The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter Fifteen

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen is now on line. Click the link above to read.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter Fourteen

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter Fourteen

Click the above link for the latest chapter, now available on line.

Chapter Fourteen

Smoke And Ash

Kan Lam walked the streets of the upper village, surveying the destruction, compulsively counting dead animals. He tried to make himself stop, but every time he passed some sad crumpled corpse he added a number. He was an educated man, he could count as high as necessary. For once he almost wished he had less education. There were surprisingly few people dead. His mind shied away from that thought, but not before the image of the yew in the meeting ground filled his mind. Thank the King, nobody tried to fight.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter Thirteen

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter Thirteen

Click the link above for chapter thirteen.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Twelve

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Twelve:

Chapter Twelve

A Raised Hand

Kan Lam looked up across the meeting ground at the tall houses, whose peaks showed above the intervening hedgeline. He scowled, and spat once into the dirt at his feet. Glancing about hurriedly he scuffed dust over the spit with his dirty toe. He looked back over at the far side of the hedge. They'll be getting theirs. Today."

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter Eleven

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven is now on line! Click the link above to read.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker

Click here to go straight to chapter one.

Chapter Eleven

Kon Nok Village

Waking curled up in the densely weedy corner of some less than industrious farmer’s cornfield, Jon felt tired, dirty, itchy, stiff, sore, his eyes were swollen and his ears ached, he was hungry and thirsty and weak. And he was free. For the first time in his life since he was able to understand what it meant to be a Lamb, doomed to live as a prisoner, however pampered, and to die young, Jon felt in control of his destiny. He felt good.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

The Barrel

As the sky brightened and the streets became more visible, Jon's fear grew. he was gasping with relief when he turned into the last narrow street before his destination. He broke into a jog and with a last sprint ducked into the tiny gap between two decrepit buildings. It was as black as full night here still, the buildings leaned in on each other, resting as it were, propping each other up at the eaves. Jon pushed his way deeper between them and settled back in to wait for Giant. The hard part was over, he thought.

He was wrong. The weeks of waiting in Lily’s room had made him terribly impatient to be moving. Every minute seemed to drag an hour and he found himself counting his breaths. Forcing himself to stop, he was counting his heartbeats a minute later. He could feel his heart beating strongly and the rush of blood in his ears rang in the early morning silence.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker Chapter Ten

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Nine

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Nine
Jon begins his escape from the city. The worst is yet to come!Click the link above to read, and find links to earlier chapters.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter 8

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter 8
Here is the link to Chapter 8 of 'The Tale Of Jon Handshaker'.

Chapter Eight

Lily

"Jon, get up! We have to get these clothes off you!" Lily's voice was frantic. Somehow, it cut through Jon's weakness, and he crawled up to his knees. He began poking clumsily at his clothes, until she slapped his hands away. With the quick skill of years of practice, she stripped him of every stitch. He moved only enough to get the remains of his pants off, then lay back down.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Seven

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Seven

A new and exciting chapter is now on line. Read and enjoy!

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Six

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Six

Chapter six is now up on HubPages.

Jon On-The-Run woke from bad dreams. Dreams of rebellion and war, fire and death. He was happy to be awake, even as he came to remember where he was, and why. Billy was filling one lamp from the tin of whale oil, and had lit the other. It was his cursing burnt fingers that had woken Jon. He wondered if that had been the source of his fiery dreams, that or the smell of smoke still in the tunnel. Or was it the memory of what he had seen above?

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter 5

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter 5

Chapter 5 of my on-line sci-fi novel is now up on HubPages. Click the link above to read. If you missed the first chapters, there is a link at the top of that page that will take you to chapter one.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Four

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Four

Here is chapter four on my on-line science fiction/fantasy novel. Click the link above to read.

