I’m very good with deadlines. They are never a problem for me. I see a job from far out and I get started on it weeks ahead of time. Usually the post you are reading now would have been done a week ago at least. Maybe even longer. This time though, it is late on… Continue reading No Way Forward
Tag: inspiration
The Guardian of the Path
In the afterlife of the mountain, or the Death Dream, if you are the Blood of the Lion and you so choose, you can find a hidden path. That path will take you to a city locked away by the shamans, a place of banishment, a place forbidden. The City of the Elephants is here.… Continue reading The Guardian of the Path
A Ray of Hope
Not much can give you hope when you are just out of high school with no prospects. My family didn’t value education. I came from a family where I was the first in my line to graduate high school. My senior year caught me flat footed. By the time I looked up, it was too… Continue reading A Ray of Hope
Pride and Joy
It’s 1990. I’m 14 years old. I’m sitting in front of the TV waiting for the commercial to finish because my favorite show of all time is coming on. I am about to watch MTV Unplugged. My life is about to change forever. I’m not telling it right. First I have to give you my… Continue reading Pride and Joy
The Man in the Clouds
My life is like no one else’s. It takes a genius like my wife to design the kind of life I live, a beautiful, driven and devastating mind to build and up keep the construct I wander through. It scares me how perfect it is in its creation and how delicate it has become, how… Continue reading The Man in the Clouds
The Old Man’s Song
I never knew his name. My parents did. They knew him well. He was a friend to my stepfather, a pillar of my neighborhood, a person the adults all respected. We just called him The Old Man. The Old Man was grouchy. As I look back on him now, I can see that he was… Continue reading The Old Man’s Song
The Goddess
She was crying. I was in a cardboard cut-out restaurant, a place we have seen over and over again, trying to eat a meal without a soul while I stole glances at my college Lit book. And this girl was weeping. It was the kind of crying you do when your heartbreak is new, when… Continue reading The Goddess
Haunted by the Nameless Boy
It’s all in the name. One name can propel a story for me. One fantastic name can make or break it all. I have gotten lucky and created a few great names. Saykobar Hesh, Volacha Brinchay, Kolaster Vagan, Tobin the Treefrog, Rayph Ivoryfist—all these names crafted the character for me. They all brought that character… Continue reading Haunted by the Nameless Boy
The Hope of the Nation
On October 5th my fifth book Song will be released. The cast is led by a wizard named Rayph Ivoryfist. Many and varied are the shades of his personality, and wild and rampant are his powers. He is scary to write for many reasons. How do I challenge a character this powerful? How do I… Continue reading The Hope of the Nation