Almost a totally wasted day...

On Amazon.com, in the fantasy forums, there are several threads called KTT. The object is to be the last person to post and 'kill the thread' to win a signed book. The real pleasure is in actually participating in the conversations and enjoying the rather insane banter that goes on there. Somewhere during the last part of KTT 11, I got busy and did not keep up with it. Today, after a twelve hour effort, I finally caught up. It is now a 'zombie' thread, since the book has already been won and the thread killed per se. But people are still posting. I think one of my favorite aspects are the filks that get posted there.

As a result of wasting all that time catching up with KTT 11, I thought my 1k a day quota would fall by the wayside. Fortunately, my muse cooperated tonight and Vengeance is still progressing at just over 1000 words a day. I think I'm going to try to break the 50k mark tomorrow. We'll see.

Have a great whatever, more later...

Blasted muse and the tricky games she plays...

There are times when the muse gives you a perfectly played out scene then sits back and laughs at you as you struggle to find a way to get to it. Tonight was one of those times. It took over three frustrating hours to write the first fifty or so words of Chapter 16. Afterwards, the story flowed like a flash flood. In spite of the little games my muse likes to play, I made my daily quota. Unfortunately, kaben nine had to be neglected. He is currently sleeping off a rather rough day in Martel's torture cellar so probably needs the rest anyway.

Edited to add: I should wait until I'm awake to rant. The next paragraph is not targeted to the entire group of atheists/agnostics. I'm sure the vast majority of them are intelligent, open-minded people. The ones I had in mind are the obnoxious, ignorant, and noisy few who do not believe that their religious freedom rights end where the next person's begin. If they are so easily offended, that is their problem, and their problem alone.

On another note, I read an article in Linn's Stamp News that an atheist/agnostic organization is protesting the release of the upcoming Mother Theresa stamp. I find it a shame that these people, who must be very unhappy, can find nothing better to do than to try to make everyone else's life as miserable as their own. My thoughts are: if you don't like the stamp, don't buy it. On the last census I read, only 2% of our nation's population fall into the atheist/agnostic religious category. That works out to be about 2 people out of a hundred. Granted, there are other religions besides Christianity out there, this group seems to be the only one who is offended by such things. Since they are so few in number, maybe they should find an isolated island where they could all go and be miserably happy together without ruining everyone else's lives.

Anyway, more updates later...

Combined Council - 1

Chapter 15 is completed and with it the Combined Council loses another member. I won't go into details and spoil the fun. Both Vengeance of the Ghost and kaben nine enjoyed my attention today. The 1k a day quota was met, though barely. I'll be starting Chapter 16 tomorrow which will focus on a little chaos at the farm.

So far in this volume, Delmaria has refrained from kicking anymore buckets.

Updates and such...

Both Vengeance of the Ghost and kaben nine are progressing well. I've set a personal quota of at least 1,000 words a day for Vengeance. So far, I've been doing well with keeping that goal. kaben nine is the story I intend to finish after the release of Vengeance. There is no quota for it. I work on it when it becomes a distraction. It is a completely different style from the Lord of Chaos Trilogy. There is only one main character and it is a darker tale. The chapters are also much longer. So far, it fits more into the 'Horror/Thriller' genre with a bit of fantasy thrown in for good measure.

Vengeance will explain the origins of Stumpy. Several of the other gods have already been introduced this way in the first book. Some who have not, died before the opportunity to do so presented itself. The trilogy will end with the third book. Although some of the characters may appear in future stories, I'll be taking a break from them at least until kaben nine is complete.

Stamps:
I managed to find an older edition of Michel's Austria Specialized catalog rather cheaply priced and am now the proud owner of it. Mr. Schneider told me that even though it was written in German, it would be a great help in identifying the earlier stamps and their variations. I find this to be very true so far. Besides, Google Translate is very helpful. I've learned that sometimes I have to split the German words to get a translation, and with some fiddling here and there, everything I've encountered in the Michel guide, Google can translate.

I've begun working on a web site for my stamp collection. Part of it includes a cross reference of three of the major stamp guides and their numbering systems. I'm not totally happy with the layout yet, so expect it to change. It is also far from completed, although, the majority of my feeble collection is posted. You can find those pages here.

