Tag Archives: Tabat

WIP – A Story of the Rose Kingdom

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Cat

You cannot smell the roses in the hours before dawn. It is only when sunlight touches the vast blossoms, each as large as a human head, that crowd the tallest branches of the Hedge, that the petals loosen. The perfume seeps out into the air then, first as a hint of sweetness, then stronger.

By midmorning, the smell is so intoxicating that approaching enemies lay down their arms and sit, staring into the air, nostrils flared, breathing, smelling. It grows heavier and heavier throughout all the day, and only begins to ebb when the sun completely slips below the ocean horizon to the west. The Hedge borders the Rose Kingdom on three sides, and on the west is that blue line.
Continue reading →

Posted in 2013, Tabat, teasers, Writing | Tagged , | 1 Comment

What I’m Currently Working On

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Cat

The rewrite of the first book, whose tentative working title is Beasts of Tabat, is off to Seth the fabulous agent, so I’ve started messing with the second book. It’s got the love triangle I mentioned in an earlier post, and I’m contemplating the somewhat odd strategy of having it start, chronologically, at a time point somewhere in the middle of the first book, and show some of that action from a different viewpoint. Crazy? Maybe, but I think it’ll be interesting to try.
Continue reading →

Posted in 2013, Books, Tabat, Writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Some Maunderings About Rewriting a Novel

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Cat

If you’re friend or family, you may know something about it, or even have read one of the many, many earlier drafts.

And I’m really happy with it, but holy cow, is it hard to rewrite a novel. Because you’ve got to manage it all in your head while working with smaller parts of it.
Continue reading →

Posted in 2013, Moon's Accomplice, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

SteamCon Itinerary (October 14-16, Bellevue Hyatt Regency)

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Cat

Itinerary for the 2011 SteamCon! A reading from The Moon’s Accomplice, Writing Steampunk For Fun & Profit, The Time Machine, Rustproof Steampunk, The Hollow Earth: From Verne to Poe and Beyond Continue reading →

Posted in conventions, readings, Seattle, Tabat | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Watch Out for Parasitic Fairy Bites

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Cat

A scene from early on, illustrating one of the dangers of the wilds near Tabat: parasitic fairy bites. Continue reading →

Posted in free fiction, Moon's Accomplice, online fiction, Tabat, teasers | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Filling In More of The Moon’s Accomplice

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Cat

And all along the side of the boat, on the inside of the railing, were pictograms scratched by former prisoners. Some were easy to decipher: Six Flowers, Sun and Rain, Riverfern. Others were harder, lacking an established alphabet. A clamshell might be that, or some other concept, or food, or the sea, and coupled with what could have been a candle or eel or sprout, who was to know the precise name of the former prisoner, fate as unknown as Shyra’s, who had scratched that, in letters no more than a fingernail high, in the space beside the hasp to which Shyra had been secured for the duration of the journey? Continue reading →

Posted in Moon's Accomplice, Tabat, teasers, write-a-thon, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Clarion West Write-a-thon Progress: How Deep Is Red

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Cat

So here’s a chunk from this morning’s writing so far. The story will be the sequel to “Sugar”, which is available in Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight. If you’re interested in getting to see the whole story, then I invite you to support me in the Write-a-thon! I’ll be sending a weekly e-mail that will include the stories that I write for the Write-a-thon over its six-week course, so for a small donation, you’ll be getting what I’d like to think of as high quality fiction. :) Continue reading →

Posted in clarion west, write-a-thon | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

What Do You Think Of This Book Synopsis?

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Cat

One of the things I’ve been doing is reading other big sprawling fantasy novels: the Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson Wheel of Time series, George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, Pat Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear, David Edding’s Belgariad and Robin Hobb’s work. I’m trying to figure out what makes for a successful series of fantasy books. What other series would you suggest looking at? Continue reading →

Posted in Moon's Accomplice, Tabat, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Dryad’s Kiss

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Cat

One night he thought he glimpsed her through the black wrought iron fence that surrounds the trees there. He spent the evening hunting her up and down its damp green aisles, listening hard and hearing only the soft hooting of the piskies or the occasional thwip of an arrow and then quick footfalls. At length he came out of the Wood and sat there on a bench by the gate. Continue reading →

Posted in free fiction | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

99 Statues, Part Two

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Cat

He could hear Feniker’s soft breathing, a burry almost snore, a sound so uniquely Fen that it tugged a smile onto Nicholas’s lips, knowing what his lover’s face looked like when sleep-slackened, how it must look right now. He had drawn the drapes across the windows; the hotel’s front looked out onto the plaza, but Nicholas had opted for one of the less ostentatious back chambers which he secretly thought more pleasant, overlooking the back gardens, which were the more handsome vista, even when leaf-deprived and blackened by the cold, due to the green cedars that ringed it round. Continue reading →

Posted in teasers, Writing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment