Updates!

This week I have a few small announcements to make, so you're getting a half post, rather than a full one.

The first bit of awesome news is that I am only 100 pages away from having the sequel to Hunter's Gambit, tentatively titled Lord's Curse edited, and while this week has been a setback to editing (darn summer colds), I should have no problem finishing this draft before the end of Camp Nanowrimo in July. From there, I'll need to find an editor and take it through another edit. Unless something odd happens, I am still expecting to have that novel coming out late this year.

The next bit of awesome is that I have another signing set up! On July 6th, I will be at Owl's Nest Books (815A 49th Ave SW, Calgary, AB) from 11am to 2pm! I am super excited to have another signing. The table may even be bigger this time, which will be super exciting. I will let all of you know how that one goes, and of course, I'll have pictures!

For my third update, I am plugging a new book that I finished reading a couple of weeks ago and loved. The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Jones is a book about a woman trying to discover her father's secrets and another woman who is that secret. Based on the true stories of Japanese brides left in Japan after the war, this story left me in tears. The writing is beautiful, the story is compelling and it highlights a little known time in history, one that both countries would prefer to forget. If you haven't already picked this one up, it would make a great addition to your summer/winter reading list.

My last fun bit of news is that I have been doing sketches nearly every day for the last little while. If you'd like to join me, tag me on Instagram and post your own sketches or just enjoy other's people art. If you don't follow there, here are my latest pictures!

These are some pre-sketches where I planned out what I wanted to do for a full artwork for the video game Journey. I haven't gotten started on it yet, but I think it will look gorgeous when its done.

Some days, I get stuck on an image. In this case, the demonic, dead eyes of an Oddish from Gen 1 pokemon was my inspiration.

This fairy turned out wonderfully, except for her hands. She was supposed to be just leaning on a table on her wrists. something about it just didn't work. I may have to revisit the character one day. 

Kitten! Nothing else needs to be said.

This one turned out surprisingly well. The only thing that could have gone better is the outlining. I kind of preferred the sketchy look it had before I outlined it.

A few errors but I like the way she turned out. I may have o revisit the character in a less stiff position later. Also, I can't decide if she's a nobleman's daughter, or simply the daughter of a commoner with a rich suitor. What do you think?

Jessica Jones. Her neck is way too long, her leg is way too thin, and the liner pen didn't work with the Copics and reactivated in multiple places... despite that, I kind of like it. 

I saw a hoodie dress and wanted to draw a character in a similar outfit. I quite like the way it turned out.

I'll was drawing with one of my Youtubers. The prompts were aardvark, lemur, pink, grey and unicorn. Mine turned out way more lemur than aardvark, but I like it. I'm hoping to paint it later. If I do, I'll update it here. 

A Pre-Order Giveaway

Tonight, I'm taking you away on a further journey than we normally make here. Why you ask? Well, a few weeks ago, you'll remember that I hosted a cover reveal for one of my favourite authors, Laura VanArendonk Baugh. Her new book, Shard & Shield, is releasing on July 2nd, and she has an epic pre-order thing going on. The ebook pre-order is only $1.99 USD too, which is a great price on its own. With your pre-order, she has digital loot to give away, and you even have a chance of being entered into the grand prize for some physical goodies as well! 

Again, I am in love with this cover. Its evocative and makes me want to know more.

The digital prizes are really nice. You'll get a prequel to the Shard & Shield. She calls it a short story, but at 9000 words, it's pretty much a novelette in its own right. You'll also get a digital colour copy of her world's map and some never before seen character art. Offhand, I have seen the character art now and it is wonderful. I haven't had a chance to read the short story yet, but it looks good, too.

For the three grand prize winners, she has signed physical copies of her book, as well as a printed copy of the map and some characters cards. You also get an actual shard of crystal, much like the character has in the book (though missing the magic of its namesake, unfortunately). 

Now, if all that, and her wonderful writing, isn't enough to get you excited, then consider this. While researching into slavery for one of her characters, Laura found out just how pervasive an issue slavery still is in our world. Over 40,000,000 people today are slaves, and 1 in every 4 is a child. Laura is taking a stand and trying to make things better. In addition to your loot, for every pre-order, Laura is going to donate $2 to the International Justice Mission. They're a charity whose stated mission is to end slavery in our lifetime. And for all you math whizzes out there, yes. That means she's donating more than she's getting for every pre-order. Say what you will, but that is what I call dedication to a cause. 