Autographs:
Slowly but surely, I'm getting my autograph collection scanned and posted to my facebook page. There are over a hundred there already and there will be at least that many more to come. Drop by and check them out!

More progress...

Vengeance of the Ghost has finally broken the 30,000 word mark and Chapter 11 is written. I'm finding the third book to be much darker than the first two. I believe Arienna, Mistress and Kht-dulm are the reason for this. Just like most nasty-bad types, they like to get a lot of attention. Chapter 11 features Kht-dulm and sets up some other stuff that will happen soon.

I know of at least one reader who had difficulty with seeing Karnak as evil. His role in the story makes it very difficult to show his 'true' self. I do try to bring out his nature in some of his dialogue. If it were his story, things would be much different. I mention that, because I don't believe the evil characters in Vengeance will disappoint that reader.

kaben nine has also made a return visit to me. Before long I will have to return to his story or he will begin depriving me of sleep again. As for now, Chapter 12 begins tomorrow. Next Saturday, I meet with my support group friends and I'm really looking forward to it. These meetings are usually quite unpredictable, but they always center my focus and make the writing process much easier. I don't think I'd have made it this far without those people.

More later,
Thanks for reading!

More updates...

Vengeance of the Ghost is progressing well. I'm currently working on the first death of the story. I'm hoping to have that crispy corpse as well as the rest of Chapter 10 finished tonight.

Shadow of the Ghost will be republished via CreateSpace very soon. The best part of this is that the price will be reduced considerably.

GenCon Indy 2010: At this time, it looks like I will be found on Author's Avenue at GenCon Indy next August. I will have the entire Lord of Chaos trilogy with me as well. Depending on my inspiration, kaben nine may be there also. My first priority is to complete Vengeance so kaben may not make it by then.

About time for an update...

Vengeance of the Ghost is progressing well again. The first nine chapters are rewritten to fit some new subplots into the story. I'm really happy with where it is headed. The ending has not changed, just the road traveled to reach that ending. At this time, I'm going to say that the release date will still be mid to late spring. I hope those who have followed up to this point find the story to their satisfaction.

kaben nine is once again out of the storage bin. I'll be working on that story on and off while I mull over how I want chapters of Vengeance to go. I probably won't post any more of that here. Those that want to read it will have to wait until it is completed.

I'll be back with more news, stamps and autographs more often again. Thanks to all that have purchased my books. I hope you have enjoyed the journey and will continue to enjoy it as the rest of the story unfolds.

Delete or...

Upon waking this morning, I thought about the words forced onto the computer yesterday. By the time I sat before the monitor, I had convinced myself to delete the whole chapter and try again. Fortunately, I avoided the story until after I had imbued a decent dose of coffee. My thinking cleared a bit and I decided to read what I had written the day before and see what I could salvage. As it turns out, I added a few things here, changed a few things there and pretty much kept the whole thing. Afterwards, I went on to complete chapter 9. To make the quota, I also got a good start on chapter 10. Vengeance of the Ghost is still making progress.

Today, instead of a stamp, I'll post an autograph. Many years ago, I was at a Sci-Con in Virginia Beach. Among the guest was this gentlemen. He was very pleasant to speak with and signed two books for me.
More later,
Tanner

Simon says...

Writing was an exercise in frustration today. I think part of it is the lack of interest in Legacy of the Ghost. So far the paperback version has yet to sell a single copy. The kindle version is not doing much better. I wish I knew how to get more readers. Those that have read the first book seem to have enjoyed it, but they aren't moving on to book two yet.

Anyway, I managed 1,500 words for Vengeance of the Ghost. Most of it was forced and will probably have to be rewritten or deleted altogether. Then Simon mentioned something about how the stream in The Garden reacted to Tal and things started flowing a little. On top of that, Arienna is starting to show interest in Mistress, though she doesn't know who Mistress is just yet. Arienna is just intrigued that Mistress was able to pull off what she did and wants to take her home as a new pet, so to speak. We'll see how that turns out. There may not be enough of Mistress left to take home. I haven't decided yet.

