City of Amathar

The Voyage of the Minotaur: The Navy

2012-02-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

I've already talked about Lieutenant Staff, but there are a couple of other navy characters in The Voyage of the Minotaur worth note.

Captain Gurrman is the commander of the HMS Minotaur. He appears infrequently and usually as Iolanthe's dinner guest, but he lives on later in the series as a building in the new colony is named for him.

Lieutenant Baxter is a junior officer on the HMS Minotaur and appears little more than the captain, however he is one of the major characters in Book 4: The Young Sorceress, and if I ever get around to writing the second five book series set in this world, he will be one of the major characters there.

Here is a hint at the possible titles:

Book 0: Return to Brechalon
Book 1: The Sorceress and her Lovers.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Other Misc. Characters

2012-01-31T09:00:00.000-08:00

Senta and the Steel Dragon is a very large story, and consequently there are hundreds of different characters. Here are a few more from The Voyage of the Minotaur.

Macy Godwin is the housekeeper for the Dechantagne family at their home in Shopton. By the time the series takes place, she is quite old and a bit dottering. Her appearance in Book 0 is simply the subject of a few comments by other staff. But here in book 1, she appears in the flesh. Like Mrs. Colbshallow and Yuah, she becomes more a part of the family once they have moved to the new colony.

Jolon Bendrin gets barely a mention in book 1. That is one of the reasons that I fleshed him and his crimes out a bit in book 0. He isn't seen for a while, but he will eventually return.

Father Kerrdon is the High Priest of Brechalon and serves at the Great Church of the Holy Savior. He helps Iolanthe recruit the priest and accolytes needed for the colony.

The Voyage of the Minotaur, and the rest of Senta and the Steel Dragon, are available wherever fine ebooks are sold.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: The Short Men

2012-01-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

The Short Men are a race of humanoids that live alongside the humans in the world of Senta and the Steel Dragon. Because they are worshipers of Kafira, they are actually tolerated more than those humans who are still of the Zaeri race. They date back to before I came up with the story and was thinking of this world as a setting for a Dungeons and Dragons game. If it was a D&D game, of course it would have dwarves and elves (which I never got around to). I didn't want my dwarves to simply be magical little men, so I pictured Neanderthals surviving to modern times and living alongside fully modern humans. The only short man named in the story is a banker, Bergren Denholm.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Cafe Carlo

2012-01-29T10:30:00.000-08:00

The Voyage of the Minotaur is a fantasy novel set in a Victorian/Steampunk world.

Spoiler Alert

Cafe Carlo is a restaurant in the Great Plaza of Brech City. As a 6-8 year old, Senta works there cleaning the wrought iron fence and sweeping the walk. Carlo, the fat proprietor seems to be a stuffy, stingy fellow from her point of view, but others remark that he is kind and loves children. The line cook at Cafe Carl is Gyula Kearn, who lost one arm in a factory. He makes a return in the fifth book of the series.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Metacharacters

2012-01-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

As with the previous book there are several characters who do not appear in the story of The Voyage fo the Minotaur, but are only referenced. Here are three big ones:

Magnus the Great: Magnus was king of the Zur two thousand years before the events in the story. He was a conqueror who carried on his father's conquest of the continent of Sumir, more or less unifying the culture of mankind. He occupies a place in history much like our own Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great. At the end of his reign, his empire fell apart, partially due to the antics of his daughter Zurfina, though no one has described the exact details. Zurfina the sorceress is the namesake of Magnus's daughter.

Kafira Kristos: Probably the most important minor character in the book is Kafira Kristos. She occupies the place in the world of Senta and the Steel Dragon that Jesus Christ does in ours. Her life and martydom just after the time of Magnus the Great creates the divide between the two religions in the story--Kafirites and Zaeri.

The idea for Kafira came from a theological paper I once read. It wondered, assuming that life existed on countless planets of the universe, would Jesus have lived and died on each one of them, or would they have had their own savior. I decided that for the story, this world similar but not quite our own, would have its own, and further decided that she would be female.

Kafira is also the basis for a great deal of blasphemous cussing in the story. Kafira! Kafira Kriston! Kafira's Cross! Kafira's Tits! Kafira in a Hand Basket! and worst of all, Kafira's Bloody Twat!

Colonel Mormont: Colonel Mormont was an explorer who traveled Birmisia about twenty years before our story. The colonists carry copies of his journal, which helps them identify the flora and fauna of their new colony.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: People at Enclep

2012-01-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Enclep is a large island and the major stop on the way to establish the colony. The HMS Minotaur makes the stop to resupply and adventures ensue. Here are some of the characters from that part of the story.

Oyunbileg is a drug dealer the Terrence visits in the market at Enclep. Evidently they have met and done business before. I picked the name up somewhere-- it's Mongolian, I believe. However, in our real world, I think it's a girl's name.

Mr. Critt is a Brech resident in Enclep. He makes a brief appearance, but he is mainly there so that Augie can borrow his car.

Dr. Kelloran is the doctor on the way to the new colony in Birmisia. She makes her first appearance in this chapter as she is kidnapped by masked terrorists. She makes several other appearances in this book and the following ones.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Radley Staff

2012-01-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

Radley Staff is a fictional character in the Senta and the Steel Dragon books.

Spoiler Alert

Lieutenant Radley Staff makes his first appearance in The Voyage of the Minotaur and plays a very important part in the series. He is absent in Book 0 and Book 2. I think he comes across as perhaps less important overall than I had originally intended him. His return in Book 3 was meant to be a real pivotal point in the story, and while I think it is still dramatic, perhaps not as much as I intended. In some ways, he kind of takes the place of Terrence Dechantagne for the remainder of the series.

Radley Staff is just a name that I made up on the spot. He is one of the few characters that I refer to constantly by their last names, even as narrator of the story. It just seems more appropriate for him. In Book 1, we find him one of the junior officers aboard the battleship HMS Minotaur, and he acts nominally in charge of the colonists. He therefore has quite a bit of contact with Iolanthe. This of course develops into a love affair.

If I was going to write their love scenes again, I would do it from Iolanthe's point of view. As it was, I was trying to view it a little distantly, and so we only see it from Senta's point of view.

Update: Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea Dome

2012-01-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

I just finished chapter 8 of Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea Dome, and that means I'm almost halfway done. I'm only working on it intermittently, as I also write The Young Sorceress. It's amazing how much easier Astrid is to write for me right now. As I've said before, I have ideas for about 20 Astrid Maxxim books and plan to write at least two or three a year for a while.

On a related note, I'm almost keeping up with my New Years Resolution to write 3 pages a day. I'm only about 26 pages behind. Oh well, maybe I can catch up this summer.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Pantagria

2012-01-24T09:00:00.001-08:00

Spoiler Alert

One of the characters I find most interesting in The Voyage of the Minotaur doesn't even exist. Pantagria is a figment of Terrence's imagination-- an angelic woman living in a magical world which he visits when under the influence of the drug white opthalium. She is stunningly beautiful-- perfect-- with long golden hair, white feathered wings, and she usually flies around naked.

The idea for this character and the setting came from some short stories I wrote when I was in high school, about real people going to an imaginary place covered with purple flowers with human eyes. That this was the result of a drug was a new element for this story.

The imaginary setting is more than it appears though, because not only does Terrence visit Pantagria while he is there, but others who use the drug apparently see her too. I think this works because this is not just a drug, but a magical drug.

There are two problems with Pantagria. One is that she begins to change and Terrence's dream becomes a nightmare. The other is inherant in any drug-- using it takes away all those things that make a human want to achieve.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Senta's Family

2012-01-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

We see the same members of Senta's family in this book that we saw in Brechalon, but their situation changes when Granny dies and Bertice gets married, taking some of the other children with her-- but not Senta, who gets left with a neighbor lady.

The idea for this came from stories from my own family. My great grandfather was the youngest of a very large family, and was still quite young when his parents died. There were several older siblings, who took in the younger ones, except for my great grandfather, who ended up being raised by neighbors. This had to have had quite an effect on a person's psyche. In the book, Senta shrugs it off fairly easily-- probably not realistic, I guess.

As I mentioned before, several of the kids show up later in the series, but not until they and Senta are pretty grown up.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Zurfina the Magnificent

2012-01-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

Zurfina the Magnificent is a character in The Voyage of the Minotaur and the other books of Senta and the Steel Dragon.

Spoiler Alert

When we last saw Zurfina in Book 0: Brechalon, she was prisoner 89 in the Kingdom of Brechalon's magical prison of Schwarztogrube. Now we find her living in the city of Brech, although it is pretty clear early on that she is in hiding, at least to a degree. Needing a high power magic wielder, the Dechantagne's hire her to go with them to Birmisia. About this same time, she comes into contact with Senta and takes her in as an apprentice.

Zurfina is really not a major character. She is a very important minor character. She acts as a deus ex machina in several situations. She is however in the front of the action in this book more than any of the others, primarily because she and Senta spend so much time together aboard the HMS Minotaur.

Zurfina is fun to write because she is completely self-absorbed. While Iolanthe thinks of nothing but the good of her family, Zurfina thinks of nothing but herself. Even when Terrence chastises her for allowing Senta to almost get eaten by velociraptors, she simply replies. "Children are going to be eaten." Still, her relationship with Senta grows as the story progresses and we see a few hints of affection.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Zeah Korlann

2012-01-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

Zeah Korlann is a character in the Senta and the Steel Dragon Series.

Spoiler Alert

Zeah is another character who makes quite a transition in the course of The Voyage of the Minotaur. He starts off as the Dechantagne's head butler, just as he is in Brechalon, but in journeying to a new colony and being one of the main figures leading and organizing that venture, he becomes quite important in the new community.

Zeah also finds himself being courted by a much younger woman, one who is not of the same faith. This causes a great deal of consternation for him, though others don't seem to have nearly the problem with it that he does. One of the things I enjoyed was slowly changing Zeah from a stuttering self-consious servant to a much more confidant man. He still finds his stutter whenever cornered by either Iolanthe or Egeria Lusk. More about her in a few days.

The Voyage of the Minotaur is Book 1 in Senta and the Steel Dragon. It is available wherever fine ebooks are sold.

Voyage of the Minotaur: Yuah

2012-01-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

Yuah Korlann is a fictional character in the Senta and the Steel Dragon series.

