I finally gave up and created a new one.<br />
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My official author email is ljmcdonald.author@gmail.com. I see at the top of this page that it's listing hydraarill@gmail.com instead and won't let me change it, but either will reach me.<br />
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It looks like people have been asking me the same question of what's up with the writing and when the next book is coming out. Unfortunately, the answer is, absolutely nothing. The fifth book is written, but there's been zero interest in it from the publisher. I have no feedback on why or if that's going to change. At this point, I've basically stopped asking because I'm not getting an answer. There's also been no interest in anything else I've written.<br />
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I've looked a bit into self-publishing and put out a few things on Smashwords, but the response isn't really worth the sheer amount of work it is to prepare a manuscript for publication, especially when you have to do all of the work yourself. I think that the last piece I put up, "Memories of Alexandria" sold maybe two copies. The thought of preparing a full length novel and getting that sort of response is outright depressing and I honestly don't know if I have the legal right to self-publish book five of the Sylph series anyway. Or if anyone would be interested in anything else I've done.<br />
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So that's where I am right now. I'm not writing much. I keep tripping over 'this isn't what people are going to want, this isn't good enough' and not writing anything. I'm creating a lot of art, which keeps me busy, but no one really sees that.<br />
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Sorry I don't have better news.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-73788066559511152772015-11-05T05:48:00.001-05:002015-11-05T05:48:28.991-05:00In Memory of AlexandriaIt's up! Here's the link. I hope you like it.<br />
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<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/590634" target="_blank">In Memory of Alexandria</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-87651347474941005072015-11-04T19:16:00.000-05:002015-11-04T19:16:13.033-05:00Soon to be appearing on Smashwords...Hi, everyone. Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I haven't been writing much lately. I wouldn't say that I've got writer's block. More like my writing muse has gone into a fallow stage or something. I have been doing a lot of art instead, not that that matters much to any of you, I'm pretty sure. :)<br />
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I have, however, decided to try putting a short story up onto Smashwords, to see how it does. I don't have any major publisher prospects on the horizon, sadly. I guess I don't really fit into any one specific genre, so I make publishers leery.<br />
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Anyway, I'm putting up a short story, once I'm happy that the formatting in the ebook is good. It's titled "In Memory of Alexandria" and I've always liked it. I've also done the cover art for it. If it does well, I'll see about tossing up more works that I have, so if you like it, please buy it and tell your friends. I'm putting it up for .99 cents, which hopefully people will think is fair.<br />
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Here's the cover.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9naR8cjSRVfrxqDdheb98IOgF2UY-FuYZ4d8cMhV3DhRGgAgLlU8M94rWdzfD1q2q46j0HjQXVCxrkHUd-AIo89yHbFqaLVs25n7i-O3y9jHUh-Q6fDWqIlZxzuPvZNM1MsI8Ch4uXp-h/s1600/In+Memory+of+Alexandria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9naR8cjSRVfrxqDdheb98IOgF2UY-FuYZ4d8cMhV3DhRGgAgLlU8M94rWdzfD1q2q46j0HjQXVCxrkHUd-AIo89yHbFqaLVs25n7i-O3y9jHUh-Q6fDWqIlZxzuPvZNM1MsI8Ch4uXp-h/s320/In+Memory+of+Alexandria.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-19018015290203610122014-12-01T00:00:00.000-05:002014-12-01T00:00:09.392-05:00LJ's Easy-Peasy French Toast RecipeOkay, here's my recipe for the 3 Seas Inaugural Joint Author Promotion event on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/3-Seas-Literary-Agency/75205869856?ref=bookmarks">Facebook</a> page.<br />
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Keep in mind two things:<br />
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<ol>
<li>I can't cook. I've burned water. Literally. I'd have starved to death years ago if it weren't for my husband; and</li>
<li>Since I just found out that I can actually write a post and schedule it to release on a later date (Joy!), I'm still doped up on the cold meds mentioned in the last post while I write this. </li>
</ol>
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Okay, this recipe is special to me because it's literally almost the only thing I can cook without the use of a microwave. I don't remember where I learned it, but I've known it for a long time now and I break it out occasionally on the odd Sunday for breakfast.<br />
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Here's the recipe.<br />
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<u><b>LJ's Easy-Peasy French Toast</b></u><br />
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<div>
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Ingredients:<div>
<ul>
<li>milk</li>
<li>eggs</li>
<li>vanilla</li>
<li>cinnamon</li>
<li>nutmeg</li>
<li>cloves</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Get up wondering why you're awake on a Sunday morning</li>
<li>Drink coffee</li>
<li>Drink coffee</li>
<li>Pet the cat</li>
<li>Decide you're hungry</li>
<li>Find a frypan and some sort of dish big enough to hold a slice of bread and some liquid without getting it all over the counter.</li>
<li>Crack maaaaybe three eggs into the dish</li>
<li>Add a couple blorps of milk into the dish (uh, maybe a quarter cup? I literally pour it in and listen to it go "blorp blorp"</li>
<li>Grab the vanilla bottle, pour it and count to two</li>
<li>Add a bunch of dashes of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves</li>
<li>Stir up the whole thing with a fork</li>
<li>Remember to turn on the stove, set to HIGH cause you have no patience (if you do and/or want to be able to walk away from the stove without testing your fire alarm, set it lower)</li>
<li>Drink coffee</li>
<li>Put a piece of bread into the egg mixture. Let it soak a couple seconds, flip it over. Let it get to your preferred soggy level</li>
<li>Slap the bread into the pan (repeat if you have room for more than one)</li>
<li>Watch the pan sizzle and drink coffee.</li>
<li>Check the bottom of the bread numerous times to see if it looks cooked.</li>
<li>Flip the bread over. </li>
<li>Push the bread randomly around the pan with a spatula while it cooks.</li>
<li>Put everything on a plate</li>
<li>Go wake up the husband and find out he wants one piece less than you just cooked.</li>
<li>Realize you're out of maple syrup</li>
<li>Enjoy!</li>
</ol>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-76523682131790173442014-11-28T08:00:00.000-05:002014-11-28T08:00:03.926-05:00 3 Seas’ Inaugural Joint Author Promotion!Hey, everyone! If you're looking for a chance to win something before Christmas, 3 Seas (my agents) are running a contest starting next Monday 1 December and running through Friday 5 December. The way it works is, (from my limited drugged-up-on-cold-medication understanding) go to their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/3-Seas-Literary-Agency/75205869856?ref=bookmarks">Facebook</a> site anytime that week and see all the author sites who are participating. Each of them will have a recipe they love posted that will hopefully be less random than mine.<br />
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Go to all the different sites, collect delicious recipes, and "earn" raffle entries for the prizes. The more sites you visit, the more raffle entires you get. I'm not sure how that's counted. You think I understand computers? Not really.<br />
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The prizes are:<br />
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
