Sequel Progress

I finally got a haircut yesterday. I'd been trying since Monday to get it done, and it needed doing last week. It wasn't that long just scruffy looking. Sometimes my barber comments that I'm in for a trim. From my perspective it's always getting too long and unmanageable. I wonder which one of us is right. ;) So, speaking of hair, I've noticed that long hair on a man seems to be a sign of spiritual rebellion. I don't have a verse for that. It's more of an observation based on personal experience, including my younger days. 1 Corinthians 11:14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, One translation says degrades himself instead of disgrace. Maybe a degraded exterior reflects something wrong spiritually in the heart?

I heard from the test reader I hadn't heard back from and mailed out a copy. It's supposed to arrive today. She's a fast, observant reader. I should hear back soon. I've already gotten other good feedback. Can you believe there were still errors to find? I know! One of them was in last week's preview. I had a her instead of a here, totally embarrassing. I fixed it immediately like it never even happened.

More slowly than I'd like, it's all coming together. Aside from fixes and changes to clear up confusing paragraphs, the big thing now is the cover art. I could use some prayers on that.

While waiting for the books to ship to me and get re-shipped and to get feedback, I've been working on the rough draft for the young adult book I mentioned the other day. The main character is a 16-yr-old girl who gets trapped in virtual reality in an espionage game. They say to write what you know. I've never been a 16-yr-old girl, but I used to play MMORPGs back in the day. I'm putting my vast experience playing video games to work. It turns out I wasn't wasting my life at all. :) My plan is to work on this between sequel books. I went through the outline for the next two books in the sequel this week to get ready for those. There's more to do on the outline, but the main things are already done. It's just a matter of details now. Which is also where I am in the espionage book. The outline is done. I need to fill in some pesky details. What kind of details? Instead of fighting a faceless government organization, I gave the hero a villain to oppose her. That's already in the book, but it changes the ending. I need to figure out one critical step to get them together for the final confrontation, which is already plotted. Maybe I'm rambling. I'm out of time anyway. See you next time.

Sequel Preview

It took longer for the test reader paperbacks to ship to me than I was hoping. They arrived yesterday. What had to be mailed out is mailed, except for someone I haven't heard back from. The next step is to wait on feedback and read through it again myself. Hopefully, nothing but minor changes will have to be made. The cover still needs to be done. Once all that's finished, it'll be out the door. I'd planned to have it out in December or this month at the latest, but life didn't work out according to my schedule.

Here's a preview of the prologue and a bit of chapter 1. The working title is The Rise of Aethan Lightbringer, but that might change. It's copyright 2015 by me, blah blah, legalese.

Prologue

Mid-Summer 835 A.F

Overcommander Rameze prostrated before his deity and the self-proclaimed deity of the B'vellah Empire, Prince Sydeke. Technically, his divinity would not begin until the official ceremony empowering him to become Emperor Sydeke. That he was one of four competing brothers bothered Rameze not at all.

    The prince had granted Rameze's request to move the audience to a smaller, informal and more private throne room than the imperial throne room. No Councilors were in attendance. Imperial guards watched from the opposite end of the room. Prince Sydeke raised the royal scepter signaling favor.

    “Rise, Rameze.”

    “Your Imperial Majesty.”

    Sydeke ignored the future title. “Have you uncovered what went wrong in Kilkis?”

    “Yes, your Majesty. Our assassins altered the plan at the last moment and tried to capture the king of Yesh for reasons unknown. Right before translocation, Yeshian Messengers arrived and severed the dominion. Facing a numerically superior force and a Great Healer, the nephilim attempted retreat. Because of a change in enemy tactics, only Domnint Kusbakt succeeded. The rest were defeated. Kusbakt went to Kilkis and then Ammu. My guess is that one of the Messengers possessed the dominion of hunting.”

    Sydeke frowned skepticism. “Rameze?”

