Its been a long time coming...

Its almost christmas, joy-to-ze-world. Its taken me all of three months to manage logging on here to make a new post, which is shockingly terrible. I deserve a thorough beating around my face.

Its been an eventful few months, but those stories belong in the 'Me' tab rather than the 'UNISON:ARC' tab. so yes, suck on that all you viewers who stumble upon this section of the blog purely by accident while googling 'Gandalf v balrog'... shame on you. Though, as searches go, that is a pretty impressive phrase to end up leading people here.

But anywho, just thought I would plug an update here, the UNISON sequel has just broken the 114k word count and is rising! I really really really want to get this done, I'm loving the plot of book no.2 so muchly. Its just so hard to find the time to do this and still manage to get through a Law degree, while also doing extra-curricular shtuff and law-firm applications. How am I going to survive this year is a frequent question in my mind at the moment.

Arrrgghhhh there is just too much to do in this thing we call life. Can someone do some of it for me? That would be tastylishous.

So this book basically has a lot of words. That is just about the only point of this post. Its around 90% complete in terms of my estimated word count and I reckon it will be around 125k words by the end. I hope the simultaneous adventures of Jason Rider and Skye will bring an interesting new character perspective to the mix of personalities in my writing. I have focused on trying to deal with shortfalls in my writing and I feel that the lack of diversity and depth in my characters was in need of improving.

So, if the second book does come along, EVER, and you fancy a read I think you will enjoy the conflict of ARC-partners Skye and Hertz, polar opposites Ridexiel and Apolyon and the powerful Gabriel and Mercurius.

This book will go to the heart of who the Hierarchy really are, what they really stand for and will reveal the 'true' history of creation. Boom. Everything will change in UNISON: ARC, across all the three races, human, hierarch and deymon and everything will lead up to the series finale of book number 3!

I hope I manage to actually get this done within my lifetime!


You are all very pleasing to my face
Merry christmas and all that jazzabaloo

L.H

ARC-1: Skye

UNISON: ARC: "Oh really? When you find someone as good as me, you let me know"

I'm simply a soldier. My duty is to serve, but past that I'm the boss, I do things the way I want.

To be a special operative in the UNISON military I only needed to do two things, the first was to become the strongest soldier around, the second was to leave my life and family behind. Obviously being the best wasn't a challenge. As for leaving things behind, well, I never had them to begin with.

My parents were never a part of my life past my infant years. The birth of the Human Empire and its many rebellions kept them busy while I was left behind as an orphan. Then came the relocation program and I ended up in a new facility while my parents were moved to a more military-dependant colony.

I didn't care that much, it was a case of what you don't have, you don't miss. Though, when I finally had the opportunity to move and find them it became just another waiting game until they were off active duty. Then came the Hierarchy and the Fallen. By the end, all I had was a copy of the casualty list ironically the 'missing in action' section only had two names; Lieutenant A. Hudson and E. Mcann. No family, no friends, no home.

Being a soldier was all that was left for me and it's all I will ever need. They said I was powerful, fast and fearless. Apparently my only fault was my reluctance to work with anyone, I say its their fault for recruiting fools as my superiors, they were always wrong. I never failed them, they failed me. Eventually they realised that less soldiers would end up with cracked ribs and broken noses if they promoted me to a position of independance. I didn't lead many operations, but I went on many and it only took one look for the commanding officer to leave me to get the job done while the boys squabble over "who's watching who's back". Being out on the field in the heat of battle, if you could call it 'heat', was where I belonged. After a couple of years the little rebellion conflicts had gotten boring and I'd thought that with all the new threats floating around since first contact I might have gotten to taste real war, but no.

Eventually I was offered the position of becoming one of Lord Balson's Marshalls, the highest ranking soldier in the army and better yet, a solo operative. There was one position and 25 soldiers ready to show what they were made of but none of them had what it takes, not even close. After knocking the little boys back down to size the position looked like it was mine, and it would have been if Lord Rider had not been paying a visit to Balson that very day.

The next day my identity had been fully abandoned and I became a member of Lord Rider's Academy on the planet Carax. Now I'm training to become the perfect soldier, with Lord Rider's and the Hierarchy's own powers making me unstoppable. I don't get sent out into the frontlines anymore but the simulation training is the perfect substitute, I've fought everything and anything that could threaten the Empire.

When a real war comes to us, I'll be at the front, winning it.

Year two. Book two.

It's now the second year of my law LLB degree, and with the new work-load comes the added pressure of trying to get a professional summer vacation placement. As much as this academic year is a crucial one in terns of my potential future career, it is also a big year for my planned writing. By early 2013 I hope to finish my book sequel UNISON: ARC and pursue another publishing contract.

Basically I have a year of contract hunting, which I'm actually really looking forward to. 

As for the actual sequel, the writing is very nearly finished, but it's going to take some serious editing before I can start sending out submissions. It's exciting to almost be back in the position again, after all its such a great feeling to finish a story, particularly when this one is so much longer than the first.  Alongside another hopeful book publishing, I am going to be having another marketing push with Waterstones to try and get their support in Lincoln and hopefully Norwich around the Christmas holidays.  If i can't manage to get them to stock my book, which would be understandable, then they have suggested that they would be willing to help set up events for me within their branch. 

I think since that time when I started sending out my submissions for my first book, I have gone throug the steep learning curve from being a naive amateur writer with a painful level of optimism, to becoming more commercially aware in the way of the publishing industry and the steps that are required of me to try and get my book attention and sales. The main thing that has stayed the same for me is my love of writing, and my purpose behind continuing it; it is never a matter of making money that drives me, so much so that no further publications in traditional publishing would not damage my spirits. Instead it is simply a love of writing and a drive to have my stories told that keeps me going, stories that hopefully some people will want to continue reading. 

Thanking ye kindly. 

Much Love,

L.H

Advise from authors, to writers

Hello my children, today I am looking back to when I first started writing and I remembered that I was given advice by two writers who helped to set me on the right direction for getting into my own fiction writing.

Meg Rosoff:

While in my High School I was offered the chance to travel to another school to see a talk from Meg Rosoff about her writing career. She threw in some anecdotes about her life in advertising and even an amusing metaphor about a potato, but for the life of me I can't actually remember what it was about.

