Writers Blog 2009-07-28

Great apologies.

You may have noticed my absence of late, I can only apologies. As I have said I'm moved into my new place. As anyone who has moved will know it is like one of those puzzles where you can only move one piece. So each item has to be put in its place but something else might also be there, so net tidying can be nil!

This is a writer's blog so writing - well I've done little since moving but do have a couple of things in the pipeline and hope to upload something soon. - Soon is a word I shall not define!

"This is no time to argue about time, we don't have the time." Troi - Star Trek: First Contact

Writer's Blog 2009-07-18

Today was moving day. Almost all my stuff is now moved and I shall shortly be living up their permanently. Unfortunately this means that I will have infrequent internet access for a while and of course this means infrequent blog posts. Of course my parents aren't exactly forcing out the door so I can come back and blog. Conversely I should be able to work more and have more to post! Strange thing to say I know.

So I'll be gone for just a little while.

Tomorrow I'm going to see the new Harry Potter film. Should be good.

We live in an age when pizza gets to your home before the police. Jeff Marder

Writer's Blog 2009-07-15

It is almost moving day for me. Today we went to Tesco and bought food and other items for my eventual move. Just a fridge, a bureaux,a wardrobe and a chest of draws to move. When this is done I hope to be able to write more and of course continue with this blog. I shan't have internet access in the beginning but will be able to come home and upload entries.

I continue to work on Roiling Shadows and hope to be able to upload Chapter 2 soon.


'Well, now that you're a little bit older, I can tell you that's a crock! No matter how good you are at something, there's always about a million people better than you.' - Homer Simpson

Writer's Blog 2009-07-14

One of the problems with a Blog is that you don't get the chance at a home page. It could also be that I don't know how to pilot this thing properly. This will therefore be an attempt to do the job of a homepage.

Well as I have stated before this is a collection of short stories and a novel. The novel is as yet unfinished, but I hope to stay far enough ahead so as to be able to post a chapter every week or so. Putting it up hear means that I'll get on with it, rather than going back to the beginning for the unending editing. Basically I hope that I can stay far enough ahead in writing to where your reading. If that makes anything approaching sense.

Before I get to anything else I'll start with an acknowledgement. You see that marvellous banner at the top of the post? Well it was designed by my brother. He has become a master with Blender and the Gimp. I cannot even begin to fathom how he makes these things.

Who are you?

I am Daniel O'Donovan - I am currently a student at the University of Glamorgan in Wales where I'm studying Creative and Professional Writing. Nearly at the end of my first year I'm looking forward to the next two years of study.

I write mostly science fiction and fantasy stories, though you will find other stories here also.


What do you want?

To tell stories. I have been writing for as long as I can remember - my first story was written in crayon when I was five. I enjoy writing, and hope you will enjoy reading what is here.

I also want world peace, happiness and pizza for dinner.

Why are you here?

Hay, why are any of us here?

To write. This site will help to motivate me to continue writing rather than abandoning projects midway thorough. I will, hopefully, upload work on a regular basis.

Where are you going?

Nowhere, fast.

What are your favourite television programs?

In no particular order.

1. Babylon 5
2. Star Trek
3. Star Trek: TNG
4. Star Trek: DS9
5. Stargate SG-1
6. Doctor Who
7. Tourchwood
8. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
9. Qi
10. Have I Got News For You
11. Mock the Week
12. Not Going Out
13. Pretty much any David Attenborough documentary

Books I have read

I read a lot. So I'm not going to put a complete list here. I read mostly science fiction and fantasy. I know I should have a wider frame of reference. Rather than thinking of all the books I've ever read I'm going to start it from the last couple and give them ratings. These ratings are just my opinion. They mean nothing! The ratings are between 1 and 5 stars.

