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. 

Cover Reveal - Shard & Shield

I have mentioned Laura VanArendonk Baugh more than once on my site here. Part of that is her stellar personality. I've met her more than once at the WWC convention here in Calgary, and I've friended her on FB. The other reason I tend to mention her is that I love her writing. The first time I met her, I was looking through books at WWC and got stupidly excited upon seeing the cover for her novel, Kitsune-Tsuki. I felt so embarressed when she asked where I'd seen them to be so excited and I had to tell her that it was Goodreads. If I remember correctly, I ended up picking up Kitsune-Tsuki and Kitsune-Mochi that night despite saying that I wasn't going to buy any books until the next day. I loved both and when I've sat in on panels of hers, I am always astounded by how knowledgable and personal she is. So when she asked in her newsletter if anyone would be willing to help with her cover reveal, I jumped at the chance! 

Shard & Sheild is the first in a new epic fantasy trilogy by Laura VanArendonk Baugh and will be out on July 2nd!

He can save her life—if he sacrifices himself and those he swore to protect.

I've been reading excerpts from this novel on Laura's feed for a while and I can't wait to pick up a copy! Also, if I may say, the cover is gorgeous and I'd be tempted to pick it up even if I didn't know that Laura is one of those tried and true authors whose work I love reading. The picture brings to mind a world on the edge of ruin with people thrown in a situation that they weren't really prepared for and having to fight just to survive and the orange hues pull me in. The winged one in the background is the clincher for me. I've already got it in my "Want to Read" file on Goodreads. 

Check out Laura's site for more details. Also, if you like the sort of "extra" items I put up on Facebook, think about giving her a follow. She puts up some of the best random/relevant news posts out there and her blogs are really great as well. 

The religion of Sian Ku

Most of the religions of my world tend to treat with each other like cats in a cage; while the fur does occasionally fly, for the most part, they live in peace. Some are more popular, some are less but none have any belief that non-believers are doomed or must be converted, which has cut down on most religious wars. In general, only those who remain outside the systems and choose to follow no religion are the only ones treated as social pariahs. It is almost universally believed that these people, atheists and agnostics alike, don't have a place to go when they die, that no gods will judge their souls and no one will weep for them at their graves.

Kuzunoha skates this edge and is part of the reason why she is treated with contempt and wariness in Hidan, despite her striking looks and family connections. Most of the priests in Hidan treat her with veiled contempt as well. However, since she has always been free with her money, all but the head priestess of the Sian religion in Hidan ignore her heathenish tendencies. That head priestess hates Kuzunoha, but since it's well known that she didn't like Kuzunoha before she took the position, she has simply taken to ignoring her completely, believing her lost and due any punishment she will receive upon her death. The only priest who seems to be straight out friendly is priest Bendigo, the jovial priest that Kuzunoha asks for a blessing in Hunter's Gambit. Though he hasn't told her this, he believes that she is not irreligious, but that she has been called to service by a deity that she hasn't found yet.

The Sian Ku have a vibrant religion, a tiered polytheistic system. On the lowest level are the multitude of  "little gods". Little gods are created by simple interaction. Every tree, rock, or animal has its own god or spirit and even man-made objects, such as favourite umbrellas or favourite plates can develop their own little god. Thus, the Sian Ku tend to hold nearly everything with a small amount of reverence, since you never know when you may be angering one of the little gods.

On the next tier are the ancestors. Although, they aren't gods, they are honoured and remembered through ritual. It is believed that after death, ancestors will continue to watch over their descendants, influencing their lives and the direction the family takes. Rebirth is allowed for ancestors who wish to return to earth to aid their families in a more physical way, though a few unpopular sects say that there is no rebirth, only a pit of flame in the center of the world for those ancestors who try to avoid their duty to their descendants.

