Welcome!

The stories we are going to tell here are, in one way or another, related to each other, even when the adventures occur on different planets and in different sun systems and, sometimes, many thousands of years apart. We only request that you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoy relating them.

Each story will be preceded by a stanza from a poem. As the poem is still sort of a work in progress, I am not going to put the entire thing up yet. Once it is done, each stanza will be in chronological order. The stories will not be presented in chronological order.

The first stories take place in Rome in the late second century of what we consider the Common Era. A key point for Rome and its people and where, with a few key events, history took a different path than the one we know. This story could be considered an alternate alternate history – related to the rest of the stories, but not of the same timeline.

Life, Being Crazy and Stupid Politics

Things with us have been rather unsettled and stressful in the last few months. We had to put Jessie, who was my mother’s shi tzsu, to sleep as her vacant episodes were getting more frequent and lasting longer. She then had a night where she was totally unresponsive. She was 14 years old.

Then we had to replace the washer and dryer. They were only 20 years old. Nothing is made to last anymore. But I do like the new washer and dryer.

Then we noticed that Whitney’s bump, which she has had since we got her, seemed to be getting bigger. So, a trip to the vet’s, she got caught up on her shots and was very happy when that lump was removed. Fortunately, it was benign.

Then my van, which had been t-boned in October by a guy turning right from the left lane, decided to die as we were getting ready to take Whitney to a grooming appointment. So, we started to look into getting it fixed and running and discovered that the total cost would be over $4500. Well, surprise, we qualified for a car loan and got a (new to me) 2007 Chevy HHR. Nice car, does not hold as much as the van, but does have a remote start function. Cool.

Then a few weeks ago we noticed that Whitney was drinking a lot of water. After she had two accidents in the house, we decided she needed to be seen by the vet again. This is a dog who would rather die than piddle in the house. Well, she is diabetic. So, twice a day we have to give her insulin. She thinks she is pulling one over on us because she gets to be on the bed for her shot (yay for dobie’s wrinkly necks) and she gets a treat after.

And now the US Congress, which is supposed to protect the citizens, have decided that those of us who are retired, crippled, crazy or no longer “productive members of society” are very, very expendable. There are thousands of people in the same position as Michael and I are. Dependent on Social Security (money we have earned), disability, Veteran’s benefits (either retirement or disability) and other forms of government assistance. We are somewhat lucky (and that is questionable) in that we do/will have enough money to make it through one month, maybe two, if the government does not send out assistance checks on August 3. After that – who knows.

I expect that, if the idjits who are putting their ‘principles’ before their humanity, have their way, there will be a lot of suicides on August 4. There are many, many people out there who do not even have the small margin of safety-net that we have. We have already been discussing what we may do if it gets to that. Not a happy prospect, but, in light of today’s society, probably a necessary one.

It saddens me because I really do want to write about Rhodenitia and introduce people to this world that Michael created when he was young. It is a wonderful world. Not idealistic because it did start out as a wargaming world, but it is someplace I have grown very fond of. Michael has plans for a sequel to Titans’ Travels. DiCi keeps dropping chapters into her journal for Other-wheres and Other-whens.

I wish there was a hacker out there who would discover dirty little secrets that the junior congresscritters are hiding. Maybe then we could get some sanity back into our government. Because if the anti-abortion fundies get their way, there is very little hope for any of us.

Review – Of Oysters, Pearls and Magic

I finished reading this book a couple of weeks ago, but have been somewhat reluctant to review it. Not because I have anything bad to say about it, but because I have much good to say about it.

Of Oysters, Pearls and Magic is one of those quiet stories that walks with you. It is a gentle story about a young woman on a distant colony planet who, through betrayal, rejection, loss, love and magic discovers who she is and the strength she carries inside herself.

The title refers to the background notes of the story – a fishing village that depends on the oysters, and their pearls, that provide the main income/trade the village depends on to survive. Mirra is scorned in her village because she is a female who used power that was considered by the men to be theirs and theirs alone. She flees to The City where her ability with magic is encouraged and trained by one who used to live in or near her village, but was also outcast because of her ability to use magic.

In the school in The City she discovers that magic is not gender specific and that there are other kinds of magic. She learns to trust, somewhat reluctantly, and to love. And then she, and everyone in The City, learn that the cruelest betrayal is from the forces of nature. But she, and her two loves, Auri and Josh, leave with the refugees to seek – what? Safety? Perhaps.

In their wanderings, each of the triad finds their strengths and weaknesses, and learn to cherish each trait in their partners and how the three of them, strong individually, are strengthened by their unity.