1)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span>Grand Prize: A $300 gift card for Amazon, B&N or iTunes – winner's choice<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
2)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span>Sample boxes of current releases from participating authors</div>
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Not too bad. So come back and see my recipe offering on the 1st and good luck winning the prize.<br />
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<i>(Their Facebook URL in case I messed up embedding the URL: <span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-indent: -24px;"> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/3-Seas-Literary-Agency/75205869856?ref=bookmarks" style="color: #954f72; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-indent: -24px;">https://www.facebook.com/pages/3-Seas-Literary-Agency/75205869856?ref=bookmarks</a>)</i><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-3633806610477144822014-11-25T19:00:00.001-05:002014-11-25T19:00:28.916-05:00Has it really been that long since I posted? Wow. Even for me, that's almost impressive, in a sadly pathetic sort of way.<br />
<br />
I'm sorry about that. I doubt anyone's sitting around with bated breath for me to say anything, but I didn't really mean to keep quiet this long. It's the introvert in me. I'm not the best around at the social interaction thing and if I don't have anything concrete to say, I don't seem to say much of anything.<br />
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I will have something for Dec 1. Not writing news, I'm afraid. My agent's running a 3 Seas Inaugural Joint Author Promotion where we'll all post recipes. Mine should be somewhat frightening, given as I can't actually cook. >.>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-49725179404559206332014-03-04T20:23:00.000-05:002014-03-04T20:23:20.159-05:00The Sylph Hunter is out!Woohoo! My book is out! I really hope all of you enjoy it! And if you do, spread the word!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-58956905604644828992014-02-18T16:38:00.002-05:002014-02-18T16:39:19.921-05:00First BlushHey, good news. THE SYLPH HUNTER is being featured by Amazon. If you want a chance to win a free copy, go here. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://apub-blog.amazon.com/post/TxJDSS9TUDPEOJ/First-Blush-The-Sylph-Hunter-by-L-J-McDonald">http://apub-blog.amazon.com/post/TxJDSS9TUDPEOJ/First-Blush-The-Sylph-Hunter-by-L-J-McDonald</a><br />
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<br />
Good luck!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-23270242208909361132014-01-03T12:55:00.000-05:002014-01-03T12:55:15.485-05:00That took way too long...and btw, here's the prologue for my new book.Okay, I managed to fix my stupid book listing page. Pain in the butt! I've even put the excerpts for my last two books in the page descriptions, which is apparently something I totally forgot to do sooner. Books 1 and 2 always had them, but now 3 and 4 do as well.<br />
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That said, here's the prologue for book 4. Keep in mind, this is a cut/paste of the last doc version I have of the manuscript (frighteningly full of copy editor remarks and cuts that I've cropped out). I don't usually have the clean official final version of the book, so this might be a bit different from the published version (I'm talking maybe a word here or there and some formatting, I hope).<br />
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Here's hoping it wets your appetite. Uh, pun not intended, if you see what I mean by the end of it...<br />
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###<br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">The sylphs were dancing.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">There were hundreds of them, a storm of colors swirling around each other in a glorious celebration of life. Despite the fact it was once a place used to lure and trap their kind, the underground chamber they used was now a brilliantly lit place of joy. Air, earth, water, fire, healing, and battle, they whirled in a mad happiness that had no music.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Over by the far wall of the massive chamber, Gel sat on the floor with his arms across the tops of his knees and watched the sylphs play. They were ecstatic with the idea of being free, the joy of being allowed to do what they wanted and to interact as they never had before the queen came. Not in Meridal, where even human beings were once sold as slaves and sylphs had been nothing more than property.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">In the center of the chamber, a circle of noncolor gleamed, floating a dozen feet above the ground. The sylphs danced around it, calling those on the other side to come through and join them.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">He’d been told it was a small hive past the gate, one badly depleted by predators, though Gel couldn’t imagine what kind of predator would threaten sylphs. He’d seen the battlers the day the queen had arrived. He’d seen how much they had destroyed, including all of the nobility and even the emperor himself.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Gel closed his eyes, not really wanting to remember that day any more than he did any of the days before it. He’d spent years locked in a cage not much larger than he was himself, his tongue chopped out to keep him from speaking to the earth sylph who had been bound to him. She was only supposed to feed from him after all, him and the four others caged with him.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><i>Are you all right? </i>he heard Shasha ask in his mind.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Gel opened his eyes. Before him stood what appeared to be a young girl, except her skin was formed of smooth marbled stone and her eyes were rubies. She looked at him critically, her hands clasped behind her back while the sylphs behind her continued their silent display. The only real sound in the chamber was the chanting of the priests, left alive for their skill with the gates, and the fearful chattering of the humans brought in—sometimes against their will—to become masters for the newest sylphs. Most of the more experienced masters were like Gel, sitting against the wall and watching. To them, none of this was truly real and it was easier to just stay out of the way.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">His earth sylph kept watching him. Her official master had been killed by the battlers during the rebellion for the newly established crime of having kept a sylph under control like a tool. Gel had been nothing more than a feeder, one of the five men kept caged for her to feed from, all of them tongueless to stop them giving commands. Of all of them, he was the one she’d chosen to be her only master after they were freed. Gel didn’t know why, but he wasn’t unhappy about it because he’d always liked the little creature. When he’d been in his cage, she was the only highlight of the day, coming as she did in the shape of a pillar of earth and somehow seeming both sad and kind to him. He’d loved her a little bit and had always wanted to set her free. Perhaps she’d sensed that in him.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">“I’m okay,” he said slowly. The feel of his regrown tongue in his mouth was still alien to him and his words slurred.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Behind Shasha, the gate continued to glow, the storm of sylphs happily flickering around it . It shimmered briefly, and a tendril dropped out of the hovering gate like a thread drawn across his vision. Gel blinked.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">“Do you want to leave?” the earth sylph asked. Spoken aloud, her voice was gravelly.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Gel shrugged, hugging his knees. Where was there to go? At least it was cool in here and there were no expectations. “It’s all right.”</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">“Okay.” Leaning forward, she kissed him quickly on the cheek and turned, stomping back toward the dance. Gel lifted a hand to his cheek and touched the skin where she’d kissed him with a trembling smile.