Note: Apparently, in an all too common case of "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished", Laura has had to change the legal terms of her donation. Why? Well, there are a multitude of laws out there specifically to stop people from playing the system which, annoyingly, make it more difficult to donate into the system, because of course it does. Please check out Laura's update where she gets into more detail about it. More importantly, what does this mean for you, fellow reader? Very little. Laura is still donating $2 for every pre-order of Shared and Shield. In fact, she's donating even more now. So you can still pre-order and know that your money is going to a good cause. The fine print that I mention below just has a few additional lines underneath it to keep Laura from getting in trouble for trying to do a good thing. 

There is some fine print, of course. Mainly that IJM is not a sponsor and does not have any connection with the event. They're just the ones that Laura personally found the most deserving to donate to. Also, she's restricting the physical grand prize to the USA only, since shipping can be prohibitively expensive at times.  

So how do you enter? Just order your copy of Shard & Shield and send a copy of your pre-order receipt to Laura at preorders@lauravanarondonkbaugh.com . If you really can't pre-order, you can also send your local library a request to carry Shard & Sheild. In that case, just forward a copy of your request to the email above, as well. For those people who are pre-ordering the physical book, things can be a bit more difficult. Laura will be accepting pictures of your receipts for the physical book until the end of her release day, again on July 2nd. For audible fans, she suggests sending a request to your local library's since it can sometimes be a few days behind release everywhere else. 

I suggest going to Laura's site and reading her post on this, and watching the video she put out as well. In addition to getting the full low-down directly from her, you can also sign up for her mailing list (if you're interested and not already a member there is usually a short story that you receive for doing so and as a member, I can promise that her emails are rare and not invasive). You can also look over the full list of her releases to see what interesting releases you may have missed. 

I will be ordering my own copy this weekend. Will you? 

My First Signing

I originally had my signing date set for a late weekend in April and as you probably know, that ended up changing. I was stoked until I realized that it was the same weekend as the Calgary Comic Expo. Now, I was not afraid. I unabashedly think I wrote a great novel. However, I also know that I am a completely unknown author at this point and that the Calgary Expo draws in Sci-Fi and Fantasy fans from all over the country. That would have been wonderful, except that they all would have been at the Expo, not hitting the local bookstores. So, I opted for a different Sunday, early in June, and they were kind enough to agree to the change. 

I spent the extra time making sure that I had a great setup for the day! I bought some black velvet and made a table cloth. I created a cross-stitch logo. I bought and painted crates that would match the colours on my book, picked up fairy lights and book holders to stand my book up with. I even ordered a large poster of my cover and had bookmarks created for it. The table was a bit smaller than I was hoping, but I made do. My husband kept me calm and we set up, deciding to only use one of the crates. We strung the lights simply over the top of the crate, behind the books and over to the books that were standing up.

I greeted nearly everybody personally that walked in. Anybody who looked over at me, I smiled at and most of them were asked if they wanted to hear about my book. Most agreed, and everybody that did seemed interested. Not everybody bought, of course. A few picked up the book eagerly only to put it down and wander off, and a few that were hesitant about taking a copy from me took that copy home with them in the end. What surprised me most was the gentleman who asked if my book was already a movie, and swore up and down that it needed to be made into one, based entirely on how evocative my cover was. 

I was so proud...

Unsurprisingly, I discovered that when I was standing up, a lot more adults were willing to come over and talk than when I was sitting down, while anyone younger than 18 seemed to find me less threatening more approachable when I was sitting down. About half seemed surprised to find out that I was actually the author, and that I was willing to sign their books while I was there.

The crew said that it was quieter than a regular Sunday. Despite that, they said that I seemed to get a lot of traffic at my table simply because I engaged with people, whether about my novel or not, and that I had a much nicer set up than some of the authors they'd had in. They took a few extra books at the end, making that the second store in the city of Calgary that carries my book physically (the other is Owl's Nest Bookstore) and I am super excited about it!

What do you think of my table? Did you like my set-up? 

Rituals and Celebrations of the Sian Ku

Okay, before we start today's post, I want to remind all of you that I'll be at the Sunridge Chapters in Calgary, Alberta for a signing on Sunday, June 9th, from noon to 3pm. Come in, pick up a signed copy of the book, or let me know what you enjoyed most about the book! I'd love to see all of you out there! With that out of the way, today is our final post on the religion of the Sian Ku. We'll discuss symbols and then move on to their calendar, holy days and rituals. 

