Of Rainbows and Portals

I have collated all the LORE short stories into one volume! And it’s available in paperback too 🙂

Every great story has hidden depths. Discover in this OMNIBUS EDITION the insights and the fantastical woven from the Lore of Arcana/Reaume/Sanctum Series. From natural rainbows to portals into other realms, from worlds off the track to giant planets swerving in space, these are the extras compiled into one volume:

The Rainbows of Pilan

The Life-Wheels of Pendulim

The History of Ardosia

The Wolves of Valaris

The Tower of Stairs

The Glittering Darkness

The Beyond for Vannis

Avior’s Doors

 

Rainbows & Portals

Advertisements

Earthquake!

EURUE

Valaris

The tiny beautiful moments; Valaris is a glorious world.

Avior’s Doors

This is the final short story insert for the LORE Series and slots in between The Nemesis Blade and The Echolone Mine … and, yes, it’s about doors, special doors 🙂

An ancient people uncover an even older door buried in an obscure place. This mystery leads to strange truths regarding magic and maths … and a host of doors.

A time comes when Avior faces annihilation. To save the future, they use what they learned of doors to create a truly special one. This door leads to a shadowy place, but the future requires those shadows.

Available for free via KU – Amazon

Valaris

It’s LIVE! Eurue: The Forgotten World

EURUE is now available! It’s at a mere 99c and here’s to happy reading, everyone 🙂

Blurb

The universe is populated and many worlds are far-flung, forgotten. Until the day Gabryl, a man both alive and dead, his body reposing in a sarcophagus, his spirit roaming as a shifting being, bellows a call to arms. Eurue, as world and civilisation, after ages of isolation, will now step into the ultimate arena.

Tristan and Alusin of the Kaval hasten to answer the summons to where tentacled miasmas are consuming people body and soul. Savier, as Keeper of the sarcophagus, sheds light on an ancient legend. Tianoman, Vallorin of the Valleur, brings the Valleur host to Eurue, and Emperor Teighlar of Grinwallin pledges his army.

But how does one fight miasma?

Who is the true enemy?

Meanwhile, as the spaces become frantic, a woman in a turret somewhere, elsewhere, plans her revenge. The schism between what went before and the reality of the present presents to her the power to control the fate of all.

Who will stop her?

EURUE

Sneak Peek: EURUE

Final edit done, cover ready – EURUE will be available soon!

Meanwhile, here’s a peek at the title (Font and effect that I love!) and the blurb …

The universe is populated and many worlds are far-flung, forgotten. Until the day Gabryl, a man both alive and dead, his body reposing in a sarcophagus, his spirit roaming as a shifting being, bellows a call to arms. Eurue, as world and civilisation, after ages of isolation, will now step into the ultimate arena.

Tristan and Alusin of the Kaval hasten to answer the summons to where tentacled miasmas are consuming people body and soul. Savier, as Keeper of the sarcophagus, sheds light on an ancient legend. Tianoman, Vallorin of the Valleur, brings the Valleur host to Eurue, and Emperor Teighlar of Grinwallin pledges his army.

But how does one fight miasma?

Who is the true enemy?

Meanwhile, as the spaces become frantic, a woman in a turret somewhere, elsewhere, plans her revenge. The schism between what went before and the reality of the present presents to her the power to control the fate of all.

Who will stop her?

Mysterious Tennet

One has to wonder what had chosen what.

Had sentient life entering Tennet chosen their worlds or had the worlds chosen them? Why was it the Murs Siric chose Urac with its ironic meaning ‘birdsong’ and then, too, paradise Karakan? Did the settling of Karakan point to something else? Was it possible aeons in exile enabled the Murs to discover and appreciate the gentler side to the universe? Or was it simply long ago human habitation of Karakan that proved a world’s viability?

And the recent arrivals, the Kallanon court of Queen Abdiah, had they chosen the strangeness of Mitrayl deliberately … because it was expedient? Or had the volatile planet called with a contrary, beckoning voice? The Kallanon were on the edge of lava fields where conditions were harsh and threatening. Why there and not the spectacular cool of the mountains with its countless caves? Was it the tempestuousness of that eerie light?

