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The Great Collection of the Elemental Families of Huphaea, anid 1830. #0

aimeredleaf, The Narrative Gardener 2 Comments

Hello! I’m Eleanorah Starr. I have been asked by

…my friend to come by a couple times a month and tell the tale of my time in the world of Ereth.

We were talking a while back about fantasy books, which she loves to read, and I just couldn’t help myself.

The story started coming out.

She, of course, was hooked, and always wants to know more, I can’t write it fast enough for her <eye rolls>, Lol.

“Do other worlds exist, you ask? Yes, they do.

I know this for a fact because I have been to another world; one not of this time and nothing like this one.

Perhaps that’s why I am so disenchanted with this world. I didn’t mean to return to Earth. I would have gladly stayed on Ereth for the rest of my life (which incidentally would have been much longer than it will be here), despite the dragons and unexplained happenings that were causing uncertainty in Huphaea.

Listen to the author narrate the accompanying text! Begin the journey with audio!

I have no idea how I ended up in London that hateful day. One moment I was making camp in the Scarmagne Forest with my companions,

…the next I was standing on a street edge in Chelsea—looking totally ridiculous, mind you, in Robin Hood-like garb.

Thankfully, ComicCon was in town, so I didn’t seem too out of place, just a bit lost.

And I was so looking forward to seeing Irillo again.

Oh yes, I certainly did try to get back. Immediately.

I spent an hour searching for the exact spot where the portal was, but had no luck.

I can’t even imagine what I must have looked like to the passers-by, some sort of deranged, strung-out, role-player frantically slapping the brick wall in an alley aside The Split Chevron pub, muttering to herself.

I remember a dog growled behind me, and that stopped me searching. The guy spoke sternly to the dog and kept moving quickly when I turned around. That’s when I saw the sign across the way for Fulham Road, in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. And I realized I was in London.

No. There was no warning the portal was there at all.

Portals weren’t ever talked about. I asked questions once or twice about them, where they were, how does someone find them? But my questions were ignored or shrugged off. I kind of got the feeling it was something that wasn’t discussed.

What was I doing there?

Adele, Solon and I were making camp for the evening. We were on our way back to Irillo from the last stop on our tour of Huphaea gathering family histories. Solon was tending to the horses, Adele was sorting food for the meal, and I was gathering wood for the fire.

And then I wasn’t.

I always wondered what they thought, how long they looked for me that night.

Irillo is the capital of the elven half of the island of Huphaea, the capital of Eflary. It’s where we started out from all those anos ago. I lived there with Adele until we were commissioned to go on the Collection.

Irillo, capital of Eflary, the elven lands.

No, I said anos. That would be the equivalent of a month in Huphaea, but it has five weeks of five days instead.

Well, sure, I can tell you all about my time there, if you have the time to listen. It’s not a short story.

There are eighteen Houses, each with two Scions, so we visited thirty-six places. Half in Eflary, half in Maarran, which is the human half of Huphaea. And that was after I had been with Adele for a while.

Yes, yes, humans and elves lived together.

They even had families together, most individuals were well-mixed, honestly. Finding a pure human, or a pure elf was very rare.

The purest were the Fosters, for reasons I will tell when I get to them.

You sure you want to hear all of this? It doesn’t mean anything except to me, and you’re probably gonna think I’m nuts…

OK, well then, maybe we can break it up over a few sessions, sound good?

Where shall I start, I guess at the very beginning, right?”

ID726045 copyright Dragen Cvetanovic|Dreamstime.com

Curious about the Elemental Families? Click on these two links for diagrams outlining the hierarchies. Which one do you want to hear most about?

elven-elemental-families-1Download
human-elemental-families-2Download

Subscribe here to the Collection of Huphaea newsletter and get notified when Eleanorah posts next! Exclusive content will be included too!

What kind of world would you want to be transported to? Comment your answer below!

Photos by form PxHere, unless otherwise attributed.

