Glancing back First up, apologies for the long gap! It's been over a year since last I scribbled random thoughts on this blog. There are reasons. 2022 was not kind to us, and I'll not delve into that here. But the power of positivity shines through if one allows. And as Mercury spins retro this New Year, it seems a good time to focus on inspirations looking forward and back. Love will always shine through, even in the darkest of [...]
How's your Christmas week been? Hope you had a good one! Not very yule like here in Georgia. Storms raging outside, rain drenching fields, lightning blazing silver through the gloom. Booming thunder, pets scurrying nervously under the bed. Ouch. A touch unseasonal, but hey - define normal during these tumultuous times. Here's a whimsical moment to lift you away from the hectic holidays whirl. A dream of snowflakes and swordplay. A ponder. Or a winter's wander, if you like. 'As [...]
As Autumn waxes and leaves change hue, lifting away, beginning the tumble and dance in their drifting journey down from the trees. This writer's mood shifts to reflection. Time readies those trees for their long cold rest before Spring. Time ... the silent watcher who marks us every hour. What if there was no time? You've somehow slipped beyond its lore? How would that feel? Like freedom? Terror? You can't age when there's no time, but neither can you rest. [...]
Have you ever walked past a dark space at midnight? A gaping hole in an empty building, or a shed or cattle store - the wind battering the steel roofs above, rain washing the cobwebby window panes? At such moments, it's easy to feel the darkness stir and manifest. As you pass, and pick up your pace, icy hands reach out hungrily. Your imagination senses someone waiting inside. But who's to say there isn't someone in there? Like the iceberg, [...]
https://videopress.com/v/g2tuD9wX?resizeToParent=true&controls=false&preloadContent=metadata "The prose drips with visceral imagery and descriptions, complimenting the deep world-building Webb has laid the foundations for in his eight previous Ansu novels. The creativity embedded in every aspect of Blood Feud is impossible to deny; even the basics of the world, its history and magical mechanisms have few parallels in the genre. Webb has developed an immersive world within this Ansu saga, and this first book in a fresh trilogy bodes very well for all that is still to [...]
An Author Interview By Hidden Gems HG: How would you describe yourself to somebody who isn’t familiar with your writing yet? JW: I’m a storyteller who learned to write. That took time – I drove big rigs for years. But as the decades rolled by the stories echoed louder in my head. I love the fantasy genre. The joyous release magical tales award the reader, helping them escape the norm – especially in a year like this one. New realms, magic, [...]
Reading Fantasy As An Antitode to 2020 ... It's good to write fantasy fiction during a turbulent year like 2020. It helps focus the mind, knowing, however crazy the plot you've weaved, it gets surpassed by the news that evening. What a year we're having! As a writer, I'm fortunate enough to squirrel away inside with the cat, penning tomes about nasty people cussing and hitting each other with sharp objects. I've got a few swords and swing them upon [...]
Do you believe in spirit animals? Many ancient cultures did. And why not? More's hidden than seen in this life. What if shapeshifters live amongst us still––individuals with the ability to change from person to beast, or bird, and then shift back again without detection? Useful, huh, if you could master without calamity or malfunction! Stressful, too, I would imagine. I've dabbled with this concept in my new novel, Blood Feud. I have three characters with these particular skills, which I'd like [...]
 The Weaver  The High Gods Cul-Saan: First Born, Old Night, the Shadowman. Elanion: The Guardian, The Emerald Queen, Scaffa, Laniol. Oroonin: The Wanderer, the Traveler, Gurn, the Ferryman, Irulan, Macroft. Borian of the Winds Telcanna the Sky God Croagon the Smith Sensuata Sea God, aka Zansuat.  Lesser Gods Crun Earth Shatterer: a chaos giant Undeyna: aka Sheega the Ice Witch Simiolanis: her twin sister. Argonwui the Hunter, Poor Aggy, Agarra the Destroyer, banished and vanished the youngest [...]
The Weaver/Maker weaved the World-Thread. Ansu was the first world, beloved and gifted by his children, the High Gods. Home of Oroonin and Elanion before they fell out. Â Â The First Born, Saan, persuaded his siblings that the Weaver was negligent of their needs, having moved on to create other galaxies. Saan led a rebellion against the Maker of Worlds. Crushed by the Weaver, who although angered, forgave his wayward children, and moved on to fashion yet more worlds [...]
