Works in Progress: Week Nine, Blood Bound and Bones of Earth

Blood Bound
Flesh and Blood, Book 1

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

I think I have resigned myself to the fact that Bones of Earth is a poky book, and I will not be getting as many words out as I am for Blood Bound. And that’s okay — there’s no deadline as long as I get my chapters up once a week. The fact is, I’m my own worst taskmaster.

Now, if you look at the wordcounts this week and compare them to last week, you might thing that I went completely all in on Blood Bound. I mean… over 10K words in a week?

Not exactly. Remember last week, when I said I’d put the first ten chapters up in a private crit group for people to see my worldbuilding? I managed to bork Scriveners on-board wordcounter when I did it, and didn’t realize that until the 11th, when the wordcounter said I’d only apparently written 333 words in over a week. I figured out the problem and fixed it. So really, that 10K is since October 2nd.

Words this week are probably going to be light — I am again fighting a cold (or something), and trying to get rid of it before Necronomicon this weekend. Thankfully, I have a light schedule this year. I’m on two panels on Friday, and one on Saturday. The rest of the weekend you’ll find me at my dealers table.

The panels this weekend are:

Friday 7 pm:  The Many Faces of Holmes & Watson

Friday 11 pm: Slash Fiction

Saturday 1 pm: The Religion of Diets

That Saturday panel intrigues me, to the point that I asked to be added to it when I saw it on the schedule. I mean, if anyone knows anything about the religion of diets, it would be Liz coming-up-on-ten-years-of-WW Schechter.

A rare,  mostly non-spoilery excerpt from Bones of Earth this week. There are two characters here you’ll meet in Forged in Fire (on sale next week! Presales available now!) Marik is Earth and Water, and has recently lost his left eye because reasons. Alanar is a Healer, and he is Earth and Air. He is also blind — in Forged in Fire, we learn that Airborn have an innate ability to know where they are in space, and use it very much like bats use echolocation.  Being blind, Alanar uses that ability in interesting ways.

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“Are you ready for this?”

“I should see if I still remember how,” Alanar answered. He hefted the staff and walked out onto the field. Owyn stayed by the gate and watched as Alanar picked the staff up. He didn’t hold it the way that Owyn had seen other staff fighters do — instead of holding the staff in the middle, Alanar held it near one end, angled down across his body. He stood still for a moment. Then, with no warning, he lunged, stabbing the staff forward the way someone would use a polearm. Owyn caught his breath — a lunge for someone as tall as Alanar, and with a staff that was equally as tall, meant that he could strike someone at a greater distance than Owyn could reach with his whip chain. Alanar recovered, twisting slightly, the staff moving in front of him. Blocking, Owyn realized. Holding the staff that way meant that all Alanar needed to do was move slightly, and he could block a blow from any height.

“Oh, he’s practicing?” Marik said from behind Owyn. “Oh… he hasn’t forgotten much.”

“I’ve never seen anyone use a staff like that,” Owyn said without turning. He couldn’t look away — Alanar was just too interesting to watch. “I’m used to people holding it in the middle. This is a lot more flexible.”

“I’ve seen people fight your way,” Marik said. “Most of them learned it from someone Fire, or lived in one of the Fire and Earth villages in the eastern mountains. Further east, they fight that way, too. But this is how we learn it here. It might have some Air influence. I don’t know.”

Owyn finally made himself look over his shoulder at Marik. Marik was holding a staff in his right hand, and had a crossbow in his left. He set the crossbow down to lean against the fence, and stepped through the gate. “Alanar?”

“I thought I heard you,” Alanar called. He stopped, leaning on his staff. He wasn’t even breathing hard.

“I thought you said you were out of practice!” Owyn called. Alanar laughed.

“I’m alone in here,” he said. “Against an opponent?”

“You’re going to leave me all over the sand,” Marik said. He moved to the middle of the ring and picked up his staff. Then he frowned. “This is going to be interesting.”

“Why… oh.” Alanar nodded. “You’re right handed. So you’ll be putting your left side forward.”

“And that’s the side I can’t see on,” Marik agreed. “Take it easy on me, will you?”

Alanar nodded. “Of course. I’m not going to make more work for myself.”

“Oh, fuck you!” Marik laughed.

“Promises, promises.” Alanar raised his staff. “Any time you’re ready. I’ll defend.”