From this to that! COVERS!

I'm posting the above to show how vastly a picture can change and how far you can go as an artist.

I began my cover designing ways just in January (2017, yes just three months ago) by self-teaching myself GIMP (a photoshop clone) after several authors told me to get a life and give up cover design.  Thankfully, I took this as a challange rather than the tear down it was intended as.  Before that, I was only using Canva.com (which I still use because its so darn easy) and to be fair, they were ok covers at best.  not having a lot of money to spend, I really didn't have a choice.   I have always had an artistic bent, but its been a delightful surprise to see how far I've come in just a few short months. Enjoy!



 

Armor and Writing 

Lets talk Armor and writing, folks.  As authors, it is easy to do what is called the "handshake" about things that are not common knowledge.  Basically, you buzz by a subject or item that is important to your story, but you don't go into a lot of description because you don't know a lot about it.  It happens.  Especially if you don't want to be bogged down in explaining things which, lets face it, can bore the reader to death.  

It most often happens in Science Fiction and Fantasy, but it can also happen with things that are no longer in our common experience like armor.  It is not impossible to find this information out from a variety of sources, but it can make a difference.   For artists as well!   Don't forget those cover artists.   But let me tell you.  There are a HUGE amount of resources out there describing armor (and weapons, as a good friend of mine, Paul C Middleton, is just getting ready to publish a resource for authors about weapons.) 

Buyer beware, there are a lot of bad resources too.   But let me show you a few photo's of exceptional armor (even to the level of artistic excellence) being created today.   Let your mind feast on these images. These are by a man and artist named Ugo Serrano, but there are many, many more out there to inspire you.  Look around!   you might be surprised what will give you an inspiration.   

 

New Cover Art

The Author has shared this up on her blog so I can show you one of my latest pieces of cover art.   This is a new series which will mix science fiction and magic, thus the mix of elements.  Does it communicate a futuristic world with old ideals (Lords and Great Houses)?  There will also be magic as well.  Exciting stuff to create a new genre.

That's right!   A new genre!  There have been other authors trying to write in this, but its been difficult to brand but this is part of a concerted attempt to do so.  Isn't it awesome! 

This is the reality for most authors, or at least the one they need.

Kill Your Children!

Haha! No, not really.   Teddy, put the butterknife down.  I'd like to talk about writing and covers.  It is no secret that a good cover is important for the sale of your book, but it is also  fatal weakness of many authors.  They choose something THEY like and THEY think is cool.   Not bad, right?  You should have a connection to your work.  It's all part of the passion.  

But here's the issue; you need to pick a cover that will tell your readers what they will be reading. It needs to scream from the rooftops "This is a Urban Fantasy with Magic!" or "This is  Science Fiction Book with Cool Space Ships". What happens a lot of the time, is an author sees an awesome, powerful image that speaks to them, but doesn't speak to the audience.    Then they do one of two things.

They change it, or they dig in.  

If you dig in? Then you've just made that cover (or whatever art item you just latched onto) into your children.   You will now be a mamma bear and defend those children to the death.   Ahem.   Appropriate word there.  Death.  You might have just strangled your own book.

But, but, but! you say.   What if you are wrong and just don't see the possibility in my work? What if this is the next diamond in the rough and people will flock to it, proving you meanies all wrong?  

Totally possible.  That's the beauty of ART is that it is subjective to the person viewing.   It is ALWAYS necessary to question and push the boundaries.  I've SEEN where fifteen critics will tell you it HAS to be a certain way, and they are just parroting what they've been told without thinking about it.   Trust me, the Author Community is full of that.   There's TONS of people who will love nothing but to tell you you're an amateur and hopeless. Well, screw them.

So, mister smarty pants, you just contradicted yourself.   Yep.  Sure did.   There IS a balance between following previously determined information, and hacking the system and the target point changes.    But, if you're clutching around your work like a mamma bear, you don't have the capability work toward that balance point.   

So! Push your precious children out onto the sands of the arena and make them fight the lions!   

Cover for the upcoming boxed set of the Glimmer Steel Saga.  