1. Star Trek: Titan, Taking Wing, by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangles (***)
2. The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks (***)
3. Star Trek S.C.E Breakdowns by Scot Ciencin et al (***)
4. The Canopy of Time by Brian Aldiss (****)
5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (****)
6. Star Trek: Titan, The Red King, by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangles (****)
7. The Man in The High Castle, by Philip K Dick (***)
8. This Book will Save your Life, by a.m. homes (***)

Mostly I buy my books from Amazon for ease. Though some of them are quite a bit older and come from my dad's science fiction collection. I hope you enjoy some of these tiles.

"Its at times like these I wish I'd listen to what my mother said" Arthur Dent - The Hitch-hiker's Guide the Galaxy.

Writer's Blog 2009-07-12

Well I was hoping to grace this entry with pictures from the Air Show in Swansea. Unfortunately I am unable to do this I can only tell you why. My brother and I went to the air show but unfortunately the rain was torrential and the cloud was low. This meant that only the Black Cat Royal Navy display team was able to perform. Even then it wasn't the full performance. So we sat with the rain spitting. Soon it finally got going and the announcer stated that all the performances were cancelled for the day! To rub salt in the wound he also stated that tomorrow (2009-07-12) the weather would be sunny and that their would be a full show! He seemed unaware that people might have come for the day, unable to return the next day! So the only thing I achieved was reading 'This Book Will Save Your Life' which I shall review in due course.

In the evening I went to Richard and Charlie's birthday. They were born within a day of each other so they always have their celebrations together. We were planning to go to Nandos, but they were fully booked. It was lucky that one of my friends, Stevie, anticipated this and booked us a table at Bellini's. It's an Italian restaurant in Cardiff Bay. Good food but rather expensive so I'm going to attempt to recreate some of the dishes. I especially want to try to make the Penne Spezzation Stevie had, she let me try some, very good.

I know this writer's blog isn't much to do with writing at the moment. But I'm a writer with a blog, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

In July the sun is hot.
Is it shinning?
No its not. - Flanders and Swann - Song of the Weather.

Writer's Blog 2009-07-10

As you will notice from the below post I have just uploaded Rolling Shadows. This is the beginnings of a novel I have been working on for quite a long time. Now I will upload it here for all to read. I will make no promises about the regularity of the instalments. But I hope to upload them weekly or failing that monthly. I shall have more time once I'm moved in to my new place. Of course their will be short stories and other such things uploaded regularly. If you like this first chapter leave a comment. If I think I actually have a reader then they will be more frequent.

Of course I well come comments of any sort. I'm happy to answer any questions...

Who are you? - the Volon question

Daniel O'Donovan - writer. I am currently studying Creative and Professional writing at the University of Glamorgan.

Rolling Shadows - Chapter 1

Prologue

Have you ever tried to write a biographical account of a famous person? The question is always where to start your story. You might consider the event that first made them famous as an excellent starting place. Then on doing further research you discover an important flashpoint in their early childhood, so you start there. This goes on and on until you start with the birth of their parents and then their parents. In truth there is only one place to start any story; at the formation of the universe. That is very far fetched, you have to leave something out.
As it happens this story can be pinned down to a specific starting point, more or less. This story has a beginning, a middle and the end is the future. My name is Duncan Wells and I am the Hydra First. I feel it is important for everyone to know the history since we became public knowledge.
This story starts on I'ithoya, in the country of Eleslthinor in the island temple.

Chapter 1

It began in the year 358 BCE on the Gregorian calendar, 7062 on the elf calender. It was a time of change where the proverbial butterfly flapped its wings and caused chaos. It was on one fateful day that shaped every day that followed. A young acolyte rushed through the corridors of the island temple – his name was Eleneth.