I don’t want to give away too much of this story. It doesn’t have intrigue or mystery or high drama, but it does have a presence. Joyce delights with some of the seemingly random things she tosses in – recipes, craft projects, observations of humanity in mundane circumstances as well as stressful events – and makes you see and feel Mirra’s world.

I would like to read more about this world. Find out how the colony was established (she hints at the mixture of cultures that make up the various regions), maybe how the magic was discovered. Was it inborn (psychic abilities the colonists brought with them) or a result of something on the planet influencing the genetic code of the humans?

I read the story online as Joyce was writing it and am delighted that she was able to get it published in Kindle format. I now have my own copy I can peruse from time to time. Yes, I will be reading this again. This story is a quiet friend who is there when you need time away from the headlong rush that permeates our world today. Thank you Joyce, for letting me visit this world.

Of Witches, Fairies and Books

One of the best things about our recent change in fortunes is that I can indulge in my favorite pasttime – escaping into worlds that storytellers share with those of us who like to read. I have been on a reading marathon recently. That means that I have been buying books in clusters. I have also purchased a Kindle since space is at a premium in this house. I do not get rid of books, I collect them. I read them. I find authors who offer me thrills, delights and viewpoints to ponder.

It used to be I would devour a book, enjoy the flavor and substance of it, dream of being a writer myself and then realize that I had no talent. Out of necessity, that dream has re-surfaced and with it a different way of reading. I am observing how these writers present their worlds and, slowly, trying out some of those things I have observed in my own writing. In doing that, I have learned that I have a bit more talent than I was led to believe I had. I doubt that I will ever become a “real, published writer”, but I can put my silly little stories on this site and maybe someone, someday might enjoy them.

The recent marathon was caused by the delivery of six books, five of which I am going to rave about here – the Fyne Witch Sisters by Linda Winstead Jones and the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire.

Last year, during one of those rare times when I had a few extra bucks and could afford to splurge on one book, I picked up The Moon Witch because the cover blurb and a skim of the first few pages got my attention. It was a delightful read and, like most good series, the book could stand alone without reading the other two. This is a Good Thing because I have a habit of reading series out of order. If you have to read a series In Sequence to be able to understand what is going on, the writer/editor/publisher aren’t doing the best job they can. Especially when a Not Our Earth world is presented.

The Moon Witch was fun and I wanted to read the other two books in the series, but finances were tight. So I sighed and said “Some day.” Some Day came sooner than expected and I was able to get The Sun Witch, the first in the series, and The Star Witch, the third in the series. What totally surprised me about this series was that, even though it was High Fantasy (witches, don’t you know), they was actually Romance Novels. I am not a fan of Romance Novels. Most of them are sappy and trite.

But this series presents three strong women who have doubts about their abilities, who are pulled into adventures and, in spite of being pulled into the forefront of a civil war within their country, manage to find out who they are and who they are meant to be. A small part of each story is that the three sisters had three different fathers. The main plot (and there are several subplots that keep you guessing) is for them to come into their powers and defeat a three-hundred-year-old curse placed on their family by an angry wizard. In the process each learns to accept the darkness within themselves that resides in everyone. From my own experience, this is a difficult path, but LWJ does not trivialize it.

Each Witch stumbles, nearly gives up and then realizes that, in spite of the men who have entered their lives, they are the only ones who can rescue themselves.

BTW – if you are offended by blatant sex scenes, pass this up. Lots of very graphic sex in this, but, honestly, I didn’t find it objectionable.

I was lucky enough last year to be one of the recipients of an Advanced Reader Copy (which I will treasure until the end of my days) of Seanan McGuire’s first October (Toby) Daye book – Rosemary and Rue. I was hooked for many reasons including the fact that it was well written and did not have the ‘feel’ of a New Writer. Seanan writes with a maturity that several established writers sometimes have trouble reaching. The action takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area, a place I grew up in and still have a fondness for (even if I can’t deal with some of the population problems it developed before I moved away in the late 80′s), so many of the places she writes about I can visualize in my mind’s eye.

Seanan is also unusual in that she has managed to get published, within two years, four books out of a series – A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night and Late Eclipses.

I don’t know if it was because I read these books in order and one right after the other, but what a wild roller coaster ride. Toby Daye is a changeling (half Fae and half human) who works as a Private Investigator. Toby has a penchant for making Very Powerful Enemies in The Land of the Fae and making friends of those who ought to be her adversaries. She spends a lot of time on a case under-sleeping, under-eating and often injured by weird Fae things – objects and critters. I, for one, felt how she did as I was reading. To me, this is a Really Good Writer.