...Fire covered the walls and floor. On the stairs opposite a few boys and servants crouched helpless. On the floor, smothered in flame, were piles, shapeless except for an outstretched hand or foot. In the open doorway to the outside was a line of men. Not throwing water or plunging in to pull out victims, but standing ready with red swords and spears. Red from the fire? Or blood. One of the men pointed at the open door and at Jon, and a javelin flew. Jon stumbled back into darkness.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Three

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Three

Chapter three, Parade Of Fools, is now published on line.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Three

Click here to go to chapter one.

Chapter Three

Parade Of Fools

The long night of physical labor gave Jon plenty of time to think. The future was clear. He would have to put up with this Handshaker business for a long time, perhaps even right up till he took his final, royal, name. That was always the last name. Young as he was, Jon was all too aware of his rapidly approaching and quite inevitable end.

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Two

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter Two

Here is chapter two of my new fantasy/science fiction novel, published on HubPages. Click the link above to read, or find the link to chapter one.

Frugal Living, Money Saving Tip #4

Frugal Living, Money Saving Tip #4
Make your own charcoal for grilling, at home. It's easy, and save money. Click on the link above for my article. Thanks

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter One

The Tale Of Jon Handshaker, Chapter One

The first chapter of my new novel is up on HubPages. Clicking the link above will take you there. I plan to publish more chapters at fairly short intervals. Thanks.

Jon Lamb was having little luck. He had fished the shallow, cold, mountain creeks of the Reservation Lands for trout and grayling, but he was new to this city and to the wide, slow rivers that encompassed it.

The Festival of the Dog Star, the first sighting of the summer star over the horizon, was one of four given over for purification. People, public spirited, or simply ever mindful of their neighbors' eyes, were diligently cleaning their homes, shops, and streets. They burned richly scented pine boughs in hopes of warding off the summer fevers, brought on by insects and the heavy, humid air. Jon was playing hooky.

Frugal Living, Money Saving Tip #11

Frugal Living, Money Saving Tip #11

How to save hundreds of dollars a year on shopping bills. Stores are stealing your money. Click the link above to read. Tips for reading your receipt.

Chainsaw Dreams

Chainsaw Dreams

Little things can make your day. Things that just, work, right.

Click the link above to read my Chainsaw Dreams.

Male And Female Parenting Styles, Mom, Dad and Two Girls

Male And Female Parenting Styles, Mom, Dad and Two Girls

A pop psychology lesson on parenting sons and daughters successfully, depending on whether you are a mom dealing with a daughter, or a dad a son. When to give orders, and when to make requests.

On The Proper Training Of Young Women

On The Proper Training Of Young Women

My thoughts on raising strong and self-confident daughters. Click on the link to read.

How To Repair a Cracked or Broken Axe Handle

How To Repair a Cracked or Broken Axe Handle

Learn how to use simple home items to repair anything made of wood, handles, tools, table legs, anything. I published this on HubPages. Click the link above to read the article.

Tips For Treating Eczema, Home Remedies That Work

Tips For Treating Eczema, Home Remedies That Work

Tips For Treating Eczema, Home Remedies That Work

Eczema can be successfully treated with home remedies. Some work better than others. Click the link above to see my article on HubPages.

IQ And The Economy. Be Kind To Stupid People.

IQ And The Economy. Be Kind To Stupid People.
Our government stacks the deck against the most vulnerable among us, the stupid. Click the link above to read my article on HubPages.

Self Sabotage

Self Sabotage

An article I wrote on self-sabotage, how your attitude at work can make you poor. Your attitude towards your writing can hold you back from getting published.

Winter Is Coming. Fimbul Winter. Are You Ready?

Winter Is Coming. Fimbul Winter. Are You Ready?

Ready for an especially cold winter this year? The La Nina phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean always leads to very cold winters, and this year's La Nina is the strongest in a century. The link above leads to my article, published on HubPages, with some unusual tips for saving money on home heating this winter.

Frugal Living, Money Saving Tip #10

Frugal Living, Money Saving Tip #10

How to make yogurt. It's simple and cheap.

