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+ Book, fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fantasy, literature, Religion, Urban Fantasy

Destiny: Divinity’s Finale, Chapter 2

by Unknown's avatar

II

 

Melisande spent the next few hours reading from the Bible at her bedside. She also had a small collection of parchment that she enjoyed going through. Her favorite was a small piece about ships at sea and the voyages that man had taken in the last 200 years. She knew all about the discovery of the New World and the colonies that had been established in the area.

More than anything, Melisande wanted to see all of these wondrous places both near and far. She despaired, knowing that such adventure would never happen so long as she was trapped behind the walls of Mont Saint Michel. It was a harsh reality to know that the place she’d called home was little more than a prison to her.

After reading through a few chapters, Melisande got bored and decided to go exploring. She left her room and headed for the main courtyard. She walked out to the main gate where a pair of guards was standing. The sun was just reaching its height overhead and illuminated the beautiful gardens that Melisande had helped plant.

One guard saw her coming and waved to her, “Good morning Melisande!”

She turned her attention to him and smiled. The young guard was only a few years older than her. He had long brown hair that was tied up under his helmet and dark brown eyes. Melisande always thought that he was a decent looking man, just not her type, “Good morning, how are things out here today?”

“Quiet as usual.” The guard replied in almost a whisper.

“You sound almost resentful.” Melisande commented in an inquiring tone. “Not a fan of the peace and quiet?”

The guard’s voice went from quiet to annoyed, “If I was, I would never have joined the military. I had enough peace and quiet on my family’s farm back home.”

Melisande nodded, “I know the feeling, believe me.”

The guard lowered his eyes as a realized that her situation was even worse. While he had some freedom on his farm, she had none in the abbey, “My apologies. I probably have no right complaining.”

The two stood silently for a moment when the guard finally tried to lift her spirit, “So I saw a ship today, a fairly large one too.”

Melisande’s eyes widened, “Really, what kind?”

“Just a carrack,” he replied boastfully, “nothing particularly special, but it had about six cannons on the side that I could see.”

“Six,” Melisande said in disbelief, “was she a warship?”

The guard chuckled, “I highly doubt it. Carracks don’t handle cannon fire very well. Most likely it was just an overprotective merchant who thought that adding a few extra guns would make his ship safer.”

Melisande nodded, “It’s still quite a mystery. What would be a good warship?”

The guard shrugged, “The Spanish rely pretty heavily on caravels and galleons, but I have heard of other navies using a ship called a galleass.”

“What is a galleass,” she asked.

“I’m afraid I don’t know,” he replied, “I’ve only heard of them. They’re ships with massive oars and a ram on the front. It’s sort of a silly design in this day and age if you ask me, but then again, I never was a sailor.”

Melisande nodded, “I wish I could be.”

The guard shrugged with a smile, “Maybe someday you will be.”

She laughed and shook her head, “What, me, a simple kitchen girl? Let’s not be silly.”

“Stranger things have happened.” The guard replied. “Don’t count yourself out so quickly.”

Melisande thought about it for a few moments and smiled, “Well thank you for at least temporarily raising my spirits.”

The guard returned to standing at attention, “Any time.”

Melisande spent the rest of the day wandering the courtyard, imagining that she was a sailor out on a ship far away from the abbey. A slight breeze blew through her hair, making the illusion all the more real for her. She could almost feel the crash of the waves against the wooden hull of the ship so yearned to serve on.

After a few hours, the sound of the waves in the distance and the gulls in the air made it too much for Melisande. She decided that it was best to just return to her room and spend the rest of the evening reading. Without another word to anyone, she disappeared back inside.

The sun set and was quickly replaced with stars. Melisande watched the night sky and attempted to count as many stars she could, even though she knew it would be impossible. One oddity that she had noticed in the sky since she was a child was that there were two stars that always seemed to be in the same place no matter what. They weren’t on any chart and were even visible when the others couldn’t be seen. She could never figure it out, but she had given up trying to a long time ago. Slowly, she began to drift off to sleep under the night sky.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ Book, fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fantasy, literature, Religion

Destiny: Divinity’s Finale Chapter 1

by Unknown's avatar

Book 1

A Simple Dream

I

Normandy 1601

The sound of loud church bells drove Melisande from her bed in the residence cells of Mont Saint Michel. She stood up, slid her feet into her wooden sandals and opened her window to let the sun in. This day was special for her as it was one of the few really warm days in Northern France.

The sea breeze caressed her face as the gentle sound of waves crashing on the shore filled her cell. It was high tide, which meant that the abbey was completely surrounded by water. Only a small bridge in the water connected the massive building to the mainland.

Melisande was a little disappointed as she enjoyed sneaking outside of the walls to run along the sandbars and marshes when the tide was out. It appeared that she would be stuck within the abbey’s walls at the mercy of her caretakers for the day.

Ever the optimist, she shrugged it off in the hopes of seeing a ship on the horizon. It was a common occurance to see the small sail of a fishing vessel or courior on the horizon, but every now and then, she would be treated to something larger. The height of her mornings were when she caught sight of a large merchant vessel or, every once in a while, a warship.

This would not be one of those mornings as her tranquility was quickly interrupted by a harsh knock at her door, “Melisande? Melisande, are you still in bed at this hour?”

Melisande let out a startled yelp as she raced for the robe hanging next to her bed, “I’m up, I’m awake!”

A deep sigh could be heard from the other side of the door, “Have you at least made yourself decent?”

Melisande quickly tied the sash to her robe, “Yes, you may enter.”

The door burst open revealing an old nun with her arms crossed on the other side. The nun was very heavy footed and her steps could be heard throughout the abbey when she walked. Upon seeing Melisande’s appearance, her lips formed a scowl, “Young lady, it is not becoming to stay in bed all day. You have studies and chores to perform.”

Melisande frowned, “I finished my studies yesterday and this is supposed to be my day to rest. Please Sister Mary, it has been a long time since I went exploring. Might I have a few hours to myself?”

Sister Mary rolled her eyes, “I have watched over you since you were a baby, I have taken care of you, and I have put up with your nonsense. Exploration and adventure are for soldiers and sailors. What you desire is not all it appears to be, believe me. That is the path of pain and loss. You need to learn to be a lady. Find yourself a calling and perhaps a husband. Especially since you’ve decided that you did not want to join a holy order.”

“I’m sorry Sister,” Melisande replied honestly, “I am grateful for your care… but becoming a nun never had any appeal for me. I have spent my whole life thus far behind these walls. I don’t wish to be behind them forever. Something out there calls to me, I can feel its pull.”

She looked over at the two stained swords that she had mounted over her bed, “Something bigger awaits me and I need to find out what it is.”

Sister Mary followed her gaze to the swords and shook her head, “I never wanted you to receive those things, but your father insisted, and I was not about to deny someone their dying wish.”

Her gaze then returned to Melisande, “Your path is your own to choose, though you may find yourself regretting such a decision if you go searching for answers. I hope that I don’t live to see that day.”

“You don’t know that.” Melisande replied. “These swords belonged to my family… and I don’t even know who they are. I need to find answers if I’m ever to be able to live with myself.”

The elderly nun touched one of the swords near the hilt, “A few generations of your family were protected by them, this is true, but where are they now? You are the last of your family.”

Melisande stood next to Sister Mary as she looked at the swords, “But I don’t even know them… I don’t even know what my family’s name is. Will you finally tell me about them, please? Who were they, what were they like, and what is my full name?”

The nun turned away from the swords and looked Melisande in the eyes for a few moments. She saw the stormy blue eyes that never looked the same from one moment to the next. It was as though an entire sky scene passed through her pupils as she stared.

Finally the nun sighed and turned to leave the room, “I told you that I forgot your family’s name. I did not know your family well, so I can’t provide you with any information. I only met them once when they released you into my care. I’m an old woman. My memory fails sometimes”

Melisande rolled her eyes and became angry, “You’re lying. I don’t know what you think you’re protecting me from, but I deserve to know. If you truly don’t know the answrs, then you know someone that does!”

Sister Mary stopped dead in her tracks, but did not turn around, “Two demerits for your tone. It’ll be three more if you don’t begin your chores soon.”

The door closed behind her as Melisande sat down on the bed and began to sulk. She had been confined to the abbey all of her life. Often times if a ship passed by, she would try to convince one of the soldiers on guard to let her use their looking glass. Most of the time, she was successful and Melisande spent the day watching as the ships passed.

