“Deadly Reign,” the Third Novel in the Rising Tide Series

Deadly Reign is the third novel in the Rising Tide series. It was one of the most comfortable books I’ve had the pleasure to pen, as it wrote itself. I was fortunate just to go along for the ride. I’ll cut to the chase and share an excerpt:

“I see your men are back,” Ben said.

“Bearing gifts, no less,” Orac added.

“What have we here?” Ben asked, moving closer to the provisions.

“Warmth,” Caleb replied.

“Warmth?” Ben asked.

“What’s all the fuss?” Eve asked, emerging from her sleeping quarters.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Ben replied.

“Hides,” Pete exclaimed, holding up a large pelt.

“Nice,” Eve said, as she brushed her hand through the fur.

“I bet you don’t use these very often,” Ben said.

“This is the first time we have needed such things,” Caleb replied.

 “I’m glad you had the foresight to store the essentials,” Ben said.

“We store nothing,” Caleb said. “Thalyn and Korell hunted these creatures, removed the skins and then cured the hides for our use.”

“That’s impossible,” Pete said. “You can’t get fresh animal hides to this point in twenty-four hours.”

“Thalyn,” Ben said, “how did you accomplish the impossible?”

“Such things take time,” Thalyn replied. “We have been away fifty-three risings of the Great Light.”

Ben thought for a moment. “That’s almost two months,” he said, refusing to believe his own words.

“My brother and I have explained to you how time passes for each of us,” Caleb said.

“Well, yeah,” Ben said, “but how can it be different when we’re together doing the same thing?”

“When we are in the presence of any of The Three,” Caleb said, “time passes at the same rate. If we are apart from The Three, time moves at a different rate. So inversely, in fact, that soon after you leave this place we will cease to be.”

I hope you enjoyed this small sample of Deadly Reign. Take good care, have a wonderful week, and enjoy God’s bountiful blessing’s!

I Truly Enjoy Being an Author

I know I have said it many times, but here goes again. I truly enjoy being an author. My main stay is developing characters; the more outrageous the better.  New worlds come into play, and being that I write science fiction, the sky is the limit.

Many novels that I pen begin with every day, mundane, objects or settings. You wouldn’t believe the story one can concoct making a mud puddle center stage.

Creatures can range from avians, with organic jet propulsion, to eighty-foot-tall, twelve-legged arachnids. These critters reside in an acidic fluid that would dissolve any matter, organic or otherwise, upon contact. Beings occasionally appear as an upright shadow, with nothing to cast the silhouette. These anomalies, at first glance, appear harmless, until a hand as black as night enacts its destruction.

The only limits to writing are the ones you place on yourself.

Have a fantastic week and remember Jesus, the Savior, for which we are thankful!

 

It’s Amazing, the Things We Recall That Happened in Our Yesteryears.

It’s amazing, the things we recall that happened in our yesteryears. Many thoughts of childhood for me  tend to center around food. Having a grandmother that grew up on the coast of North Carolina was a large influence in my life. She could cook country food, and I mean anything from fried chicken to black eyed peas & cornbread, beans, greens and everything in between. I don’t believe I could pen a better meal in one of my novels than my grandmother could produce on her stove.

When it came to seafood, she was adept at preparing shrimp, fish, crabs, oysters, clams, soft-shelled crabs and a multitude of aquatic fare. Her family earned a living off of the sea and we could count on the freshest of seafood along with the pinnacle of preparation.  

My dad introduced me to good cuts of steak; the ribeye being his favorite and lobster, thankfully, another of his specialties, and you would not believe how much of a difference cutting your own potatoes for french fries makes.

To think, this post originated from the thought of two apple trees I remembered from my childhood. They were no more than fifty feet apart. One was a golden delicious which ripened in late May. It was a tasty way to start off the summer.

The second tree was a red apple; I’m not sure of the species. It would ripen in September and its fruit would rival any apple flesh that ever passed these two lips.

To say the least I had a wonderful childhood in many ways, including dining fare.

Have a great week, May God bless you and keep you, and don’t be afraid to try something different in your diet!

