Tag Archives: Black Kath’s Daughter

Plot Bombs

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I don’t remember where I first heard the term “plot bombs,” but I immediately understood what they were. They’re sort of like land mines, laid down in either a previous text or an earlier point in the current one. And then the reader hits them and perhaps stop for a moment to think, “Oh, so THAT’S what <blank> was all about.”

It can be a little more refined than that, but it’s the same principle, which I just ran across from the writer’s perspective. One of those multiple cases where my subconscious is clearly smarter than the rest of me. Those who have read Black Kath’s Daughter may remember a rather unpleasant creature called a craja. Marta thought she understood what they are, and the future danger she was in of becoming one.

In the scene I’m writing now, I was going to show Marta that she was entirely wrong about the craja. In preparation for writing it, I was referring back to their original appearance to make sure I was getting the details of my own creation right (happens all the time in a series).

So what did I find? I find that, way back then, the Power Amaet had already told her what a craja really was, and Marta, perhaps partly due to her loathing of Amaet, just wasn’t listening. In short, she’s about to find out what she already should have known from the beginning. All that worry…not exactly for nothing. Definitely something, but not the something Marta thought it was. Sure, I knew what they were, but I had no memory of the fact that Marta should also have known.

Will be something of a shock to her when she realizes this.

Something of a shock to me already.

For those already present, I’m on Pinterest now. If you’re inclined, come check me out there.

The Bread Also Rises

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In case it’s not clear from the reference and the cooling rack, that’s a rustic round (sort of) loaf of bread. Nothing to do with Covid; I was baking bread long before the lockdown. I’m especially proud of a version of foccia I do now and then. This one? So-So. Edible and all that, but would have been happier with a little more rise.

Which brings me to my second subject: I don’t know what I’m doing, when it comes to bread, and by extension, a lot of other things. My bread-making I owe as much to poor impulse control as wanting to probe the mystery that is bread. I get the impulse to try something new, and I do, and learn a bit, but seldom put in the time, concentration and focus required for real mastery. Maybe in a week or two I’ll try again. Maybe it’ll come out better, but I wouldn’t count on it. Otoh, if I need to write a scene involving bread-making, I’ll likely get that right. Nothing’s really wasted.

So how is bread-making like a price promotion? Same principles apply. As of today, there’s a Countdown deal running on The Long Look. I dropped the price to .99c until Wednesday. A separate Countdown Deal starts for the second book in the series, Black Kath’s Daughter, on Tuesday. I had intended the deals to be available everywhere, only that’s not how these things work, as a correspondent in Australia brought to my attention. US and UK only. So after the deals run (ending Sunday for BKD) I’ll do a manual price adjustment for the next week so anyone else can take advantage. Slight whoops, and could have been prevented if I’d paid better attention.

Just as I could have gotten a better rise in the bread if I’d been more careful in the second proof.

More Progress

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Chapter 4 of The Seventh Law of Power is in the can, or would be if it was a movie from thirty years ago. Everything’s digital and the can is a metaphor. Chapter 5 is begun. Only about 11,000 words in and Marta has already discovered the 6th Law of Power.

Frankly, I hadn’t expected this to happen so soon. But as the end of Chapter 4 came into view and I reviewed the seven laws, I realized I’d set  it up perfectly. Which would have been very clever of me if I’d realized this was what I was doing, but of course I didn’t. Neil Gaiman once said something to the effect that the real purpose of a rewrite/edit was to go back and fix the details so it looked like you knew what you were doing all along.There’s a lot of truth in that. Even so, I like it better when I get it right in the first draft.

Even if I didn’t realize this was what I was doing.

Still plenty of time to get things wrong. And I’m certain beyond a reasonable doubt it’s going to take Marta the rest of the book to find the 7th Law. Would be even more of a surprise if this particular event happened sooner. As with the discovery of the 6th Law, Marta and I are always open for surprises.

Tote That Barge

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Today I’m posting an excerpt from The Seventh Law of Power (working title) which, if everything works out as I expect, will form Book 4 and finish the Laws of Power series. When I’m far enough along to keep up I’ll likely post draft chapters weekly as I did with Power’s Shadow, but that’s still a little ways off yet.

Oh, and absolutely no context provided. It is what it is:

 

 

 

Tymon, sat on a broken stalagmite studying a stalactite. While he understood, in terms of geologic era, practically no time at all had passed since he had taken up residence and looking for infinitesimal differences was profoundly silly, he still felt the compulsion to do just that.