The symbol which the people consider the holiest is a three-tongued flame surrounded by ten interlocking animals; the dragon, the rat, the turtle, the koi, the crane, the fox, the kirin(an Asian mythological creature, usually compared to the western unicorn, with the body of a deer, the cloven hooves of a goat, the scales of a dragon and the whiskers of a fish. Its horns are usually deerlike as well, and while they are sometimes drawn with a single horn they are just as often drawn with two or more. This artist is amazing and their picture is exactly what the ones in my world look like, though in Japan they look a lot more dragonish), the Phoenix, the tiger, and the fairy pitta (a type of bird known as the eight-coloured bird Japan. Beautiful, ne?).  Lesser symbols are a knife blade (usually made of obsidian) and the symbol of a waxing crescent moon.

Koi Image by Анна Куликова from Pixabay 

Sian Ku’s calendar is set according to the lunar cycle, though Himiko and the other Sian Ku in Hidan only use it for rituals, having converted to the one the Drevens use, a mythic cycle created using the heroes of each age as a guideline. There are nine holy days in a calendar year that are celebrated by everyone and three ritual days that are personal to the family. Five of those celebrated by all focus on past revelations and stories of the deities associated with them. The remaining four commemorate astronomical events that happen yearly, and the birthdays of the current rulers of Sian Ku. The last three are done to celebrate all the members of the family in the past year; those who are alive, those who are dead and a personal birthday.

Holy days are often celebrated by raucous parades and half somber praying followed by games of chance being played in the streets (cards, of course, but also dice, and games you might see played at fair or festival in Japan, like throwing hoops at bottles or catching goldfish with paper hoops), food and ostentatious gift-giving. The more extravagant a gift, the more it is supposed to be appreciated. To clarify, the gift doesn't have to be expensive by any means. However, it should be large, many or impressive. 

One memorable gift that is still spoken of in shocked whispers was the gift of eight hundred of the most beautiful women in the country wearing nothing but jewels and smiles, given to a recent Empress by her (supposedly blessed) female consort.

While holy celebrations are raucous events that show little solemnity except by the clergy or when anyone else is giving the kami or rulers their justly due respect, the rituals of family include fasting, meditation and sometimes the preparation of objects to be laid out in ritual (usually for the ancestors). Aside from music, played by a member of the family, rituals are silent, usually taking place in the home.

The highest forms of art are writing, papermaking, and more rarely, wood carving and all noble-born in Sian Ku learn at least one of these arts. For Himiko and Kuzunoha, while a high emphasis was placed on writing, neither particularly enjoyed the art. Himiko did take a liking to the Dreven preferences of music and song, a preference her father accepted. All of Kuzunoha’s preferred “arts” were considered unacceptable for one reason or another.

The only thing left to talk about is the afterlife. The Sian Ku believe that when one finally dies, they are judged and spend a period of timelessness atoning for any sins they committed. Once finished, it is believed that you will spend the rest of eternity devoted to your descendants.

There is one out from this future.  A select few return; those re-birthed are outed when at puberty, they become eleden. Such people are considered to have fallen from a place of grace, having abandoned their familiar duty to return to the land of the living. Some continue to watch over their new family for generations, though from afar since they are usually spurned by their families.

One day, I would like to hire an artist to make the holy symbol of the Sian Ku for me… most likely an expense for a future book, maybe book three when we get to see a lot more of the religion as it applies to the characters. What do you find most interesting about the Sian Ku religion? Let me know in the comments below. 

Where I'll be during When Words Collide 2019

It all feels like its happening so fast, and yet too slowly. I admit fully that the feeling might be exacerbated by my seasonal allergies and the current air qualities where I live. The air outside my window is shades of orange and grey with grit and smoke due to the fires happening in the province. I only hope that they get them under control and that no more towns need to be evacuated because of the fires.

So what exactly is happening too soon and not soon enough? When Words Collide, of course! Taking place on August 9th, 10th and 11th, it has been confirmed that I will be on four different panels this year, three of which will be on Saturday, and the last happening on Sunday. Saturday begins at 10 A.M. with Awakening to Social Sensitivity with Diane Terrana, Erin Weir, and Jay Martin. Directly after that, at 11 A.M., I'll be running to Writing a Character who Could Never be you with Adam Dreece, Colleen Anderson and Halli Lilburn. I am extra excited to realize that I'll be on a panel with Adam Dreece. He steals the show on every panel he's on, so I'm going to have to up my game to keep up with him. I'm looking forward to it and I expect we'll end up having a really great conversation. Later that afternoon at 2 P.M., I'll be on Villains, Antagonists and Other Baddies with Arelene F. Marks, Kevin Weir and Susan Calder. 

