INFORMATION REGARDING NOGGARDS: A “Dark Soldier” Promo

APPEARANCE
Noggards are most similar to serpents, except for their proportionately short, stubby legs. However, they are not the typical size of a serpent, not even for Vaelan standards. Their adult form can sometimes grow to a length of about 12 meters. If these same adults lift their head, it will be over 3 meters tall. Noggard queens are said to be even longer, occasionally growing up to almost 20 meters.

They have something of a covering like scales. However, the tips are sharp at the end. They can sometimes become long enough to make tracks from their belly as they walk. 

Sadly realizing that most of my favorite fantasy creatures could not physically exist in reality.

A Beautiful Mess

After reading a post on what should be seen more in YA novels, I realize that mine doesn’t really make sense. And yet, it still works together somehow. So for the new fans who haven’t heard this, the Dark Veil saga (coming 2016) includes:

• Asian dragons and camouflaging wyverns
• Griffins (whatever happened to those anyway?)
• “Shadow of the Colossus”-sized monsters
• A non-white main character (There are white people in the book, just not as much, as they’re in a tropical region)
• A plot that doesn’t involve saving the entire planet from a god-like force
• Cultures based off medieval Italy, Ancient Egypt and Russia
• A blend of steampunk and fantasy (a.k.a. elves with guns)
• Elves with guns
• In case you missed it, elves with guns
• Judaism-based mythology
• A lot of politics and next to no actual physical battles
• Characters that use weapons other than swords (lots of them)
• Consistent fourth-wall breaking

There’s way more that I could put, but nobody would read it. But I’m curious to see how the fans react to all this. Because it’s a beautiful mess. Still trying to find a few YA fantasy publishers, and we’ll see how it goes from there.

(Featured image is promo art from Shadow of the Colossus)

New Creature Announcement!

We are announcing a new creature in the series! I don’t have a name for them yet, they’re owl/cat mixes. And that’s really all I have on them. They have wings and paws and cute faces. And the first one you meet is small enough to perch on someone’s shoulder. I have no idea how they’re going to look.

But I really like the images I found off one DeviantArtist, RobtheDoodler, who makes owl griffins.

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New Creature Announcement!

We are announcing a new creature in the series! I don’t have a name for them yet, they’re owl/cat mixes. And that’s really all I have on them. They have wings and paws and cute faces. And the first one you meet is small enough to perch on someone’s shoulder. I have no idea how they’re going to look.

But I really like the images I found off one DeviantArtist, RobtheDoodler, who makes owl griffins.

So, a lot like the creature I thought of, but still quite different. You shall see! (And so will I, because I gave the illustrator super-freedom with this one. I basically said “make a owl cat mix thing” and let her loose.) I swear I did not see his stuff before coming up with the concept.

Official Image!

You guys get to see this before anyone else; besides Tumblr, the very first place this was shared for the novel. It is the most darndest official image for the species “the shadow” that there is. The illustrator decided a photo illustration was a good way to start this off, and she was right. Boy, was she right.

Before anyone asks, it is not based off of Dark Crystal. I do like the film, but that was not the inspiration for this. It was purely a mix of my own and the illustrator’s thoughts. Gorgeous.

10 Facts You May Not Have Figured About Fairy Folk

I just recently announced on Twitter that we are introducing fairies to the world of the Soldier Chronicles. In a follow-up to that information, here are ten things you may not have known about the fairy folk (elves included).

1. Our modern understanding of fairy folk started in Ireland and Scotland. The “Sidhe” were originally a rather tall race, but in later writings were described to be smaller in stature and sometimes even had wings (pixies, anyone?). The original stories is perhaps where Tolkien got the idea to make elves tall again.

2. They aren’t a fan of you saying it, but they do like to be appreciated. If you’ve seen the Harry Potter, you may know a little bit about house elves – which are really brownies, not quite the same as elves. The same goes for Spiderwick Chronicles, which may just include my favorite film version of fairy folk. Give them gifts, like organic food or something. If you want them to stick around, don’t give them a “thank you”, and most certainly do not give them clothes.

3. Fairies are known to steal children on a semi-regular basis and replace them with fairy children. The children for whom this is the case are referred to as “changelings”, and so the story goes, you can’t get your real child back unless you make the changeling laugh or suffocate them. I would pray you not try the second one, in case you’re wrong.