Published on HubPages.

I Am A Dog

I Am A Dog: "Share this page ..."

An article I wrote for Hubpages, on my religious beliefs. Call me crazy, it's dangerous territory.

Write Your Hub Right

Write Your Hub Right

I have been writing on HubPages recently, and have become concerned that many of the writers there don't know the basic rules of spelling and grammar, so I wrote this post as a simple guide to improving their skills. Click through to read.

Thanks.

Monster Hunter International

Monster Hunter International

A review of 'Monster Hunter International', by Larry Correia. On HubPages. Click over to read.

Guru.com 2

Finished the job and got paid. Guru works for writers.

Guru.com

Signed up for Guru.com a few weeks ago. I have been watching and learning.

This week I put in my first bids for writing projects, not really expecting to be chosen due to my inexperience.

Well! Got picked the first day for a tiny little writing contract. A single letter to the editor, for $25. Took me about an hour to do. Actually it took two hours, but one of them was figuring how to set up the escrow account and navigate the sign-up process.

It was easy, and Guru does a very good, no, excellent job of leading you through it.

The money was deposited in escrow, I wrote the letter and forwarded it. Now just wait to see how the buyer likes it. If she does, then the money will be released and I come out with about $20.

I have bid on several other, larger projects, but not heard anything up or down yet.

Editing

Finished a hundred-page edit for a writing friend tonight. Hard work, and I am glad it is done. But satisfying. I like to believe I improved the final product beyond just fixing errors. She told me to go ahead and add or delete as I saw fit, so I did. Cut a lot, added a bit here and there. It is still 99%-plus her work, but tighter and smoother.

Eden's Rat Partial to Agent!

I posted my query and first few pages on YALITCHAT a while back, and an agent asked to see a partial manuscript! I am excited, even though odds are it will be rejected. The agency deals more with other genres than Fantasy. But I am simply happy to be in the running for one of the few slots open.

It's a start, a morale-booster.

Freelance Jobs

Been looking into freelance job sites recently, Guru and IFreeLance.com. Looks interesting. I'd love to get into editing and proofreading for pay. Currently I do proofing for free for selected people.

It's fun, in a strange way. Some people do puzzles or memorize sports trivia. I like to wrestle with the intricacies of sentence structure, grammar and word choice.

July Jobs

Got a lot done in July, renovated my bathroom, which turned out to be a bigger task than I had thought. Sanded, primed, sanded again, put on a top-coat, was dissatisfied, sanded again, painted again.

It looks pretty good, and a lot better than before. The previous owner (a bank) had simply painted over the cracks and loose paint, so it looked like crap.

Still have to get the bathtub faucet to stop leaking behind the spout. I am about ready to call a plumber. I hate that, this should be a really easy fix, but it just isn't going. I can not stop that little drip, and it leaks behind the wall and down onto the ceiling of the room below.

Also refinished three tables. Two are solid cherry, and they look great. I took off the old, ugly, heavy varnish, sanded and finished with pure linseed oil. Why anyone would use varnish or any thick, colored finish on cherry I can not imagine.

A New Job?

I am applying at an international airline for a flight attendant job. I never considered such a thing before, but jobs are scarce out there, and it certainly sounds interesting.

The pay sucks. The perks are better, and it sounds like there is plenty of overtime. International flights also have a 75 dollar per-diem on top of salary, so that can add up quickly.

My last job was dead end and used none of my experience or education. This one will at least make my Japanese and Spanish skills useful. There are also long layovers, as in days and days in a ratty hotel room in some foreign country. That will allow me time to fire up the laptop and get working on my new novels. I have two in the works and one finished.

I am on writing hiatus, about a week now. Too busy with too many projects, plus job hunting. Plus laziness.