Spoiler Alert

Yuah has a much bigger part to play in The Voyage of the Minotaur than she did in Brechalon. In making the journey to the colony, she steps up from the servant class into something closer to middle class. She is a sister to Augie and wants to be so much more than that to Terrence. To Iolanthe, she goes from being a dressing maid to being something close to a friend, or if not friend, at least confidant.

It's easy to like Yuah. She is sweet and kind and beautiful, if suffering (understandably) from a bit of
an inferiority complex. She is also one of only a few characters whose story arc takes the entire series.

The Voyage of the Minotaur is available wherever fine ebooks are sold.

Nostalgia: Commodore Vic-20

2012-01-20T21:00:00.000-08:00

The summer of 1982 I was trying to decide which video game system to buy-- Atari or Intellivision. Then I saw Captain Kirk himself on a TV ad for the Commodore Vic-20. That was it. I had to have one. I bought a Vic-20, a joystick, and a Jupiter Lander game cartridge. Total $330.00. I used and enjoyed my Vic for years. I still have it, stored in the garage.

Voyage of the Minotaur: Terrence

2012-01-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Terrence Dechantagne is really the star of this volume of Senta and the Steel Dragon. He has a lot going on. Yuah is chasing after him, as are a few other women. Iolanthe is riding him constantly in an effort to make him stand up and become the man she thinks he is. And his drug addiction is in high gear.

"Terrence's Jungle Adventure" is one my favorite chapters in the entire series. Here, Terrence gets to play Indiana Jones and chase the bad guys, fight his way though a temple filled with baddies and traps, and rescue the damsel in distress. The fact that he does this right after scoring his fix just adds another dimension to him.

Terrence has some great moments in the other chapters as well, becomming a hero, hunting down and bringing a bad guy to justice, and saving children from several types of predators. On the other hand he suffers some truly horrible injuries-- physical and mental. I remember reading the chapter of the great battle with the lizzies to a group of friends for the first time and feeling great satisfaction when they all stared at me in open-mouthed shock.

It may sound weird, but my favorite parts of this book are those scenes when Terrence falls apart. He's really like a Greek tragedy. He's fated to a sad end and it doesn't matter how high he flies in the meantime, he's going to fall in the end.

Voyage of the Minotaur: Augie

2012-01-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Augustus P. Dechantagne is the same happy-go-lucky devil-may-care fellow that we've come to love in Brechalon, but in The Voyage of the Minotaur this is complicated by his expansive womanizing (even when he meets the frightening sorceress Zurfina, he's not afraid to "hit that"), and the posibility that he might be a serial killer.

Augie is seldom the focal point of the action, but he is almost always there-- chasing cultists on the tropical island of Enclep or fighting a lizzie army in Birmisia. Ultimately though, it is Augie's failings, especially with the natives, that are his achilles heel and almost spell the end to the colony.

I love all my characters, Augie included. He would be a guy that I would enjoy knowing-- casually. I would never want to rely on him though.

Voyage of the Minotaur: Senta

2012-01-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Senta is a much more interesting character than she was in Brechalon. In that book she was a six year old child, and as endearing as six year olds are, they are not the stuff of an adventure book. Even at 8/9 as she is here, she is mostly interesting for the trouble she gets into. She has run-ins with wizards, a child molester, and velociraptors. But she also begins to learn magic for the first time, something that gives her more power than the average nine year old.

I think Senta gets more interesting with each book, and I suppose that's how it should be, since she's the title character. She has a destiny that she is growing into. I think she might come off as a bit of an airhead in this book, but kids are like that sometimes regardless of their potential.

Voyage of the Minotaur: Iolanthe

2012-01-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Iolanthe Dechantagne is in some ways the main character in The Voyage of the Minotaur. She is very much the same character that she is in Brechalon, at least in the beginning. By the end of the story, she has undergone some subtle changes, mostly a result of the isolation which is in part her own making.

Iolanthe has had troubles in her past, but during the course of this story, she falls in love, is seperated from her lover, moves to a primitive colony on a distant colony, leads the colony, fights off frightening aborigines and has to deal with one brother who is a drug addict and one who is possibly a serial killer. One of my favorite scenes is when Iolanthe finds a blood-soaked shirt in Augie's cabin, and in a characteristicaly Dechantagne move, tosses it overboard to cover it up.

I suppose Iolanthe is a character people love to hate, but I just love her. I think I have more fun writing her than any of my other creations. As I was writing this, I would read the completed chapters to my wife and always enjoyed it when she said, "Iolanthe is such a bitch."

Voyage of the Minotaur is availble wherever fine ebooks are sold, and you can find links to it in paperback to the right.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Characters

2012-01-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

I finished discussing the characters of Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 0: Brechalon. This week, I'll be discussing the characters in the Voyage of the Minotaur. Many of the characters are the same in both books, but in some cases they have grown from one to the other. Each of the books in the series take place several years apart-- Here is a timeline.

1897 Book 0: Brechalon
1899 Book 1: The Voyage of the Minotaur
1901 Book 2: The Dark and Forbidding Land
1902/1903 Book 3: The Drache Girl
1905 Book 4: The Young Sorceress
1907 Book 5: The Two Dragons

Each of these postings will carry a spoiler alert, because hopefully I'll be getting into a few character secrets.

Casting Brechalon

2012-01-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

Terrence is still in his twenties in Brechalon and Henry Cavill would be a good choice to play him. Of course I would want British actors for all these characters.

Emily Blunt would make a great Iolanthe. She is beautiful but can be scary cold too.

I really like Charlie Cox in Stardust and he would make a great Augie. I think though Augie would be the easiest character to cast.

Annabel Scholey might be a tad too sexy to be Yuah, but Yuah is described as being more beautiful that Iolanthe and there aren't many actresses who would fit that bill. I really liked Annabel in Being Human.

Zeah is probably the hardest character to cast, but I could imagine David Thewlis speaking his lines complete with stutter. He's actually the right age, though I think he might need make up to look a bit older.

Prisoner 89 aka Zurfina. As soon as I saw Lynn Collins with blond hair (it's usually dark brown) I thought she was perfect. The fact that she is Dejah Thoris in the upcoming John Carter makes her a must for the part.

Andrew Garfield would make a great Nils Chapman. In fact, I think he would make a better Nils Chapman than a Spiderman, but that's just me.

Karl Drury is a scary guy and needs to be intimidating, especially to Nils. Rufus Sewell could pull that off in spaces.

Have a different actor in mind? Let me know.

Casting Women of Power

2012-01-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

Fantasizing about one's book being made into a movie is always fun, especially wondering who migh be tapped to play your characters. I decided to take a look at who might be good choices for the characters in Women of Power.

Elisha Cuthbert really works as Stella (aka All American Girl). She looks great in short blond hair and could easily pull off Stella's sassy, ass-kicking style.

I like Blake Lively for Linda (aka Skygirl). Linda is on the surface a sort of vapid farm girl, but is more than she appears underneath.

Bruce Willis as Professor Destruction. Bruce Willis can play all kinds of parts, but I'd really like to see him as a villain. His voice is perfect too.

Ryan Gosling as Perihelion, Stella's ex. He's described as being just about perfect, as spokesmodel for Italian suits, and the most handsome superhero on the planet, so there you go.

Perihelion's new squeeze Omega Woman has a very unusual golden look, but is also beautiful in an unearthly way. Lesli Bibb could pull that off.

Omega Woman's BFF Dynagirl has a quirky, retro thing going on. Zooey Dechanel could pull off the cape, mask, and gogo boots.

Sam Worthington as Dark Energy. He's a bad guy, but Stella finds him kind of attractive too. She would never tell him so, partially because she's too busy pounding on him.

Sam Rockwell would be a great Irving. Stella's agent Irving is one of my favorite characters, particularly since I've never seen a superhero's agent before, so I can claim to have come up with the idea. To be Irving, you have to be able to do comedy and drama and Sam Rockwell could/has done both well.

There you go. Let me know what you think. If you haven't picked up Women of Power yet, you can get it for 99 cents wherever fine ebooks are sold.

Update: The Young Sorceress

2012-01-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

I just finished chapter 8 of The Young Sorceress. My enjoyment of this project has waxed and waned, but it is high right now as I get to some of the more exciting parts of the plot. Originally plotted to be 17 chapters, I've combined a few things as I write (something I always do) and right now it's looking like 14 chapters which will make it the same length as The Dark and Forbidding Land.

A note: My son, who is the world's biggest Senta and the Steel Dragon fan, having read each book (including the unpublished book 5) six times, tells me The Dark and Forbidding Land is his favorite.

I think when I finish Book 4, I'm going to go back and read 1, 2, and 3 before editing it.

Facelifts: Coming this Summer

2012-01-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

One of the things I have planned for this summer is a facelift for my complete line of books. I don't plan on a re-edit, though I have a few error corrections to make. What I plan is changing the margins and indents to work better with ereaders. I did this with Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike and I like the results. I'm also going to add more book informtion, sample chapters, and coming soon features in the back of the books.

There will also be some price changes in the works. Pricing is always difficult to judge. The way that royalties work at least at Amazon, I get 30% of a 99 cent (or 30 cents) book, but 70% of 2.99 book (or 2.03. In other words, I have to sell 7 times as many books at 99 cents to make as much as selling one at 2.99. If lowering the price to 99 cents would guarantee a 700% increase in sales, I would lower them all.

Finally, I'm going to make sure that all my books are available in paperback. I'm getting Astrid Maxxim out because I think some kids might actually buy them. In all other cases, it's just for additional exposure, though I have been selling a few paperbacks of His Robot Girlfriend lately.

Nook Friends

2012-01-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

If the number of people asking to be my nook friends is any indication, Barnes and Noble sold a LOT of nooks this Christmas. This is great, because the more ereaders there are out there, the greater my books' exposure. I think the nook is a great little reader and I'm glad that B&N is doing well. I don't think it serves anyone for the last major bookstore chain to go under. So good luck B&N, and welcome all you nook readers. You can find all of my books on your new readers by following the store links.

Brechalon: Magicians

2012-01-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

And finally, we have our last characters from Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 0: Brechalon.

Madame De La Rosa: Madame De La Rosa is a very old seer. She is an expert in divination, and it is she that Smedley Bassington comes to for information. This is her only appearance in the story.

