Legends of Haergill

Legends of Haergill is turning out to be a very satisfying novella. I'm more than half finished with the first draft, and on schedule to meet my goal of completion by Feb. 29.
I'm incorporating much of the mythos I've constructed to support the whole world of Wealdland, but also adding links to the Berand Stories.
Two characters I always wanted to explore more, because they die rather early in The Last Elf of Lanis, were Haergill and the Mage. Well, of course the Mage helps Haergill and family escape Ethgeow when it falls...


;)


cheers,


Kurt

Right here, right now

I received a five star review of The Last Elf of Lanis that was sort of a back-handed compliment, then I felt somewhat insulted, and then my mind started on overdrive, so I knew this was a blog-idea.


The review in question on the Amazon kindle page:

Must Read If You Are Willing to Finish This Series, 

Rianne Freeman ;) 

you might as well stop reading now because the kindle store doesnt even have the last book!! wish me luck TRYING to find the other book. its probably not published yet, but i not that good at that type of stuff!!! lolz <3 me!!

Ok. Ms. Freeman obviously liked my work, but the idea of telling a potential reader "you might as well stop reading now" because the third of the series is not ready yet made me smile, and then frown, and then smile again. Smile; because she clearly likes the trilogy enough to be frustrated that the third isn't available yet. Frown; why would she tell anyone to not enjoy the series??? Smile; because I am reading too much into the notion. She likes the stories and wants all of them now.


And that's where I got to thinking...


I grew up on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. When I finished Frodo's great quest, and Middle Earth passed into the Fourth Age... I WANTED MORE! I read Tolkien's works as a lad, in the late 60's. The Silmarillion didn't come out until 1977. 


I am certain that the desire for MORE is what has motivated almost all writers in the fantasy genre. I will freely admit that it motivated me. "What happens next?" It is supreme frustration for a reader, but a rousing chorus of approval for the writer. Because, someone out there likes my work, and they want MORE.


But think of it...


What of the lucky few who found Tolkien's work AS IT WAS PUBLISHED! What secret joy and feeling of inner power they must have felt to touch those worlds before they became widely understood and accepted. They know that the author is there, just waiting to give you the next book. It's what fans of J. K. Rowling must have felt as the Harry Potter books came out.


So, Ms. Freeman, I salute you. You have made me feel, just a tiny bit, like J. R. R. Tolkien, like J. K. Rowling, like an author that people want MORE from. I'm feeling ten feet tall right about now, so I better close this blog before it gets sappy.


Don't worry, to all of you, there will be MORE, lots MORE...


cheers,


Kurt

refilling my head

I've just started work on a new series of novels related to the Wealdland Stories; the Berand Tales. 


Berand is the elf who forged the Sun and Moon Swords as a peace pact to end the Elf Human Wars, two thousand years before The Last Elf of Lanis.


Although I have a pretty exciting outline to tackle, I find myself wandering through news stories on the internet, and flipping through books in my modest library, wasting time. And then it hit me, and I smiled to myself.


I need to refill my head.


Stories and ideas play on an endless loop somewhere in the back of my mind until I can get them out by writing them in context in some novel or short story. I've described writing as a kind of exorcism for me, and it sure feels like it. The ideas of a story can become irritating, buzzing around my consciousness, coming to the fore at the most inopportune moments. Usually I bore my wife to tears when an idea gets too overwhelming in my head by yakking about it until I see her eyes glaze over. 


The completion of the Wealdland Stories, with the first draft of The Lord of Lightning, has left a vast hole in my mind. These were ideas that were playing on that endless loop since 2005! Six years! And now my mind is calm and rather placid. 


But calm and placid does not make for good novel writing. Although I have the skeleton of a good outline, it has no meat. So, I need to look around and see relationships, see troubles, see worries, feel connected, then the ideas that matter will come to me. 


What are the ideas that matter? The personal problems of the fictional characters. Readers have said to me that they enjoy my novels because they felt engaged with the characters, their problems seemed real, and they worried what would happen to those fictional characters in the course of the story. That's a very nice complement to a writer.


So... I haven't quite got there for Berand and the other characters of his world. I will tell you that Berand will be more 'Bilbo-ish' if I'm allowed to say that. He is someone who will grow and change with the telling of his tale. Iounelle was someone who was mostly locked into the horror of her world, and in that sense, the Wealdland Stories are more like The Lord of the Rings, again if I am permitted to say that. 


So I'm telling my complete saga kind of backwards. But not really, because there is so much more. Once you read the The Lord of Lightning, and then Legends of Haergill and Conniker's Tale, you'll understand. There is SO much more to come.


But, in the mean time, I have to fill my head back up: books, news articles, myths, music, plays, movies, talk, all the threads that create the cloth of our existence; they become reflections of the threads that make up the cloth of my fictional worlds.


And then, when I'm ready... the beautiful music of the clacking of the keyboard!


cheers,


Kurt


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The Lord of Lightning

I believe I forgot to mention here, although I have been crowing it everywhere else, that I finished the first draft of The Lord of Lightning on my goal date, this last Tuesday, January 31st, 2012.


If all goes well, the third of the Wealdland Stories should be available sometime between May of this year and June, possibly sooner.


There's been some real momentum building with the Wealdland Stories, and I thank you readers for your support. It has been the discovery and involvement of you that has made Iounelle and her story a growing success.