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">The line swished again, dragging across the floor. Gel blinked a second time, squinting to try and see it more clearly, but the sylphs were in the way. He wasn’t even sure he was seeing anything at all, since it was almost invisible and no one else appeared to notice it at all. Gel blinked a third time and shook his head, but the thread didn’t go away, though the sylphs continued to ignore it. If they didn’t see it, it had to be imagined. Gel sighed, feeling odd and out of sorts. He had his freedom, but he didn’t know what to do with it. Going in a heartbeat from slave to . . . what? What was he?</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Shasha came back toward him, her expression concerned. Gel didn’t know what to say to her or what she wanted from him. Not much it seemed, save his energy and his company. She certainly didn’t expect him to work, though he accompanied her when she did. Gel didn’t like the idea of being alone. This whole freedom concept was much easier on her than him, but then again, sylphs in Meridal were now the rulers. All of the old leaders and masters of the former regime were dead or being hunted down. Those who remained weren’t allowed to give orders at all; they were just supposed to exist in harmony with their sylphs.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Gel didn’t have any urge to order Shasha to do anything, but harmony wasn’t something he was sure he could ever get his mind around.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Shasha hunkered down beside him, looking at him with worry he could feel as well as see. She put a cool stony hand on his shoulder and he just stared toward the swirling dance and the gate, not knowing what to say, or even what word to put to this tumult of emotions inside him. Being mute had been so much easier.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">The gate was swirling now as well, in a mimicry of the sylphs around it. That distortion was one that everyone saw. Gel watched the sylphs stop their dance, many even becoming solid as they peered curiously at the gate, and the battlers started to move in. Everyone seemed puzzled; they still didn’t see the thread that swayed down from it. No, threads. Gel saw dozens now, dropping out of the gate and swishing across his vision. Hundreds? Gel blinked, now seeing the entire opening of the gate bearded by them, though that was the only place where he saw them. If it was his vision gone strange, wouldn’t they be everywhere? Some were thicker than mere threads, grown in width to the thickness of a man’s arm, or even a man’s body. Gel stared. Shasha looked at him, confused by his confusion, and turned to peer uncomprehendingly at the gate, seeing absolutely nothing.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">A water sylph that looked like a rolling ball of liquid wandered into the forest of threads. Immediately, she turned translucent and vanished, flowing so swiftly up the length of the tendrils that she was gone before he even realized she’d been touched. Gel’s breath caught.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">The sylphs definitely couldn’t help but notice that. Even as the water sylph’s master started screaming from somewhere at the edge of the chamber, the battlers began to roar. They didn’t have time for more than that.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Things exploded through the gate, and these weren’t thin as the first threads had been, but tentacles that were thick and barbed. The sylphs still couldn’t see them, and even to Gel they were clear as water, visible more as a distortion than an actual object. He drew breath, forgetting he had a tongue to scream with, and saw them tear into the sylphs, lashing together dozens with a single tentacle and yanking them in, only there were hundreds to lash with. Ozone stank in the air as the sylphs vanished, turning strangely gray before they were sucked away and the tentacles reached farther, sweeping through the room where the only sounds were sylph wails and human screams.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Gel finally remembered how to scream then, forgotten after years in the cages. His voice came out shrill and inhuman and he clutched Shasha’s arm tight, his fingers turning white and painful against her stone. She was staring around, terrified and not understanding even as everyone else died.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">We should have left, was all Gel could get himself to think. We should have left.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Something forced itself through the gate, ripping it apart but still managing to hold it open while the priests died. Gel continued to stare in horror. Whimpering, Shasha threw herself at him and he felt her arms go around him as tentacles ripped through the air toward them both.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">###</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">It had been a good feed, the best it had had in a long time, but one that would have been dangerously rich had it been in free air. If it hadn’t been in this enclosed space, it could have made itself float much too high above the ground, with the risk of winds tearing it apart or pushing it to where there was no food. It had just been so hungry though. Already through the gateway before it realized the way back would close behind it, it swept through the chamber, looking and feeling with its tentacles for more food, but it had devoured everything.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">It paused there for a moment, collecting itself, but it was pressing uncomfortably against the ceiling and the way it had come was gone. There was nothing left to do but go out through an opening in one wall. There was no other exit and it could smell more food that way. That was all in the world that mattered. Just the sky and the food.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Picking the only route out of this place where the food had drawn it, it lashed a thousand tentacles, some as thin as a human’s hair, others as thick around as an oak, flashing them down a wide corridor, and anchored them into the walls. Sure of its grip, it pulled itself forward, sliding its way down the corridor. The way was tight, but the creature was malleable when it had to be. Still, it didn’t like this feeling and it swept its tentacles farther, grabbing and pulling.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">It found even more food during the process. When a human wandered around the corner, drawn by the noise, it wrapped a dozen tentacles around him and sucked him in to feed. The taste was strange, different from anything else it had ever tried, but it was food and the food was all. It chewed, swallowed, absorbed, and nothing but a splatter of blood was left as it pulled itself forward again, making its way into a huge area of abandoned, shattered cages and catwalks. There it let itself float, squeezing its way upward to the ceiling and then across to another, smaller corridor. That was harder to get into, but it managed, pulling itself through and to an even smaller staircase that led up. It was almost trapped there, but it exhaled some of the gases inside it, forced itself out, and finally was free, letting its tentacles hang below it as it floated up, giving itself wearily to the winds and wherever they decided to take it.</span><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff6ef; color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Anything it saw on the way, it ate.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-40804207585833473732014-01-03T11:50:00.005-05:002014-01-03T11:50:54.271-05:00Oops...Uh, anyone who's visiting my site today, I kinda sorta accidentally deleted the My Writing page. Working on it...<br />
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I'll be updating the front page too, once I remember what program I used to create it with...<br />