Amadea Jindra: In Brechalon we meet Amadea Jindra as Madame De La Rosa's apprentice. She is a major part of the storyline in Book 3: The Drache Girl. I'll fill in more about her when I get to that book.

Professor Merced Calliere: Calliere is a brilliant scientist and inventor. He is Edison, Westinghouse, and Babbage all rolled intellectually into one, but his attitude is all Tony Stark. He is a happy go lucky academic, who is clearly smitten with Iolanthe, though whether she thinks of him as anything more than another resource remains to be seen.

That's it for Brechalon. In a day or so, we'll start looking at the characters from The Voyage of the Minotaur. Many of them are the same as this book, but two years have passed and things change.

Update: Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea Dome

2012-01-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

I am currently nearing the end of chapter six of Astrid Maxxim 2. I am working on it and The Young Sorceress, which means, when I get stuck in Sorceress, I write for a while in Astrid. Astrid is easy to write and I imagine I will finish it first of the two. There will be 20 chapters in all, so I'm just shy of 1/3 way done of the first draft.

Brechalon: Very Minor Characters

2012-01-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Here are the most minor characters who appear in Brechalon. Though all are minor, some of them have more importance to the plot than others.

Barrymore: Barrymore is one of the butlers in the Dechantagne household. I needed a name that conveyed a kind of patrician dignity (think Lionel, not Drew).

Marni: Marni is one of the Dechantagne maids. There are quite a few household servants, but not all of them get names.

Blackmoore: Blackmoore is a drug dealer-- Terrence's go to drug dealer. He is fairly influencial (feared) in his world of Black Bottom. I don't know if Blackmoore is his first or last name, I assume, last. His name is an homage to Blackmoor, the D&D adventure by David Arneson, who passed away while I was writing this book.

Mika and his brothers: Mika and his brothers are street toughs, who though they are minor characters, create an interesting chain of events in the story. I tried to write Blackmoore and Mika with an Irish brogue. I don't know if it came through or not.

Update: The Young Sorceress

2012-01-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

Still on chapter 8 of The Young Sorceress. This is a particularly tough part of the book, as a few plot lines start to come together. Look for another update next month. I'm working alternately on this and Astrid Maxxim 2, but I'm going to have to give this one my all, or I can't get it done.

Brechalon: Flashback Characters

2012-01-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

There are several characters in Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 0: Brechalon that appear entirely or mostly in flashbacks.

Smedley Bassington: Wizard Bassington appears mostly in flashbacks though he appears in the present in one chapter. Bassington is an important character in the series and plays a large part in Books 3 and 5. He is a paramour of Zurfina and he is a government wizard. He is also, as we find out, a great manipulator. I had a very clear image of what Bassington looked like. His appearance is based on Stephen King. I set up my copy of the Dark Tower to the author's photograph whenever I was writing him. I had been carrying the name Smedley around for a while, and it just seemed to fit. Except for his final scene in this book, he's not that interesting, I don't think. He has his part to play, and plays it. I really enjoyed writing him in Book 3: The Drache Girl. He is a great foil for Senta.

Master Akalos: Master Akalos was the Dechantagne tutor, a cowardly little man, and not very important to the story. He is referenced once or twice, but Brechalon is the only place we see him, and that in a flashback.

Iphegenia Dechantagne: The mother of Terrence, Iolanthe, and Augie is murdered by her husband, as we see in a flashback in Book 0. I don't think she is ever mentioned again, but she plays an important role nonetheless, in shaping the Dechantagne siblings. I love the name Iphegenia, and have always been fascinated by the myth of Agamemnon's sacrificing her. I would have used the name somewhere, but it fits here.

Lucius Dechantagne: The father of the Dechantagne's, he is only spoken of in the later books, having died some time before Brechalon, and having lived without facing real punishment for his wife's murder, though it does apparently cost him his standing in society.

Jolon Bendrin: As we find out in book 0 flashbacks, Jolon Bendrin is a rapist. He is mentioned only briefly in book 1, but finally makes a satisfying appearance in the flesh in book 5.

Simon Mudgett: The man who was in bed with Iphegenia Dechantagne when her husband kills her. He is mentioned once more in the series. I pulled Simon out of nowhere, but Mudgett I have been saving for a while. The name comes from Herman Webster Mudgett (aka H. H. Holmes), America's first serial killer.

Brechalon: Prisoner 89

2012-01-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Prisoner 89 is Zurfina the Sorceress. We find her at the beginning of book 0 imprisoned in Schwarztogrube, the prison for magic users run by the Kingdom of Greater Brechalon. During the course of the story, we see her capture and the events surrounding it in flashbacks. Of course, Zurfina's sole goal in the story is to escape the prison any way she can, and of course the first way she tries is magic. The fact that she manages to pull together some pretty intense magic in a supposedly magic-proof location hints at her true power.

The story here is an example of one of the problems with writing a prequel. Zurfina's imprisonment isn't disclosed in the regular story (books 1-5) until well into book 5, but readers of book 0 know it all before hand. This would be a big clue to one of the major secrets in the series. Fortunately, it isn't revealed until book 5 either.

Zurfina is prisoner 89 because I was writing it while working on my master's degree and I used my student number. I accidental transposed it. I was actually student 98, but I think 89 sounds better.

Brechalon: Augie and Company

2012-01-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Augie Dechantagne
Augustus P. Dechantagne is the third of the Dechantagne siblings in the Senta and the Steel Dragon saga and is probably the least important. He is least important to the story and he is least important in his own life. Augie is a happy go lucky rake-- the kind of guy that everybody loves and who can get away with anything.

Augie plays a big part in Book 0 and Book 1, particularly the latter. When we meet him in Book 1, he is in Birmisia. This is important because as a result of his knowledge, his family decides to build a colony there. Augie is a lieutenant in the artillery, so he is obviously intelligent, but being in the son of a wealthy family, he is generally unambitious (the exact opposite of sister Iolanathe) and is never serious about anything (the exact opposite of brother Terrence).

Lt. Arthur McTeague
McTeague was created for Book 0, and he doesn't appear again in the series. He is Augie's co-commander and friend. We don't learn much about McTeague, other than he is a likeable friendly guy, like Augie. The name Arthur comes from my own family-- a cousin and a grandfather, both of whom I am very fond. McTeague comes from the book McTeague by Frank Norris, about a sociopathic dentist. I read it in college and liked it.

Colour Sergeant Bourne
I needed a sergeant for my two lieutenants, and who better than Colour Sergeant Bourne. He is named of course, for the character (based on a real person) in the movie Zulu. This is especially fitting, since Zulu is not only one of my favorite movies of all time, but was an inspiration for the combat scenes in Book 1: The Voyage of the Minotaur.

December Book Sales

2012-01-02T14:45:00.000-08:00

December book sales numbers are in. I sold 437 books in December, very close to the number in November, but lower than previous months. If Mark Coker over at Smashwords is correct about trends, there should be a January or February sales bump that heralds the new year's new normal sales. Anyway, here are the individual numbers for December.

Princess of Amathar = 17
The Voyage of the Minotaur = 10
Tesla's Stepdaughters = 14
The Dark and Forbidding Land = 5
The Drache Girl = 4
His Robot Wife = 335
Brechalon = 14
Women of Power = 14
Blood Trade = 7
Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike = 17

New Year's Resolution

2012-01-01T09:01:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

My resolution for the new year is to write three pages a day. And, if I don't keep up one day and fall behind, I'm going to get caught up later. I should be able to meet my 2011 New Year's Resolution to publish five books a year-- I only managed four in 2011.

Brechalon: Nils Chapman & Karl Drury

2011-12-31T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Nils Chapman and Karl Drury are characters in Brechalon, Book 0 of the Senta and the Steel Dragon Series. They were both created for specifically for this book.

They are both guards in Schwarztogrube, the ancient fortress in which the Kingdom of Greater Brechalon imprisons wizards and sorcerors who either break the law or defy the govenment. Chapmabn is a fairly innocouos fellow and Drury is vile and evil. Both have the misfortune of being on Schwarztogrube while Prisoner 89 (Zurfina) is there.

When I was writing this I was thinking specifically of one particular detail. Zurfina calls Chapman "my pet," a name she later reserves for Senta. When we find out Chapman's fate, it adds a whole new level to the Zurfina/Senta relationship.

Both Chapman and Drury were names that have been floating around in my head for years. Nils and Karl were chosen to reflect their ethnicity and personality.

The "His Robot Wife" Brand

2011-12-30T09:00:00.001-08:00

I've been reading a book on marketing, and one thing I've learned from it is that each of my book series is a brand. I have one brand that is particularly popular-- His Robot Wife. When taken in that light, it is stupid of me not to have more products available under this brand-- in other words, books.

I've always said that I would write another Robot book if I had a story. Well, I'm thinking up stories all the time. What I didn't really have was an approach. After thinking about this for a week, I think I have an approach. So what does this mean?

It means that there will be more Robot Patience stories coming in 2012-- at least one, maybe more, and eventually a whole series. I'm not giving up writing everything else, so the three books I am completing will come first, but they should all be done by late March. Then it's on to Robot Book 3.

That being said, I have a number of other brands in need of a second or third product-- Amathar, Tesla, and Eaglethorpe Buxton. I'll get to them as soon as I can.

6,000th Book Sale

2011-12-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

Sometime in the last week or so, I sold my 6,000th book. This does not include free downloads like His Robot Girlfriend. I don't know which book it was. As I added up my sales this evening, they sat at 6,098. That means I've sold more than 5,500 books during 2011, because my sales at the end of 2010 had reached just 504. Or in other words, I sold ten times as many books this year as I sold in all previous years combined. It would be great if my numbers at the end of 2012 increased at the same rate. Here's hoping.

The Lizzies

2011-12-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

In Book 0: Brechalon, we get our first look at the aboriginal people of Birmisia. The lizardmen, or lizzies as the humans call them, are cold-blooded reptilians who stand between six and seven feet tall and have long tales which follow them as they walk. They come in various shades of green and have an iguana-like dewlap below their chin. Many lizzies live in relatively primative villages scattered through the great forests of Birmisia, though several large, important, and advanced City-States exist in the south.

Four lizzies appear in book 0, and all of them appear or are referenced later.