As I Sit in Front of My Computer Screen, Hashing Out My Next Novel, Occasionally My Mind Will Wonder

As I sit in front of my computer screen, hashing out my next novel, occasionally my mind will wonder. One topic that seems to be my go-to (brought about by the ability to write on an electric screen) concerns the way people accomplished tasks not so many years ago, as opposed to today.

I remember watching someone type. The die would physically strike a piece of paper through a ribbon infused with ink transferring the letter. By pressing any number of keys labeled with the alphabet, numbers, and a plethora of various symbols  printing process actively delivered letter to paper. These older keyboards are not unlike today’s computer keyboards save where the years between the two would dictate that necessity.

 Heaven help you if the misfortune of making a mistake ever crossed one of your hard fought words. You had two options: discard the page and totally retype or use an archaic small piece of white paper. This you held over the offending letter, struck the paper and letter a second time to transfer the white substance that, in theory, covered the mistake and gave you a clean surface to retype the correct letter . . . Good luck.

The fun part of a day’s work with one of these machines was maintenance, such as changing a ribbon. If by fortune you inherited this task in the morning, you could spend the remaining hours of your day covered in a non-removable black ink.

As an author thinking, about using one of these ancient devices to pen a novel makes me want to pick up pencil and paper.

Well, how about that trip down memory lane. It’ll make you think next time you complain about your modern-day typing device.

Have a great week, and may God bless you and yours!

I Didn’t Realize What I Was in for When I Became an Author Not so Many Years Ago

I didn’t realize what I was in for when I became an author not so many years ago. I write Science-Fiction/Fantasy, and Action Adventure.

It still amazes me that completing a novel, then moving to the next, time and time again, never loses its sense of exhilaration.

Creating new worlds, and the creatures within the genre I write, leads to many interesting characters, human and otherwise.

Along with the bipeds, come a multitude of caustic critters just right for killing, all wrapped up in unique surroundings.

Writing can invoke passionate feelings within readers, even though the characters only exist as a concept in the recesses of someone’s mind.

Funny, this item, known as a book, that we delve into so deeply, causes readers to lose sleep in order to absorb one more chapter.

If you begin to nod at work maybe you should not have continued to read extra chapters. I don’t believe any of the characters in your present night-time read will come to your aid as you fight off sleep during the day.

I appreciate you taking time to read this post. Have a great week, and God bless.

Before I Penned My First Novel, I Couldn’t Help But Think “What a Daunting Task”

Before I penned my first novel, I couldn’t help but think What a daunting task. Now that I’m working on number six, I admit my thought process has changed a bit.

When I began Rising Tide, my first objective was, of course, to complete this impossible goal set for myself.

Then, wonder of wonders, five months after beginning my first science fiction/ fantasy novel,  the word completion actually applied. Little did I realize as I finished writing this work of fiction  that writing would be the easiest task on the road to publication.

Rewrites and edits took longer than the actual writing of Rising Tide. Finding a publisher was all but impossible. Once I located a publisher,  came more rewrites and editing. After finishing cover art, back matter, dedications and acknowledgements, a completed novel was ready for the book shelves.

Now, all I had to do was entice people to read this exciting new novel, not to mention compete with the thousand new books released the same day as mine.

I won’t go any further than to mention my second novel, a sequel to the first, took several years to complete due to my trouble being satisfied with the story line and taking breaks to pen two other novels. Just a little FYI in case you’re contemplating your first book.

Have a fantastic week and may God bless you richly and keep you safe.  

Talk About Being in the Right Place at the Right Time . . . “Burp!”

I caught the cooking bug a few years back and dove head first into the world of gourmet food. I became a foodie and followed that trail for quite a few years. The job I had at the time fell in place with fine wine and dining. Talk about being in the right place at the right time . . . “burp!”`

I found myself able to travel the country sampling exceptional eats and drink.