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*sound of head hitting desk*Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-66462583835268030182013-12-14T08:21:00.002-05:002013-12-14T08:21:52.422-05:00The Hunter is getting closer and there's now a cover!Oh, crap, has it been that long since I posted? Yikes! Sorry about that. I've changed workplaces and am working on an online art course. Plus I didn't really have anything official to say and I can't really believe any of you are here to hear about the rest of my life.<br />
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There's now cover art. It went through a few iterations. I rejected Amazon's first suggestion for reasons I don't want to get into (if you can't say anything nice...) and the second one they had trouble getting the model rights to. For the third one, they let me pick the image (I'm still stunned I have any input in this. Woot!) and this is the one I liked the most out of the options they gave me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGOqVb9CPteM-Ekxpzd5zmEaKxPDze0ATsRDtwNBpCt4j7_BP2tz_DGzzKONyKr6sCYUxyAO3h-Wsj7cBAFGIfRIgbKorLA3kPOvPiHMKAHyfKWVMDrfGVT8OOo2MwrB-4AB9JCvDw8SD_/s1600/McDonald_SylphHunter_FrontCover_Final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGOqVb9CPteM-Ekxpzd5zmEaKxPDze0ATsRDtwNBpCt4j7_BP2tz_DGzzKONyKr6sCYUxyAO3h-Wsj7cBAFGIfRIgbKorLA3kPOvPiHMKAHyfKWVMDrfGVT8OOo2MwrB-4AB9JCvDw8SD_/s320/McDonald_SylphHunter_FrontCover_Final.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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The cover is by Anne Cain, just as with the first three books. I really like that they have continuity between the books of the series. Here is the full front and back image, with the description on the back:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMyb5sWfOvkwynVKoIQ60Z2YbGivvn2eSvGxP-D_Z8IiMqHyhX5FCRTCK5icg0gPKYKOXD_AUkIHxY6D-F4DR_KUyGMk1p0ug6XCsWpKZApIIgjsPANcDe1N5n55j2cICuIDT9fXuwC1Jd/s1600/SylphHunter_FullCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMyb5sWfOvkwynVKoIQ60Z2YbGivvn2eSvGxP-D_Z8IiMqHyhX5FCRTCK5icg0gPKYKOXD_AUkIHxY6D-F4DR_KUyGMk1p0ug6XCsWpKZApIIgjsPANcDe1N5n55j2cICuIDT9fXuwC1Jd/s320/SylphHunter_FullCover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I really hope everyone likes this book when it comes out, and if you do, tell all your friends. Whether book five or any later books come out is directly dependant on this one selling enough for Amazon to want to buy them. Not to pressure anyone, but it is a fact of life.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-61588149185195498782013-10-12T09:19:00.000-04:002013-10-12T09:19:00.553-04:00Amazon Promotion for QUEEN OF THE SYLPHSI just found out the other day. QUEEN OF THE SYLPHS has been made part of an Amazon kindle promotion. Here's what I was told:<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">I’m very excited to let you know that we have selected Queen of the Sylphs to be in our month long Amazon Publishing Kindle promotion! The titles selected for this promotion are all priced at $0.99 and are being promoted with high visibility to Kindle customers.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> The promotion will run for an entire month, from September 23 through October 23. You can view all the titles included in the promotion here: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/b/?ie=UTF8&node=7528080011" style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">http://www.amazon.com/b/?ie=UTF8&node=7528080011</a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">. We can’t wait to see the results!</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">So, if you haven't picked up the kindle version of that book, or know someone who wants to, now's a good time to do so. I'd have mentioned it before the promotion started, but I literally just found out this week. Yeah, whoops.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">In other news, from the sound of it, THE SYLPH HUNTER is going to be released in early March.</span><br />
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Today, I received the copy edited version of the manuscript. I get two weeks to review and return it. This is one of the steps to make sure that the book is as tight as it can be, with no continuity or grammar errors. The copy editor's made their adjustments, now I get to make sure I agree with them. It's a lot of work and it's very important. It's also one of the final stages before the book is turned into a galley proof, which is how it'll look published.<br />
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For now, have some drawings.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVeOxmROgrgNWTLsyibtWLx0fMyDxVPwFO6N2XfAD1GdytzzXRI5Y7kRH0kECK41M_d1Jln78XaDA24EzejmU5OJHqUablrX3vVzWsY_elHW939LY2mI8ucPAqeG00FrZUqKOUTA6BqhAS/s1600/IMG_0101_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVeOxmROgrgNWTLsyibtWLx0fMyDxVPwFO6N2XfAD1GdytzzXRI5Y7kRH0kECK41M_d1Jln78XaDA24EzejmU5OJHqUablrX3vVzWsY_elHW939LY2mI8ucPAqeG00FrZUqKOUTA6BqhAS/s320/IMG_0101_2.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmG_Rp3lpYvddQ2kYpLLQmyPwjfQ6Y1YvTpeqDVii65vl6uebqBV7KooFKgs4BBZ9Nq1vnHm9tCYweoXoznN9nNlToBhN5XhseMKlpr8XE6uy0b5h3uY3OyW-QpJL5_LCTMifkPQyiVvr/s1600/IMG_0102_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmG_Rp3lpYvddQ2kYpLLQmyPwjfQ6Y1YvTpeqDVii65vl6uebqBV7KooFKgs4BBZ9Nq1vnHm9tCYweoXoznN9nNlToBhN5XhseMKlpr8XE6uy0b5h3uY3OyW-QpJL5_LCTMifkPQyiVvr/s320/IMG_0102_2.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>
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pencil and copic markers</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbNI9XDLwqWaiRyTrIkc5KOOynrnZSytOt1x3yQSjnIud3Y2DQ2rahEfFkL_AUC9IuN1P9QHPzs7QeBFdxFqz2KZtVwqjq9gwjfY5XbKZKJJ2Gp8IntByqMn5WPPPUs5jhY-BqJ3_RywFw/s1600/IMG_0103_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbNI9XDLwqWaiRyTrIkc5KOOynrnZSytOt1x3yQSjnIud3Y2DQ2rahEfFkL_AUC9IuN1P9QHPzs7QeBFdxFqz2KZtVwqjq9gwjfY5XbKZKJJ2Gp8IntByqMn5WPPPUs5jhY-BqJ3_RywFw/s320/IMG_0103_2.jpg" width="249" /></a></div>
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pencil and copic markers</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-63007039824873612032013-08-05T18:29:00.000-04:002013-08-05T18:29:14.008-04:00The Sylph Hunter is on its wayWell, I've signed the contract for book four of the Sylph series. It's called THE SYLPH HUNTER and takes us back to Meridal, where Devon Chole goes with his air sylph Airi and runs into all sorts of things he wasn't expecting. Remember Devon Chole? The air sylph master formerly from Eferem? The one with the phobia about battle sylphs? Oh yeah, gonna have fun with him.<br />
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I'm not sure at what point the book will be released. Amazon would like it to come out in March 2014, but I have a full time day job, so unless the edit process goes swimmingly well, it'll be delayed some. We all want the book to be at its best.<br />
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I do know that it will be released as an ebook in the US, Canada, and the UK, all at the same time, and also as a trade in all three countries. So it will be easy to get. I hope you grab it when it does come out and let all your friends know about it. The better it sells, the more likely that Amazon will pick up the next three books in the series.<br />
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Yeah, I said three.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-48606370665443125322013-06-27T09:56:00.003-04:002013-06-27T09:56:40.960-04:00A Cage of Burning Light is available to readHey, good news. My Kindle Worlds story, "A Cage of Burning Light", is up on the US Kindle site. It's based on "Vampire Diaries" and you can buy it here. <br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CS7HKMY/ref=s9_al_bw_g351_ir014?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=AA40289C34EF45F1A7ED&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1570530182&pf_rd_i=6118587011">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CS7HKMY/ref=s9_al_bw_g351_ir014?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=AA40289C34EF45F1A7ED&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1570530182&pf_rd_i=6118587011</a><br />
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As far as I can tell, it's only available in the States so far. I'm trying to find out about the Canadian distribution.<br />