Ssissiatok is a young female. She has a fascination with the strange humans. She won't appear again until Book 2: The Dark and Forbidding Land.

Ssterrost is the leader of Tserich, one of the northern villages.

Tattasserott is a very large and powerful lizzie. He is Ssterrost's enforcer. We see him too in book 2.

Finally there is Toss. He makes his only appearance in this book, but is referenced later on.

The lizzies are fun to write because they give me a chance to look at the humans from the outside. Many of the lizzies hate the humans. Some like Ssterrost see them as a means of acquiring more wealth or power. A few, like Sissiatok, find them superior to their own kind.

Yuah Korlann

2011-12-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Yuah Korlann is one of the most important characters in the Senta and the Steel Dragon series. She has probably the most important arc for any of the characters and it is one of the most tragic in some ways. It is a story of rise and then fall.

When we meet Yuah in Book 0: Brechalon, she is Iolanthe Dechantagne's dressing maid, a position for which there is no up side. She has grown up in the Dechantagne household and even attended lessons with Terrence, Iolanthe, and Augie when they were children. She loves Augie like a brother, hopelessly pines for Terrence and her relationship with Iolanthe is complicated to say the least. Iolanthe seems to enjoy putting Yuah in her place.

Yuah is a Zaeri, the minority religion, and this poses problems for her, especially considering there seem to be few Zaeri of marrying age aroud.

When I wrote the first draft of The Voyage of the Minotaur, Yuah was named Ewa. I changed it to match her father's name and because I kept mispronouncing it in my head. I like the name though, so someday I'm going to have a character named Ewa.

Saba and Yadira Colbshallow

2011-12-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Saba Colbshallow and his mother Yadira Colbshallow are characters in the Senta and the Steel Dragon series, beginning with Book 0: Brechalon.

Yadira Colbshallow is the Dechantagne cook and has served since she was quite young. She is a widow, with one son upon whom she dotes-- Saba. In book 0 and book 1, Mrs. Colbshallow is a minor character who pops up to offer advice or information.

Saba Colbshallow is one of the major characters in the series, though he occupies a very minor role in Book 0: Brechalon. When we meet him here, he has just turned 14 and is being given his first assignments in the household. Part of what I like so much about Saba is that he changes so much. He grows and changes and so he occupies a different role in each of the books.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Zeah Korlann

2011-12-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Zeah Korlann is one of the main characters in the Senta and the Steel Dragon story, and plays a prominent part in Book 0: Brechalon. When we first meet Zeah, he is the head butler for the Dechantagne family, having served in that position since he was a young man. His father and grandfather also worked for the Dechantagnes, as does his daughter Yuah.

Zeah is a member of the minority Zaeri religion and this defines him. He also, at least in the early books, has a pronounced stammer. This speech impediment is exacerbated by proximity to his employer Iolanthe Dechantagne. Zeah is one of the few genuinely decent and nice people in the story and he makes a great foil to play off many of the others-- Iolanthe, Terrence, and even his own daughter.

Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike - Chapter One

2011-12-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

Chapter One: The Hoverdisk Failure

“Help! Help! We’re all going to die!”

“Stop it, Dad,” said Astrid Maxxim as she steered her father’s car.

“Somebody save me! For the love of Mergatroid, save me!”

“Stop it, Dad.”

“Oh, the horror! Oh, the humanity!”

“I’ve already stopped, Dad. The car is parked. It’s right between the yellow lines.”

“It’s really over?” asked Dr. Roger Maxxim, peering out the car windshield at the massive Research and Development Department building in front of them. “I’m still alive?”

“You are so very funny,” said Astrid. “You should have been a comedian instead of a mad scientist.”

“I’m an inventor,” said her father, as they both climbed out of the car. “I am an inventor just like your grandfather and your great-grandfather and your great-great-grandfather. And you will be too.”

“I already am.”

“Yes you are.”

They were parked in Dr. Maxxim’s personal parking space next to the R&D building, a half mile wide, fourteen story structure that dominated the northwest corner of the Maxxim Industries campus. The campus, sprawling across 180,000 acres of the American southwest, featured machine shops, office buildings, factories, power plants, and its own airport. It was here, where for the past forty-two years, thousands of Maxxim products had been developed and produced, making the Maxxim family very wealthy and making the world a better place in which to live.

Dr. Roger Maxxim was a tall man whose brown hair was only just beginning to show a touch of grey at his temples. He wore a pair of sturdy glasses, behind which were creases that could more honestly be called laugh lines than wrinkles.

Dr. Maxxim’s daughter Astrid was startlingly cute, with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair and very large blue eyes. At five foot five, she was exactly in the middle of her class when they arranged themselves by height for their class picture, which still made her four inches shorter than her mother. Like her father, she wore a white lab coat over her street clothes.

“You see,” said Astrid. “Look at that parking job. That’s just about as good as a person could get.”

“It’s pretty good,” her father agreed.

“It’s good enough that I should be able to drive all the time.”

“I let you drive as much as possible, Astrid.”

“I could drive a lot more, if I had my own car.”

“Astrid, the minimum driving age in this state is eighteen,” replied her father. “You know this. You also know that you have only just turned fourteen.”

“But Dad, I could just drive here at Maxxim Industries. It takes forever to get around here. I wouldn’t drive anywhere else. Honest.”

“No,” her father said. “In the first place, Astrid, it’s against the rules. In the second place, what would I say to all the other people who work here and are parents of fourteen year-olds? And in the third place, your mother would kill me, so that’s really all the places that I need.”

The two Maxxims stepped through the revolving door and into the steel and glass lobby of the building, stopped at the security desk to have their ID badges scanned, and then took the glass elevator up to the fourteenth floor. Directly across from the elevator was the desk of office manager Flora Purcell. As Astrid and her father walked by, she jumped to her feet.

“Before you go into your lab, Dr. Maxxim, there’s something you need to know,” she said.

“Yes, Flora?”

“The boss is in there and she doesn’t seem like she’s in a good mood.”

“Well, we can’t put it off, can we?” he replied. “We might just as well face the music now as later.”

Astrid followed her father through the door into his private lab. The twenty thousand square foot workspace was divided into chemical, biological, robotics, and engineering work areas. Just inside the door, in a small lounge that had been created by forming several plush chairs and couches into a semicircle waited a tall blond woman in a sharp black business suit. She held a clipboard to her chest and tapped her foot impatiently.

“Good afternoon, Boss” said Dr. Maxxim. “Astrid and I just went out for lunch.”

“Your hover disc was a huge waste of time and resources,” the woman said without preamble.

“Nonsense. It’s twice as efficient as my father’s original design from 1956.”

“It only lifts seventy pounds and it uses up a J46 lithium battery in less than five minutes.”

“Exactly,” replied Dr. Maxxim with a satisfied smile. “And the original could only lift thirty pounds and had to use all thirty pounds for wet cell car batteries.”

“I was hoping that six or eight of them could be harnessed to lift an army tank, or at least a Hum-vee,” she said.

“Oh my. I never promised anything like that, Boss.”

“What am I supposed to do with a hoverdisk that only lifts seventy pounds and only flies for five minutes?”

“Perhaps we could sell it as a toy?” suggested Dr. Maxxim.

“The Maxxim Toy Division brought in $764 million last quarter.”

“That’s a lot of money.”

“Your research and development costs for the same period were $822 million,” she said.

“My new battery might make Dad’s hoverdisk more valuable,” said Astrid. “It’s going to be ten times as efficient as any battery currently available.”

“And you,” said the woman, turning to look at the girl. “I knew it was a mistake to let your father build you your own lab next to his. Your playing with batteries has already cost us $357,000 and now I have almost $200,000 in invoices for something called…” she looked at her clipboard. “Project RG-7?”

“I can’t tell you anything about that yet,” said Astrid. “It’s still top secret.”

“Top Secret! I’m the Chairman and CEO of Maxxim Industries!”

“Sorry,” said Astrid, with a shrug.

“There you go, Boss,” said Dr. Maxxim. “Now, run along. We have to get back to work. We only have one day in the lab this weekend.”

“Fine, I’m going, but you haven’t heard the last of this.” She stepped very close to Dr. Maxxim and looked him in the eyes. “And if you don’t stop calling me ‘Boss,’ you’ll be sleeping on the couch.”

“Yes Boss.”

“Astrid, see that both you and your father are on time for dinner. I’m tired of eating by myself.”

“Okay, Mom. We’ll be on time.”

“Wait till she sees my next project,” Dr. Maxxim told his daughter when his wife had left. “It’s going to be amazing.”

“What is it?”

“Can’t tell you. It’s top secret.”

“Very funny,” said Astrid. “Seriously.”

“Seriously.”

“Seriously what?”

“Seriously, it’s top secret,” said her father. “It’s a little something I’m whipping up for DARPA.”

“The Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration? Well, she’ll be happy about that,” said Astrid. “The government always pays its R&D costs up front.”

Astrid left her father and walked down the corridor to her own lab. It was exactly half the size of her father’s but was set up in the same configuration with most of the same equipment. She went right over to the battery test, where her new invention was powering a small motor beneath a series of heat lamps. She pressed her face against the safety class and read the gauges. Two hundred degrees Celsius, far hotter than any place a battery would be used, at least on earth, and her little power cell was still going strong.

“Hey, mad scientist!” called a voice behind her.

Four kids her age, two boys and two girls, had just entered the lab. Valerie Diaz and Denise Brown were Astrid’s best friends. Denise had long blond hair and green eyes, and was a little on the skinny side, while Valerie was a few inches shorter with beautiful dark hair and brown eyes. Toby Bundersmith had lived next door to Astrid since she was born and was, at least in Astrid’s opinion, everything that could be good about a boy, with a tall muscular body, brown bangs just above his hazel eyes, and a broad smile. Christopher Harris was Toby’s best friend. He was tall, with chocolate brown skin and black hair. He was quiet but had the highest grades of anyone at school, with the exception of Astrid. All four kids had a parent who worked for Maxxim Industries—in Christopher’s case, two parents.

“Why are you wasting your time watching that test?” asked Denise. “I thought you said it was going to keep going until at least Tuesday.”

“I hope it does. I was just checking.”

“We’re going over to my house to go swimming,” said Toby. “Are you coming?”

“I’m supposed to remind Dad to be on time for dinner…”

“Mrs. Purcell can remind him,” said Denise. “And you can call him just to make sure. Come on.”