I have decided to post a stamp or autograph or both from my collection from now on. Tonight it will be a stamp. It's Austrian, ANK # 1. I'm not sure if it is the handmade paper variety or the machine-made paper variety, so the date of issue is either 1850 or 1854. One day, I'll learn how to tell the difference.

Vengeance quota met, kaben nine branded, stamp

So far, my quest to write at least 1,000 words a day on Vengeance of the Ghost has been successful. Today I finished chapter 8 and got a good start on chapter 9. There's a lot going on in the final chapter of the trilogy so this book might prove to be the longer of the three. I have no doubts that it will be longer than Legacy of the Ghost. The only character whose fate remains unknown to me at this point is Mistress. She has a couple paths that she can travel. Arienna will have some say in that.

kaben nine is still hanging around in his torture chamber. His host likes to label all his toys with his brand and kaben nine is no exception. I am enjoying composing this tale. The support characters are proving to be a lot of fun to work with.

There was a comment on yesterday's blog that requested a picture of my favorite Austrian stamp so far. I had planned to put a stamp here, but for a different reason. The one pictured below is not very valuable. As a matter of fact, it could probably used as postage in Austria without much financial loss. The reason I chose this one is that it was issued on May 8, 1958. This stamp is the same age as I am.

Austria and Vengeance...

Way back in May, some stamps were ordered for my birthday from a stamp dealer in Austria. They arrived today along with the catalog that dealer publishes each year. The catalog, ANK, is a specialized type thing that features Austrian stamps. Granted, it is written in German, but every stamp issued in Austria up to 2009 is pictured there. It's a great help. So, I spent most of the day organizing my collection.

I neglected to keep track of the time during this organization task. When I finally closed the book, happy that my collection was stored in chronological order, it was already 2 am. The rest of the night I devoted to writing. Since I have set a daily quota for Vengeance of the Ghost, that's the story I delved into. Chapter 8 is coming along well. After ending Legacy of the Ghost the way I did, I don't want to keep my readers waiting too long to find out what happens next. As a result, kaben nine did not make any progress today. At least he was nice about it and left me alone.

More later,
Tanner

The hypnotizing cursor...

I write using OpenOffice.org Writer and I'm sure other computer word processing programs are the same, or at least similar. As the program waits for me to add words, it has a vertical black line that flashes to show me where these words will appear. Most of the night, I sat hypnotized by this little black vertical line with no words to introduce to it. Finally, after a bit of a fight, I put a close on Chapter 7 of Vengeance of the Ghost. I'm not at all happy with the words that finally got placed there, but it allowed me to move on. So, Chapter 8 got it's start tonight. I've set this 1,000 word a day quota for Vengeance, and so far I've been able to do that. Today's total: 1,100.

All the while I was fighting the end of Chapter 7, kaben nine was being a good little boy and hanging quietly in his torture chamber. I'm not sure if he knew he would formally meet his target for the first task tonight and was delaying it, or if he just wanted to be like the other story and be stubborn. Regardless, his story progressed as well.

The amazon.com price of Legacy of the Ghost has finally dropped to $11.99 which I am very happy with. It's much better than the price of Shadow.

One final note, as of today, I've seriously started pursuing a degree in applied mathematics. I really love math and upper level math teachers seem to be the only type with any demand in this less than wonderful economy. Before I begin, I think it best to take a refresher in pre-calculus and calculus. I'm looking forward to that.

More later,
Tanner

kaben nine got pushy tonight...

In spite of that, Vengeance of the Ghost continued to progress with another 1400 words added to the manuscript. The story is unfolding well. The way things are going, there is going to be a lot of death in the last book of the trilogy.

Then kaben nine decided he had waited long enough so I had to deal with him. He has this sneaky way of telling me about chapters I'm not ready to write so that I'll finish the one I'm on. I only managed 600+ words on his story, but I have the feeling that he'll be out of that torture chamber tomorrow night. Then it will be a short visit with granny for him.

For those following Samaya's blog, (it's linked on the side there), she has a great picture of a fire that happened on her mountain some 8 years ago. When I saw it, I was immediately reminded of what Ky did to LaVerran Keep in the first chapter of Shadow of the Ghost.