Now, at the time I was reading her book, "Just In Case" about a boy who has a bit of a young-life crisis and changes his name to 'Justin Case' and he embarks on a strange journey in his life where he becomes someone new, meets new friends and has unusual experiences. I havn't read the book in many years so its better than I can describe.

Meg had some good comments on her character creations and when asked why she left the physical description of Justin quite blank in the story she explained that she felt it better to let her readers create the character themselves. It seemed like a good plan. You can't not be interested in the physical appearance of a character if you have made the image yourself. Seeings as fiction is said to be all about the characters, its obviously crucial to give the characters situations and experiences that the reader will enjoy and understand but I think its quite a nice idea for you to leave the characters' appearances to the reader; creating a character who meets someone and falls in love with them would really work well if the reader is picturing their own perceptions of a perfect couple. Its a good point, I think.

I have done this to some extent with my human characters, but seeings as around half of my characters are of different races and species I feel that the limit of character non-description should be drawn to anything human.



Simon Scarrow:

Simon was a tutor at my college in good ol' Narrrfaaaaaak. He came in to talk about his brilliant historical fiction books which portray new perspectives of ancient events through the eyes of different characters as to what is usually seen.

He gave us a brilliant workshop into trends of the literary market, the idea of audience perception of a story and some insights into how to get noticed and published.

His advice was particularly focused on encouraging people to write and try to break into the publishing world as well as giving those valuable tips as to catch an editors eyes. His suggestions really compliment my post about the troubles of trying to be original with your writing, because, in truth, it is a very difficult task or, arguably, an impossible one. Instead, he suggested, take an easier route to start with and take an old story, nursery rhyme, fable or fairytale and twist it, like many authors and TV show producers have done. Red Riding, Grimm, Once Upon A Time, Angels and Demons, Da Vinci Code come to mind as examples of media that have done this, and pulled it off brilliantly. Catching a particular audiences attention is always difficult for a new author, but this burden will be particularly lightened if you start off with a foundation storyline that people can pick up and say 'ah, I know this. But hang on, its changed!' (Yeah that was really cheesey, but whatevs)



Alan G. Brown:

Alan is one of the people I have worked with, but i think he is a bit more camera shy. (All the best people are ;D). He is a self-published writer with quite a repertoire of published and in-progress works in his writing career. Alan has given me some brilliant advice into getting yourself 'out there' once your work is available for sale. He has helped me understand the value of publicity, reviews, websites and also gave me an insider's view into how self-publishing works and its really made me explore the option more for future works.

 Self-publishing for a writer such as Alan is a really powerful tool. It shows his dedication to his work, because obviously many people would use this option to bypass the long, long process of editing and self-evaluation in that editing process, but not a dedicated author like Alan Brown. He does all the work that many authors can effectively leave to a team of people and he writes, edits, promotes and markets his own work and does a pretty good job of it by the sounds of it.




I found it really promising to hear of his great results in his books, both at home and overseas and I hope to have at least a fraction of his success. Its a lot of work to get a book on the market at the right quality, and although I feel my first book may be lacking in that quality, I am going to follow his example and double my efforts now that I am older and have gone through the sharp learning curve of seeing my finished work in publication.






All of the books featured here are available for purchase on Amazon, kindle or print! I highly recommend them all to you guys :)

BBC Radio Norfolk Interview!

Oh today has been an adventure and a half.

It's been a while since I last made a post and I just noticed that I have a draft post just laying around gathering dust, shame on me. My excuse is that I am doing some work experience at England & Co Solicitors who are amaaaaaaazing. Seriously, check 'em out :P.

So... Got the afternoon off today (Thank you Peter Mason) so that I could travel down to my local city of Norwich to have a chat with Stephen Bumfrey live on BBC Radio Norfolk. Needless to say, it was a brilliant experience. I was nervous but I really, really enjoyed it! Stephen and his producer, whose birthday it was, were both dressed up in primark tiger onesies. If i'd have known then I would have been there in mine too.

We chatted about my book and university and what its like to have a book in print that I can actually see and sell. I'm so grateful for the local publicity and I hope to go back some time and update them on my book news.

If anyone wants to listen to my little piece on the radio it is available for the next week here, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00txjn6

So thank you for that wonderful experience Steven and Thordis and I hope I can come back soon.

In actual book news, my book has been out for a while now, but there has been complications with the printing so none of them have actually gone out yet! Other than my complimentary ones, that is. My publisher has told me though that any orders from amazon should be sent out in the next few days and should be with people next week!

So thats my news, guys!

Much Love
LH

UNISON: Update

Its been a really exciting week since UNISON was available for pre-order, I have had so many people buy the book and my Amazon rating has rocketed upwards! I love everyone who got involved.

Today the book became fully set up with the full information so you can actually read a little on what it's about now, rather than just getting the name of the book and cover. So now you can pre-order it at:

Foyles
Amazon ( just search UNISON)
Austin Macauley (look under Science Fiction)

I have already got a review underway and potential interviews, plus I got an unexpected email from my region's BBC radio station and they want me to go on!

Release date is the 29th and the sequel is almost fully drafted, exciting times! Thanks to everyone for being amazing and supporting my little book adventure, hopefully it won't collapse on itself!

Much Love!

L.H

The Magician's Apprentice, Trudi Canavan: Review

Rightio, so I have finally managed to read a book! After years of just raging at being unable to control other people's stories I managed to actually just enjoy the creative awesomeness of another author. I chose to read The Magician's Apprentice by Trudi Canavan

First of all, bonus points for being Australian. I mean, like, major Loubo brownie points.

Honestly I'm not biased >.>
^.^

She has quite a hefty series of books which are magical fantasy, based in a brand new fictional world.

Its not a Harry Potter style book, before anyone thinks it is! It shares the magical element but this is definately a more adult-orientated fiction. Some of the key themes weaved into her stories include politics, gender views, social class and regional discriminations.

As for the political aspects, the book features a heavy conflict between two of several nations, or maybe more accurately it is one nation against the rest. The two main nations, Kyralia and Sachaka have similar class structures when it comes to magical and non-magical people but when it comes to their authority and rights there is a rift between them. The distinction between Kyralian servants and Sachakan slaves is made apparent from the beginning, and made simple to remember by those titles. Canavan's work gives the reader an insight into the lives of landowners, magicians, country-leaders, servants, slaves and people of all origins which really strengthens the divides that exist between the distinct countries and their views on how a country should function.