In A Local Habitation, Toby is sent to ‘just check up on’ her liege’s niece, January O’Leary. Simple enough until she gets to the knowe/computer company and finds a couple of mysteries that need her PI talents.

With An Artificial Night, she starts out trying to find the children of her friends who have disappeared without a trace and ends up fighting the biggest, baddest boogie-man you’ve ever seen whilst trying to keep from falling under his influence as well. Just when you think she has finished with the case, the roller coaster climbs another hill and speeds around a 90° bend and the ride continues.

Late Eclipses has Toby dancing to agendas created by her enemies and detractors, while those who have become friends try their darndest to help her avoid the deadly tango by cutting in wherever humanly (uh, Fae-ly?) possible. Lots and lots of ‘can we stop the music now?’ towards the end of the story only to have the tempo speed up again.

Seanan blends many mythologies seamlessly (Japanese Kitsune interacting with Cait Sidhe, who are arguing with Selkie and Daoine Sidhe), although I haven’t yet met a Leprechan (that I can recall) or a Hawaiian Menehune. I have learned more about Celtic Mythology through reading these books than I ought to have from my heritage. She draws on stories such as Tam Lin and weaves them into challenges Toby and her friends face. (Up until a couple of years ago I had never heard the story of Tam Lin even though I knew the name. That is the sad state of my education.)

If anyone is looking for something that is fun to read and leaves you satisfied, pick up one of these books (or all of each series) and lose yourself in the pathways. You won’t regret it. Now, I am going to lose myself in the Tess Noncoire novel by P. R. Frost, Forest Moon Rising.

I’ll let you know what I think of it when I am done.

I Don’t Know

I don’t know if this site is going to continue. I mean, I’m going to leave it up, but I don’t know if I will be posting anything more either here or on the story sites.

I am so very tired and so very worn down by life and by the walls I keep encountering whenever I try to do something that might survive my pathetic attempt at life. I do not have any kind of stick-to-it-tiveness and the fear of doing or saying or writing something wrong is overwhelming. I am tired of being in constant pain – both physical and emotional.

I am tired of being not pretty and not smart and generally in the way. I deluded myself for many years that I might matter to some people, but when I look at things in the cold light of reality I know that is just a shadow dream.

I am not actively suicidal, but I would not move out of the way of a car that was barreling towards me. I am out of fight and ready to go down for the count. I am so very tired of emulating Sysiphus and am ready to let the boulder squash me flat.

Maybe in my next life I can be pretty and smart.

Well – I don’t know how interesting this is

Not that anyone is wondering about the lack of updates on this collection of sites – The Roman View: Titans’ Travels, Ashantara Chronicles, and Other-wheres and Other-whens – or this one, but I feel the need to noodle on something I consider somewhat interesting about some recent things going on with me. And, of course, me being the beat-around-the-bush-before-I-make-my-point person that I am, part of that means delving into my oh-so-warped-and-odd childhood.

You see, these last few weeks I have been able to indulge in a primary source of joy and comfort developed in my childhood – reading for pure escapist enjoyment. I haven’t been able to do this in a very long time due to both lack to time and lack of funds. Throw in a very-limited-due-to-mental-imbalance ability-to-focus-and-concentrate and reading became a chore. Library books were not an option due to ex-roommates and lost library books and inability to afford fines or book replacement fees or libraries not carrying the types of reading material I enjoy. Yeah, sucks to me sometimes.

But back to my current indulgence of reading matter. It started slowly with Live Journal, attempting NaNoWriMo after being encouraged by a couple of folks on my f-list, finding some of my f-list were amateur-trying-to-be-professional writers, through them finding out that some authors I admired were on LJ and friending them, through them ‘meeting’ and friending other writers, having one f-list writer offering some of her books at ‘discount’ (and autographed) and willing to work out payment plans with me, winning an Advanced Reader Copy of the first book published by a new writer. All of this served to slowly draw me out of a life-is-hitting-hard-and-I-am-crumbling fog of several years in duration.

Included in that morass of life were those people who encouraged me, and Michael, to write some of the stories we had been discussing that were centered in a universe he envisioned in his childhood/youth. So we did and this blog and its sub-blogs are the result of that. As an aside and not really relevant to this post, it is a tad annoying that what we write, while extremely enjoyable to us, does not seem to be what other people want to read. Oh well, it can be argued that we are mostly doing this for us and I am whining about it again.