#SundaySpotlight: A New Journey Begins…

aimeredleaf, The Narrative Gardener Leave a comment

The Great Collection of Huphaea, anid 1830 told by Eleanorah Starr

I have time to tell my story, if you have time to listen…

It seems like some Entity flipped a switch and the world went haywire, doesn’t it? Being an introvert, I am well-practiced at working from home, and just plain being alone most of the day, so the #socialdistancing and #physicaldistancing isn’t taking a toll on me. It’s when I actually DO have to venture out and gather supplies, and therefore interact with the masses, that takes the toll. Once I step into the space of a hive mindset, I am finding it incredibly difficult not to succumb to the panic, even with a list to stick to. Then I get home and lose my sh*#.

It just makes me think more and more about the story I am slowly starting to write. About going to another world completely. How cool that would be right about now?

I have done an awful lot of worldbuilding over the last year, preparing to write a first draft. At a certain point I realized I had so much backstory to do with my world that it was going to be impossible to fit it into the series without potentially boring readers to death. (Personally I love that stuff, but I get that it’s not really cool. And of course, ‘minimize the exposition’ is generally the rule.) Some of it I can work in artfully, but much of it, no.

About that time, I stumbled upon a couple of fellow bloggers who were taking a different approach to storytelling- telling their tales, introducing their characters and worlds post-by-post. This really got me thinking, and so I have to credit The Storyteller at Brother’s Campfire and Charles Yallowicz at Legends of Windemere for planting the seed of this idea. Follow the links to their blogs if you are curious about their sagas- dark fantasy and paranormal with vampires, respectively.

Starting this coming week, Eleanorah Starr will be ‘guesting’ here on Thursdays, telling her tale about the world of Ereth; an alternate world to Earth that she literally stumbled into. She hopes to be by weekly, but more likely it will be every other week. Some installments may include maps, and some may have audio recordings of her storytelling. Ereth is a world filled with magic, dragons, elves, humans, and Sentient animals, especially the continent of Huphaea, where she spent her time. You will hear about and get to know the thirty-six Elemental Families of Huphaea, and the land itself as Eleanorah relates her journey on the Great Collection of the Elemental Families, anid 1830. #CollectionofHuphaea will hold the chronicles, along with this blog.

If you’d like to be notified of when Eleanorah posts, you can follow this link to subscribe to the newsletter, or follow this blog. She has told me that she plans to offer some bonus content to her newsletter subscribers as well, all leading in the future to the novel about Huphaea and the triad of individuals responsible for its balance. If her story is half as compelling as it seems, we will all be looking for portals to Ereth! Come on, join the adventure!

Subscribe to the Collection of Huphaea newsletter here!

Infographic: Selling your Business with Ebooks — Nicholas C. Rossis

aimeredleaf, The Narrative Gardener 2 Comments

I re-blogged this post from a fellow freelancer because it got the brainstorming juices flowing about my own new business situation. It is a very well done infographic by BigrockCoupon that I thought others may find useful too. Drop a comment below if you do any of these tips in your marketing scheme, or want to add them to your plan. I am definitely going to consider it!~

Did you know that a great way to promote a business is through an ebook? As regular readers of this blog know, I have been focusing on freelance writing this past couple of years. So, this is a tip that may be of particular interest to non-fiction writers and anyone else who is looking to […]

Infographic: Selling your Business with Ebooks — Nicholas C. Rossis

A Book Promotion: The Wraith’s Bargain by Jo Narayan

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“Unfortunately for Dana, he’s a demon too–but he has just the bargain that could get her out of this mess for good.”

Jo Narayan, author of The Wraith’s Bargain

Paranormal Fantasy lovers! This debut novel is sure to delight—demons, magic and an unlikely rescuer— what more could we want?

With a three-chapter free download on her website, jonarayan.com, author Jo Narayan invites you to sample her work before you pre-order. I read it last night, and I enjoyed it very much. I have already marked it on my TBR list (I must be approaching a mile with this list, easily).

The story blurb goes:

A year has passed since the nightmares began, and Dana is running on fumes. Her nightly torture by demons has left her reliant on caffeine and desperate for change.

