THE LAST GIANT: TRANSGRESSION is now in Italian!!

AFTER A FEW DELAYS, some technical and some caused by life, the Italian translation is now being published as an e-book on various platforms and from several distributors. It is currently available from Apple, Kobo, Tolino and Amazon.  Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Streetlib, Inscribe, and Scribd will follow in due time.

We wish to acknowledge the time and excellent work put into this translation by our translator, Giuseppe Raccosta, whose services we obtained via Babelcube. 

THANK YOU, GIUSEPPE!

 

It would not do to not also give somewhat belated thanks to the translator of the Spanish edition as well. She was wonderful to work with and provided a most excellent translation. Herewith we give our thanks and a super SHOUT-OUT to  Pilar Dueñas, a very talented translator. The Spanish edition is available at all the above-mentioned sources.

After another long absence,

WE are back. To be sure, I don't maintain this blog as I should, but in my defense, I can only say that life just keeps getting in the way. Much water has gone under the bridge since last I posted here, so let me see if I can bring you up do date.

The Spanish edition of The Last Giant: Transgression has been completed and is available as an e-book from several sources---see the sidebar for details and links. Jan did a new cover for it using an earlier trial cover and making some changes. We think it is a very nice cover.

The Italian translation by Giuseppe Raccosta has been completed and awaits a cover. Jan has promised she will get that done next week. We shall see! 

Volume 2 of the Last Giant (Retribution) is still in the works, unfortunately. Menannon gets put through the wringer, of course. He matures quite a bit, as you no doubt have surmised. We learn a great deal about him as he comes to know himself and the part the High One has set for him to play. This book will bring his story to a pause as it sets the stage for the next two books which take up the tale of the Teluri, Lindrahier and in which our Giant plays a major supporting rôle. Actually, he plays a part in most of the rest of the series which is why we are telling his story first. His story has another book yet to appear which will bring it to a close, but that is several volumes down the pike.

Our household continues to undergo many changes. As of this writing, it consists of ourselves (of course!), two cats (Griffur and Lady Claire) and three Cocker spaniels (Lily, Bradley and the newest, Sandy). Lily is the Grand Dame of the bunch and the two boys do defer to her...or else! Griffur's full name is rather a mouthful---Sir Tristan of Grayhill, third Baron Gray Fur---so you can see why we shorten it. Lily is more fully known as Darling Lily, Bradley is really EBS Seriously, but Bradley is soooo much better. We named the pup---he's only 6 mos old right now---in honor of two special critters. The first was my very first dog, also a golden cocker, whom I named Sandy. I got her when I was in second grade. Now, the second honoree is Winnie-the-Pooh, whom, as we all know, lived under the name of Sanders. So, this little guy is Mr. Sanders, informally called Sandy. There you have it.

You may note that I have made a few changes to our suggested reading list to the right, and I will continue to do so from time to time. The books listed are titles that reside in our library and have either read or am reading, or at least started.

One of our hobbies is collecting and using in a safe manner sharp pointy things. To be precise: swords. We recently enjoyed an outing with some neighbors who are equally afflicted and cheerfully dispatched numerous plastic water-filled gallon milk jugs. We deployed Jan's German zweihander and my lovely Chinese jian. Our neighbor used his brand new Han Dynasty replica jian and it cut like a dream. Mine has a dragon motif in its hardware, his uses a plain design, yet is quite elegant in its black, lacquered sheath.

Here is a photo of one of my swords. It is a replica arming sword made by Angus Trim some years ago. Nice sword. It has been slightly customized. I had the roundels on the pommel added and I did the work on the ends of the guard.

 

Here is a photo of my dragon jian:

A closeup of the hilt:

I suppose some folks might be curious as to how the COVID-19 business has affected us. It has affected us, simply put, not at all. Our lives have gone on pretty much as usual aside from having to slap some piece of cloth on our faces whenever we enter a medical facility. It helps that we live in Montana.

 

Well, that about does it for now. If I linger longer over the keyboard, I will begin to ramble on aimlessly, searching for something to write. I will spare you the agony of that experience.

 

Until next time!

 

-- Richard for J. R. Hardesty

 

P. S.:  It won't be another year until the next post. Just until I have something worth posting.

 

A SPANISH EDITION! RAMBLINGS!

After an unplanned hiatus caused by my inexplicable inability to logon to our blog, we have returned. Whether for the better or for the worse is up to you to decide.

There is much to catch up on.

Translations!

Firstly, volume 1 of the Lindensaga™ has been translated into Spanish. We used the services of Babelcube (www.babelcube.com), a website which acts as a middle man by bringing publishers/authors together with translators. The best part of the whole thing is that it does not cost the author a penny up front! It is really a great service for both authors and publishers. Our translator for this volume is Pilar Dueñas of Seville, Spain (o Sevilla, España). She is a talented translator and is very easy to work with, even patiently listening to author suggestions. We were lucky to get her.

The Spanish version of Vol. 1 of the Lindensaga™, El Último Gigante: Transgresión will soon be available as an e-book on-line at various retailers (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Inscribe, et cetera). A paperback edition will also be available. I am working on the formatting right now, in fact.

Sometime in the early part of 2020, Vol. 1 will also be available in Italian. It is being translated by Giuseppe Raccosta.

Publishing Schedule Update

In my last post before the burp (over three years ago - September 24, 2016) I made some overly optimistic pronouncements regarding the publishing schedule.

