Chapter 17 finally finished

  Okay, so it took me a while to finish chapter 17--as you can tell, looking back on the last time I completed a chapter (July 19, a full month ago).
  All I can say is that other activities have kept me busy. Work primarily, but also such things as playing my favorite game (WOW), and also a weeks vacation to Miami, Florida. While there I didn't get any work done on the book at all, I just enjoyed myself. It was a great vacation too, seeing places I'd never seen before.
  At any rate it is now done I think to my satisfaction--at least at the moment. (who knows if some idea might come to me & have me make some changes)
  Here's an excerpt from the chapter called; A Wicked Tongue Speaks:

“So—it is Gryllman? That is your name? You speak for everyone?”

“Yes, Eye of the Elders...I am our people's representative...as I told the Elders before.”

“Well, I must say that whoever you are you have certainly come a long way to be here. I've never seen beings like you who could speak our tongue,” said the Eye, but then recollected stories of a people from long ago who had supposedly vanished from Wyrme. He glanced around at the Elders for any hint of recognition from them and saw none. Apparently the Elders did not believe these people to be those who once lived here, now somehow resurfaced. “At any rate our societies hold with certain privileges. First and foremost is that of honor. And it is extremely dishonorable to attempt to circumvent this in any way. It is my job to provide the means by which visitors may earn their honor, and in so doing also earn their right to an audience with the Elders. Since your people obviously were unaware of these rules of law I hope that you now understand our position and our concern that you've broken them. I am willing to overlook your rude ignorance this one time. Your powers that have magically enabled you to move through this mountain and into this Hall are not totally unfamiliar to us, and in a way that is rather troubling, however, from this point on I would caution all of you. No matter who you may be, we will not allow our laws to be trifled with. And no further warnings or second chances will be given. Is that understood Sir Gryllman?”

“Of course,” he replied, though worrying now even more than before. He looked back at his group for some measure of comfort, but found none, as only their stoic masks locked in their perpetual stares at nothing returned his gaze. Gryllman was on his own.

  The Techanis of Icurnia are on Wyrme and using their ways of manipulation as they always have in an attempt to find whatever great secrets they hope will be revealed. The secret scrolls that the Templests tried to hide have led them here, and Danival is determined to discover their origin. Even if it means the death of whoever stands in his way. Because there is one thing he wishes to find, an idea that every Techanis believes in and wants, an answer to what is: The Great Reconfiguring.

Trip to Miami

  This week I took a vacation to Miami, Florida. A good friend of mine and I have taken trips around the country of the USA to see our favorite baseball team play (the Atlanta Braves). Neither of us had ever been to Miami, so this year we decided to go there for a vacation. We could have gone back to someplace we'd previously enjoyed, like New York, St. Louis, Philadelphia, or even Los Angeles, but this time we headed for the beach.
  Miami is a cool destination if you like sun, traffic, frequent rain storms, lots of spanish speaking people, palm trees, and sand. Getting there was an adventure in itself for us. We flew from Birmingham, Alabama where we live down to Tampa, Florida--only taking a quick 1 1/2 flight, which seemed like only 30 minutes on Southwest. Got our bags & rode the shuttle to the rental car place. Got our car (a Hyundai) and drove from there to Miami. Doing this saved us a ton of money and, although it ate into our vacation time a bit, wasn't that bad, as we caught some scenery, like the Everglades & Alligator Alley (I-75), so that was okay. Finally making it to Miami we drove to the hotel. And man, what a hotel!
  The Mayfair is by far the coolest hotel I have ever stayed at in all my years. Located on Florida Ave. in Coconut Grove it's not only in a terrific area, the place looks to have been created out of someones vivid imagination. I say this because it resembles a place I have freqented, not in reality, but in a computer game! I've play WOW (World of Warcraft) for years and so I instantly recognized how similar it looked. Here are two pictures-the first is of the inner area of the hotel, the second is a photo of the game local I was talking about that it resembles (it is of an area within the Sunken Temple in the game-aka the Temple of Atal'Hakkar)

  At any rate, we found our hotel stay very enjoyable. A small shopping mall right next door to the hotel was very convenient for us as well as we ate there a couple times (Chili's), did some shopping, and even caught the "Dark Knight Rises" at the cinema, which has 13 screens and is as good a theatre as any I've ever been too--with stadium seating and very nice-though my friend said his seat was broken.

While in Miami we saw 3 baseball games at the new Marlins stadium. That place is a marvelous arena for watching a baseball game. Having a closable roof in a place like Miami is a great idea, with the heat & humidity. The only potential drawback is that maximim capacity looks to be somewhere just over 40,000 people, which is kinda small if they get into the World Series again. My camera phone went on the fritz when I was trying to take and send photos while there, I'd caught a bunch of good ones of the stadium, but then it wouldn't send them to my email & when I tried to take more photos I got the error screen "FAILED". This morning I finally fixed it somehow & its taking photos again.

We did other stuff too, like visiting the beach on Key Biscayne. We even saw the tennis complex there-where they play a pro tennis tournament you can watch on TV. We drove to South Beach and hoped to be able to walk around on the beach there too, but that place is kinda a nightmare: way too many people & cars, so there was nowhere to park & get out unless you want to walk a mile to get to it, which we didn't. So we just drove outta there. Ocean Drive is like a wall of hotels, one after another, so it seems like unless you're staying at one of them your chances of seeing the beach are slim. One night after a game we visited a place with a familiar sounding name: The Magic City Casino (Birmingham, AL. is called the Magic City). Luckily, both me and my friend Rick came out ahead.