I got to see Adam Dreece earlier today for the release of his new book, 5 Critical Things for Successful Book Signings. It was certainly a timely release for me. Hopefully, this will help me to be even more engaging at my signings. It's a great book so far, and if you're an author in need of help on how to think about your author platform or how to improve your signings, definitely pick it up. I'm about seven chapters in and loving it!

Continueing the madness will be Sunday morning with another 10 A.M. panel, East and West: How our Mindset Changes the Way We Tell Stories with Calvin Jim, Laura VanArendonk Baugh and Jennie Bennett. I've done a panel with Calvin Jim before and love the conversations he and I have had. While I haven't been on a panel with Laura VanArendonk Baugh yet, I can't wait to see her point of view on this topic. For our last panellist, when I was thinking of other authors who might have a very interesting view on this topic, I immediately thought of Jennie Bennett, who writes K-Pop romance novels. I still find the idea intriguing and I can't wait to see what she brings to the table. This is the panel I am most excited about. While some of that is because it was my suggestion, a lot of it is just the people I'll be sharing the desk with and I think the discussion will be intense, interesting and inspiring to everyone. 

The times have remained pretty stable, but I'll let you know if anything changes between now and WWC so you can plan your weekend accordingly. 

If you just can't wait till WWC to meet me, I'll remind you that you don't have to. My signing at Sunridge Chapters is a go for June 9th from 1-3 P.M.  Come down and ask me any questions you might have about Hunter's Gambit, take a picture together or ask me about book suggestions for your own to-be-read list. If you don't already have a copy of Hunter's Gambit, you can pick one up and get it signed, along with everything else you need to keep your summer reading list active.

Also, thank you for letting me play with this for one more week! I promise I'll get back to the Sian Ku religion next week!

An Update

My finger is doing much better, but I didn't want to push my healing by doing a long blog post, even if I am loving the religion posts I've been sharing with you all. Instead, I'm going to take a step back and talk about the future.

I'm going to keep writing. No big surprises there, but it should still be said. That obvious bit out of the way, I'm hoping that I'll be able to have the sequel to Hunter's Gambit, tentatively titled Lord's Curse, out for near the end of the year. I already have book three written and I'm hoping to have the rough draft for book four finished this November during Nanowrimo. That's really far ahead to be planning, which is why I'm not giving specific dates for anything yet.

I'm still working on my art, though less in a selling fashion and much more in fun fashion. Also, I may be extending some of my creativity into playing around with making jewelry. Mainly because I wanted to create a new necklace for myself, and when the pieces I ordered arrived, I got over thirty instead of the four or five pieces I thought I'd ordered. Weird, but I figure if the first ones work, I'll put them up for ordering. It can be relaxing to work with my hands on something like crafting or painting or cross-stitching to recharge myself for writing.

In much more interesting news, I'm sure you all remember my book signing happening early next month on June 9th. While I am amazingly excited to be having one, I have even more exciting news. This year I'll be at When Words Collide again!

When Words Collide is Calgary's premier author and book festival. In addition to three full days of panels and presentations put on by your favourite authors, there is also a full signing on Saturday night, a merchant gallery for you to purchase books (open throughout the event), meetups, parties, book launches, readings and more! This year I will be one of the presenters and Hunter's Gambit will be available in the merchant gallery. I will also be part of the signing for the first time ever.

The panels I'll be on are Awakening to Social Sensitivity, Writing a character who could never be me, Villains, Antagonists and other Baddies and East and West: How our mindset changes the way we tell stories.

This post is getting long, but I want to tell you how incredibly excited I am about being part of these panels. I actually suggested East and West, which is going to be an in-depth discussion of the differences in plotting and structure that are common in North America and Japan. If you've ever noticed that animes and light novels seem to move at a different pace and with different plot points, e.g., not following the three or five act structure, this is why.

I'll have more on the times I'll be presenting, what rooms I'll be in and bring descriptions of the other three in a later blog since the schedule is in no way finished yet.

Will you be coming to my signing? Or maybe to When Words Collide? Let me know in the comments below. 

The Profane and the Sacred of the Sian Ku

Alright, I apologize in advance for the length... this one definitely went a bit longer than I was hoping for.

