So a friend just asked me for a name for a squad and after some non serious suggestions I said Midnight's Knife. She eventually chose something else, but I kind of like the name and now I'll write it down so that I won't forget it.
~.~
It was pitch black out, the moon and stars covered by clouds. The city usually had lamp lights for night's like this, but none were shining on this night. That was a warning, telling the inhabitants of the city not to leave their homes, because terrible things were going to happen. Someone had been marked by Midnight for death, and if someone went out on a night like this, Midnight might mark them as well.
Most people in the city didn't know who Midnight was, they just knew that on terribly dark nights that people who left their homes died. The deaths were always different. They seemed to be random. The people knew, however, that all of the deaths were connected to the nights were impossibly dark.
Roy Falcon, captain of the city guard, perhaps knew the most about what really happened. This was because he had been marked by Midnight, was fated to die by Midnight's Knife. He knew that a group called Midnight's Knife was behind the killings, but the group was notoriously hard to track down. He was one of the only people who knew about them, and it had to stay that way, because when you learn of their existence, you either become marked, or you become a Knife for Midnight.
Captain Falcon's mark was on his back. He had gotten it as a young boy. He had been lucky then, or the Knife pursuing him had just been terribly unskilled. He went out on every night like this, to try and stop Midnight's Knife from killing, hoping to draw them towards him and distracting them from their target, hoping to catch them or die trying. He had caught several of them, but they were always dead by morning, going from a Knife to a Mark.
Roy was patrolling the streets, the only who ever did on nights like this. Someone was going to be murdered this night, and he was going to make sure it wasn't whoever it was that just got marked.
"Roy, Roy, Roy, you are much to predictable," A voice said from above.
Roy recognized that voice. It was a Knife that he had encountered many times before. "If I wasn't, we would never meet up now would we?" Roy said.
"Were you hoping to save some poor innocent soul tonight? Were you hoping to save someone from being marked?" The Knife asked.
"Don't I always?" Roy said.
"You're out of luck Roy, because tonight, you're our target," the Knife said.
"Oh please, do you think that this is the first time I've been the target, I've been doing this a lot longer than you have son," Roy said.
The Knife screamed. "I told you! I'm no longer your son! Midnight is the only parent I have now!"
With that, the Knife, Roy's own son, jumped from his hidden perch toward Roy, knife in hand, with the intent to kill his father and sever the ties he had with him so that Midnight would more fully accept him. Roy had been expecting this of course, he had taught the boy how to fight in the first place after all. Roy sidestepped the boy's knife and punched him hard in the face.
~0~
Okay, I know, you don't have to point out the Captain Falcon thing. Lets just say its kind of late and I had the giggles. This is why I ended it with him punching something. It was hard not to write FALCON PAWNCH!
Well this was fun. I haven't written in far too long thanks to a horrible writer's block that had been chewing relentlessly on my nose, distracting me from writing. I think it finally gave up :D
Monday, May 10, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Books Read in 2010: The Third Sign
So I was wrong, Lightning Thief had more chapters than I thought. I finished the book The Third Sign and will finish another before Lightning Thief. Also, I recently got the second and third Fablehaven books :D
The Third Sign
The author of this book said that he took his inspiration from The Lord of The Rings. This does not mean that he copied it, though, his book is very unique and tells its own story. The book takes place in Klune, a nation that in under constant attack by evil forces, but is protected by the race of Arlics. The Arlics aren't sure that they want to continue protecting Klune though and this causes a lot of tension as the people start to fear that their borders will be left unguarded. This seems to be the least of their problems as an ancient prophecy seems to be coming to pass that could spell the destruction of the world.
I really liked this book. There aren't enough epic fantasies anymore, and this helps fill the gap. I actually enjoyed this book more than LotR, and I can't wait for the next one to come out. I totally recommend this book to all.
List:
The Demon's Lexicon
Fablehaven
The Third Sign
The Third Sign
The author of this book said that he took his inspiration from The Lord of The Rings. This does not mean that he copied it, though, his book is very unique and tells its own story. The book takes place in Klune, a nation that in under constant attack by evil forces, but is protected by the race of Arlics. The Arlics aren't sure that they want to continue protecting Klune though and this causes a lot of tension as the people start to fear that their borders will be left unguarded. This seems to be the least of their problems as an ancient prophecy seems to be coming to pass that could spell the destruction of the world.
