Celtic Bard: Blog

Sorry folks, not a new chapter (as in YES! He finally posted more Alexandra!) but unfortunately I was sitting in front of my computer with a migraine and hoping I could find something to take my mind off of the pain. I happened to open something I have been working on off and on (more off than on) and as I read what I had thus far, something popped and I started writing all the way to the end of the first chapter of Anomaly of the Fates. Since it had been a while since I posted anything, I decided to get this up there in lieu of the next chapter of Enter the Darkness or Future Distorted. Sorry to all of you still waiting on those, I wish I could give you something more on when they will be ready but I can't.

On another note, I have posted a snippet of Sagas of Pain, the Akikara the Mad story I had been workng on in my efforts to pull together an Am'moral anthology for publishing sometime before the new year. You can find that on my external blog at:

http://jmfhildebrandt.livejournal.com/

So enjoy those two things an hopefully more of the other stuff you have been waitng on will be forthcoming soon.

I have a quick question I would appreciate feedback on, prompted by a review I got on Figment.com for Avenger of the Slain (Contest Version). The reviewer remarked that perhaps I tried to cram too many concepts into one story.

"There were too many things (names, characters, ideas, themes, events) that all took place in one story."

Opinions? When I write I try to give readers the benefit of the doubt that they can follow what I am putting out. Granted there were dangling possibilities for further stories with Seosamh, but I did not really think I was asking too much of you, the readers, with this one. Just something I got to wondering about. Let me know what you think.

The uncut version of Avenger of the Slain has been submitted. It should be up sometime today or early tomorrow. It has all the little details that enliven the story that I was forced to cut out to make the Defy the Darkness contest word limit on Figment.com. I want to thank those of you who have read the contest version already, especially those who sent your kind thoughts.

I probably will expand this story into a novel-length work at some point, but I am entirely too busy with unfinished projects at the moment to do so. Ahead of such a project are the completion of my quartet of Chronicles of The Samuelson novels, Future Distorted, Enter the Darknss, a possible Am'mortal anthology, and a half dozen short stories languishing unfinished due to time and/or lack of inspiration. Perhaps if I can knock some of those off of my to do list, I might find time to cme back to Avenger of the Slain and flesh it out into a novel.

Enjoy Avenger of the Slain-Director's Cut!

Now that I have your attention, I have submitted a new story called Avenger of the Slain. It should be up sometime today or very early tomorrow. It is about a reporter whose sister is murdered by a serial killer. To get vengeance for his sister, he seeks out his druid priestess for help only to find out such help always comes with a price. I have entered the story into a contest called Defy the Dark on Figment.com. The prompt for the contest was to write a story that takes place in the dark or at night between 2000 and 4000 words. The original version of the story was well over 5000 words and so I wound up cutting over 1500 words to make the contest limit. I will post the original version of Avenger of the Slain when I finish editing it. I would greatly appreciate it if you have the time and inclination to visit Figment and tell me what you think on that site as well as from here.

As for the stuff you have been waiting for, namely Enter the Darkness and Future Distorted chapters, I am still wrapping up a third story about Akikara that I am hoping to finish after the final edit on Avenger-V1. When that is done, I will most likely head back to wrap up the next chapter of Enter the Darkness, as it is almost finished. After that, I will try to get the next chapter of Future Distorted out. All of this assumes I don't get whacked in the head with another anvil by my Muse (the loony bitch).

For those of you who peruse my external blog, I am irritated to say that the hosting site is demanding money for me to continue my blog. So, by the end of the month my external blog will move from LiveJournal to . . . I am not sure where. I am currently trying to find a new, and free, home for The Celtic Bard. Anyone who has suggestions, feel free to suggest away. EDIT-ignore this please. I read the e-mail late at night and just reread it and my blog is fine. The e-mail was for LiveText, not LiveJournal. Lesson for the day, ladies and gents, don't read e-mail while tired.

In more encouraging news, but no less frustrating (despite it being good), I have two new short stories that will probably be finished sometime soon. One is a third part of the stories about Akikara the Mad and I am writing that one mainly because I have wanted to write a story introducing the Mistress of Pain, another Am'mortal. It will also give some background to Akikara himself but it is mainly a vehicle to write a story about the Mistress of Pain. I eventually envision writing one story (at least) about each living Am'mortal in the "present" of the Am'mortal Universe. That means 98 stories, two of the Am'mortal having been killed and not yet replaced. But this one will be titled Sagas of Pain and, hopefully, will be done very soon.

The second story I am currently working on is for a contest called Defy the Dark on Figment.com. It is about a crime reporter whose sister is killed by an elusive serial killer. To get vengeance he knows the FBI and police will not be able to give him, he turns to a druidic rite that winds up costing him more than he thought it would going in. That one is due by the end of the month but I hope to have it done well short of that deadline. If you are feeling generous and have the time, look up the druid story, titled Avenger of the Slain (by J. M. F. Hildebrandt), on Figment.com and help me out there.

So that is the news for now. Look for those new stories soon and hopefully I can get back to Enter the Darkness and Future Distorted.