Sneak preview! The Phantom’s Blade

AuthorAppleton on July 20, 2015

First draft of The Phantom’s Blade is done! Coming this Fall 2015 this novel is the highly anticipated fourth installment in The Sword of the Dragon series. I am pleased to present this sneak peak at the novel, its opening chapter. Enjoy!

ThePhantom'sBlade coverThe Phantom’s Blade (The Sword of the Dragon series) book 4

Chapter 1: Despair beyond the Sea

Caritha gazed out over the inlet’s deep blue water to the sea beyond, and she sank to her knees on the sand. Despite the clear sky on this cool afternoon, the sea boiled around the splintered hull of the Maiden Voyage. Sea serpents raised their heads as the coils of their slimy dark bodies squeezed the ship and foamed the water. Somewhere beneath the waves sank the bodies of the captain and the crew. Bravely they had fought to ensure that the last Warrioress made it to dry ground.

Sweat had dripped from the captain’s thick nose as salt water sprayed his face. He had driven a pike into one serpent’s body, drawing its attention away from her. “Get to land, lass! The ship is lost,” he had said.

“No! My sisters and I can fight with you.” She had aimed her sword at another of the creatures as it twisted its length around the ship’s bow. The sword glowed dull orange, but no matter how hard she tried she could throw no energy from it.

“No!” She knew then, knew all too well that her gift to Ombre had cost her more than she had imagined it would.

The deck had buckled, throwing her against the rail. Water had rushed beneath decks and the captain had braced himself, his large feet wide apart. “Fight? You cannot fight in the water. This ship is going down. You have only minutes to make up your mind.”

Another serpent had leaped out of the sea, smashing its length over the prow of the Maiden Voyage, and Caritha had glanced at the monster. But the captain had somehow moved across the splintering deck and grabbed her in his thick arms.

“When this ship goes down the serpents will make short work of all of us, my lady. With God as my witness I’ll not let you die when I could have saved your life.” He had heaved her over the ship’s side. When she had floundered from under the water and her head had broken the surface, a serpent had swum under her kicking feet. But it had ignored her and rammed the wooden ship. “Get to shore while there’s time,” the captain had yelled at her.

She had felt tears stinging her eyes as she, with difficulty, sheathed her sword and swam toward an inlet surrounded by mountains of ice. Her last glimpse of the captain, he and a member of his crew were desperately clubbing a serpent’s body as it coiled around the main mast and snapped it.

Now, standing on that unknown shore with her sisters, she felt hope sink with the Maiden Voyage. Not only had they failed to find a land suitable for relocation, until now they had found no land at all, and now that they had . . . They had landed in a place of apparent desolation and the cold wind whispered down the slopes of the sharp peaks that glistened like diamonds in Yimshi’s light. They were cut off from civilization, far from home without means of returning. It had been a long sea voyage. She couldn’t even guess how far they were from home.

Laura stepped up beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder. Rose’el trailed Levena and Evela as they too joined her.

Rose’el growled as she grabbed fistfuls of her dress and wrung water out the material. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced over her shoulder at the frozen world of white. “I don’t care what’s in that sea. I am going to swim back across, find a little house in the Hemmed Land, force a nice gentleman to marry me, and then settle down until I am old and very, very gray.”

“Be serious for once, Rose’el.” Caritha turned toward the ice mountain that rose a couple hundred feet away from the water. She studied its jagged form, the smooth polish of its surface, and she dropped to the ground and punched the sand.

Laura knelt beside her and rubbed her back. “It will be all right, Caritha. Do not fear. Remember what Father said to Evela when we started our mission to find Kesla?”

Caritha remembered. She recollected the powerful white dragon turning his pink eyes on her and her sisters, as they faced the portal to the Eiderveis River. She had been merely seventeen years old at the time. “I will be watching over you even when you cannot see me,” he had said.

She shook Laura off and rose. “Don’t you see? Things are different now.”

“No they are not!” Laura said.

“Look around, my sister. Better yet, take a look at the sea and tell me if you see anyone alive. Where are the captain and the crew of the Maiden Voyage? Do their lives matter to you? And what of Ilfedo, Oganna, and Ombre? They are waiting for our return before they set out to find the dragon Venom-fier. We have failed and they have no way of knowing.”