The guards didn’t make life any easier for her as they were full of stories about wars past. Melisande loved to sit and listen to the old veterans talking about past glories from long ago, even though she knew that many of them were blatantly made up or exaggerated. It made her yearn even more to free herself from the protection of the abbey walls.

Melisande had often dreamt of a life at sea, but that life was restricted to men. However she was certain that she could make it work if only she could get away from the abbey. Such things were little more than pipe dreams as she knew that she was kept there for a reason. If she tried to escape on foot, the guards would catch her in no time.

Still, in many ways, Melisande could hear the sea calling to her. It was as though an unseen spirit of the sea was pulling at her arms, but Mont Saint Michel would not release her feet. She balled a fist and hit the stone wall as tears formed in her eyes. She could barely stand it anymore.

**

It took Melisande an hour to get cleaned up and get ready for her chores. She brushed her long blonde hair back behind her left ear and allowed the right bangs hang down to her cheek. Her hair flowed half way down her back as she worked. When she was finished tending to her appearance, she left her room and made her way down the tower’s winding staircase. She then proceeded through the abbey to the main kitchen as the residents and clergy finished their meals and began to clear out.

Melisande was seated over in the far corner and given a small bowl of wheat. She ate it down slowly, resenting the flavorless mush. She never sat with anyone and was mostly ignored by the other people in the room. When she was certain that no one was looking in her direction, she dumped the wheat into a nearby bucket that she would later use for cleaning.

Sister Mary came over to her a few minutes later with an emotionless expression on her face, “Well Melisande, I am glad that you are finally up and about. Are you ready to begin your chores?”

Melisande nodded unenthusiastically, “Yes sister, I finished breakfast, so I’ll get started.”

“Good,” she replied, “I believe Mr. Clement could use some help in the kitchen. You’ll start there today.”

“Yes sister,” Melisande replied respectfully.

Without another word to the old nun, she obediently turned and entered the kitchen at the back of the room. The kitchen was little more than a stone closet with a single oven carved into the back wall. Two tables were the only furniture and they were covered with dirty utensils.

Amidst the chaos, the cook looked up and smiled at Melisande as she began her work, “Top of the morning to you, Messy.”

Melisande smiled as she picked up the water bucket next to the fireplace, “Good morning, Papi.”

Papi was a stout man that, despite his imposing size, held himself the way a soldier would. Though he never talked about his past, Melisande was certain that he’d been a military man at some point. She didn’t know his real name and always referred to him as Papi or Papi Clement.

Though Papi was somewhat of an enigma to her, she still looked at him as a father figure. He was also the only man who got away with calling her by the nickname ‘Messy,’ which he gave her as a joke about how she cleaned. It always seemed to get a rise out of her which was something he enjoyed greatly.

Melisande’s attachment to him went back to when she was three years old and he would set aside some dough to make a cookie for her whenever he was cooking. As the years passed, she would periodically sneak off to the kitchen to see him whenever Sister Mary’s back was turned. He always enjoyed the company.

Papi was not a priest or a clergyman, but he was the best cook in town and was often hired at the abbey. He also had a reputation for disappearing for a few months at a time. His absence was always upsetting to Melisande and each time, she wondered if she would ever see him again.

Papi watched Melisande as she got down on her knees to clean the floors and noticed the sad look on her face, “What troubles you, Messy, why the sour look?”

Melisande stopped for a moment, “Have you ever felt that you were destined for more then you are, or ever asked the question whether or not this is all that’s out there for you?”

The chef chuckled as he thought back to his younger years, “Oh when I was younger, sure. We all have those feelings at one point or another. Fortunately, in my time, I have seen much of the world and had my share of adventure. After all that, a little peace and quiet is a welcomed change.”

“That’s what I want!” She blurted out. “I’ve often thought about getting out of here and seeing the world. I want adventure, but moreover, I want to know who I am and where I come from.”

She touched her cheek right below her eyes, “I know I’m different, I just would like to know how and why.”

“Different?” Papi asked. “What would make you think so?”

Melisande chose her words carefully as she responded, not wanting to cause alarm, “Well my eyes for one. I’ve not seen another pair quite like them in my years, and…”

Melisande stopped for a moment, wondering if he should tell Papi this part. She trusted him, but it was quite personal. Still, he had never given her a reason not to believe that he would keep her words quiet, “When I close my eyes at night, I see things.”

The old cook stopped tending to the mess, “Things, Messy? What sort of things?”

“I… I don’t know…” She replied. “I think they might be angels. I close my eyes and I see these beautiful people dressed in white robes, dresses, or in silvery armored plates. They all have wings, but many are different shapes and sizes. Other times, it’s just one angel with her eyes bandaged.”

Papi looked nervously at her, “Messy, I’d be very careful about who you tell about those dreams, especially here.”

“I know,” she said with a nod, “don’t worry, I am not so naive that I don’t know what they might think.”

Papi turned back to cleaning off his table, “So what do you think these dreams mean?”

Melisande shrugged, “If only I knew, but I think it has to do with who I am. These dreams don’t feel like dreams at all. They’re more like what you’d expect from memories, if that even makes sense.”

She looked over at the small window which had been cut into the wall, “I want to find out, but I can’t do that as long as I’m stuck here.”

“You are probably better off not knowing.” Papi replied. “The world out there is a treacherous place. Even the strongest have trouble just getting by.”

Melisande glumly nodded continued her work, “Yes, that’s what everyone says. It’s too dangerous… I should just stay here and become a nun… forever… You sound like Sister Mary.”

Papi bit his lip as he looked at her, “Messy, I have some bad news for you.”

Melisande usually knew what this meant. Papi was going to be disappearing again. She closed her eyes as she responded, “You’re leaving again, aren’t you?”

Papi nodded, “Yeah, tomorrow.”

“For how long?” She asked.

“I can’t say.” Papi replied. “Hopefully not for too long.”

Melisande frowned, “I’ll miss you…”

“I’ll miss you too, little Messy,” Papi replied, “but no more frowning. I’ll be back!”

“You promise?” She demanded.

“Have I ever lied to you before?” Papi asked. “Of course I promise.”

“You better.” Melisande replied.

Melisande was meticulous in her cleaning. She made sure that no crack in the floor went unattended to. An hour went by as Papi and Melisande worked. They were just finishing wiping everything dry when Sister Mary appeared at the door and looked around.

Melisande smiled, “I’ve finished cleaning, what do you think?”

Sister Mary surveyed the room, as usual, without a hint of emotion and nodded, “Satisfactory work… ok, you have done your chores for the day.”

“Satisfactory?” Melisande scoffed with a surprised expression. “I scrubbed everything until it was spotless.”

Papi nodded, “I saw how hard she was working, madam, she scrubbed the entire kitchen down.”

Sister Mary gave Papi a stern look before turning back to Melisande, “Don’t ask one’s opinion, if you don’t honestly want it. Now be gone with you.”

An exasperated Melisande stared at her for a moment in disbelief. The nun returned her stare and clapped her hands, “Come now, move it!”

Still in disbelief, Melisande shook her head and stormed past the old nun up the stone steps, heading back to her room. She was angry, upset, and frustrated all at once. It never seemed like anything she did was good enough. Just once, a’ good job,’ or a ‘thank you for working so hard,’ would be appreciated. She thought to herself. Not from Sister Mary, no way, that would be too much to ask!

Melisande was years ahead of other people in her studies and she always did a good job on her chores. Though she credited being so far ahead in studies with the fact that she simply had nothing better to do with her time. In her heart, she would have made the trade to have experienced some of what the outside world offered.

**

Papi shook his head as Melisande disappeared. Sister Mary turned back to him, “You disapprove of the way I’ve raised Melisande, do you?”

“Not at all madam,” he replied, “she’s a strong-willed, but polite and hard working young woman. You’ve done as fine a job with her. As good as anyone could hope to.”

Sister Mary’s stoic expression didn’t change, “Don’t hold back. Say what’s on your mind, Mr. Clement.”

Papi looked at the stone stairs where Melisande had been standing, “However, I don’t know about how you treat her sometimes. It seems a little cold. I may not know much about her case, but she is still young. I doubt her being here is her own fault.”

Sister Mary glared at him once again, “You think I’m hard on her because I blame her for being here?”

“I can only judge based on what I’ve seen.” Papi replied. “It does look like you’re hard on her for something even she doesn’t understand.”

