Moving to a new site

Find me at http://elainajdavidson.blogspot.com/

Corridor of Fire

Volume IV, also on Authonomy. Let me know hat you think....

Rock of Ancients

This is the cover pic on Authonomy for Volume III - Rock of Ancients. You are welcome to go to that site and have a read!

Grinwallin???

House of Valla

Volume II.

Basically, this is the second half of a too long first volume, with a few tweaks.

Gathering of Rain after an edit

The first volume is still Gathering of Rain, but I have cut the word count from 300 000 to 140 000...and this will no doubt be trimmed further.

If you want to read Gathering of Rain, register with Authonomy and search me out there!

Changes have been made!

Dear heaven, it's almost the end of April! I have been very busy writing (and spending time on Authonomy) and have thus ignored posting. Sorry, but one can only do so much!

For your information Tales of the Valla has undergone a change of structure. Instead of ten books, there are now eleven. And following on from there, five novels for a new epic - Tales of Alhazen. No doubt a blog for Alhazen will see air one day soon!

I have also changed the titles of a few Valla tales and will update previous posts with new labels to that effect.

To me, it makes more sense now AND my word count has dropped considerably per novel. The latter is, naturally, a big issue.

Previous 'In Brief' posts are slightly off the mark now, but you can still get a sense of this epic. Updates to follow, as well as pertinent excerpts.

Nice talking to you and chat soon again!

Happy Easter

A Little World

Cover for Gathering of Rain (option ?)

Have posted other covers (see label 'book covers')...and this one is currently on Authonomy. Thoughts, anyone?

Authonomy

Recent weeks have seen me virtually glued to the Authonomy site and I have thus somewhat neglected posting here.
For those of you who haven't yet heard of this site, here it is in brief:

1. register
2. create a profile with avatar
3. upload at least 10 000 words of your book (with book cover)

The point is for other writers to read and comment on your work, and, of course, you would return the favour. As other read your work they have the option of watchlisting your book or shelving it. Every time this happens your book moves up the ranks, and the more you do so for others, the greater your personal ranking.

The real point: to reach the top 5...and that gifts you a read from HarperCollins!

Give it a go!

That is it in brief, but be warned: HIGHLY ADDICTIVE!

Go, go, go, what are you waiting for??? Go to http://www.authonomy.com/

Grinwallin

The Final Frontier

The final frontier, in my opinion, lies only in the imagination. From Earth to the Stars, we are able to travel...simply because we desire to do so. Humankind has taken the baby steps that allows us to see and we can use our imagination to take us beyond the boundaries, and one day we shall go where no man has gone before.

Otherworld

Right here on earth...and yet is this not also an otherworld? These are the images that inspire writers and dreamers.

Difference is thought provoking...

Right here on earth there are creatures in some regions that differ greatly from those found in others...like the koala. One could almost imagine them coming to our tiny blue planet from somewhere else...

Others on the list:

Lemurs - Madagascar
Kangaroo - Australia
Komodo Dragon - Komodo islands
Llama - South America
Ostrich - South Africa
Platypus - Australia and Tasmania
Giant squid - Antarctic

Many others, and let us not forget that in the insect kingdom there are species that defy description...and our oceans remain an otherworld.

Through the spaces of worlds

If you read Tales of the Valla you will note I often speak of the spaces between worlds, an ethereal highway that allows for magical travel, as well as the extraordinary use of senses. Much happens in these spaces and yet they remain unseen...just as a fantasy lover needs it to be! Much can be attributed to the unseen....

Twilight Zone

Seven Circles of Confrontation
Neutral ground

In a twilight zone there can be no day and night, no line marking and separating one period from another; lack of change rules all. And this place in another space, outside of time, view and the reality of impact, was exactly like that. Unchanging. Gloomy. A twilight zone loaded with possibility and nuance...exactly the way two particular men needed it to be. They functioned, after all, in shadows.
When they walked out together onto the grass common, the multiverse held its breath. So much depended on choices made in these shadows.

Cover option 2

Thoughts on this one???

The sands of Xen III

Desert is desert...this is Planet Earth, but could be the great deserts of Xen III, sister world to Valaris.

Cover design

This is a first and rough idea of my book cover.

Rough, folks, for the font is not what I want, and the phots on the background will be artwork more relevant to Gathering of Rain ...and so forth. This is, of course, assuming I have some control.

Let me have your thoughts on the general look and feel...would you pick it up in a bookshop?

Will post more ideas as time goes, and would love any input from you....

Authonomy

For those of you stopping by to read, and for those of you new to this site, I have posted chapters of Volume I (Gathering of Rain) on the Authonomy website...go have a look-see!

Authonomy is a site dedicated to authors and their work and forms part of Harper Collins drive to discovering new talent. Registration is free, and so is uploading your work. With enough interest, we (you and I) might just land up with a contract...

And that is Tip 1 of 2009!

Sacred Space

Elianas’ eyes travelled over that fair face. ‘Do you know where the most sacred space of all is, Torrullin? It is not the place where the Throne was conceived or where it is now. It is not the spaces between worlds, it is not the realms of bliss or time, and it isn’t the romance of history, the legends of better times. It is not the house of a deity, the stones of a god or goddess, or the whispers of the stones of antiquity. It isn’t the Lifesource or any Valleur site, and it isn’t in the beauty of a new day. It is here.’ He placed his hand over his heart. ‘And it is there.’ He placed his other hand over Torrullin’s heart. ‘Deny this sanctum, my brother, and you deny life.’ He leaned forward, his hands dropping slowly away. ‘I know what you want of me, and now you must know that what I want of you has just increased a thousand fold, and yet, despite that, I go where you go…because that is the only heart’s desire that really matters. Sacred space, my brother, or we are the walking dead.’

A Saying

People who live amid rocks love to eat.

Lintusillem saying

TIME

I am not one creature.

Then be mystical.

I am air and water and sunlight and darkness. I am song and dirge and laughter and tears. I am here and there, tomorrow and yesterday. I am wet and dry and harsh and soft. I feel, I see, I taste, I hear, I touch, yet I have no form but every form. I am wind and doldrums, depth of an ocean, highest peak. I speak, I think, yet no one hears or knows. Like you, I am animated. Unlike you I know where I begin and end. I am not Elixir of Life, but I am linked to that kind of reality.

Like Time.

You are the link. Chaos and Time. You bind them, separate them, mix them up, stir them together. You are the stirrer. The Alchemist. You are Time’s Alchemist.

Unicorn

Myth and Legend


It was a unicorn. A creature of myth and magic, one with the ability to walk in two realities simultaneously. A creature of great beauty, inspiring great awe, one tireless in every endeavour, be it a walk through a wood or a gallop between legend and truth. No one had yet seen one and still every culture knew it instantly, and even a child could scratch out a basic likeness in the dirt. Many tales surrounded it- silver blood that gifted everlasting life; to see one was to know good fortune all the days left to one; to kill one was to know eternal damnation; it stood guard over the innocent and the lost; it could outrun the wind; it could save one’s soul from evil…and so on. All one had to do was believe.

Conjuring

Kismet had commenced the process of discovery. Samuel had to conjure as he had for Lucan, beginning with small items, gradually progressing to larger. Kismet supplied requirements that ruled out the likelihood of chance success. Asking for a stone was to conjure a stone, nothing else. Samuel brought forth that stone, a pot, a bag of potatoes, a framed mirror, and was then asked to explain from where these objects heralded. He didn’t know. Kismet proceeded to enlighten him. Either objects were summoned from a known location, or they were transported out of the ether, and Samuel, in fact, achieved both. The lifeless objects, always abiotic, the stone, the pot, the mirror, were called from sites on Valaris. He asked Samuel to bring forth an item from his home, something unique to him, and Samuel sent for his diamond cutter, knowing it was engraved with his name, and it came, proving the theory of known, existing sites and objects. That, apparently, was the easier mode of conjuring. He held the cutter in his hands, bemused. He was a jeweller by trade, and here he was dabbling in magic.
The potatoes, Kismet revealed, a biological object, were summoned from the ether, for nowhere on Valaris presently was such a mundane thing in existence. Potatoes had recently been ferried in by Beacon…by the barrel. He added that it didn’t necessarily follow abiotic was local and biotic from elsewhere; he merely employed the difference to prove the two locations. It was an unconscious force, he explained, unless you were specific in your creation, something the Enchanter had mastered a long time ago.
Samuel then had to banish what he brought forth and did so, asking whether the items returned to their original places. The stone, yes, Kismet agreed, it being part of natural magic, but the rest went to a place for banished things, a kind of realm for unwanted goods. Samuel balked at that, saying it had to be impossible, and how? He mourned the loss of his cutter, then. Kismet merely smiled, saying the realm was a treasure trove, if one knew how to access it. The pocket of potatoes, for instance, would never spoil.

Guilt

Guilt can be a realm.
Guilt destroys.
Guilt is a monster.
Redeem yourself.

Drinic Parable

Dreams (2)