The main character from the story's beginning is a young 'healing' (medical) enthusiast called Tessia. She has high ambitions of being what is effectively a doctor in Canavan's world, though named a 'healer'. Of course, she is restricted by gender and the old-fashioned views that women were not to be holding any positions of significance, except those who are magicians, though that is still a status inferior to the male equivalent. Both Tessia and another character in a parallel strand, Stara present the anti-female approach to the world in the book, however Canavan makes sure that these particular women don't just roll over and take it, they stick up for themselves where they can and make massive contributions to the story through their efforts and use of magic. Canavan does not take an anti-male approach to her writing, she writes about a shifitng paradigm where we see more and more women becoming powerful and influential, to the point of striving for equality. I found it very interesting, especially when the book shifts from a female-to-male perspective, to see the female characters show strength and resilience, and then for the male to underestimate them.

The actual magic elements of the story is not quite what I like in stories, though that is mainly just a matter of my preference, not a bad comment on Canavan's ability. In fact, her story is deep and gripping to the point that, perhaps, the magic was not needed, but the fact that she includes it just adds that extra element which adds unique events to her written conflicts and expressions of power between characters and class. If your looking for a highly active and imaginative display of magical feats then this may not be the book for you; most of the magical displays do not go beyond the kind of 'force' abilities like moving things, shielding things, and launching projectiles of heat or force. Like I said though, that is just a matter of my personal preference, though I still really enjoyed the book for what it was, it achieves exactly what it is meant to, I can't talk against it for doing something it wasn't made to do. Canavan's imagery in the magical conflicts in the book are still great, her balance of creative imagery in the magical context is just right as to not overload the reader when she has so many deep and interesting characters and societies to be following.

Her writing is easy to follow and is mature, she has a brilliant way of portraying the intricate struggles of her world's societies and races which keep the story interesting by swapping between different characters, also a good way of building the suspense of characters in dangerous situations.

For a book that is not action-loaded and that focuses on themes that I am not very good at writing, I really enjoyed and would recommend it to all you awesome peeps.

Check her out on twitter or on her website or something. DO IT

UNISON release date!

It's taken almost a year since everything started but now my first book is almost ready for release!

Surprisingly my little story is going for RRP £9.99, and on the 29th of June it will be available for purchase, initially from online sources. Any further retailers will be posted on here too :)

I will love everyone who helps me out by buying (or preordering around the 19th) my book.

UNISON will be available on Amazon, Gardners and Bertrams as well as the Austin Macauley website, though I imagine I will have some copies to hand for convenience :).

I hope people enjoy it, the sequel is already 83k words, a third longer than the original, so hopefully I might have a chance of making a series!

Thanks :)
L.G.H

First chapter sample, First Draft, UNISON: ARC

ONCE AGAIN THIS IS A FIRST DRAFT OF THE OPENING TO UNISON: ARC, ITS NOT GREAT BUT ITS A CONCEPT AND NEEDS EDITTING AND SUCH. MUCH LOVE

The densely forested area whistled as four shadowy figures ran at extreme speed between its trees. Leaves ripped from low bearing branches as air sheared around the figures’ bodies, cutting what they passed. Dusk-light pierced through the balconies of treetop, casting beams down to what was mostly shadowed ground. Like spectres the figures disappeared into the darkness, only to flash through the light beams as the continued their sprint. Little amounts of light left them running blind, only the sounds of crunching foliage and rushing air punctuated their movement, keeping them together.

                Their movement was relentless, unyielding and constant.  In the distance ahead of where the four were running a colossal weight slammed to the earth, rattling the ground. The figures disappeared into shadow and silence. After a short silence a flame began to burn from the origin of the crash, revealing a felled tree across the ground. Fire spread across the bark and began to smoke.

No sign of the figures remained. However, from the scolding flames slowly engulfing the surroundings, another figure came into focus, seemingly untouched by the blaze around it. Despite the light of the fire, this figure remained black with its arms folded, unmoving against the animate flames. Suddenly the folded arms were thrown out, away from the body and in tandem the flame erupted outwards, spreading over a wider area but thinning around the figure. But the figure transformed, what once seemed to be a normal human was now an anthropomorphic wolf creature. Even stranger though was the wolf-man’s body, it was almost transparent and glowing gold with burning white eyes. The wolf flexed its muscles, as it moved each limb a spiked collar formed around its neck, wrists and ankles.  A bestial roar erupted from it and the glow of its body intensified, illuminating a large area around where it stood.

                The four hidden figures had remained still and silent but they began to talk amongst themselves.

                “Target acquired, ARC squad maintain positions. This is ARC-1 maintaining visual. Target is preparing volatile projectiles.” The First of the four said. As she finished, the great wolf reached back, as if to grab the fire, as he did so a large ball of flame isolated itself from the blaze.  As the beast swung its arm forward the fireball followed the motion.  The projectile rocketed and hit into one of the seemingly infinite number of trees. Excess flames sprayed from the impact and singed the ground’s plant life.

                “This is ARC-2, preparing to engage a deflection procedure, leave the flame projectiles to me.”

                “Good plan ARC-2, I’m recommending we flank and sting the target, I will spear head with physical combat while 3 and 4 focus on co-ordinating ranged strikes.” Two more voices spoke, saying “agreed”.

