Chapter 23 - A Box for a Song

"Are you suggesting this stone is a sort of a jar for a song?"

Chapter 23 - A Jar for a Song.pdf

Where's the Chapter?

Almost ready! This section of the novel has a couple of holes in it, so I've had to do a bit more editing than usual, plus I've been busy at work, and Orkgrrrl and I are both having dental work, and I've been rather sick.

The next chapter will be ready once I'm out from bedhind this FTP-hosing corporate firewall.

Update OK, after three walks around the block, I've had a great idea for some revisions that need to be made to the whole Tarun chapter. I'm basically going to set all my other myriad projects aside and get some time to start re-writing some chapters in this section. This won't really slow down the chapters (not that they could get much slower), but it will result in some more fun for our heroes!

Chapter 22 - Tarun Arrival

I apologize for the slowness of posts. I'm starting to work into a section of the novel that has some holes and inconsistencies that I need to fix as I go. This is a relatively short bit, but I had to work it over several times. I finally ended up deleting a whole dialog that I was rather proud of but that has no place in the novel as it's now organized. I may salvage this dialog or post it as a standalone bit at some later date.

Tarun is a fascinating city in that it is given entirely over to the most laissez faire form of capitalism. Its Farad rulers are merchants and deal makers extrordinaire. I seem to remember that there's a great story about a Farad merchant in the Tales of Talislanta book (now out of print, I beleive).

Chapter 22 - Tarun Arrival.pdf

The Sad Oranges of Poland

A short story of mine has just been published in Margin - the Journal of Magical Realism. Every couple of years I initiate a big push to get some of my stuff published. It's usually not very successful. This story was the only one from the dozen or so I sent out two years ago that was picked up. I'm particularly happy to see The Sad Oranges of Poland published, as it is one of my personal favorites. There's a funny thing about this story. It was written before the Iraq War, 9/11, or the 2000 Florida Election re-count. But read in the light of those events, it becomes rather political.

Part III

Part III of War of the Gyro, covering the period from the parting of Za'dar and Feurid to the end of Za'dar's immediate adventures is now collected in one pdf file. You can find a link to it at the right. Enjoy!

Chapter 21 - Sogol

I should be in bed, but I wanted to get another chapter out since tomorrow is probably going to be much too busy for that sort of thing.

Chapter 21 - Sogol.pdf

Good night!

Another Zadar

Character naming is a tricky business. I remember reading an interview where Ray Bradbury tells of his own surprise when he realized that two of the main characters in Fahrenheit 451, Montag and Faber, are named after makers of writing supplies. Presumably the names slipped into his subconscious while he was working. It's always a surprise when you find out that your characters have names with meaning you are not aware of. Today I found mention of another Za'dar; a place in Croatia with an interesting way of approaching the sea.

Chapter 20 - Something Completely Different

Now that I've managed to completely seperate all my characters and drop the treasure into the ocean, it's about time I did something completely different. Za'dar is off in the jungles, Feurid has gone to Phantas, the Sunra are off on their own business, and who knows if Tamohara and Krathe are even going to appear again. So I figure it's time to introduce some completely different characters, and by different, I mean not only new, but new to Talislanta altogether.

Chapter 20 - In a Grotto of the Sea.pdf

Welcome to Zanth

It is best, when you really want to understand someone, to know where they come from. And while a treatise on the land of Zanth, with its 10,000 gods, 500 guilds, and numberless taverns pleasures would be beyond the scope of this or any study, it might be worthwhile to provide a glimpse of this city.

Now while Za'dar is the "Blade of Zir", his heart, as the hearts of all Zandir (expect perhaps the recalcitrant Zann) belongs to Zanth. Zanth has been called the Jewel of the West, but this saying is false. For if anything, Zanth is a whole heaping pile of jewels, cut and uncut, precious and semi-precious, magical and mundane, with a few rocks, teeth, bits of hair, a frightened snail, and at least one lump of coal mixed in. For as Conteraz said:

Zanth is everything to everyone, except, of course, when it's not

I could certainly say much more, but as more and better guides than mine are to come, I satisfy myself with these humble maps:

All of Zanth
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7

War of the Gyro reviewed at 0.333

James at 0.333 published a very good review of War of the Gyro. Not only does he like it, but he rates me favorably in the same review with Cory Doctorow. I can't help but being a little puffed up by that.

He isn't a graduate of Columbia's MFA program nor did he attend a Clarion Writer's Workshop, as far as I know.

It's true. I don't have any special writer's cred in that way (though I did get a rejection slip from Wizards of the Coast yesterday). I did, however, "waste" my schooling years studying philosophy, so I'm nearly as low on the usefulness scale.

I'm somewhat embarrassed that I still haven't read Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, as I really enjoyed Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, but maybe I'll get to it soon. I've been on a huge paperback science fiction kick lately. The reason is as simple as the discovery of a used bookstore behind the place where I buy my groceries. Now, thanks to a bunch of replies to a thread I posted on Attacks of Opportunity, I've got a even more recommendations to sift through.

Recently Read:

• Trekmaster by James Johnson - a totally random choice that turned out quite well. A world degenerated to feudalism has been reunited by a powerful leader who hopes to reintegrate it with the galactic union.


• Solar Lottery by Phillip K Dick - In the future, Von Neuman's game theory is the basis for a system of government, and someone's trying to kick over the game board.


• The Crack in Space by Phillip K Dick - A fascinating political sci-fi that can summarizedied in the following sentence: A helluva lot of strange stuff has to happen before an African American can get elected president.


• The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove - Lee's army accepts miraculous new weapons from a group of mysterious strangers but find that winning independence comes at a great cost. This novel presents a much more optimistic view of the South than Turtledove's other "south wins the war" alternate histories.

We're Back! Chapter 19

What a week. To top it off, I had to re-write the last three paragraphs of this story as they'd gotten eaten by my laptop somewhere along the way. I almost always have multiple backups and hard copies, but this time I was left cold.

Chapter 19 - Za'dar's Story.pdf

Next week on "War of the Gyro"

I realize that there hasn't been anything here in about a week, and I'm very sorry. It's been a chaotic week and I spent most of my free time this weekend (such as it was) catching up on some much needed sleep. The good news is, things are going to stabilize in a day or two, and I'll be back to posting regualrly every couple of days. There are some good bits coming up that I'm very anxious to publish, including looks at Farad and Phantas, Za'dar getting into even more trouble, Tamohara in a slinky ball gown, and eventually the war itself. You don't want to miss it, I promise!