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Here's the cover, which I had no input on, but rather like. <br />
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<img alt="" class="" id="main-image" rel="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/91msW2UvXJL._SL1500_.jpg" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YOWSWdLBL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-64,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" style="display: inline;" /><br />
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They also asked me to remind everyone that Kindle Worlds is open for anyone to submit stories in. If you're trying to break into the publishing world, this might be a good way to get started. <br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-38407433340231265932013-05-23T15:23:00.003-04:002013-05-23T15:23:56.157-04:00Kindle Worlds has been announcedA couple of posts ago, I said there were a few things I was up to, not all of which I could talk about. That's now changed. Here's a cut/paste from an email I received from Amazon this week.<br />
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<em>Greetings, Amazon Publishing authors: <o:p></o:p></em></div>
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<em>We have some exciting news to share with you: Amazon Publishing has launched a new program – Kindle Worlds. Kindle Worlds is the first commercial publishing platform that will enable any writer to create fan fiction based on a wide range of original stories and characters and earn royalties for doing so. As with Kindle Serials and Kindle Singles, we hope to open up new ways for authors to write and provide readers with an innovative way to experience great writing. <o:p></o:p></em></div>
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<em>Amazon Publishing has <span style="mso-fareast-language: JA;">secured licenses from Warner Bros. for Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars and Vampire Diaries, and plans to announce more licenses soon. Through these exclusive licenses, Kindle Worlds will allow writers everywhere to publish authorized stories inspired by these popular Worlds and make them available for readers to purchase in the Kindle Store. </span>I<span style="mso-fareast-language: JA;">n June, the Kindle Worlds Store will launch and at that time, the Kindle Worlds Self-Service Submission Platform, where any writer can submit work, will also open. We encourage you to visit Kindle Worlds (</span></em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds" title="blocked::--ESFSECEV-TY3013-----------------"><span style="mso-fareast-language: JA;" title="blocked::--ESFSECEV-TY3013-----------------"><em>www.amazon.com/kindleworlds</em></span></a><span style="mso-fareast-language: JA;"><em>) to learn more. <o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
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<o:p>As part of this launch, Amazon asked fifty some odd authors back in March to write stories in one of the universes they had the rights to. Obviously, I was one of them. Sounded like fun, so I agreed.</o:p></div>
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<o:p>I've written a 24,000 story set in the Vampire Diaries universe titled "A Cage of Burning Light". Amazon liked it, and once the official release date rolls around and it's available for purchase, I hope that all of you do too.</o:p></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-29445607593596047552013-05-20T14:33:00.004-04:002013-05-20T14:33:45.928-04:00I'm inflicting art on you!Nothing new on the writing front. Nearly done the second serial in FOR THE LOVE OF A SYLPH. Ten thousand words sounds like a lot until you realize how much you have to cram in there. Gah.<br />
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I've been on vacation the last two weeks, so between writing and building a rocket launcher, I've done some painting.<br />
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The rocket launcher, btw, is a prop. It's for a steampunk costume. I'll post pictures when it's done if anyone cares.</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-62734413853598544662013-05-13T17:19:00.000-04:002013-05-13T17:19:10.071-04:00I have reached a new firstWow, even for me, this is a long time to go without saying anything. Sorry about that. I haven't posted because there hasn't been anything happening that I can really talk about.<br />
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That does mean that yes, things have been happening, but no, I still can't talk about it. Not much. Well, I'll try.<br />
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Moving to Amazon has been interesting. They actually pay on a regular basis, which is quite amazing. They also give me breakdowns on where my books are being bought. I'm apparently doing okay in Germany. Yay, Germany!<br />
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Amazon is also a lot more proactive at poking authors (at least they've been poking me) and going "Hey, we want to do 'this'. Are you interested?" So far, the answer to this question that I've been asked twice is to say "Sure!" Whereupon they reply with "Great, give us a synopsis and a first chapter and we'll decide whether we want to buy it."<br />
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One of these days, my dream is to have someone suggest I write something and actually pay me BEFORE I do it. Dreams....such nebulous dreams...<br />
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Project #1 I flat out can't talk about. It doesn't involve just me, so the announcement about it has to wait until Amazon releases it. Yeah, I have no idea when that's going to happen. "Soon," I think.<br />
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Project #2 I can give a few details on. It's not solid yet. I'm still getting that synopsis and first chapter to them, so a contract isn't 100% guaranteed and I don't want to jinx it. Call me paranoid. However, it's very likely it will be.<br />
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Amazon has asked me to write a new sylph book, separate from book 4 (which they say they're buying anyway. No, I haven't got the contract yet). The format of it is a little different. They want an 8 part serial, each serial being ten thousand words long and ending at a cliffhanger. It's to be released electronically, each serial coming out two weeks apart and then the whole thing being released as a novel afterwards. The reader only pays once for the whole thing. They're called Kindle Serials and it's the same idea as the ongoing stories in pulp magazines back in the day. Amazon has some of them out already and they're quite popular, but I'm their first stab at a fantasy serial. So I'm busily at work on this one, which from what I understand, they want to release this fall. For publishing, that's an insane turn around.<br />
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Given that they also want the book to be able to stand on its own with new readers, I've had to put book six aside while I write it. Six has way too many spoilers for other books, like five. Five of course can't come out until after four, and four they're paying me for anyway, so I'm not interested in turning that one into a set of serials.<br />
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The book is called FOR THE LOVE OF A SYLPH and is set after book three and four. I'm not saying what the plot is, but I will say that anyone who remembers the water sylph and battler who were friends in ALPHABET SOUP FOR SYLPHS is going to recognize the leads. This is very much going to be a first as the entire book is written from the point of view of a water sylph. I've always wanted to try something like that. Usually just the battlers get focused on.<br />
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So that's what I've been up to, along with working full time, having fun with digital art, and spending way too much time in Minecraft PE or Real Racing 3.<br />