                ARC-2’s voice appeared again, “Okay I will alternate between support and debilitation tactics”

                “Perfect, let’s power up and go.” In a similar way to the wolf ARC-1 appeared, crouched behind a tree. She became visible when a faint blue, slightly transparent form transformed her skin. The glow was weak because her body was clad in strong, metal-lined, leather clothes, revealing only her face. Even her head looked ghostly as the night-vision goggles stopped her eyes from being visible in the dark, showing what appeared to be only an eye-less head floating in the shadow. Some parts of the clothing were slightly brighter as the porous gaps in their design released the light from her skin. She rolled out from behind her cover and produced a Shamshir blade made of the same substance that her skin now radiated and that formed the body of the wolf target, different tones of light defined the weapon in its silvery blue colour. The blade was not drawn from a sheath nor was it picked from the ground, this weapon materialised from handle to tip from her hand. The white eyes of the beast tracked onto her position, it took only a moment for her glow to be noticed. She picked herself up from the ground, blade hand in front of her waist, blade pointed up and across to her opposite shoulder. She ran towards the wolf at impressive speed, a testament to her fitness. The target did not move from its position, instead it began to scoop and launch more fireballs, this time aimed at ARC-1.  The first missile came at her, almost half her body size; she immediately ignored it and looked off to her right. ARC-2 was just visible in the shadow running slightly ahead of her. Suddenly her ally’s skin started to glow yellow and he sharply shifted his direction 90 degrees anti-clockwise. ARC-2 then ran directly towards ARC-1’s path and leapt over where they would have crossed. He did so in such a way that he could nearly collide with the fireball, but instead of impacting it he swept an arm across himself in mid-air. This motion caused a flash of yellow light to form a short lasting barrier in front of his body, of which absorbed the hit of the fireball. ARC-1 ran underneath, completely protected from the attack.  A second arm sweep eradicated the flame completely and he dropped back to the ground. Once planted, he stopped glowing and ran back through the shadows. The wolf launched three more fireballs, the first two were removed in the same process by ARC-2 but he was too strained by the energy-use to dispatch the third. Instead ARC-1 threw her sword directly into the ball which caused a small explosion.

                She jumped through the flames as they died down and used the energy- manipulated blaze as a catalyst to make reproducing her sword easier.  She was now close enough to engage the wolf in combat. She jumped and flipped once through the air. Her effortless leap gained her a height of three metres. The soldier began to drop down upon her target. Her bestial enemy, however, was around 50% larger than her in all ways so it pulled its arms up as if to catch her with its savage claws. As the beast prepared to clamp her in its hands a whip-like beam of light restrained its arms from either side, with both bounds being a bright green hue. This surprised the beast and let ARC-1 swoop a downwards blade sweep straight down its chest, completely undefended. ARC-3 and 4 had remained hidden and deployed their powers in perfect timing. ARC-1 put her blade to the neck of the beast and pulled herself up to its face. “Not so tough like this, are you Amon” she laughed at him. He tried to bite at her head, causing her to lean back. Amon roared and contracted every muscle he could, causing the bounds on his arms to rip and fade away. He lashed at her rapidly with both arms; ARC-1 timed a swift backflip manoeuvre to evade this attack. She held her ground as he lashed further, using her blade to block the hits. Occasionally ARC-2’s yellow barriers appeared to protect his ally and some temporarily blocked Amon so she could get in close for a few strikes. This process repeated. Amon was easily distracted by 3 and 4 shooting green projectiles at him from all angles.

                ARC-2 dropped from a branch above Amon and landed on the wolf’s shoulders. He used as much power as he could muster to hold Amon completely still. “Now! Like we planned!” he shouted to the team.

                ARC-1 turned her Shamshir around in her grip so it was pointed behind her. She vaulted at Amon and jumped onto his chest, kicked off, and knocked him stumbling backwards. Number 4 in the group seemed to teleport behind Amon and landed a few punches into the base of his spine, the continuous strikes kept him from falling back. He regained balance but bent forwards, reeling from the hits. ARC-2 returned, once again from above, with a yellow energy knife.  He dropped on Amon’s back and lashed at him frantically while he screamed and twisted, trying to break free. In the process the last of the group, ARC-3 quickly zapped from location to location with energy-made pistols and shot rapid fire pellets of energy at the beast. ARC-4 stood beside 1 with his fists glowing blue with power, they both waited for an opening. It came as Amon lifted both arms over his shoulders to try and grab 2 from his back. They both ran in at extreme speed and began to violently unleash hit after hit.

                In a sudden shift, Amon stopped reacting to the hits he was taking and smiled. He then laughed at his attackers. His body exploded, blowing the four away and into the air. A few seconds after the initial explosion all four were stopped in the air and held in place by an unknown force.  They could all then see a pulsing golden light where Amon once stood.

                “Damn! Break free!” cried ARC-1

                “I’m trying but I’m drained of strength” replied ARC-4

They were not in pain but they were unable to do anything but speak.  They all felt a great level of power building around them, the trees swept in a clockwise direction, as if a powerful tornado was building. They could not feel anything on their bodies, but the trees began to rip from the earth. Soon enough the entire forested area was a mass of loose nature swirling around them, the golden light being the centre point. The ARC team were hopeless to do anything

                As the motion of the forest accelerated the golden eye of the storm contracted and took form.  The figure was human and had the same golden and transparent features as Amon had had. He was dressed in a smart shirt, unbuttoned at the top, with a waistcoat. His trousers were very smart and the whole look was topped off with an armoured gauntlet on one hand and a glistening metal shoulder-guard. The colour of his clothes was unclear as every part of him was gold and glowing. The man clapped to his detained guests then clicked his fingers close to his face. Upon the click the forest vanished and became an enormous open hall, all white, all blank and empty.  He released the ARC’s and walked through them as they stared. The looks on their faces depicted disappointment. The man was quietly chuckling as he left the room. ARC-1 removed her goggles and ruffled her wavy short hair. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

                ARC-2 copied this motion and leant against her. “Don’t let it get to you Skye. We are never going to be able to beat him. But we’re getting better”. He sounded proud and determined. He lightly punched her arm.

                “Whatever”. She, in return, elbowed him in the chest and walked away, towards the same door the other man had just left through. “We need to be stronger Hertz, this isn’t a game.”

First chapter sample, Second Draft, UNISON

THIS IS ONLY THE SECOND DRAFT, FIRST TYPE-UP OF THE FIRST CHAPTER, ANY MISTAKES HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED IN THE PROOF STAGES AND SOME CONTENT MAY BE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT. CHEERS-MA-DEARS

Jason Rider- ex-military technician

                    Current: computer software developer

Mr Rider, it has come to our attention that your recent ‘curiosity’ led to a breach of UNI protocols. The United Nations Intelligence takes such a frivolous act from an ex-military member to be an insult to our privacy. As such, we are entitled to take the exposure of project ‘HONESTY’ as an act of treason. By exposing the files you exposed yourself; thus, to seal the breach you must also be sealed.

       Under UNI security protocol 11, sub section 4.9, we hold the right to have you placed under house arrest awaiting trial for acts against the UN conglomerate presidency; starting immediately.