“Then perhaps you should watch more closely.” Sister Mary hissed. “It has been my charge to care for her since she was born. I have raised her within the church and protected her.”

“Protected her?” Papi said suspiciously, “Protected her from what?”

Sister Mary turned to leave the kitchen, “You are paid to cook, not investigate. Keep your opinions to yourself and let me decide what is best for her.”

Papi shook his head with a slight grin, “Don’t ask one’s opinion, if you don’t honestly want it.”

Sister Mary paused for a moment before turning and giving the cook an angry stare as she walked away. She didn’t appreciate her words being used against her.

Papi smiled, knowing that this was one of those rare times where he actually won an argument against her.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ Heavy Metal, Inspiration, Metal, Music, Uncategorized, Writing

From My Writing Playlist

by Unknown's avatar

So here’s a little classical/sci fi music for everyone. From season 3 of Star Trek The Next Generation.

When to listen: This isn’t really a general playlist song. It’s too repetitive. That being said, it works if you’re looking to relax or cool down in between chapters, like I do, giving yourself a bit of a breather.
However if you’re looking for a good place to use it when actually writing… this is a pre-battle song. Close your eyes and listen to this music. Picture Lord Nelson standing on the deck of HMS Victory, looking out into the distance, knowing that somewhere out there, a combined Spanish and French Fleet awaited him. That the fate of the British Empire hung on this battle. It fits extremely well.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ Book, fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fantasy, literature, Religion

Destiny: Divinity’s Finale

by Unknown's avatar

Hello All,

So for those of you that have read Divinity and/or Damnation, first off, THANK YOU and I hope you enjoyed it! Well… you may be interested to know that there is a third novel that’s been on the back burner for a very long time. I’ve been going back and forth on putting it through editing and publishing, but never really came to a final conclusion.

So I did this once before and didn’t get a response, given that my blog was still fairly small. So I’m going to try again with my current following which is substantially higher. I’m going to start posting chapters from the book over the next few weeks.

I would ask everyone to withhold judgement until the final chapter comes out, at which point, I would ask that you leave a comment either supporting or opposing adding ‘Destiny’ to the Divinity universe. Keeping in mind, this is a very rough draft. If it finds favor with people in its current form, it will go through editing and several rounds of polishing. So what you’re seeing isn’t the complete and final product.

Thanks friends, appreciate your feedback, critiques, and criticisms!

Jim

 

Destiny

A Novel by James Harrington

Printed and Bound in the USA

Copyright © 2015 by James Harrington

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual living persons is purely coincidental.

 

A note from the author:

Hello and welcome! I hope that you will enjoy your journey our characters as they embark on their adventure. Before you begin, I just wanted to clarify a few things.

You encounter many characters, both fictional and historical. The fictional characters are just that; fictional. Any resemblance they bear to real people is purely coincidental.

As for the historical figures that appear in the pages ahead, I have done the best I can to portray the historical characters as accurately as possible, based on the information availavle on each. However, please understand that I am exposing them to fictional situations. It is impossible to predict definitively how one might have actually reacted in these events, so again, this is based on what information is available.

Lastly, I would just like to note that this story in no way should be taken as a criticism of the beliefs of any denomination of Christianity. As a catholic, I acknowledge that the leaders of several denominations weren’t always the most upstanding of people and that is what is reflected in my writing, but that does not invalidate anyone’s belief in God or the teachings they follow.

I hope that you will enjoy this work of fiction for what it is; a work of fiction. Thank you and God bless!

Jim H.

 

Prologue

Venice 1585

Black clouds choked out all light from the sun as a dark, ominous, day turned into a black and violent night. As the remaining light vanished from the skies of Venice, the water became extremely choppy and rain hammered down on any poor fool still outside at that late hour. Boats tugged at their moorings as the wind beat down on them. It was as though the world had transformed into something malicious.

The small fishing village was no stranger to rough weather, but this night was different. The wind coming in off of the water bore ill tidings from afar. Even people possessing little to no awareness could feel the evil around them. Many instinctively closed the shutters on their windows as though the town were about to fall under attack.

Federico watched from the safety of his house near the harbor, as the waves picked up. The water poured over his private dock, and he wondered how long his boat would last. It was his livelihood and had been in the family for generations.

At the moment, however, this was the least of Federico’s worries. He knew what was approaching, and what this meant for his family. As he peered out the window, his vision was obscured by the amount of rain water pouring down the glass. It was as though he was standing behind a small waterfall trying to peer through, but he still had enough clarity to see the black carriage with lanterns on either side break through the night.

Two mighty brown horses pulled the old carriage right to the door of the house. Federico breathed a sigh of relief as the carriage stopped just outside of his door. The waterlogged driver jumped out of his seat and pulled the carriage door opened, allowing three people in black robes to step out.

The fire in the stove fought to stay alive as the door opened and a gust heavy wind penetrated the room. It was as though opening the door had allowed something evil into the house. The three cloaked figures entered the room and, once sheltered from the rain, removed the drenched cloaks that they had been wearing.

Federico fought against the heavy wind to get the door closed. Once it finally connected to the lock, he breathed a sigh of relief before turning to his guests. As the cloaks came off, they revealed two young priests and a nun. The priests wore red and black robes and each had swords sheathed on their belts.

“Welcome to my home,” Federico said with a relieved look, “I appreciate your quick response to my letter. I take it that you know what is going on?”

The nun turned to Federico and nodded. Her face had deep creases, indicative of someone who had lived a hard life. Her face was twisted into a scowl as she spoke, “We came as soon as we heard. I am Sister Mary, where is she?”

There was a sudden flash of light and a winged woman appeared behind them. Federico brushed back his light brown hair and nodded, “Lailah will take you to her.”

Sister Mary bowed, “Blessed Angel, we are here to carry out the Lord’s bidding as you commanded.”

Lailah returned the gesture with a smile, “Please follow me, Sister. It won’t be long now.”

The two women disappeared into the next room and closed the door behind them. Federico shook his head as he turned to the priests, “I had prayed that this night would never come. I was told about the prophecy from childhood, but had hoped it would pass my generation by.”

The older priest placed his hand on Federico’s shoulder, “No one who faces these dark times would choose to bring it on themselves or the ones they love, my son.”

“But how could God let this happen?” Federico asked. “If he knew… it was possible.”

The priest shook his head, “I somehow don’t think that even he foresaw this during certain events in your family’s history.”

Federico lowered his eyes and spoke in a defeated tone, “Padre…  just promise me that she will be safe. Don’t let this all be for nothing.”

“On my life,” the priest replied as he touched his sword, “she will be safe and she will live comfortable life. That is our mandate and it will be carried out as long as we draw breath.”

Federico was satasfied with the priest’s promise. It appeared that everything was going according to how it had been spelled out in the prophecy. It was little comfort to him though as he could feel danger approaching.

“Padre…” Federico finally said softly with tears in his eyes, “Would you be so kind as to give me my last rights?”

The priest’s eye’s narrowed, “Of course my son, but why?”

“Please Padre,” Federico insisted, “I have a very bad feeling that our time is growing short.”

The priest didn’t understand what Federico meant, but he had not been given all the details of what was about to transpire. Sister Mary was in charge in this case, by official order of the bishop. His job was simply to see to her saftey. Having no other choice, he finally agreed, “Very well, my son.”

**

In the next room over, Sister Mary, led by the angel Lailah, encountered a woman lying in a small bed. She was covered in sweat and breathing rapidly. Her dark brown hair was matted to her head and she was clearly in pain. Sister Mary spoke in an emotionless voice as lighting struck outside, “It has begun.”

The woman’s stomach was bulging as Sister Mary took a seat at the edge of the bed. The old nun adjusted her robes to prevent them from being soiled and spoke in an emotionless voice, “Cecca, I’m Sister Mary. I am here to help. It is almost time, are you ready to start pushing?”

Cecca struggled to brush her matted hair back from her face and nodded. She was in so much pain that she could not move anything else. Lailah folded her wings, tied back her curly, light brown, hair and knelt down near Cecca’s head to wipe the sweat from her brow, “You can rest easy. I will be here with you to the end.”

“Bless you, angel.” Cecca forced out between breaths. “Bless you.”

Sister Mary took hold of Cecca’s legs and bent them up at the knee. She watched and waited patiently for a few minutes. Cecca’s breathing was becoming eratic as her whole body shifted.

Finally, when Sister Mary decided that the time was right, she looked up at Cecca, “It is time, pray to Almighty God and push.”