The temple was situated on an island in a river that flowed through Eleselthinor. It was a quiet place where people could explore their spirituality. The temple had long been of tremendous inspiration to all who dwelt in and visited it. All around were large stained glass images of mythology and history. On a bright sunny day the sun would shine through causing coloured light to reflect on the corridor surfaces.
Perhaps the most popular of these magnificent images was that of Thoy'elfin – though many would have given others as their favorite. Nevertheless it was often the case that the temple acolytes would sit meditating, bathed in the coloured light. Thoy'elfin had been a warrior in his time, honorable and just. He was depicted next to a grand tree, which had been his staff. It was now able to rest and grow to a great height. The elf had deep blue eyes and long blond hair in a plait down his back. Yet it was not even this image that could stop Tayan'fon Eleneth from his running.
Eleneth turned a corner and went headlong into the Shan'fon's room.
The Shan'fon was the head of the temple. Her brunette hair loosely shrouded her. Each side of her stood an apprentice. They stepped forward as if to remove the young intruder. All she had to do was raise her hand and they retreated backwards. Though they complied, their faces maintained a show of irritation. The Shan'fon turned to look at Eleneth. Her gaze was one of simple curiosity, the personification of attention. Eleneth felt the bore of her gaze. He had the feeling that whatever he was about to say would be listened to intently, even if the very walls around them withered and died.
He was hesitant.
She was enthroned.
The throne was a wooden seat. It had grown just for her – shaped for her comfort. When she died the tree would shrink back and grow once more for the new leader of the temple.
Eleneth panted, “my apologies for the interruption. Twenty-one Dark Elf long boats approach.” He crossed to the wall whispering to it. The wall obeyed his whispered command and the huge branches moved aside. They revealed an enchanted window. The view would have been picturesque, with the sun glistening on the river's water, and waves breaking lightly on the banks – but for the long boats that appeared like specters marring the view. The sky began to blacken with their presence, a manifestation of the fear the Dark Elves hoped to instil in their enemies. The rowers were fauns, slouched over their oars. The flesh was hanging from their ribs and their horns were ground to stumps – preventing easy resistance when they were alive. The Shan'fon did not like to think long on the torture they must have endured. Now in death the fauns were controlled by necromancers – giving them only a fleeting magical tie to the world. It was the troops that the Dark Elves brought with them that instilled fear in their enemies. On the long boats their were over one and a half thousand of them – manticors

The manticores had many different names across If'thloya. The elves called them: The Beasts, the fauns called them Faunbane, the centaurs name for them was Nemesis, and the dwarfs called them Dwarfbode. This story is for humans and I'll use their terms, for of course when any of those races speak they speak in their own language.
But I digress...

The manticore was a vicious creatures, each the size of an adult lion. They had bat-like wings of storm black and poisoned spines on the end of their tails. They were controlled by two Dark Elves who stood on the raised platform at the aft of the ship. The first was a necromancer controlling the fauns on their respective boats. They wore skins, though not those of any farmed animal. The Shan'fon recognized them as unicorn skins. The helms too were from a unicorn – the skull. These masters of death carried whips which they used to control the dead.
The necromancers's companions were the ones who controlled the manticores. They wore robes of dark colours: blacks, browns and greys. They held tall staffs of dark dead wood. These were Dark elves, twisted by addiction to magic and seduced by its power.
The Shan'fon, otherwise maintaining her stoicism, allowed a tear to break her visage. With a wave of her hand she dismissed the others. Her thoughts turned to the fauns, but she even had sadness for the manticores. It was a time for action. She closed her eyes and brought to the forefront of her mind the images around the temple. She remembered the stories that they depicted, the myths and the legends. If the temple was to fall, she would fall with it.

The remainder of the temple community had made it to the central courtyard. The elders touched the tree there – the one that had been a staff all those years ago. Suddenly it began to move. It shape shifted, its huge branches wrapping around its trunk. Then it shot up in the sky and headed in the direction of the water. The elves followed it. They arrived at the water's edge to see that the tree had become a majestic ship. Sails flapped out from a tall mast and oars grew from the rowlocks. On command the elves boarded. The younger elves, including Eleneth, took up the oars and began to row. The elders stood at the stern, standing in a ring. The began the murmurs of an incantation.