I really liked this book. There aren't enough epic fantasies anymore, and this helps fill the gap. I actually enjoyed this book more than LotR, and I can't wait for the next one to come out. I totally recommend this book to all.
List:
The Demon's Lexicon
Fablehaven
The Third Sign
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Books read in 2010: Demon's Lexicon and Fablehaven
I've decided to keep track of all the books I've read in 2010. Its already march and I've only read two -_- so I'm off to a slow start.
I got a bunch of books for Christmas and have been reading them all simultaneously. I would read one chapter, then switch to the next. This ensures that the books last longer and I don't swallow them whole in one day like I usually do. I like this.
Yesterday (or the day before) I finished The Demon's Lexicon, shortly followed by Fablehaven. I'll talk briefly about each.
The Demon's Lexicon:
Nick and his brother Alan live a life in hiding from evil magicians. Their mother stole a powerful amulet from the magician known as Black Arthur and now all the other magicians in London are after it. Everything is relatively fine until Alan gets a demon's mark that can only be removed by the blood of a magician. Now the hunted must become the hunters.
I think I just summarized the summary :P The story is told from the perspective of Nick, who is a very interesting character. Saying too much about him will give away the ending, but I'll just say that Nick learns a lot about his family as the story progresses. This is a great young adult book, and I recommend it highly.
Fablehaven:
I've made a few posts about this already, but now I can talk more about it since I've finished. :D As much as I don't like to admit it, this book is basically about fairies. Not completely about them, but they do play a big role throughout the book. Kendra and Seth are visiting their grandparents preserve and soon discover that it is a magical preserve that holds all the magical creatures of myth and lore. Like fairies. There are a lot more than fairies though. Many, if not all, of the creatures in the preserve are dangerous if you don't abide by the rules of the place. Since one of the characters is about 12 years old, a lot of rules get broken.
So yes, there are fairies, but there are also trolls and demons and imps and stuff. And the fairies aren't even that bad, especially near the end of the book. There are a few more books in the series and one of the covers has dragons. I wish to read them and get to the dragons and to enjoy all the other things that will happen in between, since the possibilities are limitless. You should totally read this if you already haven't.
I'm almost done with a few more books, so you can expect more posts soon. Next will likely be Lightning Thief.
List:
The Demon's Lexicon
Fablehaven
I got a bunch of books for Christmas and have been reading them all simultaneously. I would read one chapter, then switch to the next. This ensures that the books last longer and I don't swallow them whole in one day like I usually do. I like this.
Yesterday (or the day before) I finished The Demon's Lexicon, shortly followed by Fablehaven. I'll talk briefly about each.
The Demon's Lexicon:
Nick and his brother Alan live a life in hiding from evil magicians. Their mother stole a powerful amulet from the magician known as Black Arthur and now all the other magicians in London are after it. Everything is relatively fine until Alan gets a demon's mark that can only be removed by the blood of a magician. Now the hunted must become the hunters.
I think I just summarized the summary :P The story is told from the perspective of Nick, who is a very interesting character. Saying too much about him will give away the ending, but I'll just say that Nick learns a lot about his family as the story progresses. This is a great young adult book, and I recommend it highly.
Fablehaven:
I've made a few posts about this already, but now I can talk more about it since I've finished. :D As much as I don't like to admit it, this book is basically about fairies. Not completely about them, but they do play a big role throughout the book. Kendra and Seth are visiting their grandparents preserve and soon discover that it is a magical preserve that holds all the magical creatures of myth and lore. Like fairies. There are a lot more than fairies though. Many, if not all, of the creatures in the preserve are dangerous if you don't abide by the rules of the place. Since one of the characters is about 12 years old, a lot of rules get broken.
So yes, there are fairies, but there are also trolls and demons and imps and stuff. And the fairies aren't even that bad, especially near the end of the book. There are a few more books in the series and one of the covers has dragons. I wish to read them and get to the dragons and to enjoy all the other things that will happen in between, since the possibilities are limitless. You should totally read this if you already haven't.
