D.W. Wilkin's Blog, page 356

Early October

I have spent two weeks actually thinking about writing a blog post everyday and have yet to have done so until now.

One reason I think is that sales have slowed to half of what they were before. That is the wrong direction. I wanted things to keep going. I had one negative review of my work, and checking with the positive reviews I have had, it seems to be the reviewer not liking the tone I take to write dialogue.

That is a shame for I think that my dialogue provides mood, and gives one an idea for the Regency.

In any case the statistics for September were very good.

169 books sold.

Here at mid October we are at 54 units sold.

I did a great deal of work on the Jane project and finished the second draft as well. I think the price point is going to be $3.99 for an ebook and 8.99 for a physical book.

It is in the hands of three friends who are critiquing and reading it. I hope they will finish soon so I can get it out to the world.

But that means while waiting I should continue on with my Space story. The passion for it comes and goes. And with less than 2 weeks before NaNoWriMo, I have to get working on the plot for that as well.

Tentatively called the Other Shoe. As with past years it will be a Regency Romance

When the cliche, the shoe is on the other foot, becomes more reality than fiction, Lady Barbara Winhampton does not know if she is in love, or if she is being spitefully treated in retribution for all the men she has spurned these two seasons in London. Suitor after suitor came to profess their love and she would have none of them until she met the heir to Duke Stanfield. Michael Hope Montgomery Baxter, Viscount Devon and one day the eight Duke, took one look at her and then gave her the cut direct.

Yet only the moment before that she had seen him, and knew, beyond any doubt, that he was the husband she had been waiting for.

Stayed tuned to see what happens and what I do.

Early September 2011

September came in like a…

Well it came in great and I had 12 sales on the first, which is also my birthday. If you multiply that out, you get 360 sales for the month. We need $2500 a month income to make this a full time deal. August we did close to $500 so roughly about 600 books a month in sales and I can stop looking for 9 to 5 work and write full time.

But sales did not hold at 12 units a day. By the 11th we had 52 units so not quite 5 units a day. Almost 25% of what we need pacing wise.

In any case we sold 116 units last month. Mostly because of Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence which is what I renamed Colonel Fitzwilliam to. That is twice everything I have sold before. Total units of all my works were at 229 at the end of August. It made me feel the change from tyro to real writer.

I have also joined a second writing group and a third starts up, that I am leading, this weekend. The second has strict rules on what they want to look at, so regency romance just did not fit in. Some brief thoughts on a writing group and my writing occurred to me because of this group here in Hemet. There are writers who work on many different types of projects and some think of the art as a way to elevate ideas and belief structures. Many of who we term the great writers have done this. That they want their writing to reflect their feelings as citizens of their environment and use their writing to elevate all those who have like feelings. Writing leads to revolution. To understanding.

Some of us though are writing to be storytellers. I recall reading a story of Garrison Keillor and how he wrote his monologue on the train in a very short time. If you listen to his monologues you quickly hear how he is a very good storyteller. It is the type of writer I strive to be. It does not start with Character for me. I do not want to write a treatise that is a comparison of our failing bicameral government. I don't want the US overthrown. Though my Science Fiction that would lead us to the stars, possibly is the revolution I want to see in my lifetime. (A vacation at a hotel on the moon would be great.)

No, I write Story first. If has to be a fun idea, which gives me passion. As a story, I do not see agonizing over word placement so pacing becomes an issue. I do not see the need to spend hours in rewrites. I need to make some money at this also, so having written 4 million words, we are not even at 1/20 of a cent a word return yet. My hourly wage would be laughable. If I am generous because now I can type as fast as 2000 words an hour, but in a good day, it is really 1000, I have earned less than $.75 an hour. Or at the lower rate, less than $.35 an hour. And I used to pay myself when we owned Aspen Interiors much more than 100 times that. So rewriting, which is not included in that hourly output calculation, would only slow things down further. I make less and less the more I write about it.

How many rewrites look for the correct use of "She's dead," or "She is dead," must I go through.

No, I write story. And from those of you so kind to read my material and give me feedback, I believe you agree and enjoy it.

