The September "I Am Not Dead" Post
Sep. 3rd, 2020 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
merlinscribeI apologize for my absence from this blog. It is about to resume. And no, the book is not finished, but unlike other authors who are years behind on their fantasy series, at least I did not make a dog's breakfast of the Hugos.
By this point I do not want to predict either a delivery date or a publication date lest Earth be hit by a giant meteor, but be of good courage. And on that note, allow me to present an excerpt from the WIP from another universe. To wit, pages that I wrote for a version of the book that turned out to be a plot-detour leading to a sign that said "BRIDGE OUT". But perhaps they will amuse. I don't think there are any particular spoilers in this, but as always, do not click if you are spoiler-averse.
I will get them added to the Library sometime before the heat death of the universe. Really.
"I vote we run away," Dinias said promptly.
"Let's sack the town instead," Pendray said.
"Let's wonder what the [other] Lightborn are defending their town from," Isilla said.
"No," said Tangisen. "Look up. We have more immediate problems."
There was an entire Flight of Hippogriffs heading toward them.
#
They could run, but the terrain was overgrown meadow on one side of them and scrub forest on the other, and neither offered concealment or swift passage. They could Call Thunderbolt, for most of the Flower Forests in the Western Reach had been Unbounded and the Light they needed was available. But even if they killed all the Hippogriffs, there might be Beastlings on the ground who would kill them while they were distracted. Or worse.
"Wait for them to attack," Isilla said, glancing at the others. "Try not to use any spells that can be seen from a distance." Like Shield. Or Thunderbolt. Or anything that would be quick and effective.
#
But to Isilla's amazement, the Flight of Hippogriffs did not attack. Instead they landed more than a bowshot away, and only the Flight leader trotted up to them.
Lannarien's Book of Living Things had noted that the Hippogriff came in an assortment of colors (unlike the Gryphons). It hadn't really prepared Isilla to see what that meant. Only the Hippogriffs' shape was consistent: the front half of an eagle (more or less; just as with every other Beastling, their shape was not identical to that of the true beast they resembled) conjoined with the back half of a horse. Their beaks and feathers came in every possible shade and color and pattern: bright red, sky blue, yellow, vivid green. Where feathers faded to hide, their horse part was in every color a horse could be, but none a horse could not, so Isilla assumed that somewhere there were bright red and green birds.
She would rather be looking at birds than Hippogriffs.
The Hippogriff leader had snowy-white feathers on its neck and chest and wings. Its head was gray-blue, the covering feathers mottled and stippled with black, and its beak was a disturbing flower pink, as was the skin on its forelimbs. Its horse half was piebald, black and white, and its tail was as white as its wings.
"Cloud and Wind!" it said as it approached her. Its voice was a raspy squawk, such as an echobird—a very large echobird—might make. "And Rune says we are featherbrained! You're in the wrong place, Woodwose. You're supposed to be closer to the witch-village!"
"We are?" Isilla said blankly.
"What good are you going to do here?" the Hippogriff demanded. "We know we have an alliance, but the folk there don't. Now get back to the Flower Forest where you belong—and tell them there that it was Cyrann who sent you."
"Oh yes. Absolutely. Cyrann. Yes. Let's go," Dinias said, sounding as stunned as Isilla felt.
"We would not want to confuse any...folk," Tangisen added. Pendray opened her mouth to say something. Tangisen kicked her.
"Good." The Hippogriff—Cyrann—turned around and trotted back to its Flight. Isilla thought the hippogriff moved amazingly well for something whose legs were so mismatched. A few moments later, the Flight was airborne once more.
"Well," Isilla said, into the stunned silence. "You heard it. We should make haste to Arevethmonion."
"Yes," Dinias said. "Because it's where we belong. What alliance? And what's a Woodwose?"
"Something that belongs in a Flower Forest, of course," Isilla said, shrugging. "As for the alliance, I suppose we'll find out sometime. Let's go."
