Caliban's End: An excellent gift for any occasion

Thursday, May 15, 2008

An excellent gift for any occasion

Just a small but significant post tonight...

It's been a wonderful week. I took two days off work to finish the final edit of What Lies Beneath and managed to do everything I set out to do. Although I'm sure there are still a few mistakes hiding out amongst the pages like wily banditos in the hills above a dusty Mexican town, the first book is now online and almost available to purchase. The first copy is being printed as we speak and in a week or so I'll get a paperback copy in my grubby little paws. In the biz, this is called a proof (I'm in the biz now) and once I give the proof a nod of approval, it will then be available for all to read. I'll be getting an ISBN so the book can be sold through Amazon, Barnes and Noble (and Ebay once friends and family realise that the book's not their up of tea!)

The sale price will be $US 13.95. It will also be available to download as a PDF for 5 greenbacks. Start saving those pennies.

I have still got a bit to do on the Caliban's End wiki but that should be ready for public consumption by the time I give the green light to Lulu.com to roll the presses.

4 comments:

dc2:33 pm
Paul - congratulations on a monumental achievement! Now I can say I know a published author. Well done! What next?
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Caliban6:54 am
Thanks Donna. I appreciate the comment. What's next? I'm justing ironing out the typo's from the next book 'Into the Endless' which will be out at the other side of winter.

Cheers, Paul

p.s. I think having a baby is a monumental achievement so kudos back at you.
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Anonymous9:17 pm
Hello Mr. Stewart,

My name is Kristin. I am the younger and much more smarter and generally better sister of Rebecca Skennar. Who apparently works with you.

Today, upon returning from work, Rebecca informed me of your recent writing success, and bid me humour you with support and the like. So here's my support:

...

I hope you enjoyed it. :-)

Okay. So Rebecca just read what I wrote above and told me that I shouldn't be a smart-ass because you don't know me and so you don't know that I'm just teasing because I'm jealous that I have not had anything published and instead have about a dozen unfinished stories. None of them are Sci-Fi/Fantasy, though one is Sci-Fi and one is Fantasy.

Your story sounds very good and highly original. Well, as original as is possible nowadays. I mean, I had this whole plan about a space ship getting lost somewhere out there in the universe, and lo, Voyager. And Lost in Space. Though I think if I add some massive biblical component to it, I could make it work. Hey, it worked for Dan Brown.

What other authors do you like? I know you mentioned a couple in the blog, but I didn't read everything. I just kind of skimmed. My favourites are David Farland, Terry Goodkind (despite his preachiness), Jaclyn Moriarty, Frank Herbert, Allison Croggon and C.S. Forester. And others but I won't list them all 'cause I doubt you'll care. But have you read any of the above?

Anyway. I need food now. So I'll leave it there. But I'll be sure to buy a copy of your book, and I'll make sure that my two best-friends (one works at Angus & Robertson, the other at Collins) porn it off to as many people as possible.

Best wishes,

Kristin Skennar
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Paul Stewart3:15 pm
Hi Kristin. You can call me Paul. Thanks so much for taking the time to have a look at my blog and write a comment.

As for my book, I'm quite pleased with it. The story makes for a challenging read but the concepts and characters are quite fresh so hopefully the promise of interesting ideas will help readers through the tough parts.

Now to your comments...

I've always loved the lost spaceship thing. I was a big fan of Voyager, especially once Seven of Nine came on board. Television is a pretty big influence on me. I introduced Firefly to many of my friends and I have an autographed copy of the DVD. As I said to your sister, anything written by Joss Whedon gets a thumbs up from me.

Authors I like? Well, writing three books hasn't left me much time to read, so I don't curl up with a book as much as I once did. That said, I did finish HP & the Deathly Hallows the weekend it was released.

Out of your list, I have read C.S Forester (a looong time ago; I tend to get my sea-faring fix from Patrick O'Brien - there's a few nautical chapters in 'What Lies Beneath' that borrow from O'Brien and Herman Melville) and I read lots of Frank Herbert when I was much younger (probably way before I was ready for it).

A lot of the books I have read over recent years are ones I have taught!

I went through a bit of an existentialist phase so writers such as Fowles, Conrad, Kafka, Camus et al. have played a part in my literary sensibilities. In the realm of fantasy, I think Tolkien, Peake and CS Lewis still bounce off the walls of my subconscious, but I have simply struggled to find time to read more modern writers. Similarly, my SF diet consists of writers who have been around for a while now (although I do like what Michael A Stackpole does in his books). Now I've finished my little trilogy, I'll probably devote a little more time to reading again.

