S.J. Mallory's Blog

The "Creating Earth Trilogy" is complete and available as an ebook bundle.
It began with "The Oracle Bone," which foretold the Chosen One's birth.
"Quinine" is Book 3, and it stars the character born in the Soul Pool at the end of the second book, "Dragons of Eternal Spring."
Each book of the trilogy presents a different aspect of what happened in the heavens before and after Goddess caused the Big Bang that created our world. The books aren't sequels in a strict sense. They each have independent endings. They are connected, however, and point to the same conclusion, which becomes complete at the end of "Quinine."
Quinine's birth was the only time an infant had arisen from the Maze, the labyrinth of the afterlife inside the Hand, Goddess' first world.
Stories of the Eternal Spring dragon child began to attract the outside attention that the locals knew one day would come. It wasn't that his birth was a secret. The whole world knew he'd been born and where, but the damage to the Negative side by his birth kept the world at peace for many years.
Some Positives even believed that the spirit of the Negater had been defeated, but Evil was only biding Its time, regrouping and readying for another assault, this one on Airtha and Quinine, the two vital components in the question of whether the remaining universe would be Positive or Negative.
Thanks for reading.
I'm changing gears to science fiction. My next book is scheduled for a summer release.

I offer this without comment: Hobby King is selling a toy target drone.

Most of the language in "The Oracle Bone" will be familiar to anyone from Earth, considering Goddess started the world talking. The "dragon language" of the story was inspired by the earthly Basque spoken word or perhaps it was vice versa. Many faithful believe Adam and Eve spoke Basque. It is a language like no other. On the Hand, the forest world that sets on the cosmos like a left hand, fingers spread wide, there is also a language apart, with characteristics not found on Earth, and since few readers except dragons and certain mystics can speak it, readers may offer their own guide to pronunciation and enjoy tickling their tongues. Throughout Herstoria much communication on the Hand depended on translations into local dialect, which were seldom correct in the original context. Accent and pronunciation were less significant than the sum of the conversation — said the way it felt with an earnest manner and it was friendly enough.

The ebook edition of my cookbook, Cooking With Eagles (Eating and drinking with the best cooks you never heard of) is free at amazon this Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 26-27.

I interviewed the cooks while they made the dish, so it's more like living recipes instead of a piece of paper in a kitchen drawer. There aren't any traditional listing of ingredients, but you'll hear a lot of words of wisdom about food, how to cook it and eat it.
I tended bar at a community service club for a couple of years a while back, and when friends gathered at the bar and got to sipping their favorite beverages and telling stories, there was one subject on which they could always be counted on to relate something mostly like the truth. The general feeling around the lodge was that eating a good meal made it a good day.
A night seldom passed without at least one good food story, either homemade or restaurant served, garnished by descriptions of free-wheeling kitchen techniques, and so I started recording the conversations and eventually got around to writing this book.
Please take a seat anywhere and enjoy the meal.

In my new book, The Dragons of Eternal Spring, dragons protect the Soul Pool from a deadly Speller intent on stopping the birth of the Chosen One, the infant destined to be the ultimate warrior against Evil.
The child's birth was predicted in the ancient scripts, but that doesn't mean it's a foregone conclusion.
As the brave dragons join forces, the vicious sorcerer attacks them every step of the way toward the final, savage encounter at Eternal Spring.
Written by a dragon who was there, this adventure continues the story behind our world's cosmic Beginning.
It's free January 18, 19 and 20. The paperback is $7.99.

Oops. Disregard a previous post about not rewriting The Oracle Bone. I did. Couldn't help it. I have reworked it, moved chapters, added dialogue, fixed typos and assorted other miscues and re-issued it. Now it's really much better. The ebook is available free Jan. 18, 19 and 20. The paperback cost $8.99. A bargain at twice the price. :)

The pain keeps on coming. It's hard enough trying to get readers to notice your book when your budget makes a shoestring appear thick, but when readers who do find it don't like it, that makes it doubly difficult.  Five readers have reacted to The Oracle Bone. Three of them didn't like it in full reviews, one gave it a simple thumbs up and another gave it 5 stars and recommended it. These were free comments. I didn't pay for the abuse. So I'm 2 for 5. Not good, but not completely horrible. And this was the old version.
I took some of the early criticism to heart, so for the paperback I made changes throughout, with more attention to character introductions, added dialogue and fixed assorted typos and such. The new kindle version is also available.  I liked it before, but I think this version is better, and that's the way it will sit. It's true that a writer can rework a book forever, but there comes a time to let it go, take what you've learned, move on and use the knowledge for the next book, which is what I'm doing. The followup, "Dragons of Eternal Spring," is coming along nicely.