###
By this point I do not want to predict either a delivery date or a publication date lest Earth be hit by a giant meteor, but be of good courage. And on that note, allow me to present an excerpt from the WIP from another universe. To wit, pages that I wrote for a version of the book that turned out to be a plot-detour leading to a sign that said "BRIDGE OUT". But perhaps they will amuse. I don't think there are any particular spoilers in this, but as always, do not click if you are spoiler-averse.
I will get them added to the Library sometime before the heat death of the universe. Really.
"I vote we run away," Dinias said promptly.
"Let's sack the town instead," Pendray said.
"Let's wonder what the [other] Lightborn are defending their town from," Isilla said.
"No," said Tangisen. "Look up. We have more immediate problems."
There was an entire Flight of Hippogriffs heading toward them.
They could run, but the terrain was overgrown meadow on one side of them and scrub forest on the other, and neither offered concealment or swift passage. They could Call Thunderbolt, for most of the Flower Forests in the Western Reach had been Unbounded and the Light they needed was available. But even if they killed all the Hippogriffs, there might be Beastlings on the ground who would kill them while they were distracted. Or worse.
"Wait for them to attack," Isilla said, glancing at the others. "Try not to use any spells that can be seen from a distance." Like Shield. Or Thunderbolt. Or anything that would be quick and effective.
But to Isilla's amazement, the Flight of Hippogriffs did not attack. Instead they landed more than a bowshot away, and only the Flight leader trotted up to them.
Lannarien's Book of Living Things had noted that the Hippogriff came in an assortment of colors (unlike the Gryphons). It hadn't really prepared Isilla to see what that meant. Only the Hippogriffs' shape was consistent: the front half of an eagle (more or less; just as with every other Beastling, their shape was not identical to that of the true beast they resembled) conjoined with the back half of a horse. Their beaks and feathers came in every possible shade and color and pattern: bright red, sky blue, yellow, vivid green. Where feathers faded to hide, their horse part was in every color a horse could be, but none a horse could not, so Isilla assumed that somewhere there were bright red and green birds.
She would rather be looking at birds than Hippogriffs.
The Hippogriff leader had snowy-white feathers on its neck and chest and wings. Its head was gray-blue, the covering feathers mottled and stippled with black, and its beak was a disturbing flower pink, as was the skin on its forelimbs. Its horse half was piebald, black and white, and its tail was as white as its wings.
"Cloud and Wind!" it said as it approached her. Its voice was a raspy squawk, such as an echobird—a very large echobird—might make. "And Rune says we are featherbrained! You're in the wrong place, Woodwose. You're supposed to be closer to the witch-village!"
"We are?" Isilla said blankly.
"What good are you going to do here?" the Hippogriff demanded. "We know we have an alliance, but the folk there don't. Now get back to the Flower Forest where you belong—and tell them there that it was Cyrann who sent you."
"Oh yes. Absolutely. Cyrann. Yes. Let's go," Dinias said, sounding as stunned as Isilla felt.
"We would not want to confuse any...folk," Tangisen added. Pendray opened her mouth to say something. Tangisen kicked her.
"Good." The Hippogriff—Cyrann—turned around and trotted back to its Flight. Isilla thought the hippogriff moved amazingly well for something whose legs were so mismatched. A few moments later, the Flight was airborne once more.
"Well," Isilla said, into the stunned silence. "You heard it. We should make haste to Arevethmonion."
"Yes," Dinias said. "Because it's where we belong. What alliance? And what's a Woodwose?"
"Something that belongs in a Flower Forest, of course," Isilla said, shrugging. "As for the alliance, I suppose we'll find out sometime. Let's go."
no subject
Date: 2020-09-05 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-07 04:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-08 10:01 pm (UTC)Please keep up the good work!
no subject
Date: 2020-09-10 05:34 pm (UTC)Is this after the High King has made the alliance with the Otherfolk?
no subject
Date: 2020-09-10 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-02 12:03 pm (UTC)Yay!
Date: 2020-10-21 01:17 am (UTC)New Wings of Fate
Date: 2020-12-08 07:01 pm (UTC)Hope y'all are well in all this craziness!
-GftedWldOne
Merry Christmas and happy new year!
Date: 2020-12-15 05:26 pm (UTC)