Obviously, volume 2 (The Last Giant: Retribution) was not published in November of that year, nor was volume 3 issued in December.  We are still working on Vol 2 and are hoping to have it completed by the end of this year (2019). Volume 3  (The Gift of the High One: Prince of the Teluri) is finished, but needs a bit of tweaking to bring it completely into line with vols. 1 & 2. It was finished quite some time ago, but publication has been delayed in order to write the first two volumes. We anticipate publication of volume 3 (The Gift of the High One: Prince of the Teluri) approximately six months after volume 2 is published.

Other volumes are in varying stages of completion as indicated below.

    Gift of the High One  — the story of Lindrahier, a Teluri prince.
    3:    Prince of the Teluri (99% complete)
    4:    High King of the Teluri (∼50% complete)

        The Harper of Rhindol Vale  — the adventures of Siglin, an unusual Teluri harper, and his spirit-brother, Biplinder Paddleford of Rhindol Vale.
    5:    The Key of Tanguroth (complete)
    6:    The Orb of Making (∼50% complete)
    7:    The White Tower (∼75% complete)
    8:    The Frostrill Stair (outline complete)

The remaining seven volumes of the planned fifteen exist as synopses only at this time. Just FYI, here are the remaining titles:

    9:    The Last Giant: Absolution
   
     Serenssaga — the tale of Seren Smithsson. Takes place many hundreds of years after #9
    10:    The Ghost and the Ring. (Chapter 1 was re-written as a short story.)
    11:    Daylight and Darkness
    12:    Forgesinger

    The Chronicles of the Black Sun
    13:    Black Sun Rising
    14:    Black Sun Burning
    15:    Black Sun Extinguished: The World’s Ending

Terminus

Alas!  My allotted time for blogging has expired for now. I shall return as soon as I may for another round of blather and pontification. Until then, Happy Trails!

– Richard,
     for J. R. Hardesty

We have returned!

After a 3 year hiatus caused by not being able to access this blog, we are back!

We have lots of news to catch up on and will do so ASAP, but having just gotten access back, I do not have anything ready, but will in a few days. Please be patient.

 

Back at Last!

Summer's almost over, Autumn is fast approaching and my time in the boonies has but three days to run as I write this. I have had fun up there in Polebridge, but it did shorten my free time to the point where I had none left for this blog, for which I am quite sorry.

Even so, we have not been idle. We have delayed the publication of the one-volume edition of Transgression until October to allow the development of new cover art for the series. 

Jan became disenchanted with the original series covers, and deemed new art was in order. For Transgression, she adapted her original digital painting of Menannon and Nirna for the trade paperback and we were able to use the full painting for the d/j on the limited hardcover edition.  I'll post the pb cover on Face Book when she is done with it. The full painting can be seen here.

The cover for subsequent books will be uniform in style, as before, but will all have new art, as we wanted to better showcase her work. She has already begun work on the cover for Retribution (book 2 in the Lindensaga) featuring brand new art and she has as well begun completing the MS which should be finished in time to make the November publication date.

December will see the publication of book 3 in the series, Prince of the Teluri, which is also the first part of a duology, The Gift of the High One. The MS for this is essentially completed barring only a few small tweaks to bring it into line with Transgression/Retribution as it was written some time ago.

The short time I had available for blogging has come to an end, so I bid you goodbye until next time.

-- Richard 

    for J. R. Hardesty

 

Paradise at Polebridge

Last summer whilst accompanying Jan on her “Roam the Park” day—the “gate Rangers” in Glacier National Park get one work day to wander around the park and get to know it better—we headed for the North Fork country as she was least familiar with that semi-remote area of Glacier.
    The North Fork of the Flathead River serves as the western boundary to Glacier for part of its length and the North Fork valley is home to some awesome scenery as well as the little hamlet of Polebridge. The Polebridge Ranger Station, guardian of the NW entrance to Glacier, is located nearby.
    There are many who consider the North Fork Paradise on Earth, and I would not dispute that claim. There are more residences up there than appear to the eye, most of them being for summer occupancy only, but there are a few hardy souls who live up there year around. Polebridge itself is home to two institutions of far-reaching fame: the Polebridge Mercantile and its awesome bakery, creators & purveyors of divinely mouth-watering treats fit for the gods, and its next-door neighbor, the Northern Lights Saloon.
    On our little jaunt up the North Fork with Kintla Lake as our ultimate destination, we stopped in Polebridge, of course. After indulging in some heavenly pastries, we headed north on Glacier Drive for the one mile drive to the Polebridge entrance to Glacier National Park. After chatting with the gate Ranger (the official Park Service name for those folk is Visitor Use Assistant or VUA), we headed on north for Kintla. As we left the entrance, I opined somewhat wistfully that it would be a grand place to be assigned for the summer and wouldn’t it be fun! She whole-heartedly agreed.
    Be careful what you wish for.

Paradise at Polebridge

    Around about November last, I brought up the topic of our future plans for our books and observed that we need more capital and perhaps I should get a job of some sort, but that I definitely refused to work retail ever again. She nodded in agreement and understanding, then asked me, ”Well, why don’t you apply for the Park?” I knew that some of the VUAs would not be returning and I said, “What he heck? Why not?” I’d rather sit in the kiosk at the West Entrance where Jan worked than work retail any day. And it might work out that we would work together some of the time which was fine with both of us.
    So, I applied.
    I jumped through all the hoops and was eventually notified that if I was still interested and available, I had a job—West entrance, of course. Cool. I was tickled pink and quite excited. After filling out more paperwork and getting my fingerprints taken (for the background check—we handle money after all), I settled into a regular routine of checking my e-mail daily for any other communications from the Park people as I did not wish to miss anything.
    So one fine day, I found an e-mail not from the usual roster of folk I had been dealing with. Curious, I opened it up, read it, blinked, read it again and then shouted to Jan who was out in the kitchen.
    “Hon, they’ve offered me Polebridge!”
    “What??”
    “I’ve been offered Polebridge!”
    “Super! You’d better take it or I’ll hurt you!”
    Of course, there was no way I was going to turn that offer down anyhow, so I quickly responded in the positive.
    So now, I will take up my station at the Polebridge Ranger Station May 23 after four days of orientation and training. Because of its remoteness, I will be staying in a little cabin up there during my work week and driving home for the weekend over one of the nastiest dirt roads in the state.