Then we got the happy shock of our lives when a request for a review of his VA disability, yet again, actually bore fruit resulting in a decided increase in our fortunes. The frugality we forcibly learned in the last few years are, and I really hope continue to be, ingrained habits now. Every purchase is carefully considered before it is made. Yes, we are indulging in some long denied treats because, once bills are paid, there are funds there to cover the indulgences. The temptation to go hog wild is great, but the utter denial of some necessities in the not-too-recent past is still a specter hovering over us. It is an interesting balancing act.

Back to reading and books and certain things I have noticed in the last few weeks.

Most of my life my choice of reading material was pure escapist fiction. Mostly science fiction (thank you Daddy for encouraging me in that), a lot of fantasy starting with Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, not so much the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm or Greek Mythologies. My education and/or exposure to such was extremely limited – which sometimes really annoys me – even though I knew some of the basics of each form. And most of my reading was for pure escapist enjoyment much to the chagrin of some of my English teachers.

So, with the past few years being rather sparse on the reading-for-enjoyment spectrum, it would seem somewhat logical that when I was able to finally indulge my thirst I would resume reading strictly for enjoyment purposes. You know, tear through a book and pick up the next one and devour that as quickly.

Nope.

I am discovering that I will tear through a book to get the main gist of the story. Then I will start the book over from the beginning and read it carefully. I now see nuances of writing and plot that my English teachers tried to pound into my brain. It is kind of interesting to note this working through my mind. It is also making me examine stuff I have written in my stories and see plot holes and lack of continuity.

It is going to take some time to work this into Ashantara Tales, but I know that, yet again, I need to do a major re-write. Since only two or three people are reading it very occasionally, this is not really a problem. The core of the story is not changing, but I am noting that character motivations need to be made clearer.

Feedback would be nice once re-writing commences, but I no longer expect that and need to depend on my own ability to second guess what might draw in a reader. It would be nice for both Michael and myself to get some kind of encouragement in our ability to write, but that isn’t going to happen. Our style of story does not meet the criteria of what is currently in vogue and, you know what, that is okay. Just getting this out there where it might be read by someone and might encourage someone to write out their own stories has to be enough.

Who knew?

Who knew that a positive change in circumstances (and fortune) could be just as world tilting and nearly as scary as skimming on the edge of disaster for a very long time?

If I haven’t mentioned it before, Michael is a Vietnam Vet with 30% disability. The original diagnosis was schitzophrenia because PTSD had not been catch-phrased at that time. Over the years that has been the baseline diagnosis with a few other alphabet soup conditions added on from time to time.

From time to time we have also tried to 1) get the baseline diagnosis changed and 2) get the Powers-That-Be to up his percentage as the PTSD and other alphabet soup conditions interferes with ‘living a full and active’ life. When he had his hip replacement, which was not military related, and subsequent diagnosis of osteo-arthritis which made it impossible to work in fields he was comfortable in, he received a ‘comfortable’ SSDI stipend. Those two things is what kept us in the barely-getting-by end of the economic sector.

Now, I am an undiagnoised (by medical authorities) bipolar. Due to the stresses and strains of many things converging in my life (mostly the passing of several – to me – important people (and a few pets)), I stepped off the edge and ended up in full fledged depression. Add in some physical ailments which have kept me in constant chronic pain (and dismissed by many in the medical field), and I was also not functioning well. But the PTB decided that I did not deserve a stipend even though I was unable to work.

However, on my 60th birthday I did qualify for a retirement stipend from my last place of employment. Not much, but enough that we were able to do a teensy bit better financially. This year I also qualify for Social Security Retirement. Which will start in November because I started the paperwork a bit late. (You need to start it 6 months before your birthday month.) This will help with finances.

But, back in April, I nudged Michael to try, once again, to get his VA Disibility increased and the diagnosis changed. This time, though, I was going to insist that when we got the denial, we push back. Before dropping off the request we went in and talked with the American Legion (who, because of a strange set of circumstances a few years ago, were his Power of Attorney on record) and got the information we would need when we received the denial letter. That way, when that denial came, we would only need to make a phone call and they would do the legal fighting for us.

A couple of weeks ago we got the letter from the Review Board.

It was approved.

For much more than we were expecting.

We are still reeling.

And waiting for the other shoe to drop.

And that, Dear Readers, is why there have been no posts the last couple of weeks. Well, mostly why. Michael is also sick. With either a cold or the flu.

September 13, 2010

No Titans’ Travels this week because life is messy and sucks big time.

Will be updating Other-wheres and Other-whens on Wednesday or Thursday because I do have some chapters in reserve.

Will post a chapter segment on Ashantara Chronicles whenever the mood strikes me (probably sometime in the next six months) simply because no one is reading it anyway.

Damn tired of everything right now.