Cecca closed her eyes and screamed as she pushed with her entire body. Sister Mary nodded as the woman’s arms and legs quivered, “Good, good, again.”

Federico listened desperately as his wife struggled in the other room. He wanted to be there with her, but the elderly nun would not have allowed it. This was one time that he needed to remain out of the way. An hour went by as the young man listened helplessly as his wife’s agonizing screams shot through the house. Her voice suddenly fell silent and a new one appeared.

The scream of a newborn child shattered the dark aura in the room. Federico’s faced lightened up as he turned away from the door and back to the priest, “Do you hear that? Do you, it’s clear as day!”

Both priests nodded as the older one smiled, “Congratulations my son. The baby sounds healthy.”

A short time later, Sister Mary came to the door, pale white, with a look of fear in her eyes. She stood for a moment looking at Federico, and then over to her escorts, “Our worst fears have become reality.”

The two priests stepped past Federico and into the room where Lailah was holding the child. Lailah looked at them both solemnly and nodded, “As the Most High feared, the prophecy has come true, look.”

She held the child out to them and uncovered its face. Miraculously, the newborn’s eyes were wide open. Her pupils looked almost identical to those of Lailah. She giggled as she looked up at the priests.

Cecca sighed as her eyes began to close, “Little Aralyn…”

The younger priest’s lips twisted, “I still don’t understand, blessed angel, would you not be better suited to keep her safe?”

Lailah shook her head, “That is outside of my mandate. I have already done more than I am supposed to.  Priests travelling hallowed grounds will have a better chance of keeping her hidden and safe from the dark one’s eyes than a lone angel flying around. The dark ones will not be able to trace you like they can me.”

The priest sighed as Lailah handed the mystical child to them, “Very well.”

At that moment, one of the windows crashed open, shattering the glass. The wind ripped through the room like an invisible wildfire. The thunder became even louder as Federico struggled to put a plank of wood over the opening.

Sister Mary turned quickly to the preists, “The storm is getting worse, we must go now or we will be trapped here!”

At that moment, Cecca came to life on the bed, “Wait, please, just a few minutes… won’t you please let me hold her?”

Sister Mary looked at the child stoically and shook her head, “I’m sorry, there is no time.”

“Please, no, you can’t take her, please!” Cecca pleaded with the old nun as she tried to get up. “My baby!”

Federico heard Cecca’s frantic cries and ran into the room to confort her, “I’m so sorry my love…”

Cecca buried her head in Francesco’s arms, “No… It’s not fair… why us?”

Federico looked up at Sister Mary, “Is there no way?”

For the first time in years, a look of sympathy came over Sister Mary’s features as she shook her head, “If there were, I would allow it. As it stands, there is not. We must leave if there is to be any chance.”

Federico sighed and closed his eyes, “Then go, now! Leave this place… keep her safe…”

The priests obediently turned and began to leave. The older priest looked back sympathetically, “Peace be with you, my children. For what it’s worth… I am sorry.”

Federico, remembering a promise he had made to Cecca, suddenly shot to his feet, “Wait, Padre!”

“My son, we have no time!” The old priest responded sternly.

“I know,” Federico replied apologetically, “but I have something for you.”

He quickly went to the closet and came back with a staff-like object draped in a red cloth. The priest saw that the cloth was protecting two very old swords. He looked at them oddly for a moment and then back at Federico, “My son?”

“Please take them.” Federico insisted. “They belonged to my great grandparents. Make sure she receives them when she is old enough… “

“You want us to give your daughter weapons?” The priest asked in disbelief.

“I understand that it may not make much sense to you Padre,” Federico replied, “but these swords have protected my family for generations. Please take them.”

The priest eyed him oddly for a moment. Federico’s expression became despirate under the priests eyes, “Consider it the last wish of a dying man.”

The priest sighed and took the swords before turning back to his party, “Oh very well.”

Once they were ready, the group bid farewell to Federico and left him to tend to his emotionally shattered wife. The group exited the house and boarded their carriage with the child in their care. They knew that they had to move quickly in order to get her to saftey.

Lailah followed behind them, “Keep that child safe, at all costs.”

The elder priest turned back to her, “Blessed Angel, what will happen to them now?”

Lailah turned back and looked at the house. She brushed her long brown hair from her eyes and let out a defeated sigh, “I did the best I could to shield the family from the evil that is hunting them… but it proved to be too much for me. They aren’t safe anywhere now.”

She turned back to the priest with a reassuring look on her face, “Don’t worry Padre, my sister has seen to it that her kin will be taken care of. You need to focus on your own part.”

“What hope do we have against such power?” The younger priest demanded.

“Leave that to me.” Lailah replied. “Just go while you still can.”

The driver took his seat without another word and snapped the rains. The horses whinnied as they charged forward. The priest looked back as the carriage sped away, “Peace be with you, blessed Angel.”

Lailah closed her eyes for a moment and muttered a prayer under her breath. At that moment, a white aura appeared around the carriage and then vanished. She nodded, confident that they were now safe from harm.

A moment later, Federico came to the door with a look of sorrow on his face as the carriage disappeared from view. Lailah turned to him, “They will be safe now.”

When Federico’s expression didn’t change, she became worried, “Federico, what is it?”

“My wife…” Federico replied. “The stress of the pregnancy was too much for her.”

Lailah closed her eyes for a few moments. When she reopened them, a sharp pain entered her heart as tears fell down her cheeks, “Federico, I am so sorry…”

Federico’s jaw tightened up as he stepped away from the house and stood beside Lailah, “Tell me that this has all been worth it. Tell me that she’ll survive.”

Lailah nodded, “Your daughter has a long struggle ahead of her, she will not know who she is and may never know her family, but she will survive to adulthood.”

“What about after that?” Federico demanded.

Lailah closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head, “I don’t know. Her future is clouded even from my eyes.”

Suddenly, out in the distance, an unearthly moan emanated over the waves. Lailah began breathing heavily, “They are coming…”

Federico ran back inside his house, grabbed his sword from behind the door, and rejoined Lailah out front, “I’ll kill him myself.”

Lailah smiled, “You have your ancestor’s heart, but that won’t protect you this time. You are no match for this creature.  I would suggest you go back inside.”

“I don’t think so.” Federico replied adamantly. “You have watched over me and my family as we waited for this day. There is no escaping now and I’ll never see the two people I love the most again. I have nothing left and you are the closest thing I still have to family. My soul is prepared Lailah. You’re not facing him alone.”

Lailah nodded, “Very well…”

The two looked at each other hopelessly as a deep moan emanated from the black water. Lailah went pale and took a step forward, “He approaches.”

There was another flash of light from the sky as a formless black entity appeared in front of them. It was little more than a cloud that quickly took the shape of a human, but had no features at all. It was little more than a silhouette in the darkness.

Two bright yellow eyes appeared on its head. It stepped forward and spoke in a dark, inhuman, voice, “So many years since we’ve been able to walk the lands of this world… Where is she?”

Lailah stared into the creature’s malice-filled yellow eyes, “Safe.”

The creature’s eyes began burning bright as they took a menacing shape, “We are giving you one chance to give us what we want. Do this, and we’ll let you live… for now.”

Lailah shook her head, “The Most High won’t negotiate with the likes of you.”

“The Most High is a part of us!” The creature shot back.

“Why resist us?” It asked. “We only wish to take back what is rightfully ours from that deceptor, Lucifer.”

“Because Lucifer isn’t a threat to us,” Lailah replied, “you are.”

The yellow eyes narrowed, “If you won’t help us willingly, then we will rip the answer from your corpse!”

“Never!” Federico shouted as he stepped forward. “You will die first!”

Before he could say anything else, a sharp object burst through Federico’s chest and he was elevated off of the ground. A small imp appeared behind Federico as his body fell limp. Lailah was unable to react in time, “No!”

The entity cackled, “We think not. We did not wait eons to be stopped by a child race.”

The imp pulled the blade from Federico’s back as he fell to the ground. Blood mixed with the puddles of water that had pooled on the beach. Federico lay on his side as his eyes began to flutter. He looked up at the sky and reached out with all his strength, “Cecca…”

Within moments, Federico’s body went limp and his eyes closed. Lailah spoke through a clenched jaw, “Federico was an innocent! He never hurt anyone and he was of no threat to you! If you want to retake the underworld, then by all means do so, but leave these people out of…”

Lailah stopped mid-sentence and found herself unable to draw breath. She grabbed her neck as the entity raised a clenched fist from its side. Lailah’s body began to levitate off the ground as though she were being hanged.