Its time!  I'm going to put my work into a boxed set and I get to use my new, nifty skills at making a cover.  What do you think?   It will include all four current works but I hope this cover makes you swoon and drape your arm over your forehead.    

Dabbling with Cover Art!

Which do you prefer?  Orange or Blue? Both are common in various genre's and can bring out different emotions.   Which would you choose for this ominous character? 

I am angry!

Why am I angry?   I'll tell you why I'm angry, because anger is one of the many emotions you have to put into writing.  Well, of course, you say, why are you telling us something that is common sense?  You have to have full, burning passion in order to compose your artistic style!   You cannot compose a work of art that is literature without having lived ten years in mud and ate nails!  How else are you going to get the life experience necessary in order to write with unbridled passion and emotion?

What if I were to tell you, that you don't need ten years of death and doom in your life.  What if I were to tell you what most authors on all those online boards you belong to tell you might not be right?  Do we ALL have to go out on a fishing boat and catch a giant fish all alone?  

Nope.  Just as with many things in life, it is not black and white.   There are fantastic works of art out there written over years, edited over decades, rewritten over and over again, and loved by readers.   There are also snippets and novels, unedited and put out on blogs for fans to enjoy, and published within a month that are also loved by readers.  

There is not just one path up the mountain.  

I read another blog the other day where someone immediately categorized any author that put out more than two books a year as "probably terrible and not worth picking up".   This is ignorance at it's finest.  That would be like me saying that anyone who took longer than three months to write and publish a book was probably too slow to put words together correctly and too disassociated from their work to make it seem interesting. 

Hogwash. Quality and Quantity are not mutually exclusive.  There are millions of people on this planet that go to work each and every day, who may not love their job, but they do it and do it well.   With speed and quality.   That can happen in writing too and does all the time.  

Keep your head up.  Question everything you've been told about writing. Keep writing. 

Spencer P.  

Covers!   Check out these covers I did for these books!   I'm very proud.   

 

Panel: Using Disabilities in Fiction

For those of you who have read my works, I have several characters that have disabilities of one sort or another. Jessop has Down Syndrome, Professor Rievus has a form of encroaching Alzheimer, and Stitch loses a hand. What was more important for me was to include these elements as part of their character, not the defining part but as one aspect of many.  

I participated in a panel in January discussing how to write characters with disabilities.  It was a rewarding, interesting discussion and I hope you enjoy! I know I am still learning. 

For the full story on Andy Peloquin's blog, you can go here.  

Where are the blog posts!

They are with us!   I just finished my current WIP on Friday of last week, and now am furiously editing to send out to beta readers so I can publish THIS friday!   What?  Are you mad?  Doesn't it take fifty years and a box of frogs to publish?   NO!   No it does not.  That is the old way of doing things, and I'm taking a stand here and now to tell you that despite what the industry experts tell you, there IS another way.   You do not have to revise revise revise for months on end before you publish.  

But, doesn't it have to be good enough?  If you don't revise fifty times and put it in a drawer for four months, it can't possibly be good enough.  

Or can it?  Yes, it can.  It may not be quite as good as if you waited for half a year, but it CAN be good enough for people to enjoy the fudge out of a story, and then get the next installment / novel within a month or two.  I HATED waiting for years between books when I was a kid.  If I saw a series that wasn't done yet, I would put it down and walk away most of the time, because I detested waiting for the extreme amount of times that traditional publishing houses made you wait.  And worse, authors bought into the lie that this was supposed to be the norm. 

So now, with self publishing, I have total control.  I can now publish my book 10 days after finishing it if I so choose.  And I do!   There are a LOT of authors out there now just learning this method.  We're done listening to the people who say 100 words a month is just fine and if you don't work that slowly, obviously you are not a real author and have no passion. How dare you want to make money.

Well, I do.  I want to make money writing what I love to write, the stories I want to write, and the characters I want to write for you.  Balance is possible!  Also, making you, the READER happy, is possible too.  

Enjoy!   