       However on inspection of your data files we have extracted sufficient information to deduct that there is a high probability that you could prove useful to our current projects. Therefore we are offering employment in UNI’s secret branch; this work is classified but rewarding. To decline this permanent position would lead to your arrest.

         At 22:00 tonight, messengers will come to receive your decision, if you wish to join us pack your bags and be ready.

  

                         Fenworthy,

                                           UNI-Operative.

 Jason Rider brushed his hand through his brown hair. He contemplated how it was possible that he had been discovered, he backtracked through every security system he penetrated and erased each virus he had installed.  All of which would return the security levels back to the usual.

      “Impossible! How?” Rider questioned further, each query pressing his fingers harder into the crimson leather of his armchair.

       The room was dark, lit only by the simulated Victorian fireplace wired into the centre of the wall. The Victorian wooden room was alien from the rest of the home, being metallic and electronic. The rest of the house was chilled and clinically sterilised by the chemical balancer vent placed, as standard, on the walls of every home. However, Rider hated the cold, solid feel of the titanium rooms. The custom fit living room was warm crimson and soothing; even the computer generated flames felt relaxing. Apart from the fire, armchair and antique replica carpet, the room was unusually bare. A single suitcase rested against the door behind him, the only new item in the room. Rider was used to being alone but the flickering flames in his eyes revealed the fear of being exposed. He was pale against the darkened room.

        Suddenly a soothing vibration filled the room and a female voice appeared. “Activating 30 second timer. Current time, 21:59 and 30 seconds”. The voice dispersed for a full five seconds. “UNI personnel detected at a 100 metre radius, proximity closing”.

         “So it comes to this…” Rider sighed, raising to his feet and activating the close proximity circumference monitor. “…what have I got to lose?”

15 seconds flashed in the upper right corner just as two men clad in black military jackets power-walked past the monitors view.

10 seconds.

     Rider rested his elbow on the indent of the monitor’s wall panel. He bowed his head and pressed his fingers onto the bridge of his nose, disrupting the balance of his glasses.

5 seconds.

     He twisted a wall dial, dissipating the vibrations of electricity and extinguishing the CG-fireplace.

3… Rider turned on his heels and faced the door, bracing himself against the wall.

2…1…times up.

      Rider was a tall and thin man; the weakness in his emotions made him look feeble at best. He marched up to the door and opened it a moment before the visitors had time to rap his knuckles.

      “Mr J Rider, I presume?” The man stood tall and stocky, a shadow in the dusk of the street. A single emblem, a rectangular bar, struck horizontally across his left breast pocket; the emblem was marked “KNOWLES”.

      “Can we just go, I am ready”

       “So you have chosen to work with us?” Rider nodded, taking this opportunity to scan the second soldier; it was too dark to see any difference in him. The speaker resumed “excellent, if you would follow us please”.

       Rider stumbled out of the doorway and was received by the two men, who then escorted him to a thin and streamlined vehicle which looked alien in the white waves of moon-light that striped across the roof. The second soldier pulled open the rear door. A hand gesture swept towards the inside of the vehicle. The first soldier pressed his palm on to Rider’s shoulder blade. Rider entered the slender, expensive vehicle. Knowles followed and took up Rider’s left flank. The other soldier sat on the right. The vehicle was silver on the inside with bars of black metal separating the seats. There was white copperplate writing on the back of the front seats. “Blackhawk”. Rider noted the name and noticed the driver was dressed similarly to the soldiers, except for the golden arrowhead on his right arm. In the rush of the moment and the burst of engine force, Rider had neglected to notice the steering console was shaped like a widened “W” and series of numbers and lights on the panels around it.

        “Just relax Mr. Rider” the first words to emanate from soldier two. “we’re taking you home”.

        “Home?” Rider queried with disbelief. “I’m still outside my door, yet I feel like I’m not going to feel at home for a long time”

       “Hah! I like this one Knowles”

Knowles responded to his name instantly. “Well, let’s just get him to UNIS-”. He stuttered. “UNI”

        Rider noticed the size of the second soldier; he was at least 4 inches taller than Knowles, on estimation. He was also brutishly more muscular, on estimation. Bordering on intimidating.

       A beep interrupted the silence and green lights turned on in the back of the front seat headrests. The driver twisted round, glared at Rider, and then eyed the soldiers.

       “Preparing to launch the blackhawk, strap him in boys”

       “Sir!” the men responded in unison. Suddenly the men turned to Rider and each placed a hand behind his shoulder. They pulled two belts that quickly clipped into place in the centre of Rider’s chest. This made him feel particularly claustrophobic. Knowles kept hold of the centre buckle and they both pulled the lower straps into position. The soldiers saw the discomfort in Rider’s eyes and smirked at each other. Both soldiers repeated the same procedure for themselves.

       “Firing up secondary engine. Maintaining sound dampener”. The engines roared into life but quickly a mechanical sliding noise reduced the roar to a small whimper.  “Hang on there Mr. Rider we are about to go pretty fast, don’t go breaking down on me.”

         Rider watched as the streets rolled by in a blur of horizontal blues, black and grey. The driver was accelerating to well over 140MPH but this “car” was clinging almost magnetically to the road. He tapped on his headset and the static became audible.

        “Wing units. Approaching aero-zone. Arrival in five seconds. Be prepared” A mumble in reply crackled back. The vehicle skimmed round a bend going right. Lights lashed into the Blackhawk’s windows. The vehicle came to a sharp stop.

        2 groups of 5 men flanked the vehicle and begun attaching more metallic plates to the doors. Rider knew the control systems were too advanced for this to be an ordinary car. It was a jet. The Blackhawk was being reconstructed by these engineers at double speed; tightening bolts, fuelling engines, aligning plates and even polishing. The vehicle had wings, jet-tipped wings with the power capacity to reach almost near orbital altitude in 30 seconds. Rider let out a quick exhale, followed by a sigh.

       Knowles elbowed Rider in the side. “Ain’t she a beauty? Just relax and you might enjoy the trip to base” Knowles tapped a wave to one of the technicians who replied with a thumbs up. “Base, that’s where the real work begins”

          The steering wheel, now being used on an x-y axis, controlled the newly converted Blackhawk. Rider felt at ease for the first time in the vehicle, the mechanical rumble that rattled his teeth was gone and was replaced with a soothing whistle. Soldier two nudged him and pointed out of the window. It was only then that he noticed-partly because he could see the clouds and stars around him- that they were flying already. He felt stunned; he just laid back and shut his eyes in disorientation.