    Rameze prostrated himself. “Some of them had to be from the past, O Majesty. I know it's impossible, but events can't be explained otherwise. No one has the dominion of hunting. Even King Dakhil was deficient.”

    “Rise. This is known through spies. Colors don't lie. Some of them were from the past. Tell me the rest,” Sydeke commanded.

    “But-”

    “Reality doesn't diminish my impending deity, Rameze. We accept this new reality and proceed from that point. However, reality does not leave this room.”

    “Yes, your Majesty.” Rameze bowed. Traveling from one now to another now was considered to be non-truth by the throne. “After the battle one of the Messengers seems to have sent a powerful weapon like those described in the mythology of the Yesh-Marhel War to Kilkis. Everything in the area where Kusbakt translocated was completely destroyed by a great heat, including King Dakhil's castle. It started many fires. Much of the city burned to the ground. They built heavily with wood. Primitive Derdlanite building practices will-”

    “The Province of Derdlan will be civilized in the course of time,” Sydeke interrupted.

    “Yes, your Majesty. Over half of the Supreme Council was in the castle in Kilkis, when-”

    “New positions will be granted by year's end. The political continuity of the Supreme Council is assured. The military leadership lost will be harder to replace. You and Domnint Kusbakt will work together on a better report than the one he's given. I want to know who led the battle in the throne room in Selah, how it was coordinated, who fought with whom...” Sydeke frowned. “Rameze?”

    “A thousand generations of pardons, your Majesty. Kusbakt was found dead. He may have been killed by other nephilim for some reason of their own.”

    “That fool! He's our only witness!”

    “Yes, your Majesty, but I can state with some assurance that the one called Joseph the Merciful led the battle. From Kusbakt's description of events, the logical-”

    “Capture him alive. I want to know what weapon he used in Kilkis and what weapon was used against King Dakhil's army in Yesh,” the prince ordered. “Capture them all.”

    Rameze flicked his tongue between his lips. “I don't think that will be possible.”

    “For me nothing is impossible, Rameze!”

    The Overcommander prostrated.

    “Stop that! Rise and speak!”

    “The Messengers are leaving Yesh just as the histories describe. The Yeshians are on alert for nephilim. We could perhaps send ordinary domnints in, but in my opinion there's simply not enough time to put an effective plan into effect. During the recent war, we made several assassination attempts in Selah itself. Our best effort saw Kayley the Beautiful practically raise herself from the dead. These Messengers are skilled foes. By the time something successful can be executed, they'll be gone.”

    “Is that your honest assessment?” Sydeke inquired.

    “Yes, your Majesty. They've all left Selah and scattered to the winds. According to my best reports, they'll be gone within days.”

    “Very well. You will repeat nothing discussed here today. Dismissed.”

    “Yes, your Majesty!” Rameze prostrated himself and departed. Sydeke's willingness to embrace non-truth had been most refreshing. Perhaps this boded well for the future of the Empire.

* * *

    Prince Sydeke translocated to the throne room.

    “Summon Domnint Rahim,” he ordered, and a sycophant rushed to obey. When at last Rahim appeared, Sydeke created a working to ensure privacy.

    “Rise.”

    “What is your desire, Majesty?”

  “Overcommander Rameze has defied me in his heart. Make room for a new Overcommander.”

    Rahim bowed. “How should it look?”

    “Send a message about the reward for those who learn the art of impossibility.”

    “It will be done.”

 

Chapter 1

Autumn 835 A.F.

Marion finished the last of his water as the debate in the conferring room rolled off the walls around him.

    “This is our best chance for peace and security!” King Afton thundered, shaking the diplomatic correspondence for emphasis. Crimson mottled the king of Yesh's face.

    “A false peace,” General Dan said. “Emperor Shiraz may be dead, but Emperor Sydeke didn't fall far from the tree.”

    “Are you calling the man a liar?”