Covers, Covers, and more Covers, Oh My!

Hi Folks!  As you hopefully have noticed I've upgraded my covers!  Well, I've also been doing covers for other people in order to practice.  Free of Charge!    Its good for me and them, and gets me experience doing them. 

Recently, I helped a great group of writers with their collective anthologies.  They are going through a master-level work group for writing and boy, let me tell you, they are being worked hard to put out a lot of volume.  The group is called Phoenix Prime.  

Check out their instafreebie books here.  For those of you who don't know, Instafreebie lets you have free books in exchange for your email.  This lets them send out newsletters once or twice a month.

Phoenix Prime Instafreebie books.  

Here are the four covers I completed for them.   Spiff!

Melanie Tomlin's The Prolific Reader instafreebie books!

 

Welcome to The Prolific Reader instaFreebie page!

All books on The Prolific Reader are available to download for free via instaFreebie. It’s the perfect way to find your new favorite author.

Books are continually being added, so save this page to your bookmarks or favorites (CRTL+D if you’re using a PC) and check back often.

 

 

What’s new: January 20, 2017

Some changes have been made to provide you with a better user experience:

1. With almost 300 books listed, displaying them all on one page was not feasible. Each genre now has its own page, which can be bookmarked.
2. New books appear at the top of their genre.
3. The date each book was added is displayed, so on subsequent visits you’ll be able to identify what’s been listed since your last visit.
4. Links appear at the bottom of each page, to enable you to browse through the various genres or jump to a specific genre.

The Terror of Room B!

Okay, this isn't really a horror entry.   This is an entry about having gone to a critique setting put on by a local writers group!   Last night was my first.  I had visions of 2 people sitting in a room staring at each other through bottle-end glasses and licking their chapped lips.  Perhaps even taking sips out of half-empty plastic soda bottles.   However, I was pleasantly surprised.   There were twelve of us in a very roomy meeting room in the local public library.  Very comfortable, actually, and everyone was friendly.  

Having been new, everyone took turns introducing themselves and what they wrote.  The subject matter ranged from victorian era fiction, urban fantasy, mid-grade fiction (whatever that is but it sounded like contemporary fiction for perhaps a younger audience.  I honestly was not brave enough to ask), and amusing fantasy.   All of the entries were required to be G rated due to being in close proximity to the library proper. The format itself was simple.  Put your name down on a pad of paper and next to it indicate if you would be reading for the group.  

I, of course, put no next to my name.  I was on a fact finding mission to determine what the group was about and how they operated.  Each person had about fifteen to twenty minutes total.   They could choose to use ten or fifteen of those minutes to read, but were limited by whatever time was left for the group to critique. 

I found the reading to be interesting and engaging.  Most of those that had written something were dedicated, and you could clearly hear their voice in their work.   The variety was excellent as well from the clearly experienced to those that were learning.  That was the first terror.  Imagining how my work would stack up to theirs.  Would it come across as dry and morose?  Interesting?  Boring? or the worst of the lot, amateurish?  Ugh.   Terrible.   I could clearly see in my minds eye everyone's face wrinkling up in strained patience or masks of politeness as I read off my work.

All self inflicted fantasy.

For the most part, everyone was polite.  They gave effort to giving feedback that would help the authors that read instead of dismissing them.  I find that online, authors tend to practice the latter a bit too often.  I've been the victem of authors that have simply said "Looks amateurish to me. You can get cheap covers for $40 bucks online!"  Its like watching a slow dagger to the heart reading that kind of feedback because its not sincere but overly dismissive.  No one in last nights face-to-face group did that and I was pleased.

So now I have next Tuesday to look forward to.  I will take the first chapter in my current WIP there with me, and read it (after actually editing it, which I don't do until the end of my writing).   I think I'm brave enough to do that, but that is the second Terror that I will have to face in Room B.   Maybe I should tape my eyes shut while I read so I don't see the grimaces and eye rolls?   I am being hard on myself,  but ultimately that is what the true terror is.   The same one that keeps authors from publishing, or sharing their work in progress and that is all from within themselves. 