“Alright,” said Astrid, and followed her friends out the lab door.

Just before she passed through the portal, she cast a single quick glance at the crate in the far corner—the crate labeled “Top Secret. Project RG-7.”

Rendric of the North

2011-12-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

This is the beginning of a story that I may never get to. The idea was to create my own Conan-like character and set him thousands of years before the events in The Voyage of the Minotaur, but in the world of Senta and the Steel Dragon. I might write it someday, but it won't be for a long time, if at all. So I thought I would post it here.

Rendric of the North

By Wesley Allison

Foreword

The battleship H.M.S. Minotaur cut through the mighty waves seemingly without effort. Behind it trailed a great black plume of smoke, like the ship itself, a testament to the mighty power of modern civilization. Zurfina the Magnificent stood by the railing and let the wind whip through her wild blond hair. Senta, her nine year old apprentice, dressed all in black, just like her mistress, sat nearby. Curled up at the girl’s feet was the small lithe form of a baby dragon. Its scales reflected the sun like shiny new steel, but its wings were tucked in and its eyes were covered by the tip of its tail. It slept.

“It’s time for lessons,” said Senta.

“Yes. What did we learn yesterday, Geography?”

“When am I going to learn about Magnus the Great and Kafira?”

“Plenty of time for that, Pet,” replied Zurfina. “Today I’m going to tell you the story that takes place almost two thousand years before either King Magnus or Kafira Kristos. Today I’m going to tell you the story of Rendric of the North.”

“What’s so great about him then?”

Rendric of the North

The great chamber was half a mile long and nearly a quarter of a mile wide. Carved out of the inside of Mount Pintar, its ceiling was five hundred feet above the floor. Even with dozens of large pyres burning here and there, hundreds of torches all aflame mounted on the walls, and hundreds of free-standing candelabras shining brightly, shadows were everywhere. Hidden in these shadows were men and women; the kinds of men and women who preferred shadows. In those areas brightly lit, it was easy to see the collected wealth of an empire—jewels, artworks, tapestries—opulence everywhere. The goddess-queen Xynjanphanae sat on her throne, high atop the multi-level dais. Her long red fingernails clicked against the stone arm as she watched the swordsman enter through the distant archway and walk steadily toward her.

He was a huge man, with rippling muscles like cords of braided iron beneath tanned skin. His bright intelligent eyes looked this way and that from beneath a shock of black hair. He was dressed in animal skins, cut and roughly sewn into pants and boots. His chest was bare of clothing, but he wore gold about his wrists and neck. He had long knives in his belt, and across his back was slung a great sword.

“I know who you are.” Xynjanphanae’s voice was loud and clear throughout the massive chamber, though she spoke in a normal tone. It sounded to anyone listening as though she was standing right beside them. “I have been waiting for you Rendric.”

The man didn’t stop, but continued on toward her at the same pace. He was so far away that he could barely make out her form, but the light and the focus of the entire room was toward that one spot and he knew that it would be she who awaited him there. Neither spoke as he made his long way across the room, though many figures along the edges of the chamber shifted their positions from one shadow to another. Finally the man reached the lowest step before the grand throne. He could see the goddess-queen now as well as she had seen him from half a mile away. She was statuesque but voluptuous. Her long arms were virtually covered in jewels and the long sleeveless dress that touched the floor was made of the finest silk. Fiery red hair framed a face dominated by a long thin nose and eyes that flashed the same red as her hair.

“I have come a long way,” he said.

Senta's Family

2011-12-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Senta's immediate family appears in Book 0: Brechalon and Book 1: The Voyage of the Minotaur. Some of them make appearances later in the series.

Granny (Admeta Mae Goose): I didn't use Granny's name until book 5. I just liked that her name was Granny Goose. Granny loves kids and has cobbled together a family of her own grandchildren and the children of a couple of neices and nephews. All the kids in the household are related, but not necessarily siblings.

Bertice Haver is the oldest and is already working in Brechalon.

Geert McCoort is closest in age to Senta, and has to go to work in Book 0. His last name is a nod to author Frank McCourt, though I changed the spelling. His older brother is Maro McCoort.

Didrika Goose is a toddler who joins the family in Book 0 when her parents die. Her baby sister is Ernst Goose, and is still in a crib in Book 1.

Iolanthe Dechantagne

2011-12-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

Iolanthe Dechantagne (pronounced Yo-lon-thee Day-shan-tane) is one of my favorite characters in the series. She is a strong woman and can be a real bitch. I hinted that there was something in her past that drove her to be what she was, and in Brechalon, we see in flashback what that was. This is also something that is resolved in Book 5: The Two Dragons. Iolanthe really is the main character in Book 0: Brechalon and Book 1: The Voyage of the Minotaur. She drives the action and events, and in book 1, we see the beginnings of her growth as a person. This continues in Book 2: The Dark and Forbidding Land. She can be ruthless and mean, and at least in Book 0, cares nothing for anyone except her older brother Terrence.

Senta Bly

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

In Brechalon, Senta is only seven years old. Had she not been the title character of the series, I would have left her out, since the story takes place before she does anything of importance. I'm glad that I put her in, because it gives me a chance to show a little of her world. Senta lives with her Granny and five of her cousins in a tenenment apartment. We see that even though she had no magical capabilities, she does have an affinity for magic and can sense it even at a distance.

Senta is described as an orphan in all the other books, but in Brechalon we get the hint that she may not be one in actuality. It is possible that her parents simply abandoned her. We find out the ultimate truth of this in Book 5: The Two Dragons.

Characters Outside of the Story

2011-12-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

There are quite a few characters who do not appear in the story of Senta and the Steel Dragon, but are only referenced. Here are three big ones:

Magnus the Great: Magnus was king of the Zur two thousand years before the events in the story. He was a conqueror who carried on his father's conquest of the continent of Sumir, more or less unifying the culture of mankind. He occupies a place in history much like our own Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great. At the end of his reign, his empire fell apart, partially due to the antics of his daughter Zurfina, though no one has described the exact details. Zurfina the sorceress is the namesake of Magnus's daughter.

Kafira Kristos: Probably the most important minor character in the book is Kafira Kristos. She occupies the place in the world of Senta and the Steel Dragon that Jesus Christ does in ours. Her life and martydom just after the time of Magnus the Great creates the divide between the two religions in the story--Kafirites and Zaeri.

The idea for Kafira came from a theological paper I once read. It wondered, assuming that life existed on countless planets of the universe, would Jesus have lived and died on each one of them, or would they have had their own savior. I decided that for the story, this world similar but not quite our own, would have its own, and further decided that she would be female.

Kafira is also the basis for a great deal of blasphemous cussing in the story. Kafira! Kafira Kriston! Kafira's Cross! Kafira's Tits! Kafira in a Hand Basket! and worst of all, Kafira's Bloody Twat!

Kazia Garstone: There are many books and writers referenced in the story, because several characters are either writers, devoted readers, or book collectors. I have a whole list of authors and their works, some of whom I never used. Kazia Garstone is referenced more than any of them. She was a muck-raker as well as an author and is considered quite scandelous in polite society. Many consider her a socialist, but her books are widely read and early editions are very valuable.

Terrence Dechantagne

2011-12-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

I think all my character discussions for Senta and the Steel Dragon will have to carry a spoiler alert. So much happens to all of them over the course of the series that, though I try not to, I might inadvertantly spill some secrets about one or two of them. So, read this at your own risk.

Brechalon is a prequel. I wrote it long after I had written books 1, 3, and 5, so it provides a look at some of the events of the past that are only hinted at in the other books. I don't know whether to recommend that you read it first or last.

Terrence Dechantagne is one of the major characters of the series. As he appears in Brechalon, he is in the army, serving in the cavalry. During the course of the story, he takes a furlough to spend time at home. Terrence is a drug addict, addicted to the "See Spice," white opthalium, a magical drug that transports him to a world where his troubles are all soothed away. The ultimate cause of this addiction is his eyewitnessing the murder of his mother by his father when he was twelve. Add to this, the generally unpleasant life that he has led since.

Terrence is a thoughtful man, a collector of rare books, but has been thrust into the position of a man of action and violence by the expectations of others. His general self-loathing extends to anyone who cares about him. In book 0, he is at his low point, spending most of his time under the influence.

Senta and the Steel Dragon - Characters

2011-12-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

I've covered the characters in Blood Trade, Women of Power, Astrid Maxxim, His Robot Girlfriend, and His Robot Wife. Now it's time to look at the Senta and the Steel Dragon series. This will be fun, because there are literally hundreds of characters in the six books. I'll give a full entry to the main characters and group minor characters into a single post, but I'm going to present them in the order they appear in each of the books.

I'm looking forward to this because I get to read the books again. I really feel like Senta and the Steel Dragon is my best writing, my best story, and my best characters. Stay tuned tomorrow as we start with Book 0: Brechalon.

His Robot Girlfriend -- Politics

2011-12-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

People accuse me of having all kinds of hidden agendas in the robot books, both political and otherwise. Some have suggested that I'm a radical environmentalist because of the prominance of the Green Party in the story. I do care about the environment, but the reason that the Green Party plays a part is that I thought it would be more fun to have three parties vying for the presidency than two.

Others have said the story is a thinly veiled treatis on same-sex marriage. There is a reference to the fact that same-sex marriage is more common in the future of the story. That is not an endorsement by me. I don't have really strong feelings about it one way or the other. I do think the institution of marriage is being damaged less by same sex couples than by people (either gay or straight) who practice serial monogamy-- getting married and divorced over and over again. I've been married to the same woman for 26 years.

One area that few people get is the parallel of Apple Computers. I tried to parody and reference Apple in a number of ways. I find Apple and Apple fandom both interesting and humorous. On the other hand, though I wasn't part of it when I wrote the books, I wouldn't give up either my iPad or my iPhone 4S for anything now.

Harriet Smith

2011-12-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

Harriet Smith is a character in His Robot Girlfriend and His Robot Wife. She is the daughter of the main character-- Mike Smith. Harriet is very loosely based on my own daughter, but as my daughter has happily pointed out, she would never put up with such a jerk of a husband as Harriet has, and quite honestly, unlike Mike, if my daughter did, I'd put him in the ground myself.