Laura and Evela hung their heads. Levena sniffed.

“Feel glad that we are alive,” Caritha said and covered her face with her hands. “But weep that so many have died on our account.”

She withdrew her hands from her face. Why hadn’t she noticed before that the shore on which she stood and the mountains of ice . . . they were familiar somehow? White clouds rose over the ice mountains, sailing over the peaks and filling the sky. A frigid wind caressed her arms, threatening to turn her wet dress into ice.

The sandy ground trembled and the mountains of ice crackled, sounding like miniature releases of thunder. Something living warbled in the distance. Between the mountains before them a long-necked creature slid into view. As it drew closer, Caritha caught her breath, for the creature was enormous with four flippers for limbs. It was as white as Albino, with a bulbous blubbery body.

From the creature’s nostrils water shot forth and struck her. Her sisters fell back and rolled into the inlet. But she drew her sword and closed her eyes, with all her might focusing on deflecting the water. The sword fed off her dragon blood, splitting the water to either side of her. The creature kept up its deluge until Rose’el and Levena stumbled to Caritha’s side and joined their blades with hers. Blue energy blasted from the united blades, knifed through the water and struck the creature’s head.

The creature warbled as the water ceased to flow from its nostrils. It lumbered back a hundred feet and warbled toward the mountains. Suddenly the mountains filled with innumerable warbles and another of the creature’s kind slid into view. Only, when it approached, it loomed even larger than its companion.

Its head rose far above them and it smiled down upon them. Needle-like teeth ringed its enormous mouth. It dwarfed even the great albino himself.

“Daughters of the great white dragon, how foolish of you to come to my lands. Do you not know that all who come here are never heard from again? Not even your dragon father could save you from the fate you have brought upon yourselves, for he dares not touch me. I am Cromlin, king of the water skeels, and today your lives are at an end.”

His nostrils cast water upon them and, as they threw their swords up to block the deluge, beams of light shot from his eyes. The beams cut through their defenses, and struck them to the ground.

They ran toward him, swords aimed for his thick body. They reached him and stabbed. The blades sank up to their hilts, yet drew no blood. Cromlin gazed down upon them and warbled, while his companion did the same. The sound rang into the mountains, into their ears, and built its intensity.

Pressure built in her ears. Caritha saw first Evela and then Rose’el drop to the ground, putting their hands to the sides of their heads. Soon she, too, succumbed.

Cromlin lumbered toward the inlet and smashed his fore-flippers together. A wave of sound struck Caritha’s chest, forcing air out of her lungs.

Addressing them in a voice that rang around them and into the ice mountains, Cromlin said, “You have fought worthy of a Water Skeel.” He lowered his neck, bringing his head within ten feet of their heads. “But you are no match for me!”

Caritha felt exhausted. She tried to summon her dragon blood. It warmed, then cooled inside her. She glanced at her sisters, but their faces froze in terror and tears formed in their eyes. Cromlin pulled back his head and a stream of water from his nostrils slammed into Caritha’s chest. The impact threw her and her back crushed against a boulder. The water continued to storm upon her, unending and unyielding. Every bone in her body conformed to the stone against which she was pressed, painfully stretching and bruising her body.

Beside her, Rose’el was pressed into the sand beside Levena, unable to move from under the water’s force. On Caritha’s other side Laura and Evela raised their swords into Cromlin’s onslaught.

Painfully raising her own sword, Caritha touched her sword tip to theirs. “Join with me, my sisters!” A wall of energy formed between the swords, a wall that surged against the water and turned it away.

Cromlin laughed and bore down upon her. His gargantuan body slammed into the beach. He slapped a flipper atop Rose’el and Levena, and struck Caritha, Laura, and Evela with the other. She might as well have attacked a wall as defend against so large a flipper. It rammed her against the boulder, and then withdrew.

“Your puny powers cannot compare to the might I wield!” Cromlin slid to the inlet and dug his flippers into the water. Five large cubes of ice formed between his flippers and he effortlessly plucked them out and chucked them at Caritha and her sisters.

Caritha glanced to either side, but her sisters had been separated too far from her to intercede. As a cube shot toward her, time seemed to slow. She watched it somersault through the air and felt, as it were, ice darts precede the object. Stabbing pain peppered the front of her body. She could barely move.

