Synopsis for KittyVixen, 2nd Book

On an Enchanted IsLand in Forever live the CatFoxes – humanistic half-Cat half-Fox Creatures. For thousands of years, the royal line of the Blacktails have seen only male heirs. When the notorious tyrant King Jagin learns of the birth of his firstborn daughter, he condemns her to death at once. The beautiful Princess Nightshade with purple eyes is rescued from execution and grows up to embrace her father’s expert swordsmanship unbeknownst that she is the long-lost Princess the MerMaids and Pirates speak of. But one Day, when a pair of bumbling Bounty Hunters meet her in the Woods, the young Warrior’s World is turned upside down. Dodging the blades of her Hunters and the wild terrors that roam Forever, Nightshade flees inLand to plan an attack on her own Castle and wrestle the reigns of the throne from her deranged father. Nothing can stop her, or so she thinks, until she discovers that she has fallen in love with Andor, her charming assassin. Packed with action, adventure, mystery and romance, the tale of KittyVixen is an irresistible addition to the Chronicles of Forever series – the place where anything is possible!

The Team in The Lands of Forever

I like waking up to the sound of classical music played by my father on his piano. The smell of freshly-ground coffee is also alluring during the early hours. However, I find great difficulty in perceiving just how young Serena Gordon, my main character, feels when she wakes up to the wide eyes of a real Dragon. In fact, the Creature she encounters is a Dragonling, a Child. In my idea, Keffle the Dragonling is nothing more than about 5 or 6 years old. Since her horns are small stubs, that shows she is still under the age of about 10 years, when Dragons in Forever mature enough to have very sharp, though still growing, horns. Her colors on her scales are one in a million examples of the spectral colors that Dragon scales can have. Most colors are hereditary through Dragonic families. I may further discuss the nature of Dragons in Forever in a later blog post, since my fifth book, The King of Dragons’ Prophecy, directly focuses on Dragons.

Today I’d like to focus more directly on the team members of Serena’s expedition. One of the last excerpts mentions a character named Jerry, who dashes at Serena in protection near the end of the excerpt. He is the team leader and doubles as a body guard to Serena, who is the youngest of the team. Jerry is tall and muscular, relatively clean-shaven, with brown hair and grayish eyes. Even from the beginning, he finds Serena a fascinating Girl, and befriends her quickly. Bob is the technology expert, and is very tall with long, dark brown hair usually drawn back in a ribbon. He is probably the shyest of the team members, although he is the oldest and very smart. Mike is the wildlife and terrain expert, a slightly shorter and slightly chubby man with tiny round glasses. In the 8th chapter of The Lands of Forever, Mike is the one who suspects the shed skin they found in the Cave belonged to a giant Lizard of some sort. Kate is the navigator, having an excellent sense of direction. However, she seems to find trouble getting along with the other team members, especially Serena, and loves to complain. She has shoulder-length black hair and small dark eyes. In addition, Kate sometimes appears to find an attraction in Jerry. Lastly, the team member’s nurse is Lindsey, who is talkative and very amiable, with short curly brown hair and brown eyes. Lindsey is the closest of the Girls to Serena, and acts very sisterly in several occasions toward her. Like all teams, the discovery team is not perfect. They have their disagreements, times of doubt and discovery, and moments of joy and victory just like any other team. Their main purpose in The Lands of Forever is to discover and bring back a portion of what they discovered from whatever it is they venture out to find. In The Lands of Forever, they find themselves vulnerable to fear and truth, and they discover something far more Magical than anything they could have imagined.

Serena meets a Dragon: An Excerpt from The Lands of Forever

Excerpt from The Lands of Forever, Part 1: At Home, Chapter 8: The Lost Continent and Chapter 9: Humble Beginnings ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Something moved. Serena, unlike the majority of the others, was a light sleeper. As the faint scuffling, scratchy sound met her ears, her bright blue eyes snapped open and she lay still. A young voice whispered in a crisp British accent,

“What are they, Mum?”

“Humans.” rasped an older female voice in reply. “Sun Humans.”

Serena gulped as her heart rate shot through the ceiling. Sun Humans? They didn’t come from the Sun! She wondered who the British voices were as she laid perfectly still, trying to pretend she was still asleep.