The Mysor. Arachnids feasting for survival on the bleaker. They were soulless and subjugated, but were not created by sorcery. Enhanced, enlarged, bred, yes, but once they were spiders, harmless with the beginnings of intelligence. A large portion of Urac, Plural and Mitrayl was planted with bleaker bulbs to ensure their continuance, strictly controlled by the Murs to ensure loyalty; the Mysor loathed Mitrayl and never went to harvest, thus the Siric left the fields to run riot. The Mysor preferred dry worlds or was it that dry worlds called to them? Whatever it was, their presence on Karakan was due only to the requirements of their gaolers. They confined their kind to Urac, with a small presence on Plural.

And the Valleur, after the original and harmless Mysor, the oldest inhabitants in Tennet. Had they chosen Atrudis or vice versa? Why not Karakan, when that world was abandoned when the Nine came armed with prophecy and Taliesman?

What drew them to Atrudis? Its diversity? Karakan had that also. Or the kinship to worlds left behind? Atrudis was like to Valaris, as Valaris was like to past Valleur worlds, and it, too, had known human occupation. Perhaps it was the sense of recognition and the comfort it brought, or perhaps it was the inherent magic of a natural world, like that of Valaris, that attracted them, a sense of security.

Grinwallin still retained that untouched magic … not Valleur built, not Siric, certainly not human, but there.

Grinwallin was a mystery, one that would call to the One as all mysteries did.

Forbidden Legend

The Tennet system was one of many in the vast Glucano Galaxy that hurtled through the universal fabric at an incredible rate, ever growing and changing shape like an elastic band in manipulative hands. This was an entirely natural phenomenon.

There was nothing sorcerous about the Forbidden Zone; that was limited to its inhabitants. Still, magic abounded, the magic of universal order, the spark that could create thoughtlessly and destroy mindlessly.

The Forbidden Zone was not named due to Mysor habitation – popular belief – or due to ancient evils; it was a legend created by the Valleur to insinuate into the unconscious of those beyond its vast boundaries, much like the fraud perpetuated by Vannis.

In fact, the idea stemmed from that very fraud, for the Arcana myth penetrated the past to reach back into the further reaches of sentient memory. The Arcana myth came to the Valleur of Atrudis also, back in time … and they knew it for what it was. They then conceived of the Forbidden Zone In final analysis it would prove as unsuccessful as the Arcana myth- more so, for the Arcana had a sealed Rift to complete the illusion.

The Murs had come, drawn by the fraud, and enhanced the resident Mysor. The Kallanon came and so had the dreaded Dragon-man- the one it was put in place for, to guard against.

All came because of the object the Forbidden Zone legend sought to protect, the item dating back to the first supreme leader in the universe. The Taliesman. From then to now, age upon age upon age, and while everything had changed, nothing really had. The same war was being fought and was about to become the ultimate battle.

Light versus Dark.

True war.

Map of Lines

This excerpt was removed from The Kallanon Scales:

The Mysor Map of Lines remained an enigma.

Tennet existed, and was in the Forbidden Zone, but what did the lines mean? Lines connecting planets with the appearance of real purpose, thought to show pattern or path, yet proven spurious parallels. A more obscure reason, such as confusion, or a threat of some sort, proved too tenuous. Creed never solved it and perhaps it was as simple as challenge or intrigue … conceived to catch the eye. Perhaps it was meant to draw challengers to root false claimants out. A terrible thought, for many died in seeing it.

The Mysor map was not an invention, however. The positioning of the planets and their names were true reflections. Tennet did hold nine planets in its thrall; five outer and four inner, and the bright, youthful star had varied effect on each.

Plural, Kish and Lucan were outermost, generally known as the Triplets, swinging in similar orbit, visible to each other. All were moonless, but their proximity gifted atmosphere and gravity.

