Bonus Content!

I am still writing. That's all I will say about that.

What I have for you today is a little bit of fan art. Not the first bit of fan art, but the first bit I will be showing you. So here it is:





Seraph by Whitney

Enjoy. ;)

The Quest: Chapter 10

Please don't kill me. I know I took forever on this one, but it's up now and that's what's important, right?

...

Anyway, another action scene for our heroine. This time she is fighting kelpie, which are a fairy monster. Which is why her crowbar (iron) worked better than her ax (steel). Next chapter we get to meet the Rat Lord and learn his story.

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The Quest: Chapter 9

Oh for heaven's sake people-

Treat
Pronunciation:\ˈtrēt\
intransitive verb
1: to discuss terms of accommodation or settlement: negotiate
2: to deal with a matter especially in writing: discourse

Treating- to create a treaty.

Shesh.


Okay, so this is a long one, but since there are only four chapters that deal with the fae, I have a lot to pack in.

These are the chapters that don't have Seraph in them.

You might even say they are... sans Seraph?

No? Oh come on, it was a little funny.

Fine.

Anyway, you guys can blame Woodson for the cluster of names in this chapter, in my first draft, there was only one lord talking in the counsel scene and I didn't list off the missing lords. By the way, thanks Elf Name Generator! You rule!

I don't know how to say Hjorleifr either. I just liked the way it looked... I just call him H.

One of my beta-readers expressed surprise that the fae would act with out any evidence at all. And really there is none. But you have to remember, this whole thing takes place about 400 years before the Spanish Inquisition, so the rules of evidence were a little... looser than they are now. It was perfectly normal and expected to act on hunches at this time.

I changed something that I am going to have to go back and retroactively change, the fae no longer call Atlantis the 'homelands' they call it the 'oldlands' I like homelands as a phrase, but it kinda reminds me of Fables. And I don't want to copy.

Next chapter... The sewer level! It's the best level!

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Bonus Content!

Here is the promised bonus content!

Seraph thinking about the sewers and there danger, taken out because it was redundant:

Her childhood quota of horror movies had been filled with slasher, zombie and sewer monster flicks. In the Pipes was a classic and made an entire generation fear the garbage disposal.

Seraph thinking about the manhole covers and sewer grates, taken out because I decided that Seraph felt the spells were a good thing:

The sewers were their own deterrent. The combination of monsters and sewage was enough to keep everybody that didn’t need to go down there, out. Seraph had heard that some states out west had started locking the manholes in a fit of oh-god-won’t-somebody-please-think-of-the-children public safety hysteria. She was glad that the precaution hadn’t made it to Maine yet, locks made breaking and entering so much harder.

Update! 5/11/09

Alright, so maybe a month between updates isn't best... I'm sorry!

To all two of you.

But there is good news, I do have chapter 9 with its last beta reader so it should be up soon! And I have started on chapter 10. I will try my best to have that in beta in the next few weeks. To make up for it, I'm going to post a couple of paragraphs that I cut from chapter 8 that are kinda funny...

Well... um...

Chaper 9 is coming soon! I swear!

The Quest: Chapter 8

This is a short little transitional chapter. It is a bit shorter than my normal chapters, but I didn't want to add it to a full length chapter (which the next sewer chapter should be).

The next two chapters with Seraph will be in the sewers, so you guys will get to see lots of this place.

Wow, I thought that I didn't have a lot to say about the last chapter, but I really don't have much to add to this one. Well, I have a small bit of changed content, but I want to put that in a bonus content update.

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Update! 4/2/09

Retro editing is my friend.

Quick update on the story, Chapter 8 is on its last beta reader, so as soon as I get that back, I'll be posting it. I promised someone action in this chapter. I lied, there is no action in this chapter, nor the next.

I've started writing Chapter 9, and it looks like it is going to be a long one. After having outlined the Fae chapters, I see that they are all a bit longer than any of Seraph's chapters, so I may have to cut them up a bit and move them around. We'll see how that works out.

As to retroactive editing: some may have noticed that I changed the Chapter 7 blog, if you didn't: I changed the Chapter 7 blog.

And now you know.

...

The other half is violence.

The Quest: Chapter 7

"I am not crazy."

