Project Summaries

I have lots of different projects running, so if I reference one that you aren’t familiar with in the Logs, you can check out the descriptions here.

The Mariner Sequence:

Ravens and Roses (R&R)

My primary writing project at this time.  Ravens and Roses is the proposed first book in the series The Mariner Sequence.  It’s also my original work closest to completion.  I hope to have a total of four books in the series, most of which will chronologically precede Ravens and Roses.  All the books in The Mariner Sequence take place in my fantasy world of Marina (pronounced “MARE-in-ah”).

Ryn Élan is captain of the elite Ravens Company, and loyal servant and personal guard of Admiral Scion Argent. She has served him faithfully for years, but something strange has started to happen.  The Admiral is acting less and less like himself, and Ryn’s Ravens are being sent on increasingly suicidal missions.  When something bad happens to Ryn’s little sister Marella, Ryn must choose between bonds of fealty and bonds of family.

Erasmus Ébrenn, an inquisitive young man from a farming family, wants nothing more than to remain at the Wizard School studying magic. However, students at different Wizard Schools across Marina have been vanishing under mysterious and violent circumstances.  When his best friend and fellow student Lanan disappears, Erasmus must follow a faint train of blood and deceit into the depths of Marina’s capital city.

As the paths of wizard and warrior converge, the fate of their loved ones and the survival of Marina hangs in the balance. For some things with long memories are better left undisturbed…

Seahawks and Storms (S&S)

Book 2 of The Mariner Sequence (even though it takes place chronologically before the events of Ravens and Roses.)  It follows the story of the first Admiral of Marina, Samuel Tempest, and his wife, Lady Amaris Seahawk.  It’s still very nebulous with only a few vague ideas and some basic history floating around.  Rather like The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley, I intend for the books of The Mariner Sequence to be connected to enrich one’s reading, but can stand as individual books in their own right.

 

Other Works:

AFiLaW – COMPLETE!

The steampunk/fantasy romance I’m writing I wrote for 2015 NaNoWriMo. The novel was completed in April 2017.

Marriage is the last thing on Prince N–‘s mind. Unfortunately, his father has other plans. He volunteers N– as a husband for the foreign princess, S–, to secure an alliance with her people. But S– is even less interested in marriage than N– and isn’t afraid to say so. Sparks of rage and passion fly between N– and his bride as their cultures, expectations, and desires clash. Can they make the alliance, and their marriage, work?

Dark Crystal Project (D.C.P.)

This story does have a name, Search of the Sun Child, but I’m used to calling it D.C.P.  This is my submission to the Jim Henson Author Quest contest.  The entire story is complete, but it does need to be edited.

300 years after the Crystal cracks, a young Vapra Gelfling named Asha receives a vision during her coming-of-age ceremony.  The vision Calls her to gather shards of crystal scattered throughout Thra.  A chance meeting with the Spriton Tam begins her quest, and as they travel throughout Thra, they find more beauty and wonder than they could have imagined.  But they must overcome suspicion from the long-isolated Gelfling clans and survive the claws of the Skeksis Hunter.

Astral Rain (A.R.)

I would really love to have this be a manga eventually, but for right now, I must content myself with a novel version.  I chose Astral Rain for my Script Frenzy project, since scripts for graphic novels were acceptable entries.  I have about 100 pages of the script complete, but I haven’t worked on the script or prose versions for a long time.  This story follows seven young people on an alternate version of Earth where humans develop strange, almost magical powers due to exposure to an element called Opalesque.  These mutated humans are called “Sennin” which were wiped out in a great war known as the Cataclysm.  Since then, people are watched closely for any signs of these powers resurfacing.  Those who “awaken” are…dealt with.

Everyone has problems:  

Irene’s mother works three jobs to make ends meet.  Damien is bullied at school.  Jenny’s parents ignore her.  Vanessa lives in an abusive home.  Peony’s mother is dying of cancer.  Linnet is disconnected from the real world.  And Matthias is being hunted by the psychopath that murdered his parents.  On top of that, they are Sennin, humans possessing powers that, if uncovered, will lead to their execution.  But if they don’t learn to wield these powers, fast, they’ll all end up dead and time itself will be rewritten.

As I said, everyone has problems.

DragonFriend (DF)

Working title of a fantasy story geared for younger readers (think Tamora Pierce rather than Mercedes Lackey.)  It follows a young man named Hagan in his journey to become (in his words) a “mystical biologist” in order to study and catalog the various magical creatures that roam his world.  The centerpiece of his enterprise?  Dragons.  I may be working on this sporadically since it’s fairly easy to generate content for.