Atrudis was next in line, and possessed varied climate. Hot summers, cold, frigid winters, and an equatorial region that rarely surprised. Not a large world, but not as small as the Triplets, one satellite.

Pharos, the final outer planet, had an elliptical orbit that took centuries to complete. It was true wasteland. Not even the tiniest microbe lived there. It was moonless and usually missing from the night skies of the other worlds.

Of the four inner planets, Mitrayl was furthest out, a huge world with two satellites, Trap and Link, each of those as big again as the Triplets. A strange world. Fresh water and great plains, bubbling, petrified swamps, dead salt oceans, fertile mountains rivalling the most spectacular in the universe, and literally hundreds of active volcanoes. It was as if the forces of good and evil competed daily.

Third lay tiny Cypriot and swinging around it an even tinier moon. Not much was known about Cypriot.

Second from Tennet was Karakan- an enormous world, far larger than Mitrayl. It was a paradise despite its close relationship with the sun, where no one need go hungry. A planet-sized moon, Muriel, orbited benignly, causing regulated tides and steady gravity.

The innermost world was Urac, a desert planet. It had a small moon, sterile and ugly. The next solar flare was bound to see Urac shrivel.

The Dangers of Technology

You have read the Arcana books and you know Valaris is a world unspoiled by industry and technology, and yet, by the end of the series Valaris has been discovered, it’s on star maps. As Reaume commences, technology becomes an issue …

There was danger now, more so with every visitor, of technology gaining a stranglehold, but at present it was strictly controlled.

Electricity, now commonplace, relied on solar power, as did hot water. Farming was the mainstay of the economy and used horse and hand as in the past. Travel was the long-winded mode and goods were manufactured in old established ways.

Items such as radios and televisions were putting in an appearance, in itself not a bad thing, but already there were calls for a satellite to facilitate those needs, and that would require industry and the like. Once a satellite was successfully launched, it was a short leap to spacecraft of Valarian design. Nobody desired to sully the countryside with telephone poles and unsightly wires, but that service too was demanded – not the poles, but a system whereby telephonic communication would become a reality, viz. a satellite. Satellites could be procured from elsewhere, designed to suit local needs, but Valaris was a world rich in natural beauty, not money.

Food produced fed the populace and goods were manufactured according to requirement. That would change swiftly if money became the goal. Natural beauty would slowly vanish as it made way to produce more and more and more, and Valarians would become greedy, selfish and uncaring of the environment.

If that state of mind was avoided, still the demand would remain, and that led to what would other worlds think of Valaris if technology was brought in? Would they not anger over the insistence of an unspoilt planet … at their expense? It was potential political dynamite, as it was potential disaster to Valaris’ rich natural inheritance.

These were the very real concerns of the leaders who conversed with Torrullin at the Keep, and there were no simple answers.

Luvanor/Valaris Time

We have discussed Valaris time HERE, but in Lore of Reaume much of the action takes place on Luvanor and time is different there. Below is an excerpt to give you some insight:

Time did not run concurrent for Valaris and Luvanor. Where the season had just moved into the first month of winter for Valaris, the beginnings of spring was showing on Luvanor. In fact the dual spring on both worlds when Torrullin returned after a two thousand year absence was a rare event, a parallel that came around every seventy years or so, some years for spring, some for summer and some for winter. Autumn skipped the cycle due to the Valarian practice of shortening their winter and summer seasons by half a moon to realign the calendar to the stars. The fact that it was spring for both worlds caused Teighlar to remark to a number of his Senlu that the Enchanter would naturally choose an auspicious time to reappear.

The days were different also. Where Valaris counted out 22.4 hours, Luvanor held to 24.2 hours, which effectively meant morning on Valaris could be midday or dusk on Grinwallin’s mountain, or some other time in the various time zones of that world. It was not a strange concept at all – no two worlds were exactly alike – but it did make for surprise, particularly as few kept track, an intricacy limited to academics and fanatics who loved to fill their minds with the many facts and figures it entailed.