Ending the Silence and Relic Production

My readers and friends,

I apologize for dropping the ball so severely these past four months. There's been so much going on and I've failed to keep up with you like I should. Hopefully, I can begin making amends with this brief post.

As I'm sure many of you faithful followers have figured out, I prefer to be rather silent about things going on in my private life. Anything about familial or personal relationships I usually keep very close to the vest. To be honest, it is this tendency that has precipitated my lapse in blog writing; I didn't want to discuss what was dominating my thoughts.

Many things, both dark and light, have transpired since my last post. Among them, I added a new part-time job to my schedule, lost my great-grandparents to cancer within a month of each other, took part, along with 39 other local authors, in a large book signing event, and added new sections for quizzes, my personal artwork and more wallpapers to my official website www.authorsrford.com. (Make sure to swing on over and check things out.)

I've also decided to take up a new hobby: relic production. Some of you will correct me and call it cosplay, costume design or prop making, but I like this title better. Many of you writers, artists, designers, cosplayers, larpers, and avid fans out there already engage in this activity. Some of you even get paid for your ingenuity. For me, however, this is all about illustration and my own geekiness. There's no bigger fan of my creations than me, and you can take that to the bank.

I elected to begin with a series of Oblivion's Gate relics while I brainstorm how to best engineer things from the Kingdom Chronicles. My lists for both series are extensive, and some of the things I hope to make may be fairly intricate. So far I'm working on:
 

The Oblivion

 

The Staff of Hearts

The Master's Cap

and I just got six apothecary bottles to hold the first samples of Life Blood.

As you can see, none of these projects is complete yet, but they are on their way and coming along nicely. I'll get you some better pictures when each is nearer to completion and more easily moved about.

So that's my new hobby. Got any suggestions as to what you would like to see next? Any tips? I'll take them all. Just hit the comments section below.

Things are slowly leveling out again in my life and that means you'll be hearing from me more often. Despite my blog neglect, I've written quite a bit over the passing months, and I'm excited to update you on all the goodness. I hope all is well for you and yours and that the changing seasons are treating you kindly.

Till next time,
Klalumpelo!

It Will Continue in Oedarin

Sometimes life is just an obnoxious little prat with zero consideration. I think we've all experienced those moments, and lately I've been traversing one myself. I apologize for not posting the last couple of weeks. It's been one of those times where negativity would have ruined the prose and context of what I wanted to write. Many people use social media and personal blogs to vent out their pent up frustrations at every opportunity; I, however, do my best to avoid such action. How about you?

Anyway, I have an announcement of sorts!

There have been many guesses and propositions as to the title of the next installment to Oblivion's Gate, and some have been quite catchy and fun. However, when I started this adventure I quickly chose the titles of each book in the series. It all began in Mimgardr (It being not only Dan and Aaron's apprenticeships but the sum of series' story), and hence book one was called in its honor, Mimgardr. In keeping with tradition, book two will also be named for a place, and that place is Oedarin, the small elfin kingdom over which Dan's island formerly looked and where the King of Hearts makes his home in the fortress of Andunban.

When Mimgardr ended Aaron and Dan had been separated for five years. Aaron had been training to succeed Merlin as Master of Hearts while Dan lived alone in exile. As this next piece of the story begins, Dan is being called out of exile to the bedsides of his mother-in-law and his former master. Unfortunately, a certain shape-shifting time traveler is still at large, and he too seems to be waiting patiently for Dan's return. What awaits our heroes in Oedarin? That remains to be seen as we move closer to the book's release, but there can be no doubt that it will answer the words carved by an intruder into the doors of the royal catacombs:

I AM ZEBAD!

What Do You See?

It's time to stimulate your mind and have a little fun. We're going to release that writer inside you and let it break away for a minute. Put aside thoughts of your college papers, financial reports, writing projects, all of that. Just relax and let's write for a minute.

Here's the challenge:

Close your eyes (after you finish reading these instructions, of course) and imagine one of your favorite animals. Imagine everything about them. Then click on the comments section below and describe it in a few sentences. Don't tell us which animal it is until the end of the paragraph, and describe it the most captivating way you can. Let your eyes and imagination describe what they see; give us those words. Have fun with it. Be passionate about it.

