The Dragon's Spine - Another Excerpt

When I was writing The Dragon's Spine I wrote three flashback scenes. I wanted to add a bit more to Krullus's back story and history, and I thought this was the best way to do it. Also, I rather like flashbacks - I'm not sure why, but I find them useful, interesting, and if used well (which I hope I have) they don't feel like you're shoving information down a reader's throat. I know I hate that feeling as a reader (and a consumer). So, this is the last of the flashback scenes, and the last of the excerpts from The Dragon's Spine that I'll be putting up here. I hope you enjoy.

“You know you don't have to go, my son,” his father said. The man was older now; weak with age and illness.

The young man was now just that – a man. His red hair was wild and long, down to his shoulders. His face sported the beginning of a fine beard.

“You remember I asked you a question a long time ago,” it was a statement from the young man, not a question.

“I remember, my son,” his father replied. “It was 'why do people kill other people?'. We spoke about it a couple of times.”

His son nodded, fastening his chain armor securely. He picked his sword off the table, testing the new blade's balance, before sheathing it in his scabbard.

“It was something I'd hoped to answer properly before a day like this came,” his father continued. “So you'd be ready.”

“I think you answered it as best you could, sir,” the young man said.

“But it wasn't really the answer you were looking for.”

The young man looked to his father, placed a strong but kind hand on the older man's shoulder.

“It taught me something, though,” he said. “You taught me something important.”

“And what is it you've learnt, my son?”

“Sometimes the answers we receive are not the ones we want to hear. But they are answers just the same.”

His father nodded, his gaze following his son as he picked his pack up, tested its weight, and slung it over his shoulders.

“The important thing is to ask the questions we need to ask, and to deal with the answers we receive as best we can,” the young man said. “And if we can, to find a truth we can live with.”

“Why do people kill other people, my son?” his father asked after a long pause.

“It doesn't matter what other people do,” the young man said. “I cannot control that. I can only control my own actions, and answer for them when asked.”

His father thought about this, as his son made his way to the door.

“Why will you kill other people?” his father asked at last.

“Because I must,” Krullus said as he left, closing the door behind him.

The Dragon's Spine - An Excerpt

With The Dragon's Spine now being available from a variety of sources (see here for information) I realized that Amazon doesn't actually provide the Look Inside option for this like it did for Eria. So, I decided to make another except available. The first excerpt can be found here. Enjoy!

“Do you remember once asking me why people killed other people, my son?” his father asked.

His son, now in his mid-teens, almost as large a man as his father, nodded.

“Back then we were hunting animals. Since then you've learnt that sometimes we don't just hunt animals. Sometimes we have to defend against animals. Like the wolves that attacked the sheep flocks outside of Stalam last season. Or the bears that were killing travelers on the road to Tenford a few years back.”

“Didn't we have to hunt the bears?” his son asked. “We tracked them down, like we would the animals we hunt for food.”

“True,” his father said. “We did track them, and use all the skills we use when we hunt. The difference was our motivation.”

His son thought this over for a while before speaking again.

“We hunted the bears because they were hunting us,” he said. “We don't normally hunt them for food. We hunted them for our survival.”

“Exactly!” his father said. “In some cases we kill other people for survival. There are situations when we have no choice. If someone attacks us with the intent of killing us, we either defend ourselves, or we die.”

His son nodded again. His father could see that he had other questions to ask, so he continued.

“That doesn't answer the real question you asked, though, does it, my son?”

“No, sir.”

“I think the important thing to consider is the motivation behind the act of killing,” his father said. “Killing a person is about emotion. For some the emotion is greed – they want what the other person has. For others it is hate – they don't like the other person. People kill out of fear, envy, vengeance. Kings send whole armies of people out to kill others to satisfy their emotions.”

“Why do the armies fight?” his son asked. “Each soldier doesn't feel the same emotion of the King.”

“True,” his father said. “Other emotions drive the soldiers. Loyalty, pride, patriotism. Sometimes, though, they fight because they need to feed their families, or, if the King is wicked, to protect their family from him.”

He looked at his son for a long time before continuing.

“At the end of the day, what I said to you the last time still holds true, though. Some people kill simply because they can.”

A Lot Goes On (But Nothing Happens)

I've had a song by Ben Lee stuck in my head lately. The title is ripped from the chorus of the song. Most of you will probably not know who Ben Lee is, but that's okay. I can wait here while you open a new tab, search him out on Google, and maybe watch a YouTube clip or two. I find, despite his age (and I know age doesn't mean squat sometimes compared to talent and ability) that some of his stuff is rather insightful.

I've moved house. I made the long drive north (about 16 hours all told, that I managed in one go) to be closer to my daughter (who I may or may not get to see more often now), to increase my chances of finding not only a good job, but one that pays good money (I've had a couple of interviews for one job that will pay more than I've ever been paid before), and to get away from the place I was staying (things were becoming a little crowded and claustrophobic for me). One of my friends once (well, more than once, but you know what I mean) that it doesn't matter where you go, or who you spend your time with, you're always there, and you have to learn to love yourself. Most of the time I tolerate myself, but I'm pretty sure that's not what she means.