Change comes, in the most unexpected way. When a demon comes for her in real life, Dana is saved by an Order of local demon hunters. They offer to help her to manifest and learn to control her own brand of magic, which could turn her life around. It will take time, but Dana is prepared to put in the work. That is, until she encounters the demon king himself who promises she won’t have to wait–and is left with her head spinning.

Dana knows nothing good will come from trusting the demons–but she doesn’t know how much longer she can handle the nightmares. It’s not until a charming stranger starts turning up in her dreams and helping her out of sticky situations that she realizes she may have a third option. Unfortunately for Dana, he’s a demon too–but he has just the bargain that could get her out of this mess for good.

Jo Narayan’s debut novel The Wraith’s Bargain releases June 28, 2020. Check out @authorjonarayan or jonarayan.com for more information. Links to her other novellas in The Order of The Hunt Collection, prequels to The Wraith’s Bargain are here too. Happy Demoning!~

I Wrote a Poem and It Won!

aimeredleaf, The Narrative Gardener 1 Comment

Wow, I can’t remember the last time I won something! What a fun feeling.

A fellow blogger, The Alchemist’s Studio, is a very talented potter and they host a monthly contest to name a creation that they have recently thrown.

I am a recent follower of theirs, but February’s piece spoke to me immediately when I saw it. The poem entitled Old Soul fell into my mind and I entered it into the comments box.

Then yesterday, when I read The Alchemist’s Studio newsletter, I found that I had won! You can see a photo of the vase and read my poem by following this link to The Alchemist’s Studio blog. While you are there, follow them too!

How cool! Thank you so much! The inspiration was from your unique work, keep creating, my friend 🙏👏.~

You ask me if I have a God complex? I AM God!

aimeredleaf, The Narrative Gardener Leave a comment

It can be easy to fall back onto what we already know and are comfortable with when worldbuilding for our stories. But why not push the limits and REALLY play god. Mrmiscreant over at Fifth Ring Press reminds us to let go and PLAY!

RK's avatarFifth Ring Press

No really, I am God. And so are you. Don’t believe me? Then you’ve not actually accepted the idea that you are an author because when you are and you know it, you realize that in your world, you are the supreme being.

That guy at the bar is a real bastard and needs to die, right? The protagonist is high on her pedestal and needs to be brought down with a glorious crash to earth? The Earth is in peril an only one decision will lead to deliverance or destruction? Who decides if any of that happens?

Where does this all begin. Well for my co-author and I it began when we realized we didn’t even have a world. We had a story and events and characters but they were all floating in the nebulous space of our brain. Where the hell were they doing all the things? And…

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Down the Rabbit Hole — The Beauty and Value of Inkarnate Map Creation Software.

aimeredleaf, The Narrative Gardener 4 Comments

Oh my, where do I start?

I stumbled upon Inkarnate one day when I was doing an internet search for mapmaking options. I already had the map for my fantasy land on a plain piece of white paper, but I wanted it to look authentic—with landforms, oceans, forests, roads, and settlements delineated and in color if possible. There is nothing I like more than opening up a fantasy book cover and seeing an interesting MAP.

As you can see, it was horribly boring, and woefully underwhelming.

Initially, when I opened up Inkarnate (free-version), I was thrilled! Here was a design tool where I didn’t feel like a non-artist (as I am). There was a picture in my mind of a coastline present to the northwest of my central land, and I couldn’t draw it correctly at ALL (ugh). Suddenly with Inkarnate, I could make things appear as I wanted; the maps were not pre-generated like other internet sites I had dabbled with.

I bet you can guess what happened next…

Yeah, before I knew it, it was dark outside and the dogs needed feeding… but I had a NEW MAP!

a couple hours later… the first version of Iacewen

I was so pleased with the result that I decided to take the time and attempt to transfer (freehand) my plain map into Inkarnate. But… I wasn’t so confident about my ability drawing with the mouse. On a whim, I emailed the Inkarnate support team and asked if a scanned document could be imported and modified. And I HOPED against hope that it was.

