tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39919494055624351862024-02-18T17:59:47.563-08:00Empires Fallingrodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-45456015407292519712014-08-19T19:24:00.000-07:002014-08-19T19:24:51.239-07:00 Empires Falling, Stand Alone Short Stories<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><br />Each short story in the series so far are stand-alone stories. Yes, they do connect to other stories in the future, but they all exist separate from the whole. These stories are designed to show the reader glimpses into the world of Empires Falling. I believe that it will take a minimum of twelve stories to prepare a reader for this grand story.<br />
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<br /> I could have put them together in a novel or stretched them into a series of short novels, but the one thing that you will learn about me as this goes on is that I do not believe in wasting pages. I feel that far too many epic fantasy novels are padded. I have read a few novels in the two hundred thousand word range and thought that a best edit of forty to sixty thousand words would have made a much better book. I think that even the holy grail of fantasy novels these days, the Game of Thrones series of books are a little thicker than they have to be. I love the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Those books were quick reads even though they were long because they maintained a tight focus of core characters. The moral of Lord of the Rings is that even the smallest person can change the world, not the smallest fifty three man football team with a few talking trees along for the ride can talk an evil wizard to death.<br />
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<br /> Epic Fantasy can be amazing if done well, but the biggest obstacle to reaching the broadest audience possible is the text book feel of some of the better novels in the field. I hope to overcome some of this by delivering stories in the eight to fourteen thousand word range to build an audience for my larger works.<br /> At the moment there are four short stories in the series available for purchase online. I hope that you guys will check all of them out and recommend them to others.<br />If you were to ask me which story is the best written, I would say The First Port in the Storm. The cool part of this is that since they are all stand alone stories you can read one and enjoy it without reading the others.<br />
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<br /><br />Thank you for visiting my site. Remember the name Empires Falling and I look forward to having you guys along for the full journey.<br />
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rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-22822554413200472272014-08-18T15:20:00.000-07:002014-08-18T15:21:12.865-07:00 Speaking Demon On Amazon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Speaking Demon On Amazon<br /><br />This will be a quick post to announce that my short story Whispers from a Speaking Demon is now available for sale in its complete form on Amazon for ninety nine cents. <br />The story is exactly forty pages and runs slightly over ten thousand words. I considered adding a prologue to the story in an effort to make it more unique, but it will only be available here to read for two weeks and I intend to pull it from wattpad as well. <br /> When marketing a epic fantasy series the writer almost always ave to give away a story or two to grow the fan base and I intend to do something like that in the month of October. Perhaps posting the first three short stories for a free month as we approach the release of the first novel. <br /> Here is the link <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Empires-Falling-Whispers-Speaking-Demon-ebook/dp/B00MTUG6IY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408398997&sr=1-1" target="_blank">to Amazon.</a> You can also click on the picture below. </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Empires-Falling-Whispers-Speaking-Demon-ebook/dp/B00MTUG6IY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408398997&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><img alt="click" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XhTOslUkMdCcru2cjCBhKcUmbmO4Hlc8SJ0pYAiC1_8Kksd4Ymy8j-7t8nQua76MIFpuAbWHZTyVQmNCYwhZuvLd_I4vhM5gtRCeS3LIZNj9h1_raPTjnOyiM3oI0qyhGoMidTmHJwDx/s1600/cover+number+4.jpg" height="400" width="301" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Empires-Falling-Whispers-Speaking-Demon-ebook/dp/B00MTUG6IY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408398997&sr=1-1" target="_blank">click here.</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you for visiting my blog. Please take a moment to share this post with a friend and to pin the image on Pinterest.</span></div>
rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-78288658670774402052014-08-17T10:10:00.001-07:002014-08-17T10:10:05.559-07:00Empires Falling, Speaking Demon Final Chapters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">I am putting all the final chapters of Whispers from a Speaking Demon together in this post so that you can read them all at once. This post will be available for the next two weeks so enjoy and please take a moment to tell others about this blog and check out the other stories that have been published in the Empires Falling series.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">At the end of these chapters I will offer a few notes about the characters and the future of the stories. Also these chapters are finished prose. What has been published from the story so far has been from the original draft, these chapters are from the version that will be released as an Ebook. The total length of the finished story is slightly over ten thousand words and forty pages even.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you and I hope that you enjoy. <b>Chapters 7 - 11</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Chapter Seven</b><br /><br /><br /> For those infested by a demon there were only three known ways to dispose of one. The person could force it out themselves. It had been known to happen. The second way was the one most often used. Fire would get rid of the demon. Burn the person infected alive and the demon would flee the body. The third way was to employ a sorcerer or sorceress to charm the demon out of the body and then once it was free of the protection of human flesh to use a vanquishing spell to destroy it. <br /> Alemina had known all of this since the age of six and had charmed two demons during her life time. It was having your soul stripped bare to be sniffed over by a creature that was only remotely human in appearance, but so much darker inside than any human being could ever imagine. Being lusted after by her companions while she bathed nude in their presence had been a warm and pleasant experience compared to what those demons had done while she wrestled with them. She knew that these men would happily mount her if offered the opportunity, but not one of them would willingly cause her harm. The thing about being born the way they were was that each of them had been hurt by the world around them. To be born with their gifts made them outsiders the moment those gifts were discovered. Amelina had been lucky where her tribe was concerned. Her people respected those with gifts. They saw her as a gift. Something rare and powerful that was sent to help them.<br /> Now that rare and powerful gift was for sale and that made her walk up to the second floor of the house a sad walk. On the second floor landing she was met by Fulvia, a woman who looked older than time. <br /> “The last two were men.”Fulvia said.<br /> “The last two died here.”Amelina said. She was forever finding herself being reminded that the world equated beauty with weakness. If men had died doing what she was going to attempt then she was bound to die as well. <br /> “So they did.”Fulvia nodded.<br /> Amelina turned her eyes to an empty stool that rested by a chamber door. The massive oak door worried her as much as what was inside. If that door was sealed, it could take half a day to chop through it. Two sorcerers had gone through that door and been killed on the other side. They had gone in there alone and had died alone. The thing that she needed to do had to be done by her alone, but the demon inside the man had been able to open them up. From what she understood one of the two had been left hanging from the ceiling in there by his intestines. That suggested a rare kind of power.<br /> Alone? Amelina mused. No, not alone this time. After all there were no rules on how many could be present while this was being done, only on how many could do it at once.<br /> “Lanzo.”Amelina whispered his name and it was not until she had said it that she knew he was the one that she wanted in there with her. <br /> “You want something?”His voice came from the stairs of which he was nearing the top of. <br /> She waited until he was standing in her shadow before she spoke. <br /> “I think that you should learn how to charm a demon.”That was as close to suggesting that she may need some help that she was willing to come to.<br /> “I suppose that I should see how it is done.”Lanzo responded and was that a hint of sarcasm that she head in his voice? She could have invited Aldo instead, but there was the fact that she had read Lanzo’s future and it was fixed in a massive way that could not be ended here and now. If she knew that then so would the demon. <br /> “So be it. Just keep one thing in mind. That it will constantly lie. It will mix in the truth, but most things will be lies. It knows the past and the future. It will know your fears and desires. Do not talk to it.”Amelina told him. “Lanzo?”<br /> “I will do as I am told.”Lanzo said.<br /> If he did then it would be the first time since she met him.<br /><br /><br /> <b>Chapter Eight</b><br /><br /> The stench of the chamber was unearthly.<br /> Carpus, if not the son of a wealthy man, would have been given to a fire a long time before things reached this point. <br /> “Sorceress will you scream for me when I enter you? Will you bleed like the sow that you are?”The voice came from the shadows that shrouded the bed. At the moment the only light in the chamber was from the lantern that Lanzo carried. <br /> “Lanzo, the torches.”Amelina said.<br /> He did not have to be asked twice. Lanzo turned to the torches mounted beside the door and lit them. The light that they provided penetrated the room, but stopped short of the bed where the demon dwelt. Only as they approached to bed did the light begin to drive the shadows back.<br /> “Essru tulagah.”The speaking demon’s voice came from all around them.<br />Amelina turned her eyes to Lanzo with the obvious question. What did that mean? To her surprise Lanzo actually knew. He did not know the language, but he had heard this in an old story that had been told to him when he was a child. <br /> When the thing that dwells in the darkness finds the reason that it has risked the light it will say essru tulagah, essru tulagah, at last my time has come. If you were to ever hear these words then you should flee or else lose your soul willingly.<br />“At last my time as come.”Lanzo whispered.<br /> “Which will taste sweetest, her flesh, her blood or her soul? Unbind me Lanzo and I will animate her will you indulge your deepest desires.”The demon said.<br /> “You know my name?”Lanzo asked.<br /> “Remember what I told you.”Amelina warned.<br /> “Jump for her. Every moment her hold grows stronger. You are so much more than you realize Conjurer.”<br /> Conjurer? Amelina looked to Lanzo to study him for a moment. Conjurers did not exist anymore. The ability to conjure things into existence was the highest form of magic imaginable and only a few of the demons of legend had that particular skill and no human had that ability since Goblins were amongst the living. Lanzo was still a mystery to her, but that level of power would have announced itself like a whirlwind. <br />This was a lie to distract. It had to be.<br /> “It is time that you go back to the pit that you escaped from. Your time in this<br /> world is over. Would you like to taste wine one last time before you go?”Amelina smiled at the demon staring back at her through human eyes. “I suppose not.”<br /> Amelina dropped down on the edge of the bed, let out a soft whistle to get its full attention and then locked eyes with the demon.<br /> “We meet again I think.”Amelina said and already it was beginning. Once a<br /> sorcerer locked eyes with a demon neither one of them could look away until one or the other had lost the battle. If the demon won, Amelina would become no more than a soulless puppet to be used and tossed aside by the demon. If Amelina won, the demon would be forced to manifest in physical form and once it did it would be easy to destroy it with a vanquishing spell. Demons were venerable to all types of attacks when they were outside of a human host. Their bodies could be killed by a simple blade.<br /> “We are well-met sorceress. Your moment is now.”The speaking demon smiled and the room suddenly became very cold.<br /><br /><br /> <b> Chapter Nine</b><br /> As bad as the presence of the demon was the breath coming from the man it occupied was worse. This creature felt, at a distance, much larger than the one that she had battled before. In its eyes she saw red fire lights. Lights that were its eyes. Such powerful eyes that she wanted to look deeper and deeper into them until she was swimming in them.<br /> So powerful this creature was, Amelina thought as she forced herself to begin the chant of trapping. The same phrase repeated over and over again from a language that dated back before her kind walked the world. Perhaps the very first language. A language created for those who established the foundations of the world and knew the feel of a wind that swept across endless fields and oceans of water long before any thing of flesh and blood knew the burden of life. The words translated the great maker commands you, hear me, the great maker demands that you obey me, yield this flesh and come forth. Come forth. Again and again she repeated it and slowly the world that she occupied began to shimmer and fade at the edges of her perception. The walls that surrounded them rippled like water and then they were as substantial as mist. The floor, the ceiling and the bed that she sat on faded away as well. All that remained after another ten minutes of her chanting was herself, Carpus and the chains that bound him. <br />It was going exactly as her last battle with a demon had gone, but something felt different. With the chant there she had been the feeling of pulling at and shifting an immense weight, but now she felt as if she was just resting in the shadow of something so massive that to see all of it she would have to stare upwards and retreat at least a hundred paces. <br /> I am in water that is too deep to walk through and the current is yet to be felt, Amelina told herself and tried to retreat. The thought of pulling back came at the exact same moment as something invisible reached out for her and grasped at the space that her consciousness had occupied a moment earlier. Needing to see it for what it was Amelina opened the eyes that only existed deep inside her mind and saw the demon for the first time. Saw the vile immensity of it and began to scream. Screaming at first only inside her mind and then her lips stopped forming the words of the chant and gasping little cries began to escape her mouth.<br /> “Now you and I can know each other better. That is it. Scream the ecstasy that only comes with the shedding of the flesh. In dying scream.”The speaking demon let out a laugh that echoed and reverberated off the walls as Amelina’s screams grew louder and louder.<br /><br /> <b>Chapter Ten</b> <br /> Lanzo watched in horror as Amelina threw her head back again and again with each new and more throat tearing scream that came from her. She would scream herself to death if this was not stopped, but there was no way to stop the ceremony once it started without losing the sorceress. <br /> What can I do? Great maker what do I do? Lanzo wondered and as if in response to that question something stung his forearm. His right hand shot inside his sleeve and yanked the crystal that he had secured there free. The crystal had been carried by the sorcerer who had come here and died here for a reason. <br /> “What do you do?”Lanzo asked it and of course heard nothing from the shinny bit of crystal. Amelina screamed again louder than before and for some reason that scream did not cut into him as the last half dozen had. Lanzo was studying the crystal. Swinging it back and forth at the end of its little chain. It really did not look like a crystal at all, but a window. That was crazy, wasn’t it? Of course it looked like a crystal, but when it swayed back and forth it became something else to the naked eye.