    But the rest of the week, I’ll be in Paradise.

-- Richard

NOW IN FT. MYERS, FLORIDA!

We are very excited! Our books will soon be on the shelf at P. J. Boox in Ft. Myers, Florida. This store is unique. It features only indie or self-published books and the authors get to keep 98% of the revenues! It is an imaginative solution to the self-published author's problem: getting one's books into a brick-and-mortar store. Thanks, P. J.!!

-- Richard, for J. R.

Stumbling Through Fantasyland

Hands on hips, brows lowering, Emerson stood gazing fixedly at the recumbent ruminant. A sympathetic friend (if camels have such, which is doubtful) might have taken comfort in the fact that scarcely a ripple of agitated sand surrounded the place of its demise. Like the others in the caravan, of which it was the last, it had simply stopped, sunk to its knees, and passed on, peacefully and quietly. (Conditions, I might add, that are uncharacteristic of camels alive or moribund.)  — Elizabeth Peters.

 You may well ask what this quote, the first paragraph Elizabeth Peters’ delightful book The Last Camel Died at Noon, has to do with fantasy, as she is a well-known mystery writer.
    To answer that, we must first mention Allan Quartermain, and in so doing we find ourselves in the realm of Henry Rider Haggard, a writer of adventure tales, many set in Africa. Of the many books he wrote, he is most widely known for two: King Solomon’s Mines (1885), with Allan Quartermain and set in Africa and She, A History of Adventure (1887) with Horace Holly & Leo Vincey set in Africa, both of which had fantasy elements in them. She is considered a foundational work of the fantasy genre and, I think, deservedly so.
    Quartermain went on to star in many other African novels by Haggard, including his own encounter with Ayesha (She-who-must-be-obeyed) in She and Allan (1921). Mr. Holly has a further adventure with She in the sequel, Ayesha, the Return of She (1905), which is set in Tibet.
    These are lost world/lost race novels and King Solomon’s Mines is regarded as having started that particular genre and both are fun reading. As it happens, Elizabeth Peters shares with us an enthusiasm for H. Rider Haggard. Her novel, The Last Camel Died at Noon, one of her books about Amelia Peabody and her husband Radcliffe Emerson, is an entertaining tribute to Haggard’s books and involves—you guessed it—a lost race and city. Since her Peabody books are all set primarily in Egypt (Peabody & Emerson are Egyptologists), the lost race is tied to the civilization and culture of ancient Egypt as exemplified in the 25th Egyptian dynasty & its successor kingdoms of Napata and Meroë. We loved it and its sequel, Guardian of the Horizon, which takes place ten years later. Peters’ nods to Haggard don’t stop there, however. In her novel The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog, a major character is one Leopold Vincey, who, as mentioned above, was one of the main characters in Haggard's novel She. I have no doubt there are other such tributes to Haggard scattered throughout her Peabody series.
    We strongly urge you to investigate not only Elizabeth Peters (particularly if you also like mysteries which most of her Peabody books are), but most especially H. Rider Haggard.
    Stumbling along off the beaten track, we find an interesting book which is only nominally fantasy, the adventure novel-with-a-spin, The Sunbird (1972) by Wilbur Smith. It’s a lost city tale of sorts. The first half of the book is set in modern times and details the trials and tribulations of the search for the lost city of Opet and involves a rich mining executive, his archaeologist friend and the archaeologist’s lovely assistant/girl friend who, not surprisingly, create a problem for themselves in that the rich guy steals the assistant away from the potboy (yeah, I know — bad cheap pun). The twist:  the second half of the book is set a couple of thousand years ago in the ancient city of Opet and concerns a strangely familiar cast of characters. Are they the previous lives of the book’s three-some? Or...?? It’s a bit violent, as Smith’s books tend to be, but it is a romp, certain. Give it a go and see for yourself.
    Tripping further along the periphery of Fantasyland, we stumble over some books by Arthur O. Friel. He made a six-month exploratory journey up the Orinoco River in Venezuela back in 1922 and used his knowledge of that area to write some fun adventure novels with fantasy elements thrown in for good measure: The Pathless Trail (1922), Tiger River (1923), King of No Man’s Land (1924) and Mountains of Mystery (1925). Of these, I have read only the first two and thoroughly enjoyed them. Jungle adventure, green men, lost races, man/ape hybrids...oh, yeah! They were reprinted in mass market paperback with cover art by Jeff Jones in 1972 by Centaur Press (a small paperback company established by Donald M. Grant and Charles M. Collins. see Wikipedia). All of Friel’s books can be found in the used market, with Pathless Trail and Tiger River being readily available at a decent price.
    Friel also wrote about his journey up the Orinoco in The River of Seven Stars (Harper, 1924), which is also fun reading. Unfortunately, this book is not so easily found. I was fortunate some years ago to find a copy in a local used book shop and still have it, although it suffered some water damage a couple of years ago. It is still readable, however. The book was never, to my knowledge, published in paperback and the used market has copies of the first (and only) edition priced at $75.00 and up. If you can find a copy, it would be worth the money, but unless you are bent on having a hardcover, a library would be your best bet for this title. WorldCat shows 70 copies in libraries in the U. S., copies in the National Library of Scotland, Trinity College Library of Dublin, Oxford, St. Pancras, Cambridge University and the University of Essex. Copies can also be found in Germany, France and Australia.
    OK, we’ve stumbled along enough. I think next time I’ll discuss mysteries that have had an influence on us one way or another and a some we just read for the love of a good story.