The Shan'fon stretched out her hand to a tree that grew in the corner of the grand hall. It had thin branches like a fruit tree, which sluggishlly slinked back around itself. It twisted through the air to her awaiting hand. The tree was her staff, which now required once more awakened from its arboreal slumber. It was a little shorter than a quarterstaff and topped with a white gemstone. It looked like a plait with a curve of wood going down it. It ended in a point. She began the spell that would — so the saying went — gain the waters to speed her people away. The language she spoke was beautiful, most would say poetic.

I was once asked to describe the elf language. I remember saying; 'Every sentence, even if it expresses the most mundane of ideas, sounds like poetry.'

The incantation of the elders brought a massive wind and the ship moved away from the island towards the mainland. The elders looked back to the island with the manticores approaching it.

The temple helped the Shan'fon. Having known her for eight hundred years, there was great kinship between them. Vines descended from the ceiling twisting round each other creating a double helix. Yellow fruit spiralled down towards her – as she ate power grew inside her.
The ships drew closer.
She chanted.
She held her staff in one hand and a jewel in the other as she concentrated. She allowed a small morsel of her mind to think on the consequences for what she was about to do.
The ships drew ever closer.
Suddenly with a burst of power, she raised her staff high and shouted out the words. They were potent but lost none of their beauty. The power of the spell broke the chains around the legs of the manticores. More than that, the beasts began to grunt, quickly realising that they could move independently, the way they wanted – they were no longer slaves. The coxes quickly realised what had happened, and raised their staffs to attempt to reaffirm their control – but to no avail.

With their sudden freedom the beasts leapt into the air and swung their tails. The poison darts were flung with little accuracy, and hit Dark Elves and fauns alike. Then on every boat, the Dark Elves – at least those who were not paralysed by poison – screamed as they were set upon by these vicious beasts. Flesh ripped and bones crunched. As the necromancers were killed the fauns they had been controlling turned to dust and crumbled into the water. There would be nothing out there but manticores.

The Shan'fon cried.
She had saved her people.
Even the deaths of enemies did not please her.
The manticores continued to advance and would soon enter the temple. It would no doubt fight, but with their onslaught it would no doubt fail.
The Shan'fon fell to a sitting position on the floor.
A single branch came down and stroked her hair. She nuzzled against it like a favourite pet, then
clutching the jewel between both hands, she whispered a sad prayer.
Then she simply...stopped and collapsed to the floor.
Her spirit was gone. She had performed the ancient ritual to allow her spirit, her Shal'lol - the
intangible part of her existence, to leave her body. It was a peaceful death which was a good thing, as one in pain and torment was said to cause damage into the next life.
The hoards of manticores broke into the throne room. The temple tried to defend its mistress. It grew large spiky chestnuts and rained them down. Vines entangled their legs. Some were killed by the barrage, but all too soon the Shan'fon's body was savagely ripped apart.

Writer's Blog (First posted: 2009-07-07)

Well I hope you're watching Torchwood this week on BBC 1.

Anyway on to the writing side of things. I have recently added a story to the short story to that section and hope to update it regularly.

I have been working on other stuff and have been thinking recently about randomness in films and books. I'm sure we've all seen films and television programs where an important decision is decided by chance. Sometimes an entire story hinges on the luck or unluck of the protagonist. This of course was used to great effect in the film Sliding Doors. In writing one of my stories I've considered using really randomism. So if a flip of the coin is required then that is what I do. The story's form is then dictated by that out come. Of course this will not always work. If your character is defusing a bomb and has to pick which wire to cut - you probably don't want them to be blownup! Nevertheless some stories are more flexible and it might be interesting to try.

"Carter I can see my house," Colonel O'Niell - Fail Safe

Writer's Blog (First posted: 2009-07-04)

Well it has been too long since I last wrote here. There seems to have been a lot going on this last week and a bit.