If you don't publish or even try, how do you ever expect to find out if you are good enough to buy.             

The Games We Play!   Authors and the SCA

This weekend I had the fortune of traveling to one of my favorite hobbies up in Northern Washington.   The Society for Creative Anachronism is a group that aspires to recreate the middle ages in all its varieties.   In this particular instance, it was an armed and armored combat tournament called Ursalmas.   This esteemed competition is considered one of the higher level tournaments in the Kingdom of Antir.   I've attached a video of one of the matches for your enjoyment. 

Enjoy!  

Squeaky Clean Writing

My current series, The Glimmer Steel Saga, is designed to be readable by a wide audience.  I wanted to appeal to adults, and I wanted to also appeal to that young reader that I was growing up.   That's a delicate balance.   I have nothing against swear words or harsh scenes in writing.  I think they absolutely have their place, but it is a conscious choice like so many other elements in telling a story now days. 

So yeah, I chose to go squeaky clean on writing.  My curses are all made up or low level fantasy.   By the Gods.  by the Seven.  Blast it!   Yes, I went there.  There's a bit of teen love and romance too, but its kept on a sweet level.   So far, I think I succeed fairly well.  

How do I manage it, you ask?   Just like every writer everywhere manages to try to make what they write with an easy, sensible flow.  Its all about how you work it into your sentences so that you don't break the fourth wall.   Does it seem natural or does it seem fabricated?  Is it jarring?   Does it pull you out of the story?   That's what I fight against while I write and to tell you the truth, if I made the most foul mouthed, dirty story I would be working against the exact same forces.  

The best real-world example I can describe is movies.  We've all seen those movies where the special effects are the star, and the director wants to make sure you see his super special effect because he's so proud of it.  This versus the cinematic masterpiece where the spaceship flying through space is virtually un-noticable and indistinguishable the characters eating a sandwich.  If it all goes toward building the story, than you are on the right track.     

Woohoo, 0.99 cent sale of some REALLY great clean YA series. Besides my excellent books, there are several other great authors here as well.  Check out the selection that will be available on January 26th and 27th (this Thursday and Friday). You won't be disappointed!
http://jlhendricksauthor.com/ya-clean-99c-sale/

Snippet #6 - The Duke of Brun and the Golden Bands.   (unedited)

They waited until it was well past dark before the Skywitch rose impossibly high into the sky and then turned off all of its exterior lights. They also made several course corrections before finally coming to rest high above the valley. It wasn’t a few moments more until they’d settled to the desert floor.

“Tomorrow morning, I’m going to take the Skywitch in several different directions and make it look as if we are landing. I figure if I can get Count Stavix’s and General Rhendu’s soldiers to go off on several false trails, it’s the least I can do,” Valeran said, watching as several dancers were led off of the Skywitch. They were smaller beasts than the dancers that were commonly ridden in the city. They also had thicker scales and large crests that when displayed could cover the beast’s eyes. Lord Mendor had provided the dancers and said this breed was much better for the deeper desert. Besides the saddle each lizard was heavily laden with supplies though they did not seem to be affected by the burden.

“These dancers are good animals,” Ellian said, caressing the hard scales on the nose of the dancer she’d chosen to ride. “They are expensive, as well.” Nilesh had already mounted his dancer and had the large book opened in front of him. He had been engrossed in the book since they’d received it and hardly put it down. The little man continued to make odd sounds every once in a while as he read though the disgruntled sounds still outnumbered the ones of triumph. Ashrak and Chari were also climbing aboard their dancers as well.

“I wanted to give you every advantage I could,” Valeran answered as he stood with his hands on his hips before reaching out and grasping Ashrak’s arm.

“You have,” Ashrak answered. “There’s no telling what will find out there but if we succeed it will be because of you. Thank you.”

“You just keep your communicators handy. If you run into something you can’t handle then call me. It won’t take long for us to get to you no matter where you are in this blasted desert.”

Ashrak nodded and patted his belt pouch before looking at his sister. “How long will it take us to get to your men?”