There are a few little inside stories that are taken from my own life with my daughter, such as her ability to talk a subject to death until my eyes glaze over, and the remembrance that they have of the time that Mike threatened to kill a kid who was bullying Harriet and almost lost his job because of it.

On the other hand, Harriet is a dental hygienist, and is fascinated with teeth, something my daughter has never shown any interest in.

Lucas Smith

2011-12-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

Lucas Smith is a character in His Robot Girlfriend. He is the son of Mike Smith and his deceased wife. While I was writing His Robot Girlfriend, my son was participating in Jr. ROTC at his high school. Because of this, I made Lucas a soldier. Other than that, he bares no real resemblance to my son at all. In fact, Lucas has a relatively small part to play in the story, so his character isn't really all that fleshed out. He doesn't appear in His Robot Wife at all.

Amazon's New Deal

2011-12-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

Amazon has just opened up its Amazon Prime Lending Program to indie authors, providing they go exclusive with Amazon for at least 90 days. Amazon Prime members will be able to borrow the book for an unlimited amount of time. In return, the authors split a pool of money ($500,000 per month) for every qualified borrow of their book. This is tempting to indy authors for a couple of reasons. If the pool of borrowers is small, having your book part of the program could be lucrative. Alternately, if many people use the borrowing program, there is a chance for great exposure.

I won't be enrolling in this new program for the foreseeable future. I would not remove a book already published from another retailer so that it could be available exclusively at Amazon. All of the books I have coming out soon are parts of series that have already been published. I wouldn't feel right making them unavailable to readers at B&N or iBooks who have been waiting for sequels. In addition, there are a lot of caveats in the publishing agreement at Amazon, and I can't see slogging through it.

So, the long and the short of it is, you will continue to find my books availble wherever fine ebooks are sold.

I'm Over the Cloud

2011-12-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

I am over cloud computing. This was supposed to be the wave of the future, helping us keep organized. Now I have media spread out over at least seven different clouds and I can't find anything I want to find. I'm also done with the vaguaries of having something I'm supposed to own, in the hands of someone else who can cancel my access any time they want, and only let me know this somewhere in their 500 page user agreement. I'm done with it. Having it available for download is fine, but from now on, if I can't back it up on my own hardware and play it on at least two different players, I'm not spending my money on it.

Update: The Young Sorceress

2011-12-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

I got the following message on the blog, but I can't seem to find it now. "Is either the Young Sorceress or The Two Dragons part of the Senta and the Steel Dragon series, perhaps?"

Yes. The Young Sorceress is part 4 and The Two Dragons is part 5 (the conclusion) of Senta and the Steel Dragon.

Chapter 7 of The Young Sorceress is now done and it's on to chapter 8. I expect 15-16 chapters total. I'll keep you up to date. In the meantime, I've been thinking of the blurb for the book back. It might go along something like this.

The young sorceress Senta Bly can get into all kinds of trouble. Imagine the trouble when there are four of her, one extremely secretive and cunning, one giddily happy, one paranoid and frightened, and one apparently intent on murdering her boyfriend Graham and the new girl he's been seen around town with. Which if any, is the real Senta?

Astrid Maxxim is Coming to Paperback

2011-12-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

I've been vascilating over which if any of my books should go to paperback. I don't really sell any, though I do give some away. On the other hand, my ebooks are starting to sell. Still, I thought of all my books, Astrid Maxxim deserved a paper treatment, as it is aimed at young readers, who might not have access to an ereading device. I chose an unusual format-- 8 1/2 x 11 inches, 98 pages. I did this for a couple of reasons- 1) it just works better with the cover illustration, and 2) I wanted it to be different than my other books, since this one is aimed at children. As I write this, the proofs have already shipped and I should have them by the time you read this.

November Book Sales

2011-12-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

November book sales numbers are in. I sold 424 books in November. It's down from the 732 I sold in October, but it's up from the 7 I sold last November. Here's the breakdown of the numbers.

Princess of Amather 12
The Voyage of the Minotaur 11
Tesla's Stepdaughters 10
The Dark and Forbidding Land 8
The Drache Girl 11
His Robot Wife 331
Brechalon 7
Women of Power 13
Blood Trade 11
Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike 10

I'll be shaking up the lineup soon, when I finish The Young Sorceress and The Two Dragsons. One of my other books will be going free, two books are going together in a single volume, and I'm planning another free book.

A Place to do my Writing

2011-12-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

I've been hard at work converting my daughter's bedroom back into the den it once was, now that she's moved on to her own place. I'm really looking forward to having a quiet place to work. As you can see, it's a work in progress.

Get Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike on your Nook!

2011-12-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

You can now pick up Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike for your Nook by following the link below. Just as at Amazon, Kobo, and iBooks, it is just 99 cents.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1107759360?ean=2940032863465&itm=1&usri=astrid+maxxim

Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike now at Kobo Books

2011-12-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike is now availabe at Kobo books for 99 cents. Follow this link right to it: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Astrid-Maxxim-her-Amazing-Hoverbike/book-dHww_7RCZ0eAeEurAyXCNg/page1.html

Patience

2011-12-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Patience is the Robot in "His Robot Girlfriend". Just as you might expect, she's perfect. What I find interesting is that so many people tell me they love Patience-- both male and femal readers. I guess she's so pleasant that she's just hard not to like.

Though her hair was covered with a clear plastic cap, he could see it was jet black. It matched two dark, carefully arched eyebrows and a set of long eyelashes. She had no other body hair. Her face could best be described as cute, with large blue eyes, a button nose, and thick voluptuous lips. She had the kind of slender and yet curvy body that was just not possible on a real woman. Breasts the size of apples just kind of floated there above a perfectly flat stomach. Mike tilted his head down. She looked anatomically complete.

Of all my characters, none went through as much of a change between first draft and published work as did Patience Smith in His Robot Girlfriend. Originally she was a rather Amazonian figure, physically very imposing, but much more submissive. Some might argue that Patience is still submissive, but I think we find out in His Robot Wife that she really isn't. When I rewrote a series of short pieces into a long story, she needed to have much more force of personality so that she could advance the storyline of forcing Mike to change. A college professor once told me the main character is the one in the story who changes the most-- and that would be Mike.

When I started rewriting, I just wasn't happy with her physical description, so I started completely from scratch, using some of the actresses that fit that body type: Christina Ricci, Natalie Portman, Alyson Hannigan, as well as a young woman I knew as a model-- so yes, there really is a Patience out there. I observed her as carefully as possible (without seeming too creepy) so that I could describe her movements and gestures-- like when Patience bounces on her tip-toes or incorporates dance moves into everyday movement. Since then, I've tried to find a human being to at least think about when I write most of my characters.

Her personality couldn't be base on a real person or even a person that I though up. She's a robot. Her personality couldn't be readily apparent. It had to be very subdued. It had to sneak up on the reader as it sneaks up on Mike. For that reason I think, quite a few readers find her a dull automoton-- Image finding a robot as such. I think this is a failure for me as a writer. Still of all the fan letters I've ever gotten, I would say that easily 40% (written about any book) tell me how much they love Patience.

I mentioned before that the robot books are not my favorite Wesley Allison books. That being said, they are my most popular, so I may well write another. Oddly, I have the hardest time thinking up plots for Mike and Patience, when plots just seem to pop up for my other books. If a new one ever does pop up though, I will write it. I have two titles in mind that I think are appropriate, but I'm not giving them up just yet.

The Next Astrid Maxxim Cover Reveal

2011-12-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

The next Astrid Maxxim will be Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea Dome. Expect it before the end of February. I am really pleased to present the cover. As with the first Astrid Maxxim book, the cover was created by Matthew Riggenbach at Shaed Studios. Working with him was wonderful. In fact, there wasn't much work at all. I told him what I had in mind and he made it happen. His first draft was almost perfect. We made a few tweaks and it was done. I am so excited. Just looking at it makes me want to write.

As to the story. As you can see, this second tale places Astrid in adventures under the sea. I think there's more action in this story than the first one. Some of the characters that played small parts in the first story get a little more attention this time too. Plus more Astrid and Toby. I'm looking forward to penning more of Astrid's adventures, though I only have ideas for the first ten or so right now.

New Reviews of Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Elven Princess

2011-12-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

These two reviews were recently posted at Smashwords.

Review by: Nick Angelis :
Finally! I was starting to get worried after I published an ebook with the tag "comedy" and couldn't find many books in that category worth a chuckle. It was starting to inflate my ego about the ridiculousness I had written until Mr. Allison gently deflated it with this hilarious tale. I chortled, chuckled, and even cackled a few times while reading this book and recommend it unreservedly. That said, I'm off to procure some delicious pies of my own...

Review by: Alan Face :
What a delightful tale! Wesley Allison, author of "His Robot Girlfriend" and the sequel, "His Robot Wife," has done it again. His characters and style of writing about them in this story reminds me a bit of Mark Twain. He caught and kept my attention from beginning to end and had me chuckling constantly.
Two thumbs up for this one!

Thanks to both of you gentlemen for your kind words. For those interested, I do have big plans in the works for Eaglethorpe. There will be a new tale by the great storyteller (liar) or THREE coming soon-- hopefully this summer.

Free Book First

2011-12-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

It's the first day of the month, so time for a free book. Today's book is my best selling book: His Robot Wife. Pick it up by following the link below. Be sure to use coupon code NN64B at checkout to get it free.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/42192

Mike Smith

2011-11-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

Over the past several weeks, I've talked about the characters in Blood Trade, Women of Power, and finally Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike. Now it's time to move on to His Robot Girlfriend and His Robot Wife.

The story that became His Robot Girlfriend consisted originally of some short flash fiction and the characters were not very well developed. When I decided to turn it into a book, I completely rewrote it, adding an ending. I had to turn some cardboard people into real characters. In the case of Mike Smith, I just decided to make him-- me. He was a school teacher, about five years older than me, when I started, and instead of being happily married with two kids, he was a widower with two surviving children. Personality-wise, language-wise, and description-wise, he's about as close to me as I could get. As I neared the end, I started feeling a little uncomfortable that he was so much like me, and I began working in little things that made him at least somewhat different. In the end, physically at least, Mike changes quite a bit. Patience really gets him into shape. I just started at the gym two months ago (though I don't have a Daffodil pushing me along), so this might be a case of life imitating art.