Getting in Shape

I decided to do it right this time. No rushing in and getting hurt. I am 48 now, not a kid. So, a few weeks ago I started jogging, walking, jogging. I am now up to 2 miles of non-stop jogging. That isn't bad, but it seems terrible to me. I am the guy who was running 38-minute 10ks just a few years ago.

I figure to work up to 5 or 6 miles of jogging, then start doing some speed work. I got into that last time I was in shape, and it was really fun. I had forgotten just how much fun it is to cut loose and run at an all-out sprint. I am looking forward to it.

Paint the Car

Working on the car. Got it started this morning, after several days of trouble.

It is an older Town and Country, and if you look a number of these over you see they almost all have rust in the exact same spots, over the rear fenders and at the lower edge of the hatch.

I did some Bondo repairs last summer, and repainted the car. I wasn't happy with the result, and get a little rust-through returning.

So I have been sanding down the bad areas, grinding out all the rust I can get at and spraying a phosphate rust inhibitor on everything that I can't get at to remove. Hope it holds for another year.

So the prelims are done, now to paint the car. The hardest part is actually the taping, masking everything you don't want paint on. The paint spray mists, and travels a long way, so if you are spraying the rear hatch, you have to cover all of the windows or get a nice, fine coating on them.

This year the car will be gold, a fairly bright one.

Synopsis, the Toughest Two Pages I Ever Wrote

I have been writing and rewriting the synopsis for my novel 'Eden's Rat'. Writing the novel was hard work, but it was more fun than it was work.

Writing the synopsis is only work. So far I haven't found one fun thing about it. I have been writing variations, posting them over at YALITCHAT for critisism, then taking them down and rewriting again.

What is disheartening is that they are getting worse rather than better. My first few attempts at least were humorous. The last one was dry AND confusing, according to the critics.

The story itself is not a straightforward adventure, but has several character points of view, and some complex motivations. Even the main villains have honorable goals, though their methods may be doubtful.

All this is hard to convey in a synopsis in a way that even begins to make sense. I am working on a new one now. It is narrative form, A to B to C, and quite dry. My goal in this one is simply to explain the story in a way that makes sense to someone who hasn't read the novel.

The Car, the Lawn, and Other Money-Sucking Hazards

Mowed the lawn today, after letting it get pretty long. With the wife and kids away I tend to let these things go. The grass looks great, so much rain this year.

Put $170 bucks into the car last week, new brakes. Didn't expect it so soon, had work done just two years ago. Sad to say, the shop didn't guarantee the work past one year. So I went to another shop.

That was fine, sort of, but this week suddenly it won't start. Turn the key, plenty of juice in the battery, but nothing, not even a solenoid click. Bad connection somewhere? Maybe, but hard to test, because it only happens sometimes, and I can't make it happen when I have it at the shop. It didn't start this morning or last night. But it did later this afternoon, after sitting in the hot sun. I suspect moisture is getting in somewhere, so it works when it is dry but fails when wet. 12 years old and 100,000-plus miles, things break.

The River Ellan

In my fantasy novel the River Ellan is the Great River, equivalent to the Nile or the Mississippi. It bisects the mostly flat, bowl-like continent. By the time it reaches Selzburg, where most of the action takes place, it is nearly two miles wide, MOL.

The city rests on a rare rocky outcroping, and the river is forced into a narrow channel, so it is deeper and much swifter than any other stretch of the river, other than the far northern tributaries coming out of the mountains.

The Ellan is central to the story, and all of the action takes place within a day's walk at most from its banks.

Best Season of the Year

It's my favorite season. Berry season. The strawberries are almost done, but the wild black raspberries are just starting. Those are my favorites. The mulberries are also just starting, and in a few weeks the blackberries and red raspberries will be ripe. I love grazing in my back yard.

Its a nice break from mowing the lawn or working on my car and painting the bathroom, my main projects for this summer.

Meat-eating Squirrels?

Saw something funny yesterday. A squirrel was being pursued by a robin and a blackbird. They were flying after it and pecking it. Chased it across the road and beyond.