“Should we eat them?” said the young voice again. Serena’s skin pricked in fear.

“No, Sun Humans are almost extinct. Let them sleep and we will scare them off later when they are awake.” More scratching and shuffling. Serena felt a cool, dark shadow creep over her and resisted the urge to get up and flee, terrified. Sweat poured down the back of her neck and she clenched her eyes shut tighter, gulping and trying not to shudder.

“It’s got your skin, Mum.” the young voice chirped, very near to Serena now. “Should I take it back?”

The voice of the mother heaved a sigh further down in the Cave. “There’s no use worrying over a shed piece of skin, Keffle. But, I suppose, if you would like to keep it, you may take it back.”

Serena bit her lip, nearly drawing blood. She felt the presence of something larger than her reach down and grasp hold of the shed skin she clutched in her sweating hand. She could resist no longer. She opened her eyes.

Chapter Nine: Humble Beginnings

“Ahhh!” she screamed, releasing the skin and backing off.

“Ahhh!” screamed a little Girl Dragon, dropping the skin at the same time and taking a couple steps back.

Serena’s breath came in short, terrified gasps. She looked at the thing that had not moments ago been nose-to-snout with her. It, that is, Keffle was most definitely a Dragon – with bright orange and yellow scales and leathery orange wings that folded against her back. Her full height reached to Serena’s chest as the Dragonling stood on all fours. She wasn’t much longer than a common door is tall from tip to tail. She had a short, stubby spinal crest of bright yellow that ran from the top of her head to the tip of her long tail, which was about as long as her whole body, and swayed side to side in a curious, mischievous manner. Keffle sat back on her hind haunches like a Cat would, brandishing four small feet filled with needle-sharp claws. On either side of her little head sprouted two rounded stubs, presumably the beginning of horns. But the thing that had Serena taken aback the most was the little Dragon’s eyes. They had been very close to her face, and when she opened her own eyes, Keffle’s eye color had changed from a curious yellow to a surprised orange very quickly. Now the eyes of the small Dragon burned an even brighter yellow than before.

“I didn’t mean to wake you.” said the young speaking Dragon in a half-whisper.

Serena marveled at the pleasant ring of the little British voice and gulped, sitting up very slowly.

“Th-that’s o.k.” she stuttered, looking about to see if the others were awake. And realization struck her like ten pounds of bricks to the head. Her eyes snapped back and caught the gaze of Keffle’s blazing yellow eyes.

“D-did you just… talk to me?” she said incredulously.

The Dragon, obviously very curious, stood and inched forward. She stretched her little neck out and scuffled closer.

“Yes, why?”

Serena opened her mouth to say something, but with the figure of the Child Dragon growing nearer, she was in the absence of words and closed her mouth quickly. Suddenly, an overwhelming power of curiosity mounted upon her chest, and she sat up straight. A Dragon. A real, live Dragon. A myth. A legend. And she was looking at it. Keffle sat just feet from her and blinked in awe, her yellow eyes shining.

“Wow.” They said in unison, and then caught each other’s gaze.

 “Now don’t tell me you’ve never seen a Human before?!” Serena giggled finally, deciding that the little Dragon was harmless. Keffle chuckled and her eyes changed to a merry blue.

“I will if you tell me you’ve never seen a Dragon.” sang the Child-like voice.

Serena’s laughter echoed off of the wall of the Cave like many voices. “Where I come from, Dragons are only a myth.” she explained.

“Where do you come from?” twittered the orange and yellow Dragon. She stood and came snout-to-nose with Serena once more. “And why is your hair the color of gold? And why are your eyes the color of the Sky on a Cloudless Spring afternoon? And why do you speak so differently, though I can understand you? I’ve never seen-”

“Serena!” Jerry dashed for Keffle, having only just awoken and believing that Serena was under attack. The Dragonling squealed and made to run, but Serena leaped in front of her before Jerry was even halfway there.

Whoosh! BOOM!

“AHHHHHHHHH!”

A twenty-foot-long body of claws, teeth, horns and scales landed between Serena and Jerry, uttering a low warning growl. Serena heard screams echoing from the other side of the Mountain of protective Dragon flesh, and knew the others had awoken. It was not yet dawn.