By His Robot Wife, Mike has become a fairly sharp-dressed, in shape retired fellow. This was a natural progression from the end of the first book. He's still pretty snarky.

These two books have been reviewed hundreds of times by readers posting to the net, running the gammut from over the top praise to well... the opposite of that. I get regular fan mail about them and they are by far the most read of my books. I have to say though, that as a reader, these are my two least favorite of my books. The don't have as much of ME in them as say, Voyage of the Minotaur or Tesla's Stepdaughters. That being said, I am certainly very proud when someone else tells me they love them. In the coming days, I'll talk about the other characters. Next up: Patience.

Rachel Carson High School

2011-11-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

Part of the setting for Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike is Rachel Carson High School. It actually went through several different name changes. I wanted a female scientist and I didn't want to go with the obvious Marie Curie. She should also be an American. I think Rachel Carson is the most important woman (maybe person) that most people don't know.

Being a teacher, one of the things I enjoyed was playing with the school environment. All of the meals at Rachel Carson are gourmet meals. Every child is dedicated to learning. The students stay after to maintain the school and keep it clean. Every student is on a specific program-- designed to lead them in a different direction in life. What are the programs? That will be revealed in a future book.

Now in the Premium Catalog

2011-11-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

Well, Astrid and friends have made it through the vetting process and are now in the premium catalog at Smashwords. In addition, it's already shown up on iTunes, so it's available now there at 99 cents. I'll let you know when it's available at other ebook outlets.

Update: The Young Sorceress

2011-11-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

I am currently in the middle of chapter seven of The Young Sorceress. I think I have been working on this book longer than anything I've ever done beside Princess of Amathar (which was in the works for years and years). I am determined to finish it as soon as possible. It won't be before the end of the year, but hopefully before summer.

The book is ostensibly about Senta Bly, the fifteen year old sorceress, though it follows several other characters-- some of them new-- through adventures in Senta's fantasy world. The story is in fact less important for Senta than the others-- Isaak Wissinger, a writer who was hinted at in previous books, Kieran Baxter, who was a minor character in book one and hasn't been seen again until now, and of course our usual band of suspects: Yuah Korlann, Iolanthe Dechantagne, Saba Colbshallow, and Bessemer the Steel Dragon.

This book will be about the same lenght as the Dark and Forbidding Land, in other words about two thirds the length of The Voyage of the Minotaur and The Drache Girl. I'll let you know when I reach the next milestone-- say when I finish chapter ten.

Still Waiting on Premium Catolog Vetting

2011-11-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

For those of you not familiar with Smashwords, it is an online publishing/distribution system for ebooks. When an author publishes an ebook on Smashwords, as I have done with Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike, it is available for imediate download from their site. Of course most of the sales do not occur on their site, but rather through their distribution channels to Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Diesel Books, Sony, and iBooks. To get to those distribution channels though, the book has to be approved by the vetting team for the Premium Catalog. Unfortunately, they are quite backlogged at Smashwords and they haven't gotten to my book yet. So it's going to be at least a couple of weeks before it appears at the above ebook stores. I hope they get to it soon. I'm really counting on all those kids with new Nooks, Kindles, and iPads to buy it after Christmas.

Austin Tretower

2011-11-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Austin Tretower is the new kid at school and the latest addition to Astrid's gang. He came to live with his grandmother in Maxxim City when his parents were killed in a car wreck. Austin is a little on the ungainly side and he is frequently distracted, losing his possessions and getting lost. He is very excited to have a friend who is a real live Maxxim, as his grandmother, a former Maxxim employee, has told him many tales of Astrid's father when he was a boy.

Christopher Harris

2011-11-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

Christopher Harris is Toby's best friend and is the only student at Rachel Carson High School who's grades and test scores match Astrid's. They both expect to contend with each other for valedictorian. Christopher, like Toby is also a licensed pilot.

Christopher, who doesn't like to be called Chris, is an African American with short dark hair. Both his parents work at Maxxim Industries-- his father as an engineer and his mother as a chemist.

Valerie Diaz

2011-11-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

Valerie Diaz is the third girl in Astrid's gang. Her father Sergio Diaz is head of Maxxim Industries Security and a former FBI agent. Her mother is a feisty woman who is an immigrant from Mexico. Despite her parents' formidable personalities, Valerie tends to be afraid of just about everything. Part of this is understandable, since she frequently falls victim to Astrid's experiments or adventures. Valerie and Denise share most of the same classes at school and are closer than Astrid and Valerie, who share no classes. Valerie has long wavy hair and flashing eyes.

Denise Brown

2011-11-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

Astrid's best friend is Denise Brown. This despite the fact that Denise is never really all that impressed with Astrid's "mad science." Denise has an older brother named Dennis, who is a senior, head of the debating team, football quarterback, and overall star of the whole high school. She and Dennis have two dads. Dad number one is Dennis Brown Sr., head model-maker at Maxxim Industries. Dad number two is Jeffrey Richards, who owns and operates the Maxxim City Malt Shop.

Toby Bundersmith

2011-11-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

Toby Bundersmith is the boy who has lived next door to Astrid Maxxim since they were both born. He, like Astrid, is in ninth grade at Rachel Carson High School. Though not technically her boyfriend, Astrid has spent many hours picturing herself as the future Astrid Bundersmith, and she thinks Toby is just about perfect.

Toby is one of only a few students in school to have his pilot's license, so he spends most of his Saturdays at the airfield trying to qualify on as many planes as he can. He is a frequent participant in Astrid's adventures and when not actively involved himself, encourages her. Toby hates to see anyone bullied and frequently sticks up for other kids, an act which always impresses Astrid.

Toby lives with his dad, who is an engineer for Maxxim industries, and his Great Aunt Gerta, who came to live with them after Toby's mother died of cancer.

Astrid Maxxim

2011-11-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

Over the past few weeks, I've taken a look at the characters in Blood Trade and Women of Power. Next up, we'll look at the characters in my latest book-- Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike. This is the first of a series of books aimed at young readers, though I hope readers of all ages will enjoy them.

Astrid Maxxim is a 14 year old girl inventor. She is super smart and has been inventing since before she was 6. She lives with her father Dr. Roger Maxxim and her mother Kate Maxxim, the former a scientist and inventor and the latter the President and CEO of Maxxim Industries. They live in Maxxim City just outside the bounderies of the Maxxim Industries Campus.

The Other Superheroes

2011-11-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

In a world of superheroes, you might expect to run into a few here and there and that's just what happens in Women of Power.

Captain Hero: Earth's most popular hero.
Dark Defender: Mysterious protector of the night.
Strongarm: Super strong hero.
Windstorm: Master of wind and storm.
Vanguard: Leader of the Justice Brigade.
Ultrawoman: The most powerful woman on earth.
RSG: Really stretchy guy, who mostly uses his power to surreptitiously grope women.

The Other Bad Guys

2011-11-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

There are several supervillains that face off against All American Girl and Skygirl, with more or less success.

Plague Drone: A slimy character with the ability to infect a variety of nasty diseases.

Magmaman: Can turn into a man-shaped blob of molten fire.

Tigershark: An Australian supervillain with super strength.

Dark Energy

2011-11-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

Dark Energy is one of Professor Destructions most capable superpowered cronies. He can fly and shoot energy bolts from his fists. All American Girl finds Dark Energy handsome, though she would never tell him so, but his fondness is for underage prostitutes.

Behemoth

2011-11-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

Behemoth is a supervillain in Women of Power. He is about six feet tall and six feet wide and is made of pure muscle. He has super strength, the result of toxic radioactive waste. Unfortunately Behemoth is not the smartest knife in the kitchen drawer. He has repeatedly failed to notice that his one weakness seems to be supernaturally stong women. Behemoths great power is that once he gets going, he can't be stopped.

Irving

2011-11-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

Irving is All American Girl's agent. Here's a little bit of Irving and AG.

“Oh baby,” said the man on the other end of the line. “That hurts. That really hurts. You know Irving is your number one fan.”

“Really? I thought you were supposed to be my agent.”

“Come on baby. Give Irving some love.”

“How about I fly over there and twist your head off like a bottle cap? You haven’t answered my calls in weeks, and then here you are, all ‘baby, baby’…”

“Baby. Irving has been busy.”

“I’ve been busy too.”

“I know you have, my sweetness, but Irving has been really busy. He’s been busy working for you, my sassy spangled mega-babe.”

“That’s it,” Stella sat the soda down and stood up. “I’m flying over there right now.”

“Before you do, listen to these four words: All American Girl Magazine.”

“A magazine deal? Where and who?”

“National baby! Hatchet Media International!”

“Hatchet?” Stella ran her fingers through her close-cropped blond hair. “They’re big right?”

“The biggest magazine distributor in the world—forty eight hero magazines and all of those supers are in the top one hundred of the New York Times list! Captain Hero! Ultrawoman!”

“Vanguard?”

“Vanguard!”

“Dark Defender?”

“Um, no… He’s published by somebody else.”

“But Ultrawoman…”

“Ultra-woman, baby!”

“So what? They’re ready for magazine number forty nine?”

“Well, no. They had an opening. Cosmic Man, well you know…”

“Yeah, that was too bad. But you try to stop an asteroid; you’ve got to expect that kind of thing. This is big, Irving. This is big.”

“Big baby.”

“You did good Irving.”

“Oh baby, you know Irving is always working for you. But this was all you, super friend. Kicking ass on terrorists. Terrorists with rockets. And doing it right while the traffic copter was there to film the whole thing. That was brilliant baby! You’re all over the news.”

“Am I?”

“You know it.”

“That was a lucky break,” said Stella, more to herself than to Irving.

“Luck is for suckers, baby. You got mad skills. And you know what a magazine deal means? Money. Advertising revenue, sponsors, money, collateral damage insurance, money. Did I mention money?”

“That’s awesome Irving.”

“There’s just one thing, baby.”

“What’s that?”

“They haven’t exactly made the final decision yet?”

“What do you mean? Do I have a magazine or not?”

“It’s down to either you or one other super.”

“Who?”

“Skygirl.”

“Skygirl? That slut! Who’d want to read about her? She’s a total airhead! And have you seen her thighs? They’re like tree-trunks! And what’s the deal with her costume? Were they out of ass spandex that day?”