<br />It became a window.<br /> No.<br /> A door.<br /> Yes, a door.<br /> Lanzo stepped to the side of the bed and began to swing it back and forth between the locked eyes of Amelina and the demon. After a few moments of this the demon’s eyes began to sway and Amelina’s eyes matched those movements. <br /> Lanzo did not know what he was going to say until he heard the words.<br /> “Through the windows I see a room. Through the door we enter. Through the door we enter.”He repeated that over and over as he stared into the crystal. What happened next did not happen slowly, but all at once. He was standing there holding the end of the chain and then he was standing in a room that appeared to be made of green crystal. The inside of the crystal, Lanzo supposed. He turned around hard, feeling another presence and there it was. The demon, twice the size of a man and its scaled skin a grey green that looked dipped in a slime that shone in the light that filled this room. It turned to face Lanzo. The face was hideous with wide red eyes and fangs that were a seemingly endless set of razor sharp teeth. Its body was a mountain of muscles that looked like bands of metal and the appendage between its legs looked as much like a horn as it did a male’s member. <br /> Lanzo circled around the demon to stand between it and Amelina who lay on the floor curled up in a ball whimpering. <br /> “What game is this Conjurer?”The Speaking demon asked.<br /> “You knew that your time had come and gone when you saw me didn’t you?”Lanzo asked. “You know the future so you know that I will stop you?”<br /> “The future forever ripples. Changes. Only what is fixed is fixed.”<br /> “She said that my future had become fixed.”Lanzo said. “Is this so?”<br /> “It swims the eternal river of fire. It has marked you for service, but stay a while. We can feast on flesh. I can teach you much conjurer.”<br /> “You will teach me nothing. You will tell me much. I command you to give me prophecy. You were flung into this world to do this one thing. Allowed to ruin and ravage for this moment speaking demon. Now in your last moments speak, speak, speak truth demon.”Lanzo’s voice took on a commanding tone that he had not known he could reach, hearing his own voice echoing back to him not only off the walls of this place, but back through the ages. “Speak!”<br /> The room suddenly changed from crystal green to a fire red that had haunted Lanzo’s dreams since he first laid eyes of that pulsing red sphere in the sky all those years ago. The room was the color of the flaming star. Lanzo turned his eyes reluctantly upwards and there it was, a pulsing blood red orb that seemed to radiant heat as well as light. During that endless season the thing was visible even at midday. <br /> “The rivers of power that feed all worlds. That maintain the structure of all worlds was damned and that immense power tore a hole in the fabric of this realm. <br />This breach became aware and poured the building power into waiting vessels on this world. Somewhere living and ready to receive this gift, others, it demanded into existence. Your kind ruts and burst forth in water and in blood. Two such were born in the east. One of these you will bind your soul and power to. This cannot be changed. For love you will do this. For revenge you will do this. For understanding your true nature you will do this. This is fixed and has happened as it will happen. Two such, born of the same seed offer living souls to the darker gods and will set brother against brother and bring an empire of blood and stone to its fated end. So much more you must know Conjurer. This star, you call it, fed so many its power. Fed Lanzo and Amelina its power. Binding countless souls together with the cords of destruction until destruction’s cord knots soon for one and all. Cato that would rule waged lovely war with Furius by his side. Cato won all and lost Furius to the star because Furius stared too often into the abyss. Beware Furius, the abyss opened the eyes that see when the outer eyes are closed. Those whom Lurk in the dark places will kill that which you treasure most and will continue to treasure until death restores life. A maiden will lose both her sight and innocents. She will gain new sight and balance love against absolute power. Should she choose power then this world will know a thousand generations of darkness. A woman child of grace and beauty will lose a father and gain an empire. Destroy her or she will undo all that you will build. In forgot lands of eternal ice at the bottom of the world an empire awakens. The lovers called in being by the breach will threaten the serpent of the river and lay low the right hand of power. Lanzo, soon to be the last of your tribe, when you fall at the feet of your master you must say these words to him. I serve the ruler of all things. I serve the Kassar. I am the servant of Kiylah Khan.”<br /> Kiylah Khan? The Khan ruled the eastern empire. That was almost two months<br />travel by sea and then across a land that was twice the size of the western empire to the strong holds of the Khan. Also, though he did not speak the eastern tongue, the name Kiylah sounded female. Like the Mycen, the east only had male rulers. This was a speaking demon and when speaking prophecy they could not lie. However, they were known for holding back parts of the truth.<br /> “Any further words?”Lanzo asked.<br /> “Many.”The speaking demon responded.<br /> “You can tell the rest to the king of hell.”Lanzo smiled as he stepped back and took hold of Amelina by the arm. “Do you understand the truth of this crystal we are in? If we are all in here then we are all outside of our bodies. Of course only two of us actually have bodies that can exist for long in the real world.”<br /> With those words Lanzo did what he imaged a conjurer was supposed to do. He conjured up a trap door in the floor beside him and Amelina. The door was a simple wooden trap that fell open to reveal a view of the room that they had been in when this started. His body standing statue still holding the crystal. Amelina and the man on the bed locked in a staring contest while there came the sound of their friends banging on the heavy door to the room. Lanzo fell forward, pulling Amelina along. The trap disappearing behind him as they fell through open space and then he was back in his body holding the crystal.<br /> “Amelina.”Lanzo said and gave her a not so gentle slap across the face. She blinked once and looked to him.<br /> “How?”<br /> “Do what we came to do.”Lanzo said and crossed to the middle of the chamber. He produced a pouch from inside his robes and poured a circle with the powder in it as wide as he could. Then standing at the center of the circle he raised the crystal and commanded. “Take shape, take flesh. I release you to take your true form.”<br /> The demon appeared almost instantly. Looming over Lanzo. So large that its head almost touched the ceiling. Lanzo swallowed hard as he glanced to Amelina who thankfully did not hesitate. She advanced toward the circle with her hands moving back and forth in motion that reminded Lanzo of someone making a snow ball, but the ball that she was making was one of pure energy. Her mouth forming the words of the vanquishing chant as energy colored blue and red and white danced like lightning streaks from fingertip to fingertip to first form and then fill a ball that glowed like fire. <br />She raised the ball above her head as Lanzo looked back to the demon think that he should get out of the way. The demon helped him by back handing him with a hand that felt as if it was as solid as steel and as heavy as a tree trunk. The blow sent Lanzo flying into a wall of the chamber as the ball of energy rocketed toward the Speaking Demon and in a blinding flash the Demon would speak no more.<br /><br /> <b>Chapter Eleven</b><br /><br /> Somehow Lanzo managed to slow himself in mid air or he was sure that the impact that managed to leave him unconscious until the next morning would have otherwise broken every bone in his body. <br /> He woke to find himself resting on a bench of a woven reed covered over with half a dozen wolf furs. The young eastern maid whom he had seen for a moment when they arrived was placing a tray of fresh fruit down on the table beside the bench.<br /> “May I ask you something?”Lanzo asked.<br /> The girl nodded yes with eyes lowered.<br /> “Yo are from the eastern empire? The Ujin? Do you know of a Kiylah Khan?”<br /> “Oh yes.”Genki said. “She is the child of wife that is first to our emperor<br />Nabartar Khan. Born in the year of the great star. Some say that she is as beautiful as the morning sky.”<br /> “Great star. Do your mean flaming star?”He asked.<br /> “Star that burnt red in the sky both day and night.”Genki nodded.<br /> “Thank you.”He said and by the look on Genki’s face no one ever thanked her. <br /> Lanzo was eating his second apple ten minutes later when Amelina dropped down beside him. <br /> “How do you feel?”Amelina asked.<br /> “Like I was beaten up by a demon.”He said.<br /> “You were.”She took a few grapes from his tray and ate them.<br /> “Better me than you.”Lanzo said.<br /> “Did I thank you yet for what you did?”Amelina asked.<br /> “No.”He said.<br /> “Thank you.”Amelina said and slipped onto his lap. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him gently at first. Little pecks on his lips and then with open lips and tongue. Her mouth felt warm and amazing. His hands found the bare skin of her midriff and back beneath her robes. Nothing had ever felt more alive to him as she did in that moment.<br /> “Amelina?”He gasped.<br /> “I know. You care for me. We will have to see where that takes us.”She slipped off of his waist to stand before him. Tall and lean and wearing a purple garment beneath her dark grey robes. The thing that interested him almost as much as her amazing breast was the green crystal that she wore on a chain between them.<br /> “You found that?”Lanzo asked.<br /> “The question is where did you find this and what exactly is it?”Amelina asked as her hand moved over it and the crystal was gone along with its chain and was now a cool smooth lump in the palm of his hand. That was a very good little trick. Had she placed it in his hand while she was kissing him and what he saw had been a phantom that she had produced? <br /> “I will tell you soon and I do not know.”Lanzo stood up too quickly and his head swam for a moment. Amelina slipped her arms around his waist to steady him.<br /> “Do you think that the others will be angry if I openly pick you.”Amelina asked.<br /> “Pick me for what?”<br /> “Whatever we decide.”She smiled. <br /> He could live with that. Amelina had seen something in him before their battle with the speaking demon and now she was offering him something that he had considered almost an impossibility. Even if he doubted her motives and her reasons how could he say no. <br /> “Did you hear any of what the demon told me?”He asked.<br /> “I heard it all. I do not understand most of it, but it was not for me to understand. It was for you to understand.”She whispered and rested her head against his shoulder. Lanzo supposed that it would mean a great deal to her since the speaking demon had told him that he was destined to unleash hell upon this world all for the sake of someone he loved. To damn the world for love? At any other time during his life he would have thought that something like that was madness, but holding Amelina in his arms and considering a life where this beautiful and impossibly complex woman would not be a part of his life gave him a moment where all that and more would not be out of the question. <br /> Lanzo fingered Amelina’s chin, tilted her head up so that he could taste her lips once more and knew in that moment that damning the world would be a small price to pay to hold what he held at that moment.<br /> Somewhere in the depths of hell a creature ancient and awe inspiring raised its gaze for the first time in almost a thousand years to peer into the world of man. Knowing, that finally its long awaited moment was decided.<br /><br /> <b>- The End -</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Final notes of the Speaking Demon. This story introduced Aldo who plays a part in a prequel to what will be the Empires Falling Trilogy of novels. He was as young then as Lanzo is now. I like his character a great deal. About Lanzo, he clearly has a huge part to play in the story to come and this story begins to link the overall story together. His future is to the east and his influence over events to come there is going to be major. Amelina surprises me at times. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">She is the most organic character in this realm of the story. I know a great deal about Lanzo and Aldo, but she is still a mystery to me. For instance the business in the bath house and the reasons why were not planned and I did not understand it all until she explained herself. Sometimes story works like that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you for reading my story and I believe that the next post from the Empires Falling series will be a chapter from the second story featuring Miri and Magnux.</span><br />
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rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-42098721121360253362014-08-13T18:25:00.001-07:002014-08-13T18:25:31.645-07:00Empires Falling Video Intro and Chapter Seven<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">I would like to share two things with you concerning my epic fantasy series Empires Falling. The intro video and chapter seven of the Speaking Demon short story.
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<span style="font-size: large;">When marketing a work of fiction creating a video clip that you can share via social media is extremely important. This will be the first of many video clips that will relate to Empires Falling. I wish that writing an epic fantasy series was all about the writing, but marketing plays a huge part of it when the writer does not have a big publishing house behind him or her.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Okay here is a look at the video and please feel free to share it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now I would like to show you chapter seven of Whispers from a Speaking Demon.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Chapter Seven.
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<span style="font-size: large;">For those infested by a demon there were only three known ways to dispose of one. The person could force it out themselves. It had been know to happen. The second way was the one most often used. Fire would get rid of the demon. Burn the person infected alive and the demon would flee the body. The third way was to employ a sorcerer or sorceress to charm the demon out of the body and then once it was free of the protection of human flesh to use a vanquishing spell to destroy it.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Amelina had known all of this since the age of six and had charmed two demons during her life time. It was having your soul stripped bare to be sniffed over by a creature that was only remotely human in appearance, but so much darker inside than any human being could ever imagine. Being lusted after by her companions while she bathed nude in their presence had been a warm and pleasant experience compared to what those demons had done while she wrestled with them. She knew that these men would happily mount her if offered the opportunity, but not one of them would willingly cause her harm. The thing about being born the way they were was that each of them had been hurt by the world around them. To be born with their gifts made them outsiders the moment those gifts were discovered. Amelina had been lucky where her tribe was concerned. Her people respected those with gifts. They saw her as a gift. Something rare and powerful that was sent to help them.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now that rare and powerful gift was for sale and that made her walk up to the second floor of the house a sad walk. On the second floor landing she was met by Fulvia, a woman who looked older than dust. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">“The last two were men.”Fulvia said.
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<span style="font-size: large;">“The last two died here.”Amelina said. She was forever finding herself being reminded that the world equated beauty with weakness. If men had died doing what she was going to attempt then she was bound to die as well.