Hoot Owl Destiny

Growing up, my grandmother Anne (who I’m told I am the spitting image of) LOVED owls. I mean seriously, she collected little owl trinkets like you would not believe. Bard owls, screech owls, great horned owls – the whole lot.

My grandpa saw that she loved owls so much that when he bought a car, he made the license plate HOOT OWL. I’m not joking. He gave that car to me when I was 17.

Then she passed away when I was 18. I missed her terribly. But good ol’ grandma Annie wasn’t finished with me yet. Apparently, she has her way with things, including my destiny.

After I was married, the same grandpa gave me his house. It was a chore of my husband and I to clean out all of the little owl trinkets and it was kind of emotional for me, so I kept a few of them for the memory.

So I’m an author. I try not to broadcast it to everyone, but I had been looking to publish for some time. Soon after we moved into grandma Annie’s house, I stumbled across a publishing company via facebook. And guess what the logo for this particular company is? AN OWL. Not joking. Worse, the publishing company is located in Wisconsin. When I was very young grandma Annie and I had a cabin in the great north woods of Wisconsin where I would sit on the back porch and hoot at all the hoot owls.

Now, my dear husband David has found himself a job. This just blows me over backwards. But, it isn’t just any job. It’s a job that will support our family. And, he’s working at ANOTHER company whose LOGO IS A HOOT OWL!

This is no joke. Destiny is real and my grandma Annie has quickly made herself a part of it. I went to put flowers on her grave the other day. Sometimes when I look in the mirror, I feel like she’s not really gone at all. She lives on in me.

I love you, Nana …

Demonic Delight – an excerpt from KittyVixen, my 2nd novel

Excerpt from KittyVixen, Part 1: Escape from the Bounty Hunters, Chapter Three: Bounty Hunters.

The Wind rustled through his silver hair as he speculated the long black hair of the sleeping KittyVixen. He smirked, an evil smile to say the least, thinking about how careless she was to leave the window open to trick him.

Ah, yes… You would have to wake up pretty early in the morning… He raised his silver dagger… to pull one over on old Andor…

And the Boy heaved his strength into stabbing the dagger.

SHHHINK!

Like Lightning, Nightshade spun over, wielding her long sword expertly, and engaged herself in a blade lock with her assailant.

But blades were not the only thing that was locked between Nightshade and Andor.

Spears of sparkling purple crystal pierced into Andor’s eyes as they swooped within two mere inches of his face and between their blades, and his stomach leapt.

Nightshade almost gasped as she looked at him. She had never even seen another Creature of her own species, least of all a smelly Forest Boy with blue Mist for eyes. But she held her sword strongly – her chest was burning with adventure.

“Did anyCreature ever tell you that you have the most beautiful eyes?” Andor breathed almost mockingly, trying his luck at innocent charm (another gift he had learned to possess in times of trouble).

Nightshade held his icy white-blue gaze, and snarled,

“Don’t think your charm is going to bring my guard down, you worthless miscreant!”

“My, my, such a naughty tongue for such a pretty Girl…” Andor continued, and reached out to touch her hair.

A long, sharp blade blocked his way, slicing through the air, and nearly, his hand.

“Now, now Princess…” chuckled Andor, withdrawing his dagger as though it were all a game. Nightshade was agitated by this.

“Don’t you ‘now, Princess’ me, you inconceivable murderer!”

Andor raised his eyebrows.

“Who are you, anyway?”

The silver CatFox stood, inhaling deeply as the Breeze rustled his tufted silver hair.

“My name is Andor.” He replied, sheathing his dagger.

“And what are you doing in our cottage at this time of Night?” the Warrior KittyVixen demanded to know.

Andor strode around the room and came to the vanity where, hanging off of one side of the square mirror, was the delicate black silk that had garbed the Girl as a KitCub.

Nightshade sat up and threw the covers off of her bed. Standing, she poised herself for attack.

“Answer me!” she commanded.

Andor merely sighed, and reached out to touch the black silk.

Again, a shining sword with a sparkling amethyst set in its hilt barred the Assassin’s way. Orchid eyes locked his gaze two inches from his face, and his stomach flipped again.