I originally wrote Irving intending that he appear as nothing more than a voice on the phone, but I liked him so much, he just had to make an appearance in the flesh.

Less Time to Write

2011-11-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

One thing is for sure this year. I have far less time to write. This is because my day job (teacher) takes up so much more time than it ever has before. There is far more paperwork involved than any of my previous 17 years. I have been working through my lunch each day, but I still need to spend time at home planning, grading, writing Student Intervention Plans, and calling parents. It's enough to make me glad that retirement is only a few years away.

Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike

2011-11-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike is now available as a multi-format ebook. Follow the link below and get your free copy until the end of November. Use coupon code XU42U at checkout.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/102618

The Atomic Jack-O-Lantern

2011-11-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

The Atomic Jack-O-Lantern is a radiation based supervillain. Since he never speaks, nobody really knows where he came from or who he is, but his radiation is one of the few things that can weaken All American Girl.

Artwork by Action RPG Counters.

Professor Destruction

2011-11-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

Professor Destruction is your typical power-suit afficianado. He likes to think he's a mastermind and makes up for his lack of super-powers with a relatively vast intellect. He is in charge of a group of super-baddies who make life difficult for All American Girl.

Artwork by Action RPG Counters.

Update: Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike

2011-11-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

I'm on the final edit of Astrid Maxxim and by the time you read this, I might very well have it completely done and ready for publishing. Keep an eye out for it. The other afternoon at work, I got so tired of the paperwork I had to do, that I started writing and came up with a draft of page one of the next Astrid Maxxim book. Book 2 will be Astrid Maxxim and her Deep Sea Dome or maybe her Undersea Dome, you get the idea.

Omega Woman

2011-11-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

Omega Woman (Omega Girl until her recent 21st birthday) is one of the most powerful and popular superheroes in the world. This is particularly annoying since she is now dating Perihelion, All American Girl's ex. Omega Woman has flawless silver skin and golden hair that reaches almost to the floor. She is hauty and disdainful of everyone she thinks is below her... which is everyone.

Omega Woman has super-strength, invulnerability, flight, and can shoot Omega Rays from her fingertips.

Perihelion

2011-11-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

Perihelion is the ex-boyfriend of All American Girl. Though we are not privy to why they split up, they did so about six months before the story started. I have a feeling that the breakup was either Stella's idea or her fault, and now she regrets it. Within a few months of their split, Perihelion began dating Omega Girl.

Perihelion is extremely good looking and is the spokesmodel for a line of sharp Italian suits. He has the super strength and invulnerability, but his great ability is flight. He is the fasted flyer of all the supers.

Quarterly Book Royalties

2011-11-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

Book royalties for the third quarter are all in and counted. I was a little disappointed that they were down from the second quarter, but compared to third quarter last year, they were up 900%, so I guess I can't complain. :D As you can see, Smashwords continues to be my number one source of income. It includes book sales to Apple, B&N, Kobo, Diesel, and Sony. My number one single sales outlet is Apple iBooks, followed closely by Amazon.

October Book Sales

2011-11-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

Book sales for October 2011 are in, and it was a good month. It is in fact, the third best month to date for book sales-- 732 books sold for the month. In case you were wondering, here's the breakdown:

His Robot Wife                        619
Brechalon                                   25
Princess of Amathar                   21
The Voyage of the Minotaur      20
Tesla's Stepdaughters                 18
The Dark and Forbidding Land 15
The Drache Girl                         14
Women of Power                        12
Blood Trade                               11

In the same month 54,756 free books were downloaded, including 32,137 copies of His Robot Girlfriend. The way I figure it, if only 1 in 1,000 of those books get read, and if only one in ten of those read is enjoyed enough for that reader to purchase another book, that's still 5 more books I will sell next month.

Melanippe

2011-11-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

There are several mythological characters named Melanippe, but Stella's mother is the sister of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. She has an on-again/off-again relationship with Theseus (Yes, that Theseus) and has setteled into a life of hedonism on Mount Olympus, much to Stella's shame. "And my mother is an Amazon, which I used to think meant she was a warrior woman, but apparently just means she’s some kind of immortal hoe-bag." Of course this means that if you were to mix the continuity of my little story with that of DC Comics, then Stella and Wonder Woman would be cousins, which is cool, because WW has always been one of my personal faves.

Hipparion

2011-11-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

In Women of Power, I wanted real mythological figures for Stella's parents, but I didn't want them to be major mythological figures that everyone knows. Her father is the demigod Hipparion, who is mentioned once or twice in the mythology texts but has no surviving stories about him. His name means "pony" in greek, so he must have had something to do with the being a lord of horses or something.

I had fun playing with the idea that nobody on Earth remembers him, even though he thinks he is a major figure in history. Like most mythological fathers, Hipparion has only a passing interest in his offspring, and expects to be called on for magical armor or weapons, but not emotional support.

Linda Ford AKA Skygirl

2011-11-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

Linda Ford, also known as Skygirl, is the second character (title character if you will) of Women of Power. She is the daughter of Earth's greatest hero, Skyman, who was killed defending the Earth from an alien invasion. Her mother was the evil Madame Mesmer, who seduced Skyman, but Linda was raised by her step-mother Doris Drake-Ford. She has all the powers of her father (though perhaps not as strong as him in any area). She has super strength, invulnerability, supersonic flight, super breath, x-ray vision, heat vision, and several other kinds of super vision. She is vulnerable to disease and poison and to Polarite, the fragmented remains of her father's home planet.

Linda lives her life seemingly unaware that the world knows who she is. She wears a brown wig and sensible clothes as a disguise, even though anyone can find her name at the top of the Skygirl Wikipedia page. She tends to be naive and silly, much to the annoyance of All American Girl.

Linda was a very fun character to write. She makes a great foil for Stella (AG). She is of course a parody and tribute to super characters like Supergirl, though personality wise, she's more Mary Marvel. My favorite little detail was that when Skygirl and All American Girl play rock, paper, scissors, All American Girl always wins. She knows that Skygirl will always pick rock, because anyone who has to worry about a rock that can kill them all the time will always pick rock.

Stella O'Clare AKA All American Girl

2011-11-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

Stella O'Clare AKA All American Girl, is the main character of my book Women of Power. Stella is the daughter of an immortal Amazon and a Greek demigod. As a child, she was exiled from Mount Olympus for being unable to get along with the other children, landing on Earth in Chicago's O'Clare Blvd. She's intelligent, sarcastic, and quick to anger.

All American Girl has super strength, invulnerability, and the ability to fly. She is immune to poison, disease, and any form of magic. Like all superheroes, she want to help mankind, but being a hero is also a business. She wants to be the star of her own superhero magazine and to reach the top ten of the New York Times Superhero list.

As the story begins, Stella is having a particularly rough time as she has recently broken up with her boyfriend, the super superhero Perihelion. To make matters worse, while Stella has been moping around after the breakup, Perry has immediately taken up with Omega Girl.

I loved writing All American Girl. She is both a parody and an homage to my favorite heroes from the comics.

Free Book First

2011-11-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's the first of the month, so that means-- Free Book! Today only, you can get Princess of Amathar on your choice of ebook formats FREE. It's a regular 99 cents. Follow the link below and use the coupon code YX88H at checkout.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/2287

Hope you enjoy it.

Update: Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike

2011-10-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

I just finished the revision of Astrid Maxxim and will start the editing process tomorrow. This usually doesn't take too long, especially with such a short book. You should expect to see it out in less than two weeks. I'll keep you informed. I've also got to start thinking about a summary or blurb as I like to call it.

Playing with my iPhone

2011-10-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

I spent the day playing with my new iPhone 4S instead of working on my story. I've pretty much got it all set up now, and I so I'm revising right now.

Israel

2011-10-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

Israel is the last of the major characters in Blood Trade, and he's my least favorite. This is because he's similar to other vampire characters. I didn't want to write a vampire like other vampire stories, but I had to have this one. Israel is a 200+ year old vampire who is at the center of a network of vampires. He thinks of himself as invincible and sort of a rock star, and he thinks of human beings as big thermos bottles. Israel has big plans that go beyond the stuff that vampires are usually into-- but I can't give away much more than that without ruining the plot.

I hope you enjoyed the look into the characters of Blood Trade over the past few days. Next up, I'll be looking at the characters of Women of Power.

Lance Rizzello

2011-10-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

Lance Rizzello is a character in Blood Trade. I loved writing Lance because in a book filled with evil vampires, he's completely human and more evil than any of them. Lance is a dirty cop, working part time as an enforcer for the mob, and working all the time for himself. Everything is about power and obligation with Lance. Who owes him a favor? Who does he owe? Everybody is afraid of him, from the baddest pimps and drug dealers to Xochitl, and with good reason.

I almost never change a character name after I start writing, but Lance went through a series of first and last names. First I changed his name because it was the same as a character in a movie (that I hadn't seen), and then I changed because it was too close to a character in a story a friend was writing. Then I changed it because it wasn't right. In the end though, I don't think Lance's name is that important. He's a strong enough character no matter what his name is.

Sid Case

2011-10-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

Sid Case is one of the characters in my book Blood Trade. Sid is a tattoo artist and the owner of Robot Slut Tattoo. He has a deal worked out with Xochitl that she will serve as his tattoo model and canvas, and in return he helps her dispose of the bodies of the vampires she terminates. Sid is a large guy, overweight, with lots of tattoos. He loves 70s music, including disco, and he (not-so-secretly) loves Xochitl. They met back when she was a stripper and he frequented her club, staring at the skull tattooed on her lower stomach and stuffing more than a few singles into her g-string, but they didn't become closer until she saved him from vampire attack.

Update: The Young Sorceress & Astrid Maxxim

2011-10-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

Seems like about once every two months, I'm saying that I'm putting The Young Sorceress on hold as I do something else. It really seems to be a hard book to finish. I've actually considered scrapping it entirely and just making Senta and the Steel Dragon a 4 1/2 book series. But now that I've got almost seven chapters done, I wouldn't do that. I am however, setting it aside as I do something else....

I need to get the revision and editing done for Astrid Maxxim. I want it to be out and available for Christmas, for all those young people who get Kindles, Nooks, and iPads under their trees. This book is aimed at 10-14 year olds, but hopefully others will like it as well. It shouldn't take too long to revise and edit, as it is a relatively short book. I'll let you know.