#Publishing Here in these page images is another excerpt from Book #5, "The Owl from Oblivion". This is from a layout prototype so ignore the text in between the << >> as those are layout commands. Click on the page image to zoom it up for easy reading.
#publishing Wednesday, I started prototyping Book #5, "The Owl from Oblivion". This is where I use a word processor to get an idea of how the book will look and if there are any illustrations missing or that should be created. (Click on the page image above to enlarge it.) The black print enclosed in << >> are instructions for when the book gets imported into the publishing tools. The illustrations get stripped on import and the instructions are flagged with a special style that allows them to found easily. This book is 6x9 and it is being displayed on 8.5x11 paper. So each page of paper has a picture of a book page. It makes it easy to print and as an added bonus, it allows lots of room to write notes.
#IllustrationOfTheDay Peter2 frets over the mysterious degeneration that Paul7's body is experiencing. This is on the reality timeline in Book #5, "The Owl from Oblivion". The Peters know that Paul7 knows something very important that would explain his degeneration, and it hurts them that their brother would keep such an important fact from them. Paul7 has been alive for over 1000 years and to say they care about him as a younger brother is an understatement. Paul7 is the protector of the pacifist Sophistan society and now he is also protecting the Children of Sophista on Earth. So he is a very key person in addition to the family love they have for him.
This #BookGiveaway runs through June 7th. One winner so far, 9 books still available. #Giveaway This is your chance to own the paperback Book #1, "The Saeshell Book of Time Part 1: The Death of Innocents"for free. I am giving away at least 10 of these books (limited for non-US locations). To enter this giveaway, find the "Enter the Giveaway" contact form at the bottom of the post and send a message telling me you want the book. If you win, I will send you an email letting you know and asking for the postal address you want the book mailed to. If you win the book and it turns out you like it, posting a 4 or 5 star review on Goodreads.com will likely win you the next book in the series for free as well. For the complete description of Book #1 and the overall series, see below. The Saeshell Book of Time Serial Novel (4 Books)
Magic is an advanced science that humans don't understand. Two young people are betrothed at birth and forced by alien races to serve as the secret King and Queen of contemporary Earth: from the UK, Stefan, a seventh-grade artistic prodigy and from the US, Tova, a nineteen-year-old life sciences genius. Both were raised as humans and left to discover that they will be immortal at age nineteen. Using their emerging magic, they must protect the kingdom of Earth from unwanted alien intrusions. Shy, reclusive Stefan is ripped from his childhood and has eight weeks to learn to rule. Tova must do more than love Stefan — she must keep him sane or kill him to protect humans from his irrational use of his powers. Book #1: The Saeshell Book of Time Part1: The Death of Innocents In this first part of the four part serial storyline, Elof, an abused Tibetan-American science wizard must teach the magical children, Ty and Tyco, to use their talents ethically. Otherwise, Tova will destroy them to protect Earth. Ty, the mysterious, fearful third-grade son of a British Prime Ministerial aid, has an ancient knowledge given to him by ‘ghosts’. Tyco, who is the fifth-grade son of a Mayan astronomer, must learn to keep his warrior impulses in check and protect his friend, Ty, from harm. While teaching these kids, Elof reconciles his own childhood with his sociopath father. Does he have a magical inheritance he has yet to discover? Far grittier than Harry Potter, this story is an intellectual puzzle of mysteries and surprises for readers ready to meet the challenge.
#IllustrationOfTheDay 9 year old Sophistan, Paul7, is the protector on the Children of Sophista on Earth. In Book #5, "The Owl from Oblivion", he is a bit of gremlin that stays invisible most of the time, dispensing invisible death to those that try to harm the kids. He is actually a bit frightening to the Children of Sophista. Paul7 was forced to learn martial arts and the associated discipline. He is the only Sophistan-human capable of killing. As part of his "training", the Great Sophistan sent him to explore the uncivilized worlds at the edge of the Federation, where he met nonhuman lifeforms, many of which tried to make him into a fine dinner. His horrible experiences pretty much beat the last drop of childhood innocence from him and turned him into a killer. Because he can be invisible, can jaunt in and out of any place, and can invisibly dispense death unexpectedly, he generally gains the respect of governments on Earth that know about him and he is a motivation for them to respect the "human" rights of the Children of Sophista.
Even life on the supernatural timeline is not without pain. Peter3 recreates Tova into Tova2 in the future. He knows he will do this and he spends years designing the changes to go into her because he loves her though he knows can never be her mate. He supervises Paul25's healing of her after a major disaster. Paul25, himself a clone, is her future adoptive son. Tova doesn't know it yet, but she has fairy blood in her veins. For more than a century before Tova was born, Atreyeu and the Saeshells orchestrated events that lead to the creation of Tova. Freewill for Tova and Stefan is largely an illusion because their future is totally predetermined. Like most children, they feel the world is theirs and they are further deluded down that path with the powers they acquire. But they have been made to serve a purpose and they can't escape that fate. At this crossroads in Book #1, the reader has no idea how huge this epic story is and just takes it at face value. In Book #5, "The Owl from Oblivion", the reader will be blasted by the enormity of the epic and how events in the past before The Saeshell Book of Time, for many millennia, and the events after it into the future is one giant contrived and choreographed ballet of life.