I'm almost done with a few more books, so you can expect more posts soon. Next will likely be Lightning Thief.
List:
The Demon's Lexicon
Fablehaven
Monday, January 25, 2010
Fantasy Mythology
One of the reasons I like writing fantasy is because I can create a completely new world, and then I can come up with how it was made, how the people in the world believe it was made, and how similar or different those two things are.
I like mythology in general. I mostly realized this because of The Lightning Thief which I am currently reading, which is all about Greek mythology. For Skies of Fire I knew what the people believed in, but I didn't really know what actually happened until recently in my writings when a plot twist surprised me and in order for that twist to make sense, I realized that I needed to know how this world was made, and by who, and a few minor events since then. This was fun. Even if most of it won't make it into the story, I still enjoyed thinking it up. It makes the world I made feel more real to me.
I'm also reading a book called "The Third Sign." In the first couple of chapters, a good deal of the worlds mythology is explained and revealed, and I loved it. It was interesting and unique and I liked learning about the world that I'm exploring through the pages.
Yes, I realize that I'm a nerd.
On a note about Fablehaven: I just read the chapter in it called "Inside the Barn." It was probably the weirdest chapter I've ever read in any book. I was like this while reading it O.o Not to say that its a bad book or that I'm giving up on it, its just weird is all. I'll talk more about it when I finish.
I like mythology in general. I mostly realized this because of The Lightning Thief which I am currently reading, which is all about Greek mythology. For Skies of Fire I knew what the people believed in, but I didn't really know what actually happened until recently in my writings when a plot twist surprised me and in order for that twist to make sense, I realized that I needed to know how this world was made, and by who, and a few minor events since then. This was fun. Even if most of it won't make it into the story, I still enjoyed thinking it up. It makes the world I made feel more real to me.
I'm also reading a book called "The Third Sign." In the first couple of chapters, a good deal of the worlds mythology is explained and revealed, and I loved it. It was interesting and unique and I liked learning about the world that I'm exploring through the pages.
Yes, I realize that I'm a nerd.
On a note about Fablehaven: I just read the chapter in it called "Inside the Barn." It was probably the weirdest chapter I've ever read in any book. I was like this while reading it O.o Not to say that its a bad book or that I'm giving up on it, its just weird is all. I'll talk more about it when I finish.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
AH HA!
Number of pages it took for Fablehaven to include the word Dragon: 169
Sorry, I know this is a silly post, but I was just waiting for that. +1 awesome point for Fablehaven. Now what would really be something is if there was an actual dragon, and not just someone talking about dragons.
Sorry, I know this is a silly post, but I was just waiting for that. +1 awesome point for Fablehaven. Now what would really be something is if there was an actual dragon, and not just someone talking about dragons.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Dragonhounds
Generally after reading a book about dragons, I have dragons on the brain for a good while. I had just finished a chapter in one of my dragon books (Throne of Jade) and thus had dragons on the mind. I was with my dog and recalled that he was named for a dragon (Falcore from Never Ending Story) and this idea popped into my head. If I don't write it somewhere it will leave me, and I might as well put it here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keith followed his guide into the rebels camp, noting how disastrously organized it was. If this place was attacked, even by a small force, it would be decimated, and the fact that he had found it so easily suggested that Lord Graslin probably knew of this place and was biding his time, letting the rebels hope before he tore them to pieces. Hopefully he would be able to change the circumstances here before it was too late.
There was some barking up ahead and a few enormous dogs started running for Keith's guide. Keith had never seen dogs of such size before, and as they got nearer he began to doubt that they were dogs at all.
"Falcore, Tempest!" Keith's guide shouted as the beasts neared.
Keith had no idea what to think of these beasts. They had the shape of dogs, yet instead of fur, they had scales. Their eyes were not reptile eyes however, and looked like dog eyes. There were stubs on their shoulders that looked as if they might have once been wings. Their tails wagged like a dogs and they barked like dogs, but they were definitely not dogs!
"What...?" was all Keith managed to say.
