Milo shook off the stun from a near-miss with a cannonball and two falls. The damage was only from the explosion and three painful splinters, but he was running low on health. Strangely, no one was trying to immediately kill him. He climbed the short ladder and checked the hatch he'd fallen through, finding it hopelessly jammed.
Nearby, ...
Vacation is lovely. Writing goes well. The only problem is a 15" screen when I'm used to working on a 32" at home. It makes editing more of a chore. So writing now, editing later. I hope you don't mind three Milo chapters today. Sleeping for 12 hours solid both nights has made writing so much easier.
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"Dammit, c...
I'm taking an actual vacation starting in a couple of days, and traveling less than 100 miles to Ocean City NJ. I rented a house sort of by the beach and boardwalk in the quiet part of time. All the grown kids will be there along with my first grandchild, Alice. I plan on spending lots of quality park and beach time with Alice. And most of the r...
2024-08-15 18:27:13 +0000 UTC View PostQuite aware that I left the last chapter ending on a cliffhanger, I bring you a second chapter today. This one may need fine-tuning on the numbers, but the mayhem is ready to go.
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Claudia saw the doors open and the quartet of cannons appear and knew what was going to happen. It was the perfect ambush for troops: Grapeshot ...
Claudia watched the preparations with some amusement as she ate a plate of food supplied by the Butcher. She had brought up half of her troops to the end of the narrow street, formed up and ready to charge. Behind them, the Butcher and Caldrius were stuffing their faces with smoked meat that had been produced from his curious storage bag. The fi...
2024-08-11 18:56:05 +0000 UTC View PostWhat had been an open-air market in a poorer part of the city was now a beautiful winter carnival, the tattered awnings, and fish stalls covered in a shining layer of ice and frost. The beauty was marred by the dozens of people huddled under blankets and cloaks in the streets leading to it, suffering from chills and frostbite. A few healers move...
2024-08-09 01:09:22 +0000 UTC View PostAboard the Iron Orca, Captain Annie swirled the rum in a half-finished bottle, drank down two inches of the potent drink, then cursed and threw it at the crow's nest. The lookout, a veteran of many voyages, not only avoided being hit with the bottle but snagged it in midair and yelled her thanks to the captain.
"Bad Rum?" Her fir...
Two men and a wagon traveled through the busy streets of Wolfsburg, talking as they went. Cauldius had just finished telling Ozzy about his life in the Mage Guild and the highlights of his latest camping trip, including the native cooking traditions.
"Damn, they cook using fresh lava from a volcano? I know kobolds are fire-happy, but that...
Horridragh hadn't slept well lately, tossing and turning in his muddy bed, partly wrapped around a rocky outcropping. Over and over he had fallen into an exhausted dream, only for the dream to turn into a nightmare where one of the Great Beasts was stalking him. The panic of the dread and the pain of his cracked tooth would combine to wake him u...
2024-08-04 03:15:38 +0000 UTC View PostEverything slowed to a crawl for Milo and things snapped into place. His annoyance with the Eel was recognized as the feelings of the great beasts in his dreams, and the lingering antagonism he felt toward the Snake, Ooblimilo, and the slaver's annoying little dragon. Especially the snake. And he had to admit that he wanted to test...
2024-08-01 23:20:25 +0000 UTC View PostThe runic formation wavered as he lost some of his concentration, then firmed again. Milo had become distracted by the last two crew to come aboard. Both were female dwarves dressed similarly to the crew of Leviathan, and both were quite drunk. That seemed to bother no one. The two cheerfully hurled insults at everyone and moved to the bow of th...
2024-08-01 19:45:35 +0000 UTC View PostPantsing vs. Planning
This discussion pops up in writing groups for web serials almost weekly. 'Pantsing' or 'Writing by the seat of your pants' means just tossing down the ideas as they come to you. I do a ton of that. Partly because I think about upcoming chapters a lot. By contrast, some people meticulously plan things out chapter by chapt...
"Master Rastfian! Another pulse of mana, and I've noticed something odd. Frost forms on the stone after each pulse. It was hard to see at first, but it lasted longer before melting this time."
Rastfian knelt by the stone and could tell it was slowly gaining mana. It was already mostly full, thanks to the generosity of the Baron of Gadobhr...
Once again, Arthamax struggled against his icy prison. It was increasingly frustrating to be trapped here. True, the temperature was ideal and the flow of mana through his body quite invigorating, but his lack of mobility was a source of growing anxiety. He'd repeatedly commanded the Ice Mages to free him from his prison of ice and stone, but th...
2024-07-21 21:04:20 +0000 UTC View PostClimbing to the rooftops, Milo stayed as high as he could to get the best view of what was going on. After climbing to the top of the highest house near the docks, a large compound with a seven-story main tower, he got his first view of the entire sunlit end of the city.