I can't wait to read what you see.

Why I Love the Thorns Just As Much As the Roses

Everybody has heard the age-old cliche: every rose has its thorns. Many wise people have even thrown in their two bits (aka 25 cents) to say, "Don't be mad that roses have thorns; be grateful that thorns have roses." To me, these rose-colored glasses comments are annoying because neither the roses or the thorns really has the other; it is the rose bush that has both. The blossoms and the thorns are pieces of something greater than themselves, equally important contributors to a whole bush's survival.

There are thousands of lessons to be learned from the relationship between a plant's thorns and its blossoms, of which a rose is. One is defensive, the other is reproductive, both are beautiful. Everyone loves the scent of roses and wants to take that sweet smell with them, but without the presence of the rose the bush cannot seed nor can it grow as well. This is where the thorns come in.

You can't walk up to a rose bush and simply tear the blossom off with your bare hands. Why? Thorns. They hurt. Now think about this, if something walked up to you and wanted to tear off your reproductive organs so that they could carry their unique smell away with them, you'd probably be a little prickly about it too. (Its a disturbing image to imagine, I know, but that's exactly what we do to the rose bush.) The rosebush's thorns protect the otherwise defenseless plant and make us much more hesitant to reach in and steal its most precious parts.

Thorns teach us to respect something that we would otherwise exhaust without thought of consequence. You have to treat a bush tenderly if you ever hope to gain the blossom as your well-scented prize and comely decoration. The same is true of many other plants. Thorns teach us that every living thing has a right to defend itself, its place in the world, and its right to reproduce.

I think there are many good lessons we humans should take a reminder of from the world around us, particularly those of us in the "first world" nations. I hate being pricked by a strong thorn, but I respect the fact that even roses deserve to defend their lives and, in a way, their children the same as you and I do.

What do you think? What lessons have you learned from the world around you? Comment below.

My Ilia

Good morning, Medleretz! Today I wish to explain a bit about the name of Princess Ilia in Oblivion's Gate. So get ready, all you fans out there. Here comes a bit of trivia knowledge.

If you will take a look at the pronunciation guide at the end of Mimgardr, you will see that Princess Ilia's name is not pronounced the same way as it is in common Medlerene usage (something akin to "Eel-yah" or "Ill-yah). You will find it pronounced "Ahy-lee-uh." This is because Ilia's name in Oblivion's Gate comes from the realms of her elfin bloodline, not Medleretz.

Here in Medleretz, the world you and I occupy, the name Ilia can be spelled a host of different ways, including Ilia, Ilya, Illya, Illia, Illija Ilja, etc. All of these forms are transliterated and transcribed compositions descending from one of three roots. The most dominant of these roots is the Russian-ized version of the Hebrew name Eliyyahu, or as we know it better in English Elijah, meaning "My God is Yahweh (Jehovah)". The second root is a Kurdish name meaning "Great and Glorious." No matter which route you take, both of these are normally reserved as masculine names. The third root, however, is the feminine one and the only one pronounced with three syllables (ill-ee-uh). It comes from the Latin Ilia, which is a secondary name for Rhea Silvia, the mythical mother of Romulus and Remus. All three roots are great and any person named with them should be proud, but they are not my Ilia.

If you will reread the first few pages in Mimgardr, chapter 39, "Blood Blossoms," you will find yourself enlightened by the words of Ilia's mother as to the meaning of Ilia's name. Did you find it? In one line she calls her daughter "my little star," and a few lines later calls her "my Ilia." Coincidence? Could be. But it isn't. Ilia's name is Elvish, and in Elvish Ilia means "Little Star", which is more important than you might think. Ilia has a huge role to play in this trilogy, despite what became of her in the Battle of Mimgardr. But that's all I'm going to say about that for now, because I'd hate to spoil the surprise for you and I've explained what I wanted to explain. So to summarize in two sentences: Ilia is an Elvish name in Oblivion's Gate. It is pronounced "Ahy-lee-uh" and means "Little Star".

I hope I've wet your taste buds and instilled a craving for more background details. I promise there are loads of little coded secrets tucked away in the pages of my books, and I'm excited to see how many of them you can find. I did put them there for you after all. :-)

Have a great day today, and please take a minute to leave a comment below.