I'm still really settling in here - it hasn't even been two weeks yet. I still need to make the space I have my own, get back into a bit of a routine with my writing (which, sadly, has been on the back burner trying to get settled here), and get a bed (something which is a more expensive endeavor than I had thought).

I'm well and truly no longer engaged. I'm not really sure where I am even at with that relationship. I still love the girl, want to spend the rest of my life with her, but she's in the USA and I am not, and she's in a state of transition (after a fashion) herself. I spend some of my days sad, lonely, and wondering what I'm doing. Is it any wonder I want to escape into a world of fantasy that I (mostly) control?

The Dragon's Spine is now up for sale at a variety of places. The Amazon link is at the top of the page (and through the magic of technology, you can just click on the name!), as is the Eria link. You can also find it at Drive Thru Fiction and Bygone Futures. I've teamed up with the wonderful Vince Kingston from Bygone Futures for this, and future projects, because I like what Vince does, and he's a wonderful guy. You should check out his stuff. I think he's really going to go places. The Drive Thru Fiction and Bygone Futures versions include a couple of formats, because not everyone has/uses a Kindle or Kindle software (or so I've been told). Eria will also be re-released through both of those sites soon, so, if that's been a concern for some people, be concerned no more!

Lastly, but not leastly, there is already a wonderful review of The Dragon's Spine on the Amazon site (but you would have noticed that when you clicked on the link to check it out, right?). I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it until people tell me to stop (well, maybe once or twice after that) - I love reviews. They really give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. It's great to know that someone not only enjoyed something that I've created, but they also took the time to tell the world at large about it.

Okay, that's me done rambling again. Hopefully the next update will be less of a ramble, and by then (hopefully) I'll have some exciting writing news, a new bed, a job, or a combination of those things.

The Dragon's Spine

Today I finished the "first draft" of the story I was working on (the working title was Krullus, but the actual title will be) The Dragon's Spine. It also went from a short story to a novella. It seems I seriously underestimated the length of the story, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

It needs a few runs through the editing machine, but so far I'm quite happy with it. The editing process, I think, should be fairly painless this time around, partially due to the length (it weighs in at just over 13,000 words), and partially due to the way it was written.

With The Dragon's Spine I was really editing as I was writing. Initially, as I was sitting down to write for the day, I would start at the beginning, reading and editing as I went, to get the creative juices well and truly flowing, as well as to tighten the whole thing up. As things progressed, I would start at a story break, rather than at the beginning. When I reached the end of the "editing" part, I found I just flowed straight into the writing for the day. It was quite seamless. It was also a good way to write, at least for me, on this particular story.

So, what's it about?

The story is set in the Eria universe, several hundred years before the novel. It focuses on a young warrior Krullus, and his two companions - a mage, Aldor, and a rogue, Nystar, and their trip to The Dragon's Spine Mountains. Rumors abound about the mountains, and Krullus, having found no one that claims to have been to the mountains, decides to go there himself. Why has no one else been there before? Is there really a dragon under the mountain?

I'm not going to give away any more than that - where would the fun in that be?

I will say, however, that I went in to the final phases of the story with two possible endings in mind, and in the end (after a fashion) used both. Yeah - I didn't think it was possible, but it was, and it worked, I think. I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks when it hits the Kindle bookshop!

A Long Overdue Update

I've been away on holidays. I know the internet doesn't take a holiday, but I'm human, haven't been away for over a year, and so I took a couple of weeks off. I had planned on posting while I was away, but the internet gods were not happy at all with my mobile internet device, which was both odd and annoying.

So, what did I get up to? Lots of driving (15 hours each way, plus a few smaller trips of 2 to 4 hours thrown in for good measure), visiting my daughter that I haven't seen in nearly 2 years (yes, I have a daughter - she'll be 5 this year), catching up with a variety of old friends (school, old gaming friends, ex-house mates), visiting the places I once lived and frequented, and some good old fashioned chillaxing.

It wasn't all fun, though. My return trip was interrupted by a series of floods, and I came up close and personal with some floodwater (which is not good in the early hours of the morning when you've been driving all night and hit it at highway speeds). That which does not kill me can only clean my car.

As a result of my trip, one of my friends has offered me her spare room if I want to move back to that part of the world, which I will more than likely be taking her up on. I lived in Brisbane for the best part of 2 decades, most of my Australian friends live there (or close by), and the employment opportunities are (at a rough estimate) about 50 times what I have here. Don't get me wrong, living here has allowed me to pay off debts and save a wad of money, but my social life has been non-existent, and of late I have just felt myself getting in more and more of a rut. A big, ugly, frustrating rut. So, unless a brilliant, high paying, challenging, rewarding job with room for advancement comes my way by Easter, I'm moving.

Enough about me.

February was my best full month for sales of Eria, which is just awesome. It's nice to know that people are still buying and (hopefully) reading my novel. Additionally, I had a couple of reviews, which is very nice. It's a great feeling.