Tears that she longed to cry refused to come as she struggled with her sword. At last she managed to sheath it. She reached with a trembling hand into her pocket and untied the precious ring that Ombre had given her, slipping it onto her finger. Her body temperature dropped and icicles formed on her hair, hanging in front of her face—she was freezing alive!

But with her last moment of consciousness, as the end embraced her, she laid her hand against her chest and looked down at the engagement ring. The diamond glistened as ice covered it. She should have said yes to Ombre a long time ago. Now it was too late. “But I do love you,” she whispered. “And if God had allowed me to see you again, I would have been fully yours.”

Cover reveal: Daniel and the Sun Sword

AuthorAppleton on May 30, 2015

Introducing debut novels is a great pleasure when I know that the novelists share my passion for great fiction and for the Lord. Nathan Lumbatis hired me a couple years back to do an editorial review of his manuscript and he’s been working hard on it ever since! The story stood out to me for its uniqueness as it pits young protagonists against Peruvian ‘gods.’

Daniel and the Sun Sword CoverThirteen-year-old Daniel is about to be adopted. But when he learns his new family wants him as a slave, he runs away with the help of his new neighbors, the naïve and cowardly Ben, and Raylin, a mysterious girl with a shady past. He begins to second-guess his decision, however, when the cave they hide in transports them to the ruins of Machu Picchu, where they find themselves embroiled in a battle between ancient gods of Life and Death. To top things off, the God of Life draws Daniel into the fray by adopting him as his son and setting him on a quest to complete a broken, mystical sword, a task that will pit him against the god of the underworld.

Now, Daniel and his friends have just one weekend to find the shards before a hoard of supernatural enemies catch up. But that’s not all they face. A trap has been set that even Daniel wouldn’t expect, and he just took the bait. Will the power of his Heavenly Father be enough to save them?

Daniel and the Sun Sword will be published by Ellechor Media in JULY 2015.

Nathan Lumbatis

Nathan Lumbatis grew up in the woods of Alabama, where he spent his time exploring, hiking, and dreaming up stories. Now, as a child/adolescent therapist and author, he’s teaching kids and teens how to redeem their stories using Biblical principles. He counsels at Dothan Behavioral Medicine Clinic and is a member of First Presbyterian Church. He still lives in Alabama, where you will find him with his wife and three kids every chance he gets.

Be sure to check out Nathan Lumbatis on his Website!

Finishing The Phantom’s Blade (in the midst of my busy life)

AuthorAppleton on May 11, 2015

For the past two years my readers have been asking, “When is the next book in The Sword of the Dragon series coming out?” This fourth installment is titled The Phantom’s Blade.

This writing project has been my most difficult yet. Why? Because I am juggling family, a full-time day job, and writing projects. This hasn’t been easy but at last I have found a “schedule” that is allowing me to get The Phantom’s Blade completed.

I work during the day, return home, and my kids are going to bed about 8 o’clock. Most nights I don’t get home until after 8 if not 9. I tried getting onto a morning schedule but so far without success. The challenge of that is that the kids can often get up in the middle of the night, so my level of energy and motivation in the morning varies greatly.

Up until I was seventeen I spent most nights stargazing with my telescopes (I’ve always loved astronomy). Often I stayed up until 3 or even 4 in the morning. The night hours have, ever since, remained my most productive time.

The Phantom’s Blade is passed 77,000-words now. I have been writing it late at night. Coffee has been the ticket to getting me passed midnight at which time my brain usually gets a second creative wind. The story has turned out really well. Many characters that readers of Swords of the Six, Offspring, and Key of Living Fire will recognize return for further development. I anticipate this book finishing at 90,000-words…

Expect The Phantom’s Blade to be available in paperback this Fall 2015.

How my dad inspired my fascination with trees in fantasy

AuthorAppleton on May 4, 2015

My dad is a talented artist. I remember when I was a kid (we were homeschooled) my mother did not have the artistic leaning, so my dad told us he was going to draw an apple. When he said “draw” he meant create a piece of art. The apple seemed to “grow” off the paper.

My dad did another thing I found fascinating. He showed me how to draw trees. The way he drew them he would “grow” the tree, starting with the trunk, designing branches that shot off of it. Maybe I just don’t remember but it seems to me he never added the leaves unless it was a panoramic sketch.

