Category: Independent Author

The first time they met – An excerpt from “Forever Avalon”

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This week, I’ll be signing copies of The Dark Tides at my first book signing at Barnes and Noble in Easton, Penn., on Wednesday, May 20, at 7 pm. I thought I would kick things off with an excerpt from my the first book in the series, Forever Avalon. This is the book that started it all for me as an independent author and, for anyone who hasn’t had a chance to read it yet, I want to give you a glimpse into the world of Forever Avalon as you to read about the first encounter between the Gil-Gamesh and his family, just after they arrived on the island.

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51nd6H6sATL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_“We need get moving and get you somewhere safe before more bounty hunters come looking for you,” he said as he walked past them and down the beach. “Everyone, follow me.”

“No!” Stephanie shouted. “We aren’t going anywhere with you until you tell me who you are, what’s going on here and where the Hell we are, because this certainly ain’t Bermuda! I mean, I appreciate you saving my life and my children’s lives, but we’re not going anywhere with you until I get some answers,” she demanded.

The Gil-Gamesh stopped in his tracks. He shrugged his shoulders, shook his head and sighed. “You’re still as stubborn as I remember,” he said as he turned around and stared at her. “And still as beautiful too.”

Stephanie was stunned by what he said to her. Puzzled, she started to look at him very closely. She pulled her children in close, as if to protect them. “What? What do you mean? Who are
you?”

The Gil-Gamesh reached up, pulled the metal sheath off his face and dropped it to the ground. He pulled the hood of his cloak down, revealing long brown hair, peppered with streaks of gray at his temples. His face was older since they last saw him. He had a beard now with streaks of gray running through it. It covered a face they remembered as neat and clean-shaven. In his eyes, they saw something familiar. There was a look of pride … one of caring and love.

Stephanie saw her husband, Bryan Drake. The children saw their father, and he was alive. The shock was overwhelming, but the joy even greater.

“Daddy!” the children shouted in unison, running over to him. He knelt down and reached out—hugging his children close—feeling the warmth and love he thought he’d lost. He held them in his arms, his grip tighter and stronger than they remember, as he kissed each one of them.

“I’d never thought I’d see these wonderful faces again for as long as I live,” he exclaimed as tears welled up in his eyes.

Hunter held his father’s face in his hands, pulling it so Bryan would look right at him. “What happened to you Daddy?” he asked.

“Yeah, when’d you get all medieval?” Rose chimed in.

“You’ve got that 80’s rocker look with your hair, Dad. It’s so retro,” Ashley added, stroking her father’s hair.

Bryan just smiled and laughed. “Well, it’s a long story.” He stopped and looked past the children over at Stephanie. She stared at him and wondered if what she saw was real or just an illusion.
Bryan let go of his children and walked over to her. He took off his gloves, reached out and touched her face.

“Still as beautiful as in my dreams,” he told her, sweetly and sincerely. She reached up and touched his hand. She spied the wedding band on his finger—the one she put there over 20 years ago.

“Bryan, is it really you?”

He pulled her close and kissed her passionately. She’s hesitant but melted in his arms when she realized it’s really him. Stephanie wrapped her arms around him and returned the kiss, reigniting the passion and love she thought she’d lost.

He released her, still looking into her eyes. They’re both crying as tears ran down their cheeks. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed waking up to this face.”

She smiled at hearing that. “No, I look terrible,” she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. Then, reality sank back in and a thousand questions came to mind.

She pushed off him and got very serious, very fast. “Bryan, what’s going on? Where the Hell are we and why are you dressed like that?” she demanded.

The kids then chimed in with their questions. “What were those creatures? Were they really trolls?” Ashley asked. “How did you make that dragon appear? Are you a wizard or
something?” Rose inquired. “Those swords are so wicked … can I see them?” Hunter jumped in.

Bryan put his hands up to quiet them down, “Sh-h-h … all right, listen to me,” he said. “I know you have a lot of questions, but right now, I need to get you somewhere safe.” Stephanie tried to interject, but Bryan interrupted her. “Listen to me, Stef; there are more hunters like Biscuit out there looking for you,” he said, calling her by that familiar nickname he always called her.

“And I can’t protect you out in the open like this.” He walked down the beach in the direction he was heading before. “There’s a lighthouse just a few miles down the beach,” he said pointing
the way. “You’ll be safe there, and I promise, once we get there I’ll answer all your questions.”

Stephanie looked at Bryan, not sure whether to believe him or not. “Please Stef, you have to trust me. This is not the time or the place to sit down and talk. We need to get moving … now!”

She saw the honesty in his eyes and sensed the danger he mentioned as being very real. She didn’t want to endanger her children, so she had no choice.

* * *

I hope to see you there at my book signing. I always love the opportunity to speak with people about the story behind my book series.

Writer’s Block and, uh, well … How to get past it as quickly as possible, nor not!

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writers-block-text-cubeI’ve been sitting here for the past five minutes, trying to figure out what to write my next blog about, but I hit a wall. Writer’s block can be a royal pain in the … Wait a minute, that’s it! Writer’s block!

Writer’s block can and always will be the angst of anyone who spent time writing everything from a term paper to the great novel; but it’s especially frustrating for new authors like me. You have all these great ideas swirling around your head but every time you try to put pen to paper or hands to keyboard, it just won’t come out.

When I started writing my first novel, Forever Avalon, I found it rather easy to write. During the two years I spent writing, the words flowed quite freely. That changed when I started writing the next book in the Forever Avalon series, The Dark Tides.

Before I go any further, I need to provide you with a little bit of background on my novels. Forever Avalon is about a Sailor who falls overboard during a storm at sea and finds himself on the magical island of Avalon. A year later, his family follows him and ends up on the island with him, but time passes differently on Avalon so one year for them has been ten years for him.

