The path forward and behind

As I have worked on this series,  I have discovered several things I have wanted to integrate in. From changing Lorelei from a passive character to the incorporation of Reagan Dawn to the development of Taft high, I have strived to make a better story.

Each story has been better I feel than the last. Holes have been filled. Gaps in the narrative that have been filled with stories that illuminate paths. I feel that each has been a journey that is a destination leading to another.

Yet, as I continue I discovered the is no established order you all know. If you go to Barnes and Noble or Amazon (Sorry, that print bound is so high that’s them not me.)  I have 3 books for sale that are in a specific order. That’s not really the order I wanted, I discovered today.

So here is the order I have settled on. This won’t change. I will make a total of nine books/slash stories. Some won’t be for sale in bound form, others will. The current order is for bound form. So to begin:

First set of three is: Songs of the fall

1. Midnight train song
2. Song of the Gyre
3. Heartbeat Song

These songs revolve around Lorelei. How she mets Tom, her life at Taft High, her opposition and ultimately her sacrifice which is fulfills part of the ‘Restorer of the breach’ prophecy.   Midnight train song is available now. I am currently working on Song of the Gyre. Its a version of the glee fan fic ‘Center cannot hold’ however it doesn’t follow the same plot. Center Cannot hold is a wrapper for episode 2 of glee. This isn’t.

Song of the Gyre deals with Shae Nyx and her opposition of Lorelei because she is jealous of her. She has Kent but treats with contempt. She sees her a queen bitch who has everything and doesn’t care about anyone. Shae figures that if she topples her and steals Kent she will get want she wants.

Lorelie on the other hand, sees Kent as a small minded person polluted by the lies of the warriors of Dagon and needs to separate from him. Its hard because she wants a boyfriend to lean on. When Shae challenges her, she uses that to her own advantage and lets her take Kent. During all this she gets the first sides of the coming attack on the school however she has no clue what part she will play.

HeartBeat Song deals with the actual attack on Taft High. In later books like Song of Betrayal and Homecoming song this is refernced at the Taft High massacre. (which happened 4 days before Virigina Tech making it the worst week for school deaths in US history.) This story starts with Lorelei in first person POV but finishes with Tom’s POV. You see how he meets people he associates with in later novels including Brad from Faking It.

It will be the darkest book I will write. It will detail how truly bad the warriors of Dagon are and how they came to be. It will have some lovecraftian elements in them but I decided that there is no Cthulu in my reality at leats not in the sense of a sentient deity. A sentient being yes. Even the dolphin are sentient in my reality so why not octopi?

I have several pages of it done, but put it on pause to do song of the gyre which I though would simply be an edit of Center cannot hold. It took a life of its own which ultimately is a good thing.

The second set of three: Siren songs

1. Song of Betrayal
2. Song of Restoration
3. Homecoming Song

These set of stories revolve around Gwen who hasn’t been a main character in the first group. In fact, what you see of Gwen is her pre-massacre personality which as mix of grace and raw force. She’s much more aggressive and harsh because she feels everything can be solved with a song.  She has yet to see the error of this path as her mirror, Aria, isn’t in her life yet.

All three of these books have been written. Song of Betrayal and Homecoming Song are available to read now. As for Song Of Restoration, it is awaiting the final edit which I will do once I finish writing HeartBeat Song.

The third set of three: Songs of Hope

I actually haven’t settled on the titles for these yet so I am not going to pull up titles that eventually won’t be used. Nevetheless, these stories will revolve around the fulfillment of the ‘restorer of the breach’ as well as the final end to the warriors of Dagon. You will see Gwen as a successful musician on par with Taylor Swift & Ella Fitgerald. These are also the stories that will reveal the differences between this world and ours.

There are significant differences outside of Gwen’s path and the fact mermaids exist. I have elaborated on several. There are more I haven’t. Once I publish Song of Restoration, I will have a better idea exact what changes are doable without making the general stream hard.

Sadly, ceratin individuals I would like to remove would alter the timeline too much for my taste so I have to leave them be. Others aren’t so lucky. As I have said before, There is no Kayne West, Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Justin Beiber or Miley Cyrus in my 2016 for various reasons I have established. All have had opportunies that have led them to success or survival. Flip the coin (rescue the label or apply a little more impact in the car crash) and they aren’t there.