For an unknown reason trees have always fascinated me. Perhaps it is their strength and their fortitude in a storm . . .. A better explanation might be that my dad brought them to life for me in a magical way.

I am not a great artist. My sketches are simple. Maps I can do but other things take me hours to accomplish. Yet, I do know how to write.

Through fantasy stories I bring trees to life in much the way my dad did on paper. In Key of Living Fire I had the opportunity to introduce a living tree. Ancient and deep in shadow, this is a carnivorous tree, full of evil intent. It works with its benefactor, this crazy woods guide.

If trees were alive? Is it a question? Not to me. My dad brought them to life on paper, and now I bring them to life in my novels. This is just one more reason to love what I do.

Question: What things do you like to see ‘brought to life’ in Fantasy?

How to not let subplots run amok in fantasy fiction

AuthorAppleton on March 9, 2015

When writing a fantasy story much focus is given to world building and character development. This focus can greatly enrich the story world… though there is also a pitfall in it for those of us who write the story.

Characters come to life, landscapes take form, cultures are developed, costumes and customs are established. As you create a fantasy book or series you do not want to miss an opportunity to enhance the reader’s experience. This is a work of art. You want it to shine. All of this leads to an endless supply of subplots within the main story. It may be as simple as a secondary character who needs more personality in order to interact more realistically with the main characters in the story.

The wise writer files away an array of subplots. Histories of lands and biographical data on secondary and background characters, for example. But sometimes we get carried away by the ideas the subplots deliver and we let the story follow rabbit trails as we flesh out minor characters. Certainly there is validity in doing this when drafting fantasy novels, but it is imperative that we remember to focus the story on the main characters.

I was reminded of this recently while watching The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies for the first time. Peter Jackson allowed the story to follow so many minor characters that, even though the movie had great moments, it lost its punch. Characters wept over fallen comrades, and I could not weep with them because I did not feel an affinity for their loss. I did not “know” their comrades well enough to miss them. If the movie had stuck to following a couple characters a more coherent story would have resulted and greater emotional attachment could have been achieved. Instead it followed a slew of characters and tried to make all of them equally important.

A subplot is fantastic for enriching a fantasy tale. If we are following our main character and they encounter a minor character, it benefits the story if that minor character is given a history. But where we must be careful is in not immersing ourselves in that minor character. The story must pull back to the main character so that the conflicts continue to be resolved in a coherent manner. A great example of this is in Harry Potter because J.K. Rowling always kept the story on Harry and varied from him only rarely to enhance certain plot elements.

Stay true to the main character. File away the majority of your subplots. Who knows? Maybe someday you will dig into those files and write an altogether separate novel to cover the subplot.

Question: What examples of good or bad use of subplots in fiction stand out to you?

Character Arc: Lessons Learned or Change Achieved? (Guest Post by Gillian Bronte Adams)

AuthorAppleton on March 2, 2015

“To me, characters lie at the heart of any story. Characters drive what happens when and where, and the way they grow and change over the course of a story is what makes a book either memorable or easily forgotten in the already-read pile.

But it seems to me that in Christian fiction, we too often think of a character’s arc as the path they take to learn a lesson by the end of the book, rather than the change and growth achieved along the journey. We put the cart before the horse, and often fall into the trap of preaching a Sunday School lesson rather than telling a whopping good tale.

The problem with this is that it doesn’t feel real.

I don’t know about you, but in my life, I’ve made my share of mistakes, been through tough times, and learned from them. But those lessons were rarely tied up in a neat little bow. More often, they were like Eustace’s change in Lewis’s Voyage of the Dawn Treader, who “began to be a different boy” after he was un-dragonized.

We tend to muddle our way through life, changing, growing, and hopefully being shaped more into Christ’s image each step of the way.

Change rarely happens overnight in the big lessons learned. It is far better seen in the little moments, in the gradual slipping from one decision to the next.

I would venture to say that the purpose of Bilbo’s journey in The Hobbit was not to show how he could come home a different hobbit than the one who had set out. That was just a byproduct of the quest. Don’t get me wrong—change in a novel is important. It is a sign of growth and life, and if the character who walks offstage at the end of the novel is the same as the one who stepped onstage at the beginning, you probably have a problem.

