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Why Do We Bother?

Those areas of human endeavor where art is created have become very crowded with the ability of anyone to post things to the internet. You only have to look at Amazon Kindle books or visit Soundcloud to see how much is done every single day. Needless to say, there are times where writers, music producers, artists, etc wonder why they are bothering to do what they do.

There are dark times when we sit and think that we’ll never succeed, we’ll never do anything good, we’re not getting better at it, etc. One content creator has done an excellent exposition on those feelings, how to address them and more. The video is called ‘The Darker Side of Making Music’ but it does address everyone who does creative work. Cameron of Venus Theory calls it a rant, but it soberly discusses all the self-doubt that creators run into. And he has a great voice.

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Raven: The Call from Central (2nd Edition) available now on Kindle

Finally, the 2nd Edition of Raven: The Call from Central is available on Amazon.

This edition has numerous corrections and enhanced descriptions to align with the later books in the series and make the scenes easier to understand. Also included is the short story ‘All it Takes is Meeting the Right Team’, which is the story of how Gothgirl joined Iskandar. This story has not been published elsewhere.

As the series grew in numbers of books, I began to see holes in the way the Tournament was conducted and how the characters related to it. Being an engineer, I’m always into the details, so something had to be done (LOL). Also, I beefed up the descriptions of the scenes so that you could be a better feel of what was happening.

Raven: The Call from Central is live on Amazon here:

Raven Of Iskandar Update & Coming Attractions!

The last chapter of ‘War’ is now being completed. The next step will be to read through the whole book, editing as I go along. I’ll be checking for inconsistencies and, if there are any chapters that need to be added to further the story and make it more comprehensible. After that, it’s off to the editor, who has said that she can’t wait to read it.

Of course, English is the common language that divided the USA from the UK, so we will undoubtedly have more miscommunication.

‘War’, book 8 of Raven of Iskandar is now over 80,000 words and likely to still grow.

Coming Attractions!

Back in the dim past, when first drafts were either handwritten or typed on a mechanical typewriter, I had ‘written’ several stories worthy of rewriting. I’m amazed at how I felt I was writing well at that time. They’re awful. However, as bad as the writing was, the ideas are worth developing.

‘So’s Your Fairy Godmother’ — A guy gets sent, unwillingly, on a quest in a bizarre world by a replacement–and very sexy–fairy godmother.

This one’s a comedy adventure with an unique set of characters. I’m not even trying to be serious with this one. This may not make a full book, as the original only had 12,000 words. The original lacks a lot of description. Mainly, other than the bad writing, it lacks logical situations. A bit of clean-up there.

‘The Happy Dale Incident’ — A professor unwillingly studies the reactions of some wacko patients in a genuine haunted house. If you know what a greptch is, then you’ll know they had to call out the army. Another comedy adventure.

The original only had 13,000 words but needs a lot more ‘meat’ on the bones, so this one may make a full novel.

‘Day of the Greptch’ — The sequel to ‘The Happy Dale Incident’. The residents of Happy Dale go wild again. This time across the whole country.

This one is a real problem to get done. The original was handwritten in pencil on both sides of leger paper. Did you ever hear the phrase ‘I can’t read my own handwriting’?

Finally one serious story that will make novel length. It’s called ‘Blood Red Summer’ and it’s a post-apocalyptic story. This one is at least in Word format. I had rewritten parts of it over the years, but never worked steadily on it. Basically, it’s about a religious war where a number of small kingdoms try to work together to protect the knowledge left after worldwide nuclear war. There’s plenty of sub-plots featuring assassins, backstabbing and finally culminates in actual sword and spear warfare.

One more item: I will be going through an interview for a UK organization called Reader’s House. They do produce a magazine but they prioritize the more famous authors. Still, I may not end up in the magazine, but I will be posted on their website.

That’s all for now. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and best wishes to all outside the USA where it was just another Thursday.

Update:  Raven of Iskandar Book 8 – “War”

Yes, the series is continuing!

It’s been a long time since the last update, but Book 8 of Raven of Iskandar is nearing the completion of the first draft.  We’re now over 80,000 words with still a couple of chapters to complete. 

The cliffhangers from Book 7 are resolved and the threaten conflict finally occurs.  It took a while to make the beginning of the conflict natural. 

Below is a sample chapter from the new book.  No spoilers, this is just one of those incidents that Raven and Chaoschick get themselves involved in.

After the failed Beta test of a Galacnet match, the team decided to get away, just in case Control wanted to try again.