So now having written it months ago and then edited and worked for a week on the cover (that takes away from my pennies per hour calculation as well) we have Trolling's Pass and Present available now. It is from our Space Opera Books Imprint. It is 2.99 as are the other Trolling Books. Three released now, and each for $2.99. They are quick light hearted adventures that have gotten good feedback.

Those of you who have been paying attention to our blog from last month will know about Genghis Khan and our new project,

Genghis Khan's Rules for (Warriors) Writers

A look at the techniques to make you prepared for being published

in an age where the world of Publishing is beset

by the Horde of Writers who have learned these rules

I created a new imprint for this, If All the World Were Paper Books and this book is also now available as well. Genghis Khan's Rules for (Warriors) Writers Available for 4.99. As the title piece above suggests a great deal is covered quite quickly and breezily with humor as well as good writing technique for those who also wish to be a part of the Storyteller focus of writing. For those who see that publishing is changing faster than the big publishers understand, these rules are timely. You have to write and start producing your own work. You have to get it out of you, and out to the public.

I now have conversations that start with how this has all changed and how the next generation will be lucky to have libraries. Soon everything will be done electronically. Today the rumor mill had Amazon becoming an ebook library. Coffee table books will be gone and we will use our Surface table instead.

Here are The 10 Rules

1) Read like a writer

2) Have a good story

3) Your work will be Thematic

4) Plot: The seven deadly ones

5) Characters will carry your tale, near and far

6) Words are your warriors

7) Stories are structured

All tales building to a Crescendo

9) Genghis edits history, shouldn't you as well

10) Act like a writer

I think those that take the time with the material will find themselves thinking of writing in this modern age a little differently than most other advice books. But then Genghis would not have it any other way.

Last, I had a new new idea today. It will be covered more next blog as I hope to start work on it fully today and finish soon. With all these books such as P&P and Zombies, it seemed natural that I too dig in.

The Jane Austen and Zombies, Werewolves and Vampires project will be coming soon.

Late August, 8 and 49

This is the last week in August, which means to me and my family, birthdays and anniversary.

Tomorrow, the 29th, my younger brother Me Too, I mean Douglas, turns 48, then on the 31st, mine and Cheryl's Eighth Anniversary, followed on September 1st by Birthday #49, and then on the 3rd by birthday 14 for Douglas's middle child Brandon and the 4th by Cheryl's younger brother Bill's birthday.

When I grew up, because of the way Labor Day weekend happens to be the first Monday of September, my birthday would sometimes be closed. You could go nowhere because it fell on Labor Day and everything was shut down. Not very fun.

Last weekend we were away and I was not able to write Thursday through Sunday. We went off to my cousin's wedding. Another event for celebration at this time of the month.

But right before leaving, an idea for a new project hit me:

Genghis Khan's Rules for (Warriors) Writers

A look at the techniques to make you prepared for being published

in an age where the world of Publishing is beset

by the Horde of Writers who have learned these rules

The Genghis Khan project was finished in first draft today. I will do an excerpt when I release it rather than when today. I plan to go through the second draft this week, as well as the second draft of the 3rd Trolling book. I have renamed this to Trollings Pass and Present. The Bears wasn't quite right, and there really is a Rollins Pass. Now it becomes a play on word on Past and Present

One of the things my research came up with though is how writers can be larger than life. We know Hemingway was. Did you know that Balzac drank fifty cups of coffee a day? I need to have some quirk or oddity that will become legend when i am gone.

I have done things that I think of larger than life, though I have not done enough. I have been places that others desire and wish to go to and have not had the opportunity to go to. But there is more I want to see. I have been places that I want to see again for I have a different perspective now then i had before.

Hopefully by the end of next weekend we will have a couple more books to put up for publication!

August of 2011

The Shattered Mirror and Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence are both published and selling at various outlets.

Both can be had in trade paperback. And they are both available as ebooks at as many of the outlets on the web as I can get them to. However, the only place anyone is buying them is Amazon for their Kindles? Why is that? Has Kindle really sold that many more units than other devices? Certainly there are more iPads out there then Kindle's now.

I think it has to do with the storefront. The iBookstore needs a great deal of work to make it as user friendly to find what you are looking for as the Kindle. Or as Amazon where with the push of a button, you get sent your book. Perhaps the iTunes way of selling music does not translate to selling books. Well certainly with my books it does not. That is something that Apple really should look at. They get a piece of every book of mine they sell, through there store, and Amazon just got smart enough to deny them a piece of every book they sell to an iPad/iPhone/iPod user.