Sian Ku tend to be serious people. Not to say that they don’t have fun, but they seem more aware that their every action is on display for the world to see than any other race. Good and Evil are complex points, not a single yes/no answer.

In Sian Ku good people are expected to be reverent of the kami, regardless of their standing or what they stand for. A Kami of pain, suffering or death is just as worthy of your respect, honour, and fear as a kami of prosperity, sunlight and hope. Both are unknowable, powerful and able to grant boons or punishments as they seem fit. The same applies to a Sian Ku’s ancestors. An ancestor who was a jerk and did evil things is to be respected in death by their descendants just as much as your ancestor who was granted the highest honours for protecting the Sian Ku nation. Unless that family member was disowned by your family’s current leader, they are still family, and family is everything.

The average Sian Ku will only mention their ancestors directly (for religious reasons) during rituals, most of which require saying their names and leaving offerings of food and incense for them. For angry ancestors, you may place small gifts on their graves in hopes of appeasement.

Evil is defined by bringing dishonour to your family falling to wrath or anger and ignoring your ancestors or the kami. Dishonour is a catch-all term. Embarrassing yourself sufficiently, or doing something that will embarrass your family is the biggest way to bring dishonour to you or your family. In most cases, the payment will fit the crime, though there are always some who always pay back more than they feel the need to, or are trying to get back more than they deserve. Most punishments are chosen by priests, though you can allow the person you originally dishonoured to choose an appropriate punishment if you don’t wish for the church to be involved. Anger and wrath are seen as a loss of control and showing that side of yourself to anyone directly outside of the immediate family is considered a high offence. You can take revenge for a slight of any size, of course, and be angry to the point of taking down a person’s entire family, but in Sian Ku, it’s a dish best served cold. Showing your emotions, any emotion is considered a bit of a faux pau, but while people will simply avert their eyes from glee, love or pleasure, showing anger, crying out in frustration or even weeping in a public place, will lead to censure and punishment by your family and friends.

There are a few other rules. Talk about most bodily excretions (shit, piss, spit, sweat, farts… etc) is taboo and all but the bawdiest of bards will avoid such talk, even to close friends.

Another taboo is engaging in incest. Any connection, even that of step-siblings or family by marriage is strictly forbidden. You will never find two brothers or sisters married into the same family; the connection is too close. In extreme cases, even the death of a spouse will not allow a new marriage into that family. For this rule, “family” is considered to be your sisters, brothers, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins, first and second aunts/uncles/cousins and grandparents/grandchildren. Even in rural locations, marriages are routinely arranged to people from different towns and cities from their birthplace and each marriage requires a meeting with your local chronicler to make sure that the bloodlines are diverse enough to satisfy the gods.  

Eating the flesh of any monster is to be avoided at all costs. Even if you are starving, eating their flesh is considered to taint you, a taint which can travel through your family ties and lines, tainting your entire family. Stringent purification rituals are required for any who happen to take in the flesh. Strangely, despite eating the flesh of a monster being one of the biggest taboo of the religion, the rules are vastly less stringent about associating, befriending, copulating or even marrying such a creature. The person who does such is still expected to cleanse themselves and their family ties by regularly being attended by a priest who is willing to cleanse the family and their home.

Historians will tell you the answers lie in beguiling, intelligent monsters that once lived in peace with the Sian Ku on their island. This does not mean that there weren't deaths on both sides or that humans and monsters did not try to cleanse the others from their homes, but in general, meeting a monster was considered little different than meeting with a kami or a human from a clan you didn’t know; such a meeting could end in sadness and grief or pleasure and happiness. You never knew. However, as humans became more and more civilized, they chased more and more of the monsters and creatures from their shores and fell closer to the belief of the Dreven. In general, most monsters are decried as such and "good" people will either avoid them and their areas, or they will try to save others by destroying the creatures. 

Well, if you made it this far, you deserve a medal for reading your way through all this. Next week may not get a blog post, unfortunately. I burned myself semi-severely on Wednesday while taking a pan out of the oven. I've ended up with a heat blister the size of a Canadian nickel on my thumb. I can write with it, but I want to give it a couple of days to heal before I start getting back to my regular schedule. While I hope that I won't have to take any time away from this blog, I just want to let you guys know in case I end up having to skip next week. Either way, keep an eye here or on Facebook. I'll make sure to keep you guys updated, most likely on Wednesday on whether you can expect my next offering on the rituals and celebrations of the Sian Ku.