Thanks for the good wishes. Writing's quite a solitary experience so it's nice to find so many people taking an interest in the work now it's (almost) done.

- Paul Stewart
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Birren Brand

Central Tower, Sarras

This tower, simply called Central, was much taller than all the towers through which he had passed on his high-speed journey to Sarras. His line was one of three adjoining the tower. His slider slowed down as his line leveled off. Tagtug could see a similar cable coming in from the east. His view of the southern line was obstructed by the colossal tower which, like every other transit tower, had its metal outer shell removed. Tagtug slid to a halt and gingerly stepped off the slider, his muscles taut and aching from hours and hours of concentrated effort.

The Crouching Mountain

Taking a large gulp of air that caused the wind to change direction, Kyuukyuu walked across the floor of the sea, past pods of great leviatha and herds of nep'gii. After walking for many days, holding his breath all the while, he noticed that the sea floor began to rise. Soon he found himself on the shores of Kompira. His eyes widened when he saw the beautiful land before him, but despite the loveliness of the forests and the arousing scent of the purple mists, he found he was exhausted and had to lie down. So he cleared a spot of forest not far from the golden shoreline and lay down to rest. His exhaustion was so great that he fell into the deepest sleep, a sleep from which he is still yet to wake.

Bith Brand

Bith Brand sang a sad tune and the long plaintive notes floated up through the leaves and hung upon the branches. Lara closed her eyes and listened to her mother’s song. It was a ballad about a woman whose love had gone across the sea. The woman was heart-broken and was setting off across the water to find the one she had lost. Lara didn’t really understand the song – she had never even seen the sea – but the doleful melody was strangely soothing and Lara could feel herself getting drowsy as she listened to it. Underneath her lace top Lara’s heart glowed, and the intricate white filigree of her shirt was suffused with a gentle blue light.

Arrowfish

Suddenly, an Arion arrowfish shot high into the air. The mother bellycan opened her wings to steady herself as she leaned back slightly, and positioned herself directly under the arrowfish as it reached the apogee of its brief flight into the air. The fish plummeted back down and the bellycan extended a large pouch that had been hidden under the feathers covering the bird’s stomach. The arrowfish plopped straight into the bellycan’s pouch which then closed instantly, storing the catch for the family meal that evening. Although books had been written on the subject, no-one truly understood the reasons for the arrowfish’s perplexing suicidal flight.

The Worldpool

Five leagues from the churning vortex, translucent ice floes could be found, stretching out across the pale blue surface of the lake. Any ships that came within two leagues of the Worldpool risked being battered by crystalline icebergs that roamed the lake’s centre like silent predators, waiting for a vessel that had strayed too close. The waters closer to the Worldpool were wrapped in mystery as no vessel had ever returned from wandering so close to the maw. Nothing escaped. It was believed that even time itself was disturbed so close to the malevolent sinkhole. The lake’s centre was a living contradiction, a turbulent place where frozen waters were roused into violent motion, where waters made white by the freezing heart of the lake succumbed to its darkness and disappeared to a forgotten realm below. And yet, inexplicably, from dawn to dusk, the sun always shone on the Worldpool. It was if the clouds were too scared to venture so close to the glaciated maelstrom. It was a black hole, reaching out and sucking in all it could under eternally sunny skies.

Flummox

Kali heard a tiny growling sound at his feet. In the dirt before him, a twin-headed flummox sat with a round kor-kor nut in its small, pudgy hands. Although diminutive in size, being no larger than Kali's foot, the flummox was as irascible and pugnacious a beast as one could find on Terra. The flummox's two heads were facing each other, two pairs of bulbous green eyes staring at each other in a confrontation that was typical amongst the two-headed rodents that infested the Kolpian hills. Suddenly, the left head tilted right back, the mouth opening to an impossible wide degree. As the mouth opened, the flummox lifted this head up high on its neck. The head on the right cowered but the creature would not lift a hand in defence for fear of losing possession of the kor-kor nut. With a ferocity that would make a marrok squirm, the flummox's left head swooped down on the right, enveloping it entirely. Sharp incisors sheared through the right head's neck and in one of the world's most obscene animal behaviours, the flummox swallowed its own head. The violence of self-decapitation done, the flummox then spent the next few minutes yelping as the pain from its self-inflicted wound ripped through its entire body. A few minutes more and it collapsed to the ground dead, the trauma of the wound and the accompanying loss of blood too much for the little animal to bear.