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To close, something that's never happened to me before happened yesterday. I was at the Ottawa Comicon and chatting with one of the artists doing commissions there. We got to talking about art and writing and he asked if I was someone he'd have heard of. I said probably not and told him my name.<br />
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He'd heard of me.<br />
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Forgive the squealing, but NOBODY's heard of me. Not standing face to face. You guys read my blog because you came to find me. This was like meeting one of you randomly on the street.<br />
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Yeah, I ended up flailing uselessly. It was great. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-9059480902401767562013-03-28T19:54:00.002-04:002013-03-28T19:54:21.009-04:00Amazon Bought Goodreads (and other stuff that blindsided the crap out of me)<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I received an email today from Amazon. I get heads up on some stuff since they own some of my books, but I gather this one is out there in the world anyway, so I can talk about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dear Friends,<br /><o:p> </o:p>I wanted you to be among the first to know that Amazon has reached an agreement to acquire Goodreads, a leading site for readers and book recommendations that helps people find and share books they love.<br /><o:p> </o:p>Amazon and Goodreads share a passion for reinventing reading, a love of books, and an appreciation for the authors who write them. We both work every day to help authors like you reach a wider audience and make a better living at your craft, and together with Goodreads we intend to build many new ways to delight authors and readers alike.<br /><o:p> </o:p>We’re excited to help create an even more powerful offering for all of our authors, and we hope you are too. You can read more in the press release <a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?p=irol-mediaHome&c=176060" style="color: purple;">here</a> and the blog post from Goodreads <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/413-exciting-news-about-goodreads-we-re-joining-the-amazon-family" style="color: purple;">here</a>.<br /><o:p> </o:p>If you have any questions, please let me know.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amazon press release: <a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?p=irol-mediaHome&c=176060">here</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Goodreads press release: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/413-exciting-news-about-goodreads-we-re-joining-the-amazon-family">here</a> </span><br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I really didn't see this one coming and as of right now, I have no official opinion about it, just some personal musings of my own. I figured I would let everyone know, though, in case they hadn't heard.</span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In other news, I'm up to something for Amazon. Sounds terrible, doesn't it? :) I can't say what it is, but when it's finally announced, I think it's either going to be seen as an awesome thing and a tremendous opportunity, or as a horrible disaster. Or both. Maybe. I can see it going either way and it's driving me vaguely nuts that I can't say what it is. It's Amazon's news to release, however. I'm just involved in my own little way. </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know <i>when</i> Amazon will announce it, but my deadline is April 6, so I think it'll be sometime around then, or later. Once I <i>can</i> talk about it, I'll let everyone know what I've been up to.</span></o:p></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-19738331289475772112013-03-02T20:23:00.003-05:002013-03-02T20:24:15.416-05:00Almost there nowWell, I haven't signed the contract just yet, but Amazon's offered to buy THE SYLPH HUNTER, which is book four of my sylph series. Depending on how well it does, they'll buy more. We tried for a three book deal, but as far as Amazon is concerned, I'm untried to them, so they want to make sure I'm worth it. Eek, no stress there. :D<br />
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I don't know how Amazon does it just yet, but when I was with Dorchester, it was a good year from a contract being signed to the book hitting the shelves, so THE SYLPH HUNTER won't see bookstores until 2014. Sorry about that. Theoretically the first three will be coming out again in 2013, and Amazon will be doing some promotion of them. So that will hopefully mean more sales, and more interest when THE SYLPH HUNTER comes out. The more I sell, the happier everyone will be.<br />
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For the first time in my life, I'm getting regular royalty statements and I'm selling at a steady rate, but I have no frame of reference to know if it's considered a good amount or piddly, and I'm somewhat afraid to ask. :) But the more of book four I sell, the sooner Amazon will be willing to take a chance on five and six, as well as anything else I write, so tell your friends, I guess.<br />
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Book Six, btw, which I'm still calling THE LONELY SYLPH is already over 17,000 words, and would progress even faster if I could get off Tumblr or stop painting. Also if I didn't spend a sickening amount of time at my day job every day. Heh.<br />
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Speaking of painting, here, have a picture.<br />
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<a href="http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/006/8/6/the_tree_by_hydraa-d5qmo5f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/006/8/6/the_tree_by_hydraa-d5qmo5f.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-48009542626873614782013-01-29T20:28:00.000-05:002013-01-29T20:28:03.273-05:00My Kingdom for a Font!Well, not really, but I would like some....<br />
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I'm getting ready to start writing THE LONELY SYLPH. Tossing ideas around, playing with characters, and spending way too much time deciding on a font to use.<br />
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I'm a bit of a font lover. I edit in Times New Roman to make it easier when I'm flipping manuscripts back and force with the editors, but when I'm typing the first draft, I like to do it in a new, funky font. Something that looks handwritten but still readable. I wrote THE BATTLE SYLPH in Comic Sans, I believe. I wrote a bunch of the others in Morning Limerick. But I'm getting tired of them. I want to use a new font.<br />
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There are a lot of free fonts out there, but the problem is finding ones that include an italic (or oblique) version. I'd love to write my next book in Jellyka or Noteworthy, but they don't have italic versions, which is really awkward when I write sylph speak in italics.<br />
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By any chance, are any of you out there font lovers who know a site that has free brushstroke or handwriting style fonts that come in regular and italic? I'm not having any luck searching.<br />
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I guess I'll go back to researching medieval sailing vessels. That's being a pain too. :)<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-37179965577774604712013-01-27T19:32:00.003-05:002013-01-27T19:32:56.504-05:00Look out! Looks like The Sylph Hunter might be heading our wayI didn't realize until I came on tonight that I hadn't posted for a while. Oops. Sorry about that, just life getting in the way, I guess.<br />
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I have some news. Nothing confirmed of course, as I haven't signed anything yet, but Amazon wants to buy THE SYLPH HUNTER. This is good news in my mind, of course, and my agent is trying to make it even better news as she's hoping to turn it into a three book deal. Which would mean WAR OF THE SYLPHS being released too, as well as a third book.<br />
