First Short Story Rejection

I'm feeling positive about my first rejection. Number one because while I thought it had been fully edited and ready to go I found a shocking number of problems in it. It wasn't a complete disaster, but as a closeted perfectionist, and knowing my competition is probably fierce, I was not happy. I am able to polish it a little bit more, now will try and get my Alexi O'Shea piece fully ready to go. I've even got my mom on the case and she gave me some good feedback, so I've beefed up the beginning a little bit and have a few more people read it before I send it out.

Fingers crossed...

First Short Story Submission...

So, I've decided that in order for me to get any momentum going for my first novel, I need to get some short stories published. Now, I have several mostly finished stories, but the one I just wrote and polished, which I think is good. It's a date-night story about Duke while he was still in Britain, so we'll see if it gets picked up.

Practitioners 101

The term 'practitioner' refers to people who have the ability to and skill with manipulating the energy fields that surround us all the time, an act commonly called magic. There are a number of different types of classifications for practitioners, most having different practices for how they channel their magic, and some have different powers altogether.

Mages: First among the list of practitioners, and often they consider themselves literally first, are magi. These are often the stereotypes of wizards and magicians. They are the ones who concentrate almost to an obsessive level on their skills with magic. The magi are often at the top of the list in terms of magical firepower and are the most versatile of spellcasters.

Witches: This group of practitioners is composed of people who have some array of other inherent abilities in addition to whatever strength they have with magic. Some of these powers maybe more psychic than magical, such as empathic abilities, though true psychics don't generally fall into this classification, but most of the abilities are somewhat magical in nature. Such 'magical' abilities include the ability to communicate and call up spirits, to tap into and channel a certain type of elemental energy, of even to shapeshift.

Druids: This group of practitioners is somewhat interchangeable with witches, except for the explicitly nature focus of their powers.

Sorcerers: This is a classification somewhat like the magus in the sense that often their main supernatural gift is the ability to work magic. This group, however, does this by either making pacts with powerful beings outside mortal reality or makes such pacts for power. Many of these dangerous spellcasters specialize in a form of magic called Blood Magic, which cannibalizes life energy from other animals or people to use as a power source. This type of magic is not only illegal under the laws of The Covenant, but it is also just incredibly icky as it involves a lot of blood and body parts.

The Others: There are other less well defined or smaller groups of spellcasters, Necromancers foe example, but by and large the above are the big for.

Werewolves in My World

So there are a lot of interpretations of what the werewolf is. In my world they are one type of lycanthrope, a type of shapeshifter that has been changed from a mortal or in rarer cases are born that way. Lycanthrope affects people all the way to the molecular level so that they are literally a different species. They are, however, andromorphs, a type of creature who began as a human or whose physiology and DNA are based on that of humans. Lycanthropes fall into this category, as do vampires.

The actual infecting of another person with lycanthropy is difficult. Unlike what popular culture would imply, it isn't simply a matter of a bite or scratch from a lycanthrope. There is, actually, a spiritual element that is a part of the supernatural nature of the lycanthrope. Thus it isn't just a virus or a toxin in the saliva or venom.

Whatever the source of the lycanthropy, there are a few things that are true for all. First, it is a permanent change once it occurs. There are perhaps a few beings out there who could permanently bind the beast inside, or maybe even remove the condition, but for all intents and purpose there is no way to remove the transformation into a lycanthrope. Second, all lycanthropes have the spirit of their beast type bound to their souls. This spirit isn't independent, but an represents the investiture of supernatural power that grants strength and healing but which also is accompanied with the instincts of the beast. This creates all kinds of social problems for the lycanthrope when they aren't in a social situation similar to what you see in the wild. Wolves have packs, lions have prides, bears and tigers are solitary.

The supernatural nature of the lycanthrope grants increased strength, speed and reflexes. It also provides intangible abilities that often vary by the type of beast.

New Blog For My Fiction

This is my new blog to discuss characters, story themes, plots, and eventually maybe to post short stories. I'm hoping this might generate interest in my stories.