Every Sian ku family has a deity that they are specifically devoted to. The reason why is explained in their creation story. At the beginning of the universe, the world was grey and lonely. Finally, the light rose above the dark, shedding light upon the world for the first time. With light, seeds, long sleeping in the soil, began to flourish. The gods created of this separation (the major deities) were pleased but saddened that there was no movement to the rest of the world. So each chose their favourite plants and plucked them from the earth, turning them into humans, so that they could explore the world created and lay their roots into every land. Every family honours the deity that they believe plucked their ancestors, oh so long ago.

All of the deities can be male, female, both or neither as they choose, though most have a preference that they adhere to. For ease, I've labelled them as their preferences below.

On the same tier as the ancestors, honoured, but usually not worshipped widely are the minor deities. These gods include the goddesses of battle and sacrifice, the deities of service (twelve in all) and Nandemo, Isashi's patron, the god of twilight and between places.

Above them are the major gods, which until recently were led by the goddess of law, Amiterri, Himiko's family's patron. Nearly a century ago, Tomi took over the position as leader of the gods, bringing chaos with him, but also untold wealth for a few. The other major deities are the god of love, the eightfold gods of misery (six male and two female), the thief (the only deity whose preferences are both or neither rather than a specific gender) and the Innkeeper gods, Kisenya, Yusenya and Tonoma, known as the gods of hospitality and guesting rules.

Next week, I'll discuss how the Sian Ku worship, their holy days and their guiding principles.

A reminder that I'll be at the Sunridge Chapters bookstore for a signing on June 9th, from 12-3pm. Please stop by to say hi or get your book signed if you haven't already.

Lastly, one of my favourite authors, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, has a new book coming out soon! All of the details, as well as a chance for you to check out her incredible cover will be going up on Tuesday. Come back to check it out!

That All-Important Detail...

As I work through editing my next book, tentatively titled Lord's Curse, I have found myself returning to my world building. Not to change it, but just to immerse myself in the stupidly large amount of information I have about this world that you guys will only see in tiny bits and pieces. One of those items is the religions of my world. 

Photo by JuniperPhoton on Unsplash. Picture of an Inari Shrine. 

I currently have four fully fleshed out religions for the world, one mostly worshiped by the Dreven like Deckard, one mostly worshipped by the Sian Ku characters like Himiko and Isashi, one worshiped by the Corvidae like Tieni and one worshipped in the land Richard came from. Richard's religion is actually unique in my world, at least so far, in that it is no longer worshipped just by the core people who created it. Due to the metropolis nature of Jiza, most religions are known and worshipped there, but the most popular by a landslide with all people who live in the country is that of the Courtesan. 

I have an excel document, four or five pages long, where I list important information, like the deities in each religion, the avatars, saints and holy people, how each thinks the world was created, whether there is a prophesied end, holy colours, how the church is treated, marriage and other life changes handled, clergy organization and even a few rituals and holy days as well as how general worship is done. 

I didn't need to go this far into the religions, but I have always been interested by real world religions, and its a place where I find that so many books fall short. So many authors have one religion world-wide and you can usually tell reasonably easily exactly which religion they chose to emulate. That always seemed limited to me, and so when I chose to write my novels, I naturally put my work into making that area fully fleshed out. While I don't discuss it too much in my first book, it tends to come up a bit in book two and I go much deeper into it in the third book. 

I'm sure that the authors who don't focus on religion probably focus on the things they enjoy reading about in their books. Things like how the military is run, how governments are run, magic systems, the biology of their world... heck, even the technology in their worlds. My thing is just religions and the mythology of the world.

What do you find the most interesting details that your favourite authors insert into their books? Also, would you like me to talk in detail about all four of the current religions of my world, specifically on my blog? If its something that you would find interesting, let me know! 

Also, just a reminder, if you're in Calgary, I am going to be signing books at the Sunridge Chapters Indigo on June 9th from noon to 3pm. If you're available, come by and see me, pick up a book, and/or get yours signed! I'll hope to see you there!