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I've spent the last few days tossing around ideas for that third book (sixth in the series). I'm starting to get an idea of who's in it and what they're up to. It's set somewhere we've been before, if not spent a massive amount of time in, and it will have romance. I think someone might hurt me if it didn't. :p It also features one particular character readers met in ALPHABET SOUP FOR SYLPHS.<br />
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I don't promise that I'll get the three book deal as that would just be jinxing myself, but it is looking good at least for THE SYLPH HUNTER and I'm starting to get enough plot worms wiggling for the next book that I may just end up writing it regardless.<br />
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Its working title, by the way, is THE LONELY SYLPH.<br />
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Here, have a painting. I don't know who this is, but hopefully he'll introduce himself to me and tell me his story. :)<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-70972064393565822382012-12-20T18:56:00.000-05:002012-12-20T18:56:29.099-05:00Latest NewsWell, I hope everyone is having a good holiday season and getting to do whatever it is they want to do. I'm on vacation until the new year, so I'm getting some writing and art and the like done. It's nice.<br />
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I have some news to give. Apparently people have been asking me questions on my Facebook page without Facebook managing to tell me (and I'm famous for forgetting the site exists, which means I don't check it), so I'm answering some of those now. For those who have asked me questions in the past without my answering, I'm sorry about that. It wasn't intentional. I never mean to not answer someone. I just get easily distracted....<br />
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Amazon is going to rerelease the first three books in the Sylph series in the new year. I don't have an exact date, but I know the covers will be the same. They'll just be under the Amazon imprint. They'll also be released as paperbacks that you can buy in actual bookstores or order online, so that's a huge step up from what Dorchester did at the end with the uber expensive trades. This includes book three, QUEEN OF THE SYLPHS, which I know a lot of you weren't able to get hold of.<br />
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On the subject of e-books, I don't know that they'll be released as anything other than kindle versions. I haven't been able to get an answer on that, so it's not looking so good. Alas.<br />
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A couple of people asked about books four and five on Facebook. They're listed on Goodreads.com and actually have ratings (don't ask me how), but there's no picture or description or whatnot. For those of you who don't know, those books exist. I wrote them quite a while ago but didn't sell them to Dorchester because I wasn't happy with how Dorchester treated QUEEN. I mentioned them in a blog entry once and someone put them on Goodreads. They're not an illusion or a tease, promise.<br />
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In the good news, Amazon is actively reading book 4, THE SYLPH HUNTER. I have hopeful expectations that they'll buy it and later on, buy book 5, WAR OF THE SYLPHS as well. It just takes insane amounts of time for this sort of thing to happen.<br />
<br />
Amazon is also looking at one of my other fantasy series, HUNTING THE RAPTURE, for their fantasy imprint. I've also got Del Rey looking at that one, so I'm hoping someone picks it up (for the sake of politeness, I won't say which company I'd prefer....)<br />
<br />
That's all I've got happening publication-wise for the moment. I've been considering releasing a book of short stories onto Smashwords, but someone who shall remain nameless has been talking me out of it, so that's still in the pondering stages. I'm also past the 85,000 word count mark in writing my book CALLED.<br />
<br />
Here, have a painting.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://th07.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2012/352/d/3/cats_by_hydraa-d5ofwjw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="http://th07.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2012/352/d/3/cats_by_hydraa-d5ofwjw.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-43392915509926606622012-11-27T08:48:00.001-05:002012-11-27T08:48:41.875-05:00OnwardsI've been bad about updating this site for a while. I've been tired lately. Most days I get home and I'm too tired to do anything other than sit and read. It's the winter. Short days and a lot of darkness always get to me that way. That and the cold. I'm not in one of the truly frigid parts of Canada (not anymore at any rate) but I never liked the cold. It gets into my back and drains me. I'm more of the hot house flower type.<br />
<br />
I have passed the 75,000 word mark in CALLED, however. Slow going but still, going is good. I think this is going to be a long one. I don't even feel half finished yet. The Sylph books, by the way, average between 90,000 and 100,000 words each. I've also written a few short stories, including one I'm working on where this idiot mercenary trio (you haven't met them yet. I like them. They're full of snark) runs into Medusa. If you've ever read the mythology, that women <i>really</i> gets screwed over by the gods.<br />
<br />
I haven't heard anything new from Amazon. They have the physical copies of my books to make their versions from, the covers won't change, they will be available as paperback, and they're coming out sometime in 2013. I don't know if they'll buy four and five yet. It really does take this long to find out. It took nine months before I heard if the first one was going to be published when I first got into this business. It's been less than three months so far this time. Frustrating but true. I think it'll happen though. I hope. I've got a contact there, but I haven't been assigned an editor yet. Hopefully I'll get someone as great to work with as Kris Keesler was back at Dorchester. That makes a lot of difference.<br />
<br />
I have today off, so I'm enjoying the sunlight coming in the window and trying to get some writing done before the treadmill I ordered shows up. Then I'll be in the hell that is trying to figure out how to put it together. I've set up a little home gym in my basement since I don't want to exercise at work (I'm military. We get an hour for PT a day, but I don't like the gym much and it's all self-directed. Plus the change room is fifty years old and <i>smells</i>). At home I can run exercise programs on my IPad and not feel like everyone's staring at me. Just the parrot, who insists on coming downstairs with me.<br />
<br />
You know you need to exercise more when a four ounce bird decides to fly over and land on your head while you're in a middle of a dumbbell squat and you can't get back up....Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007183744593956918.post-91389352081328911532012-11-11T09:25:00.003-05:002012-11-11T09:26:16.317-05:00The SoldiersI wrote this poem on November 10, 2002, in about an hour and a half when I was in Saint-Jean, Quebec at the Mega. The Mega's a huge building where the Canadian Forces trains new soldiers. I'd finished my training by that point, but was on the Personnel Awaiting Training platoon at the time because I'd managed to blow my wrist out and needed physiotherapy before I could do the fitness test requirements.<br />
<br />
I don't quite remember where the genesis of this poem came from - I think I might have dreamed snippets of it - but I've rarely had anything come out that fast and that well. Almost nothing's changed from how I originally wrote it out.<br />
<br />
I think of this poem every year on Remembrance Day. I've showed it to a few people before and read it to my platoon back in 2002, but this is its first public appearance. Feel free to repost it, print it, do anything that doesn't make a profit, but leave my name on it, please.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<h1 style="margin-left: 0in; tab-stops: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">
<span lang="EN-US">THE