My current story about Krullus is moving along nicely. I really like the way it is coming together. It's longer than I'd anticipated at the outset, but it's still in short(ish) story country. All going well, I'd like to have it finished and out there by the end of the month. Watch this space - I'll be sure to keep y'all posted.

I've also been making a few notes about a follow-up story featuring Krullus. There's more to say about him that just doesn't fit with the current story (well, not without making it feel forced). My only concern (if that is the right choice of words) now is that it might not be a short story, or a series of short stories, but a full blown novel. We'll see once I lay out all the notes and ideas.

As well as Krullus, I've been making some notes for a sequel to Eria. There's some good stuff in there, and I'm definitely interested in pursuing it. I'm not going to say much more about that just yet, however.

Last, but by no means least, I've got some ideas for 3 short stories. One is a playful little story about Dren. The second is a less-playful story about Bædyr. And the final one is about Zelton. More about those later, when they are more than just ideas, and I have something better to say about them.


That's where things stand at the moment. Busy, exciting times ahead, for me, and for my writing. Hopefully I'll have something fun for y'all to read soon!

Krullus - An Excerpt

Since I've been posting a lot of old stories I've written, I thought today I'd post an excerpt from something I'm currently working on. It's a flashback scene from the short story I'm writing. I quite like it. Whether or not it makes it into the final version remains to be seen...

“Sometimes killing can be the easy part,” his father said. “Just keep in mind that skinning and butchering the animal is what is important. You can kill a dozen boars, but if you don't have the stomach, or the knowledge, to get the meat, you've wasted your time.”

The young boy nodded, brushing his red hair out of his eyes as his father pulled the spear from the dead boar.

“I'll show you how it's done this time, but pay attention, because the next time we go out hunting it'll be your turn.” He smiled at the boy. “And we wouldn't want your mother going hungry, would we?”

“No, sir,” he said, the boy crouching beside his father as he took out his knives and began showing his son how to work on the carcass.

“Some people use all of the beast – the skin, the meat, the organs, the eyes – all of it,” he said as he sliced through the boar's hide and into the flesh underneath. “And some people use very little. The people of Vagross, for example. Sure, they use the hides to make their packs, saddles, armor and the like, but they only take the meat when they need it. Sometimes they don't take it at all.”

“Why is that, sir?”

“They don't think they need it, I suppose. They figure that the hides are what are important, at least to them. I guess they figure there will always be enough animals to skin, and not all of them need to be eaten.”

“It seems like a waste.”

“Some people don't take anything at all,” his father said. “They hunt for fun. Or for sport. That's the real waste.”

The boy nodded, and they crouched in silence for a while, his father working on dividing the carcass into sections, getting the boy to wrap the pieces in cloth to keep the flies and other insects from getting to the meat. When they were done, there was little left except for the blood soaked earth where the dead boar had once lain.

“Why do people kill other people?” the boy asked at last, as they packed the wrapped boar into wet sacks to keep it cool for the trip back home.

His father thought for a long time before answering.

“That's a much bigger question,” he said at last. “The answer can be very long and very complicated.”

The boy nodded once more.

“We should probably talk about it properly soon, though,” his father said. “It's important that you know. For now I'll give you the short answer.”

The boy looked expectantly at his father, brushing his hair out of his eyes once more.

“Because they can,” he simply said.

Krullus - A Short (?) Story

Firstly, there were no blog updates last week, but you probably noticed that - I could pretend that it was due to a lot of things - I was busy at work, I was writing, I was changing my ISP, my netbook crashed - but the real reason is that I went away for a few days to visit with family, and my netbook was left sitting at the end of the bed, all ready to go into the bag that it never went into.

With that out of the way, on with the topic at hand!

I started writing a short story the other day about one of the characters that is mentioned, albeit briefly, in Eria - Krullus. The only thing that anyone who has read Eria knows about Krullus is from the one line in the novel:

'Surely you recognize the Sword of Kings,' Bædyr said. 'The weapon wielded by my father, Zandor, and his father before him, bestowed by the ancient Kings of Eria, handed down to the first King, Krullus, by Pael himself!"

 It's not a lot to go on.

I know who Krullus is, and I thought I might write something so that everyone else could find out a bit more about him. So, I started writing a short story. And, as happens, Real Life reared its ugly head, and I had to put it on the shelf for a few days. At which point my subconscious decided that the story really needed another character added to it. I thought about it, and it made sense, so I thought about the implications of the re-write and what it'd do to the story, and it seemed okay, so I did what I normally do, and slept on it. The next day my subconscious decided that, instead of the one additional character, it really needed two. I thought about it some more, and realized that this was actually an even better idea. We'll see how it pans out, I suppose.

I love the way my subconscious does that - contributes to the writing process while I'm asleep. It keeps things fresh and flowing for me, even if it does result in several re-writes along the way.

So, the plan is for a short story, at the moment. I put it that way, because these things have a way of escalating - like going for "one beer" after work on a Friday sometimes results in you sneaking in at 6am on Saturday morning.

As to what to do with the short story, I'll throw it out onto Amazon for 99 cents, and see what happens. But I'll talk about that more on Friday!