On the weekend of the 26th and 27th my family and I went of to Rowleston, near Herefordshire and Abergavenny. Just a quiet holiday in mum's new van, she calls it Bertie - www.transport-of-delight.blogspot.com It was great to be able to just enjoy ourselves, at home there is always the strange temptation to do work of some sort. We took a walk through a beautiful Meadow and in parts mud. A good walk nevertheless.

Of course over the last week we also spent time on the house I will soon move into. All that is left to do now is the bathroom, then my part of the house will be pretty much finshed! Then the rooms will be done, complete with DVD box sets, books and perhaps the occational poster.

On Tuesday I had a job interview for a catering assistant - I've recieved no information so far - what else is new!

I also had the less important dental appointment - okay so I rambel.

"It was the best of times - it was the worst of times." Charles Dickens

Writer's Blog (First posted: 2009-06-25)

The house I'll soon be moving into is taking over our lives! When I finally move in this writer's blog will come into its own and I shall post stories and perhaps poems, on threat of death. Yes I'm afraid I do not like poetry. I appreciate the craft and such but do not want to have to write them.

Today I was able to move some books and DVDs into the room that shall be mine. This is all starting to feel very real - first real time away from home. (Excluding holidays and student accommodation of course.) Then I will be installed, able to watch DVDs - cook - everything. In the words of Homer Simpson 'Woohoo'.

Don't worry that won't be the quote of the day.

"we've advanced no further than an asthmatic ant with some heavy shopping." Blackadder

Writer's Blog (First posted: 2009-06-22)

Today we did more work on the house. The skirting boards are now purple in almost every room up stairs. It will soon be time to move in. I know that this blog lacks any sort of direction but a direction is coming. My brother and I also clattered a wardrobe down the stairs. Luckily the stairs, my brother and I survived the experience, though we did take a small dent out of the wall.

This is a writer's blog so writing should form part of it. This evening was the adjudication of the short story competition at Cardiff Writers Circle. I didn't win. When I've had a chance to edit the story I will post it on this site.

The adjudicator was a lecturer at the University of Glamorgan, (where I go to univercity thought not one of my tutors). She was quite good, though not able to answer my question. And as is always contradicted what another tutor said. You have to write what they want to read.

"If the apocalypse comes, beep me" Buffy Summers.

Writer's Blog (First posted: 2009-06-20)

Yesterday we finished painting the walls in what will soon be my lounge. What is left now are the skirting boards, which will be purple. We then went to Ikea where we purchased furniture for my house, it will soon be ready. So I'm looking forward to inviting people round for a house warming, though only half the house will be warmed. The downstairs will be occupied by someone else, it is not yet finished. So my flat will be the traditional student flat I suppose, Ikea furnished! I will upload photos curtsey of my brother when its done.

Well today was Saturday and as such not a lot was done! A bit of reading and some writing.

Tomorrow is father's day, so shall be going down to the local park. Roath Park, it has a lake which is nice to walk around, simple and enjoyable. Though having spent some time last year in Switzerland it seems more like a pond.

"Either that wallpaper goes or I do," Oscar Wild - last words.

Writer's Blog (First posted: 2009-06-19)

Good day to you.

This will hopefully be the start of, what a friend of mine would call 'scribilings' - random thoughts and such about writing and other things. As I have only just got up (it is 11:03 here - I know typical student) there is not much to say. Today I shall be painting a room, what will become, eventually, my lounge just up the road from my parents house. We've been working on it for ages now, painting and clearing and it is almost ready! Then I will have my own place, 'bachelor pad' - with DVDs, a Wii and hell of a lot of books!

In closing these Blog entries I will finish with a quote: "Understanding is a three edged sword." Ambassador Kosh - Babaylon 5.

Confusing the Dates (Writer's Blog)

I have been doing something of a Writer's Blog on another site for a while now. I have decided to move it here. So the first few posts will seemingly have strange dates. I'll will set those to come up later in the day. They will be under the heading of Writer's Blog.

Each entry ends with a quote, sometimes they are reliant sometimes not.

So a quote, hum

- I got nothing. I'm sure that's been said by someone at sometime!