But I believe the true heart of a story is less about teaching your character (and thus the audience) that A is wrong and they should become B instead, and more about showing your character wandering from A to B, changing and being affected by their decisions along the way.

Otherwise, you risk winding up with a story that feels like a collection of scenes and pithy statements contrived to teach your character, and by extension the reader, a lesson. Like old fairy tales where every story had a moral. “Be polite to strangers … or bad things could happen to you.”

In the end, character growth comes down to the old “show your story, don’t tell it” adage. Often when characters “learn a lesson,” what you’re really seeing is the author intruding into the novel to impose a sermon on the story. I’m not saying it can’t be done, or that there isn’t a time or place for it, but that’s when readers are more likely to complain that Christian fiction is preachy rather than impactful.

On the other hand, character change that naturally follows the course of events and is seen through actions rather than told through what has been “learned,” results in a much more vibrant story. A story that feels true rather than contrived. A story that may stick with the reader long after the last page has been turned.

What are some elements of character growth that you think encourage a story to be impactful without being preachy?

GILLIAN BRONTE ADAMS is a sword-wielding, horse-riding, coffee-loving speculative fiction author from the great state of Texas. During the day, she manages the equestrian program at a youth camp. But at night, she kicks off her boots and spurs, pulls out her trusty laptop, and transforms into a novelist. She is the author of Orphan’s Song, book one of the Songkeeper Chronicles, and Out of Darkness Rising. Visit Gillian online at her blog or Facebook page.

Cover reveal: The Phantom’s Blade (The Sword of the Dragon Book 4)

AuthorAppleton on February 24, 2015

In preparation for the release this Fall of The Phantom’s Blade (The Sword of the Dragon book 4) I commissioned the same artist who did the new edition for the Neverqueen cover. Here is the final cover:

Novel plot tease:

From across the sea the Maiden Voyage has failed to return to the Hemmed Land, leaving Ilfedo to wonder at the fate of his beloved Warrioresses . . .

The Hemmed Land is in political confusion thanks to Vortain’s dissidence. As mayor of Ilfedo’s chief city Vortain holds great political sway. He openly opposes Ilfedo’s proposal to form a rescue expedition to bring the people of Dresdyn to the Hemmed Land, and regards the young woman Ilfedo brought back from the Hidden Realm with deep suspicion. Even more strong is his opposition to Lord Ilfedo’s declaration that, as the albino long ago prophecied, the entire population must seek a new homeland.

Holding himself to a promise Ilfedo will not be swayed from seeking the people of Dresdyn. His allies are strong now. Few in the land hold the wisdom of Brother Hersis, and fewer still command the same respect in the military as Lord Ombre, and none have risen so high in the esteem of the people as Oganna.

An expedition launches to seek out the people beneath the desert sands, and only Ilfedo truly recognizes the nature of the enemy they face.

How to create original fantasy creatures

AuthorAppleton on February 16, 2015

Among the interesting questions I have received from fantasy readers is the one regarding my process for creating and naming original fantasy creatures. Here is my little how-to on the process:

Take fascinating creatures from the real world and dissect them. Ask yourself: What do I find fascinating about these creatures? What abilities do they possess that inspire my imagination? Do their scales or their colors make them memorable? What parts of their bodies are interesting or unique?

Mash together elements from the creatures you’ve considered. You might do what I did by pulling in the head of an alligator, the feet of a dragon, the tail of a dinosaur, and then make six legs instead of four. The result was my first version of a Megatrath (so far my most popular creature). I felt that the head of the alligator gave the Megatrath a vicious demeanor, the length of its body allowed it to react with the speed of a snake, and the scales on its body armed it like a dragon. This was a creature I envisioned as a powerful adversary and a valuable ally.

Name the creature’s species. In the case of the Megatrath I wanted the name to convey brute strength, patience, arid terrain, and the largeness of its body. Mega for the size and strength, and trath combined trek (like a long journey) and wrath.

This is a simple system but it has worked very well in creating my fantasy worlds. Originality is key to producing a fantasy world that readers will remember, and one answer to that need is to craft original creatures. If you like dragons, gryphons, serpents, and the phoenix, then use them as well. But put them in a world populated by creatures new and strange.

Question: Does this process give you ideas for how to create your own fantasy creatures?