One of my earlier novels contained several large banquets of exotic fare due to a post-apocalyptic earth. I received several reviews that thought the book needed to reduce the time characters spent sitting around a table shoving their faces full of food.`

I still enjoy fine dining occasionally, but my pallet thankfully has reverted to enjoying simpler fare. Give me a well-dressed hot dog or brat. If not a dog, then a perfectly grilled burger, toppings unlimited.

 I do have to draw the line at certain fast food. If the material used to prepare my meal is shipped by tractor trailer, frozen and ready to drop into hot grease, it’s probably not for me. If the burger whinnies and the chicken’s . . . well, not really chicken beyond a reasonable doubt, I’d probably pass it by.

If I’m in the mood for a pizza and the eateries offering more resembles or worse tastes like Bisquick and Ketchup, I’ll make a B-line to an Italian restaurant where English is a foreign language.

I grew up on grandma’s fried chicken. What I find most ironic in this day and age is your average person either cannot or will not attempt to fry a piece of chicken. This usually arises for fear of overcooking the outside and the inside remaining underdone.

Here’s where I pile kudos on top of the fried chicken, fast food industry. They have cooking chicken down to such a science; a high school student can fry a perfect batch without fail. Come to think of it, I’m getting a taste for something crunchy like, with a good bit of spice . . . gotta go, have a great week!

Is Planned Obsolescence Growing Obsolete?

Most of the things we use today are planned to last a certain amount of time. To me one of the most irritating objects made with this “planned obsolescence” is the light bulb. We use them in every room of the house–our ovens, refrigerators, automobiles. I even have several in my writer’s room; not just several bulbs, but several different types.

Many of my novels take place in wild areas where electricity is not available to power a conventional light source. Due to this unfortunate situation I am forced to lean on natural luminescence of one type or another or utilized sunlight for my comings and goings.

In my day to day life, incandescent bulbs are becoming a thing of the past. Back in the days of their popularity I’ve seen them last several months or blow as soon as electricity touched the filament.

This brings about a question. Why are some light bulbs still burning after a 100 years as opposed to the bulbs of today making it a few months before going dark? I know that carbon was used for the filaments in bulbs of yesteryear, while today we have gone to tungsten.

It just rubs me the wrong way to build something that will purposely fail after a short time on the job.

We all have things that crawl under our collar and gnaw away. Just thought I would share one of mine with you. Have a great week . . . I’ll be in touch soon.   

The Place I Can Always Call Home

After being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and finding I could no longer perform physical labor, writing (a gift from an adoring God) became my passion. As I began my first novel, Rising Tide, I found myself gravitating in my writing toward my faith as a Christian. I knew the manuscript would be written in the genre of Science Fiction with bits of fantasy dispersed throughout, but I would never have been able to anticipate a mixture of Christian fiction mingled within each book I penned. Rising Tide would years later become a series with three published books and a fourth in the works. Terminal Core is a standalone science fiction/action adventure novel that was published in 2016 and Dalon Con (the Essence of Time) is in the editing process.

I shy away from offensive language and sexual situations; however, when you’re killing demons and they are trying to return the favor, a healthy dose of violence is unavoidable.

Melding the many tools I have at my disposal into each novel not only allows me to work at something I love, but more importantly, gives me a way to serve God by spreading the good news of his son, Jesus. For those who would not normally read Christian literature, I find the message is better received when presented within a story, which makes this  ministry another way of service!

Do Chipmunks Scheme About Hassling Hounds?

Anthropomorphism (giving human characteristics to an animal) was probably solidified in this day and age by Walt Disney. That’s just my opinion, but given that and $3.00, you could come away with a decent cup of coffee.

I find myself guilty of this many times over. Not just people talk in my novels, but the majority of creatures with a heartbeat tend to spew out conversational pieces better than most Americans. Of course, American English being what it is, speaking it in some form is not a difficult feat.

The all-time voice of voices was Mel Blanc. Able to stream the dialogue from every character in a single cartoon, including Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird and everyone in between, was absolutely amazing.

Fortunately, as I write I am able to see and hear my characters as I create them. Even the ambient noise comes to life as I pen each novel. I am so appreciative to God for giving me the ability to place my imagination on paper. Now it’s up to me not to blow it!