“If you so much as think about touching that silk, I will slice you open and feed you your own innards.” she hissed.

“Poisonous, are we, Princess Nightshade?” the CatFox chuckled, his face alight with demonic delight. He rather enjoyed teasing this pretty Princess.

“You had better believe it, Andor.” the Warrior Princess spat.

Without warning, Andor drew his dagger and leapt at her.

But Nightshade was ready for him.

Their blades locked, and Andor came nose-to-nose with the KittyVixen.

“Well, Poisonous,” he cackled, staring hard at her, “get ready to meet your fate – Venomous!”

Suddenly, a loud scream issued from the bedroom next door, and both Assassin and Princess turned to look at the doorway.

“Agh! Ma pour leg!” whined Toonad, limping into Nightshade’s bedroom with a bleeding shin. “Dat old TreeRat is more limber dan ‘e looks!”

Squeege’s shadow, seen plainly in the doorway, groaned loudly and kicked at something similar to a blanket on the ground. He began to pursue two shadowy figures that were rushing to the door.

“Oh, what about our little Nightshade?” sobbed GingerLily, inserting another arm into the haversack Eaglefur had pre-made for her.

“She’s fine, dear-” the old brown Squirrel replied, following his wife’s act, “-she’s a Warrior and well able to take care of herself!”

A wooden door slammed, and Squeege made to chase after the Squirrels.

Andor released a sigh.

“Squeege, let them go. We got what we want right he-”

Nightshade took this open window of opportunity.

“Oof!”

In less than two seconds, Nightshade had tripped him backwards behind the ankles, landed him on his back, disarmed him, and sat right on top of his stomach, one hand brutally grasping the front of his tunic while the other pointed a very sharp-looking sword at his throat.

“Truce?” he coughed, putting his hands up.

“I don’t trust you.” Nightshade spat bluntly, but honestly.

“Alright, then, I don’t trust you either, Princess.”

“And don’t call me that.”

“Alright, then, Poisonous.”

“Don’t call me that, either.”

“Well, what do you want me to call you, then?”

Nightshade leaned very close, so that her long black hair fell into his face and smothered him uncomfortably.

“Nightshade. Call me Nightshade.” she whispered to the wide white-blue eyes.

Andor gulped.

“Boys!”

Nightshade did not protest as the three CatFoxes tied her up and carried her off to their camp.

Cover for The Lands of Forever

Ohhhh yeah, I’ve got goosebumps, now. This is actually happening!

This illustration is done by Dian M. Bagent, my AMAZING illustrator! Her name is at the bottom under “Chronicles of Forever”

With a front cover like that, you know it’s gotta be good!

Excerpt from The Lands of Forever: A Real Monster

In this excerpt, Serena has met the discovery team and has traveled to Forever, crashing on the shore and miraculously surviving. A bedraggled and exhausted team crawls into a seemingly vacant Cave on the Coast. This excerpt is the team’s first encounter with a Foreveran resident…

Excerpt from The Lands of Forever, Part 1: At Home, Chapter 8: The Lost Continent and Chapter 9: Humble Beginnings

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Something moved.

Serena, unlike the majority of the others, was a light sleeper. As the faint scuffling, scratchy sound met her ears, her bright blue eyes snapped open and she lay still.

A young voice whispered in a crisp British accent,

“What are they, Mum?”

“Humans.” rasped an older female voice in reply. “Sun Humans.”

Serena gulped as her heart rate shot through the ceiling. Sun Humans? They didn’t come from the Sun! She wondered who the British voices were as she laid perfectly still, trying to pretend she was still asleep.

“Should we eat them?” said the young voice again.

Serena’s skin pricked in fear.

“No, Sun Humans are almost extinct. Let them sleep and we will scare them off later when they are awake.”

More scratching and shuffling. Serena felt a cool, dark shadow creep over her and resisted the urge to get up and flee, terrified. Sweat poured down the back of her neck and she clenched her eyes shut tighter, gulping and trying not to shudder.

“It’s got your skin, Mum.” the young voice chirped, very near to Serena now. “Should I take it back?”

The voice of the mother heaved a sigh further down in the Cave. “There’s no use worrying over a shed piece of skin, Keffle. But, I suppose, if you would like to keep it, you may take it back.”