The entity moved even closer until Lailah could feel its hot breath on her face. Its eyes suddenly went from yellow to red, “We do not take orders from you! Be gone, pathetic insect!”

The creature flicked its wrist and released its grip on Lailah. In response to its hand motion, the helpless angel shot backwards through a window. The glass shattered all around her, ripping into her skin as she landed in Federico’s kitchen. The entity began laughing hysterically as it waved its arm.

At that moment, the entire house burst into flame as though obeying his command. The flames filled the dark sky and lit up the town like it was daylight. The heat inside was so intense that any human would have been horribly burned had they been too close.

Inside, Lailah tried to protect herself from the inferno by covering herself with her wings. When the flame hit her, it incinerated her feathers. She screamed out in pain as the skin of her wings seared and began to blister.

There was nothing Lailah could do now. Knowing that she was near death, she closed her eyes and began to pray, “Oh Lord Most High, let this fate pass me by. Take me into thy loving hands. Spare your loyal servant this pain…”

Lailah received no answer as the skin of her wings began to turn black. She clenched her eyes shut and tried to fight the pain, but she was losing control of her mind as the agony took over. Looking at her wings, she knew she wouldn’t be able to fly again, if she survived.

Outside, the entity raised its hand again and squeezed its fist. Lailah was elevated by her neck once more and tossed through another window. Her clothing was scorched and all but burned away, her skin was badly scarred, and her wings were completely crippled. She landed on the beach away from the burning house.

Steam poured off her skin and the agony was destroying her mental stability. She trembled as her memories and reason gave way to madness. She rolled on her back as the remains of her clothing disintegrated.

The entity slowly made its way down to her to avoid being seen by the crowd of people coming out to fight the flame. Lailah saw it coming and didn’t even bother to try to cover herself. Her mind was almost gone and she barely even knew who she was.

The creature looked down at her, “You are now powerless and no one is coming to save you. There is no escape, tell us what we want to know and we’ll grant you a quick death!”

Lailah breathed in as deeply as she could, but refused to speak. Even in her state, she was not about to give the creature any satasfaction. The entity saw this and nodded, “We understand… despite the fate which lies ahead of you, you still protect such pitiful creatures. We admit that we did not think his servants had such iron.”

From her hands and knees, Lailah looked up at the entity with a defiant yet fearful look in her eyes. Her mind was scrambled and she had a hard time just putting words together, “Wh… what you go… do with me?”

The entity laughed at her broken speech, “Nothing I can do to you would compare to the horror that awaits you at the hands of these creatures… or your own mind. We are going to leave you here for them to find. What happens to you will be up to them.”

Lailah gasped as the entity turned away from her. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the cold sand as her sight left her. The rain and the damp ground were her only comfort as she waited for death. The imp that had accompanied the entity landed nearby, “I live to serve you my lord!”

The entity clenched its fist, barely paying attention to the small creature, “Where did they take the child?”

“I don’t know my lord.” The Imp responded nervously. “The humans appear to have been protected from our site, we couldn’t track them.”

The entity clenched its fists as it turned away, “It would appear that even in her weakened state, the angel’s powers were more than enough to help them evade you… you’ve failed us yet again… We want you and your minions to begin searching everywhere! Search for a lifetime if you have to, but we want that child found! Fail, and it will be your last!”

The imp bowed, “My life is to server you, Legion.”

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Opinion, Science Fiction, Writing

Private Life. Professional Appearance.

by Unknown's avatar

 

Hi Jim,

Since starting writing both my books and my blog, I’ve been getting a lot of friend requests to my primary social media accounts. Part of me doesn’t want these people to have access to my personal information and the things I talk about with my friends… I’ve heard of being doxxed for their opinions, stalked, etc. However I really don’t want to insult any of my fans. I’ve already made my account private, however a lot of them still want to connect on social media platforms. You seem to have quite a following on social media, how do you handle it?

Thanks,
Juan

Hi Juan,

Keeping your private life and public image separate is something that personalities have had to contend with for many years. You’re not alone in your concerns. Honestly, I would sincerely discourage adding your fans/followers to your personal accounts. You don’t know these people and while most of them are probably benign and just being friendly, one person with ill-intent is too many.

My advice is to completely lock down your private social media accounts. Make them unsearchable and unviewable to the general public. There are ways around it, but first people have to figure out that you have private accounts and know where to find them. The next thing I would do is create social media sites for yourself using separate emails and contact info. Make these ones public where people can join for news about what you’re doing and anything else that you want to share with them. Next, I would not link your private accounts with your public ones in any way. Keep them separate.  Make sure to link all of your public accounts together and provide links to each of them for people to go to, as I have both on the sidebar and below.

As for the people who have already tried to add you, simply reject the request, you’re not obligated to add anyone and any follower should understand if you simply want to keep your page private.

In summation, do as you should be doing with your work-life and your home life, keep them separate. I can speak from experience that mixing the two does not end well. Anyway, I hope this helps. If you run into any troubles, please feel free to reach out to me again.

Readers, how do you handle scenarios like this? Is it necessary to create two different accounts and can you effectively mix your two images together? Let me know in the comments.

 

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ Uncategorized

Disney Needs To Let Studio Ghibli Take Over

by Unknown's avatar

Oh I just know that I’m going to catch hell for this one, but honestly, its been stewing in my mind for a while.

The Disney writers need to hand over the reigns to studio Ghibli. I’m sorry, they do. When you take a look at the writing for a lot of their movies recently, sure many of them were big box office hits, but is that really because of story, or was it because of memorable characters and songs that drill their way into your brain and remain there for years?

Going back over some of the newer Disney movies, but even a lot of the older ones, they’re basically rehashed, simplistic good will triumph over adversity, bastardizations of classic stories. Let’s take a look at a few;

Frozen was a smash hit with great visuals, acting, music, and a girl-power message… however go through the praise and try to find any that praises the story as anything more than an after thought. Go ahead and check out the articles, then come back…

Now I’m willing to bet that you’ve confirmed my suspicions that the majority of critical pieces on Frozen didn’t cover the story. Well… there’s a reason for that; like so many Disney movies prior, it’s completely inferior to the original work by Hans Christian Andersen.

Frozen was based on a book known as the Snow Queen, and that story also has a girl-power message, but its one where the girl actually saves the guy instead of girls saving each other. Arguably, it’s message is even stronger. This is an unfortunate trend for Disney movies.

After reading the ‘Little Mermaid’ Disney’s bastardization has become unwatchable. The main character has little to no growth, does everything wrong, and in the end still gets what she wants.

The worst part is that in these  stories, I’d argue that the parents are the main bad guy.

‘Don’t go up to the surface Ariel!’ What’s a teenager going to do?

‘Don’t go outside the reef or do anything different, or advance in any way, Moana’ Yeah that’ll work out fine…

‘Conceal, don’t feel…’ STOP! You know what… I don’t have the time to write everything that’s wrong with this! Just go watch the HISHE video on it. They pretty much sum up the psychotic parenting in Frozen:

 

Okay, back on topic. In terms of story writing, Disney has lost their touch. Whether you liked Frozen, Moana, Tangled, etc. You have to admit that they were watered-down versions of better stories and the changes led to a number of plot-holes that really destroy the story.

Now then, let’s take a look at Studio Ghibli. For those of you that don’t know… and its totally understandable if you don’t, Disney doesn’t advertise them as much as they should…

From Wiki:

Studio Ghibli, Inc. (Japanese: 株式会社スタジオジブリ Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Sutajio Jiburi) is a Japanese animation film studiobased in Koganei, Tokyo, Japan.[1] The studio is best known for its anime feature films, and has also produced several short films, television commercials, and one television film. It was founded on 15 June 1985, after the success of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind(1984), with funding by Tokuma Shoten.

Eight of Studio Ghibli’s films are among the 15 highest-grossing anime films made in Japan, with Spirited Away (2001) being the second highest, grossing over US$290 million worldwide. Many of their works have won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award, and four have won the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. Five of Studio Ghibli’s films received Academy Award nominations in the United States. Spirited Away won a Golden Bear in 2002 and an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film in 2003. Totoro, a character from My Neighbor Totoro, is the studio’s mascot.

Their movies are distributed in the U.S. on home video by the Disney Corp. So technically Disney doesn’t own the studio, but they do have a some investment in it.