Rinamathair (RM)

This is actually the title of the world that this story is set in, but I also use it as a working title.  Rinamathair is a conglomeration of various short stories I combined into one universe featuring humans, elves, ice dragons, and immortal elemental unicorns in a Celtic-inspired setting.  It’s still really rough and I haven’t gotten very far beyond the creation story, a map, and some basic character sketches.

Karen Mohssey (“K.M.”)

An urban fantasy featuring a smart-aleck detective-ish gal named Karen Mohssey, a mysterious woman named Monochrome Blanche, and several elves in New York City. There really isn’t much plot at this point; I’m essentially making it up as I go along, mostly to experiment with the style. And I do love Karen’s sassy attitude, so we’ll see where this goes.

Hi.  My name is Karen Mohssey, and I notice things.

Yeah, big deal, you might say, of course people notice things.  But most can’t see what I see.

For example, did you know that there are elves in New York City?

Actually, they’re all over.  Cities, towns, suburbs, country villages, mountains, forests, you name it.  People just don’t notice them.  Well, aside from a select, but random, few… like myself.

By now you probably think that I’m off my meds or something.  Elves, yeah right.

Yeah, that’s right.  You might think I’m crazy, but the things I see are real.  Very real.  And usually hazardous to your health.

The Cat’s Cradle (CC)

This is my main website, and I post entries every other Monday.  I do include this in my word count, especially if I’ve spent a day doing notes or research rather than crafting prose.  It might not be fiction, but it’s still vital to my creativity and will, hopefully, help build my platform as a professional writer.

Dream Collection: Short Stories  (DC:SS)

I keep a dream journal and some of the material is pretty interesting or contains stories, so I’m using dreams and fragments of those dreams to create short stories that I can (hopefully) submit to online magazines.  Whenever I post about “Dream Collection,” I’ll indicate the date that I had the dream I’m working on a story for.

 

Fan Fiction:

“Okami Amaterasu” (FF:OA) – COMPLETE!

Fan fiction is like candy to me, and since I started playing Okami for the second time, I decided to write a fanfic chronicling my adventures through the game as Amaterasu.  A new chapter is posted every other week, and once “Okami Amaterasu” is done, I’ve picked a new fanfic to work on.

“Hidden Light” (FF:HL) – COMPLETE!

I started this Final Fantasy VII fanfic in June 2007 and took a “brief hiatus” in April 2009…and haven’t updated since.  Now that “Okami Amaterasu” is done, I’m picking up where I left off on “Hidden Light.”  As of December 29, 2014, “Hidden Light” is complete!  You can read the fanfic on FanFiction.net,  DeviantART, or Inkitt.  (Each site has a very slightly more polished edition of the story, with FF.net being the oldest and least polished version and Inkitt being the newest and most polished.  The changes are very minor edits, so you don’t have to read all three.)

After the destruction of OMEGA, Vincent and his friends find a strange young woman in an abandoned lab. Is her childlike behavior genuine, or is it merely an act to disguise a weapon more deadly than OMEGA?  (Takes place 3 weeks after Dirge of Cerberus.)

“Nakishojo: the Weeping Maiden” (FF:NtWM)

This Inuyasha fanfic is one of my earlier stories (February 2007), and it was my longest-running fanfic for years.  Now I’ve returned to it as my next on-going fanfic project.  It will be interesting to get myself out of some corners I wrote myself into!

While searching for a shard of the Shikon Jewel, Inuyasha & Co. run into a forest guarded by an 1000 year old half demoness… who shares a deep, but hidden connection to both Kagome and Kikyo. (Takes place after the First Movie but before Anime Episode 55.)

“Sundered Blood” (FF:SB)

This is my Harry Potter fanfic which has been neglected for years, although like most of my fanfics, I do intend to finish it. My FC, Samantha Halfward, is an interesting character and her backstory and circumstances are unusual enough that I would like to transplant her story into its own unique universe at some point.

Samantha has lived in Hogwarts for as long as she can remember. What is her connection to Harry and his friends? Will she discover the long lost secrets of her past? And if so, what will the price of knowledge be? (Focuses on FC, covers most of all 7 books.)

Doctor Strange Fan Fic (DSFF)

Some as-yet-untitled scribbles sparked by seeing the 2016 Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Doctor Strange. Main fic features a gal named Camilla (“Cami”) Faraday who has unexpectedly become Stephen Strange’s apprentice.

Loki Fan Fic (Loki FF)

Some more scribbles on three various characters (the fire giantess Aldrnari, the frost giantess Vanki, and an unnamed older human woman) for three different possible fanfics, thanks to Tom Hiddleston’s portrayal of Loki in the Marvel movies Thor, The Dark World, and Ragnarok.