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<span style="font-size: large;">“So they did.”Fulvia nodded.
Amelina turned her eyes to an empty stool that rested by a chamber door. The massive oak door worried her as much as what was inside. If that door was sealed it could take half a day to chop through it. Two sorcerers had gone through that door and been killed on the other side. They had gone in there alone and had died alone. The thing that she needed to do had to be done by her alone, but the demon inside the man had been able to open them up. From what she understood one of the two had been left hanging from the ceiling in there by his intestines. That suggested a rare kind of power.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Alone? Amelina mused. No not alone this time. After all there were no rules on how many could be present while this was being done, only on how many could do it at once.
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Lanzo.”Amelina whispered his name and it was not until she had said it that she knew he was the one that she wanted in there with her.
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<span style="font-size: large;">“You want something?”His voice came from the stairs of which he was nearing the top of.
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<span style="font-size: large;">She waited until he was standing in her shadow before she spoke. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I think that you should learn how to charm a demon.”That was as close to suggesting that she may need some help that she was willing to come to.
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I suppose that I should see how it is done.”Lanzo responded and was that a hint of sarcasm that she head in his voice? She could have invited Aldo instead, but there was the fact that she had read Lanzo’s future and it was fixed in a massive way that could not be ended here and now. If she knew that then so would the demon. </span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“So be it. Just keep one thing in mind. That it will constantly lie. It will mix in the truth, but most things will be lies. It knows the past and the future. It will know your fears and desires. Do not talk to it.”Amelina told him. “Lanzo?”
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I will do as I am told.”Lanzo said.
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<span style="font-size: large;">If he did then it would be the first time since she met him.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you for visiting my site and please take a moment now to like it on stumbleupon and to add me to your google plus.
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rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-68118224344484712172014-08-12T16:10:00.001-07:002014-08-12T16:10:54.059-07:00Empires Falling, The Writing of a Series <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;"> In some ways I approach the writing on this series of stories and novel in the same way that I would if I were to write a tv series. I see this story as being very visual. Writing short stories are in many ways harder than the novel. I need all of these short stories to connect in a certain way or readers of the novels to come will have to do a great deal of catching up. </span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/FIehHxcEuGM" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The more that I work on these stories the easier it is to visualize my lead characters. I think as you see the covers of the upcoming stories it will be easier for you guys to visualize them as well. The most vivid cover is that of the story that introduces Miri and Magnux. I think for the rest of the series readers will see Miri that way. While I have decided to do multiple covers featuring my idea of who Kiylah is. The next story that will include her character is number five in the series titled Zed’s Escape. Since she is the same age as she was in the previous story she will not be pictured on the cover. Also that story is mostly about Zed and the odds he will face along the frontiers of the Eastern empire. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The cover of the seventh short, Fire Dance, is ready for my review and it features Kiylah Khan. This version of Kiylah is nearing her fifteenth year and has grown into a beautiful young woman. Below is the first glimpse of the cover and I would like you to understand that this is still a possible cover. It may change</span>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Next is a look at the cover for the sixth story. It features Magnux and Miri a few days after her rescue. The cover will reflect the true threat to their continued safety and that of the empire as a whole. The cover will introduce you guys to the barbarians from the islands both East and West refer to as the Wilderness. These barbarians are known as Lurkers. They are ruthless conquers who practices a very powerful form of dark magic that is fueled by human sacrifice. With their arrival the battles that will cause empires all over this fictional world to crumble has officially begun. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In this dark fantasy series I have favorites but that does not mean that characters whom I like will not suffer and even die along the way. I have to be true to the story and true to the choices that these characters will make due to his or her own nature.
In closing I would like ask you to spread the word about Empires Falling and to Pin the new covers to your Pinterest.
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rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-81847687207997865372014-07-24T06:39:00.004-07:002014-07-24T06:44:29.844-07:00Empires Falling, Thoughts on Epic Fantasy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Writing an epic fantasy series is different from almost any type of story telling because the canvas you are afforded is so vast. When writing suspense or horror you operate in the fifty to one hundred thousand words realm. Romance and historical romance takes you up to the hundred and twenty thousand words area, but fantasy almost demands hundreds of thousands of words over many volumes. I suppose that this is because you are building an entire world. </span><br />
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There are times I find that I have to force myself to slow down and get into how these ancient cultures functions and how they differ from the ones that they mirrors in our world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The more I work on Empires Falling as a whole story the more that I have to tell myself that I need to focus on the small events. By taking the time to rewrite the short stories and to add new ones to the series I am learning more about the central characters that will carry the story. While rewriting one of the early stories I have discovered that it could reach novel length if I allow it. Over the next few weeks I will offer a chapter or two of that story and ask you the reader should I do just that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Right now I would like to post the next chapter from the speaking demon.
Chapter six, a day before it hits Wattpad. Thank you for visiting and I look forward to reading your comments.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Whispers from A Speaking Demon</u></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"> Chapter Six.<br /> Aldo left them and the cart out in the paved yard in front of the house. It seemed that westerners loved to leave their mark on all lands belonging to them by paving it over with their concrete roads and walks and yards, Lanzo mused as he paced the edge of it.<br />Off to his left was the burnt remains of a stable. At the other end of the yard beyond some fences was a newly constructed stone stable with a slanted wooden roof. There were at least a half dozen horses in there which suggested that the riders who owned them were most likely within the home.<br /> This burnt stable had fallen recently. The stench of burnt wood and animal flesh was fresh. Lanzo stepped over what remained of the fence here and toward what amounted to a lean-to of a standing wall and what remained of the roof.<br /> “It falls on you Lanzo, you will have to conjure your way out of there.”Amelina yelled.<br /> Lanzo was not worried. He had seen structures like this before and unless a strong storm came by what remained standing would probably hold up for years. Besides he was listening to that small voice that sometimes told him to do something. Life had taught him that if he ignored it that voice would only grow louder and louder. <br /> He stood near the entrance that remained and listen until everything around him became still. The wind dropped to nothing. The clouds far above stopped flowing along their appointed path. The shadows of all things around him including his own shadow went dead still and then he was looking backwards through events as they happened. It was like being on a perch high above a flowing river watching not only where it was going, but where it had been along the way. <br /> In a blink of an eye the stable was what it had once been. Strong and solid with the sound of horses stabled inside. The man clocked in robes similar to those who worn by Aldo was leading a donkey into the stable. It had struck Lanzo funny how he had never met a practitioner of the magical arts who actually rode a powerful well groomed horse. Was it some sort of tradition to wander the earth of the backs of animal that could not outrun trouble. This donkey had died in the fire, he knew it by sight and if he had wanted to reach for it he could have seen how it died, but Lanzo could see no reason to do that. The robed man had been the one who came here before them. He had died here too and Lanzo also dismissed the idea of watching how he died. He wanted to know something else. That voice inside of his head was whispering about something that this man, this sorcerer, had been carrying. Something powerful. A powerful thing that had been hidden here before he died. Hidden and untouched by the fire. <br /> How was that possible?<br /> The man did something clever.<br /> It had not been to bury it or to stash it away. It was to put it where only one of his kind could ever find it. Lanzo watched the man closely. He stood exactly where Lanzo stood now. He raised a right hand that held something shiny inside it and with his first two fingers and thumb he did a few finger passes in the air. The finger movements casting a spell and then his hand shot forward and disappeared into nothing. A moment later his hand reappeared and he quickly blew on it as if it was chilled.<br /> Lanzo raised his hand in the same way. Made the finger gestures that he had seen and his hand disappeared into what felt like ice cold water. Something touched the palm of his hand and Lanzo made a fist around it and yanked back. His hand came back from where it had been. He had expected his hand to be dripping wet. It was dry, but ice cold. He ignored the cold and opened the hand to reveal a cylinder, the length of his thumb, made from a single piece of green crystal. It was beautiful and had a simple chain around one end of it, but the chain was not looped for wearing. <br /> “What are you doing in there?”Amelina’s voice came from the yard.<br /> Lanzo considered putting the crystal back where he got it, but until he found out exactly what it was he planned on keeping it close at hand. Lanzo slipped it into a pocket that was made into the left sleeve of his robes. <br /> “I thought that there might be something in here.”Lanzo responded as he retraced his steps out of what remained of the stable.</span></b></div>
rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-7948471950168270922014-07-12T23:24:00.000-07:002014-07-12T23:24:02.120-07:00Empires Falling, Writing Fantasy Fiction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFDEtpRadmJx5dgHfNoO42MtySLGIYYLafQ4C507L4KUPsWBbsYbmHNvZwQ-OKTCjbGn7Yrm50NrKHOeZQc0JYXGR6WXF_DWk0oZbVWD9WD6JY0_TbB6AqDJi2pB0nhnUcVc62u3QYxzH_/s1600/Empires_Falling__similar_font.jpg" height="200" width="142" /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Empires-Falling-Land-rodney-cannon-ebook/dp/B00LB7NFL2/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1405232374&sr=1-2" target="_blank">click here</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> The great thing about being a fantasy writer is that you are usually getting to live out a life long dream on paper. You are writing about kingdoms or empires that you have created. Heroes and villains on an epic scale. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">To the public it would appear that I sat down to write Empires Falling a year ago. To me it has been a twenty five year journey. I believe that maybe the second story that I ever finished was fantasy. To understand me as a writer you must understand that Sci fi was my first love and then came a close second epic fantasy. Like most of you I started with the Lord of the Rings. When reading those stories I thought that maybe I could do something like that, but it would most likely be for me alone to read. Empires falling was a million miles away. Now it is just a matter of me putting the whole saga on paper for the rest of the world to read. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> If any of you have missed my posting I would like to say that I was busy finishing a suspense novel and getting it published. Now that that is done I can devote my full attention to this project. From this point forward the stories are going to come fast and furious. I am knee deep at the moment in the process of transforming the outline for the first novel into a full length novel. Over the next few days the final chapter of the forth story will be published here. Then it will be released as a short for sale with bonus material. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> The fifth story is the series is titled Zed’s Escape. If you have read story number two then you will know what it is about. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Story number six will be about Miri and Magnux. It features the trial of Captain Lucan also it will introduce the Lurkers to you for the first time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Story number seven is titled Fire Dance and it features Kiylah Khan now four years older which will bring her closer to the same time period as stories one, three and six. Note: To tell Kiylah’s and Zed’s portion of the story I needed to start earlier in their timeline than the other character. By the twelve story in the series of shorts I promise that all characters will occupy the same time. This will of course lead them all into the first novel of the Trilogy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Story number seven is titled The Hand Stands. It features Julia Cato, the Wind Riders and introduces the Emperor’s new hand as internal threats to the Emperor are revealed.
Story number eight is The Heritic. You will meet two of the major villains in this story.