Apple used to not be greedy, but something has taken over in the C-Suite there and they make some pretty stupid statements that will stifle some growth instead of give us more power down here at the user level. The cut of 30% of everything sold seems to be part of it.

Should they get a distribution fee for magazine subscriptions? Should they have control over the info of that subscriber? Should they get a cut of a book that is purchased when I am looking at Kindle Reader on my iPhone?

Those points are whole philosophies. And well worth the discussion. Amazon sells a book for $10 promising $7 less a few pennies for the size of the file, to the author. They now have $3 for themselves, but that is exactly the 30% that Apple wants. If Apple wanted 30% of what Amazon share was, then I see that as something that was in the realm of negotiation. What is Amazon doing but giving a page or two to marketing of the book, and some bytes and electricity to delivering That is worth 70% of their 30%. Apple is providing the customer, always worth a finder's fee. Typically 10% of the initial sale, which is right around that 30% of the 30% that Amazon was keeping.

The Last Bites Phenomena

As of this morning, my clear winner for sales for the month of August is Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence . In fact I am having the best sales ever and I have not really been advertising or twisting arms to generate these sales. I believe the Austenites of the world are finding my book and buying it. Mostly for their kindles. (Of 36 sales to date for August, 34 sales of my work are for the ubiquitous Kindle) I sell ebooks, or rather Regency Assembly Press sells them in 3 varieties, and I label them so:

A Taste

Last Bites

Complete.

A Taste is the first four chapters, Last Bites are the remaining chapters, a much bigger section of the story. Complete I hope is self explanatory. Last Bites, that part of the story without the first four chapters, is outselling the complete version four to 1 and, people are not purchasing enough Tastes to make up for what they are missing. I hope that my readers see that I have disclaimers and labels to show that there are 3 versions to purchase. I hope they will come and purchase the first four chapters.

It is a conundrum though. Will this turn readers off, or do they think that by avoiding those chapters they get into the action more quickly. I hope that any reader missing the first four chapters will come get them at the Kindle Page

Lord and Key

As June started, and July rolled along, and finally here in August, I had been prepping the two books above for publication, and also writing my newest work, which I call Lord and Key. My romance formula, but set in the time of Edwardian England, at the death of Edward and the knowledge that war may be on the way.

Never a pleasant thought, and certainly not something that rational men can always avert. That is part of the premise of my story. There are misunderstandings, as well as characters flawed and imperfect, all seeing if they can be in love, as well as prepare for what is to come. I finished the first draft last weekend and now have to move on to something else.

New Story

I pulled out Starship Troopers, the movie a few days ago and was thinking very much of what my next book was to be. I really have been thinking of a murder mystery set in 1990's LA around a character who is a Magician. I had this great book in the 70's about magic and that is one of the research items I think I need. But back to ST. I'm not ready to write the murder mystery just yet.

So with my Novella Short format, I thought of starting on my SCi-Fi Five, which I had planned to be what was being written at this time in any case. A gutsy Figther Pilot on his way to CAG. So a little Wing Commander, Battlestar Galactica and Starship Troopers. We'll see if I can get this right.

New New Story thoughts and reflections

Sales of my Jane Austen sequel though have me thinking a little differently. Perhaps I should write some 40K word, $2.99 Austenite continuations to augment my sales. It seems to work.

July Update

The Shattered Mirror has now been published and in the next few days so too will Colonel Fitzwilliam's Correspondence

I've been busy with these works recently. Finished up and setting them up for publication. Colonel Fitzwilliam was taking the most of my time. My Aunt Miriam had been asked by my mother and then myself to proof read it for the copy editing portion. Sales are not so wonderful that I can afford to have the books proofread professionally.

I had edited the draft once, of course. And now she edited it. It took well over an hour per chapter to enter her corrections and suggestions into the work. After which I went and did another draft.

Writing the draft of each chapter, and then again entering it into the manuscript was about 4 hours per chapter. Last was the typesetting, checking that each page was aligned at the bottom. Using the OED to make sure I was not making up any new words. Finally, finished. The Proof copy has been printed and is on its way even now.