Finally, after spending several days we drove back to Tampa, Fl. to catch our flight back to B'ham. & man we just did barely make it in time. After the 3 hours or so to drive back, filling up the cars gas tank, turning in the car, getting to the airport, checking bags, running to out terminal, & getting through the security checks, our plane was already boarding. Fortunately, when we got there they were just about to call us to board-so I guess we were just in time.

We finally got back home & can now rest up from our vacation, heheh.

Completed Chapter 16 of Book 2

  Here's an excerpt from book 2, chapter 16:

  The emptiness between worlds within the Sol solar system, that was the cold vacuousness of the interplanetary medium, heaved invisibly as the fleet of orbitals emerged from folded space. The auto-settings clicked into deceleration mode as the hulking vessels slowed to sub-light speed. The crew quarters, each housing hibernation chambers for the two-week journey, came to life. Fresh air was routed to the rooms, temperature was raised and gravity was returned to the upper levels. One by one the crew members were awakened, and one by one each of them prepared themselves to return to their duties. Within an hour the ships had been set to rendezvous with Wyrme and seek high orbital trajectories, which the fleet would attain in only a day's time.

In the main tower control-room of the orbital command ship Danival had only one thing on his mind, and he sat and watched intently as the tiny reddish planet grew larger in the view-screen. His second in command approached, making his duty rounds, finding his commander there locked in concentration and peered questionably at the small ruddy world himself.

  “It's rather unimpressive looking sir—considering,” said Sargarius Tyrnea, but then quickly reassessed his opinion when seeing Danival's reflection glaring back at him on the screen. “Though I guess one might find something ominous about it. Yes, a very ominous little planet I'd say!”

  “Well, I wouldn't want to be disappointed,” said Danival grinning. “But we'll know soon enough what is there. Begin the sensor sweeps when we're within maximum range. I want full topographicals and life-form analysis reports completed by the time we're in orbit. Coordinate the work among the crews of every ship and cross-check the results for irregularities or discrepancies. I need this done right and fast, not slow and sloppy. Got it?”

  “Right away sir!”

I hope that I can finish the book in a few more months and then begin the editing process and get it completed.

Completed Chapter 15 of Book 2

I just completed chapter 15 of Andy Brighton and the Dragons of Wyrme, book two, The Magic of Dragons. Here's an excerpt:

“What's at Mt. Auroatuko?” asked Andy.

“Something quite wonderful,” said Logi. “The mountain is an extinct volcano far to the south in an area called the Austral Region on the western coast of the Great Scale Sea. Long ago it is believed it was the original home of the Vuls. In fact they still claim the mountain as part of their territory, even though they rarely travel within sight of it. Today, and for as long as I can remember, Handiama has used the mountain as her nest. It is where she goes to lay her eggs.”

The 2nd book is planned to have 20 chapters, at least so far. You never know if I might come up with an idea while writing that I hadn't had before which changes things. If so then I'll adjust this estimate, but if not then that's what it will be. If form holds up the book will be somewhere around 115,000 to 120,000 total words. This is about what the publishers are looking for in a book of this sort, from what I've read. The reedit of book 1, which had 22 chapters, was about 118,500 words. So they'd be fairly close in size to one another.

Chapter 14 of book 2

   I've completed chapter 14 of book 2 (Andy Brighton and the Dragons of Wyrme - The Magic of Dragons). Here's a synopsis:
   Gratoly, who has finally completed the three trials, journeys back to Colystal to see the dragon elders. When he arrives it is at night and he finds that the Permionths have a surprising look about them-their heads glow in the dark! Unsure of what this means he continues on and meets again with the Eye of the Elders who gave him his challenge. Hrysh is impressed but forces Gratoly to answer a riddle to gain entry. Gratoly passes this test as well and the eye is punished fatally for his failure. Within the Halls of Colystal Gratoly tries to make his case, but some of the elders refuse to listen. It is only when Gratoly's story is proven true, by asking for the Keeper's sight, that they allow him to speak. They listen and agree that the Icurnians, if they do come, may pose a threat. Gratoly believes he's succeeded and leaves Colystal to lay in wait until they come. When they do he will want to witness them himself and tell them that they will not be deceived.
  I'm into chapter 15 now & the book is coming along nicely.

How I Make My Videos

Here's a video on how I make my videos. A lot of the same techniques I use to make my 'music videos' I used to make this video as well. (The only thing I didn't do was to capture any video clips off YouTube. The video was just a screen capture of me typing out the steps I go through. The audio though was a recording of a song I found from a website which lists long songs - listverse.com).
Enjoy!

Finished Chapter 13

Chapter 13 is complete and I'm now working on 14. Here's a brief synopsis: We return to Icurnia (where the Techanis now rule) and see the fleet arriving back from their successful assimilation mission of Gallepea. General Danival is greeted with the news that an explosion in Temple Iconn has severely injured his sister Heathyr--so much so that she won't live more than a day. To keep her from death he has her taken to the closest animus facility (soul swapping facility). He then learns that the scrolls were the target of the explosion, but fragments have been recovered and are being analyzed. After piecing together the remains enough information is salvaged to point Danival in the direction to where his people originated from. And it is the Sol star system and the planet Wyrme. A full-scale incursion is planned immediately to leave the next day. The morning after Danival awakes to find a strange woman at his home who speaks in riddles, but whom he believes is Heathyr. And he is right. Back at Techanis Command Danival inspects the fleet and finds his son is listed among the crew of one of the starcraft flagships. He's proud that his son has earned a commission onboard the fleet and talks with him for a while and mentions what happened to Heathyr. The fleet leaves Icurnia and heads towards their most notable destination to date.