And it was chaos incarnate.
The harbor was clogged with row...
Milo is heading back to Shadowport. He hasn't been in the game much lately. Or has he?
Knight of the Jackelope was a tongue-in-cheek story I started posting on Patreon where Larry and Milo visit Sedgewick. Some readers encouraged me to actually do it officially. And that's what happened over in Butcher of Gadobhra.
Chapt...
A short chapter, and then we dive back into the world of Genesis. I'm starting the next chapter immediately as well as a good Synopsis of the crossover for people who haven't read Butcher of Gadobhra yet.
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After food and a short nap, Milo went to find Belinda. She was in the middle of the park ...
Ozzy was up early the next morning, long before dawn. Sneaking down the stairs, he grabbed a loaf of bread from the kitchen and started to head out the door to the butcher shop. An angry voice stopped him and he heard someone coming down the stairs from above. "How many times have I told you? No eating my fresh loaves. If you're hungry, I'll coo...
2024-07-15 16:59:43 +0000 UTC View Post"The beast is unhappy, complaining, and struggling against us."
"Of course it is. It's a Dragon. A Dragon hates to be confined, controlled, ordered about, or told what to do, even by another Dragon of greater rank. This one in particular has an overinflated hubris. It's pinned beneath hundreds of tons of rubble and can't move. The only fo...
The smell of chamomile tea tipped Ben off to his guest as he approached the door to his home in the livery stable. To be honest, he wasn't totally surprised. Diego came by to talk on a regular basis and often stayed the night rather than return to Rowan Keep. He'd become somewhat of a fixture in the area, taking long walks to visit with everyone...
2024-07-14 18:14:58 +0000 UTC View Posthttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D98Y54PL
And yes, the fur color is off. :) That was supposed to adjusted to grey when the yellow from the explosion tinted the fur.
Everyone is tired. Milo, the Alphabet, and me. Somehow, the words start flowing the later it gets.
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Preparing Jeremy's pod took Milo an hour. His mobile batteries supplied power, although the pod's internal batteries lasted for at least a week. Milo didn't want to take a chance of failure. His little ...
Milo watched as Llama and Icarus got reacquainted. Hecate watched as well. She turned to Milo and Rusty, "What are your plans now?"
Rusty pumped his fist in the air. "Victory dance, and non-stop fun watching my favorite shows with friends. And, Milo is going to let me play Run, Run, Ramona."
"Nope."
"Please!? You let my brot...
The Baron of Gadobhra dismissed the system message then stood and looked at the Knight. "Got a contract on you? And which one of you is a lawyer? You have to divulge your legal team when you come visiting, otherwise, they can be legally shot out of season."
The mages looked confused and the knight bristled, "We have come with an offer of ...
So much going on in this chapter. I'm going to have to read it tomorrow to remember what I wrote. I started it near midnight and it just rolled on out for the next two hours. Certain things happened that I have been thinking about for awhile, and snuck into the story. It moves us closer to a return of Tallsqueak to Genesis and some R and R for ...
2024-07-08 05:39:19 +0000 UTC View PostAfter the electrical storm of the day before, the skies over Gadobhra were clear and the air brisk. A strong wind out of the north brought the smell of snow and the temperature began to drop. The city cared little. Winter or summer was all the same to the creatures of the dungeons and the Beast Woods. Hungrytown had feared the coming winter, but...
2024-07-07 23:37:41 +0000 UTC View PostLong after the rest of the family had gone to bed, Ozzy sat in the guest room, sipping on a bottle of Vassily's brandy. It was good stuff, and he was finally starting to feel the alcohol hit him. Regular beer and wine, and even something harder like brandy, had little chance of making him drunk unless he drank a huge amount quickly. Thirty large...
2024-07-06 01:04:05 +0000 UTC View PostI've been trying to write this chapter all day. Didn't know where to start, only had parts in the middle. Finally started with Llama's perspective and things started rolling along after hours of not seeing how the puzzle fit together. This is RAW, I just finished, and need sleep. Will edit typos tomorrow.
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"I bid,....I bid 125 thousand."
"126."
The auctioneer sighed. "Sir, as was stated in the rules of the auction: After bidding breaches the level of 100 thousand or more, all bids must be increases of 5000 gold pieces over the last bid. I don't wish to be here all day when you two start bidding a silver at a time."
"Right, well, 130 t...
Ozzy got a few stares as he pulled the heavily laden wagon through the streets of Wolfsburg. Most people saw a man pulling a wagon, not unknown in a world where Teamsters and other specialized tradesmen could gain skills in hauling and lifting. But some had more knowledge of wagons and freight. They noticed the extra-wide wheelbase and the extra...
2024-06-30 20:21:28 +0000 UTC View Post