Another example is NWA. Without Gerald E. “Jerry” Heller, they wouldn’t have formed. He served in the U.S. Army during Vietnam meaning he was drafted in 1958 when he turned 18. If he was killed while serving, there you go. Eazy-E would have founded Ruthless records alone and it wouldn’t have survived. Eventually him and dr. Dre would end up in jail.

As of this point, I haven’t settled on NWA. They don’t interfer with Gwen’s path. I perfer to not deviate if I dont have too. Besides Heller early death doesn’t just affect Eazy-E, it effects  Elton John and Pink Floyd too.

Also, there are several other stories that are outside this group of 9. Like the stories involing Aria’s mother, the ones involving Amy and Karma and those in previous eras. These build the background and bring lit to other areas.

I hope you are looking forward to these stories as much as I am. Thanks for all of you who are stopping by, whether to support ‘Faking it’ read other items or simply support Mermaid fiction. Enjoy.

 

Song of Betrayal can be heard

This is a quick note to let everyone know that Song of Betrayal, that book I am been going on about since I started this blog is finally out. Click the title for the barnes and noble location. I am on Itunes , Kobo , Scribd (where the free documents are stored), Inktera , and 24 symbols as a $1 ebook. (1.99 on itunes as the extra 99 cents is their markup). I get half of this $ as royality.

Its on amazon as well through a diffrent publisher who handles paperbacks. Unfortunately its 269 pages and without all those discounts that big name publishers put on novels, it costs Blurb $32 so it sells for $59. (which is insane as I make NOTHING off it). If you don’t have a amazon visa card and sign up for it they will shave that $50 and give it to you for $9.

New stories in the pipeline. If you are interested in Fan fiction, I reactivated my fanfiction story account and am posting Amy’s journal pages after each episode. (although their won’t be another one until after Faking it! S3E10.

Also more maps. If I make enough I might publish an ebook of maps.

Next stories are Song of Restoration and Heatbeat Song (which will have Lorelei right up to her collaspe the week of the Taft High Massacre). Heartbeat song is first person and I am toying with the idea of making Song of restoration that too. However, Its doubtful because it would delay it for 6 months where as I could get it out by August if I do the final edit.

Until the morrow. Mike

I feel like Frodo: The journey so far

Sometimes things just happen. Like you are working on a project and the wheels come off or truma happens unexpectedly. You get delayed, things get lost or worse. Well, as I was setting up this post I noticed its been two years since I announced the novel, ‘Song of Betrayal’

Its been through twists and turns, changes and rests. I have kept moving foward. Even abandoning the dream of pro publishing, I haven’t given up the hope that you all will see it and enjoy. Well as of two days ago, content is fixed. I finished the final draft. All that is left is spell and grammar checks which happen in the final read through. Barring anything spectacular (I have the final draft on several cloud servers and my personal drive), all it needs is a cover and I have pushed my personal gollum into the fires of Mount Doom. He carries with him the ‘ring of editing prefection’.

Nevertheless, there is a caveat. When I did the draft that fused Pyhhric Victory song into the story as the first three chapters it push the word count into the 100k range. Removing that much back out became impossible unlike I orginally believed. In fact, I ended up adding 5000 words to connect that story to the ocean scene at the beginning. So ‘Song of Betrayal is really Pyhhric Victory song and the first four orginal chapters. You see Forest Hills finally, a gate and how the system works.

Song of Restoration will be the rest of the orginal novel; volume 2.5. It will be the heaviest mermaid novel yet. I do need to apologize for that. It seems that in my writing I have shied away for doing the typical underwater mermaid scenes. Gwen is almost always above surface being  a ‘normal’ teen. In truth, most of the assembly upper class is above water 50% time. Having the capital off the coast of Australia while the main town in Lousiana does create issues.  That’s what storytelling is, resolving issues. You will see more underwater as I move forward.

Song of Restoration is how Gwen handles getting Christina’s golden ticket back and her becoming princess because Aria lost it due to that activity and her procrastination. You will get to see the vault of memories, how they manage the dead there, the underwater library, Nascent Island and Tom’s transformation.

