Guest Appearance

Marie Lavender was kind enough to host me on her blog “Writing in the Modern Age” There is a character interview, an author interview and an excerpt from the new book, “Repercussions Abound.”  Here is the link to the blog: http://marielavender.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-character-interview-with-linvin-from-repercussions-abound-plus-chat-with-author-rival-gates.html  Enjoy the read!

1st Excerpt, "Repercussions"

Today I bring you the first excerpt from “Repercussions Abound.”  Enjoy.

 

“Is that because you know me so well? You love a man you think you know. Every day I learn more and more about who I really am and something here just feels off to me. It is as though there is a huge piece of me missing. No. Actually, it is like there are two pieces of me missing. Tell me, you saw me fight the first group of bandits. Was there anything of note about me?”

Corilon thought back to that terrifying day and remembered Argentoe cutting a dashing figure as he chopped down one bandit after another with the aid of a glowing sword with white flames running the length of the blade. He was outnumbered and in full control. She realized she loved him from that moment onward.

“So was there anything you can think of to help me?” Argentoe repeated.

Corilon pulled the blanket to her chin and answered quietly, “You were a great warrior. The number of opponents left you unfazed. There was not much to tell, really.”

She rolled away and showed him her back as she hid tears forming in her eyes. Corilon knew there was a high probability Argentoe’s memory might come back if he were given his sack of possessions. She knew it was the right thing to do. It might even save his life. Yet Corilon wept in silence and did not move. She could not bring herself to take the chance of losing her husband.

Argentoe was preoccupied trying to determine how he knew so much about their enemy and yet nothing about how he came upon the information. He held the sword straight out in front of him and looked down the blade again.

“Take this sword. It is straight and was hammered out by a weapon smith with considerable skill. The blade is tapered perfectly and was sharpened by someone with knowledge of such craft. The handle is weighted right for thrusting and pummeling. In battle you can switch from one attack to another without moving your grip. The pommel is rounded out nicely for sudden blows to the skull.”

He stabilized it on his finger and watched as the sword never dipped. “It is perfectly balanced and is made of a fine steel alloy only a talented craftsman could forge. This is an excellent blade and anyone carrying it into battle should be proud to have it by their side.”

Argentoe tossed it to the corner of the room like a piece of refuse. “I know this much. It is not my sword. This is going to sound strange, but my sword is somehow…alive. I realize that makes no sense, but it is like an old friend or companion whom I trust with my life and has saved me countless times. It is that friend I need now, in my head, in my hand, waiting to jump into the abyss. Where did it and all my other things go? I cannot remember seeing them since I was lying in the wagon so long ago.”

Corilon could not think of a clever way to avoid the question so she outright lied. “I have not seen any of your things. It has been so long now they could have been lost or accidentally buried with the bandit bodies along the way. The matter is of little consequence. Those items didn’t spark any memories before. There is no reason to think they would now.”

“You may be right,” Argentoe said with disappointment. “But I know my sword would have cleared up some of my thoughts or at least given me a better chance in the coming battle.” Corilon was silent and simply nodded.

“When all my plans are said and done, you and I know this fight will be as your father said. It will come down to me against them. I can plan and scheme, but no one is going to sacrifice themselves to help me in this battle. And that is exactly what this would be, a sacrifice. One Trogoandras can kill every one of you. A pack of ten or twelve would devastate the farm.

Book 4 Is Out!

There is that momentous occasion in a writer’s life when they publish their first book.  It’s an amazing feeling to say you are a published author.  You would think that feeling would diminish when you publish your second book but it doesn’t.  Now you are in that relatively small group who can say they’re multi-published authors.  Then a third book comes out and your fraternity of authors becomes smaller still.  Now I am pleased to announce the release of my fourth book, “Repercussions Abound.”  It is available on Kindle at http://amzn.to/2cGyNmy and on paperback at http://amzn.to/2deaOGW.  This book answers a lot of questions and as the title suggests, has some negative outcomes for nearly every character.  See what happens to each character and how they deal with their reversal of fortunes.  Enjoy the book!