That being said, when I started writing the next book in the series, I originally wanted to do a prequel, focusing on the 10 years Bryan MoonDrake spent on Avalon before his family showed up. It started out easy for me. The story flowed as easily as my first novel. Then, I hit the wall.

No matter what I tried, I just lost my train of thought. I spent months writing about 1/3 of the book and I was stumped with a bad case of writer’s block. Nothing helped getting me back on track, so I just walked away. I had to take a step back for the time being until I knew where I wanted to go with the story.

I knew the story I wanted to tell but I just couldn’t translate that on paper. It was so frustrating. All the while, I kept having thoughts and dreams of the next chapter of the story, picking up where I left off. Then … Light bulb!

I started writing again, but this time I continued the the adventures of the MoonDrake family as their daughter Ashley returned to Avalon with her new husband Andrew for a honeymoon on a medieval fantasy world.

The problem was, I didn’t want to lose the huge amount of work I already put in on the prequel. That’s when I decided to use those pages as flashbacks to help move the story along. This was something I saw before in a great novel by Robert McCammon called The Wolf’s Hour.

In my 30 years as a journalist and author, I have found that the best cure for writer’s block is to walk away, collect your thoughts and then get back in there and break though. You have to keep writing, no matter what you do.

Writer Meme

I also realized that you always have to go with your gut. I ignored the idea of continuing the Forever Avalon story right where I left off because I had my heart set on writing a prequel. It was because of that writer’s block that I finally put myself on the right path and was able to writer The Dark Tides.

Do let writer’s block stop you from finishing your work, use it get yourself on the right track and tell the story you were meant to write.

Adding faith and religion to novels without preaching to the choir

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faith-3I want to start out by saying that this blog post is not meant to demean or insult anyone’s faith or religion, quite the opposite. I want to talk about how I incorporated my faith and religious beliefs in my novels as a writer.

When I was deployed overseas, the one thing we were regularly briefed about was to never talk politics or religion with people we encountered in the foreign ports. These were considered taboo as they can change the tone of a discussion rather quickly, and I tend to agree, especially in this day and age. In any discussion about religion, you might find yourself hit from the left and the right.

I don’t really consider myself a religious person. I believe and put all my faith in God for what happens in my life but I have been hurt by “organized religion” on more than one occassion so I distrust the church. I have found myself coming back to it, though, through the teachings of Joel Osteen. His sermons are quite inspirational and are giving me hope in the church again.

When you try to translate faith into writing, it can be rather difficult: Your “one-on-one” connection with God is very personal and you don’t want someone to get angry reading your book if they’re looking for a fantasy novel and instead find a Sunday School lesson. I approached it to reflect my own faith through the faith of my characters.

Here are a couple of examples. In my book, The Dark Tides, as Captain Edan O’Brian is about to take the Morning Star on a cliff run , he recites an old Sailor’s prayer:

“Though my sails be torn and ragged and my mast be turned about; though the night wind chills me to my soul. Though spray stings my eye and the stars no sight provide, give me just enough Lord ‘til morning light to hold.”

This was a simple prayer yet it conveyed so much about a Sailor’s faith in God to help him through the worst conditions. That was the same faith I carried with me through my 23-year career in the U.S. Navy.

Another great example from The Dark Tides is Sarafina’s prayer before the goblin attack at the Battle of Merlin’s Pinnacle:

“Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. My fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield; and the One in whom I take refuge. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit … Amen.”

This was a warrior’s prayer and, as most of my fellow veterans can atest to, is an example of faith and courage before impending battle. These prayers were the best way I found to profess my own faith in God through my stories without turning them into a sermon.

That’s how I believe faith acts within our lives; a simple yet profound belief that God is there for you, in good times and bad. It is that faith that carries us through our life and into the next. Whatever your faith may be, I hope you are blessed in all that you do.

The great search for what to write about, better known as “Research Hell”

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The-writer2-e1374715549958As both an instructor at the Defense Information School (DINFOS Trained Killer!) and a guest speaker to high school students about writing, I always stress one thing above all … RESEARCH! Youcan’t write the next “Great American Novel” unless you do your research and to that I say, thank God for Google!

I don’t know how I survived high school, college and military “A” school without the internet. I can remember looking things up in gigantic volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica, both at home and at the local library, whenever I had a paper due. Even though they were outdated after a few years, you had to reference them in practically everything you wrote about.

After the internet and home computer came online, the best source for research was Microsoft Encarta. I remember buying it for my home computer so my kids had an available reference tool without having to go online. In the days of 56 kbs, the internet was slow moving and tedious, especially when all we had was dial-up.

Research is the key for any writer, and not just about your subject matter. For both Forever Avalon and The Dark Tides, I based a lot of my story on my own imagination and characters I played during my informative years of Dungeons and Dragons. That’s when I discovered I had a lot of holes in my story that I needed to fill.

So I began researching mythologies of every culture from Norway to Germany and Britain to Africa. I learned how to curse in Viking and used a latin translator program (thank you University of Notre Dame) as the basis for spells. I can’t even begin to imagine how long I would have had to spend in my local library, looking through book after book, tearing through the card catalogue to find every last bit of research I needed.

That’s why I said “thank God for Google!” As much as many of us hate the “Big Brother” aspect of the internet giant, they are an invaluable tool for the writer. Add to that dictionary.com, because you always need to find different ways to say words in a story to avoid repitition.

Most of all, remmeber where every story begins … in the heart and soul of the writer. As I’ve said before, the Forever Avalon series came from recurring dreams after long hours of D&D while deployed thousands of miles from my family. It was in that emotional void that I found the story I was waiting my whole life to tell.