So, why should Disney let Studio Ghibli handle their stories? Or at the very least, hire their writers? Uh, because the Ghibli movies are awesome? My kids personally love Frozen, Tangled, etc., but I find myself putting Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, and The Secret Life of Arietty on for them. They love those movies and continuously ask for them.

My wife has even caught me watching Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Earthsea alone in my spare time as, IMO, they are the two best. What’s more, these are original stories. They’re not something we’ve seen rehashed before. Granted, they can get a little silly at times and… Ponyo does bear a striking resemblance to The Little Mermaid, but even that one is different enough to make you want to see what happens next.

In short, Disney’s classics are being kept afloat by catchy tunes and memorable characters, but are short on story… and that cannot last forever before people start catching on, especially since the true Disney villains appear to have been done away with. They need a fresh infusion of stories and the Ghibli writers have been churning out new and interesting ones for well over 30 years!

Anyway, that’s my thoughts, what do you think? Am I right or way off?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Opinion, Science Fiction, Writing

Silencing Critics, Validates Them.

by Unknown's avatar

Anyone who has read my blog, knows that I have had to field many questions regarding how to handle criticism and reviews. My advice has always been a hands-off approach of engagement. Discussion and dialogue are always the best way to understand another person’s criticisms and concerns. In the end, you may find out that the other person has a valid point that you didn’t initially think of. A conversation can also provide confirmation if someone is in fact trolling you and simply needs to be ignored.

Arguably the worst thing you can do is block the person on social media or silence them in other mediums. Unless someone is actually attacking you on a personal level, consistently slamming you continuous, annoying messages, or making threats of some kind, there is virtually no justification for silencing that person. Doing so accomplishes nothing other than making your argument, post, or other offering look incredibly weak.

If your work, thoughts, or beliefs can’t stand up to every day scrutiny, then perhaps you should have thought twice about posting them in the first place. Perhaps a look inward might be in order. If on the other hand, you simply don’t want it to be criticized or debated, then posting it online might not have been the best idea.

If someone sees something you’ve posted and presents a differing opinion, or thoughts about what you’ve done that you may not necessarily agree with, silencing that person’s opinion gives off the impression that either you’re too immature to handle different viewpoints or as I said above, that your stance or work is weak and the critic may actually have a point. This potentially gives credence to someone who may have simply been trying to troll you.

I honestly see this quite often with people who have spent to long in their own echo chambers. This isn’t a strike against any one person or group as we all have bubbles where people will pat us on the back and do nothing but agree with us. The only way we actually grow intellectually is if we recognize our bubble and break out of it, thus exposing ourselves to new thoughts and ideas.

In terms of creative works, criticism should not only be welcomed, but is absolutely essential to growth in our chosen art. We gain nothing by having the same people validate our existence and work, regardless of its quality. One often wonders why Hollywood doesn’t produce anything good anymore or how a movie like Ghostbusters 2016 could be made. Looking at the landscape of Hollywood, it’s not unreasonable to assume that the writers and directors are in their own safespaces where people are either too like-minded, or in Ghostbusters’ case, too afraid of being labelled sexist, to tell the creators that their work might not be at its best.

In summation, if someone disagrees with you, criticizes your work, or debates points you’ve made, do not block them, dismiss them, try to silence them with threats of bigotry, attack their livelihoods, or at worst, physically assaulting them. If this is your first inkling when faced with criticism, I invite you to follow Q’s advice:

If you’re mature enough to have a thought, an opinion, or create something, you should have the mental stability/maturity to handle criticism. Harsh though this may sound, this is the best advice I can give for dealing with criticism.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Opinion, Science Fiction, Writing

Delaying the Inevitable.

by Unknown's avatar

 

Hi Jim,

I’m just about to publish, but I don’t think the book is ready. I set a release date so that everyone would be ready and excited, but now I feel like I’ve really roped myself into a corner. I want to do more work on the book, but I don’t want to disappoint my fans. What should I do?

-Miles

Hi Miles,

 

I honestly don’t know. If you’re looking for someone to tell you whether you should go ahead and publish or not, I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. All I can do is weigh out the pros and cons for you.

First of all, you set a definitive deadline for yourself before your book was done. That was your first mistake. If you want to release imagery of your book and let a few plot points drop, all power to you. However it is usually better to just tell people that your book is, for example, ‘due to be out next year.’ That gives you enough time. Don’t set definitive timelines that you may not be able to keep to.

I personally have run into this situation a few times, and even after having the book complete and being reasonably sure that it would go to publishing on time, I’ve had to push releases back due to complications. My most recent book has been pushed back twice.

So on one hand, you don’t want to disappoint your readers and if your book is highly anticipated, you will get some bellyaching from your audience.

On the other hand, if you release a flawed work, it could turn the audience off even more.

However at the same time, I’d recommend doing some soul searching. Does your book need more editing or updating or are you suffering from a case of writer’s fear. Are you afraid of releasing your book and the audience won’t like it to the point where you’re making unnecessary changes and ‘finding’ problems to edit? If so, it may just be the jitters.

If this is the case, I’d find someone to take a good long look at your book and make the call for you on whether they think its ready. If it really does need more edits, then you’d do well to be up front with your readers and let them know what’s going on.

I hope this helps! Readers, what do you think? Do you have any advice for Miles?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ Heavy Metal, Inspiration, Metal, Music, Uncategorized, Writing

From My Writing Playlist

by Unknown's avatar

Got this one stuck in my head. Can’t help it. Not my fault!!! Seriously though, Beast in Black Berserker has become one of the better albums I own. I can’t wait to see where they go from here. Most of the songs on this album are really great.

When to Listen: When the hero confronts the villain. In most stories, before the final battle, the hero and the villain speak about the morals and ethics of their situation. This is a good place for this song.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ fantasy, Fiction, Movies, Opinion, review, Sequel, Uncategorized

In Defense of the Last Jedi

by Unknown's avatar

 

Lately, the most recent movie has been facing a lot of criticism. Some earned, some not so much… I want to try to tackle this as best I can.

There was an article posted on recently that came to my attention entitled Meet the Women Who Ruined Star Wars.

This page seems to be backed by internet provocateur Milo Yianopolis, so take that as you will. I know a lot of people rightly have mixed feelings about the guy. That said, I feel like it does illustrate a lot of the problems with the people criticizing Star Wars and I wanted to delve into it. Let’s take a look…

First of all, the title…. ‘Meet the Women Who Ruined Star Wars.’

Following is an image of Admiral Holdo, Rose Tico, and the president of LucasFilm, Kathleen Kennedy. First of all, I don’t believe that Star Wars was ruined. Audiences are divided on it and whether or not this could enter ‘classic’ territory is anybody’s guess. That being said, I liked the movie and even if the movie wasn’t good… it doesn’t ruin Star Wars.

So this brings us to the first problem; Melodrama. I get it, Star Wars is one of those big institutions that changed the ways we think about movies and its something that should be respected… and honestly, I think it has been. Rogue One was great, despite not being a typical Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens was safe, but still offered enough new content to keep us coming back for more, and honestly Star Wars Rebels has me foaming at the mouth to see where it goes. That show has really been a fun ride.

The Last Jedi didn’t ruin Star Wars, very little actually could. I would argue that not even the prequels ruined Star Wars. The only thing that came close to ruining it was the Special -Remastered- Editions. For starters, when you switch out the models and puppets that actually look real with laughably fake looking CGI, it becomes a problem. This was glaringly abundant in Return of the Jedi with the 4th Wall-breaking music-video at Jabba’s Palace, and most egregiously, replacing Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christiansen at the end of the movie. This destroyed one of the most memorable, emotional scenes IMO. However Star Wars is not ruined. The original movies are still there, you can still go back and watch them and enjoy Star Wars just like you could when you were a child. These movies do not change that. If they bother you that much, pretend they don’t exist… that’s what most Phantom fans to with Love Never Dies.

Secondly, let’s look at Rose Tico and Admiral Holdo for a moment. These women didn’t ruin Star Wars or at least, they don’t deserve the majority of the blame. Kathleen Kennedy is a different story. She’s the boss lady at LucasFilm, so she does deserve some of the scorn lobbied her way. However you’ve got plenty of writers, and a director that was given way too much freedom to take the movie in whatever direction he felt like that also share the blame here.

Anyway, let’s take a look at the article…

“Suffice to say, and it’s been over two weeks now, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was met with not the greatest audience response.”

