CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Work continues, and I move on to editing and updating the second book in the Shadow series, Shadow Trap . Not as much done as I was planning, but I tried to fit in some writing and walking, and then came across something that needed attention in the email, so it’s all full-ahead-stop, here. This scene caught me, as I edited, today – and I worked up a partial for the new cover to go with it: ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Gods Visit Tara waited, watching as the number of priests on the stage dwindled, until Gilzereet knelt alone. Just as the High Priest bowed his head to speak to Aravare, a door on the other side of the room slid abruptly open, and a man and a woman were ushered through to join those already waiting. The priestess, accompanying them, closed the door, before leading them to the cleared circle at the head of the room. As they drew closer, Tara noticed the woman was blue-skinned, and dressed in the robes of Yasmeh, the fi...

I have—finally!—completed the new cover for Shadow’s Rise . The black knight art by Dusan Kostic and the black face photography by Raisa Kanareva , and whirlwind photography by Mikeexpert , are all purchased from Dreamstime, and were manipulated and compiled in GIMP , and I think this cover speaks to the story a lot better than the last one, and maybe even manages to convey the genre better. We’ll see. When the gods discover an ancient power has suborned a king, and now menaces their domains, they must find agents to act on their behalf. Will a goddess’s temper over losing a favorite to the cause stand in their way? Or the capture of one of their chosen mean the attempt is doomed to fail before it has begun? The current, unmodified version of this book, Shadow’s Rise , and the other two titles in the Shadow trilogy : Shadow Trap and Shadow’s Fall , are currently available for individual purchase, but will all be undergoing the update process over the next couple o...

I’ve finished the edit, and am now ready to move onto to creating a new cover, and formatting the revision for upload. To celebrate, I thought I would share another of my favourite scenes from the book: Approaching the Dark Temple Gilzereet, Vorgren and Tara flew with the witch-woman and the people of the air. They had not been able to take a direct route to the city, but had needed to come in low over the waters of the north as what looked like storm clouds gathered above the king’s palace in the city’s north-east. Already, Gilzereet felt as though some dark power focused its attention closer to the dock-yard end of the palace proper. Glancing across at his companions, he saw that they could feel it also. To his left, Vorgren was scanning the ground below and concentrating on looking out over the dock area where the darkness seemed its strongest. Even as they watched, the shadows in that part of the city grew unnaturally long, and street lamps flickered and dimmed, before goin...

Among the tasks I need to do is to provide each title with new back matter—and some titles with a new cover. This is Shadow’s Rise . It is one of those titles needing a new cover. I’m editing it, before this happens, and I came across this scene, and it struck me as one of the more powerful scenes in the book: Gilzereet’s Rejection As a high priest of the Goddess of Shadows and Night, Gilzereet Urkhrist has as strong a relationship with the goddess as any—and, yet, she puts him aside, as only a goddess can. Here’s how it goes down: In the city of Escar, well away from where Beresia’s temple burned, Gilzereet knelt in Berveragna’s inner chamber. He was praying to the goddess, and finding her strangely silent, given that Misrandar was dead. He had been praying for most of the night. One of the acolytes had summoned him when they had found Misrandar’s body in the hall outside the chamber, but Gilzereet had been unable to sense who, or what, had caused the priest’s death. The ent...