More later,
Tanner

More musings...

Another productive day ends. Thanks to a couple friends, a great deal of work got completed in my yard, including surgically removing a dead poplar from atop another, much smaller tree. The little tree should survive the ordeal now.

Vengeance of the Ghost gained another 2100 words in length. kaben nine left me alone for the most part while I wrote, though he did remind me of some things while I played in the weeds.

Finally, thanks Samaya for posting the pictures. That mountain of yours is awesome.

More later,
Tanner

Muse...ings

Creativity seems to have returned. First the new Prologue for Vengeance of the Ghost presented itself last weekend. This was followed by "The Maze," which is posted below. Tonight, Chapter 6 of Vengeance is completed which brings the story up to 10,000 words. It's a long way to the end yet, but it's moving.

kaben nine is also starting to stir. Apparently, he's been hanging around in a torture chamber long enough and wants out. I might have to finish that chapter tomorrow in between working on Chapter 7 of Vengeance and playing in the weeds. All in all, I think it is a pretty productive week.

Thanks to all that commented on kaben nine and "The Maze." It's really a great feeling to know when someone is reading.

More later,
Tanner

Final version of cover

In the first version, the title, subtitle and author blended into the stone wall making them difficult to read. I tried putting these elements in little boxes, but they appeared to be pasted on as an afterthought. I was beginning to think the wall and the rune would have to go when I noticed other books that had a set-up similar to what I've done here. Everything looks like it belongs now and I'm happy with it. I've also added an explanation of the rune to the frontspace which makes the cover relevant to the story.

It has been a while since I mentioned any music, so here are a couple more bands and my favorite album/CD by them:

Rolling Stones: Goats Head Soup, This came out in the early 1970s when music was becoming an important part of my life. The one song that puts this above all the other albums by The Rolling Stones is: "Dancing with Mr. D."

Rush: Hemispheres. It took a while for me to get used to Geddy Lee's voice. As a result, I prefer Rush's instrumentals though I do enjoy most of their music now. This album has "La Villa Strangiatto" on it. It still remains my all-time favorite Rush song.

More again another time. I'm going back to clean up the beginning of Vengeance of the Ghost.

Blasted Muse...

It never fails. I go days without the slightest notion of how to sling two words together that make sense then the muse strikes. But the muse is not kind. It strikes after I've readied myself for sleep and have made myself comfortable. Then, while I'm counting little sheep, the story unfolds in my mind.

There was a time I would fight it; try to remember what the muse plants in my subconscience and struggle to get some rest. That is a losing battle. Now I know that I have to get up, go to the computer and start typing or there will be no peace whatsoever. The muse is going to keep me awake anyway. I may as well be productive rather than frustrated.

Tonight was one of those nights. Two hours ago, I was content with my new cover ideas and thinking some new thoughts for my back cover text while heading to sleep. Now, after frantically typing for the last hour and a half, I'm going to try again for some rest. Vengeance of the Ghost is a little farther along now. A few changes in one of the chapters I thought was done have been made as well. I will have to finish those changes tomorrow. Arienna was taking the story places I did now wish to go. So I put the wench in her place and changed it. (I believe you would catagorize Arienna as a Vixen, Amy.)

Anyway, guten Nacht, or rather guten Morgen. I'll post more as things continue to progress.

Blog Post # 25

25 is a kewl number. I guess I like it because it is a perfect square.

x_x_x_x_x
x_x_x_x_x
x_x_x_x_x
x_x_x_x_x
x_x_x_x_x

Something like that.

Vengeance and kaben are on hold this week. Legacy is taking up my brain cells with editing and the other stories are hiding, knowing their time will come.

I got an interesting question about Karnak. He is the thantor god in the Lord of Chaos Trilogy. He is also the leader of the Council of Darkness. He comes across as being very honorable, which he is. He is also very evil. The alignment of the characters in my story and, the way they lean as far as light and dark are concerned, is loosely based on the system set up in the early D&D role-playing game. The three basic alignments are good, neutral and evil. These are coupled with whether they are chaotic or lawful. Karnak falls in the 'lawful evil' catagory. He will honor his word, but usually will only give his word when it ultimately suits his own purposes. When the Council of Darkness decided to join The Nine, they, under Karnak's leadership decided it would be easier to follow along with what The Nine were doing, since they had a good start on things and were after the same goal, namely, stop Rachk'sha.