"What's the matter? You've never seen a dragonhound before? That's not surprising, they're a rare breed," Keith's guide said.
Dragon...hounds?" Keith asked. This revelation only brought more questions.
"Yep, you see a few decades or so ago, there was a wizard who knew that his dogs were nearing the end of their lives. His dogs were his only companions, so in order to elongate their lives, he magically infused them with dragon blood. This definitely made them live longer, and had a few side effects that he wasn't expecting. We have that with a few more years of proper breeding that we can make those stubs on their backs become full wings, wouldn't that be something?"
"Its definitely something alright," Keith agreed, unable to look away from the dragonhounds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Perhaps I am a bit too obsessed with dragons?
I'm not sure what I'll do with this. I already am writing to many things at the moment, so perhaps this will stay in the archives until I can finish a few of them. Who knows. Also, it already sounds incredibly cliche, what with the rebellion, and the evil lord who knows where they are but is confident enough in his awesome to let them think they have a chance (ultimately leading to his demise). So if I do ever make something more of this, I'll have to work to make it any good. But this is true for any story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keith followed his guide into the rebels camp, noting how disastrously organized it was. If this place was attacked, even by a small force, it would be decimated, and the fact that he had found it so easily suggested that Lord Graslin probably knew of this place and was biding his time, letting the rebels hope before he tore them to pieces. Hopefully he would be able to change the circumstances here before it was too late.
There was some barking up ahead and a few enormous dogs started running for Keith's guide. Keith had never seen dogs of such size before, and as they got nearer he began to doubt that they were dogs at all.
"Falcore, Tempest!" Keith's guide shouted as the beasts neared.
Keith had no idea what to think of these beasts. They had the shape of dogs, yet instead of fur, they had scales. Their eyes were not reptile eyes however, and looked like dog eyes. There were stubs on their shoulders that looked as if they might have once been wings. Their tails wagged like a dogs and they barked like dogs, but they were definitely not dogs!
"What...?" was all Keith managed to say.
"What's the matter? You've never seen a dragonhound before? That's not surprising, they're a rare breed," Keith's guide said.
Dragon...hounds?" Keith asked. This revelation only brought more questions.
"Yep, you see a few decades or so ago, there was a wizard who knew that his dogs were nearing the end of their lives. His dogs were his only companions, so in order to elongate their lives, he magically infused them with dragon blood. This definitely made them live longer, and had a few side effects that he wasn't expecting. We have that with a few more years of proper breeding that we can make those stubs on their backs become full wings, wouldn't that be something?"
"Its definitely something alright," Keith agreed, unable to look away from the dragonhounds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Perhaps I am a bit too obsessed with dragons?
I'm not sure what I'll do with this. I already am writing to many things at the moment, so perhaps this will stay in the archives until I can finish a few of them. Who knows. Also, it already sounds incredibly cliche, what with the rebellion, and the evil lord who knows where they are but is confident enough in his awesome to let them think they have a chance (ultimately leading to his demise). So if I do ever make something more of this, I'll have to work to make it any good. But this is true for any story.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Guys don't read?
So I was catching up on all the blog posts that I missed during NaNo and the holidays when I read this post, which discusses the problem of too few guy readers and why perhaps that is.
I'll be honest, I didn't even realize this was an issue until just before Christmas. After all, I'm a guy, I read A LOT, my friends are guys who read, and the first book blog I ever read was by a guy. But then I found myself in Wal*Mart with $20 with which to buy things, so I headed to the book section. I, for one of the first times ever, had a hard time finding a book I wanted to read. It seemed like EVERY book in that section was aimed at females. D:
Now, I think the reason I never noticed this before is because I usually know what I want before I go to buy, and I tend to buy from Amazon or B&N and not so much at stores.
My younger brother was only interested in Video Games and was feeling very impatient with me as I struggled to find a book to get so I also felt rushed. Perhaps if I had had more time to browse the books I would have found that more of them would have interested me, but I didn't have time, I was judging almost entirely on book covers (a horrible sin, I know) and most of them looked full of flowers and fairies and other such things and so I passed over them because it was obvious who they were geared toward and it surely wasn't me!