This is true, unfortunately. The movie has divided audience pretty straight across the board.

“The reception is understandable: Nobody asked for a Star Wars movie with yo momma jokes, a crazy ghost Yoda that can call lightning from the sky by giving a thumbs up, or Porgs trying to make Chewbacca a vegetarian. Nor a scene where Luke milks Lena Dunham.”

Okay, I will admit that the light-hearted opening and rather… out of place comedy didn’t really mesh well with the film and failed to set the tone for the rest of the movie,  I agree with that point. Yoda calling down lightning as a ghost, I didn’t have a problem with. In the now-Legends series, we saw Force ghosts do all sorts of crazy things. The images of Padme’ showing up for Vader messed with him rather frequently.

Chewbacca being made into a vegetarian… come on, I didn’t get that either. I guess you could say that Chewy eating the porg right in front of another one was a pretty heavy handed scene that could be interpreted as a vegetarian scene, but I thought it was funny. The porgs kind of annoyed me anyway.

As for the Lena Dunham jab… I’m admittedly not a huge fan of her work or her as a person, given some of her comments and behavior over the years, so I’m not really going to get into that.

“It seems they were busy promoting the diversity on their team instead of guaranteeing success for the franchise.”

I’ve heard this concern a few times and honestly, these days when someone touts diversity instead of getting into details… unfortunately that really does send up Red Flags. It shouldn’t, but in this day and age, diversity is too often used as substitute for good writing. It seems these days that writers seem to believe that as long as they have a diverse cast, the story will be good by default with little to no effort. The end result is usually stale characters that come off as offensive stereotypes and one dimensional archetypes. I’ve covered this extensively in another piece, which can be read here, if you’re interested.

I do agree that I found it highly questionable how much they were talking about what percentage of their team was what race/gender, etc. Like, seriously are you trying to provide a product or service, or are you trying to appease some group ideologues? Really, no one should care. In this day and age, the genders and races of the development teams are irrelevant as long as they’re the right person for the job. The only people who care about this kind of thing are a very small and annoyingly vocal minority, most of whom likely don’t patron movies like Star Wars.

“While she ran around with “The force is female” t-shirts and staffed her story group with women, she apparently forgot to actually plan out this franchise… Rian Johnson revealed that there was no big outline on the trilogy, and that he had full creative freedom to do whatever he wished in The Last Jedi. Meaning Disney and the Star Wars story group left the fate and success of this multi-billion dollar franchise to chance and at the whim of whichever director & writer happened to be…” 

That is very true. This is one area where the article does point out the glaring problems, but also illustrates why the title of the article is incorrect. Those three women didn’t ruin Star Wars, if you consider the Last Jedi a ruining, this piece right here clearly shows that the director and the writers are the problem. Not only that, but this is where Kennedy comes into play as well.

Say what you will about Lucas, he had a story planned out with the original trilogy and follow-up prequel series. You can argue that he didn’t have a strong way to connect those two trilogies and that they were their own independent stories, but at least he had them planned out. With the prequels, it was surrounding Anakin’s growth and eventual fall to Darth Vader while the Republic essentially collapses and the Empire forms. That was the story. Here, we see a studio going rogue with their own source material and that is a major problem.

“It is unknown why he is returning to direct and write the finale of this trilogy, but fans speculate that Disney got cold feet after the shoot for the latest film was completed.”

Eh… except that Rian has been given a whole new Star Wars Trilogy to direct, so I don’t think they got cold feet with him so much.

“The characters in The Last Jedi mirror this mess. Admiral Holdo, nicknamed by critics as Admiral SJW, is the definition of leadership as explained by someone with critically low testosterone: a person who must not explain herself, is expected to be followed blindly and without question, and must not be upstaged.” 

Okay… this is one of the major problems with the complaints. I’ve heard people accuse this Vice-Admiral of being the physical embodiment of an SJW, feminazi, etc. However, none of that is accurate. I get the feeling that people saw her with purple hair and no uniform and… given the climate already established by LucasFilm and Disney in their constant touting of identity politics over telling us anything about the story, I think they were pretty much looking for a character… any character that even remotely fit the mold.

Here’s the problem… Admiral Holdo takes over command after literally everyone else who could have has either been killed or incapacitated. It’s an extremely tense situation with little chance of a positive outcome.

To the point about her not having to explain herself… she’s a vice-admiral talking to a recently-demoted loose cannon commander, who doesn’t seem to be able to keep his emotions in check. In any navy throughout the world, if any commander spoke to an admiral like that… best case brig, worse case, executed. An Admiral isn’t obligated to explain his/her decisions to their subordinates except under very specific circumstances. Whether or not she did the right thing by choosing to keep quiet about what she was planning and… whether or not her plan was a good one, can certainly be put up for debate. However her handling of Poe, from my perspective as someone who’s a major Navy buff, was fairly tepid. She could have easily just had him escorted off the bridge. She put him in his place, and that was that. She could have done a lot worse.

I honestly found her calmness to be in keeping with a good officer. Had she gone off like Poe did, there would have been a pretty serious breakdown on the cruiser. So really… I think people were looking a little too hard for the Social Justice character/narrative here and the arguments in favor of such a belief are thin at best.

Was she a good officer who made good decisions? Eh… there’s an argument to be made both pro and con, however that’s for another topic at another time.

“But not before she has to finally sacrifice herself in a move that invalidates all other movies as she breaks the universe of Star Wars by hyper-space ramming a dreadnought.”

False. Absolutely false. We don’t know that. That information was never established in any Star Wars canon. We don’t know the nature of hyperspace outside of sub-canon technical manuals and Han Solo talking about how they need to make precise calculations.

“The final character, Rose, a small asian woman isn’t much better as we spend 30 minutes with her on a casino planet sequence that is ultimately pointless and ends with them saving space-dog-horses and Rose pretending that this effort was worth it. “

This one… yeah this character annoyed the piss out of me. I covered her in greater detail in another post and even awarded her a Jar Jar Award. I really don’t know what to make of her. The actress has called her a strong female character who is outside of the norm for a strong character… yet she makes a lot of really stupid, hypocritical choices, and acts like a teenie bopper fan girl throughout part of the movie. Additionally, the unneeded and… arguably unwanted social commentary surrounding her, brought the movie to a screeching halt.

“It seems Disney went too far in a few places, and already their newly flagship franchise is stumbling. If the executives at Disney wish to course-correct and not end up like DC’s cinematic universe, it would be wise for them to start with the person who did not plan this trilogy ahead of  time, and the team who failed to do their job in securing consistency from one movie to the next.”

Yup, sadly. I honestly loved the Last Jedi, but I have a feeling that there will be a fan edit in the near future that cuts out Rose Tico and the casino scenes. Between wasting talents like Gwendoline Christie, Max Von Sydow, Andy Serkis, and Benicio Del Toro, to a lack of direction, Star Wars does have a problem.

That being said, as I’ve said before, it took me some time to piece everything together and really take an objective look at the movie… but I actually loved The Last Jedi. It had its problems, and the social commentary really annoyed me, but the story as a whole went in a direction that I don’t think anyone really saw coming and really has me wondering where it’s going to go next. It wasn’t anything like what I was expecting and honestly, that kind of a thrill ride is a rarity.

So in summation, identity politics ruins a lot. We’ve seen it with Marvel, Sony, and a lot of other companies as well as other mediums. However I personally did not see that here, other than in the background with the staff writing the story. Yes there was social commentary that was unneeded and maybe that’s where the outrage belong. The inclusion of Rose Tico was not only unnecessary, but really hurt the movie more than anything. It would have been better to send Poe with Fin. This is especially true since the best scene in The Force Awakens was the Tie Fighter escape scene. Poe and Fin working off each other was very fun and light-hearted. So opportunity missed.

The defense of Rose, saying that she is a strong character is laughable at best and her flaws are on display for all to see. That being said, this is the problem with the skeptic community and those who don’t buy into the identitarian and social justice narrative; they have their own sect of outrage police. These people were looking for something to blame on the current political trend and when they didn’t find it, they went after one of the easiest targets; Admiral Holdo. The evidence isn’t there and while she may not have been a great character, what she’s accused of being is a stretch at best.