I haven't posted since July. We've confronted serious health issues and moved to a new state. Other things going on besides the internet and I didn't miss not blogging. I don't think anyone else did, either.

 I've come to the conclusion that I'm not much of a blogger, mostly because I don't have much to say, except for my books, and my life isn't all that interesting to anyone but me. I get up, walk my dog, exercise, write, look for a job, exercise some more, write, look for a job, walk the dog, go to bed. Do it again the next day.

 I like golf, but don't it much because I can't afford the green fees or even a bucket of balls. That's okay. I have a box of orange plastic balls, plenty of room nearby to practice and a homemade impact bag.

We go to the movies at a second-run theater, which has $1 Tuesdays. We get tickets, popcorn and a drink for $10, just in our tax bracket and it eases the pain of a bad movie, which happens often. We saw two animated stories, Brave, which was cool, and ParaNorman, which wasn't. Just saw Premium Rush, an energized chase movie centered on a bike messenger, which we enjoyed. Probably won't wait to see the new Bond, though, worth a few extra bucks, and Jill definitely won't wait to see The Hobbit.

I have my opinions about what's happening in the world. Glad to see Obama in a second term, even if he is a drone killer who has shredded the Constitution and just a better liar than Romney. Well, there are other things that make it good he's president, like Supreme Court nominations, but he's an elitist like all those corporate buttsuckers in Washington, who live by the Noble Lie, which posits that politicians can't be truthful to you and I, the Great Unwashed, because truth telling interferes with them doing what's best for us.

But I could be wrong and who cares what I think, anyway?

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">

From Page 31

….

That a Mix from Eternity would become a Speller wasn't unusual, but not everyone can touch the Essentia. Magick was natural as air, but how often did a Mix see air?

If she had the power, a younger wouldn't know until the Que Ven, "the Coming Out," which Airtha had just experienced. And before? Not a hint. Airtha was a positive soul, so nothing hateful came forth, but the periodical published stories about other ways magick revealed itself, like when the impulse came mean and the new Speller changed horribly and cruelty became instinct. Someone was always killed in those cases, usually friends and family, and the fresh black heart left home for Port Liar, where negative Spellers trained in service to the Negater.

From Page 99

….

The operation was also celebrated as a somewhat positive outpost in the shadow of Opulent City. Josril, who lorded over the area, condoned the establishment because it gave his glitterworkers a place to let off steam, and also to lose the wages he paid them, part of which was included in Sacque's monthly tribute.

The main building stood polished wood, no sharp edges and no windows, a sprawling hulk of a dwelling daring the wind to blow it over. Purplish-yellow smoke flowed from several chimneys. A thick, plain woven curtain covered the front door.

Welkarte pulled the heavy cloth aside, Naywan worked the brass latch and they entered an atmosphere of incense and candles. The pungent aroma and heavy smoke of leaf burning in hookas floated indiscriminately and shrouded the proceedings in a veneer of hazy secrets.

A piano player sang while she tickled the ivories with supple fingers, her multiple eyes droopy. She voiced softly, with whispers of melancholy under the music, and the words carried into the unconcerned, soft-buzzing crowd like bruised hearts floating on bad memories.

From Page 157

….

"You found the forest?" Pensif said.

Crente hesitated, then came out with it, "I did, but then I couldn't find you. Oh, it was grand being with those gentle creatures. They trusted me. I gave them apples. They like apples. I swam in the lake, drank the water. There's strong magick in Unicorn Lake."

"Unicorns don't exist," Naywan said. "There are single horn goats, wild hogs and rhinoceros, even some white fish with a horn, but no unicorns."

Crente almost argued with her, but the only way to convince a Secolare was with her own eyes. She'd probably have to touch one, too, just to make sure.

"Okay," Crente said and produced a water skin. "This is from the lake that doesn't exist." She squeaked a jibe at Naywan and squirted some liquid in the trunk.

"One more ingredient, and I'll speak the magick," she said.

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">

Listen to SJ Mallory read the first 1,000 words of The Oracle Bone.