New Fantasy Story, Chapter 2 “Gifts”

It was quiet in the boys room, the time of night when Mister Sand had brushed away the daily fear and pain of life in the orphanage and replaced it with the hopes and joy of youthful dreams.  The only sounds were the deep breaths of the slumbering, peppered with a few light snores and the nose whistle of Shep, who always seemed to be stopped up.

Unfortunately the fresh welts on Justyn’s back prevented him from joining the others in blissful sleep.  He lay on his stomach, covers down to his waist and his shirt pulled up to keep the rough cloth from inflaming the wounds further.  Even the night air couldn’t seem to cool the painful, throbbing reminders of the lash.  It had been the worst beating Justyn had ever experienced, and he had mercifully passed out before Cold Crone had finished.

New Fantasy Story, Chapter 1 “Bubble Burst”

“You are lowborn and will never amount to anything!”

The words stung worse than the lash that sometimes crossed Justyn’s back, a demoralizing combination of truth and fear.  Truth that, yes, he was born the lowest of the low, the son of a barmaid so wedded to her cups she couldn’t keep a job for more than a few days at a time.  And the fear that, yes, his dreams of escaping this hellhole were no more real than the nightmares that plagued his sleep.

The bitch who tormented him was beautifully christened Guinevie Goode, but in the orphanage she was called Cold Crone behind her back.  Pretty is as pretty does, they say, and there was nothing pretty about Cold Crone’s visage or disposition.  While she was hard on all the children in her tender care, she always saved an extra helping of harsh for Justyn.  Likely because she’d been forced to take him in by Sheriff Uric despite the fact that he still had his mother around, as wretched as she was.  And quite likely had a father around, though none of the many who’d been in and out of his mother’s bed over the years had ever stepped up to claim him.

Legendary Post

18 Days Until The Dark Globe Create a World Writing Contest!

I just wanted to give you all a bit of Info. on The Up and Coming Dark Globe Create A World Writing Contest.

The Rules; (These Will Be Updated and Given out on April 1st As Well)

1) The Writers will be Allowed 1,200 Words to Write a Short Story, or Part of a Story.

2) There Will Be 9 Judges which I am in the Midst of Gathering (None of the Judges will be Partaking in the Contest)

3) The Contest Begins April 1st, 2012, and goes through April 14th, 2012, Midnight U.S. PST Time.

4) The 9 Judges Shall Read and Determine their Top Three Choices between April 15th, and April 22nd, 2012.

5) The Winners will be Announced Friday, April 23rd, 2012.

6) Story May Be Something You’ve Written Prior to April 1st, 2012.

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Kickstarter

Hm… thanks to a recommended link on Facebook (which I almost never click on) I ran across an author named Audrey Auden, who used a site called Kickstarter to raise funds for printing of a color illustrated version of her novel Realms Unreel.  One of my goals in life has always been to make a living off my writing, and the fascinating thing about looking seriously into possibilities nowadays is just how many different options there are now for getting your work read and pushed out there to people who want to read you with self-publishing.

Audrey did a Reddit thread discussing here her experiences using Kickstarter, which seems like a pretty awesome site, and talked about self-publishing.  I wanted to put this link up for future reference…

Readable?

Quick question– do you find the page layout (white font on black) readable, or should I think about a different color scheme?  I like the spooky feel of this page, but it’s more important to me that people find it easy to read 🙂