4. Elf locks are said to be the result of fairy folk playing with your hair. Ever had those tangles in a horse’s mane or in your hair that seemed to appear overnight? I’m not saying it’s fairies, but…

5. Fairies are most likely to be seen on Midsummer’s Eve. Therefore, a midsummer night’s dream. Keep your eyes out at twilight, midnight, midday or just before sunset.

6. There are indeed an official king and queen of the fairies. Their names are King Oberon and Queen Titania. Anime/manga lovers, especially Fairy Tail fans, should get rather excited about that last bit of information. And we may just see these two for a bit in the series Soldier Chronicles.

7. Dwarves are considered Fairy Folk. Creatures also considered fairies includes elves, gnomes, leprechauns, brownies, goblins, pixies, dryads, nyads and flower fairies.
Gimli may not be too happy about that last bit of information.

8. Red caps, from Scotland, are murderous fairies who can only be warded off by reciting Bible verses. Oh? You thought all fairies were cute and cuddly? Oh, no! If you didn’t get the hint by goblins being considered fairy folk, there are some particularly nasty ones out there. These ones look like old men, have sharp teeth and claws, and will come after you with a scythe to kill you. Then they will mop up the blood with their caps. Therefore, red cap. Not quite what you were expecting? Neither was I.

9. Our modern idea of a fairy is actually a pixie. So if you see someone calling a tiny humanoid creature with butterfly wings a fairy, it may be true, but you might want to just call them pixies. It’s more correct that way. And pixies are rather drawn to gardens and natural things; so if you’re looking for a tiny friend, you might want to start planting.

10. Another fairy-finder – if you think you’ve found a fairy spot, circle it nine times on a full moon. You just may get a chance to spot a fairy. Why does this work? I have no idea, really. I guess fairies are just suckers for tradition.

I hope you learned some fun stuff today! I did while writing this. Maybe the red cap part wasn’t as fun, but everything else was fun to me! Hope you all have excellent days to come!

“What Music They Make”

I’ve decided to do an entire blog to my favorite lovely dear child of the night, the vampire. They’re wonderful creatures, really, but heavily misunderstood. In fact, their story is probably one of the saddest things ever.

First of all, a lot of people think that automatically if you are a vampire you must be a blood-drinking death machine. But imagine if a nice old lady became a vampire? Would she then become a maniacal blood drinker? Probably not. In fact, that might be a really sad life for her, I think. Imagine being forced to do awful things like drinking people’s blood to survive. It’s not the greatest life on the planet.

People think, I would love to be a vampire! I can run at crazy speeds, rip things apart with my bare hands, and turn into a bat and fly off into the night! But at the same time, unless you got some crazy, crazy sunblock, it’s at the risk of never again seeing the sun and the unbridled desire to eat any living friends you have left. At this point, does the power make up for it? Does eternal life make up for eternal hunger?

See how sad Dracula is??

However, after all that boring “vampires are sad” thing, we need to talk about how awesome they can be if they decide to stop being sad about it. Let’s realize that, depending on the lore we’re talking, vampires are also incredibly awesome. They can transform into far more things than bats, especially if they’re Dracula. They can transform into mist, bats, wolves, cats, etc. What a terrifying concept, really, because if they can turn into mist, what stops them from turning into the air around you? What stops one from being there while you’re reading this, right here, right now? Hear him? Of course you can’t.

He doesn’t even need to breathe.

Also, dark things are fun! At least to me. It’s fun to hang out in the dark, although figuring out a way to be in the day too would be nice. Simply put, the sky is far more interesting at night. To have that beauty to wake up to every night would be wonderful. And as the night goes on, beauty just pours itself out further and further until you’re left breathless. Not that you would need to.

Also, vampires could be super helpful. Imagine someone gets poisoned in the middle of the night. Everyone else may think, “Ew, I don’t wanna drink your blood.” But leave that up to the vampire! They don’t have to worry about dying. They’re already dead. They could easily drink the poison if they had to. And what if this vampire decided to try his/her hand at the good side? Batman has nothing on an immortal. Screw what “Batman vs Dracula” said. (Yes, that is an actual film.)

So who is your favorite vampire? Let me know in the comments!

I Love You Guys!

I don’t even know what I’m doing, but apparently I somehow got a record amount of views from not even posting a blog. That was totally awesome. You guys are awesome! (I use guys as a collective term, you ladies are guys in my mind, too. I refer to males as dudes.)