SOLDIERS</span></h1>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">LJ McDonald<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">November 2002<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The soldiers stand there watching me,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">on the blood-soaked ground.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">They never tell me who they are<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">or where that they are bound.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I tried at first to pretend<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">that I saw them not,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">moving through the cold barbed wire<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">where the men have fought.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">They are untouched by battle,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">these soldiers that I see,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">in uniforms of older wars<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">never fought by me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I see them walk the battlefield,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">while I hide inside my trench,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">afraid of the artillery<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">and the bloody stench.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Upon the battlefields of war,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I cower and see ghosts,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">fearing for my life and mind<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">from dead or living hosts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I alone do see them,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">alone in barricade,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">for my buddies now are dead<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">and scattered round me laid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Why is it that I’ve come here?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Why do I fight this war?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Why have I come so far from home<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">to fight and kill some more?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">My buddies died for strangers,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">sent here for policy,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">wasting out our blood and lives<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">for things we’ll never see.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So now I sit amongst my dead<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">while older dead do walk,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">in unseen ranks upon the field,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">my sanity to mock.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“What is the point?” I rose to scream.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“What point is there to fight?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“You all fought in a thousand wars,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“but war still thunders bright.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“There is no end to tyranny,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“there is no end to hate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“My buddies died for nothing but <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">a war that won’t abate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“Why can’t I throw my weapon down?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I shouted from my hole.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“Why can’t I live a normal life<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“with an unsullied soul?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“The tanks they ran across our lines,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“the bombs fell from the sky.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“There’s been no silence for a week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“We’ve naught to do but die.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“Why can’t I be the coward?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I asked once I was done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“What is the point of staying here<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“when I would rather run?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The soldiers then did look at me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">and did not say a thing,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">in their thousand uniforms<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">with weapons all agleam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Instead their ranks did slowly part<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">To columns tall with pride,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">to show me just exactly why<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">these men all risked to die.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Behind them stood the echoes – <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">not ghosts for they weren’t dead – <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">the memories of all the lives<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">these men died to protect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I saw a million women<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">smiling down at me,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">children playing at their feet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">by men who all were free.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Beyond them I saw even more; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">descendants in a line<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">that stretched out to eternity,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">so wide and deep and fine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">My eyes went wide with startlement<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">to see these murdered men<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">outnumbered so by lives they saved,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">of those they never met.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">That was when I understood<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">why good men go to war,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">and clutched my rifle close to me,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">a glad weight I now bore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The soldiers grouped around me,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">blocking out the strife,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">until I looked down and I saw<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">my trench carried <i>no</i> life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Now <i>I</i> walk on battlefields,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">or where once battles fought,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">reminding soldiers why they fight<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">these wars that are our lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Wear uniforms for memory<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">of those of us who died<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">for millions who did never choose<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">oppression, fear, and lies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Never falter, soldier,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">there are those of us who see,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">who know you for the man you are<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">and the hero you could be.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4