Serena bit her lip, nearly drawing blood. She felt the presence of something larger than her reach down and grasp hold of the shed skin she clutched in her sweating hand.

She could resist no longer.

She opened her eyes.

Chapter Nine: Humble Beginnings

“Ahhh!” she screamed, releasing the skin and backing off.

“Ahhh!” screamed a little Girl Dragon, dropping the skin at the same time and taking a couple steps back.

Serena’s breath came in short, terrified gasps. She looked at the thing that had not moments ago been nose-to-snout with her.

It, that is, Keffle was most definitely a Dragon – with bright orange and yellow scales and leathery orange wings that folded against her back. Her full height reached to Serena’s chest as the Dragonling stood on all fours. She wasn’t much longer than a common door is tall from tip to tail. She had a short, stubby spinal crest of bright yellow that ran from the top of her head to the tip of her long tail, which was about as long as her whole body, and swayed side to side in a curious, mischievous manner. Keffle sat back on her hind haunches like a Cat would, brandishing four small feet filled with needle-sharp claws. On either side of her little head sprouted two rounded stubs, presumably the beginning of horns. But the thing that had Serena taken aback the most was the little Dragon’s eyes. They had been very close to her face, and when she opened her own eyes, Keffle’s eye color had changed from a curious yellow to a surprised orange very quickly. Now the eyes of the small Dragon burned an even brighter yellow than before.

“I didn’t mean to wake you.” said the young speaking Dragon in a half-whisper. Serena marveled at the pleasant ring of the little British voice and gulped, sitting up very slowly.

“Th-that’s o.k.” she stuttered, looking about to see if the others were awake.

And realization struck her like ten pounds of bricks to the head. Her eyes snapped back and caught the gaze of Keffle’s blazing yellow eyes.

“D-did you just… talk to me?” she said incredulously. The Dragon, obviously very curious, stood and inched forward. She stretched her little neck out and scuffled closer.

“Yes, why?”

Serena opened her mouth to say something, but with the figure of the Child Dragon growing nearer, she was in the absence of words and closed her mouth quickly.

Suddenly, an overwhelming power of curiosity mounted upon her chest, and she sat up straight.

A Dragon.

A real, live Dragon.

A myth.

A legend.

And she was looking at it.

Keffle sat just feet from her and blinked in awe, her yellow eyes shining.

“Wow.” They said in unison, and then caught each other’s gaze.

“Now don’t tell me you’ve never seen a Human before?!” Serena giggled finally, deciding that the little Dragon was harmless. Keffle chuckled and her eyes changed to a merry blue.

“I will if you tell me you’ve never seen a Dragon.” sang the Child-like voice.

Serena’s laughter echoed off of the wall of the Cave like many voices.

“Where I come from, Dragons are only a myth.” she explained.

“Where do you come from?” twittered the orange and yellow Dragon. She stood and came snout-to-nose with Serena once more. “And why is your hair the color of gold? And why are your eyes the color of the Sky on a Cloudless Spring afternoon? And why do you speak so differently, though I can understand you? I’ve never seen-”

“Serena!”

Jerry dashed for Keffle, having only just awoken and believing that Serena was under attack.

The Dragonling squealed and made to run, but Serena leaped in front of her before Jerry was even halfway there.

Whoosh!

BOOM!

“AHHHHHHHHH!”

A twenty-foot-long body of claws, teeth, horns and scales landed between Serena and Jerry, uttering a low warning growl.

Serena heard screams echoing from the other side of the Mountain of protective Dragon flesh, and knew the others had awoken. It was not yet dawn.

Will the World End in 2012?

If you’re reading this right now then you are probably just as much of a worry-wart as I am. It’s a disease, man. Don’t buy into it!

This is probably one of the biggest controversies surrounding our culture today. I’ve spoken to a couple of clergy who believe that something will happen on that day in December of 2012, and then my dad thinks it’s all a big spoof, and so does my husband.

So, who do we believe?

I’m really stuck in the middle right now. My minds wants to worry itself away that the world will really end at that time. My heart tells me that God is unpredictable and the Holy Bible tells me that He will return on a day when no one expects him to.

So, then, if we’re all expecting Him to return in December of 2012, doesn’t that defeat the point? He’s going to come when none of us expect him to.