– Richard, for J. R. Hardesty

WHAT DOES A WRITER DO WHEN NOT WRITING?

The MS for Part 2 of The Last Giant: Transgression is in the publisher's hands, which means that I doff my authorial hat and don one of my other hats, in this case, two: Editor and Designer/Typographer, with a little CEO (of Purple Mammoth Publishing LLC) thrown in for good measure. Yes, we---with two others---own our own publishing company, such as it is.

*switching hats* 

I am now speaking to you as The Publisher: Part 2 is partly published, with the Kindle version available from the Kindle store and the print version to arrive within a day or two. The design/typography is completed and is undergoing review by a backup pair of eyes---our Art Director who is also the other half  ("J") of J. R. Hardesty. We both wear many hats in this operation. Project director is one hat neither of us wear. That honor goes to Dave Blythe, and he cracks a mean whip!

And then I get to don the Marketing Director hat, but that is another story entirely.

That partly answers the question in the title for us, but what other writers do when not writing would be a topic for a series of blogs which I have no intention of taking on.

*switching hats* 

Authorial hat back on. Now off-duty, we have been having a marvelous time doing other things that are utterly unrelated to writing.

The primary project involves moving 10" x 11.5" x 12' railroad bridge ties from the pile along the back fence to a new location along the front fence to act as a footing for Greg's garage. Greg is Jan's step-daddy and we are helping him build a garage for the convertible he bought himself for his 80th birthday. Bridge ties are not like a rail tie. Uh-uh. They are bloody HEAVY. We rented a Bobcat KT-55 mini track loader to move them. Had to, otherwise they'd still be sitting on the back yard pile.

 That should give you some idea of what I mean, but to give you a better idea of how much fun this actually was, here's the video for you.

But all work and no play make for a dull person, so we play a little, too. A few weeks back, we went hiking in Glacier National Park on the Highline trail with Greg who was dying to try out his new off-road walker. It is the product of Swedish engineering. It lets him walk on rough ground so he is no longer limited to pavement & sidewalks. We were very impressed with how this walker allowed him to go where otherwise he could not. The weather was great, the view magnificent and we had an absolute blast. Greg had a grand time of it as he had not been able to hike that trail for many years and he used to hike it all the time. It was something of a homecoming for him.

   These photos give you something of the experience of the day, and certainly show how remarkable that walker is. It is called a Veloped and we got it from Trionic USA  and you can definitely consider this a product recommendation! And no, we aren't getting any kickback from them!                                                                                     

 

That's Greg taking in the view with me behind him soaking it all in.

 

The view south along the trail. That ribbon-looking thing down below is the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Looks rather small from up there on the cliff.

Well, that's what these writers do when they aren't writing. We work and we play.

Until next time!

-- Richard, for

   J. R. Hardesty   

Release of "The Last Giant: Transgression," Part 2 is getting closer

 

Kindle release date getting closer .....

Where the heck is Part 2!!! and other woes.

Ahhhh....yes. Where, indeed? The bad news is that it took far longer to finish Part 2 of Transgression than we anticipated for a variety of reasons and we've had to completely re-do our publishing schedule based on reality, not wishful thinking.

The good news is that Part 2 will be out in October! The initial edit is complete. We now have the read-through and the final edit yet to do. The read-through usually takes a couple of days, and the final edit wherein the whole is viewed with a jaundiced eye can take a few days. I take on the role of "evil editor" for that one. Whole scenes have been known to get cut in that process, but it should result in a better book. Unfortunately, the first part was not subjected to as rigorous a final edit as it should have (not that I was easy on us) as we were under a self-imposed (and unrealistic) deadline tyranny.

We are now looking at getting two books out per year and as some of the future volumes are already written and need only some minor tweaking to bring them into sync with the Last Giant books (two books in three volumes), we should not have any trouble in making that happen.

The third book in the series, Prince of the Teluri, is complete but for some tweaking, so will not hold up the schedule at all. That is scheduled for Fall of 2016 and it follows the second book of The Last Giant (Retribution) which is now scheduled for Spring of 2016. 

Following Prince will be High King of the Teluri, in Spring 2017. The two Teluri books have a common title of The Gift of the High One.

The next mini-series within The Lindendaga^TM will the 4 book series, The Harper of Rhindol Vale. The first book (The Key of Tanguroth)  is complete and needs the afore-mentioned tweaking to be ready to publish in October 2017. It is a big book, running to over 600 pages, but it's a kicker!

So, to recap:

Books in the Lindensaga:
      The Last Giant  - centers on the Giant, Menannon who is a recurring character in all subsequent books, but in a supporting role.
            1.  Transgression
                    Part 1  - Pub Dec 2014 
                    Paft 2  -  October 2015
            2. Retribution   -  April/May 2016
       The Gift of the High One  - centers on a new character, Lindrahier, a Teluri
            3. Prince of the Teluri  - October 2016
            4.  High King of the Teluri  - April/May 2017
       The Harper of Rhindol Vale  - centers on Siglin Lightbringer, a Teluri of unusual gifts
            5.  The Key of Tanguroth  -  October 2017
            6.  The Orb of Making
            7.   The White Tower
            8.  The Frostrill Stair

If it is at all possible, we will publish a book earlier than stated, but the above is the official publication schedule as of today and should be considered as close to final as is possible.

Best wishes to all!