I wonder why. Do squirrels eat eggs or baby birds? Wouldn't surprise me, though I usually think of them as herbivores.

That is also the first time I have seen two birds of different species attacking another animal at the same time. It is common to see swallows dive-bombing cats, crows attacking owls, or just about any small bird harassing hawks, but always before one species against one other.

Easy, Natural Gardening

We have been eating lots of greens this year. I didn't plant them, they just came up from last year's plants, that I allowed to go to seed naturally.

Lettuce was the best, we had several varieties of lettuce big enough to eat before most people even got their gardens planted. In the fall I allowed a few plants to mature, they flowered and set seed. When the seed looked mature I just shook the plants over the garden where I wanted the lettuce to grow. Some of it sprouted in the fall, and I covered the young plants with leaves. They survived the winter and started growing as soon as the ground warmed up a bit.

We also have several other varieties of greens, including rocket, and some Japanese varieties, all from last year's plants. Free seeds!

We had a lot of pumpkins last year, and I threw the old ones, after Halloween, onto the garden and spread the chunks aground. Dozens of pumpkins sprouted and I just left them to grow. When they got bigger I thinned out the weaker-looking ones and left the ones that looked good. Should have plenty of pumpkins again this fall. This will be the third year for these.

Tomatoes will also grow from last year's plants. This can be hit-or-miss, as they don't always come back as the same variety as you had before. Sometimes I get great tomatoes, and sometimes they are tough and tasteless. In that case just pull out the plants that don't produce well as soon as you find out, late summer, and plant other vegetables in that space. We had good results the last few years, some really excellent tomatoes, but one plant had tasteless lumps not even worth cooking.

You may have to dig up and replant some things, if they are not in a convenient spot where they happen to sprout. I replanted several tomatoes and may still do a few pumpkins.

Last year I decided to try growing peaches. I threw the pit of every peach I ate, out onto the garden. This year I have two peach trees growing. I hope they turn out to have good fruit. It can be a toss-up with fruit, whether seed-grown trees have good fruit or not.

Grilling and Charcoal, How to Make Charcoal

I grilled a lot of meat yesterday, and then I made charcoal. It is easy, if you have a supply of wood, to make all or most of the charcoal you need for grilling (I never use gas. Why? Might as well cook indoors on the stove.)

Start your grill as normal, with a pile of store-bought charcoal, grill your food as usual. Then...when you are done cooking, take the rack off and pile the grill full of small sticks or split wood, right on top of the coals.

Any size wood works well, as long as it isn't so small it immediately catches fire, or so big it won't fit inside the grill with the top down. Too thick however and only the outside will turn into charcoal.

Fan the wood until you get a small fire, then close the top and leave it closed until it is cool.

DO NOT open the top half-way through the process, as the sudden increase in air supply may cause a WOOF of fire, which could be dangerous. Almost like when you light a bit of gasoline. It woofs.

My grill is not perfectly air tight when closed, so enough oxygen gets in to keep the coals lit for hours. The wood I put in chars and turns to charcoal, which is nothing but incompletely-burned wood. Some of the wood, at the edges, remains just wood. That is fine, it is really dry and is good for getting the next fire started when I am ready to grill again.

Save money and make your own charcoal. I use oak and hickory, from the trees that overhang my back fence. There are branches down after every wind. Oh, final notes, don't use plum or cherry wood to grill. Poisonous. Pine tastes bad.

First Chapter

A few posts down I have the old 'first chapter' of my novel 'Eden's Rat'. I have made some revisions in the chapter order recently, going back to the way I originally wrote it. I had tried to move the action forward to an earlier position in the story, but decided that it just wasn't as good a story that way.

So you can read the fourth chapter below, and soon I will get around to posting the current first chapter.

Eden's Rat update

My fantasy novel 'Eden's Rat' is nearing completion. I am on what I hope is the final revision. Mainly, I am cutting excess wordiness, playing with comma placement, and correcting the occasional misplaced punctuation mark.