Then again, five hundred years living in a cave could have that effect on a person.

“Five hundred years a hermit? I expected you to go insane. Instead you’re as focused and dramatic as ever.”

Tymon had been expecting the manifestation. The cool air in the cave had been almost charged with anticipation for the last three days. When a Power’s attention was focused on a person, that attention always revealed itself, if one knew how to look. Now Amaet perched on a broken stalagmite, looking beguiling. One would think she was nothing more than a winsome young woman, if one didn’t already know she was neither young nor a woman, and she didn’t glow like a newborn ember. Tymon knew she chose her appearances carefully for the effect she wanted. The current manifestation was designed to keep him both beguiled and off-balance. There was a time, half a millennium gone, when it might have worked.

“Amaet. To what do I owe this honor? Or rather, what do you want?”

“How do you know you’re not already giving it to me? Oh, honestly. I’ve so missed teasing you.”

“Then why did you leave me in peace all this time?”

“I’d have left you in peace now, save that you’re becoming interested in the world again.  That is, you’re combining interest with action.”

“Because you removed your curse of immortality and replaced it with the curse of knowledge, and thus I am twice punished. The Long Look. I see the future. Again.”

“Not so grandiose, spellcaster. One possible future.”

“One I have to prevent. You knew what I would do.”

She looked at him. “Of course I did, silly. What I don’t know is why.”

Tymon took a slow breath. “If I can prevent disaster and choose not to act, the lives destroyed belong to me. I cannot escape that. Now, the real question is, why did you give me the Long Look again?”

“Because I knew what you would do. Isn’t this fun?”

“Fun? To save what little remains of my humanity, you force me to serve you again?”

Amaet scowled. “Serve me willingly and you could avoid all that.”

“’You only worship a god. With a Power, you negotiate’ as a wise woman once said. I prefer to keep our relationship the way it is.”

“Fair exchange then. I get what I want, you get what you need. Why do I want it? Aren’t you even a little curious?”

“I’m curious about many things, Amaet. First there’s the Long Look, which, whatever else it may do, serves your purposes, not mine. Then there’s the Arrow Path, far more structured and yet every much as goal-oriented as my own curse which, I think it’s safe to say, did not give you everything you wanted yet or why give it back? Nor apparently, has the Arrow Path itself. I do wonder how Marta fits into it all.”

“There are many Arrow Path witches, Tymon.”

“I know. Yet none save for her mother, Black Kath, progressed so far as she has. I do know of your special interest in Marta so don’t bother denying it. I also know what she seeks, but your ultimate goal? Yes, it’s fair to say I am very curious about that.”

“You have had a lot of time to think about this, haven’t you? Still no closer to an answer?”

“I do know, whatever you do, it isn’t out of kindness.” Tymon met the beautiful, terrible creature’s gaze. “I really hate you, you know.”

“I know. And that serves me as well.”

Amaet vanished, and Tymon the Black, the most evil wizard of all time, shrugged. “I was happy when the world forgot about me. Now I have to remind them.”

©2020 by Richard Parks. All Rights reserved.

 

Power’s Shadow Lives!

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Powers-Shadow-Rough-3I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone had forgotten this was coming. It certainly took me long enough. There were reasons–or excuses–but the rewrite is finally done and Power’s Shadow (The Laws of Power Book 3) is now live for the Kindle and Nook/epub. As promised, I’m keeping the price at 0.99 for the first few days since I don’t want to gouge anyone who was following the serial and wants to know how it turned out. It’s Monday the 31st as I post this, and the low price will be good through Wednesday.  After that, it will go up to be comparable with the others in the series.

“Marta, Black Kath’s daughter, is a witch on a mission. Unless she learns the secrets of the Seven Laws of Power, she will remain in bondage to the cruel divinity called Amaet for all eternity. Yet now someone else also seeks the Laws of Power, someone who believes that Marta is the key to finding them, and will stop at nothing to claim them for herself. Marta’s only chance of success—and staying alive–depends on a thief, an emphatically unreformed pirate, and a sword-maiden with a bad attitude. Frankly, the odds are not good. Marta knows that. It’s what she doesn’t know that just might save her.”

Power’s Shadow is the third  book in the series. Books 1 & 2 are The Long Look (The Laws of Power Book 1) and Black Kath’s Daughter (The Laws of Power Book 2). Some people who have read the first two wonder how The Long Look fits into the series. Power’s Shadow, I believe, will answer that question for good and all  (I’m looking at you, Sean).