Okay that is enough about the upcoming stories. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you for visiitng and I hope that you will take a few moments to share this post with a friend and to like this blog on stumbleupon.</span>
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rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-90855396742439392192014-01-15T19:07:00.001-08:002014-01-15T19:07:42.663-08:00Speaking Demon Chapter 5 with Notes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Okay, today I am back with the fifth chapter of the story being offered for free at Wattpad. I have to say that I have not been impressed by my Wattpad experience, but I plan to see this story through to the end and then publish a second story there. As for this story, Whispers from A Speaking Demon, when this is complete, I plan of publishing an extended version of story. The thing about short fiction is that most of us cut out a few hundred words or even a chapter or two to make the story flow better, but in the process we cut out a bit of character development. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Before I get to the next chapter I would like to suggest again that you guys read at least one of the other stories in the series. The great thing about the stories is that they are so far all stand alone stories. You do not need to have read any of the others in the series to understand what is happening. Each story serves to introduce characters that will be present in the series of Empires Falling series of epic fantasy novels. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Also if you like this story it would be great it you would share it with a friend of post this post on your facebook. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Chapter Five.<br /> The cart was large enough to carry their belongings, a modest amount of food for the journey and Amelina who slept wrapped in a blanket amongst the belongings. Aldo who sat as driver of the cart had insisted upon this arrangement suggesting that a pretty face could invite unnecessary trouble on the road. No one had offered any objections other than the fact that they were expected to all walk along side the cart. <br /> Lanzo had saved enough coins to purchase a donkey, but Aldo had insisted that they walk. It would be for appearances sake he had said. The three of them in muddy boots and dirt stained robes while he would be the master of magic who had not been soiled by the road. The thought of it tempted Lanzo to summon up a wind storm to ruin his plans. The problem was that he did not have the first clue how to do it.<br /> A full moon allowed them to travel the road for three hours after sunset. Only when it seemed that the horse pulling the wagon was getting tired did Aldo call their journey to a stop and about a hundred feet from the road, beneath a circle of low hanging trees they set up camp.<br /> Lanzo finished stacking the sticks in the circle of stones and sat down between Aldo and Amelina. <br /> “We are well met.”Aldo made a gesture toward the sticks and they burst into flames. “Most of you were too young to remember the year of the flaming star, but I thought that I would talk about it with you tonight. That star was like a rock thrown into a pond. Its effect will be visible for a long time to come.”<br /> Aldo slipped a hand into his left sleeve and pulled into view a small dark orb. A smooth perfectly formed ball of volcanic glass that was dark green in color.<br /> “Anyone know what this is?”Aldo tossed it toward Burkhard who caught it and did a clever, but risky thing with it. He spun it once in his palm and began to twirl it on the tip of his index finger. <br /> “A whispering orb. If it had a mate, it would be glowing and worth a small fortune.”Burkhard said.<br /> “Its mate was destroyed during the last imperial war. I was about your age back then.”Aldo said to Burkhard. “It was during the season of the flaming star.”<br /> Amelina raised her hand for the orb and Burkhard tossed it to her.<br /> “I was so small when the sky burned red every night, but I can remember it. I was not yet three years old, but I can close my eyes and see the night world around me bathed in that blood red glow.”Amelina whispered, holding the orb with both hands as if it was a fragile egg.<br /> “How does that thing work?”Lanzo asked.<br /> “Easy. If this one has a mate and you are not one of us then you hold this up to your mouth and you whisper a message into it. The mate could be half way around the world and that message will come out as a whisper. If you are one of us then you could hold it to your forehead and share images or even meet and have a conversation inside the orb.”Aldo said and in this area he was sure because he had done it himself. It was like having a lucid conversation with another person while inside a dream. The experience had been amazing. Standing with nothing beneath your feet while eternity swirled above and all around you. The only thing that kept you from tumbling off into nothing was your connection to the orb that your resting body held. <br /> Amelina tossed the orb to Lanzo. He raised it to eye level and stared into it as if he was seeing something.<br /> “Lanzo?”Aldo ventured.<br /> “Just seeing if I could see what you saw.”Lanzo tossed it back to him. <br /> Aldo caught it. Funny that it felt much warmer than it had when it had started its journey between his followers.<br /> “Could it do anything else?”Lanzo asked.<br /> “What do you mean? Work as a crystal ball? Show the pass or future?”<br />Aldo smiled and shook his head. “There are those few great orbs. They were always pink in color and I have been told that they did things like that. But also that they were almost alive. That they would only show parts of the future or past. Playing games with the user. Also that they took something from you in exchange for giving you this information. I never saw one, but I did meet a mystic who had used one in the service of the former emperor. His hair was snow white. His flesh dry as dust. He told me that he was not yet thirty-five years old at the time and he had traded most of his vitality and youth while using and being used by the thing for only two years.”<br /> “Did you believe him?”Amelina asked.<br /> “Yes, oh yes.”Aldo said.<br /> “To know the future. To truly know what is going to happen would be worth the trade.”Brando said.<br /> Amelina shook her head no.<br /> “I see glimpses of the future. Sometimes it is just a shadow around a person and sometimes it is the future playing out all around me like a dream come to life. A future that is fixed and cannot be changed. It is not something that I would be willing to give one moment of my life for. To know what is going to happen is a horrible trap. It is why the great maker does not allow any of us to know the hour and way of our deaths.”Amelina sounded as if she was thinking aloud.<br /> Aldo thought that her words would end the discussion, but Brando was not finished yet.<br /> “What do you see ahead of us? What is the future for us down this road?”Brando asked.<br /> “Death. We are going to know death before this road turns.”Amelina said flatly. “Our circle will be broken. At night on the boat I would look across the sea and hear countless voices crying out in pain and suffering. More voices than I could count in a life time to the east to the west, I hear the same sound. Not as loudly, but still there. Like leaves being rustled by a wind from the south.”<br /> She was too young to remember the last great war, but Aldo had been a part of it and knew all too well what she was telling them. Telling the others what he had suspected for the last year or so. Another great war was coming. There were rumors from the east of small kingdoms trying to break the grip that the Khan had over them. Rumors of Lurkers to the south moving into Mycenia lands and that would most surely mean war, after all Emperor Cato only knew one response to a threat and that was to kill it. If all these embers were to catch fire then they would be a kind of war that had not been seen in many lifetimes. A war that encompassed all the lands. In such a conflict countless lives would be lost, but fortune and glory awaited those who picked the right side and survived it all.</span> <br /> <br /><br /> <span style="font-size: large;">Chapter Five Notes, With this chapter I wanted to introduce the whispering orbs and to give you some background on them. They will play a big part in the wars to come. Also I wanted to touch a little on the last war and the part that Aldo played in it. As I wrote this story I discovered new things about these characters as a group. Where I had imagined one character would dominate this story from beginning to end that turned out not to be the case. It is funny how characters seem to have minds of their own and take you places you did not plan on going.</span></div>
rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-28492193003663208072014-01-03T10:41:00.000-08:002014-07-13T16:46:11.580-07:00Speaking Demon Chapters 3 and 4, with notes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">I have decided to offer notes with each chapter to make this something different from being what is offered at Wattpad. These notes will not only offer insight into Whispers From a Speaking Demon short, but also about the Empires Falling universe. I created this blog to be a part of the Empires Falling universe. To give readers information that can be found no where else. There are a lot of epic fantasy novel series out there, but I have not encounter any that will give as much character insight as I hope to do over the next year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Growing the readership of this series is important to me. There is a ton of work involved in writing and marketing a epic fantasy novel series especially when you have multiple projects, including a film, on the table at the same time. So input from any of you guys would help me feel as if I am not telling a story to a campfire with no one else sitting there. There is this blog. There are the story stories for sale at B&N, itunes and amazon. There is the face book page that over time will offer information that will be available no where else.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Okay here is chapter three along with story notes. Enjoy and tell a friend.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Chapter Three.<br /><br /><br /><br />The tent, made from the skins of many animals, was larger inside that on the outside due to the sunken floor that angle downward toward a roaring fire pit.<br />The place was tight and did not seem to have any vents in the tent to allow heat to escape, but the area was icy cold.<br />Aldo adjusted his hood as he approached the fire. Looking straight ahead he could see no one near the fire, but he felt the presences that was glamoured beyond the fire light.<br />“Aldo of the Dungezi tribe.”The voice came from the figure wrapped in furs who sat bathed in firelight against a post behind the roaring flames. Long boney fingers rose to peel back fur that hid the face of the speaker who Aldo presumed to be the broker that he came to see, Betchia. When the face was revealed Aldo understood the reason, the interior of the tent was so cold. <br />Where Betchia's eyes should have been was a slit that seemed to be filled with thick dark blood that would neither dry up nor flow forth. It was the eye of a low demon. For centuries sorcerers had been trading flesh for flesh with low demons. Without the ability to actual possess a human being, but able to travel back and forth between realms the low demons would trade flesh so that they could blend in with the human herd. Eyes were most valued. With human eyes they saw what they called wonders and a human who took a low demon's eye could see the past, present and future.<br />Had he known this meeting would take place and when, Aldo wondered.<br />“Yes.” Betchia said as if he heard the thought spoken.”Foolish man, you travel cloaked in power and all you seek to be is a merchant when empires are to rise and fall all around us.”<br />Aldo never cared for those who offered cryptic words rather than saying it clearly, but he had to ask. “Which empire? Which will fall?”<br />“All of them and from the ashes of the old a serpent of fire will strangle all that remains. It is already too late to do anything, but watch and wait. Aldo, why not sit here and wait.”<br />The offer did not in the least interest him, but he did kneel down by the fire, picked up a clay bowl and dropped two gold coins inside.<br />“I and mine seek to trade our skills for profit.”Aldo pushed the bowl toward Betchia. Only the slightest shift in his posture suggested that he took note of the coins in the bowl.<br />“So be it Aldo. Age does not equal experience. You’re young will teach the old. If you would be a merchant then look into the fire and learn of what you must do.” Betchia raised a hand to the fire and the flames licked up toward the ceiling. In the moment before the column of flame dropped Aldo saw the image of a demon grappling with a man. A man losing the battle.<br />“A high demon seeks to possess the body of this man. His family will pay a great price to free him. Will you risk your sorceress for something as meaningless as gold?”<br />“When you traded your eyes, you traded some of your common sense. Gold makes the world turn. Women, steel and gold.”<br />Betchia let out a laugh so hollow that it sounded as if it was coming from a corpse. “This world will turn over onto itself and burn. Gold will burn. Steel will burn and women will die. The age of magic comes like a shadow in the night. Magic will turn this world and even a merchant can perform a part.” <br />Aldo had heard enough of this man's rants, but he stayed long enough to receive the directions to the place that they must go. <br />Walking back through the village he met Burkhard who stood by a street stall looking at knifes. As he got closer Aldo could see that the knives on display were of a higher quality than one would expect in such a place. Probably the fruits of some forgotten battle field. <br />“The others?”Aldo asked as he stopped beside Burkhard.<br />“Our lady is toying with the boy in the bathhouse. She wanted a private talk with him.”Burkhard said.<br />“I must come up with a way of recording images for future review.”<br />“You have a way.”Burkhard tapped the side of his head to illustrate. “In here. You remember. The last thing I will see as I am dying will be our Amelina climbing into that group bath, she talked us into the day after she joined our team.”<br />“We have an opportunity to make five hundred dinars.”Aldo said.<br />“Whom do we have to kill or raise from the dead?”<br />“A high demon. We have to remove one from a wealthy man.”<br />Burkhard shook his head no.<br />“Not we. That is sorcery. Fix it with their eyes they do. Trap it and pull it out into our world. Then send it back into its own world. Brando and you are wizards. I am an alchemist. Lanzo is a bite of this and that. I suppose that we knew what Amelina was when you found her.”<br />“Sorcery is a risky trade. One mistake and the demon that you are charming can take you. Rip your soul from body. Manifest and kill you with its bare hands.”Burkhard said.<br />“We are going to do this. If you want to repeat that to Amelina do so. She will laugh and do what she must.”Aldo said.<br />“I know. I just wish that we have another option.”<br />Aldo understood the feeling, but on this road tat they would travel each one of them were going to take life and death risk. Fortune and glory did not come to those who walked a safe path.<br /><br /><br />Chapter 3 Notes: Getting to know Aldo is a very important part of these stories. The younger him plays a very important part in the novel that will be a stand alone prequel to the Empires Falling Trilogy. He served under a great Mage who helped to determine the course of the last great Mycenia war. He is a wealth of information about the season of the flaming star. That season lasted almost ten months and saw the crowning of a new emperor in the west and the ending of one in the wilderness.<br />This last chapter also gave you a glimpse into the dark side of the magical word this saga will occupy. Black magic and deals with dark forces are the rule and not the exception during times of war.</span> <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Chapter Four.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was not the screaming at all hours of the day and night. It was not the ungodly smell that came from the young masters chambers. It was not even the shadows that now occupied the estate. Shadow that would hide amongst those cast by object and people and would sometimes linger long after everyone and thing had been removed or leap to terrible life when everything was still. It was the unrelenting cold. Winter was months away and the cold even in room with roaring fireplaces would be bone chilling.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Demon's breath was what the Sorcerer named Vir had called it before he went up to those chambers to meet his end. In the village that Genki came from, across the eastern sea, if this happened to any of the people there it would have ended with the person being dragged to the center of the village and burned. Fire was the only sure way to dispose of a demon. The problem in this home was that the rich thought that anything could be done if enough gold was offered.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Your job is not to stare off into space.”The old woman who ran the kitchens said. This angry silver haired woman, Fulvia, had looked like the oldest person she had ever met eight months ago when first taking a job as a servant here and she had not changed in the least. It was as if she had reach the limit of aging and would remain this way until a strong enough wind came along and reduced her to dust. Fulvia even smelled like dust.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“This place is being killed by that thing upstairs.”Genki whispered as if afraid to be overheard.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Thing.”The old woman was going to correct her. “The young master will be himself soon.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The young master? Even when he was his normal self he had been a cruel and angry man who during her eight months at this estate the young master had beaten one of his servants to death and raped two of the kitchen maids. The only reason that Genki assumed that she had not gotten any attention from him was that she was an eastern and he had said on many occasions easterns were worthless yellow dogs.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“I am sorry.”Genki said.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“You will be taking him his soup tonight.”Fulvia said.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“What?”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Genki had asked three more times for the old woman to repeat herself and then protested all the way up the back stairs, but she had been left with no choice, but to go to that room. The steaming broth in the clay pot that she carried would have smelled appetizing to anyone who did not know that it was a mixture of animal blood and herbs that the creature living inside the young master could consume. There was something else that rolled back and forth in the bowl that threw it a little off balance as she walked the back stairwell. She did not want to know what that something else was.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Strolling down the corridor to the door of the young master’s room she paused long enough to offer a quick prayer to the great maker before she noticed that the guard named Teel was not seated outside the door. The stool was over turned and the key was in the door's lock.