    Dan shrugged. “The prophecies of High Priest Edelhard reveal the truth. Master Meredith the Discerner herself-”

    “No!” Afton interjected. “Two-thirds of the empire's political leadership is dead and much of their high-ranking military hierarchy. It'll take years, if not decades, for them to recover from such a blow!”

    “Easten,” Joseph the Merciful said.

    Afton's expression twisted. Emperor Sydeke's first act upon formally ascending the throne had been to annex Easten to the empire. The loss of their primary port on the Great River had enraged Marhel but left them no recourse other than to accept the development as gracefully as possible. The B'vellah Empire was rumored to have over a million men under arms in the army alone.

    “Marhel's weak!” Genia asserted, dark curls bouncing emphatically. “Queen Tegan lacks the stomach to fight.”

    Marion glanced at her while waiting to see if the outburst would be tolerated. Lady Genia's position among the royalty of the nation of Derdlan had been swept away during the summer after Derdlan's destruction by a surprise, B'vellan invasion. Today she was a military adviser attached to General Dan's staff.

    “Tegan shows wisdom not weakness.” Afton rustled the correspondence. “I have peace in my hand. All we have to do is accept.”

    “Making decisions out of fear isn't the Way,” General Dan said. “You should've let me burn B'vel to the ground while they were defenseless.”

    “After such a long drought?” Afton asked. “My army was skin and bones.”

   “We would've made it happen,” Joe said quietly. “With the Creator nothing is impossible.”

    “The prophecies were fulfilled by Derdlan,” Afton said.

    General Trifon shook his head. “It's a double prophecy. Master Meredith-”

    “Enough of her opinions!”

   Drem and Kane, King Afton's sons, shifted uneasily. The Creator had preserved Master Meredith through time by the gift of stasis. The council among those privy to her research of the prophecies of High Priest Edeldhard agreed with Dan and Trifon's assessment.

    “Father,...” Drem began.

    “We're going to have peace,” Afton said. “No more war. The drought's over. The season was short but the harvests adequate for the winter.”

    Dan looked into the distance as if hearing an unheard voice. “Very well, your Majesty. In three days I leave Yesh. I'll return in the spring to resume maneuvers with the army.”

    “I appreciate your counsel, General, but for the good of the nation, I have to work for peace.”

    “This won't end well,” Genia said through a dark expression.

* * *

    “Are you following me home?” Marion could have translocated from the castle but wanted to walk, a habit picked up during the Marhelan War when the populace needed the sight of Messengers to give courage.

    “In your dreams,” Genia replied, coming up alongside him. “Why didn't you speak up? Afton listens to you. I'm right about B'vellah. Rumors say Easten won't be the end.”

    Marion frowned. He'd heard whispers of raids in Marhel and even the assassination of a minor lady. That she was Queen Tegan's cousin wasn't lost on him. Within weeks of the event, B'vellah's most accomplished general had been poisoned. Raids into Marhel had stopped. B'vellah's troop movements near the border had not.

    “If he won't listen to Dan,...”

    “I hate this,” Genia said as they exited the front doors of the palace to begin the long walk to the gate. A hardened path curved gently through lush, neatly trimmed grass. “He's making a mistake. What do you know about Prince Kane making an official visit to Marhel?”

   “For real?”

   “Are you mocking me?”

   “Genia, relax.” Marion stopped and touched her arm, trying to give her the peace of the Creator given to Messengers. Sometimes it worked. Other times it didn't.

    She flinched and scowled. “Don't Messenger me.”

    Marion repressed a smile as he remembered the many times he'd been in a similar position. “You need a clearer head.”

    “I need vengeance!”

    “Vengeance belongs to the Creator. What you need is forgiveness.”

    “Easy for a Messenger to say.”

    “True.”

    “Are you leaving with General Dan?”

   Was there a hint of worry in her voice? Marion searched his spirit. “No. Afton's path is rocky.”

   “What does that mean?”