Girls and Books

Guys, have you ever asked out an absolutely beautiful girl who hasn’t gotten back to you promptly.  Then another amazing girl shows up on your radar that you want to ask out.  You can’t ask the second girl out because the first girl might still answer yes.  In fact, you expect her to do so…in time.  On the other hand you hate to lose the time you could be enjoying with the second girl.  If only life had been so simple for me when I was younger?  Now replace the girls with books.  The first girl represents the book still at the editor’s.  Are the corrections taking this long or did I cross the line with my number of corrections.  Now think of the second girl as the second book I want to start.  Once I start something, if I don’t finish it I tend to forget parts.  That causes huge delays and eventually rewrites.  Once the book is published there will be a great deal of promotion to do.  I can’t concentrate on that and writing a book.  My mind does not multitask on these things.  So I’m stuck without a girlfriend, as it were.  One I have to wait for and can’t do anything about.  The other is there for the taking but I must wait for the first one’s response.  I know there’s some fellow with bravado out there saying he’d date them both.  Well my friend, it doesn’t work in life with girls or books.  Take my word for it.  Once again all I can do is wait for girl 1 or the book at the publisher.  Girl 2 has been waiting over 30 years for me to take her out.  She can wait a little bit longer.    

Tuesday Excerpt, "Revenge"

Mandrean bent down to bring his face directly in front of

Necromancer’s. “You say you’re patient, but you’re not. You want

me dead so badly it’s eating you up inside. I know you just as you

think you know me. You wanted Grithinshield to murder me. The

fact that he failed is tormenting you day after day.”

Necromancer looked away during the speech and then focused

on the emperor.

“The only thing tormenting me is your minute intellect.”

“Say you are a spineless coward who can’t do things

himself…Say it,” Mandrean ordered as he stepped back.

Necromancer stood and looked Mandrean in the eyes. “Very

well, Sire. You are a spineless coward who can’t do things

himself.”

“Not me, idiot! Say I’m a spineless coward,” Mandrean raged.

“But I just told you that you are a spineless coward. If your

grace has forgotten, I would gladly tell him again.”

The master lost his temper and threw a stool across the room.

He stood by Necromancer shaking from his anger in frustration at

not being able to let it out at the wizard.

“Now,” Mandrean bellowed as he began to circle the albino,

“you didn’t help Grithinshield by any chance, did you?” He paused

and heard nothing in reply. “I didn’t think so,” Mandrean said with

sarcasm. “Because if you had helped Linvin kill me, that would

violate our little arrangement and present serious repercussions for

you.”

Necromancer did not speak. He merely looked away. Mandrean

found the silence more infuriating than the rude comments the

servant normally made.

“You do remember the agreement, do you not?” Necromancer

looked at him with a face that acknowledged the absurdity of the

question. That expression alone put his benefactor over the edge.

“You must follow my commands to the letter,” Mandrean

yelled. As if to prove his point, he barked an order.

Water had spilled on the floor from the bath. It made the surface

slippery and dangerous. “I wouldn’t want to slip and hurt myself in

a fall. Dry up all the water on the floor immediately!”

Necromancer rose and smiled knowingly. Then he waved his

hand. The floor turned red as it instantly became superheated. In as

much time as it took Mandrean to scream in pain and leap into the

water, all the liquid on the ground was dried and gone.

Necromancer was unaffected by the sudden change in ground

temperature as he hovered above the floor. He bowed in jest and

said, “As you commanded, Oh, great one, all the water on the floor

was dried up. Do you have any other commands that I may follow

so precisely?”

Waiting...

It took longer than I expected but I finally finished my last edits on “Repercussions Abound.”  Now it is in the hands of my publisher.  Will they go along with the numerous changes I have made?  Will they ignore my changes and print it as is?  Like I said, it’s in their hands.  I’ve had publishers make my changes before printing and I’ve had them ignore my opinions.  It can be a frustrating time but in the end the writer usually has to make some concessions.  After all, the publisher holds all the power in this situation from the time you first submit your manuscript.  All I can do now is sit and wait.  I often refer to my works as my children.  This is like sending your children to school on the first day and waiting for the bus to drop them off to you at the end of the day to see how it all went.  The tension is tremendous.  To distract myself I am reveling in my first book, “Quest for the Red Sapphire” receiving a five star review!  It was a glowing endorsement and really made my day.  You can read it on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/review/show?id=1259661705 or Amazon.  It was a ray of sunshine on a rainy day.  It’s always nice to hear someone loved one of your babies.  

Tuesday Excerpt, "Crucible"

General Maxion was the first to step forward. He cried aloud, “Pawns.” Three young boys dressed entirely in black rushed from their seats on the benches toward the map on the floor, in between Maxion and the Emperor. Each boy had a number sewn onto his shirt. They were clearly numbered one, two and three.

They all took up positions north of Marinhalk on the map. One went to the extreme north, closest to the Emperor. Two and Three took up positions parallel to one another further south on the map.

Maxion bowed in a grand gesture and addressed his Emperor. “My good Lord Mandrean, my Province continues to flourish. The mines continue to produce vast quantities of precious ores. Iron mining has nearly doubled since our last meeting. Lumber also is progressing well into the northern wilderness. Our contribution to the glory of the Empire is clear and noteworthy.

“The First Division patrols the border with the Ice Giants to the north. The Second and Third Divisions are segmented into garrisons and placed around the key mining and forestry production to prevent slave revolt. All is well with my Province.”

Mandrean looked irritated and handed his goblet to Fendri without saying a word. He stood and observed the pawns’ position in detail. “As usual,” he barked. “You tell only the side of the story you want to be heard. What of the revolts in the mines?”

“As I mentioned, My Lord, the Second and Third Divisions are in place to prevent such instances.”

Mandrean appeared evermore lucid as he paced before his general. “So I was misinformed that gold production was brought to a halt for nearly a month? Are you saying the reports were wrong about your subordinates selling the slaves’ food for profit to line their pockets and afford their…attire? Are you also saying that the chain of revolts by starving slaves that followed did not require both the Second and Third Divisions to quell? In doing so I suppose it would also not be true that crushing the revolt reduced the work force by half. So did these things happen or are you simply withholding my gold shipments?”

Maxion’s arrogance evaporated in the light of the disclosure. After a moment’s pause he replied. “My Good Lord, the facts of these matters have at the least been contorted and spun in a most incorrect manner.”

“Well,” Mandrean said as he walked forcefully to his general and stared him in the eye. “Why don’t you explain it in a way that will not have your skin hanging from the battlements of this building?”

Maxion’s words sputtered out slowly. “You see…the Ice Giants have increased their tribute demands. If we do not meet their quota of food, we risk them coming into our realm this winter and taking what they wish. I do not have sufficient men to fend off such an attack. It was for that reason some of the provisions intended for the slaves were diverted to the offering. In hindsight, we gave too much and the slaves rebelled. The results were unfortunate but could have been considerably worse if we had not paid the ransom.”

Mandrean struck his palm to his forehead. “So let me understand. You took provisions from the workers and caused a mutiny with great loss in manpower and production and I am supposed to believe you did it for the good of the Empire?”

“Those would not be my words, My Lord, but the essence is correct.”

Mandrean produced a knife from his sleeve and held it to Maxion’s throat. “I will investigate your statements. If I find the slightest discrepancy in the story, I will peel your skin like that of a potato and feed it to the hogs. Now get out of my sight.” Maxion stepped back and performed more of a courtesy than a bow. Then he meekly returned to his seat.