To my great delight, the answer came back YES with details on how to make it happen! On the next opportunity, I uploaded my bland map, and after several sessions, came out with:

Huphaea: first run

The political lines, roads, rivers and water bodies took time to outline, but I was able to follow my faint lines on the uploaded copy, thankfully. It was really the shading built into the ocean and land textures that made it come alive, though. I was pretty pleased. The icons available in the free version were great, but the pro version held many more choices. After a bit of thinking, I opted to pay the modest yearly price and upgraded to the pro version for the greater variety.

A bit before Christmas, Inkarnate introduced a beta HD version of their new pro upgrade, and I signed up immediately. Once I opened my maps again, the difference was HUGE!

current map of Iacewen under Inkarnate Pro beta HD
current map of Huphaea under Inkarnate Pro beta HD

As you can see in the Iacewen map, the icons are FAR more advanced in design, color, and features (volcanoes, snow on the mountains, etc.) The trees are grouped into species, and there are several forms of each to choose from or rotate through to create realistic forests. Every feature can be resized on a 1-100 gradient depending on the scale of your map. These here are in the 25 and less range because my map is large on distance.

The addition of a shadow feature creates depth in any place you enable it, and I have seen some incredibly detailed shorelines other users have made. Along with that, the amount of different stamps in common fantasy categories (elves, orcs, human, goblin, etc) make it possible to create incredibly detailed cities on a very visible scale. Role players have produced some amazing creations, check out the Inkarnate reddit if you are interested in the possibilities.

Two of the better features, I think, are the SAVE reminder and the Path tool. I was happily editing along, and this box popped up in the lower left corner, telling me I had made over 60 edits and it was time to save — wa-wa-wwhhaaatt? Where is that feature in everything else? And you can bet I saved immediately!

The Path tool came a bit too late for me initially, but I was delighted to be able to go back and apply it to my solid road lines. It changed them to a dotted string, and the map came to life! The roads suddenly looked like thoroughfares even without a key. The map started to look like something I would see covering the inside cover of a novel. There are even beautiful scroll-work edges and parchment-like borders you can add to your creation so that it resembles a weather-beaten map.

The differences aren’t as visible on the second Huphaea map, but I notice it in the depth of the land textures. I have quite a bit more to do; undoubtedly I will continue to amend as I go.

If you are an author (especially of fantasy) enmeshed in worldbuilding, or an RPGer, hop on over to Inkarnate and play around for a few minutes, then tell me you aren’t hooked. I highly recommend Inkarnate for anything you need to map out, even if it’s only to keep it straight in your head while you write. Sorry about the rabbit hole, though…

sorry, not sorry…

On second thought, nope, I’m not. Happy mapping!~

What have you used to map your world? Have you made a physical copy, or prefer to keep it in your head? Leave a comment below, I’d love to know your thoughts about maps and creating them!~

Book Review: Land of Perpetual Night

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written by Miri C. Golden

0.5 of The Blood Forest series

*I was given an ARC by the author. I am happy to post this review.

In Land of Perpetual Night we are introduced to Troa Travay, a young, very successful, Ranger squad leader in the highly-Casted land of Sideer. Immediately I was thrown into the unrelenting pressure of the world Troa and her friends live in. The society, the laws the citizens live by, and the parched land itself create a feeling of almost despair. But with her position, I began to think that perhaps Troa had risen above the harshness of the society; I soon learned I was wrong.

The province of Shinador has long been looked down upon as the basest, most wild province in the Sideerian Empire, yet it inspires a vow of deep reverence in Troa, which she has vowed to fight for endlessly. But when that same vow is seemingly thrown away by her role model, her mother Shekyva, Troa’s world fractures in an instant. We follow Troa on a runaway train of hard lessons that hammer home standing firm for what you believe in is not as easy as it seems, nor are circumstances always what they appear to be.