Raven and Chaoschick were quickly out the front door and into the crowds on the street. Then they encountered a large crowd gathered for some reason. They wiggled through the crowd to see what was going on.

Raven thought that this was very strange. Out on the street, with a thick crowd around them, two men in full yellow jumpsuits were dancing in a circle.

There was an older man near her.

“Sir,” she asked. “Can you tell me what is going on here?”

“Oh, a Necris,” he remarked. “Welcome to Central. Well, these two men are the Lakes brothers, Lando and Thouson. Since it is International Cheese day, they are dancing the Tortellini. It’s a rather cheesy dance, they only go in circles.”

“Oh, ok,” she responded. “International? Not Alliance-wide?”

The old man didn’t turn. “Just keep watching,” he said.

Raven heard some rattling like stuff in a cardboard box and noticed that a few in the crowd had pulled out boxes of pasta. They opened up the boxes and began throwing handfuls at the dancers. The two men in the yellow suits gleefully began stomping on the pasta. There was so much that each footfall of the dancers made a crunching sound. The crunching was continuous.

Many in the crowd began clapping in rhythm.

Suddenly the Lakes brothers shouted out “Ho, Ho, Tortellini!” and reversed direction but still going around in a circle.

“All they need is tomato sauce,” groused Chaoschick.

“Why’s that?”

“Well you have lots of pasta and two meatballs dancing.”

Raven gave her a raspberry.

“That was pretty funny,” said the old man.

“Why are they throwing pasta at them?” asked the Necris.

“Traditional,” he replied. “They’re trying to make them fall over. The pasta gets to be like walking on marbles if they don’t stomp it.”

“Fall over?” expressed Chaoschick. “That’s easy.”

The brunette turned to the lady next to her, who was holding a container with what looked like lunch.

“Those are great meatballs,” she said. “Full, plump and aerodynamic.”

“Thanks, uh, what?” replied the lady.

“Can I have a meatball?”

“Sure.”

Raven knew what was going to happen. Chaoschick picked a particularly chunky meatball.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked in a hushed voice.

“At least they’ll stop blocking the street,” said Chaoschick, who launched the lunch at the dancers. The throw was excellent. It hit Lando in the side of the face. He staggered and slipped on some pasta and fell. Thouson tried to grab him before he fell, but he slipped also and fell on top of his brother.

The crowd cheered. Except for one man who must’ve been at least seven feet tall.

He pointed at Chaoschick. “You! I want to talk to you!” he threatened.

The lady with the lunch backed away. “No more lunch for you,” she expressed and backed into the crowd.

Raven and Chaoschick looked at each other. The man with the threating finger got close and Raven ducked behind him. As he reached Chaoschick, Raven kicked him in the back of the knees while the brunette shoved him in the chest. Raven had to duck as the huge man did a backflip onto the pasta and slid all the way into the brothers. Just as Lando got up on one knee and was pulling at Thouson, the big man hit them direct. Pasta and brothers launched into the crowd.

Some applauded and some emptied their pasta boxes on them.

Chaoschick was about to take a bow, but Raven grabbed her and dragged her out of the crowd.

They were headed away as security officers headed past them toward the ruckus.

Thanks for reading this far. Updates and posts will be more frequent, eh, not more than one a week. Any questions? You can reach the author (me!) at RavenofIskandar@gmail.com or just comment here.

Live at the Holiday Hoopla

Just a quick note, I will be making my first public appearance as an author at the Holiday Hoopla at South Windsor High School in South Windsor, CT.

The date is November 23, 2024 (This Saturday!) and the Hoopla is open from 9am to 3pm.

Along with me will be other authors and many other vendors. They say 85+ vendors will be there.

Well, I’ll have a table there to sell books and sign them. And the books will be a LOT CHEAPER than ordering from Amazon. Signing the books is free.

I’m not a sales person. I’m an engineer. So, if you are in the area, you can drop by to talk. This will be my first experience at one of these things, so I don’t want to get bored.

Just look for the Raven of Iskandar Banner

Also, they will be running a raffle. I’m contributing a brand new ROKR Magic Cello.

Promotion – Book 1 of Raven of Iskandar

Book 1 of Raven of Iskandar ‘Raven: The Call from Central’ will be available for 99 cents from October 15 through October 22.

This is to ‘celebrate’ the release of Book 7 ‘Outbreak’ and will give readers a way to jump into the series.

Actually, I would have run the promotion longer except that Amazon won’t let me.

Raven of Iskandar Series 1 – 7