-- Richard
   22 August 2015 

Update: Where's Part 2 of "The Last Giant: Transgression"? (Lindensaga v. 1)

It's coming, we promise! In fact, a preview (the first 3 chapters) is now available on the publisher's website or right here. It's a PDF file and contains a bonus: a pencil drawing of Princess Nirna by Jan!  

This drawing has never before been published and in fact, only one other person has seen it. That person won one of the 5 copies of Part 1 we gave away on Goodreads a while back. Each copy had a different printed drawing by Jan tipped in and I have no idea who got what, but they each have very unique copies.

We don't know when or if we'll ever again reproduce that portrait, so now's your chance to see it. Just get your FREE PDF of the first three chapters of Part 2 NOW!

The balance of Part 2 is 98% written and needs to be edited & formatted. We've been held up by a number of things that have taken up time we normally would have been devoting to writing. When you are a writer, life has a way of blocking you at times, but it's been rather more than our fair share, it seems. Consequently, despite our assurance that it would be out in May, latest, it looks that we will have it out by the end of this month, God willing and the creek don't rise!

That's it for now. I have to get back to editing.......

-- Richard,

    for J. R. Hardesty

Sorry for the Long Silence

Arrrgh!  After several weeks of bronchitis, we are back in harness. We lost writing time and a lot of other time, but we are now once again making progress. Unfortunately, this has further delayed publication of Part 2 of The Last Giant: Transgression until late May. Sorry about that, but we surely did not plan this!

WORLD BUILDING: LANGUAGES

WARNING: If you found grammar boring in school, you might want to skip this entry!

It seems that worlds aren't complete without at least one new language or part of one, even if it's only a slim vocabulary. Not being a philologist like JRRT, nor even a linguist by training, I at least have had some exposure to other languages—excluding Tolkien’s creations—having had two years of Spanish in high school and gotten through a nine-month intensive Russian course while in the US Air Force. Consequently, I know how to conjugate verbs and all that sort of thing.

In the early volumes of the Lindensaga™, the foreign vocabulary is limited to a Teluri word (malinir) and the name of that insidious drink, volnaka, which has its origins in Old Aridian and is ultimately derived from the word for water (volna). Volnaka actually means “little water” and was formed from volna simply by adding the diminutive suffix -aka. The world for water actually means “breath of life” and was derived from volno (water) and ona (breath) and was originally vólona, but over time it has been shortened to simply volna as the middle “o” was typically barely pronounced and eventually disappeared altogether.

In later volumes, things get a little heavier. Some interesting Teluri cultural concepts are explored and they required a new vocabulary to represent things which are not found in human cultures, either on Linden or on Earth. When those volumes are published, I will go into that subject in detail.

In order to conjure up the required words, it was first necessary to explore the linguistic origins of those words. For example, there is a poison that translates into English as “freezing death.” I could have just come up with some exotic sounding word, but the thing is that both “freezing” and “death” are very useful words and we might want to use them in some other context in the books. Consequently, I spent some time working up the etymology of both those words.

In creating many of the Teluri verbs, etc., I was influenced by modern Finnish as a starting point. Like Tolkien, I find that Finnish has a certain appeal that other languages lack. I don’t speak it at all, but the written tongue is very interesting. What’s not to like about heroes named Väinämöinen, Lemminkäinen or Kullervo? Some of our Teluri folks have Finnish-sounding names as you will notice.

Back to Freezing Death, our poison. I had previously worked up the verb ‘to die’ and from that derived the noun death=narô (to die=narir), so all I needed was a verb for ‘to freeze’ and its companion noun. Basically, I took the word ‘cold’ and played with it to come up with a root ‘kld’ then converted that to a new word kládar for the infinitive ‘to freeze;’ the noun form derived from that was kladû.

To illustrate the process, here is the full conjugation, etc. of kládar:

to freeze (inf) = kládar          (-ar, infinitive ending)
                          
    1st person sing. = kladir    1st person, pl. = kladár
    2nd person sing. = klador    2nd person, pl. = klador
    3rd person sing. = kladore    3rd person, pl = kladorema

    Noun (cold) = kladû
    Adj (frozen) = kladoja (sing), kladojama (pl.)
    Part. (freezing) = kladojina (same for sing. & pl.)

The Teluri language has only two verb endings, -ar and -ir. Both are regular verbs. There are four irregular verbs, but we’ll save that for some other time. The above example illustrates the -ar conjugation. The -ir conjugation below of 'to die' (narir) shows the second conjugation.

to die (inf) = narir

    1st person sing. = nara        1st person pl. = naráni
    2nd person sing. =naren        2nd person pl. = nareno
    3rd person sing. = narenna        3rd person pl. = narennanos

    Noun (death) = narô
    Noun (the dead) = urinari   [a special noun, from uri (men, people) + nari, a special comb.  form of narô
    Adj (dead) = naroja (sing.), narojama (pl.)
    Adv (deadly) =narojan (sing & pl) [also as adj, i.  e.  narojan malinir (deadly blade) ]
    Part. (dying) =naroja (sing & pl)

We put together freezing (kladojina) and death (narô) thus: kladojinanarô (stress on middle syllable: kladójinanar’). Note: final vowel is often dropped or only partially voiced, indicated by the ’. Over time, speakers tend to shorten things and this word was no exception. By the time we wrote about this poison in a volume that hasn't been published yet, the word had lost the -na- from the middle and had shortened to kladójinar’

Kladójinar’ is a nasty substance. It is often used to treat sword blades. A cut by such a blade causes the victim to go into intensive hypothermia and eventually die. It works very quickly and can be administered in food or drink as well.

That’s enough for today, methinks. If you want more, let me know and I’ll provide it.