Some of the other characters and their alignments:

• Ky: true chaotic. He has no good or evil tendancies and cares nothing for balance.
• Simon: chaotic good.
• Arienna: lawful evil
• Archos: chaotic good
• Fury: chaotic evil
• Rachk'sha: neutral with evil tendancies
• The Old Man (Tasenta-Somar) neutral with good tendancies
• Delmaria: chaotic good
• Selia: lawful good
• Symplex: neutral good
• Ky II: chaotic with some good tendancies
• Tal: lawful good
• Eleana: neutral with some evil tendancies

There are varying degrees of the alignments as well. Some will be more 'chaotic' than others of the same alignment. Most strive for some sort of balance as they feel they would be without purpose if their opposites are not around to make their lives interesting.

One band for tonight:

Queen: Sheer Heart Attack: I can find many songs on all the Queen albums that I like, but this one has always been the one I go to when I want a full album of pleasure. As with all Queen albums, there is a great deal of versatility scattered among the tracks. Favorite songs, just about all of them.

More later...

More music and random chaos...

Kansas: Leftoverture: Once again, memories associated with the music decides this one. My favorite tracks are: "Carry on Wayward Son," "The Wall," "What's on My Mind," and "Magnum Opus."

King Crimson: the construKction of light: This is the band that could successfully come up with a theme song for Ky. Their works are truly awesome and usually includes some tastefully inserted dry Brittish humor. My favorite tracks on this one are: "ProzaKc Blues," "The ConstruKction of Light," "Into the Frying Pan," "FraKctured," "The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum," and Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part IV."

Kula Shaker: K: This band brings the raw garage feeling of 60's rock into the present with startling success. It's great stuff to listen to if you need to get your blood circulating and the coffee maker is broken. My favorites on this album are: "Knight on the Town," "Govinda," "Tattva," and "Hollow Man."

Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy: This band, born from another favorite band of mind: The Yardbirds, is probably the closest thing to defining 70's hard rock as you are going to find. Jones and Bonham supply the perfect driving bottom to Page's guitar antics and Plant's emotion-packed vocals. I was going to cheat and pick a box set, but decided against that. My favorites on this album are: "No Quarter," "The Ocean," The Crunge," "Dancing Days," and "The Rain Song."

Lennon, John: Rock 'n' Roll: This was another difficult choice. I chose this one mainly because John had that perfect voice for this type of music. I would like to see this reproduced without the 'wall of sound' thing even though that is what John was looking for when he teamed up with Phil Spector. My favorite tracks are: "Stand by Me," "Ain't That a Shame," "Slippin' and Slidin'," and "Bony Maronie."

McCartney, Paul: Wings at the Speed of Sound: A lot of nice memories come with these songs. It's also one of Paul's best rock and roll albums. My favorite songs are: "Beware My Love," "Time to Hide," and "Wino Junko."

Moore, Gary: Wild Frontier: Gary is probably my second favorite guitarist. I really like the emotion and intensity he gets from his instrument. My favorite tracks are: "Over the Hills and Far Away," "Wild Frontier," "Friday on My Mind," and "Johnny Boy."

Mott the Hoople: Mott: This group was led by Ian Hunter who is great in his own right. They were a great British rock and roll group. My favorites on the album are: "All the Way from Memphis," "Honaloochie Boogie," "Violence," and "Ballad of Mott the Hoople."

Nazareth: Razamanaz: Raunchy rock and roll at its best here. The music is simple and plain fun to listen to. My favorites on this album are: "Razamanaz," "Alcatraz," "Vigilante Man," "Night Woman," "Bad, Bad Boy," and "Sold My Soul."

Osbourne, Ozzy: Ozzmosis: This album was chosen on the strength of the song "Perry Mason." Ozzy and band do a great job of it. As you can imagine, the whole of the album kicks. So far, Ozzy hasn't disappointed me in the slightest with his solo works.