That is one of my favorite lines in this book (well, so far), it makes me smile every time I read it. An evil smile. >]

I don't drink really coffee and have used a coffeemaker all of twice, maybe, in my lifetime. So when Woodson (an avid coffee addict) was beta reading this chapter he pointed out that most coffeemakers don't have a buzzer.

Well, in this world they do, NO COFFEE FOR YOU UNTIL THE WHOLE POT IS DONE!

Humph.

In our next chapter, we get to find out what's in the sewers! But not see it, Seraph just talks about it. Sorry.

Oh, wait, I'm not sorry. =P

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Bonus Content!

Okay, so I totally lied about when I would get this up, but here it is anyway.

The is transcribed the conversation between Seraph and Gabe from chapter 2 as it appears in my notes/ outline. Seraph's side is on the left side of the slash and Gabe's on the right. Smilies added for flavor.


GLASS OF WATER TO THE FACE!

WTF / WTF w/ u?

How find? / Drunk call

How get in? / Door unlocked

Lock it on way out / No. Camping?

Went. Back. / Drinking!

Ah do wut ay want! / Ruin Life!

Mine to ruin! ARG SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP / ???

Some people thought it was funny. So here ya go.

...

By the way, still think that you can steal my notes to find out what happens Karen? =P

Update! 2/13/09

Okay boys and girls, as some (most) of you already know, I decided to hold off on starting chapter 7 until I finished the outline for the first book. Well, I finished! Seraph's part anyway, the chapters that focus on fae are still being worked on, but I can still get started chapter 7.

I also plan to get some Bonus Content up tonight or tomorrow.

Bonus Content!

For all (one) of you who read my blog, here is some bonus content just for YOU!

Removed from chapter six:

"So," Gabe said. "What now?"

"I donno." Seraph shrugged.

"You don't know? How can you not know?"

"I was told to get the thing, not what to do with it after. I don't know."

"Have you heard anything else from... you know?"

"Anything from the voice in my head?"

Gabe winced.

"Nope. I would'a mentioned that," Seraph said.

"You know," Gabe fidgeted in his chair. "I'm not really comfortable calling... it the voice in your head."

"O-okay..." Seraph drawled. "I don't really see what we can do about that."

"I think we should name it," Gabe said.

"No."

"Come on."

"I am not naming the voice in my head."

"But talking about the 'voice in your head' sounds crazy."

"And naming it is not a healthy coping mechanism."

"Bob. We should call it Bob."

"No, we shouldn't."

I was going to have them ( and by 'them' I mean Gabe ) settle on either 'Mab' or 'Puck'.

I was thinking about Puck because he was male and I don't want people to try and guess who the voice is, and if they start thinking of the voice as male, that is another red herring in the way. Even though I clearly state that the voice is female in a previous chapter ( I see that a lot of people tend to miss things like that ).

I was thinking about Mab because I was fairly certain that at some point Seraph would try to get Gabe to stop by reminding him that the voice was female, in which case he would pick a female name.

And of course, both are clearly fae names.

In the end I just removed this whole section. *shrug* It's funny, but I don't think it really fits like I wanted it to.

The Quest: Chapter 6

Seraph stared at him. "There are no such things at werewolves."

That's right, there are no such things as werewolves, or vampires, in my books. An urban fantasy with no werewolves or vampires! What will they think of next? The horror!

Heh.

I didn't want to do what has been done, and done better, a million times before me. And worse (I'm looking at you, Twilight).

So, this was a exposition explosion! I will always try to make my talking heads chapters funny, this is my promise as an author.

I haven't gotten to it yet, but rest assured that the fae histories and such things will explained, as I have bastardized them quite a bit.

Lets see, anything else about this chapter? Hmmmm- The different spellings of fae are not a mistake. Mitch Hedburg is a great man who is missed. Cliff-hangers are fun... to write. And Vicodin is the shit.

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The Quest: Chapter 5

For those of you who don't know what a skinwalker is- wikipedia is here to save the day! Click here to enlighten yourself.

Now, I know full well that it is unlikely that a native Navajo anything will be spending much of its free time in Maine, but it's my book and I what I say goes. Skinwalkers kick ass, and in this case, Seraph's ass.

This will be the first of many hospital visits by Seraph. I hope she still has insurance.

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