So I decided in my happiness to make a blog about happiness, and the random things that make me happy. These are not tiered, they’re just a list.

• Jesus lizards (because running on water is cool)
• Jesus (as I don’t think its a problem to be proud of your religion, as long as you’re not a punk about it! 🙂 )
• Munchkin cats
• The Internet
• Cupcakes
• Gory Horror Movies (c-c-combo breaker!)
• Fire!! 😀
• Anime
• Friends who try to understand even if they don’t fully
• Cheese sauce (I PUT IT ON EVERYTHING)
• CHRISTMAS
• CHRISTMAS!
• CHRISTMAS!!
• did I mention Christmas?
• Neon
• Jiujitsu
• Dragons
• More fire! 😀
• Chimeras
• Bonfires (separate, I swear)
• Tacos!
• Food in general
• Family

And that’s about all I can think of off the top of my head right now. Ending on a very strange note, I have come up with a super-new creature for the novel (see the Facebook for more info) called Togs and Froads. Yes, they do look like frogs and toads, but I also mixed in a little fantasy and a little chameleon too. So they can perch on shoulders, have longer tails, and can camouflage. Seems good to me! And have some weird as heck noises that they make. What are your opinions?!

Good evening, my friends! Be excellent to each other!

Big ‘n Bad Beasts

I’ve decided today to do a very writer-centric blog today. So here we go, a little talk on one of my favorite things in fantasy writing – the creatures.

I think one of the most important things in fantasy writing is thing that make it a clear fantasy piece. That clear thing is more often than not the creatures of that particular world. The main go-tos for this are typically things like unicorns, dragons, and other animals or humanoids (like elves) that we already know don’t exist in the real world. Do not worry, I am not going to claim that there is a serious problem with writing in creatures that have already been seen before. Really, if we write any humanoid creatures at all including humans, we are putting in something seen before. My point is simply this: never, ever underestimate your own creativity.

One of the great marks of a good fantasy series is the ability to make a convincing world. While it is certainly interesting to have known fantasy creatures, or even lesser known fantasy creatures, always remember that this is your world. You have power here. You are the god of your own paper universe. So while you are more than capable of using other people blueprints, never feel you need to follow them exactly. Is it cool to have fire-breathing flying creatures? Yes. Is it cool to have dragons? Yes. But nobody ever said they needed to look like an exact replica of Smaug from Lord of the Rings, or Daenerys’ dragons from Game of Thrones. In fact, if you want to make them look like a giant flying fire-breathing squirrel and still call it a dragon, you are more than welcome to do so, although it probably won’t be as intimidating. There are really no rules here.

Fear me, mortals!!

Really, someone should bring back the Wyvern. Maybe it’s not as elegant looking, but heck, it is awesome.

Furthermore, don’t be scared to deviate completely from all past fantasies and make your own completely unique creature. A good example is the slime from the Final Fantasy series. Who would think that a giant piece of sentient goop would be an interesting enemy? Yet somehow, not only did they run with it, but they have appeared in almost every version of the game since. They’ve even shown up in multiple other franchises, including one where they are the main characters. With that in mind, never be afraid to make up your own creatures, no matter how dumb they may sound in your brain.

A note regarding creating creatures… if you plan to make a hybrid, choose creatures of similar environments. Even in nature this seems to be the case. A platypus is the best example. It is clearly its own separate creature, yet looks like the mixture of a beaver and a duck. Both of those creatures live both in and out of the water, and therefore the mixture of the two does the same. Yet it also has its own style. Do the same with your creatures. While it may look interesting to mix two totally different creatures of completely different environments, it probably won’t help them exist as a creature. That is, unless you have one really whacked out environment that it lives in. Think of what exists in the environment that makes it look that way. Animals basically use every piece of their body for something, it’s up to you what to do with it.

This is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about.

Still, don’t worry too much about how it looks. Just because it sounds weird doesn’t necessarily means it doesn’t work. Heck, I once had a creature in the series that was a created by mixing and matching pieces of a gorilla, a mountain goat and an elephant! It turned out totally awesome.

Don’t worry, a lot of these work for your more humanoid creatures. That’s how cat-people came to be, and most everybody loves them. Although, strangely, you never see platypus-people, or giraffe-people, or even dog-people. Am I the only one that sees the potential here?

That’s all I have for today, go forth and make epic fantasy worlds with epic fantasy creatures!