So if you want to be mad at Star Wars for inserting politics and social commentary where it was inappropriate, that’s fine. Hate on Rose and hate on the casino scene. You want to hate on a character that made questionable decisions, fine, hate on Holdo. Just make sure you’re hating on them for the right reasons…

Oh and please do not start attacking the actors and actresses, especially not with hateful comments. They really did the best they could with what they were given. If they’re on social media, feel free to let them know why you agree or disagree with their performance. Constructive criticism is always a good thing, but attacking is not right and completely unnecessary.

Anyway, what does everything think? Am I right or way off?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ fantasy, Opinion, review, Science Fiction, TV Show, Uncategorized, Urban Fantasy

Can Skynet Truly Be Stopped?

by Unknown's avatar

“It’s in your nature to destroy yourselves.”
-T-800, Terminator 2

So I recently rewatched a few of the Terminator movies and the Sarah Connor Chronicles and I have reached one inescapable conclusion…

Terminator 3 got it right… At the end of the movie, John Connor comes to the conclusion that it wasn’t humanity’s job to prevent judgement day, just simply to survive it so that they could fight later on.

This is a conclusion that I have come to as well. Skynet is essentially a digital hydra. You cut off one head, and another one grows in to replace it. First Cyberdyne Systems, then the Dept. of Defense, then the Turk, and finally the global OS Genisys.

Regardless of which one they kill, another one pops up to take its place. All they can do it seems, is postpone judgement day… which if you watch the 3rd Terminator, you can see that… perhaps simply not stopping judgement day and just getting the fight over after the fact may have been the better choice.

Now, let’s say that Sarah and Reese at the end of Genisys become vigilantes, going around destroying anything that could potentially become skynet… they still have two problems;

  1. If they succeed, they’ll have altered history and not be able to properly figure out which machine is next in line to try and take over?
  2. Human life is finite. What happens after they pass on? Eventually Judgement Day in the Terminator Universe is going to happen. It appears to be an inevitability.

So my question then is, why do they keep trying? I understand that we’re talking about billions of lives, but if you’re fighting a battle that you can’t possibly win, it might be more worthwhile to prepare humanity for it. Get people ready for the nuclear fallout and head to shelters so that once judgement day happens, they’ll not only still be alive, but ready to fight Skynet when it comes.

These are just my quick thoughts, but I thought I’d open it up for conversation. Let me know what you think.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ Action Figues, Comics, fantasy, Movies, Opinion, Science Fiction, Skyrim

Star Wars Figure Review: Jaina Solo, Black Series

by Unknown's avatar

 

She finally came! That’s two of the three figures I’ve been waiting for and after delay upon delay, she finally arrived:

c3737_jaina_solo_310

Da da da daaaaaa!!! Ladies and Gentlemen, from the Legends series, the daughter of General Han Solo and Princess/Jedi Master Leia… Skywalker Organa Solo (jeez lady)…

Character Story:

Jaina is one of the three Solo kids from the Legends series. Her brother Anakin was killed fairly early on in the stories of the New Republic and eventually became an only child when she was forced to kill her twin brother, Jacen Solo AKA Darth Caedus. She is extremely powerful in the force, a member of the Jedi council and a crack pilot. In other words, she’s the Legends’ equivalent of Rey.

Untitled

Eh… kinda? Anyway…

Figure Back Story: 

Believe it or not, this figure has a storied history. Up until now, the Jaina had only a couple of outlets in terms of figure creation. She had a 3.75″ figure that came out during the early 2000s that was widely unpopular and didn’t survive on the market. As such they are rare and go for the not-so-cheap costs of between $45-$179, depending on if you want it loose or in its package. I honestly have one of these which I bought way back when they were in stores and… it’s good, but it’s not that great. The other choice is a Kotobukiya statue… which is basically an immovable anime girl in a Star Wars pilot suit. It goes for close to $300. Those aren’t really my cup of tea. I love anime characters, but this one really never struck me as accurate or well done.

Well a few years back, Hasbro came up with great idea of allowing the public to select and vote on who they would like to see made into a figure.

To their surprise… the majority of fans, myself included, selected Jaina Solo out of the legends series. An unnamed source told me that Hasbro was actually pretty surprised that the public wanted a legends character made, but thankfully decided not to pull a Boaty Mcboatface and pledged to begin work crafting a figure. Last year at Star Wars Celebration Orlando, fans were treated to the initial sneak peek of the figure in question… and all jaws hit the ground.

Given how many of the black series figures had looked, I was cautiously optimistic for a reveal. When I saw the initial reveal, I remained cautiously optimistic as the prototype is usually a lot better looking than the actual mass-produced figure. You have to expect these things as a collector. The Hasbro Black Series has a history of making insanely detailed figures… but the head and face sculpts have always been hit or miss.

So… did Hasbro do good this time? Let’s dive in…

Introduction: 

So Jaina comes in the black and red box, typical of the series. She’s number 56 in the collection for anyone counting. I love these boxes. They are easy to open, easy to re-seal so they can retain their collectability.

C3737AS00-3

Articulation: Her head is on a ball joint and her hair is a soft rubber, giving her head limited articulation. Her shoulders are on ball joints, as are her wrists. Her elbows have a standard joint and a second rotatable joint. Her knees have a double-joint which is a fairly new thing. Her feet are double jointed, and she has ball joints on her hips and waste. Her upper thighs also have a rotatable standard joint, but it’s not very good.

All in all, her articulation is absolutely outstanding. Her obtrusive equipment can be removed if desired (I don’t), thus giving her even more articulation. The only problem is that some of her joints are fairly stiff. When trying to loosen them, I highly recommend caution. HIGHLY recommend it. These joints can be easily broken and this will NOT be an easy figure to replace.

Rating: 4/5 

Appearance: This is where the figure gets high marks. She is insanely well done. Her outfit is a Legends New Republic Pilot’s outfit. Black on gold lining. Her boots have quite a bit of luster, and her holster is black on gold. Unlike most of the figures coming out, this one doesn’t feel like a woman’s head slapped on a generic… I want to say androgynous body. She’s slightly petite, but this looks far more like how she looks on the covers of most books and comics.

So what about the face? This is where I’m typically critical of the Black Series, nay mid-high end figures in general. The face is where they typically screw up. It happened on Luke, who looked more like the Dude. It happened to Rey who looked kind of butch and really either bored or exhausted. Did it happen here?

20180103_080516

Actually no. Granted, Jaina never appears in physical form, just in still artwork and… some really well-made fan films:

Hasbro clearly wanted to do their own creative take on this. Her face looks like Leia’s, but that smirk on the right side of her lip definitely reminds me of Han. So you can see both of her parents in this figure and I can easily say, yes… this is what a Han and Leia’s kid should look like. Others have said that the eyes look slightly ‘derpy’ and I can see a small articulation issue there, but really… it’s only noticeable if you look very closely and… if that’s the only issue, I can live with that. I can’t see docking the figure for something so minor.

Rating: 5+/5

Accessories: Jaina comes with three pieces; a blaster, a lightsaber and a helmet. I want to talk about the helmet separately, so let’s look at the lightsaber and blaster first.

20180103_080559.jpg

The blaster looks like an enhanced version of the broomhandle gun that her father carries. It is slightly more streamlined, but you can see the similarities. The muzzle has some gloss, while the handle is a very nice matte black.

The lightsaber is pretty cool. The unique purple blade is a nice modification from the pink blade of the previous figure. It is a fairly glossy black and gray paint scheme. I also love the purple on the hilt itself as well. The blade is removable and the hilt can be attached to her belt. The blade is slightly loose, but a quick twist does keep it in place.

Now let’s move on to the helmet. I LOVE THIS THING! It looks like the pilots helmets from the movies, except that it’s black. The symbols are highly detailed and it has even been distressed in some places to make it look like Jaina has seem some serious action in combat. The eyepiece is transparent and it slides on the figure’s head without much push.

20180103_084619.jpg

I love that her hair falls out under the helmet on both sides and the back, and will probably display her with the helmet on. I haven’t decided yet.

Score: 5/5

Overall: I love this figure. As someone who originally voted for Jaina, wanted to see a better figure made of this popular character, and didn’t want to see the Legends characters disappear into… well Legend, I anxiously awaited the release of this one with cautious optimism. Not only was I not disappointed, I was thrilled. This figure will have a front and center place on my figure shelf… and I don’t think she’ll be moved back for a very long time, if ever.

Score 5/5

So what does everyone think? Has anyone else grabbed this figure? What was your assessment of it? If not and you’re a figure collector, this one will not last long. It retails for about $25 at the moment. Later it will likely be a lot more expensive.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

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