Finally I found a little area that had fantasy and I cried tears of joy. More like I fell to the floor to get a better look as they were very low to the ground. And even then most of them looked girly. Thankfully one cover caught my eyes, it had a dragon on it, or four, or a four headed dragon. Either way, dragons, I was happy. But it was a book four :( So I looked for book one of the series and to my unspeakable horror, book one's cover was filled with fairies! How could fairies become dragons? Luckily I noticed the blurb, it was a blurb by Christopher Paolini (you know, the guy who writes those books about DRAGONS?). The blurb said that it was one of the most enjoyable fantasies that he had ever read. This sold it for me. He is one of my favorite authors (because he writes about dragons, seriously, that's all you have to do and you will likely have my undying devotion) so I picked up the book. What book was it? Fablehaven. I hear its pretty popular no?
I had money for more books, so I looked for more. I saw a cover with a guy on it holding a sword :D called The Lightning Thief so I snatched it up, and then I saw Inkheart which one of my friends (who is a guy) recommended, so I grabbed that one also. Yay for three new books, of which I am currently devouring, and they are tasty.
What that? What's my point? I dunno, perhaps that I just discovered that something is very wrong with publishing today (besides that it needs more dragons, but no matter how many it produces I shall not be satisfied). Perhaps to say that while it is a problem, it isn't exactly all that bad as I could still find books that interested me, even if two of them have girl MCs and one had fairies on the cover. Perhaps it's been to long since I just discussed something here and I wanted to. I dunno, what I do know is that I'mma go write more Skies of Fire, I've been neglecting the poor thing since November.
I'll be honest, I didn't even realize this was an issue until just before Christmas. After all, I'm a guy, I read A LOT, my friends are guys who read, and the first book blog I ever read was by a guy. But then I found myself in Wal*Mart with $20 with which to buy things, so I headed to the book section. I, for one of the first times ever, had a hard time finding a book I wanted to read. It seemed like EVERY book in that section was aimed at females. D:
Now, I think the reason I never noticed this before is because I usually know what I want before I go to buy, and I tend to buy from Amazon or B&N and not so much at stores.
My younger brother was only interested in Video Games and was feeling very impatient with me as I struggled to find a book to get so I also felt rushed. Perhaps if I had had more time to browse the books I would have found that more of them would have interested me, but I didn't have time, I was judging almost entirely on book covers (a horrible sin, I know) and most of them looked full of flowers and fairies and other such things and so I passed over them because it was obvious who they were geared toward and it surely wasn't me!
Finally I found a little area that had fantasy and I cried tears of joy. More like I fell to the floor to get a better look as they were very low to the ground. And even then most of them looked girly. Thankfully one cover caught my eyes, it had a dragon on it, or four, or a four headed dragon. Either way, dragons, I was happy. But it was a book four :( So I looked for book one of the series and to my unspeakable horror, book one's cover was filled with fairies! How could fairies become dragons? Luckily I noticed the blurb, it was a blurb by Christopher Paolini (you know, the guy who writes those books about DRAGONS?). The blurb said that it was one of the most enjoyable fantasies that he had ever read. This sold it for me. He is one of my favorite authors (because he writes about dragons, seriously, that's all you have to do and you will likely have my undying devotion) so I picked up the book. What book was it? Fablehaven. I hear its pretty popular no?
I had money for more books, so I looked for more. I saw a cover with a guy on it holding a sword :D called The Lightning Thief so I snatched it up, and then I saw Inkheart which one of my friends (who is a guy) recommended, so I grabbed that one also. Yay for three new books, of which I am currently devouring, and they are tasty.
What that? What's my point? I dunno, perhaps that I just discovered that something is very wrong with publishing today (besides that it needs more dragons, but no matter how many it produces I shall not be satisfied). Perhaps to say that while it is a problem, it isn't exactly all that bad as I could still find books that interested me, even if two of them have girl MCs and one had fairies on the cover. Perhaps it's been to long since I just discussed something here and I wanted to. I dunno, what I do know is that I'mma go write more Skies of Fire, I've been neglecting the poor thing since November.
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