Victory!

             I did Camp NaNoWriMo in July as well, and this time I aimed for 10k! I ended up getting 10,029 words today, finishing it. First time I did this and finished! I finiiishhheedddd! I am victorious!

       It was a lot of fun, second drafting Realms Unseen. I am about... 52 pages in now, and hoping to get 200! That is my goal, and I hope to reach it. By Christmas of 2015, but I have no idea if that will happen... All depends on if Writer's Block is merciful and I continue to have more ideas with the second draft.

     My villains just came in the story, actually, and if you guys would like, I'll do a blog post introducing them! They're pretty hilarious and awesome, well, as awesome as evil gets. Anyway, will do a longer blog post later, but right now I'm going to go celebrate my victory by dancing around in my room!

Till next time,

Rubix

A Review of The Black Star of Kingston

Hello Readers!

Today I am going to be doing my very first book review on this site! Give me some leeway as this is my first time doing it, but I hope that it is informative without spoiling the book. Let me know what you think!

A century before Heather and Picket's adventures in The Green Ember, a displaced community fights for hope on the ragged edge of survival. 

My place beside you.
My blood for yours.
Till the Green Ember rises.
Or the end of the world. 

Whitson Mariner and Fleck Blackstar face old fears and new enemies, forging a legend that will echo through the ages. 

Old wars haunt. New enemies threaten. An oath is born.

A hero rises.




          First off, let me just say that I adored this book. It was amazing, simply amazing. I had the great pleasure of reading The Green Ember, of which this is the prequel of. The writing style in this book is the same tone as The Green Ember but it has improved a ton since the first, and you can tell that he has been growing in his writing style a ton.

        The world he first made in the first book is greatly expanded on in the prequel, he gives you more of a picture of what this world looks like, of what it's culture is, the history behind it all. I thought I wouldn't like the prequel as much because I would miss the characters in The Green Ember. But I didn't.

          Things that you were introduced to in The Green Ember were explained, and you got to watch the history of them unfold, and the world that seemed so bright before, was now brighter and more magnificent. The tale you loved in the beginning, you got to read the beginning of the beginning, where it got it's roots. Where things came from. Why things were the way they were in The Green Ember.

      I fell in love with the new characters, the new king, the backstory and it was just rich. I loved the story for what it was, with or without the book that follows it. There was a perfect balance between world-building and character-interaction and conflict. The personalities were diverse and they clashed and co-existed and it was beautiful. The illustrations were well done, but I would have loved it just the same without them. The words painted pictures all by themselves, wonderful images that both made you want to laugh and cry.

       You hang on every word in this book, and by the end, you're sad the journey ended, but you look back at it like "That was amazing. That was fun. I can't wait to ride this roller coaster again." And we all hope that there will be more of #RabbitswithSwords!

My parting words, dear readers, are these:

My place beside you.
My blood for yours.
Till the Green Ember rises.
Or the end of the World.

Poems from an Amateur Poet

  Well, I thought I'd put some more of my poems on here, with varied topics! Please let me know what you think and which ones you like the best, I would greatly appreciate that. Comments are cookies, so give me some! 

If You Know...

If you know how to listen carefully to the wind.

You’ll hear a tale of the beginning, of the end.

If you know where to go, and what to say.

The wind might tell you its tale someday.

If you know how to hear the waves when they speak.

As they roll and the tumble and the white foams the peak.

If you know how to ask, then answers you’ll receive.

The waves know so much more than you or me.

If you know how to eavesdrop on the current in the deep.

There’s hardly a thing that from you it could keep.

If you know how to spy on the current that’s roaring.

Then you’ll hear secrets that will send your mind soaring.

If you know how to pick up the light rays piercing the dark.

They’ll light your way until you find your mark.

If you know how to light up all the dark spaces.

You can find all the hiding places.

So if you know how to find it, hear it, see it, touch it

Nothing can be kept from you making the dark lit.

You can learn, you can be taught, how to light up the ocean.

Even though people tell me it's a foolish notion.