Adzoba Aethelflaed

Juliet yelped with fright and skidded to a halt. Before them stood a man taller than any Edgar had ever seen before. He was at least eight foot tall, even taller if one counted the massive horn that grew from the man’s forehead. The distinctive keratin projection rising two feet from the man’s skull marked him as a Kheperan, a race that lived in the deserts to the south of Lake Erras. Edgar had never met a Kheperan before, but he knew of them – their reputation for having short tempers and an endless supply of stubbornness preceded them.

Palia

The manifesto listed two passengers: Wade Grayson and his twin brother, a leper by the name of Caliban. The latter was particularly memorable. The day he arrived in Palia, he was placed in the quarantine station where all lepers destined for Sanctuary were kept until the boat taking them across the treacherous waters was ready to depart. Caliban had been brought into the station kicking and screaming. He pleaded with the locals to release him and when the Palians refused, he swore he would have the bloodiest of revenges upon the world and that the sleepy hamlet of Palia would be first to bleed.

Sulis

The triplet moons shone down on Sulis. Pylos walked out onto his balcony to take in the evening air. Below him the city streets spread out in intricate patterns, bathed in the silvery light raining down from the night sky. All over the city, the amber light of lanterns flickered outside the houses on the main streets. The comforting drone of sandcadas reverberated across the city. Above this gentle hum, the General could hear snippets of conversation float up from the café on the street below.

Grisandole

The Isle of Grisandole lay directly ahead. The isle itself thrust up from the dark depths of the ocean to the equally brooding depths of the sky. Grisandole was even more barren and depressing than Lara had imagined. No trees or plants clung to the steep mountainside of the island. No beach encircled it. No seabirds flew above it. It was a place as lifeless as Terra’s distant moons. All was rock upon which nothing moved, save for the endlessly buffeting wind and waves. The peak of the conical isle was crowned with tall black towers and battlements devoid of flags or any other sign of habitation. On its own, the Morgai citadel seemed immense but in the context of the empty, lonely landscape surrounding it, it seemed insignificant. Its crumbling columns ineffectually pricked the thick skin of the sky.

The Sapphyrro

The Sapphyrro were unusual looking by most races’ standards. They stood five foot tall on average, with no significant difference between males and females. Sympathetic brown eyes as large as soup bowls peered out from benign faces of grey-blue. Hair as white as foam flowed from the back of the head onto a carapace encasing a sinewy body covered in gossamer thin velvety fur. The shell surrounding the torso formed a natural suit of armour, and yet the civilized, peaceful natives of Skyfall Town had no known predators (other than Time and even its immutable will had softened in regards to the Sapphyrro who lived well beyond the years of all the other races of Terra; death took them tenderly, like a gentle wave on the shores of a quiet lake). Stout, muscular legs and long arms ending in large, three fingered hands sprung from openings in the shell.

The Endless

The fisherman was in a vast cavern. The rock had a phosphorescent quality and emanated the most delicate red glow. High, high above the cascading waters of the Worldpool were gently tinged with the supernal glow of night seeping in from the world above, giving a softness to the dreadful surge that crashed into the Endless with deafening ferocity. The ethereal illumination of the stony surrounds revealed a dark, ulterior lake into which the blue waters of Lake Erras were poured and mixed until they became black.

Caliban's End

Thursday, May 15, 2008

An excellent gift for any occasion

4 comments:

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Birren Brand

Central Tower, Sarras

Adzoba Aethelflaed

Abaddon

Peg'ii

The Crouching Mountain

Bith Brand

Arrowfish

The Worldpool

Flummox

Arinna Brine

Adzoba Aethelflaed

Morgai: Gabriel

The Endless

Jehenna Canna

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The Morrigu

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Sulis

Claudia Kallady

Nilfheim, Sessymir

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SUMI KIMURA

Mag Mel

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Pylos Castalia

Scoriath

JONAS KALLADY

Marroks

Lilith Cortese

Grisandole

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Cate Audrey

Sessymir

Caliban's End: The Film

Wade Grayson

The Cabal

Maeldune Canna

Lara Brand

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