– Richard
 for J. R. Hardesty

GIVE-AWAY HAS ENDED. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!

We consider our 5-day give-away a resounding success, as 475 hopeful people entered. Five lucky people will be receiving signed copies of Part 1 of The Last Giant: Transgression, each of which has a full page (6" x 9") original pencil drawing by co-author & cover illustrator Johanna laid in.

Congratulations to the winners: Jeremy Adkins, Susan Gannon, Nancy Jones, Jennifer Scull and Kathy Purpura. We hope you will enjoy your book and drawing. The drawings included a portrait of Nirna (the Princess Royal and Menannon's true love), a drakta and a spiral-horn. 

-- Richard

    for J. R. Hardesty

THE NEW YEAR BEGINS! and a giveaway is announced.

A new year, a new blog. Happy New Year to all and may this year be a prosperous one for you.

I had intended to get a blog out in December, but just did not have the time, as we were in a crunch to get Part One of The Last Giant: Transgression out before Christmas. Between getting a final MS ready, getting the typography done, proofing, getting final cover art ready, etc., it was a tight go, but we managed. The downside was that many typos got through into the printed product. We are currently engaged in tracking those down & correcting them so subsequent printings will not be so burdened.

And I cannot begin to tell you how frustrating it was getting the Kindle version done. I had never done that before and it took a while to wrap my head around the Kindle concept, which is basically an electronic scroll. And with my limited ability in Word/HTML, the fancy typography had to be jettisoned in favor of a simple but readable text. Getting the maps to work was also a major pain in the, ahhh, neck. At least I now know what to do with Part 2 and won’t have the same ration of problems to deal with.

However, it is done! The book is out there awaiting our marketing Genius to get off his backside and do his job. We’ve sold some, but since we haven’t really begun to market the book, we don’t expect much ... yet. We plan to make a big effort once Part 2 of Transgression is published, as then the entire book will be available.

Part 2 should be out late Jan or February, assuming the imps of perdition don’t decide to descend upon us and wreak havoc. Dealing with the Typo Tyrant is bad enough, I can tell you!  Per ardua ad astra!

Now, about that give-away. We will be giving away 5 copies of Part 1 on Goodreads beginning 15 January and ending 21 January. Each copy will have an original signed pencil drawing by Johanna tipped in. Be sure to sign up! You may be one of the lucky winners!

With the new year comes the new Tax Season! Erggh. I am just glad we are no longer doing tax prep work. That was a 20 year wild ride!  We quit a few years back and will never go back. I get chills down my spine just thinking about it.

I’m afraid the well is dry for now, but I should be back in a couple of weeks with a progress report and Lord know what else. You may take that as either a promise or a threat. 

– Richard
   for J. R. Hardesty

Part 1 of The Last Giant: Transgression is published!

After a long gestation and numerous interruptions, we have finally gotten our first book published!

Part 1 of The Last Giant: Transgression is 396 pages long and includes a two-page spread map. A hi-res version of a more detailed map is also available for download from our website. Check it out! Links to purchase the book are on the right.

The Kindle version will be available later at a lower price than we have been touting, but the MS first has to be re-formatted to yield optimum Kindle performance. E-books loose a lot of the typographic fireworks found in the printed version, but it should still look fine on a Kindle. We expect it to be available around December 24th, but it could be sooner. Cross your fingers!

This has been a heck of a ride and we have learned much. Having ridden over some major bumps in the road (delays, interruptions in the writing, publishing issues, etc.) future volumes should go much more smoothly. We still plan on having Part 2 available in January and the second volume of The Last Giant (Retribution) is still tentatively scheduled for July.

Don’t forget that you can download the first chapter for free as a PDF (see link on right) and get a preview of the book before you buy.

That’s all for now. I’m going to relax now and enjoy a fine cigar and a snort or two of a good Scotch.

‘Till next time!

– Richard
for J. R. Hardesty

Watching the Beasts Within.

Within the fence, that is.

Our yard on a spring day. Photo by R. L. Hardesty.

We are fortunate to live in a small, unincorporated town where the boundary between “town” and “forest” is rather indefinite. There are many lots around town still sporting their original timber cover. Our own place has quite a few of the original trees still here, but many were cleared out for two reasons: (1) they were where the house was going to go and (2) they were severely damaged by a major bark beetle infestation. The latter were largely Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta latifolia). The felled trees were replaced with various deciduous, primarily various Maple (Acer) cultivars and several flowering crabapples, and a few conifers, notably two specimens of White fir (Abies concolor), which join the remaining spruce and Douglas-fir trees. The under-story consists largely of Snowberry (Symphoricarpus albus) and some things we planted.  We have little grass to cut, and what exists is largely native bunch grasses or the insidious quackgrass, so the lawn mower gets little use. There are two very large groups of Glacier lily (Erythronium grandiflorum) gracing the sunny spots in the yard and there a few other native flowers as well. All in all, we have an interesting biome in our yard and we enjoy watching the critters that come to visit. Just the other day, Jan had the privilege of watching a doe Mule deer calmly munching some of the remaining pomes on one of the flowering crabapple trees in the yard. She was not in the least worried about my wife’s presence as she passed by on her way to the front gate. We don’t get deer in the yard that often, but once in a while, one shows up. We have had bears wander through town from time to time, including a female Grizzly that wandered down the main drag one summer and we had a black bear wander down our alley one summer eve some years ago. Moose occasionally show up as well, but not very often.

Most of our visitors are of the avian variety, and we have had some grand ones stop by.

Evening Grosbeak, male. Photo by Simon Pierre Barrette.