Stars

Tiny tears in the black, little pin points of light.

Guardians of my dreams. Guardians of the night.

Tiny specks of sparkles, laughing at our supposed might.

Fiery balls of grandeur, fiery giants of old.

Some burning bright and others growing cold.

Red and yellow, white and blue, some are shining gold.

Some are near, some are far, some we can not see.

Some are huge, some are fading, others are wee

But somewhere up in that night sky, stars are watching me.

Stars and suns and moons, all guarding the sky.

Sometimes I find myself wondering how and why.

Why the Maker made them so, made them up so high.

I think I’d like to touch one, if I could, if I might.

But I just wait and watch for another night.

Maybe one day, but now the day is light.

So I wait and I watch for another night.

This poem is about Gandalf, from Lord of the Rings, hope you enjoy! 

The Adventure

There is a man with a tall grey hat

Who astonishes hobbits as he walks past

With long grey beard and glowing staff

He reaches our hearts as he walks down the path

When he appears adventures soon come

There are wars and battles that need to be won

He says good morning with a twinkle in his eye

Adventures are coming as this man walks by

Long beard and pointy hat, tall stature and glowing staff

Wise eyes that see, old ears that hear, feet walking down the nearest path

“Good morning Bilbo” he says, twinkle in his eye

By and by

This hobbit will go on an adventure.

This poem is inspired by the book "The Sherwood Ring", highly recommend it (the book, that is).

The Sherwood Ring

For mysterious though you may be

One day you will be caught and we will see

Planning, plotting, lying, tricking

We will find out who this trickster who is always tricking

Just might be

For none know your name, none know your home

Peaceable Sherwood, you think you’re alone?

For a tall young general sees through your plot

And he would rather see you rot

BUT! Not all hope is lost, the British still might rule

But sorry Peaceable, this American general is no fool

When the war is over, he’ll call you brother

But until then run, before he discovers

You. 

And that's all the finished poems I have at the moment. The others are either too terrible to put on or unfinished, so this is it for now. I hope that you were able to enjoy them! ^-^ Please leave a comment below, I absolutely love those! 

A Shout Out

Greetings Readers,

     Well, as most of you probably know, I am overseas and while I love it here, I still have homesickness from time to time. My wonderful cousin and aunt came over here a couple months ago and that was awesome, cause we had absolutely no idea they were coming. They brought with them something that constantly helps me.

   They brought letters. From people who didn't even know me personally, but took the time and the energy to write to me. To tell me that they cared. That they were praying. That I was fighting the good fight and to continue. That I was strong enough for this. And... that was just amazing. They might not have known it, but they've helped me in many bouts of homesickness, I get all my letters from over the years from family and friends and I read them.

      And I let the homesickness wash over me, because that's okay. It's okay to miss my family. It's okay to miss my friends. It's okay. And then once it's gone, life continues. I love where I am. I love what I'm doing.

     So thank you to Collin, Jonah, Tes, Ethan, Charlie, Karlee, Kirsten, Avery, Maisey, Cristina, Svea, Kenneth, Joshua, and Nathanael and the rest of the crowd at Emmaus Academy. Thank you for reminding me that people are praying, and people care, because that's one of the best feelings we have. Knowing that people who have never gotten a chance to meet us in person are praying. Are hoping. Are caring.

        Thank you for the letters.

     Keep fighting the good fight, you've got this!

~Rubix

Behind The Scenes

    This is the cover I made on this lovely website Book Cover Maker and sadly, I wouldn't be able to publish it with this cover as I got the pictures off of Pinterest, Google, Deviantart, etc. But it works for me for now, and it makes me happy, so I thought I'd show you all!

     Now, here's a bit of a behind the scene's look between the characters and some plot twists, and my thoughts on them. I'll begin with the youngest, alright?

Nessa: Nessa was originally not in the first draft. She randomly popped in the second draft and I decided to use her as a minor character for a bit and then get rid of her somehow. But she stuck around, and I ended up really liking her, so she stayed.