That leads to the a few more decisions. When I was doing research for my Faking it story (more on that in a moment), I discovered something quite problematic that I glossed over when I made and corrected the map of Lafayette. As I established it, Booker Field was built first. However, assuming its location is true its a mile from Downtown and a mile from LSU- Lafayette. That means that when the school ceased being a college, the college would have simply bought the stadium et al and used it. Booker field would have been Cajun field. or The Cajun dome would have never been built. These are not things I want either.

So, I moved Forest Hills. Rather than having it on top of Lafayette Middle school and numerous housing plots, I moved it to over Arcadian High School. It blends in to the outskirts better, doesn’t disrupt Congress street and places it far enough away from Taft to make the change viable. (for the record, Lafayette High is Taft in my reality). This time, I took the Kroger and 7-11 that were at the north east corner as well and the housing south and west too. Its about a mile and 1/2 which displaced a school and not much else.

It actually would make sense, because it would develop away from the rest of the city is almost Scott, Louisana and then it would be come the west most high school in the Lafayette Parish school system. Its near a medical center and still north of Acadiana mall.

Finally, I am writing a Faking It! story. As I said before, If I do Karma and Amy now, it would be as if they are meeting Taylor swift. Its not really far to them or my characters. So instead, I am using Bruce’s comment ‘When you were 5 was the worst year’ as the jumping in point. Bruce Cooper is a minor character and Lauren’s father, little is known about him.

I devise that he got a divorce from his wife because of him and his wife couldn’t decide how to handle Lauren’s intersex. He insisted that she be allowed to remain a girl etc (hense the pagents etc). She wanted her to go her own way unbound. However, its unusual for the father to be granted primary custody until the mother is unfit or deceased.

So, when Lauren was five, 2005, Bruce and her got divorced. She got custody and Lauren remained with her in Lafayette where she was a teacher at Taft. Bruce moved to Austin as he was a oil man, (he doesn’t seem to be a coder and the actors previous characters lend to that oil man persona).

The massacre happens and the mother gets killed in an IED blast while Lauren is there. Lauren is injured. Bruce meets Tom in the hospital. This is how Tom gets to Austin.

This story will have #karmy in it. It will have them painting unicorns etc. I will save the surprise for the story.

Thanks for reading. Map will be in the next post.

 

Why the Assembly is at war with Taiji

One of the things I have to deal with in creating my series, is a level of whys. One of those is why is ‘Why are the Warriors of Dagon based in Taiji, Japan?’ Isn’t Dagon a Greek entity? Yes, He is. However over the centuries, Greek fell out of favor. AS the first of the AD millennium (or their sixth) headed into its fifth century the tide had changed in the Mediterranean so the Piscene (they call themselves. Think of it as the differences between Arabs and Europeans calling the terrorists ISIL and the US media calling them ISIS. Both are accurate. They call themselves themselves both. The french call them Daesh which is an Arabic insult meaning a bigot. They hate that. They will cut out the tongues of those who use the term)  needed to move elsewhere. At one point, Han China and the Roman empire were within a weeks journey from each other, so the Piscene knew about China.  They moved there to the area that would be Hong Kong. It wasn’t until the 1800s that they moved to Taiji.

They moved there because they discovered this.

The larger boats equipped with massive metallic drums sat on the deeper water an played their beat. The harsh tones of the percussion instruments hurt those poor creatures forcing them away from the large boats, like this they were herded to the shallows. Once caught in the shallow water, unable to dive to safety the men upon the smaller boats struck out with their spears. With their harpoons they lanced at the human half.

Females were prized more highly, their scales appeared dark green through water but once in the dry air they showed up pale jade but with a sparkle and glisten which jade had never held. The skin was always dusky to tar and only used to bind books. Though males were killed all the same, their scales sold cheaply but their meat was more palatable and fed the boat crews.

The Assembly elite always stayed away from certain areas where it required en masse fighting to travel. Yet the mindless slaughter that Japan habitually wrought led to great losses of the lower houses as well as sharpened their hatred and their skill set. One of the raids that almost failed caught the attention of the visiting Piscene dignitary in 1895. And so for the last 120 years they they have remained.

Thought I would share that.