Each spring sees the arrival of a flock of Evening Grosbeaks who hang around for a while before moving on. The males are just gorgeous. We never tire of seeing them or listening to them though they are a bit noisy. We've also had the pleasure of seeing Western Tanagers, also a very lovely bird, but they have not been seen for some years now. We always had several Steller's Jays in the yard, then one day, an Eastern Blue Jay showed up and a new dynamic began. The Steller's occupied the front yard and the Blue Jay the back. This lasted for a few years, but the Blue Jays got the upper hand and now we haven't seen a Steller's around for some time. The Blues, however, are quite common now. Then there was the time I heard a rather loud knocking sound rather high up in the trees. After looking around for some time, I spotted the source: a very large woodpecker up in a cottonwood tree. I stared at it for some time before accepting that what I was seeing was indeed a Pileated Woodpecker, a most uncommon sight!

There have been many, many more bird species appear in the yard: grouse, collared doves, finches, wrens, robins, an occasional meadowlark, and on one winter's day, we watched a Pygmy Owl hunt voles in the front yard. That was a rare treat! That reminds me, we also were visited by an owl on the other end of the size spectrum, a Great Horned Owl. He hung around the yard one summer for a month or so before moving elsewhere.

One resident we've had for many years is a Pine Squirrel, AKA American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). He keeps us entertained during the summer and sometimes in the winter as well. In autumn, one has to watch one's head, as the squirrel seems to delight in dropping pine cones on one's head! The sound of falling cones is a common sound around the yard then, as is the chittering of the culprit involved. There are several squirrels in the neighborhood and from the amount of chasing that goes on, it would seem that there are males and females. 

Overhead, we hear loons calling as they move from the Flathead Valley through Badrock Canyon in the morning on their way to Lion Lake and then back to the Valley in the evening. We often see hawks of one sort or another, eagles & ravens.

We mustn't forget the insects! Now, I do not pretend to scour the yard looking for these six-leggedy beasties, but I have taken note of some. At least two species of Dragonfly and two of Damselfly can be found regularly in the yard, and I have made a detailed list of butterflies that have been found to occur in the yard. That list tallies 44 species seen over the years since I first began keeping track in 1993. However, due to changes in the vegetation in the yard, we have not seen that diversity of late. The gardens have gone to pot and my rock garden, which had many native species in it, was finally given over to the blasted quackgrass. But the lilacs still attract the swallowtails.

-- Richard for

    J. R. Hardesty

   

Sharp, pointy things

High Elven King sword

I have a fascination, nay, love of sharp, pointy things, which is a good thing if you’re writing heroic/epic fantasy. Swords, knives, axes and other weapons of singular destruction---that is, singular as opposed to mass destruction. One on one, face to face combat. You know, the manful, manly and messy way to kill, maim & mutilate your opponent.
    I came to this love when I was but a child and discovered those knights in shining armor in books and movies: Robin Hood, both in books and the movie with Errol Flynn; When Knighthood Was in Flower (the 1956 TV showing of Disney’s The Sword and the Rose) with Richard Todd and Glynis Johns and many other books/movies. I shared this love of sharp, pointy things with many of my friends and cohorts, and it seems to be common to most boys of a certain age, or at least it was.
    All those knights and sword-wielding fellows instilled in me a desire to own my own sword, so of course, I made one out of two pieces of wood, one longer than the other with the short piece nailed to the long one for a guard. A bit of carving on the point of my “sword” and I was ready to go. My mother, while indulgent of my childhood fantasies, was not so enamored of my use of her kitchen knives to do a little wood carving. But what else was I to do? I had no knife of my own. Yet. That came later.
    So, with wooden sword in hand, I joined my fellow Merry Men or knights as the game of the day dictated, sallied forth and had great fun in the depths of Sherwood Forest or on the tournament field, and I was satisfied.
    As I grew older, however, wooden swords began to loose their appeal and I increasingly lusted after a real one, not a toy, whether of plastic or cheap metal. No, I wanted a REAL sword, but where on earth was I to get one? In the days before the Internet, finding sources for odd things was not easy, especially when you lived in the hinterlands as did I. Eastern Nebraska and, later, eastern Wyoming were not replete with stores selling arms & armor. Thus, I lived the 1950's, the ‘60s, 70's and on without a real sword. Nor a fake one, for that matter. But the desire to possess one lived on.
    It was not until the late 2000's, around 2008 or so, that my need to own a REAL SWORD came once again to the fore. Now, however, I had the power of the Internet at my beck and call! And so it came to pass that I found a website that was guaranteed to feed the need: Sword Buyer’s Guide and the related forum. This place was my Nirvana for I had found a place that dealt with REAL SWORDS and specialized in those for $300 or less! Oh, wonder of wonders! However, I soon found myself wallowing in a sea of decisions, for the fulsome number of swords available quickly overwhelmed my fevered brain.
    A few months lurking on the SBG Forum helped immensely in sorting things out, as one of the more valuable features of said forum was its sword reviews. I finally settled upon my first purchase: the High Elven King longsword, which is, unfortunately, no longer available. It is a fantasy blade, and not an historical one, but that matters not. Its fantasy element is quite restrained and it is a thing of beauty. A two-handed sword it is, but can be used one-handed if you have the strength for it, and it cuts like a dream. See photo above.
    What do I cut with it, you ask? Well, one gallon plastic milk jugs filled with water, for one. There are other acceptable targets used, but I stick with the jugs.
    My sword collection is small, but I have enough to make me happy. Jan is also enamored of sharp, pointy things and has claimed the huge German two-hander for her own. It’s OK. She can have it. Never argue with a chick with a sword, especially a two-hander! I have only two others. One, an arming sword, was made by Angus Trim and is a very nice work. Sharp, point and handles easily. The other is a custom Chinese jian (straight sword). It was made to fit me and is an awesome weapon. I thoroughly enjoy using it on those terrible milk jugs. Just writing about it makes me want to run outside and hack a few into little pickle chips.