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If the guard was not here then there would be no one in the world who would be able to make her go in there by herself. The thought of it brought back the memory of how they found the Sorcery laying on the floor with blood flowing freely from where his eyes, tongue, and ears had been. After than no one was supposed to ever be in that room alone.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Teel?”Genki whispered so softly that she could barely hear her own voice.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Silence that went on for as long as Genki could hold her breath was all the response that she got. If she ran back to the kitchen without doing as she had been told the old woman would yell at her or maybe worst tell the lord of the house that she had not feed his son when told. The lord of the house had beaten many servants or so she had been told. In the last home that she worked in Genki had been beaten into unconsciousness by the mountain of a woman who handled the servants. Beating that continued on an off until with a broken wrist dangling at her side she had ran away from that house. The old woman down stairs had given her a job here even though at the time that wrist had not been completely healed yet. Fulvia had even seemed to give her duties that had spared the wrist until she had completely healed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Could she heal from what would happen if she entered this room by herself?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Teel has to be in there already, Genki told herself as she reached for the door handle and winced from how cold it was. So cold in fact that when she flexed her grip she expected that her hand would be stuck to it and the only way to pull it away would be to yank until her flesh peeled off, but her hand came off the handle easily.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">She grasped it again and gave it a turn. If it was still locked it would not have turned so that told her that Teel had to be in there with the young master.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The smell of butchery was unmistakable, but more disturbing was the wind that drove it into her face. The small stone room was a windowless. A single oil lamp that rested on the floor near the door was the only light source</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">in the room and despite the wind the flame in it did not flicker at all. Nor did the puddle of red spreading across the floor toward Genki who now stood just inside the room.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe ten feet from the door the thing that occupied the young master's sat naked on a bed of hay, his wrists and neck ringed and chained to the wall.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“Is it the yellow bitch,”The voice of the speaking demon seemed to come from all around her. “You may eat that. I have eaten.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Eaten?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Eaten what?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">What was that smell? Beneath the stench of human waste and unwashed flesh was that stomach turning odor of butchery and it was butchery done badly. The kind where no care was taken. The kind where the butcher opened up the pockets of the animal that would normally be discarded because of what they contained.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">She looked about the room. Nothing at all, but that puddle of red.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Blood?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">She looked up and found Teel.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">He was handing from the ceiling by his intestines, even though there was nothing there to attach them to. His chest was ripped open and his lungs were floating in the air to the sides as if they were blood soaked wings.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“You should run yellow dog.”The speaking demon said even as the bowl fell from Genki's hands and she was tumbling back out of the chamber.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The sound of her screaming was drowned out by the booming laughter of the speaking demon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Chapter 4 Notes: Demons of all kinds will have information about the past and the future because when they are not inside and controlling a body they have seen this world from the outside. They know in which direction that the river of fate is flowing. They will talk about the future and past from time to time, but they are no to be trusted. Demons are evil and part of being evil is lying. This demon like the ones yet to come are more powerful than those who practice sorcery would expect. The walls between worlds are growing thin and a time of darkness is coming to all of the Empires.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Thank you for visiting my blog. Could you take a moment to stumble it on Stumbleupon and to share this post on your facebook page. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-52697578447321490492013-12-06T12:24:00.000-08:002014-07-13T16:46:55.517-07:00Empires Falling, New Land Of The Khan Cover<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Empires Falling, New Land Of The Khan Cover<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I did not like the first cover for the Land Of the Khan short story, I did it myself and it shows. This time I have had a professional do it and it has made a world of difference. Of all the early Empires Falling short stories this one is my favorite and the best. No one has taken the chance to read this story because of the lousy cover and that left me with two choices. Either I give it away or I change the look. I changed the look and this is your first chance to see it before the cover goes live.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think that a year from now I will be getting more feedback than I can deal with, but for now the feedback is slow in coming. Writing an epic fantasy series is a lonely business. Just myself and the characters and there are entire weeks that go by when they say nothing at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The next post will feature chapters three and four of the Speaking Demon short. Thank you for visiting my blog and please take a moment to visit the facebook page. When the first book comes out there will be rewards for the facebook followers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you visiting my site and feel free to pin the new story cover. </span></div>
rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-64469223537559050632013-10-11T15:42:00.000-07:002013-10-11T15:42:53.935-07:00Empires Falling, My Moments of Doubt<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Empires Falling, My Moments of Doubt</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> I have just published the third chapter from the short story Whispers from a Whispering Demon at Wattpad and here below. I have to admit that the last three weeks have been tough where the Empires Falling Universe is concerned. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> The lack of sales for the published short stories have me worried. This thin is going to be my life for two years and if I am going to turn away then it has to happen during the next month or so or I am locked into finishing and publishing over four hundred thousand more words of this saga. Understand that it is not the sales themselves, but the number of readers that has gotten me a bit down. Who knows maybe two years from now so of you will look back on this post and think, if he only knew what was to come.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Right now I am taking a leap of faith. Hopefully you guys will be there to catch my characters as they are falling. If this was easy then anyone could do it. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Okay allow me to offer some insight into two of the characters featured I this story and their future in the saga. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Aldo has over time proven to be have more range than I thought he would. I should have known this from the beginning. He is an amazing judge of magical talent who did what every great business man should do. He surrounded himself with people who were all more skilled than himself. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Burkhard has shown me that Alchemy is not just the art of turning one substance into another, but if done slowly it can be done to the motivations of human beings as well. He is the oldest and by far the wisest of Aldo’s followers.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now to the next chapter. Below is the third chapter of the Empires Falling short story, Whispers From a Speaking Demon. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Chapter Three.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> The tent, made from the skins of many animals, was larger inside that on the outside due to the sunken floor that angle downward toward a roaring fire pit.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">The place was tight and did not seem to have any vents in the tent to allow heat to escape, but the area was icy cold.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Aldo adjusted his hood as he approached the fire. Looking straight ahead he could see no one near the fire, but he felt the presences that was glamoured beyond the fire light.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “Aldo of the Dungezi tribe.”The voice came from the figure wrapped in furs who sat bathed in firelight against a post behind the roaring flames. Long boney fingers rose to peel back fur that hid the face of the speaker who Aldo presumed to be the broker that he came to see, Betchia. When the face was revealed Aldo understood the reason, the interior of the tent was so cold. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Where Betchia's eyes should have been was a slit that seemed to be filled with thick dark blood that would neither dry up nor flow forth. It was the eye of a low demon. For centuries sorcerers had been trading flesh for flesh with low demons. Without the ability to actual possess a human being, but able to travel back and forth between realms the low demons would trade flesh so that they could blend in with the human herd. Eyes were most valued. With human eyes they saw what they called wonders and a human who took a low demon's eye could see the past, present and future.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Had he known this meeting would take place and when, Aldo wondered.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “Yes.” Betchia said as if he heard the thought spoken.”Foolish man, you travel cloaked in power and all you seek to be is a merchant when empires are to rise and fall all around us.”</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Aldo never cared for those who offered cryptic words rather than saying it clearly, but he had to ask. “Which empire? Which will fall?”</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “All of them and from the ashes of the old a serpent of fire will strangle all that remains. It is already too late to do anything, but watch and wait. Aldo, why not sit here and wait.”</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> The offer did not in the least interest him, but he did kneel down by the fire, picked up a clay bowl and dropped two gold coins inside.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “I and mine seek to trade our skills for profit.”Aldo pushed the bowl toward Betchia. Only the slightest shift in his posture suggested that he took note of the coins in the bowl.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “So be it Aldo. Age does not equal experience. You’re young will teach the old. If you would be a merchant then look into the fire and learn of what you must do.” Betchia raised a hand to the fire and the flames licked up toward the ceiling. In the moment before the column of flame dropped Aldo saw the image of a demon grappling with a man. A man losing the battle.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “A high demon seeks to possess the body of this man. His family will pay a great price to free him. Will you risk your sorceress for something as meaningless as gold?”</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “When you traded your eyes, you traded some of your common sense. Gold makes the world turn. Women, steel and gold.”</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Betchia let out a laugh so hollow that it sounded as if it was coming from a corpse. “This world will turn over onto itself and burn. Gold will burn. Steel will burn and women will die. The age of magic comes like a shadow in the night. Magic will turn this world and even a merchant can perform a part.” </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Aldo had heard enough of this man's rants, but he stayed long enough to receive the directions to the place that they must go. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Walking back through the village he met Burkhard who stood by a street stall looking at knifes. As he got closer Aldo could see that the knives on display were of a higher quality than one would expect in such a place. Probably the fruits of some forgotten battle field. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “The others?”Aldo asked as he stopped beside Burkhard.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “Our lady is toying with the boy in the bathhouse. She wanted a private talk with him.”Burkhard said.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “I must come up with a way of recording images for future review.”</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “You have a way.”Burkhard tapped the side of his head to illustrate. “In here. You remember. The last thing I will see as I am dying will be our Amelina climbing into that group bath, she talked us into the day after she joined our team.”</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “We have an opportunity to make five hundred dinars.”Aldo said.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “Whom do we have to kill or raise from the dead?”</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “A high demon. We have to remove one from a wealthy man.”</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Burkhard shook his head no.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “Not we. That is sorcery. Fix it with their eyes they do. Trap it and pull it out into our world. Then send it back into its own world. Brando and you are wizards. I am an alchemist. Lanzo is a bite of this and that. I suppose that we knew what Amelina was when you found her.”</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “Sorcery is a risky trade. One mistake and the demon that you are charming can take you. Rip your soul from body. Manifest and kill you with its bare hands.”Burkhard said.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “We are going to do this. If you want to repeat that to Amelina do so. She will laugh and do what she must.”Aldo said.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “I know. I just wish that we have another option.”</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Aldo understood the feeling, but on this road tat they would travel each one of them were going to take life and death risk. Fortune and glory did not come to those who walked a safe path. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> The next chapter should be ready by this time next week. Thank you for visiting and please take a moment to follow this blog. If you want to read any of the previous stories in the series they are available for purchase at .99 cents. You can find them by clicking on the story covers along the right side of the page.</span></div>
rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-90779102819295517732013-10-05T21:16:00.000-07:002013-10-05T21:16:26.189-07:00Empires Falling, Speaking Demon Chapter 2.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Empires Falling, Speaking Demon Chapter 2.<br /><br /><br />The second chapter has been free at Wattpad for a week and I think that I will give each chapter a week before releasing it here. This seems fair to me. Empires Falling, the first novel is in the rewrite process and I am still hoping for a holiday release this year, although some have suggested that I release the twelve short stories as a collection first. It would be a seventy plus thousand word collection and without the shorts it will take a while to figure out how all the characters relate to each other. I love epic fantasy, but had no idea how hard it is to pull this off. I suppose the thing that keeps me going is two or three characters that have to tell their story no matter what. Also I want to know how it will all turn out. Sounds strange, but I really do not know how it will all end. I know the story of one character from almost beginning to end, but the rest of it surprises me almost everyday. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /> Here is the second chapter of the story. I can offer only this as a preview of things to come. The characters of Lanzo and Amelina are the ones who have surprised me the most. As I edit this short story there is a part of me that wants to cry out and warn them of all the trials to come. Of all the characters in the Empires Falling universe I have to say that these two will have to (Quoting Bram Stoker) go through bitter waters to reach the sweet. <br /> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Chapter Two.<br /> Twenty minutes later Brando and Burkhard got out of their tubs and gathered their things, before they exited Burkhard stopped at the door turned and asked. “You two want us to guard the door so that you will not be disturbed?”<br /> Amelina surprised them with her answer. “Ten minutes. We will need ten minutes.”<br /> The two men nodded to each other and walked out.<br /> “Get out of there and come over here.”Amelina said. “I would like you to help me get dressed. You can serve me like a lady in waiting.”<br /> “Really.”Lanzo sounded angry. “I suppose the other ladies in waiting will be shocked by the fact that I have a few things that they do not have.”Lanzo stood up in his tub and folded his arms proudly.<br /> “A small shock.”Amelina said and offered a complex hand gesture toward the tub that he stood in. The water in it began to heat up and bubble almost immediately.<br />Lanzo tumbled over the side and crawled away from the now boiling water.<br /> She watched for the better part of a minute while Lanzo mumbled to himself as he got his pants out of his bundle and slipped them on. Then he got to his feet and began to dance and hop as he got his boots on. <br /> “I was serious. I want you to help me to get dressed.”Amelina said.<br /> “Really?”<br /> “Yes Lanzo.”<br /> Men were easy to lead around especially when you were near then and naked she thought as Lanzo, still bare chested, crossed the room toward her.<br />She had not planned on playing with him, but the way that he looked at her intrigued her. It was not with lust in his eyes as the others did, it was something closer to amazement. She doubted that she was the first naked woman that he had seen so that meant that it was something else and she did not like to be in the dark where anyone near her was concerned.<br /> Stopping beside the tub, he stared down into it with a grin on his face.<br /> “See something you like?”Amelina asked.<br /> “Well I am breathing.”Lanzo smiled and before she could reach Lanzo dipped a finger into her tub for just and instance and jumped backwards.<br /> The water reacted in an instance. Instead of thin layers of warm mist rising from the water it turned to thicker layers of frosted mist and ice crystals began to form around the edges of the tub. <br /> The feeling of cold rose from the bottom upwards and suppressing a scream Amelina bolted to her feet as what felt like ice began to form around her toes. She threw an arm around Lanzo's neck and jumped into his waiting arms.