Two More Five-Star Reviews of The Buried Ship at the End of the World

Title page drawing: Is'a'pai'a Gold-Seeker and its helper Krai'zei

A future classic.

By Shebat Legion on February 6, 2016

There are very few authors who have moved me. Lorinda J Taylor is one of them. To take a story and raise it to the level of excellence as Ms. Taylor has done is applause worthy. The best comparison that I can make, should someone ask, is Frank Herbert's Dune meets Richard Adam's Watership Down but that describes the story not at all. I will not even attempt to describe the plot. It would be doing future readers of the series an injustice, for this is a story so unique, so well written, so truly astounding in its character development and story arch, that to attempt a synopsis is daunting. This is a future classic and I cannot praise the works of Lorinda J. Taylor enough. Five stars.

See Shebat Legion's books at this Amazon link.

Alas, even epics must end.

By John E. Clifford on March 11, 2016

Even epics have to come to an end. The adventures of Huge-head and his companions is no exception, alas. So, after they are separated from Huge-head and his Rembrancer, his companions continue their quest to its fated conclusion and their story is cleverly reconstructed here' There is an inevitable decline with the tale that focuses on the second generation, as it were, and the telling at a remove by a less gifted Remembrancer. But there is still much action -- though markedly less violence, as the group has learned peaceful ways -- and humor and marvels galore. So, while we are sad to leave this story, it does end satisfactorily for all concerned, with all the prophecy explained at last and everyone in the right place. This is a fitting conclusion to a great series, all that could have been hoped for and wisely blocked from the temptation to go on.

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The Buried Ship at the End of the World Is about to Be Published!

Join me on Facebook on Saturday, January 30, 2016, for  an event -- TermiteWriter Launches The Buried Ship !

Expect special prices or giveaways on my earlier books, plus fun and good fellowship!

At last the series The Labors of Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head is coming to an end.  A lot of loose ends were left hanging in v.6: Revenge of the Dead Enemy, and it was only right to compose a sequel volume to bring the Quest for the Golden Fungus to a satisfying conclusion.

Here is the Amazon description of the book:

While many of the participants in the Quest for the Golden Fungus have been lost, the Quest continues under the leadership of Is’a’pai’a Gold-Seeker.  Di’fa’kro’mi’s Scribe Chi’mo’a’tu, with the help of wandering Remembrancers and the Star-Brings, undertakes to compose the tale of the final adventures, with the Seer Da’sask’ni’a as the principal narrator. 

As the remaining Companions set forth on the last leg of their voyage, new additions to the company lead to both jubilation and tragedy.  Then they must dare the dangerous Wandering Rocks and the Closing Gate before sailing to the End of the World to find the Fungus.  After planting the reptile’s teeth and dealing with the results, Is’a’pai’a finally returns home to Hwai’ran’chet, bringing along a surprise addition to the company – a Sorcerer and Seer who may be far more dangerous than she appears.

   

Life of Hercules: Addendum - Four Twins

Last (really truly!) of a series. Here are the earlier posts:

The Life of Hercules: Birth and Childhood

The Life of Hercules: The First Six Labors

The Life of Hercules: The Final Six Labors

The Life of Hercules: Digression into the Underworld

The Life of Hercules: Another Digression (The Calydonian Boar)

The Life of Hercules: The Centaurs and the Erymanthian Boar

The Life of Hercules: The Golden Fleece (The Young Jason)

The Life of Hercules: The Argonauts

The Life of Hercules: The Hero's Death

I haven't done a mythology post since last May when I discussed the death of the Champion Hercules. Since then, I've written the seventh (sequel) volume to my series The Labors of Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head. It deals with the end of the Quest for the Golden Fungus, which takes place after the death of our own Champion Ki'shto'ba. Similarly, Hercules left the Quest for the Golden Fleece before it was finished.

In my post entitled In a Writing Funk I discussed the Medea problem, and then in a subsequent post Feeling More Upbeat I talked about my resolution of it.  So there is really only one rather obscure mythological subject that I use in my books that I have not investigated here on my blog. It involves the tale of the Four Twins.