Dragon jian - Chinese straight sword

    All this sword-lust translates into our books. Having used swords of different lengths & weights, we have developed some feel for how the weapons handle and we know that having mass which translates into momentum, suddenly stopping or reversing a swinging sword is not going to be easily done. We have also delved into sword-lore and fighting techniques the better to understand how these things were actually used. While no experts by a long shot, we do better appreciate what these weapons can do and how to use them. 

     We have weapons galore, and I confess that we show a preference for swords, although some of the characters wield axes, hammers and other lethal weapons to great effect. The swords, however, take front stage, beginning with the sword of Menannon’s father. Gorlanndon, being a Giant of 15 feet in height, wields a mighty two-handed sword. Yeah, I know. Giants use clubs, right? Not THESE Giants!!! Sorry. No muscle-bound dumb-dumbs here. Gorlanndon’s sword is made of a steel alloy unique to Linden, Tanguranya steel, a very interesting metal indeed. The result is a sword like no other. In addition to being bloody huge, it takes a keen edge and keeps it almost forever. Gorlanndon’s sword is longer than his son is tall. One can imagine the amount of damage such a weapon can cause when wielded by a 15 foot Giant! Rather scary, that.
    Menannon’s own sword (he gets it later in life) is 8.5' long, just a bit shorter than its owner, and it is a one-hander. Then there are the malinirs, the long knives of the Teluri. There are swords with interesting properties—I hesitate to say magic swords. Some are unique, such as the Sword of the Orb, about which you will learn much later into the Lindensaga™, and there are at least two pairs of these “special” swords, the most important of which are Daylight and Darkness. The other pair, Kalina & Kalana, are equally interesting, but play a very small part in the saga.
    I think that is enough about sharp, pointy things for now. Read the books and you will learn much more!

Remember:  Part 1 of the first volume in the Lindensaga™, The Last Giant: Transgression, is due 10 Dec, will be available from Amazon and will be followed by Part 2 in January 2015. The second volume, The Last Giant: Retribution, will be published sometime in mid- to late 2015.

– Richard      

Thunderbirds, jet trucks and flying.

Taking a break from talking about our books, I'm going to digress a bit this time around.

We went to the air show today---Mountain Madness 2014---at the Glacier Park International Airport just north of Kalispell, Montana. There were some very good performances by several talented aerobatics pilots which we did enjoy very much. And then there was that jet truck, the Flashfire Jet Truck. It makes a lot of smoke & fire for show, but when it heads down the runway with throttle open there's no smoke and you'd best look fast cuz it zips by at over 300 mph and isn't in front of you for long. Crazy!!  Absolutely insane and we loved it!

Let's face it though, the main attraction---and what a good many folk came to see---was the USAF Thunderbirds. I never miss a chance to watch these fine men and women do their mind-numbing aerobatic maneuvers, and despite my being a former airman, I enjoy the Navy's Blue Angels just as much. Both teams are just flat freaking awesome! I love airplanes and I love flying.

That love of flying goes a looooong way back. My dad had a private pilot's license and back in the late '40's and early '50s did a lot of flying over eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. We lived in a small farming town north of Omaha called Oakland, and Dad was primarily an aerial photographer, but he often took us up with him on a joy ride. My earliest memory was of one such flight. I was still a babe in arms, and rode in Mom's arms the whole time. I remember looking out the window and being fascinated by all the cars, trucks and people around the little airfield. Then they began to get smaller and smaller and now I was entranced by all the toy cars & trucks outside the window. I had no sense of movement that I remember, either on take-off or landing. but I do remember those toys were replaced with real cars and trucks and I laughed at all that was going on.

When I told Dad about that memory a few years before he died, he was incredulous and could not believe I remembered that as I was but a few months old, but remember it I do. And I've been crazy about flying ever since.

I wanted to be a fighter pilot like many a young man before me and since, but that was not to be, as my eyesight was too bad. I started wearing eyeglasses in sixth grade. Well, when the time finally came, since I couldn't be an Air Force pilot, I chose another path: I enlisted and ended up flying on C-130s. Although this aircraft is a cargo plane, it has also filled several other roles, among them gunships and reconnaissance platforms. My flight time was on the latter. I was a Russian linguist and I flew aerial recon missions over the Baltic Sea. There were a few missions over the Mediterranean, but most of my flight time was over the Baltic.

The aircraft we flew on were owned by the 7406th Support Squadron and we flew out of Rhein-Main Air Base. That base no longer exists, as it was turned over to Germany in October of 2005, but it was very active during the period I was there, 1971-1972. My unit was the 6916th Security Squadron, and we were referred to as "the backenders" and sometimes as "sailors." That last term stems from the fact that the mission supervisor, an enlisted man, was usually referred to as the "admiral." Why that was is a story in itself. Regardless of the terminology, we didn't exist. Our missions were highly classified and so our presence on those missions was not officially admitted to. They were fun, however, and that time period holds some of my best memories.  And I was flying. Not piloting, but flying.

Back to the Thunderbirds.  They're flying F-16s right now and they are as impressive (and loud!) as ever. There is something about a fighter jet blasting overhead at a couple of hundred feet that just gives me goosebumps. I love it! My only complaint is that their program is too short. I'd enjoy three hours of it!  Ok, I know. It isn't practical. Pilot fatigue and all that. Still....

Tomorrow is the second day of the airshow. We just bought tickets.

-- Richard
   for J. R. Hardesty