   Marion shrugged. “I'm not sure. There's a time for peace, and a time for war. Afton's B'vellah course lately hasn't been based on trusting.”

   “I see.”

    They paused at the gate, which opened by a spirit working to allow them passage. Guards flanked either side. Genia began a translocation.

    “Where to?”

    “I need some time alone.”

    “You spend too much time alone.”

    “Will you be at Molido later?”

    Marion shrugged. “Maybe.”

    “Then I might see you there.” And she was gone.

   Marion shook his head and continued toward his apartment in a new tallhomes within sight of the palace. If war broke out before Genia came to grips with her bitterness, she wouldn't survive a month.

3DS Max Search

Can you tell me how two lines in a 326-page manuscript ended up in Times News Roman font? They're several chapters in. It's a mystery.

Anyway, the week before I found out how precious I am to Amazon, I was searching online for a used, legal copy of 3DS Max. Because it costs thousands of dollars new! I can't afford that. I was hoping somebody with an older 2011 or 2012 version would be selling it at a steep, steep discount. Alas, it was not to be. The people who make it try to keep people from reselling it and have taken a man to court over it. What I found were a lot of sites pirating it for dirt cheap. Some of them were slick, professional-looking sites. One Chinese site especially seemed like a legitimate vendor. However, the 3DS Max page had this disclaimer: This product is a genuine software copy, but not really legal copy.All the functions can be normal use as the originals and it will never expired.If you want legal copy, you must have a huge spending.

Sadly, I don't have a huge spending. I laughed at the honesty. They're selling stolen property, but they have some kind of integrity about it? Bo knows irony.

UPS came yesterday with a couple of writing workbooks I ordered. I'm always happy to see the UPS truck. They bring me goodies. Seeing them is always good news. It makes me want to sing.

UPS is Coming to Town

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
UPS is coming to town
They're scanning a box
And checking it twice;
They're driving those big brown friendly trucks
UPS is coming to town
They know where your address is
They ship things overnight
Don't care if streets are bad or good
So relax for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
UPS is coming to town
UPS is coming to town

So, that's not a perfect version. :)

Book Stuff
I've printed out the sequel and gone through it. I was amazed at the number of little things I had to tweak. I'm in the process of transferring the changes to computer. Once that's done(hopefully tonight), I'll upload it to a site that will let me print a few paperbacks for test reading. After that, it's off to test readers. While they're reading, I should be able to get a real cover done. I'll let you know what happens.

My Precious Customer!

I ordered some replacement shaver heads on Amazon. Instead of a 1-pack of three, they sent me three packs of three. From the way the listing was worded, I figured someone packed the wrong thing. I submitted a help ticket asking how to send the two extra ones back. This is Amazon's reply:

Thank you for letting us know, that you received extra item by mistake. Your comments are greatly appreciated, and I thank you for choosing Amazon.com.

I really appreciate your loyalty towards us. Honor to have you as our customer.

I checked your order details and see that you ordered "Philips Norelco HQ8 Dual Precision Replacement Heads".

In this case there is no need to return the item which you received extra from us. Please keep it as a goodwill gesture.

We are really honored to have you as our precious customer.  We always like to hear from our customers, and we're glad you took the time to write to us.

It is our privilege to have you as our valued customer and would like to Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to a very warm and fruitful association with you. 

At first I thought it wasn't real, but yes, it's real. I've withheld the name of the rep, but I will say that it's someone in the region of India. The "precious customer" line cracks me up. That last line about the warm and fruitful association might be a little creepy, though.

I want to be clear that I'm not bashing Amazon. I've been buying from them since the 90s, when all they sold was books and struggled to make a profit. I've never received the wrong item. I've never been shorted. This is the first time I received something extra. Some things are just too funny not to share. I'm sure they'll be fixing the mistakes in their script at some point. In the meantime, imagine Gollum saying, "My precious customer!"