Ellian grinned and launched into her own saddle before taking up the lead of their small group. “Not long, perhaps an hour or so,” she said, squinting into the distance. “I know they’re in the Valley, but not where. However, they will have seen us land and will be watching. They’ll find us. Just ride normally and if you hear or see anything, don’t draw your weapons.”

Ashrak nodded and they all lapsed into silence as they rode into the night. They were able to see fairly well due to one of the moons being almost full. The smallest moon was only a sliver but the larger was about three quarters full and let them see well enough to travel without fear. Nilesh had a large oil lamp balanced so that he could continue to page through the book. Ashrak figured it would keep anyone from thinking they were trying to sneak up on them, which was a good thing when you are trying to find bandits. He did not relish the thought of arrows being fired at him from the darkness.

They traveled slowly for perhaps an hour and a half before Ellian’s friends finally revealed themselves. A voice, deep and gravelly from the darkness, spoke. 

“Ellian,” the man said loudly enough for them to hear. It sounded like it was coming from a large series of boulders and rough terrain just to the right of their current path. “Is that you? Strange company you are keeping these days.”

Ellian immediately stopped her dancer and signaled for the rest of them to come to a halt. She spoke over her shoulder in a low voice. “Don’t make any sudden moves or you’ll have an arrow in you before you know it.” Looking back out into the darkness she raised her own voice. “Daka, I’m here with my brother and some friends. They are not a threat.”

“Aye, so they won’t have any trouble throwing their weapons to the sand then will they?”

Ellian looked back at them and nodded before taking out her own swords and daggers and throwing them to the sand. Ashrak, Chari, and Nilesh exchanged looks but followed suit, letting their own weapons join Ellian’s.   

After a few cautious moments, they could see several figures moving out of the darkness and towards them. Chief amongst those was perhaps the largest man Ashrak had ever seen. He towered almost a foot above his fellow bandits and was just as wide. When he stepped into the flickering light of Nilesh’s lamp, the man’s arms were stick around as a normal man’s thigh. A large scar ran from his four head, across his eye and almost all the way down to his chin though luckily, it seemed to have left his eye contact. Despite his menacing countenance, his grin glinted up at Ellian as he stepped toward her.

“It’s been two weeks,” Daka said in his deep base rumble. “We were worried that with all the trouble in the capital, you’d be dead by now. It’s good to see that we were wrong though now I owe Fallon a gold piece.”

As he spoke another figure stepped around him. She had a long and dark braid and was dressed in tight hunting leathers with a menacing-looking bow held in her hands.  She was a tall woman, and used every bit of her height to reach up and pull Ellian’s head down into a long kiss.

Proposed cover for A Glimmer of WAr, Book 3 of the Glimmer Steel Saga.  

Narrowing down on the upgrade to the 3rd book in my series.  Whew.  Almost done.  Took me a few tries to get this as I kept trying to do a blue background and it just wasn't working.   Great fact!   The guy in the armor is a personal friend of mine.  He is a medieval re creationist so actually goes out in that armor and gets hit. Very fun!  He represents the MC getting all warlike and bad a**.  

The blonde is a good representation of Duchess Ahnarad from Terek.   All super smart and awesome.   Valeran is the loud, brassy one but she is the one that gets things done.  

Behind all of that is "The Eater".  One of the Mourning Lords who causes quite a few problems in this book.  Also, she likes to eat.... anything.   Don't go near her.   

I'll probably be publishing this in the next day or so.   Whew!  

So far so good.  My cover skills have improved (still working on things) and I think the brand is doing well.   All three covers look similar in good ways.   

Virtual Discussion Panel "Turning Disability into Ability, Writing Handicapped Characters"

Just got off of this panel and it was fantastic.   We discussed how to write characters with disabilities either physical, mental, or emotional.   One of the over-riding themes of this panel was work this in as a trait of the character in as realistic a way as possible, do not use it as a "plot development".  Much like bad Sci-Fi movies use special effects as "the big flashy thing" rather than part of the story, so too can disabilities be included.  