#IllustrationOfTheDay In Book #5, "The Owl from Oblivion", the reality timeline forces, Peter2 to take on a much more powerful look. If reflects that on the reality timeline, the Great Sophistan is dead. The Peters become the ultimate rulers of Sophistan society in addition to their intellectual role. This leads to them to make uncomfortable decisions in the name of pragmatic leadership, which they are now required to make in order to ensure survival of Sophista. It is a very understated transition in the novel but one with very profound consequences. When their survival was assured by their virtual parent, the Great Sophistan, they could afford to be idealistic. But some of their ideals are compromised when the gritty, stinking details of survival lands on their shoulders.
Peter2 has two stripes of gray hair. Gray stripes are awards for wisdom, usually given when a seemingly impossible to accomplish project is completely successfully, one involving multiple facets of diverse and unrelated categories of knowledge.
The crystalline part of the Peters' bodies is still there on the reality timeline, with the most visible evidence of this structure the green triangles in Peter2's eyes. These green triangles are the ends of crystalline fibers which allow the energy part of Peter2's mind to see independently of the human part. The Peters have the emotional human mind mixed with the more analytical, logic-based energy mind which occupies the crystalline structures of their bodies. Their new-found gritty, ruling rationally is profoundly expressed with the fate they impose on Paul25.
I just saw something in Stephen King's twitter that brought this section
of Book #5, "The Owl from Oblivion" to mind. Since it kind of goes with
the illustration below, I decided to post an excerpt from that part of
the book. This conversation is occurring between Tova2 and a set of
people on the supernatural timeline: { The general glares at Tova2. “You can walk through their military computer network that easily?”
Tova2 stares at the general with a sinister yet playful expression.
“Why General, we can walk through any computer that easily, no matter
where it is located. Unless the Guardian collected data for us, how
would we know what was going on in our kingdom?”
She turns away and smiles momentarily, waiting for the shock to settle into the general’s mind.
@ “I would not have played it that way,” says Anashivalia on the private Atreyeu telepathic link.
@ “That’s because witches only fly at night, when no one can see
what they are doing,” mocks Tova2. “Even the witches can’t see what they
are doing.”
@“I must admit, Tova2, I do not fully fathom your
offbeat American humor. Perhaps if I were a California girl, I would
understand more fully.”
@“Occasionally, the schoolmaster must
leave his cane out on his desk to show what could happen. Is that
understandable for you?”
@“Luckily, I was educated by the fairies. I thought you wanted to rule by love.”
@“I believe it was you who taught me that there is no love in
politics. I can confirm that is especially true in American politics.”
@“Oh dear.”
“Snap out of wherever you are, Tova2,” yells the general. “That Sun Needle ship is firing a particle beam at us. Shouldn't we be doing something about it?”
“Life-giver, materialization sequence has started,” informs Control.
Tova2 starts. “Guardian, show us the surface in the campground area. General, the particle beam is not a weapon but a method of transport.”
A flaming ball two feet in diameter appears in the parking lot area for the picnic tables, about 4 feet above ground. Streaming flames leap
from it only to fall back and be reabsorbed by the ball, giving it the
look of a 3D image of a telescopic view of the sun.
“This is a lot more effective than bagpipes at scaring the enemy,” chuckles McPherson2. “Are you scared yet, Shamus?”
“You are right, Mary,” says the general. “And yes, Andrew, I am scared. I do not believe our troops are ready for this kind of enemy.
It has been decades since an enemy stood directly in our faces, not in
the shadows, and told us they were going to win." }
#IllustrationOfTheDay
I finally finished my illustration of Tova for Book #5, "The Owl from
Oblivion". It's called "The Guises of Tova". Tova is a 14 year old girl
on the reality timeline (really a fairy but her wings stay hidden
mostly), and on the supernatural timeline she is the Sun God,
Life-Giver, and the Sophistan energy creature, Sophistan28. This has got
to be the hardest illustration I've done yet.
Everyone has hidden talents. At some point in your childhood, you selected a fork in the road and decided which of your good talents you would pursue. My first fork led me through government funded school research, corporate funded research, finally to various bleeding edge projects in Silicon Valley. Now, I am looping backwards in time so that I can try the other fork. I am on a campaign to help kids keep those brain cells us adults no longer have. Use them or lose them.
In this first part of the four part serial storyline, Elof, an abused Tibetan-American science wizard must teach the magical children, Ty and Tyco, to use their talents ethically. Otherwise, Tova will destroy them to protect Earth. Ty, the mysterious, fearful third-grade son of a British Prime Ministerial aid, has an ancient knowledge given to him by ‘ghosts’. Tyco, who is the fifth-grade son of a Mayan astronomer, must learn to keep his warrior impulses in check and protect his friend, Ty, from harm. While teaching these kids, Elof reconciles his own childhood with his sociopath father. Does he have a magical inheritance he has yet to discover? Far grittier than Harry Potter, this story is an intellectual puzzle of mysteries and surprises for readers ready to meet the challenge.