<br /> “What, what, what was that.”Amelina's teeth chattered as she clung to him to warm up.<br /> “Uhhhh...”Lanzo seemed to hum as he stared down at her bare breast that had reacted to the cold by stiffening. <br /> Angrily Amelina shoved out of his grasped. Landing on her feet she quickly yanked her skirt from the bundle on the floor and held it up to cover herself. This was not turning out at all how she had planned it.<br /> “How did you do that to my water?”Amelina asked. She had watched him do it. Just a finger in her water and then the rapid freeze had started. She looked back to the tub and saw that it was now a solid block of ice. He had not spoken a spell or engaged in hand gesture magic as she had done to him.<br /> “I was mad. I thought it and just did it.”Lanzo said as if that explained it all. “Can't you do the same?”<br /> Instead of telling the truth, which was she could not imagine how to do it, she dropped the skirt from her breast and began to wrap it around her waist. The effect was as good as magic. Lanzo forgot his question and gazed at her happily.<br /> It was clearly time to take control of this situation again. There was more to Lanzo than met the naked or the far seeing eye. A rival hid things from you while a friend shared everything. Amelina finished tying the skirt and turned her back to him. <br /> “There is a scarf in the sack, take it out please.”Amelina said and turned her back to him. She heard him dig around for a moment in the sack and then the <br />red scarf was resting on her shoulder. “No. Help me to tie it.”Amelina took the scarf, pulled it tight to cover her breast firmly and waited until he took the hint by taking hold of the ends she held out and pulling them around to her back where he crisscrossed them before handing the ends back to her. She crossed the scarf once more over her breast and returning the ends back to Lanzo, and he tied a simple knot.<br /> “What do you think?”Amelina turned to face him. <br /> “Pushes them up, although they really don't need any help in that area. This could catch on. Maybe in leather with a hook or metal clasp.”Lanzo said. “You could call them something like milk bag holders.”<br /> “Milk bags?”She smiled. “How old are you Lanzo?”<br /> “Eighteen.”<br /> “My age. Seems like I am years older.”<br /> “Maybe on the inside. People who do not laugh age inside faster than those of us who do.”Lanzo said. <br /> “I laugh Lanzo. I just have to be careful who I laugh around. A woman like me? Well men can confuse almost everything I do with flirting.”She motioned for the next thing in the sack and Lanzo pulled her vest out of it. It was made of finely woven chain mail. The mail was silver instead of steel. It was made not for protection, but because she had found that silver enhanced her powers. It was not a wand, but it did help. Lanzo helped to fasten the vest without offering a word. She had expected him to be nervous and talk to much as nervous men usually did, but Lanzo was waiting for her to talk. <br /> “I think that I should share a secret with you Lanzo. If you can keep it then perhaps we will be friends.”She turned to face him.<br /> “The voice that you hear?”Lanzo said and Amelina stepped back as if she had been slapped.<br /> “What?”<br /> “On the boat trip. At night. Sometimes you would stand by the railing and whisper. Then the voice would whisper back through you. I think that they call it channeling?”Lanzo said.<br /> “You could have said something about that.”<br /> “I just did.”<br /> “You know what I mean Lanzo.”Amelina said. This was not going the way that she pictured it. He was not as off balance or as uncomfortable around her as she hoped. <br /> “Amelina I think we should talk.”Lanzo said.<br /> “We are talking.”Amelina said and the response he gave was the last thing that she expected to hear.<br /> “Not me and you. Me and the one you talk to.”<br /><br /><br /> Thank you for visiting my site and please take a moment to stumble it on stumbleupon and to share this post.</span></div>
rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-47853884935348329232013-09-21T19:25:00.000-07:002013-09-21T19:25:36.785-07:00The 4th Empires Falling short at Wattpad.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">I have just published the first chapter of the next story in the series at the free site Wattpad. I plan on publishing one chapter a week over the next eight weeks until the story is published in total. I like three of these characters a great deal and the Empires Falling tale could not be told without the courage and abilities of at least one of these characters. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here is a picture of the cover for the story. I imagine that it looks similar to the lead female character in the story. I would change it a bit if I could, but no cover is ever perfect.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Below is the first chapter of the story I will publish it here as I do there. Plus notes about the characters from time to time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Whispers From A Speaking Demon<br /> By.<br /> Rodney Cannon<br /><br /> Chapter One.<br /> The lands west of the wilderness were not the most lucrative place for a those who practiced the magical arts. The east was steeped in its ancient traditions like the Wilderness and magic of all types were practiced as a way of everyday life while the Great Western empire had built its power upon the force of steel only now they were learning that steel alone could not protect what it had won in battle. They need people like Aldo and his followers.<br /> Amelina, Brando, Burkhard and Lanzo stood at the railing of the boat that they had purchased passage on. The cargo of donkeys and saber foxes could be smelled, even on the open sea, for miles in every direction. A five-day passage with these stinking animals had not got to waste. There were a great many minor acts of magic that required saber fox dung and blood from any low animal. Brando and Burkhard knew most of it without being taught, while the much younger Lanzo had to be taught the spells and mixes of potions again and again.<br />Amelina knew the magic well enough, but did not apply herself. She was young and pretty and gifted with second sight so Aldo did not press her. The war hungry men that they would be dealing with would probably be more interested in her breast than her considerable gifts. Aldo knew how gifted she was and still it took even him a few weeks to overlook the temptations of young and firm flesh.<br /> “A storm will be waiting for us when we arrive.”Amelina said with her back to him.<br /> Aldo stepped forward and joined them at the forward railing.<br />He looked off to the distant sky and tried to see beyond it. Rain and icy hail and something man made beyond that. A storm of arrows?<br /> “Our safety?”Aldo asked Amelina.<br /> “We will be fine.”She smiled, then turned her eyes on the other three.<br />“One of them will fall and one will leave our company for a time. I cannot<br />see which one.”<br /> “What?”Brando asked.<br /> “One of us is going to trip over something and fall?”Lanzo asked.<br />“If it is anything, but that you could have said something before we boarded.”<br /> “You cannot run away from your fate Lanzo.”Burkhard said.<br /> “I disagree. Destiny is written in stone only for the world changers, for the common folk like me destiny does not care if I die while eating a bowl of soup or at the hands of a blood thirsty army or between the legs of a beautiful woman.”Lanzo said. “Hell an average woman, depending upon how much wine is involved.”<br /> Amelina stared at Lanzo for an uncomfortable moment then frowned. “Your path seems fixed. It was not fix yesterday or last week, but now it is. Now and forward.”She said. <br /> “How is that possible?”Aldo heard himself asking. He did not want to let them know that there was something that he did not understand so he quickly added. “Please tell them.”<br /> “There are moments when our paths narrow to one. Imagine that all paths that he has walked has lead him to a river. To go forward he must take the river and once he does then the river is in charge.”Alemina told them.<br /> “Does this path lead to you and me together?”Lanzo smiled.<br /> “I cannot see my own future. That said, I can promise you that it does not. Except I can see you carrying my bag in about ten minutes.”She smiled back.<br /> It turned out that both Lanzo and Brando carried their own bundles and those belonging to Alemina and their master. This allowed both Aldo and Alemina to stroll along the dock ahead of them fully cloaked. Aldo walked with his hands tucked inside his sleeves while Alemina allowed her long lovely hands to swing at her sides. <br /> There were few perfect pleasures in life and Aldo wished that he could have accompanied his followers to the local bath house, but he needed to find a broker of their talents that he had been told about. He glanced back only once to Amelina and wished that he could send someone else to take care of this business.<br /> ***<br /> Lanzo had never been a fan of public bathing or scented water. The room filled with steaming tubs were not public, but since he would be sharing it with Brando and Burkhard it felt public. If only he could find out where Amelina was taking her bath and share a tub with her then his life would be complete.<br /> “Those easterns made me scrub down with soap before I came in here.”Lanzo said as he peeled off his towel and quickly climbed into the steaming hot tub. The thoughts of being naked in front of others was washed away by what felt like boiling hot water. “Awwhhh . . . ”Lanzo cried out as he danced around in the tub before sinking into it with the laughter of his two comrades echoing off the walls. <br /> Lanzo was waving away the scented steam that was stinging his nostrils and eyes when someone walked into the room. He was at eye level to the most magnificent ass that he had even seen before he realized that it had been Amelina who had entered the room. <br /> She dropped to one knee to place a small sack down beside a tub that would be lucky enough to envelope her amazing body. Then she was up and turning sideways to get into the tub and to give Lanzo a frontal view. The reaction that he had was not burning lust as he would have expected. There were moments that made a man feel inadequate and this was one of them. Lanzo felt as if no one, least of all he should have been allow to gaze on something some amazingly beautiful. Her curves and proportions along with that beautiful face was something that should have only been able to exist in dreams. <br /> Amelina caught his eyes, saw something other than what she had expected and quickly, almost shyly retreated into the steaming water. <br /> “You are lucky that Aldo is elsewhere. Not a pretty sight brother.”Burkhard said. <br /> “How about the last sight.”Brando grinned.<br /> “Magical.”Lanzo said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> That is the first chapter of this fantasy short story. I hope that those of you that have read the stories in the Empires Falling series have enjoyed them. I look forward to getting feedback from you guys about the short story series. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you for visiting and please take a moment to share this post and to stumble us on stumble upon. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Last note, my offer of a free text copy of any of the first three short stories for those of you who like the facebook page is still in effect. So please take a moment to visit the facebook page. The link is on the side of this page.</span></div>
rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-51399926345094645182013-09-17T19:44:00.001-07:002013-09-17T19:44:58.958-07:00Empires Short Stories Rising<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Empires Short Stories Rising</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyla_B5rm-EQ90HDNDPZ5EkaeV1A3B-sGo78siT4ebfJ9iyDVJXJCpDK0ELgkIX-jLZnrJCQrucUqSLgnBawZ2BiPoSUY8gbrDPgzYK6BIWynXpHYzA2AskP_3rpsGP7TqiM_t5A2wJR7/s400/book+logo+one.jpg" width="400" /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">With the third short story being published last week and the release of the first free story coming within the next week the Empires Falling universe is beginning to take shape. You expect an</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">update soon of the family lines that will dominate these stories. Also I am working on a chart of the most powerful magical characters in the Empire’s universe. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> What?</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There has not been much in the way of magic or good old fashion sword play in theses short stories?</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">That changes in the third story of the series. Miri is one of the more powerful characters that practices magic. Below I am going to offer the first two chapter of the 8,000 word third story in the series along with link to where it can be purchased.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Understand that all the short stories so far are stand alone stories. You do not have to read one to understand what is happening in another, but you will need to read a few on them if you wish to know what is going on in the first novel of the trilogy to come. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> The First Port in the Storm</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> (An Empires Falling Short)</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> By.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Rodney Cannon</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Chapter One.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> The province of Panonia still felt like a new posting after almost four years. Maybe it was the fact that the area was so vast and the common tongue was still only one of a dozen spoken by the many tribes that made up the land. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Governor Magnux Cato stood on what was called the balcony of the Governor’s palace. The place was a three story drafty old stone keep that was part of a frontier fort that had crumbled almost a hundred years before this empire claimed it. Beyond the main gates, was the edge of a marketplace that covered almost two full miles. It ended at this side of the river and picked up where it left off on the other side of the river. The last governor had tried to suppress this trading post while he offered imperial protection to it and taxed it. Thanks to a river that flowed from areas unexplored even by imperial forces and paved roads that dated back hundreds of years this little corner of the empire was a nexus for every type of trade imaginable. All that had been needed to turn this post into a gold mine was someone like him. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Emperor Cato had looked at this post as a way to bury his nephew while not lowering the name Cato in the eyes of the public. He got sent off to govern a post in a waste land while his brother got the post of general of a legion that was given the task of taming a lurker infested wilderness across the eastern seas. A place that if glory was to be won would take the better part of ten years to do so. That was unless he had more resources such as gold skimmed from the taxes of a province like this.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Magnux pushed away from the railing and made his way down the stairs to where his personal guard waited. For the palace itself he had ten former legion officers. For most of these walks he had two hand-picked locals who had taken what was called a blood oath to protect his life at the cost of their own in return for the freedom from slavery and citizenship for eight members of their family. They were brothers born less than a year apart. With their heads smoothly shaved and covered in similar tattoos they looked like twins. Their common movements and unspoken language that Revin and Kelts shared reminded Magnux of the closeness he shared with his brother. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> The two tall and reed thin men stood just inside the entrance way. They carried metal shafted spears rather than swords and where amazingly skilled with the weapon. It had taken the Empire almost six years to tame this territory because of the natives and how well they used this particular weapon. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “Governor Cato.”Revin said. He usually spoke for the brothers. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “I am listening Revin.”Magnux said.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “Merchant Fostel was offered a bribe in hopes that I would be able to secure an audience with you.”Revin said. It was a refreshing change of pace to have such honesty from a servant. His deal with the man and his brother was that they were allowed to accept all the bribes that did not inconvenience him or risk his safety. The fat merchant paid his taxes, threw a feast as well as the most decadent senators he had known and the most important thing was that he got to the point. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “Permission granted.”Magnux Cato nodded. “How much has he offered?”</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “Ten dinar.”Revin said.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> “Ask for eighteen and settle for twelve. He can afford it.”Magnux said.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">“Anything else before we start.”</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Chapter Two.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> She knew that the dream was ending and with it would come a return to unrelenting pain and darkness so she held onto the dream and did what she had been taught to do. She attached herself to a shadow and rode it.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> This shadow belonged to a fat man in a one man fishing boat that was barely wide enough to contain his girth. He sat in the boat, with huge meaty hands he pulled in his net. A dozen or so fish twitched and struggled inside of the net. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> She looked away to the shadow a cloud on the water and hopped onto it. With the shadow skimming the surface of the flowing river came the sensation of floating. A sensation that came to an ending when the cloud touched land and she found herself at the edge of a river bank marketplace. There were old docks being torn down while in the distance newer ones were being constructed. Miri moved from one shadow to another until she was amongst the common people who were busy with buying and selling. Most of the languages that were spoken here were unknown to Miri and the only way to understand those languages would have required going deeper than a shadow. The language used by the merchants that seemed to be the most prosperous was the common tongue of the Western Empire. It was not native to her, but she had been taught it as a child. There was nothing special about their small talk. Talk of money, talk of the weather, talk of wars and rumors of wars. One old woman who sold her gifts as a seer talked of the year of the flaming star. How more than ten years had passed and the seeds that it sowed had found rich soil and had been growing ever since. How the world would burn as the sky did all those years ago. Even now one of those seeds were drifting toward this littler corner of the world. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Gloom and doom was always the most popular future to order, but ever seer knew that the future was always changing. A single person could alter the entire flow of history in the same way that a rock could change the flow of a stream.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Beyond this area of commerce was a grand market that led off from the working docks toward a city of wood and brick. The marketplace was split down the middle by a paved road that went on for as far as the eye could see and at the edge of her vision there was a tall man in fine robes being escorted by two taller men both armed with spears that gleamed in the morning sunlight as if they were made of metal. As she thought to dance a path of cast shadows down along this road a stab of pain shot through her face and she woke. Woke into a world of pain. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">You can purchase the complete short story at Amazon by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F1XBVRM/ref%3Das_li_tf_tl?tag=draft2-20">clicking here.</a> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> At iTunes by <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id702053574">clicking here</a> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> At B&N by <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-first-port-in-the-storm-rodney-cannon/1116858889?ean=2940148702467&itm=1&usri=2940148702467">clicking here.</a></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> At Kobo by <a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/Search/Query?query=1230000176022&fcmedia=Book">clicking here.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you for visiting my site and please take a moment to visit the Empires Falling facebook page. If you are one of the first thirty people to like the page I am offering a choice of any of the short stories for free to you. Like the page and I will send to a text copy of story 1, 2 or 3. You get to pick. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/empiresfalling" target="_blank">Facebook Link.</a></span><br /><br /></div>
rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-45724754324513773142013-09-07T20:37:00.000-07:002013-09-08T05:05:22.343-07:00Empires Falling, The Release of The First Port in the Storm<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">The third short story that will introduce more characters from my epic fantasy novel series Empires Falling has been released and show become available at Amazon and iTunes as early as tomorrow. Below you will see the cover for the 8,000 word short story. The sale price will be .99 cents. I think I will have to revisit the lead characters in at least one more short story before they become central to the first novel. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">My first love was scifi and fantasy fiction so writing it has been a thrill for me. I know that I have promised a free short story in the series and that will be the next to be released. It is really a matter of me transcribing what I have hand written to word perfect and when doing this the story always changes and I end up discovering new things about certain characters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Okay enough about my writing process. Below is the Blurb (back cover description) of the story published today. I cannot tell you how it all turns out, but I can say that of all the characters that I have written about Miri has surprised me most with her strength and courage.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #674ea7;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The First Port in The Storm is the third in a series of epic fantasy short stories that introduce the characters that will populate the Empires Falling novels. In this story Miri of the Ansha is the rarest kind of practitioner of the magical arts. She is a Mystic who has had her most precious magical gift stolen with the removal out of her eyes. Her eyes were given in payment to the witch who found a way to capture her. Now blind and on a river journey to an unknown place she is at the mercy of a sadistic captain who beats, rapes and brutalizes her as often as he can. Nearing the first port since this journey began Miri must risk all in a last chance at freedom through escape or death.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Okay that will be it today, please stumble this page on stumble upon and take a moment to visit the Empires Falling facebook page. It is new and so far has had not many visitors. You can visit be <a href="https://www.facebook.com/empiresfalling">clicking here</a>.</span></span><span style="color: #674ea7;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">You can purchase the story at B&N by <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-first-port-in-the-storm-rodney-cannon/1116858889?ean=2940148702467&itm=1&usri=2940148702467">clicking here</a></span></span><span style="color: #674ea7;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">.</span></span></span><br />
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rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-51010810632419145492013-08-30T19:40:00.001-07:002013-08-30T19:40:53.741-07:00Empires Falling, New about The First Port In The Storm Short<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This will be a quick post. The next story in the series of twelve will be up for sale probably next weekend. <br />
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<strong>The story is titled The First Port in the Storm.</strong><br />
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The port mentioned is near the palace that houses <strong>Governor Magnux Cato</strong>, the nephew of the sitting Emperor. The boat arrives holds a prisoner that if she lives can play an important part in the events to come. The prisoner is named Miri and she is the first of the character that I will introduce who's trade is that of the magical arts.<br /><br /> The cover on this story is shown below. The image is how I see <strong>Miri</strong> at this point. You can conclude by the cover that this young woman has suffered a great deal during her capture and confinement. I can safely say that this is the bloodiest of the three short stories that has been released so far. It is the first one that I would give an R rating to. I have to say that the tone and content does reflect what you are going to find in the Empires Falling trilogy of novels.<br />
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<br /> After this story there are two more concerning characters and events in the <strong>Western Empire</strong>. Two more that will concern the <strong>eastern empire</strong> and then the rest will introduce the territories populated by those who are called <strong>Lurkers</strong> and one story about the once great empire to the north.<br />
<br /> I hope that those of you who have purchased the first two stories have enjoyed them. I did promise a free story would be available soon and it will be the next one after this to be released. I will release it chapter by chapter here and at Wattpad.<br /><br />Thank you for visiting and please share this post. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-2710252329665664292013-08-16T19:27:00.000-07:002013-08-17T11:38:38.387-07:00Publishing, The Land of the Khan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today I have just published the second story in the series of shorts that have been written to support the novels. The short (almost 6,000 words) is titled The Land of the Khan and it features two of my favorite characters in the Empires Falling Universe; Kiylah and Zed. I know some much about the future of these character and their part to play in the over all story. I could have named the second book in the three book Trilogy Kiylah and in a way I did since her name translates Fire Serpent. About The Land of the Khan, you can find it at B&N, Amazon and iTunes for the low price of .99 cents. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EM2KYW6/ref=as_li_tf_tl?tag=draft2-20">Click here</a><br />
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I am going to show you guys the cover of the second book in the series for the next thirty days because I really want someone to see it. If you want to know about the cover for book one in the series I have not decided on the art work yet. <br />
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There is a great deal of magic and supernatural elements to be revealed in the next two shorts stories. The good news about the next one to be released in the series of stories is that it will be free of charge. I will post where it will be published soon.<br />
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I have to say that writing a fantasy epic has been a life long dream of mine. Characters that make up one of the three Empires have been with me for over twenty years. It took the idea of telling a <br />
story that affect an entire world that sort of allowed me to bring those characters to life again.<br />
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If I can talk about one of the strongest influences on my story telling style I would say that it has to be the amazing sci-fi series Babylon 5. That show and its writer J. Michael showed me how to tell a story where the characters grew and changed over time. How motives and ambitions are altered by circumstances. No matter how complex a plot you can come up with or vast a canvas you can create it will always come down to characters and how they drive the story. Keeping in mind always that no character is absolutely good or evil. That humans, no matter what drives them, believe on some level that they are all the heroes of their own life story. <br />
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Thank you for visiting this Blog. Please take a moment to share this post and to tell someone about Empires Falling and if you only read on of the stories I would strongly suggest Land of the Khan. That is the one that I like to read over and over again. Editing over a thousand words out of it was the hardest edit of my life. </div>
rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-68122441407363653822013-07-30T14:10:00.000-07:002013-07-30T14:10:35.858-07:00Empires Falling, Cover Art<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">The first of the three novels in the series is still months away from being published. I have complete control over when the short stories are published, but the novels are still being edited. If I had to offer a guess I would say that the first book will be out in all possible formats before December first. Missing the holiday season with any product is not a good thing. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Right now I am looking over the first of the possible book covers. In the end I will be the one to make the final choice of covers. <span style="font-size: large;"> The problem with posting the covers now would be that they would act as spoilers for a few of the short stories coming online soon. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here is a portion of the cover for the second book.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV4EkL0-j_8GU2zKs-N5GMTjuTV7Xgl5bzhw7tjlpZFDjbqgysExzmHsqxHPxzTXFBwXjCshEdBI1sX2u5x0VszOnclNA2hQ8ezGFD24lIsG79dMi1V7bqaNjUCBijO_FCnfvFVmJoARAh/s1600/oie_30221018Xr6Tfci3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV4EkL0-j_8GU2zKs-N5GMTjuTV7Xgl5bzhw7tjlpZFDjbqgysExzmHsqxHPxzTXFBwXjCshEdBI1sX2u5x0VszOnclNA2hQ8ezGFD24lIsG79dMi1V7bqaNjUCBijO_FCnfvFVmJoARAh/s320/oie_30221018Xr6Tfci3.jpg" width="289" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">I can say this much about the story as a whole, it will show a health respect for magic and the supernatural. Readers, I hope, will be reminded of Arthur and his Knights of the Round table at times. Those amazing stories were firmly grounded in reality, but managed to introduce magic and the supernatural without breaking away from that reality. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have hinted at in previous post and will go over again that this is going to be a world of three empires that are fated to clash. Empires that will resemble those that existed at different times on our world.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Western Empire mirrors the Roman Empire and it like Rome will depend heavily on its armed forces. They trust to the sword more than magic. The Eastern Empire mirrors in some ways that of ancient China and feudal Japan. Myths and legends are part of everyday life. The island empires, the empire of the wilderness. The Empire of those called Lurkers resemble the Vikings and the Goths. They seem like barbarians to outsiders, but have laws and rules of conduct that are sometimes move civilized than those of the other kingdoms. The Lurkers depend upon magic and worship of ancient gods more than the other Empires. They are most likely to die willing in battle in the name of their gods or by the urging of their priest. In their society the high priest is almost equal to an Emperor.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Okay that is it for this post. I would like you to share this site on Stumbleupon and visit our facebook page by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/empiresfalling">clicking here.</a> </span></span></div>
rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-55605858541568756142013-07-28T12:52:00.001-07:002013-07-28T12:52:42.120-07:00Story Excerpt, Empires Falling - Land of The Khan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
First I would like to show you guys a first look at our Logo for the series. In weeks to come I will show the cover for the first of the books.<br />
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Next I have been asked for an excerpt from one of the stories and since this is going to be the next to be published, two weeks from today on iTunes and Kindle I will give you guys a first chance to meet the most important character in the Eastern Empire. Her name is Kiylah Khan.<br />
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EXCERPT FROM THE SHORT, LAND OF THE KHAN;<br />
<br />
Land Of The Khan <br />
<br /> (An Empires Falling Story)<br /> <br />
<br />
By.<br /> <br />
<br />
Rodney Cannon<br /> <br />
<br />
Chapter One.<br /> <br />
<br />
It was called in the old tongue the Walk of fire, a seemingly endless corridor that circled and circled beneath the palace city of the Khan. The keepers of this place called it what it would have been called in most places, the hall of records.<br /> <br />
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The man who had been in charge of this place for the better part of thirty years had spent the first sixteen years of the job occupied by the daily routine and dealing with those who came and went from service down here amongst the corridors and the lanterns. Then came the season of the red star. A blood red star gleaming in the night sky for two months while all awaited two of the emperor’s wives to give birth. One wife, Kushi, gave birth to twin boys. Twins were very rare and both of them being boys was even more so. The fact that Kushi had died while giving birth was consider even more of a omen of good fortune for the two boys. They had enter the world by taking a life.<br />
<br /> The other birth had been to the emperor’s first wife, Bayarmaa, a woman past the age of thirty having a child was as impressive as the fact that a man who had twenty two wives at the time still laid with the first one. The child was a girl and the night that she came into the world a day after the boys were born the star turned white and became a part of the night skies. Three months later one of the boys died just before his naming day. In other lands children were named at birth, but here it was tradition to do so on the first day of the forth month. The boy that lived was named Bataar which meant in the old tongue land slayer. The girl was given the name Kiylah, which meant fire serpent. <br />
<br /> Chuluun, the keeper, knew all of this because it had been his job to file this information in the stroll library and to have it painted on the stone walk that covered the center of the path that himself along with his workers were forbidden to walk upon unless repairs need to be made to the walk or images added. No one in living memory had walked the painted images expect the visitor who appeared for the first time nine years ago. <br /> <br />
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The sound of scampering feet had proceeded the arrival of the beautiful child who had almost run into him at midnight those many years ago. The child had been born five years before and when he saw the gold bands in the shape of thorns that held her long oil dark hair in place he knew who she was. The exception to the rules down here was that any member of the Khan’s family could walk the path. After all they were the path.<br />
<br /> Kiylah had been followed close behind by a tall dark skinned boy who wore the pale blue uniform of a Kulahan, a horse soldier. He would soon learn that the young man was named Zed son of Zed the Wind axe. The boy, exactly ten years older than the young princess was her hand chosen protector and only friend. She had wanted to know the stories of her blood and Zed had taken her to the place where she could learn them all. That begun a four year run of visits from the girl and her protector. Arriving always long after all of the other workers had gone home one the first day of each week the three of them would walk the path and Chuluun would tell the stories of each emperor’s rule and the times that he or rarely she lived through. Zed would sometimes ask question concerning battles and how they were won and lost. The princess was interested in the political aspects. Concerning herself most with the two times during the last two hundred years that the city fell into enemy hands. How the people were treated. Well he had to tell the truth even to a seven year old at the time. He told her that both times they were brutalized. Many were killed enslaved and of course the women were raped. The palace was sacked and the hall that she visited only survived because the place had a natural defense. If it was threatened then it could be flooded with sand, in sections or completely. The last time it happened it took almost a year for a small army of slaves to carry off all the sand.<br />
<br /> Their time together as a trio ended shortly after Kiylah reached the age of nine. One of Kiylah’s fifteen older brothers got in an argument with her. He decided that the best way to win that argument was to choke her to death. Being twice her age and twice her size he would have been successful in not for Zed, who if the reports of the slaves who were close by could be believed, had ripped the brother’s right hand off and used it to choke him to death with it.<br />
<br /> The rest of it only three living people could tell of. The princess Kiylah and Zed had fled to these halls. Once there Kiylah had asked, not order, but asked Chuluun to help Zed to escape the palace city.<br />
<br /> An order would have protected him better if someone discovered any of what would happen, but he was pleased that her highness respected him enough to ask. Rules who asked rather than ordered were destined for long rules. <br />
<br /> Chuluun stood in the shadows while the young people said good byes that did not give him the sense that it would truly be their last words to each other.<br />
***<br />
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rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-22742431174500419092013-07-25T20:30:00.000-07:002013-07-25T20:30:23.984-07:00Is This Story Set OnEarth.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Is Empires Falling Set on Earth.</span> </div>
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Empires in this story will resemble
those on earth at different points in its history.</div>
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The world where this story is set is
not our earth although it may be an earth. An Earth</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
that still walks the line between stark
reality and magic. Magic is as much a part of every</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
day life as science. They are both
accepted facts.
