'twas the Night of Midwinter...

12/25/2013

'Twas the night of midwinter, and all through the House
Not a creature was stirring. Not even you, little mouse.
My darlings were nestled all snug on their shelves,
Why, they were so tired they'd silenced themselves.

When out in the hall there arose such a cry,
That I sprang from my bed to summon the Nye.
Then what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But the Eldest of Nye, with a single bright tear.

"I did not mean to wake you. It's not nearly dawn,
but tonight is the night we can speak of what's gone.
We once were much more than one house, you see
And nobody remembers. Not even me.

On midwinter, my people, we speak of the past,
Of what our world was, right up to the last.
We came from a land of both shadow and steel,
Until those proud fools, they shattered the seal."

The Eldest, he spoke more than I'd ever heard,
But I only caught perhaps every third word.
You see, I was tired, and my dolls were asleep,
And you know my hate for that old Nye runs deep.

So that's all that I know, now I'm going to bed.
If you want to know more, ask the Eldest instead.

***

As he watched Kai walk through the bedroom door, Simon couldn't help but think he should have seen this coming. Kai never gave him a straight answer. In the morning, he would try and ask Indirial, see if he had anything to add about the origins of Valinhall.

Why did Kai ever feel the need to speak in rhyme, anyway?

9 Comments

Elder III

12/25/2013 01:07:51 pm

I'm throwing my money at the screen right now. Oh, Merry Christmas you talented tease you. ;)

Will Wight link

12/25/2013 01:46:08 pm

By all means, keep doing that! One of my 128 secret skills is the ability to absorb cash through cyberspace.

It doesn't come in handy as often as you'd think, but it's a cool trick at LAN parties.

Mordin

12/27/2013 05:42:24 am

Do the bills come out In the same condition as they were in when the screen absorbed them?
More specifically if I were to say write down a secret so dark that the universe would loose all color for the duration of a incredibly unpleasant sneezing-fit ones read by a creator of worlds like your self, would the inc survive the transfer?

Because I just inserted just such a bill in to my monitor.
Mohahahahaha!

Jeremiah

12/30/2013 07:41:04 am

Do I distantly hear the slaughter of orcs in the distance again?

12/30/2013 04:45:09 pm

No, stay away from my orcs! I'm in the process of uploading the book as we speak.

James

1/2/2014 10:49:01 am

I so badly want to know the origins on Valinhall. I can't stand all the mystery. Will the third book be enough to answer all of my questions and wrap up the loose ends? who knows? I wish it would turn out to be an ongoing series with as many books as like The dresden files books. Three just doesn't seem like it's going to cut it for a book junkie like me. Good work anyways

1/9/2014 12:48:50 am

Will the third book wrap up all the loose ends? No! Not about the origins of Valinhall, at least! BURN WITH UNSATISFIED CURIOSITY!

Who knows? I do!

Will there be a story that eventually explains Valinhall's origins to your satisfaction? Yes!

Will this be an ongoing serial series like The Dresden Files? No! But only because I plotted it out as a trilogy. I, too, enjoy those sorts of series, and now that the Traveler's Gate trilogy has picked up steam the way it has, I almost wish that I COULD make it an ongoing series. But I can't. However...

Are three books enough? NO! I will be returning to the world of the Traveler's Gate in the future, with at least one book on the history and origins of Valinhall, and then probably another trilogy/series with a new set of characters. And maybe some old ones, assuming that any old characters survive City of Light.

Glad you're enjoying the series, James! To tell you the truth, I would have outlined the Traveler's Gate story as a series if I had known people would enjoy it so much. We would have gotten to know the characters much better, Simon would have progressed through one or two rooms per book, gaining a new power each book, Alin would have become steadily more and more selfish and crazy, Leah would have learned lessons about cruel dictatorship from her family...it would have been awesome.

Too late, though. I have no choice but to finish this race at the same blistering pace I set from the beginning.

However, my next work (set in a different world from the Traveler's Gate trilogy) will most likely be a serial. Hopefully you enjoy that one, and I can deliver several books a year to slake your unending thirst for fantasy novels.

Dag

1/13/2014 03:44:13 pm

Personally, I enjoy the pace of these books so far. I also think lumbering Simon with abilities could open up for making him feel (to the reader) a distant superman that will just leave you wondering why he didn't "use power number 26 in that particular situation instead of that obviously constructed battle-loss". Now it all feels very personal. Very close to each character. Some more than others, sure, but close still. Like with Kai and his so-called problem with the Nye. He hasn't gotten the Nye power, but he is fast because he is good at what he does. And crazy as a telephonepost. (Or is he?)

I also enjoy the characteristically uncertain personalities of not-quite-evil and not-quite-good. A very difficult trait to balance and still make personalities different from each other. Those few who are truly evil are, it seems, not quite human or even not directly evil. They seem to be more a function of their being. Like water is wet. It can't help it. It's what makes it water.

And, I must say, you writing these books is obviously what makes them captivating. You write very well, and I enjoy your style immensely.

1/15/2014 09:07:16 am

I'm glad you feel that way, Dag! You've touched on one of the reasons why I tried to show the other Valinhall powers from the perspective of other Travelers (Kai, Denner, Indirial) instead of having Simon run from room to room collecting powers like a madman. No one person can do everything, or he'd be unstoppable. Even Valin as an Incarnation had powers that he avoided, because he personally didn't prefer using them or had some incompatibility with them on another level.

As for the good-versus-evil thing, I'm a big believer in the idea that nobody thinks of themselves as evil, so why would they act like an obvious bad guy? If you're twirling your mustache while cackling and kicking a puppy across your black fortress, it's pretty clear where you fall on the alignment chart. Lots of people do evil things, but that's out of twisted self-interest, not Satanic malice.

Also, in my opinion, there are too many characters in fiction that we're supposed to hate. I'd rather not tell my reader to hate the bad guy. You might disagree with him, and want him to fail, but I don't want you to hate him. What he's doing might be horrible, but he's not inherently capable of anything worse than you or me.

And thanks for the compliment! I hope you're right, and that people will enjoy my next series just as much as the Traveler's Gate trilogy. Part of me is a little worried that readers are buying these books because they like the premise, not because they enjoy the way I tell stories. Hearing that from you is encouraging, so thanks!

In which we ramble on.
And by we, I mean me.