This book is a prequel (hence the 0.5 designation) to the forthcoming Blood Forest series. It provides a solid indoctrination into Sideer, Troa and her friends Omi and Benn as the main characters, and the evils lurking beneath the Caste system of the realm. Magic is present but held in the hands of the most privileged, adding to the brainwashing of the lowest classes. It appears later in this book, clearly setting the stage for the next installment. The “gift” forces Troa to wrestle with what she knows and what she now sees, opening her eyes to more of the injustices of her beloved statutes.

How I imagined much of the province of Shinador

The author, Miri C. Golden, skillfully creates tension throughout the novel, using well-crafted scenes, loads of action, and opposing character motivations, all of which will keep you turning pages for large blocks of time. An author’s job is to make us care about the characters in order to draw us along on their journey, experiencing their highs and lows with them; Ms. Golden makes us care about Troa because Troa CARES. Add in the confidence and energy of late teenage youth, casual romantic rendezvous, and fierce devotion to each other, and the events fly fast and furious. Oh! and there is even a new phraseology that still has me calling things “rotting” and using “shrike” as a ubiquitous verb.

 This book was a departure for me from my favored fantasy subgenres; it is more on the darker spectrum than I usually read. However, the author’s style drew me in and kept me coming back time and again. Branching out into new reading territory is always beneficial, and I am happy that I did. Land of Perpetual Night is an excellent darker fantasy adventure to embark upon, as long as you bring your crossbow and your courage. Come along for the ride!~

A must-have in Shinador…

A Review of The Circle

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The Circle by Cindy Cipriano

*I was given an ARC by the author, and I happily leave this review.*

shows the cover of the book reviewed

That was fantastic! Is the next book already out?

Those were my exact thoughts when I turned the last page of The Circle. From the first page, I was ensnared. I sat in my round chair all afternoon, with rampant FOMO on what happens next in the small North Carolina town the Sidhe call home in our world. I was reluctant to put the iPad down and make dinner, and couldn’t wait to settle in later that night to finish the tale—it was truly a fun read.

Having spent time in Ireland studying folklore and history, I was already familiar with the Sidhe of legend, and Ms. Cipriano’s modern twist is a wonderful adaptation.

The story begins with the disappearance of one of three boy cousins as they play among the Sidhe and human worlds. We learn quickly that distance is not measured linearly, and passing between the realms is instantaneous. Some Sidhe have opted for leaving their mounds in favor of life in the human world, making a small North Carolina town their home instead. Calum’s family is one of these, along with his cousin Hagen’s family. They travel back and forth as they wish, and must, to keep their faerie powers strong.

The protagonists in this story are 6th graders, (it has been classified as both Middle Grade Children’s and Fantasy), but that does not restrict the story to a younger audience. Calum, Hagen, and their duine daonna (non-Sidhe) friend Laurel struggle through the school year, facing the usual trials of bullies, schoolwork, and emerging emotions, even as they discover they are all linked by the disappearances of their loved ones. Family bonds and trust are themes the trio must navigate as their respective pains bring them closer together, and to their goals.

One aspect of the story I enjoyed was Kenzie’s Siopa Leabhar, the bookstore and cafe she runs in town. For some reason, I am always drawn to stories and book covers that feature bookstores. Most likely this is because a bookstore is one of my favorite places to be, but they are often places of stability, grounding, and constant for the characters in the stories. This one is no different. Kenzie’s store is a fixture in the community; a place to stop in the morning for coffee, where the protagonists study, research, and plan, and where the Sidhe realm leaves its mark on our world in the verses encoded on its shelves. A bookstore that guides a patron to the answer to their questions? I’m in! Where do I enter?

The author’s writing style is engaging and descriptive; her merging of the human and Sidhe worlds is seamless. The magic draws on ancient lore, yet is injected with imaginative details that I truly marveled at. Several times I paused in my reading to appreciate the uniqueness of Ms. Cipriano’s magic system. Such new idiosyncrasies give the book a fresh feeling and leave me wanting to know what’s next.

