Plays, Stones, Lattes & Science Fiction

It's not getting any less busy around here. In fact, I think it might even be busier than before.

How does that work? I thought things would settle down and be a bit less manic after the True Blue Aussie Review play finished. But no... there's still a steady string of visitors coming and going, and there's still a heap more paintings to do for my Phoenix art exhibition. Quieter after the play? More time for writing?

Not so.

These days the only writing time I'm getting is when I go down to the Idyl Book Cafe to do my Gypsy Stone Readings. Between readings I set up my laptop and put in a little quality writing time. What can be better than that? Sipping lattes and writing science fiction. Not bad at all.

It is only one day per week, but that is one whole day per week of writing. That's more than I can manage at home at the moment. Stolen time's the best, isn't it? It's almost a guilty pleasure. An indulgence. All the sweeter for the taking.

[Insert maniacal laughter here]

Oh, that's right. Full moon tonight. I might have known. It brings out the worst in me... or perhaps the best. Who knows?

Catch up soon.

Brittany K.

Sword of Anubis Review

Sword of Anubis Review at Coffee Time Romance



http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/Swordofanubis.html

SWORD OF ANUBIS
BRITTANY KINGSTON
ISBN # 978-1-897559-38-3
September 2008
Eternal Press
http://www.eternalpress.ca
E-Book
$1.80
22 Pages
Paranormal Romance
Rating: 3 Cups

India’s parents were murdered by Nicolai Kesslanski. She now lives with her grandfather and helps him run his Parisian shop.

Morgan’s father was also murdered by Kesslanski and he has been tracking him to exact justice. His search has led him to Paris, and India.

Nicolai Kesslanski is nearly unstoppable. Only the legendary Sword of Anubis and an ancient Egyptian book of the dead can destroy him. A murderous act brings those two items and their guardians together, but Nicolai may yet evade his fate.

The setting is appropriately chaotic; Paris just before the revolution. The story could use a bit more depth; it is a little thin on plot. I never learned exactly what Nicolai was, but Morgan’s pursuit of him was full of suspense and excitement. The author captured the spirit of the chase. The characters were sympathetic and resourceful. The ending is a bit disconcerting, especially after the visit of the god Anubis.

Maura
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance

This is a great review. I'm really excited to see my work up there at Coffee Time Romance. However, I don't agree wholeheartedly with everything said above. It's always good to have quality feedback on your work. The reviewers at Coffee Time Romance do a wonderful job. They must read sooooo many stories! I can't imagine how many they'd go through in a single week. It's a staggering thought.

When you put your work out there in public, you have to remember that not everyone will see your stories as you do, and every reader will see them in a different way.

Sword of Anubis was written as a very simple short story with a single-layer plot - that is to say, it has no subplot. I also intended to leave a little to the imagination of the reader. I don't believe that absolutely everything needs to be explained or described in vivid detail. Plant the seed, create the mood, hint at what's behind the door, then let the readers' imagination take them wherever they want to go.

The one glaring fact that the reviewer did miss is that Nicolai Kesslanski is a vampire. The reference to this is mentioned no less than seven times throughout the story. Looking back with 20-20 vision hindsight, I consider that to be a mistake. It should be obvious to the reader what Nicolai is, or it doesn't really matter. Again, a reader can imagine him to be whatever they want him to be. Hitting the reader over the head with the word "vampire" seven times in 19 pages is overkill, in my opinion. How come I didn't pick up on that? I should never have let the story get to the publishing stage without seeing it. But then... who's perfect?

I enjoyed writing Sword of Anubis, and it remains one of my favourite short stories. If you're interested in getting your hands on a copy, surf on over to Eternal Press and grab one.

Cheers

Brittany Kingston

Vampire Short Story Releases

I'm really excited to be able to say that two of my historical vampire short stories will be coming out soon with Eternal Press.

If you like a good vampire tale, keep a look out for:

October 2008

Shadow on the Crystal

Cover by Dawne Dominique







September 2008

Sword of Anubis

Cover by Ally Robertson



Both covers blew me away. I love them! I hope you do too.

I also hope you'll enjoy the stories. Thanks to some wonderful editing from Deborah Nemeth, these two historical tales have sprung into life. Don't forget to keep an eye out for them at Eternal Press.

Also don't forget, my art exhibition is fast approaching. And, yes, I'm still throwing ink all over canvases [and everything else] in an attempt to have some new paintings to show off.

Add to all this: At long, long last, spring is approaching and I've been trying to get outside into the garden to gain some sort of control over the jungle before the summer hits. I did manage to scare a few weeds into submission yesterday. I hope word has gone out through the weed vine that I'll be out there again today and possibly tomorrow looking for victims to add to the compost. Sneaky little weeds. They think they can run riot all over my garden..... I'll show them.... hahahahahhhah!

Cheers

Hi everyone.

I've been fooling around and trying to draw my impression of what a herrragh would look like. So here he is... ta-daaaaah.

Well, I'm not all that good at drawing humanoid bodies, but the animal parts look ok. Anyway, it will give you all an idea of what a herrragh is supposed to resemble.



Now, under the heading of "Research and Think BEFORE You Write"...

I also discovered, to my absolute horror, that I've been calling the deity of the herrragh, "Anubis", when the word "Anubis" is only the Greek version of his name. He would have been known as his original Egyptian name of "Ienpw" - pronounced (Yinepu).

Talk about a major blunder. I never gave it a thought. But when analyzing the situation, I realized that, even though I could leave it as "Anubis", the original space-faring people known as the herrragh who visited earth a few millenia ago would not have referred to their own God by a human Greek name.

Major bummer!

Thank "the Gods" for the search and replace feature on word processors! I guess I'll be using mine a lot over the next few days.



Cheers

Brittany Kingston