         One hour passed.

         “Incoming message from UNI Agent Dean Anderson” The female voice sounded identical to the voice in Riders home.

          “Perfect timing as always”. The driver said irritably. Three keys on the dashboard were quickly tapped by his digits and the windscreen displayed a message.

“Lieutenant Harley, on closer inspection of your “cargo’s” bio, we have concluded that his assistance would be of more use to us in colony base- MANHATTEN; rather than headquarters. We thank you for your cooperation”

UNI Agent D.A

Security division.

Knowles’s calm demeanour flared and blazoned. “Damn those suits! What gives them the right to play us like this?”

        “Calm yourself soldier, the ‘suits’ happen to be the ones who call the shots around here. They also just happen to be our employers; though I question whether employer is the right word”

         “Sorry sir”

Harley tightened his grip on the steering control and tapped a calculation into the navigational conduit. He pressed out a tiring sigh. “However, they do have a habit of complicating things. It just so happens we were 30 minutes from HQ. I recommend getting some sleep, we have a six hour flight ahead of us.” He turned to his passengers. “But I see our ‘cargo’ is quite at ease. Shame. He won’t get peace like that again for a while.”

          The soldiers laughed at the sleeping Rider who was “like a baby”. Rider, however, was awake the whole time, listening to them and concentrating on what was yet to come. He had no idea at the time what he was heading into, but it was clear he had to be prepared.

The Voice of Dynaemis

"For millennia I waited, trapped in the darkness of my creations, trapped in the void of the reality I weaved to be my limitless canvas. I am the architect of everything that has come to be and my power is the breath of creation that has grown into this maelstrom of uncontrolled madness. Reality itself must be unwritten.

                "What is left of my legacy? An all-seeing, yet blind, ‘God’ who is incapable of even thesimplest free thought and act of free will; A tyrannous child, born from the broken ‘God’, gifted with my inspiration and destructive rule of order yet lacking the limitless potential to create the perfect world that he envisages; and now the third is born, my personal selection, the hero from amongst the God’s own created children, the mortals. I have helped him become powerful through my transient existence in this reality and now he shall be the one that destroys these false-gods and returns the fragments of my own physical manifestation back to me. I will walk again upon the surface of the universe and upon that day I shall reclaim existence as my own and destroy all impurities, or, if need be, all shall be erased.  The human hero shall slay the fallen prince and his spirit will return to the broken God. My champion shall sacrifice his own strength to free the God of his physical torment and then the three will become one once more and I shall return to the physical that I abandoned long ago in order to preserve the sovereignty of my power.

                "But who am I? In truth I am simply the creator; the architect; the origin; the destroyer. I have no identity yet I can create a form for myself in reality and be amongst my creations; but those amongst the first-born of my universe know nothing of who I really am and my legacy. They only know of me as the flow of power that remains in reality, the very energy that created all and keeps all in balance and allows me to still have asmall influence on my creations.

They call me the Voice. The Voice of Dynaemis."

The Multiverse of Fiction II

Well hello again. I've recently been thinking over my post, The Multiverse of Fiction. I think I have a really skill for rambling on about my insane thoughts on strange things that no-one cares about, without making thing exceptionally clear. In my original post, which is linked above, I think I mentioned narrative crossovers and the clashing of themes and characters from across multiple fictional universes (I can't be bothered to check). If not, I know that its somewhere. Soz. The point is that I related my little narrative theory to some very odd scenarios when I have neglected some awesome examples that quite recently have become much more popular and are easier to explain.

The Marvel Universe.

Marvel is a brilliant model for looking at fictional crossovers. It is not exactly a representation of 'Multiverse Narrative', where multiple narrative universes cross into each other, each with its own limits, concept of reality and forms of life. I think Marvel is more of a 'Horizontally Multi-stranded Narrative' where many characters exist within near-enough the same physical locations but are isolated from each other except for when special stories bring them together. In essence, the parts which resemble my concept are the character's creative, unique characteristics and abilities. Nonetheless the concepts are still similar and the crossover elements are what I'm getting at.

If we consider the recent Avengers film, which I highly recommend :), this image alone shows the potential for how epic such an unusual combination of characters can be. The thing that made this film so epic and brilliant for watching, despite the lack of Marvel knowledge, is that the previous films, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America and Iron Man 1&2 set up the essential knowledge of the character's lives and their behaviours, emotion, values and powers within their own narrative events which do not actively have any effect on the other characters. You can watch each of the seperate films and feel that they are perfectly established narratives to function as standalone films, which they do. With that set up, the Avengers film doesnt need to waste time telling us about more information we don't need and instead punches straight through to the visuals and the epic scenes which really appeal to fans and non-fans alike.

If we made The Hulk an alien from his own universe, Thor a resident of Asgard which has no link to any other planet or civilisation, Iron-Man a machine from a mechanical reality and Captain America the human soldier in our reality as he already is then we can see how a Multiverse Narrative would work.

I may get round to making an image to represent Multiverse Narratives in a similar way to the Avengers wallpaper, but while googling I did find this cool little thang which does a pretty good job of it :) For the record, combining Superman and Goku together would be a nice combination. Hopefully this is a better way of explaining my madness. Hopefully if my writing does get more imaginative and I find the time to write much more than I can at the moment, I will be able to explore Multiverse fiction with my own characters eventually!

Hoping You Are Well

Keep On Trucking

L.H

Planning... you're the boss!

When it comes to trying to write your own story, whether its for the first time or the 100th time theres a question that I have had a few friends ask me before which would confuse them into not actually getting tound to writing anything! Should I plan my story?

Now this is obviously strictly a fiction-writing question; if you write a non-fiction without really planning then I think you may need a slap... and you wouldn't be here. Boom.

The answer to this question is very simple but also quite complicated, sorry to be oxymoronic. The simple bit is that you're the boss of your own story so you should do whatever feels natural for you. Try all your options and see which one makes you feel like your writing something you want to write, rather than writing an essay or doing an exam where you just want to get it all done and move on. I have already written one book which was planned and a sequel which has just been written as ideas pop into my head and both options have their merits and pitfalls.