The Circle is not a 300+ page novel like I usually read, so I had the pleasure of finishing it in a day—which was perfect because I had a difficult time putting it down. The story moved at a lively pace, pulling the reader forward into the events with clear, modern dialogue that revealed plenty of details about the characters and their lives.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting each of the members of Calum’s extended family, and keeping their lineages straight is part of the fun in a clan-based story such as this. Each character’s persona is well-crafted and consistently reinforced by their actions. Some of the main story threads are resolved in this installment, but others are left open for the next, putting the second book, The Choice (out soon!) high on my TBR list.

If you are a lover of Irish folklore-based fiction, I highly recommend The Circle. Sit down with a cup of tea on a rainy afternoon and you will hardly notice the time pass as The Circle carries you between this world and the mounds of the Sidhe. But beware! an hour you can only remain, in a mound not of your own clan. Happy reading!~

Are they fairy mounds? Humans will never know.

Books on My Desk

aimeredleaf, The Narrative Gardener Leave a comment

Good Monday morning All! I can honestly say that it is a good Monday morning so far — looking out my office window into bright sunshine on new snow, I am happy to be sitting at my desk enjoying 15°F on this side of the wall. I still have to walk the dogs, but they are happier if it is closer to 20° too.

This past week proved to be productive in the reading department, so I thought I would share a couple of craft books that ensnared me.

Three of the many in my TBR or already read piles…

The first one I read was Verbalize, and if you notice all the mini Post-Its sticking out of it, you can conclude that I found it helpful. IMMENSELY helpful! I had heard interviews with author Damon Suede on several podcasts and everything he said about writing from verbs made complete sense, so I had to check it out. I have been in the process of outlining my fantasy novel for a bit now, but it never felt quite right. I just kept thinking that I wasn’t ready for that step yet, that I was still missing something as related to characters and events. So when I started reading Verbalize, I realized, YEAH I sure am missing something — the reasons why my characters are taking this journey and the actions that motivate them. Don’t get me wrong, I had some idea, but nothing I could sustain for very long when trying to plot. After a reading the book and then completing a few of the exercises, I now feel much better about what actually moves and shakes these individuals.

The other two books in the photo were both highly recommended in Verbalize, so I decided to borrow them from my library system first (yes, I am one of those people who still LOVES to use my library), to see if I should/needed to/wanted to purchase them for permanent reference. I’m over halfway through Wired for Story, and I can say that yes, I do believe I will be purchasing it; it is most worthy of mini Post-its and highlighter treatment. Lisa Cron’s book uses many of the same principles as Suede’s, but approaches it from a ‘how-the-brain-works’ perspective. So far it has been entertaining reading, and very instructive in defining the theme characters take action on, whether they know it or not.

I haven’t actually gotten to Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch yet, but if it is anywhere in the same vein as the other two, it will also be a solid read. I will post an update as I get into this book, which should be soon (cause it isn’t mine either… yet). Praise to the renewable library loan!

If you hadn’t surmised as such, I am a consummate planner when it comes to writing, and that goes back to the first research paper I wrote in sixth grade — I can still see all my note cards and how they corresponded to my outline, with each piece of information, so that all I had to do was connect them all together with the right words and it was done. That lack of confidence I had every time I sat down to outline was what spurred me to to delve into what I was missing. After a book and a half, I already have a much better handle on the foundation elements of my story. How to work with and refine them to draw the tale, length by length, from the tangled ball of yarn that it is in my imagination. I am so very glad that I read (am reading) these books before lots of words hit the page, but honestly, being a planner, the words wouldn’t have come anyway. Cause now I know there was nowhere for them to come from. HA ha!! <evil villain laugh, with finger in the air> Now the outline begins! ~

What craft books have you read that helped you as a writer? Any that changed your whole outlook or approach? Leave a comment below on writing books that you love to recommend. Til next time, happy writing!~

PS. If you haven’t heard about it yet, there is an extension for Google’s Chrome web browser that checks your local library system for a book whenever you query one online. It’s an EXCELLENT tool, I highly recommend it! Then if you like a book, you can always support the author and buy it for yourself. Win-win!