Stats for Nessa:

Appearance:

Nessa is a small niad, with extremely pale skin (I got this photo off Google, so it's close but not exact, gives you a mental image though) and blue hair with silver tips. Her eyes are bright purple and she has a deep connection with water. 

Personality: Kindhearted, and is very empathetic and compassionate towards others. She's easily frightened however, and is terrified of fire. She does not like to be teased and her feelings can be injured easily, but she forgives quickly. 

Age: Nessa is about 8 or 9 by our standards, but she's been alive for 49 years (immortality)

Relationships with other Characters: She's basically like Tristan's daughter and thinks of Kao as a big brother. She tends to call Tristan "Da" and Kao "K". She has a slight accent, but not as much as Tristan does. 

Kao: Kao was the first character I created for Realms Unseen and has been in the book since the idea was first created. He is the first character to appear in the book, and we see him secretly spying on his father, Kilo, to see what he is up to. His personality was originally supposed to be more like Nessa's but overtime he became a bit of a spit fire. He has a poetic side to him though. He was also supposed to be 19, but ended up being 14 after I decided he was better to write as a younger teen. 

Stats for Kao:

Appearance: 

Kao's physical appearance changes drastically over the course of the book (first picture completely belongs to me, second one is Google's) In the beginning, he has long red hair and wears kingly robes, but towards the end he gets it cut and dyed to blend in more, accepting his new life. He always retains his grey eyes and pointy ears no matter what disguise he puts on. 

Personality: Kao is a bit of everything really, he is extremely emotional oriented, and would follow his heart and feelings rather than his mind. He speaks his thoughts, and speaks them loud, even when he is wrong. He's poetic at times, and can be melancholy, but on the whole, loves life and is extremely curious about the world around him.

Age: He's about 14 by our standards, and has been around for 79 years. (Again, his life span is a good 800 years.) 

Relationships with other Characters: He looks up to Tristan as a big brother figure, and Nessa is like a little sister to him. He's extremely protective of her and will do anything for her. Kilo is his father, but they are estranged after he finds out about the Portals. His mother died when he was young. He and a minor character, Wolfe, have an acquaintanceship but are not very close.

Tristan: Ah, now Tristan has given me the most trouble of any character. He's a troublemaker. Wanderer. Best Knife Thrower this side of the Realms. He was supposed to be 12, and hang around Kao and beg to go on this grand adventure. But then he slowly changed into a self-confident, cocky nineteen year old with a sad past and a mask to cover the pain. He's got the most layers of them all, and the problem with writing him is I can't take away the layers too quick, he's got to let them fall in his own timing. 

Appearance: 

Tristan is a dryad, but he goes around in human form a lot, because dryads on Niadra can shapeshift whilst niads can "phase" through solid objects. Even in dryad form, he is seen with a black hoodie. He also has a small silver hoop earring on his left ear, and his eyes are abnormally bright green. 

Personality: He's cocky and extremely self confident, argumentative and cold at times. He's gruff and hard around the edges. But he's also caring (even if he doesn't like letting it show) and he's good with kids. He's an overachiever and will get the job done no matter what. He's not a bad person, no matter what he might say. He's fairly patient and doesn't have as short of a fuse as Kao. He's good at reading people and guessing what they'll want and who is dangerous.

Age: He's immortal, but he's been around for 450ish years, he has the mentality and appearance of a 19 year old.

Relationships with other Characters: He looks at Kao as a kid brother, and teases him mercilessly but would beat up anyone else who would dare try. He views Nessa as a daughter, and is as protective as her own father would be (if he were still alive :/) He doesn't have much interaction with the few other minor characters, but that has yet to be seen as I am only 35 pages into the new draft, who knows what could happen next... 

And there you have it, folks! A behind the scenes look at what these characters were supposed to be and how they turned out!

If you have any questions, comments or concerns please click the comment button! You know you want to! Also, if you have any questions for Nessa, Tristan, or Kao please leave them in the comments below!

Ta ta for now! 

~Rubix