The one thing I do know is that we are made to love and to trust. That’s the beautiful part of being created – we are not the ones in control, so we really don’t have to worry about anything. If we are faithful to Him, and we trust in him completely, then we should never have to worry about anything.

I think I’ve made up my mind. Whether the world ends in 2012 or not, I am not going to worry about it. That doesn’t mean that I don’t care, just that it isn’t something that’s under my control and I’m not going to act like it is by worrying about it.

This year will be a blessing to us, whether it is our last, or not.

Bertha Blackhour, the Bowling Ball

So I was talking to my mom the other day about this character, and I remembered that I had a previous blog dedicated to her – Bertha Blackhour, that is.

Forgive me for snickering like a naughty child playing a prank at my title. It isn’t that I dislike my character, Bertha Blackhour, who resembles an evil (and fat) stepmother. It’s just that her personality and even her physical features seem to find themselves akin to a bowling ball in many ways.

I work at a bowling alley. Bowling balls are round; so is Bertha. They’re hard, and so is Bertha’s stubborn personality. Oftentimes, badly-aimed bowling balls will find themselves rolling in a gutter, and so Bertha’s evil tendencies get the best of her… a lot.

You might think she is structured a bit like the evil stepmother from Cinderella, but actually, she’s not. She wasn’t structured after anyone I knew very well in my high school years, instead, I created the character from the perception that Serena needed some sort of antagonist in her life, someone to rule over her. Someone she needed and wanted to get away from. Bertha serves that purpose well, I think. From her rotund girth to her unbrushed, yellowing teeth to her nasty temper, Bertha Blackhour is exactly what I intended her to be: a bully. Even her name, Bertha (for her girth) and Blackhour (giving her name a sinister and dark sound) seems to describe her character. Although I write only to the descriptions of her fatness and meanness in the first couple chapters of The Lands of Forever, I always envisioned Bertha as having dark, sharp-looking eyes and short, stringy hair. Her normal attire would probably be lounge clothes. In no way do I insist by her character that Americans are lazy. Lazy is a state of mind, not located to any country in the world, but instead to people and their attitudes. Bertha is lazy, as seen by her chore list for Serena. She’s also very greedy, especially for money and for her own pleasure. In yesterday’s excerpt, she sings the praises of the worth Serena’s ancestor’s diary could bring to them both, though Serena (who sleeps in the attic) is quick to see who is really going to get the reward.

When I created Bertha, I didn’t think she was completely evil. As I wrote more, her animosities toward Serena came out, and it appears that she only adopted the girl so she could have someone around the house to do all the chores for her. Actually, that isn’t the case. If only a small shred, Bertha does have a string of good in her. How? In the excerpt yesterday, she allowed Serena to bring in a ‘bedraggled kit’, which she later named Beauty. So Bertha isn’t really one of those loner antagonists that everyone hates and no one wants to get along with. Most antagonists need to have a sidekick anyways, right?

Now for Beauty, the cat. At one time, this poor little black kitten was in terrible need. Of food, shelter, and for a feeling of semblence and love to another creature. She may have attached herself to Serena first, but cats have personalities just like people do. This cat wanted more than the material things. Like most cats, she’s haughty and uppity and deems herself a Queen in her own Realm. Being a Queen, she needed someone to have dominion over, to express her Queenly cat powers. Serena was just the one. And since Bertha already had roosted herself as Serena’s guardian, it isn’t hard to see how Beauty slipped right into the authority position with her (although, concerning her diet, it may have been a tight squeeze).

Together, I think Bertha Blackhour and Beauty (the inappropriately named cat) make an evil duo. But I had another purpose in mind for them when I designed their character: comic relief. I think their laziness and girth give them a laughable entrance. I find hilarity in the fact that they’re trying to be intimidating on Serena, and she knows exactly why they’re doing it.

I’m on YouTube!

Hey guys check it out! I figured out how to copy the URL to a video my friend Dave Kuykendall took of me while I read at open mike night at Springfield Writer’s and Poets last month! Dave is also a great writer and his blog is Kuykenblog at davekuykendall.com. Check him out, he’s AWESOME!

Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tIU3ax_qnk