Planning: If you're going to plan then you have an array of options for how you're going to do it. You could meticulously write every event and every character's life story as well as everything you want to be in your fictional 'universe' so that you feel like you can just dive into another world when you write. Alternatively you could just throw some words or even pictures onto a page and see what jumps out of you and experiment with which of your ideas compliment each other. I settled for the middle-ground between the two.

Pros! When you plan your story out you can run the entire narrative through your head before you've actually finished it and then you know exactly where everything's heading. Its much easier to find those weak points in the story early on when you have a plan to refer to, in essence its like your first draft of the story becomes an edit of a story already written because as you remember what you want to say your already refining that original idea into something more relevant to your overall narrative.

Cons!  Planning in too much detail can make your idea too rigid in your mind. Its important to remember that your first idea isn't necessarily your best. There's a saying amongst writers that 'good stories write themselves', if you rely too heavily on your intital plan then you end up having a story that move along when the writer wants it to and, as strange as it sounds, you can tell the difference when the movement of the narrative is influenced by what you are learning about the characters rather than being purely what you want. There's times during the proofreading of my first book where I read over things and laugh thinking 'that's typically him!' or just feeling like I didn't actually write parts because I was so wrapped up in the story as I wrote.

Free-Writing: This is the method I used for my second book. Its definately easier to free-write a story once the characteristics of the fictional universe have been established. This method involves little or no planning at all and is a more intimate process of putting 'pen to paper', realistically its 'brain to keyboard' or something. If you want to use this method then you should have a good long think about your main character, at least, and what situation your character is starting in or going to end in and then just write your ideas as they come to you as you go from/to that point you have in mind.

Pros! This method is the easiest way to let the story write itself, provided you have a story-goal in mind and the strong character(s) to carry the narrative along.You'll likely find that you are focusing more detail on the characters themselves because as you define their existence you will understand their thoughts and maybe that will spark a new direction for the story to progess. Writing ideas as they come to you feels more efficient and keeps the idea fresh and interesting. This should help keep you enthusiastic about your own book because sometimes spending lots of time planning a book idea will make people feel like they have done the work and then the actual writing of their story becomes a chore.

Cons!  Problems with free-writing arise when writers lose the flow of their storyline and use all of their fresh ideas to get them to where they want instantly. Its crucial to remember that obstacles and difficulties in a narrative add that extra bit of tension for a reader which helps with building rapport with the characters that they are experiencing the story through  Similarly, there's the issue of continuity to take into mind, in my personal experience I managed to kill one character in my story...twice, so if it might be worth noting down significant events in your story as you to make sure nobody gets dressed twice or hands someone some paperwork four times or even dies multiple times. It almost like backwards planning.



Hoping You Are Well!
L.H
    

Epic clashes

When it comes to the hero of the tale facing off against their rival, opponent or ultimate test there usually has to be some kind of clash; final battles, meetings of the mind, wars and the such like are the kind of things that tend to happen in action-based fiction.


In most cases the epic clashes fall down to being one-on-one. The hero has been on a journey of some sorts which spans across both physical and mental experiences. What results is often the most difficult challenge the character faces, often one they don't see themselves finishing in one piece.

Its a battle of greatest assets, with both sides using the same feats of strength as the other in order to make the story even and ensure the clash lasts as long as it can; the longer the conflict goes on, the longer we can see and appreciate the struggle's opposing motives. Sometimes the rivals fight for the same thing but its rare for it to be for the same conclusion

Whether its Neo v Smith, Harry v Voldemort, Holmes v Moriarty or any other iconic set of rivals the conflict will normally see the end of one of the characters, or both! Or just one because the other miraculously survives a fatal fall down a waterfall...what?
Its very rare that the hero loses and the villains win and the moment we realise that the tension is lost to an extent. I know I have experienced a few stories and definately a few games where the heroes give all they have just to end up failing. The interesting thing about those rare endings is that the fate of the story universe is much more complex in the hands of the villain and opens up much more potential for future narrative than, 'and they lived happily ever after'. 

Personally, I think the clash is essential in the kinds of stories I like to write, just as it was in the examples given here. From looking into these kinds of epic clashes and the success of the long-running story as a whole I have noticed that (excluding this Gandalf/Balrog scene) the clashes that happen in these narratives are not definitive and set the stage for struggle to continue until the time is right. If Harry Potter had defeated Voldemort in the fourth story but had those that remained faithful to deal with in the remaining three its pretty safe to guess that the ending stories would have failed.

The rivals are often set out quite early, and then we can see the character grow through their clashes with their rival until the time that they are ready to return as equals. A purely one-sided clash of power would not excite a reader unless there was some kind of plot twist that was set up so that the reader can have the satisfaction of knowing that their side won in the end. I hope that I can create similar scenes in my own writing to keep alive the awesomeness of the action-epic scenes, though just a fraction of that recognition would be more than what I could dream for from my own work.

First look at the cover!

Well... I couldn't wait, as I expected. So the first version of my book cover is here :] Hope you like it

UNISON Cover Art

I have to commend the work of the Austin & Macauley Graphic Design department for the quality and brilliance of their work. Finally I can say that I have the cover art for my book and I am amazed at what they have made.

Not only did they create create a really vibrant and energetic design which encapsulates the key themes of the book, but they actually used the little draft idea that I made using google-sourced images and made it 100x more professional. I admit I almost had a mini happy-cry when I realised that this is really happening and its in the last steps of the process before it can actually be bought!

I really want to post the image onto the blog but I think I will wait untill the release date is actually finalised before revealing what it will look like.

Suffice to say that, as I just mentioned, it will look like a professional and originally created version of this

Of course this is only the combination of my spare time, google images and my limit understanding of my dodgy Photoshop. I thought I had done quite an impressive little design here seeings as it was made by me, using only what I could find online. But in the hands of professionals we can see what real Sci-fi / Fantasy cover art can look like.

This will sound a bit snobby, and I don't mean it to, but comparing the design I received today against the work made for the same genre, I think the graphics team have outdone themselves and that makes me feel very lucky.
*N.B: The other writers are so much more skilled at writing these kinds of books so I think I need this edge, to help me get anywhere near to their level of recognition. Hopefully people will be captivated by the brilliant art and ignore the not-so-brilliant writing

Just as a teaser though I will show a comparison of the centre of the image, so you can see my design alongside the professional version.

