The Frewyn Herald: Home of the Haanta Series

Many people ask me what music I listen to that helps me write 6-10k words a day. My answer is always Thomas Bergersen . Without his music, I could not write battles, I could not write family reunions, I could not write heartfelt moments. If I was to ever have a book trailer, Starvation would be the song I would use; and if I was to ever have a movie made for the Haanta Series, I would want him and only him to score it. You have heard his music in films and trailers for years, and now I ask you to support him and his first official release. Find him on: Facebook: Here iTunes: Here His is a music that makes me weep with exultation and relief at the same time. Support his work; you will not be disappointed.

Alasdair and Boudicca were once involved a very long time ago. Here is a piece of their reconciliation from "The Commander and the Den Asaan Rautu" Vol 2. Attraction                 Alasdair looked back at Sarasa, who was in the middle of cleaning his perfect teeth, and treated his grooming with a glance of mild disgust. “What do you think of him?” he asked the commander.                 “In character or appearance?” she simpered, watching Sarasa flicking his findings onto the ground.                 He had meant to inquire after whether she considered the smartly-garmented and mildly offensive prince to be attractive -rather if he were more attractive than himself, which was all his concern- but in his want to say character he had said appearance in...

Your Sethena                 It was evening in the Diras castle keep, and with all the accompaniments of the gloaming, along with the soft amber light of sunset and cool breeze in an otherwise temperate atmosphere, came the Den Asaan’s requisite correspondence to his brothers. When his long and arduous training for the day had done, he returned to his residence in the commons and sat down to the table to begin his letters before his duties of patrol should inhibit his writing or before the scent of supper should decimate his concentration. He gathered his powdered inks and writing implements from the storeroom and made a small fire to have the warmth and hissing sound lull him into a reposed state for his lengthy stint in his chair.                 He wrote first to Leraa, giving a report of their return and of the king’s success at ...

Here is a little from book 8. Enjoy.  An Evening’s Entertainment                 Ladrei and Iraiya walked across the courtyard to the marble staircase and followed the prince and his attendant into the royal chambers. Tea was directly gotten and as the men sat at the table, the two women fluttered about in silent duty as they prepared a small meal for their masters. The prince and the guildlord were soon discussing matters of business, and the women took more pleasure in speaking low to one another than to hearing their lords restate their affairs. Lamir spoke of his recent request to the Haanta to negotiate and reinstate the borders of Old Lucentia and Ladrei explained away his new ownership of the largest cafe in the district. Their conversation was attended to by the two women while they poured fresh tea and placed their meal of grapeseed oil and fig leaves before their masters, but more heartwarming th...

Linguist extraordinaire The E-Book Therapist wrote a wonderful article on the uses of shall and should. I thought I'd share.    The Joy of Shall Shall is a word that is rapidly falling into disuse, particularly in North America, as is the corresponding past and conditional use of should. This is a tragedy. Although the rules governing proper usage of shall/will and should/would may seem a bit complicated to those of us not used to hearing it in everyday speech, they are straightforward, sensible and offer a wonderful subtlety of meaning that is lost when the only tools in our arsenal are will/would. So, with some prompting from Michelle Franklin , I’ve decided to bring back shall. I wanted to do this question full justice, so I turned to my usage guides. The first one I checked was a quite recent Oxford Guide to Canadian English Usage, and its brief mention of shall and will was pretty descriptivist and toothless. “Canadians don’t follow the rules, what are y...

I had to write a small story about this Gif.  The idea of a straw calling to Rautu makes me laugh. The Party Straw                 While the chief of the keep was in raptures over their new prince, Kai Linaa was searching for a manner in which to express her artist prowess in the way of a celebration commemorating the birth of a new Brennin. She was sensible of Alasdair’s moderate taste with regard to ceremony and would therefore contrive to keep any commemoration on his family’s account a small one, but in her questioning Martje on the use of the large kitchen, she had discovered that this very day was Shayne’s birthday.                 “Aye, I’m doin’ well by my man,” Martje proudly professed. “Makin’ him a cake and a nice dinner and all.”                ...

Not with that spelling As an author of traditional books and e-books many people ask me: "How can authors afford to have their books at only 2,99 or even .99?" This is a legitimate question, and it has a very simple answer. Until recently, books had to be set at a certain price for an author to make any sort of royalties. A book that was 25$ in hardback or trade paperback usually yielded a dollar or maybe two and some change for the author, but e-books set at 3$ will yield the same. Readers ask, "Why is that?" Mostly due to overhead. Publishing a book can be an expensive ordeal: graphic designers need to be employed for covers, line editors and content editors need to be paid to finely comb through manuscripts, and distributors need to be compensated. Publishing an e-book, however, defrays much of the cost, leaving 50%-70% for authors instead of only 10%-20%. Granted, traditional publishing usually comes with all the requisite accessories of marketing and publi...