CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

This week’s short story takes us from a world being raided from another dimension to what happens in the Lianreida forest when deities pay a visit to the world of Tallameera. Welcome to Gods in the Lianreida . When Larias, god of problem-solving and secrets, flies over the forbidden lands of the elves, he only hopes to discover what force is powerful enough to breach the elven magic protecting the forest. What he finds, instead, is a battle in which he is compelled to intervene, but, regardless of intent, when gods meddle in the realms of other gods, there is always a price to pay. Gods in the Lianreida can be found as part of a chapter in Shadow Trap , the second book in the Shadow trilogy. It is also available as a stand-alone short story at the following links: books2read.com/u/3J8Jwg . You can also find Kristine Kathryn Rusch's latest free short story over on her blog: kriswrites.com . Why don't you go and check it out?

The Shadow Trap edit continues, but here is the second passage to have caught my eye. ----------------------------------------------------------------   A Goddess Prepares to Defend or Die “I must go, brother,” Sariel said, as Criella’s shriek reached her ears. “You cannot,” Larias replied, knowing what she’d heard. “The Old One lies in wait for you. He will not let you take her unscathed.” “You do not understand, Larias,” the goddess replied. “It is not I who is important. It is the Old One’s defeat that is important. Even my death cannot change that.” “But dead you cannot aid us any further,” Larias protested. “We need you alive, helping us defend this world and all that rely on it for life. What importance could a mere girl have in comparison to that?” Sariel took his face in her hands and laid her forehead against his own. “Dear Larias,” she said, “don’t you understand? If the Old One takes that mere girl’s life, he is only one, at the most two, steps aw...

The Shadow Trap edit continues, but here is the first passage to have caught my eye. ---------------------------------------------------------------- At the Swap-Meet of the Gods Gilzereet raised his head, tears gleaming in his eyes. Aravare’s presence filled the empty space Berveragna had left. Power and comfort flowed through him, soothing the hurt of Berveragna’s rejection, but leaving sadness at their separation. For that, Gilzereet was grateful; there were some things even the gods had no right to touch, some feelings better left for mortals to deal with in their own time and way. “Thank you, my lord,” he said, his voice husky with emotion. He turned to Berveragna. “My Lady,” he acknowledged, searching for the words to express what he felt. As he opened his mouth to speak those words, a shadow fell over the hall. Evil and dark as it was, Tara saw even the gods of wickedness look for its source, disquiet in their eyes. Aravare groaned, his presence flickering in ...

DSDU = Dark Side Down Under : A group of Australian writers of romance and other paranormal genres has kindly hosted me today on their regular Magic Thursday blog spot. Today I thought I’d share a little about the importance of world-building in general, and creating the magic of Tzamesch in particular. Feel free to come over and join me.

The Theory When I wrote my goals for the year, I tried to make it so I could cover each genre I wrote in, at least in passing. Because I write in so many genres and under so many pen names, I realized I had to plan my time carefully. In doing that, I also realized it was not physically possible for me to have four releases a year in each genre for each pen name… at least, not while holding down a full-time job. So, I came up with a set of tiered goals and wishlists. Tier 1 is the minimum of what I think I can do. At the end of the first week, it seemed to be holding. At the end of two months, not so much; I’m way ahead of schedule, but I’m not producing new words <sigh>. Tier 2 was what I hope to achieve in good conditions. Tiers 3-4 were my dream tiers, the projects that I really wanted to do, but couldn’t work on, due to time constraints. So, every week, I planned to advance Tier 1 by a revised chapter or 1,000 words a day, Tier 2 was the same progression, if I could...