Osmonds: Phase III: This is the Osmonds third album counting from the "One Bad Apple" LP. It's really somewhere along number ten or eleven. This one, and the two following it, show the Osmonds at their creative best. Most of the tracks on this one, as well as all on the next two, were written by the Osmonds. It's a shame they slipped back into becoming more of a cover band after that. My favorites on this album include: "Business," "My Drum," "Down by the Lazy River," and "Yo Yo."

Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon: Pink Floyd is a great mellow-out type band. I'll pass on listing my favorite songs here as it would be every track on the album.

Presley, Elvis: The '68 Comeback Special: I wasn't aware or even alive when Elvis started his career. Although I have all that stuff, this was my introduction to Elvis and I've liked him ever since. Again, I'll pass on listing favorites as the entire track list would be here.

Other news: The 'other' story has been renamed to kaben nine. I'm currently working on the tykes first task which is supposed to be easy. I don't believe it will turn out that way though. This task will definitely have more of a thriller feel to it than the earlier portion of the story.

The ending of Vengeance of the Ghost has been formulated. Now all I have to do is get there.

I'm currently reading W.I. Investigations by Samaya Young. So far I'm really enjoying it. They read like those old detective novels with some really interesting twists stuck in to make things interesting.

More music and other news...

Foghat: Fool for the City: This is just a great, good time, rock 'n' roll album. Favorite songs include: "Fool for the City," "Slow Ride," and "My Babe."

Garland, Judy: Live at Carnegie Hall: Judy did a lot of great music over the years and this album is the best example of her work captured in one CD case that can be obtained. This is not one of those live albums that cut out all the banter to make a sterile environment to showcase greatest hits. All the stories she tells are there. Very entertaining. Favorite songs: most of them.

Genesis: A Trick of the Tail: This was a hard choice. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway could easily fit in here, but I'm working on one per band, so A Trick of the Tail took the spot. Favorite songs: "Dance on a Volcano," "Entangled," Ripples," and "Los Endos."

Grand Funk Railroad: Grand Funk: This is their second album and it includes my favorite song by them, "Inside Looking Out." Other favorites on this one include: "Paranoid," "In Need," and "High Falootin' Woman."

Hawkins, Screaming Jay: Feast of the Mau Mau: Although there is no album that includes everything I like from Screaming Jay, this one comes the closest. Favorite songs here are: "Feast of the Mau Mau," "Constipation Blues," "What That Is," and "Stone Crazy."

Helloween: Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 2: Part 1 would be a close second. My favorites on this rocker are: "Rise and Fall," "Dr. Stein," "Eagle Fly Free," and Keeper of the Seven Keys."

Hunter, Ian: All American Alien Boy: This is the most unique of Ian's albums. It has a studio band that includes some great names and the songs themselves are awesome. Favorites include: "All American Alien Boy," "Apathy 83," "Restless Youth," "You Nearly Did Me In," and "Irene Wilde."

Iggy and the Stooges: Raw Power: This album just rocks. Iggy doesn't give you a chance to recover as you swim through the songs. Everything on it kicks you into high gear and keeps you there. Favorite songs: "Raw Power," "Search and Destroy," "Gimme Danger," and "Shake Appeal."

Jefferson Starship: Freedom at Point Zero: Even though Grace isn't on this album, it is still my favorite. The musical selection is varied and where it rocks, it really rocks. Favorite songs: "Jane," "Lightning Rose," "Girl with the Hungry Eyes," and "Rock Music."

John, Elton: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: This is another difficult choice since my favorite songs by Elton are all over the place. This one gets the nod on the strength of memories attached to it as well as it includes my favorite track by Elton. Favorite songs include: "Funeral for a Friend - Love Lies Bleeding," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Grey Seal," "Your Sister Can't Twist," and my favorite, "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting."

The next five or six letters will be in the next post.

I finished another chapter of Vengeance of the Ghost yesterday. This one dealt with the deep-elves reaction to the dwarves declaring war on them and gave me a great chance to introduce their king. He's a great, fun-loving and friendly sort. Just ignore the facts that he has sharpened teeth and drinks blood.

More again soon...