The fourth book, Legends of Haergill and Conniker's Tale will probably be ready sometime in late summer, as half of that is already written. But, it will be ready before the end of the year. 


Also this year I hope to offer a very exciting project, for me at least, that begins chronicling the Elf Human Wars with the first story of Berand, the elf who forged the Moon Sword that Iounelle carries and the Mattear Gram, the Sun Sword. So watch for Berand the Fool sometime later this year. 


I am VERY excited about the plot line I've sketched out for the three books that will encompass the Berand Stories. 


The best is yet to come!


Iounelle laefra!!


cheers,


Kurt




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Possibly a better resolution of map

This may be a better file of the map of Wealdland.


click here for map of Wealdland


thanks to Kenneth Wilson of Coventry, UK for helping.


Cheers, Kurt

New Map of wealdland

Here is a better file of the map of Wealdland.

cheers,

Kurt

learn Miranei script - practice lesson 1b

Okay, this is what you should have written.

Reading from right to left:

weldrau

ghatr

laefrnohn

The last symbol was a bit tricky. I didn't plan that. I hope you didn't write out 'h' 'n'. 

Remember, if a sound is one component, it usually has its own specific symbol. In this case the sound was 'hn'. That can get tricky with compound words. But if you are up on your vocabulary, it won't trip you up.

This verse was the first line from the Elvish Nursery Rhyme that opens The Archer From Kipleth.

cheers,

Kurt

learn Miranei script - practice lesson 1a

Okay. This will be fun, I promise. I'm going to give you a 'romanized' line of verse in Miranei.

You try to write it our, knowing what you know now about Miranei script.

A little later today, I put up my version. And, we can compare to see how you did.

ready?



weldrau ghatr lafrnohn

The trees that once lived



good luck. see you later today.

cheers,

Kurt

learn Miranei script - lesson 8

Here's the last of the Miranei script.

The 'z' sound is very rare in Miranei.

The first word, tjejath, is number 0, the first of the 8 Paths of Wisdom.

thrótragn (n.) thunder    is interesting. Because it's a compound word, literally thrót and ragn: night and horse. The 'tr' symbol is not used. The word is pronounced THRÓT ragn. So it's not a 'tr' sound in the middle. Night horses, yeah, thunder could sound like a herd of giant horses running through the sky.

lyl (n.) life force, one, person    is a word unique to Miranei. 

It's more sacred and respectful than, "Who is that person?" 

It's "Who is that life force?" Much more respectful.

Ok. That's it. 8 lessons. And how about that? There's that number 8 again. 

You should be able to write and read Miranei with a little practice.

I'll be publishing a free Miranei to English/ English to Miranei dictionary soon.

Oh, oh, and I'm going to start serializing Book Nine: Mars, just because science is catching up to some wacky theories I've had for years. It will look like I'm just using the latest science news, but I've had the idea that neutrinos move faster than light for at least two years when I first started writing Book Nine:Mars on a break between Book One: The Last Elf of Lanis and Book Two: The Archer From Kipleth.

Yeah, that's right, Iounelle, the last elf on planet earth lives over 164,000 years and is the star of the science fiction part of the series. Book Nine: Mars is set 300 years into our future as the red planet is being colonized by humanity. 

Although the book is based on science fiction, Iounelle continues to pursue the evil spirit Jofod Kagir and the humans it possesses.


So look for that, real soon. I may start a separate blog for Mars... or not.


Meanwhile, I'm working hard on Book Three: The Lord of Lightning. I've finished more than a quarter of the book. 


Book Four: Legends of Haergill and Conniker's Tail will be very easy to compile as it will include every short story written for the Wealdland Saga, plus two interesting and important novellas that will introduce the historical fiction part of the overall story arc, 


Mathematics and Magic 


which will be Book Five: Ancient Science; Book Six: Future Sorcery; Book Seven: Present Horizons; and Book Eight: A Cold Night in Oslo and Other Unverified Gossip (where Iounelle takes out Hitler!). 


And the last section The Planets, the science fiction part, will be Book Nine: Mars (which is almost already completed); Book Ten: Venus; Book Eleven: Mercury; and the whole magilla concludes in Book Twelve: The Sun and All Its Glory.


And you better believe Miranei is going to show up in all twelve books.




cheers,


Kurt

learn Miranei script - lesson 7

Tonight we have one of the most used consonant sounds in Miranei...

it's the 'r' sounds.

Psyche! 

Although the 's' sound has many combinations, and a symbol for each variant, it's the 'r' sound that is the most prevalent in the elvish language of the Fifth Age.

rald (n.) valley    is a good word to look at and see the difference between the 'd' and 'r' symbols.

That last word:

sjogee (n.) ally / friend    is an important root word in Miranei.

From that root, we get:

sjodán (n.) prince    an important title.

sjogee'ath (n.) compassion    number 1 of the Eight Paths of Wisdom

sjobré (v.) walk

sjohr (v.) step

sjogeedr (adj.) friendly

-sjogee'ahl (adv.) friendly

sjogee (intrj.) hello

sogee (intrj. var.) hello


sjogee'anon (Trad intrj.) hello - formal interjection - literally: "with you as a friend"


So when you say 'hello' to an elf in Miranei, you are literally greeting that person as 'friend'.


cheers,


Kurt