The Poll -- Questions, Comments, and Snide Remarks

Mostly I just wanted more ideas for this thing.

Also, I didn't think about there being no comment section underneath the poll. So here 'tis.

New site.

So, my dearest Mini-Me and I put our heads together, and we're now working on a group endeavor called Worlds Apart. I believe her dear Ian has made the first entry.

The Queue

Just an update on the writing queue, which will keep me busy forever. No, I'm likely not going to write all this. Some will be merged, some scrapped. Some the fodder for other stories.

The Phoenix and the Dragon

• In the Shadows of the Stars (Draft completed.)
• Tenebrae (In progress.)
• Into the Sea Grave (Summary written.)
• Shadowless (Summary written.)
  

So there you go. Also in the queue:

• Pagan (Summary written; would likely incorporate what would have been Pagan and Sunless. Goes before In the Shadows of the Stars.)
• Curse of the Father (Maybe. Goes after Shadowless.)

Circus Wheel

• Terror's Grace (Partially written.)
• Cauldron of God (Unplotted and unsummarized.)
• Peace of Tyranny (Maybe.)

Shroud of Death (Maybe. Everything leading up to and some during Pagan.)

• Killing Fields
• Submission
• Sea Monster

The Annals of the King

• Broken Gold (Summary written.)
• Unmade Gold (Summary written.)
• Remade Gold (Summary written.

Nevernight (Maybe. Everything unanswered in The Annals of the King.)

• Silver Daybreak (Summary written. Prequel to Broken Gold.)
• The Guardian Chronicles (Series of ten novellas. Between Broken and Unmade Gold.)
• Anathema (Between Unmade and Remade Gold.)

There was actually going to be two more, but I nixed them.
A few possible non-fictions

• Dialogues with God
• Children of God
• Priests

Defy the world.

It's there. That unchanging, unyielding thing that never fails to chase after us. It's the same thing, in a different package. For some it's obvious. Lust. Hate. Theft. Deceit. For others, pride. Envy. Strife. Gossip. That well-meaning self-righteousness packaged as the desire to help, as wisdom. Or its fraternal twin, self-abasement. It doesn't so much corrupt us as completely weary us to the point we no longer possess the means to fight. A nuisance, so small and elusive we mostly pretend it isn't there. It's like that paper cut we don't think about most of the time but will fester, turn red, and burn at the strangest moments, a constant irritation.

A pest.

Thorn, goad, whatever you like to call it.

For some it's fear: of failure, of rejection, of loneliness, isolation, silence, noise, of facing ourselves. For others, perfection. For others, performance. Happiness. Life. Love. Liberty. Peace. Truth. In fact, of itself it isn't even necessarily an inherent evil.

But it is, to quote my pastor, the thing in your hand. The thing in your hand that you close your fist around and cannot or will not give up. Trust me, you don't have long to think on this. You know. Your spirit knows, somewhere in there.

I can't pin it to the wall and define it for you. I can barely articulate my own little pest.

What is it?

In all honesty, the world. Yes, the world. The Shadowlands.

The world would say to embrace such. To cherish such. Love it, if it isn't entirely evil. Love that little pesky pebble in your shoe that seems entirely harmless but can still bruise or cut your thick-soled foot in enough time. Oh, sure. You'll live. You probably won't even bleed. But...

But how far can you run with a rock in your shoe? I'm not saying seek comfort. But if we're to live life to its fullest and life is found in a man who is the Son of God, well, maybe those little pesky things are far worse than the car we know to avoid and the lying and cheating and stealing we know we shouldn't do.

In other words, maybe it's wrong to say that these neutral, amoral things are good to keep if they are in fact robbing us of something greater.

I'm rambling here, trying to say what cannot be said. But maybe, just maybe, to live in the world but not be a part of it means sometimes we must defy it.

More later. When I can think.

Trying a new look

I'm still currently MIA, but my dear little Mini-Me made a lovely signature I decided to put up as part of a banner across the blog. The one with green eyes is Taro; the one with blue is the Predator. She put a ton of symbolism in this, and I just had to show it off.

P.S. If anyone's good at tweaking templates, I'd love to get a custom one. Help? And yes, The Master's Artist link is broken; I need to fix it.

Also considering a post on holiness. We'll see if I'm brave enough to wrestle out this particular bit of brain gymnastics.

See you on the flipside.