In the series, I introduced my version of Castor and Polydeuces (called the Dioscuri, or Sons of Zeus) and mentioned them in my post Life of Hercules: Argonauts. The other pair of twins, Idas and Lynceus, who also sailed on the Argo with Jason, finally turn up in the sequel volume. The name Idas means simply "of Mt. Ida," so I named his equivalent Ki'ta'kwai'a, which means "of her (i.e. the Mother's) mountain." The name Lynceus means "sharp-eyed" (like a lynx, obviously), but I couldn't use that meaning because Shshi Warriors don't have eyes. But they do have a sense of smell, so I ramped up the olfactory sense in my Lynceus equivalent and named it Hai'tof'il'a, which means "smells keenly."

One member of both twins was supposed to be the offspring of a god and the other, of a human father. Polydeuces was considered the son of Zeus, and Idas, of Poseidon. Rather than get too involved in that sort of thing, I made both my sets of twins to be offspring of the Highest Mother's King.  Thus, Ti'a'toig'a and Ti'a'gwol'a are called the Shin'ki'no'hna (simply Offspring of the King) and Ki'ta'kwai'a and Hai'tof'il'a are called the Shin'no'no'gwai'zei (Offstring of the Sea [King]).

In Greek myth, the two sets of twins were bitter rivals. Castor and Polydeuces began it by stealing the two women that Idas and Lynceus were betrothed to.  Later they patched up their differences and went on a cattle raid together. In order to divide the spoils, Idas proposed an eating contest. They quartered a cow and determined that whoever should eat his quarter quickest would get the largest part of the spoils. But Idas cheated, bolting his own portion and then helping his brother consume his. They then drove the rest of the cattle away.

Castor and Polydeuces pursued them, seized the cattle, and then hid in a hollow tree to await the coming of their rivals. But the sharp-eyed Lynceus caught sight of them and as they rushed down, Idas threw his spear at the tree and transfixed Castor, killing him. Polydeuces rushed out and speared Lynceus, whereupon Zeus intervened and struck Idas dead with a thunderbolt.

This is all according to Robert Graves' Greek Myths. He presents some variants of this tale, but in all the versions, it is only Polydeuces who survives. He and his twin had been so close that he grieved mightily and prayed to Zeus not to let him outlive his brother. But it was not fated that he should die right away and was instead given immortality. This he refused unless his brother Castor could share it. Ultimately the image of the twins was set in the stars as the constellation Gemini, and they were made saviors of ship-wrecked sailors, with the power to bring favorable winds. Robert Graves further states: "In response to a sacrifice of white lambs offered on the prow of any ship, they will come hastening through the sky, followed by a train of sparrows."

To learn how I adapted all this in The Buried Ship at the End of the World, you will have to read the book (although it's best to start at the beginning of the series). The sequel is finished and formatted for publication, but I don't plan to publish it until early in 2016. I'll keep everyone informed!

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Feeling More Upbeat -- and a Cover Reveal!

The White Bird leads Mor'gwai
through the Wandering Rocks
(Click for larger view)

Back Cover, with Map and
Illustration of Is'a'pai'a and Krai'zei
(Click for larger view)

     





















       I've finished the first revision of The Buried Ship at the End of the World, the sequel to the six-volume series The Labors of Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head.  I expect to publish it within a couple of months, so I thought I would reveal the cover art.  I've also done the two maps for the paperback and the colored version for the back cover, but I haven't put them up yet on the Map page.   This will be the cover unless I come up with something better.  The problem is not to give away too much of the plot of either this volume or the sixth volume, so subject matter is limited.  Comments are welcome!
       I was pretty disgruntled when I wrote the blog post back in June,  but things have gotten a little better.  I finally figured out how to adapt the horrific Medea story -- it's still horrific, but more in keeping with the culture and the inhabitants of the world in which I laid it. The style and tone are different from the other six volumes in the series, but that makes some sense since it's not written by Di'fa'kro'mi the Remembrancer.  After all, intelligent termites are just like humans-- no two authors write exactly alike! Besides, we have a different narrator in this book. I like the story pretty well, better than I thought I would when I was writing the early chapters.