Tristan was watching him intently, while Torrullin was relaxing with head bowed. ‘Those are dreams caused internally, and there’s another not yet mentioned, and that’s the linked dream. This type is generally related to past incidences, an event, forgotten or relegated to memory as solved, no longer pertinent, then abruptly those results from the past come forward to play a new role, leaving the subject confused- dreaming the link brings it back into focus. Admittedly, those are rare, a force only when the past is deliberately locked away.’ Lucan smiled suddenly. ‘I didn’t know I knew so much about dreams…’
When Torrullin raised his head to fix a beady eye on him, his smile vanished. ‘Right. I may be leaving something out, but those are the general internal dreams. Now we come to its opposite- images that are external, not a result of personal experience or memory. Before I name those, let me say often these are confused with fantasy, where fantasy isn’t wishful thinking but pure fairytale, the latter being an unattainable utopia or, horribly, nightmare wanderings of a disturbed psyche. Dreams can be good, comfortable or a nightmare, and everything I said applies to the latter also.’ He paused and noticed Tristan was now studying his hands with great attention and Torrullin was covertly watching the boy.
Well, now he knew why they were here. He drew breath and delved into the inexact science of external dreams.
‘Those without magic are unaware of the power of the ether and don’t realise all is connected by that invisible force. A dreamer on Pilan, one who believes himself both unique and alone in all the universe, may dream one night of, say, a Centuar, and on waking won’t know he made a connection to the encompassing power of the ether. Either he’ll declare he a godly visitation, an acceptable explanation for him and his people, or he’ll believe it a hallucination, possibly a nightmare, and will shy away. In this way, shamans of ancient peopled used hallucinogenic substances to enter the realm of the ether to see visions, and exit without a clear understanding of what was seen, calling it symbolism, unravelling it to fit with known reality. For the most part, for always there are exceptions. To move on- external dreams emanate from that place. There are three main, well, types. Images from other worlds, images from other times and the symbolism of sorcerers, the latter being real hard to explain, and a combination of any two is frightening for an untrained or unprepared mind. Again, one isn’t limited to nocturnal hours…one may not even be asleep.’ Lucan paused. ‘My Lord, you could’ve told him all this.’

Dreams (1)

‘Dreams, the nocturnal wandering of the mind…and let me qualify that by saying that is the most accepted view or description. In fact, a dream isn’t bound to the dark hours, but may occur at any time when a subject reaches a semi-aware or unconscious state. Of course, images come in a heightened state of awareness, but we call those visions or daydreams- they are closely linked, the mind being the factor that binds. Now, the wandering of the mind can be wishful thinking, a fantasy conjured, which is either helpful or harmful, because, while not real, it has effect on wakeful activities. If the subject is unhappy, conjuring a better-life fantasy may provide inner peace and the confidence to achieve it, but it may also spiral the mind into a state of depression when the subjects wakes to find it unreal. In much the same way dreams of the perfect mate has an up and a down side…ask me, I know about that. But…all right. Dreams are problem solvers, particularly effective for those niggling matters of daily existence, and are generally pretty direct…the trick being to recall solutions before dreams fade on waking. I’d say those are most frequent, and includes psyche symbolism- for instance, a person feeling smothered by those around him would dream of drowning, so his unconscious is prompting a change, to take control again. Unluckily, they’re largely ignored. The mind can also take one into a comfort zone, the place or time one felt most content, like childhood or an enjoyable picnic with loved ones, and on waking one is refreshed. Your mind is thus also your healer. In much the same way you may recall a lost loved one and the images of familiarity may aid you in the future, like approval given for living while the other is gone- better than grief and guilt that handicaps in the real world. Often it’s the strength of your mind, and your memories, that determines which road to take- positive or negative.’ Lucan drew breath and looked up.

Dreamer

A dreamer is a visionary.
A dreamer is an escapist.
A dreamer is an inventor.
A dreamer is a romantic.
A dreamer is a prophet.

Sleeper

Nothing exists in a vacuum. Goddess help her
Children when the Sleeper returns…for he
Will awake only when we give him reason.
Beware your dark thoughts, my friends, for that
Is enough to reach out through the spaces of
Worlds to find him. He will hear you!

An excerpt from the speech of the
Honourable Peacekeeper
Le Moss Mar Dalrish on the day the
Domes of Xen III came down forever.

Darkness

When the forces of Darkness
Outnumber those of the Light
Then goodness will flee.
And life will become as nothing.
Hark, poet, to your actions,
Not your words.

Tanos, Lord of the Guardians
His diary - a note in a margin

Divergent Path

There is an obstacle in the mind
Known as denial. It is able to
Prevent knowledge entering,
But it can also force the mind to
Move sideways onto a
Divergent path.
Beware the divergent path.

The Ancient Oracles

In Brief - Animated Spirit

Book Six – Animated Spirit

Place: Valaris, Luvanor, Grinwallin

Characters:

Protagonists: Torrullin, Teighlar, Saska, Lowen, Quilla, Margus

Antagonists: Tymall, Agnimus, Digilan’s creatures- the Mor Feru
(or draithen)

Magical tools: Sword of Light, Warlock accruements, Valleur Throne

In brief: The realm of dreams is a place for the Hounding. Torrullin needs divest himself of his past in order to function in his future. To become Elixir, the Animated Spirit, this must be done. As Elixir he has greater power than his Warlock son. At his side in this is Lowen Dalrish. The sentient entity of Grinwallin rises up, and in the end Tymall is the one who must choose as he and his father come head-to-head.

Lead into Sacred Space: Torrullin has chosen Lowen over Saska, and is filled with guilt. He enters the Dome as Kaval leader and begins that journey.

Pretty for the New Year