If you've read my series (what?  you haven't read the series?  are you mad!?) you know that I have several characters with various disabilities.  Jessop has Down Syndrom, Professor Reivus struggles with a form of Alzheimer, and Stitch gets his hand cut off.   I don't think I did a perfect job of writing about these people, but I tried my best to make them seem real in their struggle for normal lives.  Very important.  

And also enlightening. 

In Book 3, one of the defining discoveries that Aiden encounters is that traveling to this 2nd realm reveals strange healing.  There has been little opportunity to explore this, but it is there and during a meeting where they are discussing this, I was caught by surprise by something my characters did.   Yes, this does happen quite often, which to me means the Characters are speaking to me.  

Aiden was left thinking if the healing would heal Jessop of his mental issues.   OOooOOo you say!   Yes, and I was thinking the same thing.  Is it right to do?  Would he be a different person?  would he want to?  would it be right to refuse even if it did change him?   I don't have the answer to those questions but I will have to tackle that soon.   I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.  What should Aiden do?  What would Jessop want?

Gah!   It's killing me!

The panel discussion will be posted onto Youtube and I will let you know when it is live.  In the mean time, take care!

Spencer Pierson 

Snippet #5 - The Duke of Brun and the Golden Bands.   (unedited)

They had just made it to the thoroughfare where Nilesh said the book merchant lived when they saw a group of six armed men walking down the street toward them.   They had already turned down it, so suddenly stopping and revering direction would look suspicious.  Worse, the soldiers were pulling the hoods down and looking into everyone’s faces. 

“Dammit,” Nilesh hissed.  “Maybe Kaler got a message out after all. 

“Or they just saw us leave camp,” Ashrak said.  “I know you thought we got away unseen, but that’s not a given.”  He felt his hand clench, wanting to reach up and grab his sword handle.  It was currently wrapped in rags to make it look like a much less elegant weapon, but he knew they could probably take the soldiers by surprise if they needed to.   Still, he didn’t want to attract attention.  They would get some sort of warning off, at the very least, and it would ruin their chances of getting what they were after if they had to flee the city. 

They were still about thirty meters from the guards when Nilesh began to walk toward another group of people moving in the same direction.  They were a small group of mid-level merchants with a guard following along with a bored look on his face.   Ashrak watched as Nilesh put his hand into his robe and pocketed something white which he began to crush in his grip.   When he got close to the group of men, he tripped and seemed to blunder directly into the guardsmen, a cloud of white dust flying into the man’s face as he spun.

“Oh sorry, sir, my apologies,” Nilesh said, his voice suddenly reedy and weak as he bowed and held his hands up. 

The guard snarled, half drawing his weapon as he took a step toward Nilesh.  “Why, you piece of filth!  Watch where you’re going!”   He was a brute of a man but Nilesh dodged quickly out of his way while making it look like he stumbled backwards.  The man would have pursued, but the lead merchant called back to him. 

“Guard, what are you doing?  I don’t pay you to play with the rabble!” The guard stopped and grunted, giving Nilesh one more glare before he turned back.  Nilesh just kept his head down and his hands up, not looking back until the guard had resumed his place behind the merchants.

“What did you do that for?” Ashrak whispered when he had caught up to Nilesh who had turned and pulled out a water skin, quickly washing his hands.  

“Stay back for a moment,” Nilesh hissed, letting the water quickly dissolve the white substance from his hand and drop into the sand.   After he had finished, he quickly kicked dirt over the wet area and then ground his foot into the spot.  “Sorry,” He said, still facing away from the direction the soldiers were approaching.  “I had to get that stuff off of my hands.  I’ve built up an immunity, but it wouldn’t do for you three to be affected.”

“Affected by what?” Chari said, looking curiously at the ground. 

“My guess, would be from whatever is making the guard act like that,” Ellian said, nodding her head discreetly toward the group of merchants.  The heavyset guard had stopped in his tracks, suddenly looking up into the sky.   He was beginning to shake and mumble just loud enough for the merchants to begin to notice.   The soldiers were also just about to pass him as well and were looking at him with concern.  Suddenly, screaming incoherently, he lurched and threw himself at one of the soldiers.  Before the man could react, he’d been lifted up above the guard’s head and thrown into the rest of them, knocking them about like a pile of sticks.