This below is what appears to be a typical day out on the shallows from the perspective of the fisherman, only its not typical at all.

The wind died and the waves calmed. For the first time in weeks the weather seemed placid enough to head out on our scow. Dad determined this day as the perfect time. I shall learn fishing since my coming of age this year. We sat out on  our back patio to wave watch getting ready. Dad said this was required. We had to watch the weather and if we went out at the wrong time, we would never return home. The ocean was something to fear, yet love. It prospered our village but also took the lives of many. My hope remained high.

“Aoki, did you get the nets untangled like I asked,” my father said.

“Yes, father.”

“Good boy.  Go untie the boat from the dock. We will leave soon.”

“Okay, father,” I said, reaching down and touching the tops of his feet. Touching someones feet was a sign of respect in our culture. My father is the best fisherman here in the village. Everyone loved him. If other fisherman were unable to provide for their families; dad would give part of his haul to make sure no one went hungry. He is my idol and I want to be just like him .

As I headed out to the docks, my sandaled feet shuffled through the moist sand. Waves languished, tickling my feet. The cooling water clashed with the intense heat.of the noon sun bearing down on my tender shoulders. I was parched and we hadn’t even left yet. There was no saliva in my mouth. It felt like fishing for days, or weeks. Yet the smell of the sea salt gave me pride as well as nausea for my task ahead.

The boards of the dock creaked under me and bowed into the water as I stepped forth. Each step made a slight ripple into the  water below. If I stepped hard enough, or jumped with full force, the board would snap and send me into the deep. It frightened me that I couldn’t see anything below, or if anything was under the dock, but I followed through with my fathers orders by untying our boat.

I could see my father in the distance. He treaded the sand with the nets over his shoulders. When he arrived at the dock, he gingerly crossed in a wavy pattern sue to not break the boards. Yet with his massive size the boards still bowed deeply, wetting the entire dock dark grey. My heart raced as I watched my father cross and dump the nets onto out scow..

“Aoki,” my father said. “Hand me the rope.”

Yet as I reached down into the cool water I saw a gigantic, dark shadow swim approach the dock. It was larger than anything I had ever seen before and froze me still.

“Aoki!” my father yelled. “The rope! The time is now, son.”

My body wouldn’t move. I wanted to hand my father the rope, but I couldn’t find it. I wanted to scream out and warn him, but I couldn’t. I was trapped staring into the black eyes of a black skinned monster. Its webbed hand held still beneath the wave held the rope as it smirked .

“Aoki?”

She broke through the surface of the water and began to sing music unlike I had ever heard. Abject pleasure and silence washed over me. My father rocked side to side, smiling from ear to ear. This creature looked like one of us, only had skin of charcoal. Yet beyond her waist slimy scales and thin line down the center that vanished beneath the tide  Fish like gills closed as water dripped of her naked petite chest. Then suddenly I snapped out of my trance. She shrieked , spearing my father off the scow with a jade looking trident and pulling him into the sea. My whole body shook in fear and I turned to run only I couldn’t. I was adrift. She swam up next to me, furious with her coal eyes burrowing through my soul. She stroked her wet jet hair and said perfectly, “He received the due reward for his actions against our people. I chose to give you knowledge before you make your choice. Hunt us and meet his fate. Hunt others and meet his fate. Fish and you might starve but you will by your own hand. Leave the ocean alone and live. Choose wisely.”  She swam away, dragging my father down beneath her never to be seen again.

I mourned alone for awhile. Then after my tears dried, I chose. I became Koga ninja, and to this day, though I have much blood on my hands, I have no mermaid blood. I set here in my home in Ido, an old man now. I was one of the few who escaped Nobunaga’s rage. My sons and grandsons have too. Sadly they missed out on the open sea, the smell of salt and sand and storm. Yet, they haven’t missed the song of that monster who killed my father. The one who I could never kill. The one who I spoke of whenever I killed. The reason I pen this before I draw my last breath.

OK, there is nothing like a early 17th century piece to help explain things, For those who are confused about my mermaid, its simple. Whales are dark skinned. dolphins are dark or grey skinned so. 90% of all mermaids would look like this.

This is what they look like. Gwen is unusual. Aria with her olive skin is almost too light herself.