OMGEEZ THIS IS AMAZING. This has literally made my day, you have no idea. Have had to spend the whole day trying not to do some outrageously girly squeal. But, I digress, enjoy the preview below.

Oh I'm so happy I could die *Faints*

Much Love To All of Ye

Hope Yiz Are Alreet

L.H



Mannerisms!

Right, so, the university's own club venue is hosting a Harry Potter themed night and I am totally going as the Dark Lord himself, though some people have said I would make a good Harry but I outright refuse to go as that unimpressive little wizzardypants. I love Harry Potter, the films and books and all the characters but if I had to 'become one' for a day, it would always be either Lucius or Voldiewaffle. I have already made a wand, and I'm gonna buy a robe and I have... Wait, that's not why I'm here at all! Since my last rant about my love for toys and childhood fictional universes I have realised that my vaguely intelligent blog posts from the early days have melted into a kind of pointless dribble, but I thank you for your attendance anyway, if... anyone is actually... out there? So here it is, my newest INTEGILENT (LOLZ) blog post, and this one is about creating memorable and epic characters that people want to see again and again, or secretly wish they could be... totally not me, ok?!

Where to begin, well my dear flatmate was asking me something along the lines of 'if you could be a film character for a day, who would it be?' and while scanning my brain for notable characters I realised that it is those eccentric and quirky characters, who are packed full of unique mannerisms, that I would immediately grab for. So here are some that I wish I could be for a day with a little discussion on what makes them just so dayum awesomez.


Lets begin with this charming fellow. The almighty Captain Jack Sparrow.
He is quite possibly the most innovative pirate character ever crafted, he is clumsy, camp and charismatic while also managing to exaggerate every single movement by just the right amount to make it funny. Brilliant work by Johnny Depp, a babe I'm sure all would agree. Sparrow is a brilliant fighter, a quick thinker and an all-round impossible spectacle. I say impossible because despite the fact that he always escapes a tricky situation, he does it so unexpectedly with a kind of  'off-balance grace' that makes even the other characters in the story stop just to see if he can really pull off the things that he does.

The great think about what Depp did with Sparrow is he made everything about him unique to the character. Most of his script seems to become a tongue-twister when it comes from Jack, its like a way of creating a false impression of intelligence:

"No. If we don’t have the key, we can’t open whatever we don't have that it unlocks. So what purpose would be served in finding whatever need be unlocked, which we don’t have, without first having found the key what unlocks it?"

Then theres the voice, it has the undertone of a drunken pirate but is coated in Sparrow's attempt to show his intelligence which becomes a kind of drunk middle-aged pirate/lecturer... if that even makes sense.

And the walk! How could anyone ignore it!? Well, maybe its not the walk as such, more the overall motions of any part of his body. He flicks his hair like a woman when he turns, uses his arms to give emphasis to his speech, but in a very limp-wristed manner and while walking very clumsily he swings his arms in a strange wonky skipping rope fashion; though when running this becomes very much the only noticeable feature. This man makes insanity look like fun! (Davy Jones' Locker scenes)

"Why would he do that? Because he’s a lummox, isn’t he? Well we shall have a magnificent garden party and not invite him!"

Many, many people try to impersonate this beauty of a character, I think its a great acting exercise, it is quite a simple character to copy since the mannerisms are so overt, but it technically it requires a lot of focus and awareness of all your body movement, as well as maintaining a convincing voice!

NEXT!!

We've had a bit of the impossible hero, now we have the graceful villain.

He is bald, noseless, nimble-fingered and ghoulish. Yet, he is so polite, graceful and a little bit charming, as much as a Dark Lord can be.

Voldie has a habit of sweeping around his location accompanied with slow sweeps of his arms and twists of his hands. Just by looking at the picture you can see that he is very particular with the positioning of his hands. The way he holds his wand in the films is very elegant and boasts confidence, he supports it mainly with his thumb while holding the rest of his hand quite loose.

He speaks very softly, except for the frequent NYEEEHHH, and his voice his almost hypnotic even though it is subtly mocking all those around him. Its a brilliant take on a villain as Voldemort believes he is above everyone and from the moment he regained his human form he already assumed he had won. He has no doubt in his ability but he doesn't even need to show it in order to get that message across. But when he does show it, he becomes much more threatening and a force to be wary of. Its these conflicts in power and personality that make him a brilliant character, kudos to Ralphy. I can't wait to get myself a nice robe and wand and strut around as the Dark Lord himself.

A graceful leader, effortless killer, and powerful wizard who strikes down any who oppose him, when it suits his mood; Voldie really is a powerhouse in the wizarding world. I think a great example of the mannerisms and behaviour of Voldemort can be seen in his ressurection scene in the Goblet of Fire. Though if you fancy a laugh, I also recommend the awkward Draco hug scene and the awkward Voldemort laugh, which are practically the same scene in the Deathly Hallows part 2. Interesting scenes because they are not the types of things you would expect to see Voldemort doing, or, at least, not as Fiennes portrayed him.

Avada Kedavra
I CAN TOUCH YOU
L.H

Nostalgia

How awesome is it when your mum logs in to Facebook to upload a picture of your old toy box that she found in the attic.

I will tell you... It's freaking amazing

Looking at the picture on t'BookFace made me realize that my love for creating long winded action stories started at a very young age.
I remember seeing younger relatives playing with their toys and saw that they just wanted to hit them together and be quite barbaric with them.

I was quite different. For years each of my toys had a character and a role in my early fictional universe. I can still remember exactly what each of then had done in the stories and the relations that the characters had with each other.

I know that probably sounds very unusual but in truth it was just a young boy's way of making stories which were interactive and cured boredom.

It's made me think that from my childhood I have had a well established fictional universe made, which I can still remember and access when I like. Maybe I could recreate this story in writing. The things that went through my head when I was young actually resembles my fiction writing so... Either I have a brilliant imagination, or I have a juvenile writing style. Either way I'm happy :P.

This is the amusing shizzle that goes through my brain when I look at pictures of toys while laying on my wife's bed with a cool hat on. Go figure!

Anywho, that will do! On to Big Bang Theory!

Much Love
Hoping Your Face Is Grand.
L.H