</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Every court has a Mage or a wizard
present. None are completely trusted but all are needed to defend
against others. Magical forces are the equal to stealth weapons in
their world. The most commonly used magical device on their version
of earth is a whispering orb. A small crystal ball that can be used
to send messages over a great distance. Each orb has one or two mates
that they are bonded to. These balls allow one to speak a
message into one and have it heard through the other. If the mates
are destroyed then the remaining orb goes dim. (Note, the only time
in recorded history that the dim orbs came back to life was during
the last night of the flaming star, when all of them burned fire red
like the star and whispered a single word before they went dead
again, that word was <span style="font-size: small;">Kassar.</span> translated from the first tongue means Fire God.) </div>
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</div>
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Magic has rarely been used to cause
death and only the rarest form of white magic can restore life.</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<strong>There are three standing empires on
this world and one growing on when the story begins</strong>.</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The central and most powerful one is
the <strong>Mycen Empire</strong>. It mostly resembles ancient Rome and has been ruled
for over fifteen years by <strong>Empire Gassus Cato</strong> as the story begins. His
empire possesses the largest standing army ever assembled and
controls the entire western corner of the world. It is border to the
north by frozen wastelands where mountain tribes and a once powerful
kingdom that carved its palaces out of crystal and ice once existed.
At it eastern borders is a vast sea and beyond that sea is the great
eastern empire.</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<strong>The Eastern Empire. This is the Empire
of the Khan.</strong> Once this empire controlled all the eastern lands and
parts of the western territories as well. Now after over a hundred
years of in fighting and neglect this empire is ripe for the picking.
Kingdoms that it once ruled now plot against the Empire's capital and
the family that has ruled for over five hundred years. At the time
the story begins <strong><span lang="en-CA">N</span><span style="font-size: small;">abartar</span>
Khan </strong>sits the throne. A reluctant warrior king who would rather
negotiate with his enemy than crush them.</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
To the north there are a series of
islands that have become over populated by hundreds of tribes the
rest. These tribes share a common language and are called by those
living in the western and eastern empires <strong>Lurkers</strong>. They are forever
lurking near docks and water ways. They would resemble the ancient
Goths. Brave and enduring they are looked upon as barbarians by those
who do not understand their ways.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<strong>There are whispers of a forth kingdom
to the north</strong>, but a desert of ice coated sand has kept the truth of
what waits there hidden for centuries. It will not be until book two
that any of what waits there is revealed.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
These Empires will clash in an epic
struggle that is driven by greed, survival, hunger and blinding
ambition. A struggle that will cost countless lives and crown a
ruler of a united world empire.</div>
<br /></div>
rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3991949405562435186.post-33333514888562112592013-07-22T04:17:00.000-07:002013-07-22T04:17:37.597-07:00What is Empires Falling<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Empires Falling is a dark fantasy epic that will be told over three full length novels and twelve short stories. This central character of this saga will be introduced in five short stories to be published in the ebook format. The first novel of three will follow there after. The title of the first novel in the series is What Lurks In The Wilderness.<br />
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This blog will cover many things not covered by the books or short stories. It will give you a history of the main characters and offer excerpts from the books and short stories.<br />
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Let us begin with the most important character. This is the time of Empires and of course of emperors. As the saga begins the Emperor is Gallus Cato.<br />
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Gallus Cato is a man who won the throne through force of arms. As the highest ranking general of the former Emperor's legions he seized power from a sickly ruler almost fifteen years before the telling of this story begins. He assumed the throne at the age of thirty two and quickly consolidated absolute power over an empire in turmoil by marrying his sister off to a cruel hearted rival. Cato practices a policy of never allowing his armies to become weak by constantly sending them off to invade and claim new territories. Being the same kind of emperor that he was as a general he shares the wealth of conquest with his officers. The emperor does not have a wife or an heir. Six years into his rule he married for political advantage a woman who would die while giving birth to a child who also died shortly there after. Since then he has relations with servant women around the palace and enjoys the spoils of battle during the times he can get away to lead his arms. War is the only place that has ever felt like home to him.<br />
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Closest to the Emperor is his younger sister Julia Cato, formerly Julia Cato Praxus. She is twelve years younger than her brother. She was once a great beauty in her youth, but marriage to a man that brutalized her in every way possible left her bitter, cold hearted and unable to bare children. Despite being the one who sentenced her to a marriage that turned out to be a living hell, Julia loves her brother and is his most fierce protector. She knows that she can never rule the empire, but wants to be the Hand. <br />
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There are two other members of the Cato family. Cousins, one serves in the legions and the other as the governor of a small frontier trading outpost. They will be introduced in book one of the series.<br />
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<br />
<b>EXCERPT from the short story Hunting The Hand:</b> (available now at iTunes and Amazon)<br />
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The death cry was so short and sharp that only the few birds that took flight <br />
and Tresaha took notices of it. She stumbled with Varia leaning on her as they ran, but she regained her pace and kept going. If Varia had heard it then their race would have been done. Her father meant everything to the girl. Protecting Varia was now the only thing that mattered. She could not fail Halen in this regard. The sound of running water was near. The smell of it was in the air and a direct line through the woods would have been the best way to go, but Varia was not going to be able to handle that run so they stuck to what looked like a deer trail.<br />
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They were east of the imperial palace which meant that the river would be taking anything that fell into it toward the palace and the guard stations that watched the water way. She had seen that river from bridges and balconies, and it was wide and rapid. Tresaha had gone bone bare swimming with Varia last summer and the girl was such a good swimmer than she had not only swum circles around Tresaha but had disappeared beneath the water for the better part of two minutes before resurfacing with a giggle. Tresaha doubted if there would be any laughing today.<br />
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The woods had suddenly gone quiet. The sound of life had been all around them when they entered these woods, but the only sound that Tresaha could hear now was the sound of their own run. Twigs and branches being broken as they moved and then in the distance there was something else. A tree branch broke and then sets of racing feet coming their way. Halen had not been enough. The emperor's hand was the target, but there could be no witnesses left to what happened to him. Common assassins could have been sent, but men talked. When black magic was involved only the one who conjured it could tell. Those creatures were going to tear them apart if the river was not enough to save them. Tresaha had been told countless stories about evil spirits and most of them involved the fact that they could not enter holy places and could not cross running water. <br />
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Forever, it was breathing, stumbling and pulling along someone who was proving to be stronger than Tresaha thought possible. Varia was from many generations of wealth and privilege and there should not have been any wells of strength and determination to dip into, but Varia was finding strength from some source and forcing herself to go on. When something maybe a hundred yards behind them howled so hard that it rattled leaves from the trees overhead Varia did not hesitate or even seem to take notice at all. <br />
<br />
Ahead was the sound of running water.<br />
<br />
Behind was the sound of creatures leaping and flowing along a path a quickly as if they were composed of nothing more substantial than air. <br />
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A broken series of branches and there it was a river racing along faster than Tresaha remembered it. Under other circumstances she would have been afraid to ride that river if she had been dead center of a long oared boat. The clearing was smooth and down hill toward the river. They broke free into the open and Tresaha reached for the dagger than she wore in a sheath along her right thigh. Her slingshot would have been a better weapon, but there was no way she could pull it along with a ball then load and fire without being taken out by the second or third animal that was chasing them. That was if her sling would have had any affect on the animal. The guards that came with Varia had swords and it seemed that these creatures had gone through them.<br />
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Panting.<br />
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Snapping.<br />
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Tearing up chunks of earth as the chase became desperate from creatures that did not fatigue or lose the smell of their prey. Someone watching from a distance would have seen the two girls running stride for stride along side each other with a matching of each others movements that seemed rehearsed over many years together rather than born minutes before from desperation. The two huge black beasts that at a distance certainly looked like dogs, but moved with a perfectly repeating motion that would have put to mind the movements of a man-made machine. They seemed to be driven by moving parts rather than muscle and pounding organs. <br />
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It seemed as if the girls would be caught and ripped to pieces about five paces from the river, but the dogs slowed down as if afraid to get too close to the water and that gave the two girls just enough time to dive toward the river. With one of the dogs snapping at Varia and tearing away a long strip from her gown.<br />
<br />
The relief of going airborne toward the following water was short lived when the coldest substance that Tresaha had ever felt in her life swallowed her whole, twisted her around and spat her back to the surface. The ice cold current took her and flailing around with both hands she grasped something that felt like cloth beneath the surface of the water and yanking hard Varia surfaced with an ear piercing screaming. The cloth had turned out to be a fist full of Varia's hair. Tresaha exchanged her fist full of hair for a fist full of shoulder cloth. They could not lose each other in this churning water. She let the water spin her as Varia tugged at her collar. The spin was enough to see the shore line and the two dogs were trotting along the bank after them. The speed of the water was enough to put some distance between them and as long as they did not come out on that side of the river maybe their escape would be successful. Then again Tresaha was treading water as hard as she could, but every few yards the water rose up over their heads and they were beneath the surface of the ice cold river. Making matters worst they were getting heavier. Water was weighing down their clothes. It was going to sink Varia like a stone if they could not get rid of some of the girl’s garments, but at the moment all she could do was hang onto Varia and try to time the waves. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrGdnnekkjZUwXAsfkhwGYAQABhem-ZamG0YzFzMEry5l5uP8W5wFDfMrMt-Fpg5gNVTKnb3DGn45C9X9i1pnjNaY5X8ml6RtbE_DF2_MKrot1OS5AYdQ_UDKwZ3m4uJi82MV3sqw8ztZ9/s400/oie_YEZlpCBqE0eJ.jpg" width="211" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Available at iTunes And Amazon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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rodney cannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04790665250147708791noreply@blogger.com0