Book Stuff
Real life keeps getting in my way, but one of the main hindrances against the book is mostly out of the picture. My plan is to go through the sequel manuscript one more time and get it out to test readers.
I've also been doing some preliminary work on a YA book. It's about a 16-yr-old who gets trapped in virtual reality. It might be a series. It might be just one book.

Helpless Feeling

Back in 2002 there was a show on PBS called Frontier House. It was about these families that were going to live like people in 1883 did. It's been a long time since I've seen it, but one thing I remember vividly was the toilet paper situation. They didn't have any. One of the teenage girls got caught trying to smuggle in a roll and had to turn it over as contraband. Instead, each member of the family had a rag that he or she used and was responsible for keeping clean. After seeing that, I developed an instant appreciation for toilet paper that last til this day. It's one of my all-time favorite inventions. I could do without the microwave first.

I was at the grocery store this week picking up a handful of items one of which was toilet paper. I had to wait on the man in front of me, but he was almost done when I got in line. While I was waiting, the cashier mentioned she felt sorry for him. She didn't clarify. It seemed odd. I had my mind on other things, though, like how loose my pants were since I've lost a little weight over the holidays. How does that happen?

The cashier was ringing me up. The man was still at the end of the counter with a full cart. The bag girl turns around and announces that the man said that the didn't think the groceries he just bought were his. The employees told him they were. He didn't believe the bag girl or the cashier, who called over a tall bag boy. He tried to convince the man the groceries were his. The man didn't believe him either.

I prayed for the man, but I didn't know anything that I could physically do. It was so sad and hard to witness. I left while they were still trying to help him. I was thankful not just for the toilet paper but the capacity to buy it. I don't know what happened to him. He was elderly and had a hearing aid.

I hope that's not too sad. In book news, I've gone through the sequel again, although December was a hard month to get things done. My plan is to get the book out the door this month.

Judging

The Messengers books are based on the Bible as you can tell. :) I was thinking about something this week. Words have power. Proverbs 18:21(KJV) Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

What I was thinking about specifically was that demons can use the words we speak against us as a weapon. When Nathan confronted David over killing Uriah the Hittite, Nathan told him a parable. David judged the bad man in the parable but was really judging his own actions.

Luke 11:53-54(CJB)  53 As Yeshua left that place, the Torah-teachers and the P'rushim began to oppose him bitterly and to provoke him to express his views on all sorts of subjects, 54 laying traps to catch him in something he might say.

They were trying to trap him with his own words. I think we tend to trap ourselves by our words and release spiritual hindrances without knowing it. If we speak judgment against someone else, demons can use the verdict to lay traps for us. I try to speak only blessings into my life and no curses. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. A lot of our common expressions are self-condemning.

So, how can I convey something like this in a book without being preachy? If you pay attention to what full Messengers say, you'll notice that none of them says something like, "I'm afraid that's not possible." or "I can't do that, I'm afraid." They never say, "That just kills me." Other characters use those kinds of self-cursing expressions but not Messengers. They don't invite fear spirits and spirits of violence into their lives. It's not an obvious or in-your-face kind of a thing, but it tries to be Biblically consistent.

Combined Edition

This is going to be short today. My 30 days of letting the sequel book rest ended yesterday. I started going through it last night. So far so good.

There's an intrepid reader who really, really wants a combined paperback edition of the series. While I was letting the sequel rest, I got most of the work done on that. It's like a thousand small steps. There's not much left except going through it and correcting formatting changes that had to be made to combine them into a single volume. The biggest thing is font size. In order to meet page count restrictions, I had to use a smaller font, which I applied globally that affected chapter title size. I have to manually change them all back. Easy but time consuming. Same thing with the beginning character of each chapter. After that it's little stuff. Except for the cover. I'd like to have better cover art.
A combined Kindle version is pretty much automatic.

I could always use prayer. The roadblocks seem endless. I need a breakthrough.

Words of wisdom: The journey of a thousand steps is less than a mile.