“Come on,” Nilesh said, turning and beginning to move down the street though keeping a distance from the suddenly violent confrontation.  “He won’t last long against six soldiers.”

The three followed quickly, watching in awe as the gibbering, foaming-at-the-mouth guard descended on one of the fallen men and began trying to eat him.  His fingers dug into the soldier’s face, making him scream in agonizing pain which redoubled as the crazed man’s teeth sunk into his cheek.  It was horrifying, and only two of the soldiers reacted, leaping up and trying to pull him off.  The other three soldiers could only watch in horror.

Candidates for cover update for A Glimmer of Fear, Book 2 of the Glimmer Steel Saga.  


Hello folks!   Two ideas above.  I like the upper menacing figure and the man, but the girl I'm working on.   I think I like #1 because they are all looking forward.   What do you think?  As soon as I'm done with this, I'll be working on updating #3 in the series.   woohoo.  

Snippet #4 - The Duke of Brun and the Golden Bands.   (unedited)

“What in the seven hells is this Chocolate Round thingy?” Valeran growled, slamming his hand on the table.  “I swear, people make up words around me on purpose?”

“It’s called the Occulate Raun, Your Grace,” Lord Mendor said patiently.  “If I remember correctly, the trial has not been performed in over five hundred years though it could be longer.  I would have to find the relevant tomes in the Brunish library.  I think that is where I remember reading about it.”

Valeran didn’t answer but glared at Lord Mendor, though they all knew it was just him being angry at the situation, not the ambassador.  “Well, whatever it’s called, it’s now a problem as if we needed more of them.” Valeran put his hands on his temples and closed his eyes, rubbing them gently.  “Okay, Occulate Raun.   So what does that mean for making Ashrak the new Duke?  Does it just throw it out the window as a free-for-all?  Should I just have the Skywitch blast anyone making a run for the desert?”

Lord Mendor shook his head but looked over to Ashrak and Ellian.  “I honestly don’t know.  The books I read didn’t really speak too much about the trials.   Do either of you know anything about it?  Or you, Nilesh?”

The small man shook his head but Ashrak and Ellian both looked at each other.  Finally, Ashrak spoke.  “Not everything, I am sure, but we do know some of it and the tales told about it.”  Ashrak paused, then took a breath before continuing.  “Basically, the stories say that the Golden Bands were given to the rulers of Brun as a symbol of their power.  More than that, they were a way to communicate with the ancestors and for the Duke to gain acceptance by those same ancestors, or so they say.”

“So what, we have to go digging around in some old ruins or broken pottery to find them?” Valeran asked, askance.  

“No,” Ellian said, speaking hesitantly as if expecting to be ignored, and already half mad.  Her angry clipped tones came out at first, but when everyone just listened, they began to fade.  “The stories say it’s never been that easy. Not even close.   Finding the entrance to the hall of trials is the first problem.  No one ever knows which ruin it will be found in.  Then the seekers always have to solve or survive terrible tests and guardians, whatever those might be.  It’s never the same.”

“So how many people can go looking for these things?” Valeran asked as he quirked an eyebrow at both of the Brunish nobles.  “What’s to stop the entire city of Brun from just trekking off into the desert, finding these bands, and then becoming Duke?”

Ashrak and Ellian exchanged a look before Ashrak answered.  “Well, the same thing that stopped most of my brothers and sisters from breathing.  Brunish nobility thinks nothing of killing to get ahead.   It’s why they are all so cruel and angry, because assassination is our very favorite game.  Anyone who becomes a seeker agrees that any of the other seekers or their representatives has the right to try to kill them, and vice versa.   It’s terribly barbaric, but it prevents most people from being remotely interested in trying.   Also, if someone does return with the Bands, then all of the other seekers and their companions are automatically put to death.”