I have had my first 5 pages and a query letter posted on YALITCHAT this last month, getting feedback from other writers. Several people have also read the whole novel and made useful comments. I noticed that they all tended to make similar comments, thus the current revision.

YALITCHAT

Posted my revised query over at YALITCHAT, for criticism and advice.

http://yalitchat.ning.com/group/querykickaround/forum/topics/query-edens-rat

If you are a young adult writer this is a great forum to get honest feedback from other writers. You can join for free (for now).

Eden's Rat, First Chapter

EDEN'S RAT

The Evening Of The First Day

Wearing shoes was a strange sensation, welcome but uncomfortable at the same time. Being fully clothed in the summer was almost as strange. Soon his shivers stopped and he began to feel hot, even sweaty. Rat was wondering what to do next when Maac-Kail came back around the corner of the stable at a dead run, his arms full of bundles. The expression on his face scared Rat more than the thought of the Seekers chasing him had. That fear was less immediate; Maac-Kail was right before him.
"We go now," Maac-Kail said in a strained voice, his outland accent strong. "They come." He wasted no time in pulling his fine yellow horse out of the stable and throwing the light saddle on its back. Cinching the girth took only seconds under his practiced hands, and he abandoned the horse and ran to the next stall. The gray horse inside was a considerably inferior animal, smaller, slightly sway backed, with its head habitually held low as if tired.
Rat ran to the door to listen. There was no sound out of the ordinary to his untrained ears. Cows mooed and here and there roosters crowed challenges at each other. Faint conversation from the inn was the only sound of human presence. Why was Maac-Kail suddenly so sure the Bakers were coming? How did he know? The sound of thunder in the distance was Rat's first clue. It didn't rise and fall naturally, but continued to get louder.
"Mr. Kail! Horses running!" he called across the stable. Maac-Kail looked up from where he was strapping bundles onto the gray. He cursed once, "Jaag!" and carrying the remaining bags in his hand led the two horses quickly out of the stable.
"Follow. Silence." His command of the language seemed to have left him as danger threatened. Rat didn't question, but stayed right next to him as they circled behind the stables and then followed a broad path through the black night, away from the inn. Rat had never been anywhere so dark, and he tripped and stumbled every third step. Maac-Kail seemed to become impatient of Rat's slow progress, for he stopped and picking him up under the arms slung him atop the gray horse. Rat hung on amid the bundles as they stepped up their pace. He realized that Maac-Kail was running in the dark, leading the horses.
"How can he see in the dark?" Rat wondered as he bounced wildly up and down and sideways on the saddle, almost falling off first on one side then the other as they turned corners in the dark. He crouched down, holding on to the saddle horn with one hand and the horse's thick mane with the other. He wished he had been tied on like one of the bundles. The walls of hedges closed in around and over the path so thickly that Rat couldn't see the ground beneath him, or any spark of light to the sides. Only a thin sliver of moon shown through the hedge-tops when his head happened to point upwards in its shaking.
The hedges suddenly disappeared and they entered a wider area, how wide Rat couldn't say, whether a pasture or merely an open spot in the path. "Down. Get down." Maac-Kail was fighting to speak clearly. "Take the reins, lead the horses to the far edge." Rat could barely make out Maac-Kail's pointing finger as he awkwardly slid off the gray. He gingerly took the reins, remembering the teeth Vlitz had threatened him with that morning. Both horse's heads were high now; he hoped they didn't bolt. He wouldn't be able to hold them if they did. He imagined them dragging him by the reins, trampling him under their hooves as they ran, and he resolved to let go and try to jump aside if they did.