       But I can't help being a little sad.  I won't be writing any more books about this particular cast of termite characters and I'm going to miss them so much!  I've pondered several different takes -- a Sherlock Holmes adaptation, even a retelling of Huckleberry Finn, all in the context of the termite culture.  And then there is the possibility of a story laid several thousand years into the future, after the Shshi have become high tech and are about to fly off to the stars themselves.  In the meantime, The Man Who Found Birds among the Stars beckons.  So what will I do next?

In a Writing Funk - and a Question That Needs Answering

Looks just like me!
https://markrambles.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/how-to-get-out-of-your-funk/
 

       I've been working for some time now on writing the sequel to the series The Labors of Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head.  Anyone who has read the entire series (and unfortunately that isn't very many people -- you all don't know what you're missing) knows that while a number of things are satisfactorily resolved by the end of v. 6, the Quest for the Golden Fungus isn't finished and there are a great many loose ends flapping around.  I feel I owe it to my readers to write the remainder of the Quest and tie everything up.

       My problem is, I've written probably half of it and still have no inspiration for that book.  It's like I wrote myself out with v. 6 and when I lost some key characters, the remaining characters went flat.  I can't even get interested in Is'a'pai'a, who was such a well-developed and likable character throughout the original series.  Once Is'a'pai'a became the main Champion, it just turned blah.  And I miss Di'fa'kro'mi's voice.  I think I figured out a decent POV character, but it just isn't the same.

       I also have difficulty with the Medea character.  Medea really was pretty unsavory in the myths.  Here is a quotation from Wikipedia concerning what happens when Jason and Medea return to Iolcus to confront Pelias:   

       "While Jason searched for the Golden Fleece, Hera, who was still angry at Pelias, conspired to make Jason fall in love with Medea, who Hera hoped would kill Pelias. When Jason and Medea returned to Iolcus, Pelias still refused to give up his throne. [According to Robert Graves, Pelias has killed Jason's mother and father also.]  So Medea conspired to have Pelias' own daughters kill him. She told them she could turn an old ram into a young ram by cutting up the old ram and boiling it in magic herbs. During her demonstration, a live, young ram jumped out of the pot. Excited, the girls cut their father into pieces and threw him into a pot. Having killed Pelias, Jason and Medea fled to Corinth."

       It's hard to see ending the book with an adaptation of that.  My Medea character may be devious, but I can't see Is'a'pai'a being duped into allowing something like that to happen.  In The Wood Where the Two Moons Shine, Is'a'pai'a had sworn to allow Wei'thel'a'han (the Pelias character) to live if the Golden Fungus is brought back and Pelias swore to leave the fortress's Mother in peace.  But yet if I concoct a "they all lived happily afterward" ending, it seems too facile and certainly doesn't pay homage to the myth.

       However that may be ...

       I hit my peak of writing between 2000 and 2010.  I went from the end of the Ki'shto'ba series to The Man Who Found Birds among the Stars, then got bogged down in that humongously long piece, and finally threw in the towel and started self-publishing in 2011.  I really haven't written anything new since, because I had a big backlog of material.  For two or three years I was enthusiastic about the promotion part of things, but now I'm fed up.  It doesn't seem to matter what I do -- very few people wants to read my books, so what's the point of fussing with everything?

       You may say all this is the result of chemotherapy and that may be part of it.  My arthritis has also gotten worse, and the chemo and enforced inactivity seems to have affected my muscle endurance, so I haven't yet gotten to where I can even take walks the way I used to enjoy doing.  I've been striving for a couple of blocks a day, but that's about as much as I can manage.  Of course, I don't drive any longer, so I can't go anywhere without transportation.  If, for example, I wanted to arrange to visit my college library and maybe take some of my books to give to them for their collection, I would have to go in a cab or else hire an aide to drive me.  And I can't lug armloads of books any more.  I lugged plenty in my life as a librarian, I can tell you!  So I have a lot of problems that keep me from doing promotional activities like book signings or attending conventions (I never travel).  I keep marketing on social media, over and over to the same people.  How do I find new people and get them interested?  My books really deserve to be read!
 

       Any suggestions?

Would you like to see a tragic ending to the series?