"Mr. Kail, what are we going to do?" Maac-Kail didn't answer, and in the silence Rat heard clearly the sounds of pursuit. Horses were coming, a whole herd it seemed, and men were shouting to each other not far away. Rat thought they must be just a few minutes behind. He looked at Maac-Kail for reassurance but was shocked to see that he seemed to be laying a fire. Where the wood had come from Rat had no idea. A tiny flare in the middle of the stack, and suddenly small flames lit up what Rat now saw was merely a crossing of two paths, a wider space for carts to turn around in where they met. The whole space was no more than twenty paces from side to side. The fire flared up brighter, Rat thought it must be very dry wood to catch so fast, and the voices of the pursuers strengthened with it. Surely they saw the sudden light.
"Mr. Kail! We have to run! What are you doing? They'll see the fire." Rat was almost in despair, ready to bolt when he saw Maac-Kail kneel down beside the fire, facing back towards the sounds of pursuit. He seemed to be muttering to himself, a guttural that made Rat grit his teeth, glad he couldn't hear it clearly.
With shocking speed, on foot and silent, the first of the Bakers charged into the crossing. Rat screamed when he saw the short club in the man's hand coming down on Maac-Kail's head. He closed his eyes mid-scream and when he opened them again he saw Maac-Kail still kneeling beside the now roaring fire. The attacker was stumbling across the clearing toward Rat, hands spread awkwardly before, drawn by his scream.
In reflex Rat shoved the man away, expecting to be clubbed as he did. To his numb surprise the man stumbled and fell flat on his back. He didn't try to rise, but thrashed and flailed his arms and legs where he lay. Rat had no time to see more, the mass of the Bakers was at that moment rushing the clearing. Some rode left and some right as they entered the clearing; well trained, they immediately spread out to attack from two sides. Two of them charged Rat where he stood with the horses, clubs already swinging.
Rat ducked under the gray, intending to flee down the far path, but he was brought up short and lifted into the air. He kicked at the man holding him, and realized to his even greater terror that it wasn't a man, but Maac-Kail's butter-colored horse Vlitz, holding him up by the back of his shirt. His thrashing feet, though clad in heavy shoes now, seemed to have no effect on the animal. Rat shouted, and as he did a flash of brilliant red light flared from the center of the clearing. Rat blinked, trying to see in the sudden return of darkness, his eyes dazzled.
After a few long moments the horse dropped Rat to the ground, and he scrambled away from it as fast as he could move his hands and knees. He crawled into a sprawled body and recoiled from the heat it radiated. The scattered remains of the fire gave enough glow to show a troop of Bakers in white, all lying sprawled on the ground and motionless, their horses bolting down one path or another. Maac-Kail remained at his place in the center of the crossing, but his face was down in the dirt nearly in the scattered coals, and his arms were loose. Rat stood up to go to him.
After a few seconds he said something indistinct in a foreign language, and then he pushed himself unsteadily up. Taking a few uncertain strides he came up to Rat and put his hand on Rat's shoulder, heavily enough to stagger the boy.
"We...have…to...go." he panted out, sounding more foreign than ever. His hand on Rat's shoulder was hot enough to radiate through the new shirt. Leaning on the flinching boy he stumbled to his horse and clambered up. Rat mounted the other horse no more gracefully, and the two started down one of the four ways together. It seemed to Rat that the horses chose the way. He didn't see Maac-Kail guiding his, he wasn't even holding the reins, and Rat certainly had no idea where to go. He let the horses go where they would.
The night seemed to stretch endlessly as the horses walked steadily on, occasionally pausing at a corner, but soon going one way or the other. He soon lost his first fear of riding, as it seemed clear he wouldn't fall off at this slow pace, and that left him plenty of time for thinking through what had happened back at the crossing of the paths. There was little to think about, though, the facts were few and the conclusion inevitable. Maac-Kail was a sorcerer. Rat thought it through again and again and could come to no other result. The warm night air chilled him to the bone and he shivered violently.

To delete a post

I just deleted my query and a few pages of my novel that I had posted below. I decided I didn't like the query and I am going to post a new one later. Figure I will post a few chapters of the book too.

Evil Editor

Submitted a short bit on the Evil Editor blog yesterday. Very interesting website. The comments are worth reading.

Marion Zimmer Bradley

Read an old middle grade story by her today. Not a terrible story, but not great. Reading stories that are not as good as my best efforts gives me some comfort. I can write better than that.

Gardening

Got my garden started today. Took a shovel, turned under last fall's compost, made three beds and planted carrots and a bunch of Japanese green leafy veggies. It is supposed to turn cold again this weekend, snow and maybe even get below freezing. Nothing I planted will be harmed by any of that.

Some of the lettuce I planted last spring I let go to seed. So now lots of tiny baby lettuce is growing on that small plot. It worked out well last year when I did the same, so I will just let it grow and see what I get. Volunteer lettuce. A lot of good veggies will grow up year after year if you just let them go to seed. You don't need fancy 'heirloom' seeds to start with either. In a couple of years you have your own home grown heirloom varieties, as the various strains cross pollinate.

What does this have with writing a novel? Not much, except that I put off sending a new batch of queries to agents. I am letting my current query age and mature, like whiskey in an oak cask.

Tonight I will look the query over one more time, do some final research on agents to see who I want to try it out on, and send some off. I expect more rejections. I have full confidence in the book, but less in my ability to condense the story down to one page.

Why Write

Because it's fun. I wrote a lot before I actually got down and finished a novel.

I have two more novels in the works, about half finished for one, and less than that for the second. Both have some promise, but I tend to get stuck and stop writing on a project, then take it up again months or even years later. A long gap like that doesn't seem to hurt the story flow. It helps in some ways, as I can go back and revise with less emotional attachment to a particular bit that I loved when I wrote it, but much later realize is overwrought.

I stopped working on those two and concentrated on the one I actually finished, so they have been sitting untouched now for over two years. I am getting excited to start a new novel, and haven't decided if I want to write a sequel to my finished novel, work on one of my old efforts, or start something new.

I have been dabbling with a few ideas, one a murder mystery. I have read few murder mysteries, so either I am coming at it with a fresh outlook, or am simply over my head. Easy answer. But the first chapter just flowed off my fingertips so easily.

I have an idea for a bronze-age adventure story, probably with fantasy elements. That grabs me more, but is proving harder to write. I need to sit down and plot it out a bit. My normal writing style is to create a character and just start in telling about him/her. The story evolves from the character's life. If the first chapter flows, I can worry about creating an interesting story that someone else might like to read. But the person comes first.

Rejections!

Four submissions to agents, four rejections. So far so good. For a first novel I don't expect my genius to be instantly appreciated. I am currently revising (threw out the old one and wrote a completely new one) my query.

I have also revamped the story, took a later chapter and moved it to the front, front-loading the action. So my former first chapter, which you can read in an earlier post below, has become my second chapter, and the former third chapter is now the first chapter. I think the way I had it flowed better, actually, but when an agent asks for the first chapter, and they don't get any action, it doesn't hook them in.

My new rule is 'Start with a body on the first page, maybe the first paragraph or even the first line'. I started a new story like this the other day, and it actually seems to work.

Query and Synopsis

Not as easy as it looks, writing a one page query letter to send to agents, hoping to snare one to represent me. The synopsis is even worse, jamming all the action of an eighty-three thousand word novel into three pages. I did it, have reviewed, edited, reviewed, edited. Now to let it smolder a few days, then begin the process again.

I expect to have a finished product to send out later this week. Diving nose-first into the slush and loving every minute of it. It is fortunate that I have a full-time job that only requires three days a week. Makes for long hours those days, but allows me plenty of time for fun stuff like this.

I am playing with titles. 'Good Rat' or 'Baked Maac and Rat'. Maac, by the way, is the spelling I intended.

Good Rat

I have finally finished my fantasy novel, Good Rat, and will be sending queries to agents over the next few days. An excerpt will be on this blog soon.