The newest project, for I finished all 5 Trolling novels, though must edit the last 3, is an Edwardian romance. I have to admit to being very much influenced by Julian Fellowes (who is now Baron Fellowes, how great is that) and Downton Abbey.

The working title is Lord and Key.

As is my custom, here is the first few paragraphs of chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Really Harry, you have to take this seriously." Harry's mother, Patricia Gumstock had said that for near the entire month. He did not know why he had to take things seriously though. Since he had been made a peer, shouldn't he decide what was serious and not she?

"Mother, truly, it is to be the new year. 1910. Isn't that more important then all this lording that has been going on. I am heartily sick of it all. Really and truly." King Edward had made a few new peers at the end of November. He had been one of them. It followed since he had been awarded a Nobel prize in physics. The king was playing catch up. At least the Novel came with money. Not that Harry needed it. The title came with a few perks, he would have to admit.

Certainly a few people looked at him as if he was no longer just an engineer. They actually thought he might now be a somebody. Especially when he entered a room and someone introduced him as Lord Gumstock. He had not been creative and chosen any special title then his name. There were no other Gumstocks in the peerage.

Harry though had not introduced himself in the month since being ennobled as the lord he now was. He was a little self conscious about it.

"You must take this as a chance to change who you are. I know you value your friends greatly but they are holding you back."

He wanted to shout, he was so torn about what all was happening. "Mother, this is the last I shall see of Fred and Max for a long time. We move in a few days and they shall of course remain here." They were doing important research, at least to them it was important, at the university. They each were working hard in the field of chemical engineering at the Tech. Fred and Max both saw things a little differently then he, but then he had applied himself in adding some other directions and perfecting a device that aided the development of Marconi's radio. Without the innards that Harry worked on, Marconi's device surely would not have seen the light of day.

Without the pieces that Harry had made and now was selling and making a fortune doing so there wouldn't have been Marconi's radio. Harry also would not have been awarded the Nobel, or have been made a baron. The factory outside of Manchester was filled with people and machinery to make his parts, and a second factory nearby as well. But the industrialization of the city and its environs had meant that there was not a great deal of land to make a factory complex that was congruous.

When he had received a letter from the Palace that the King desired to bestow honors on him, he had took that as the need to stop and think what he was doing. Still young, he would not see his thirtieth birthday until later in the coming year, he knew that their was something to be made with these parts that he manufactured. The telephone also saw a great need for small parts and there was a similarity between the devices that allowed him to invent for each, and manufacture parts for each.

He had been a good engineer, but he found that thinking how to make many of the items that were needed, and to do so with costs managed was where his skill lay. The two factory buildings he had were inefficient and he needed new buildings and new procedures to not only make what he currently was selling, but also other items that he wanted to manufacture and sell as well.

Harry was drafting plans for factory buildings that took up more than twice the space he already had when he knelt in front of the King. "So, Baron Gumstock, I am told that you are going to change the world as we know it. Is that so?"

"Yes your majesty," he had said. "I am going to do my best." He had been advised to be quick and try and make Edward smile or laugh. That was the best way to do things. Not that he had any acquaintances who had met the King, but he had acquaintances who knew of such and Lord Sudsman came forward to speak to Harry and coach him. Sudsman at least travelled in circles that Edward VII also was in. His clubs as well as social set. Sudsman was not a close intimate of the king, but the king knew Sudsman by name.

Sudsman had taken Harry under his wing the week he was in London for his award. He had taken Harry to some social events, and Mrs. Gumstock as well. Harry knew that London was too much for him. Especially when he knew so few people who really wanted to know him. Mrs. Gumstock however loved it and was sure to tell all that she was the mother of the noted industrialist, Nobel winner and new Baron.

While Harry finalized plans for the factory space he needed at the moment, he also thought of two other acquisitions, a house in London, and one where he was going to build his new factory buildings. He knew that his mother would think that she had arrived when she moved into their new residence on The Strand. He had surprised her with that for her Christmas present. He did not tell her that he would maintain a room there, but live at his house in the country by the factories he was building in Hampshire.

These plans had consumed him since Edward had made him Lord Gumstock. They were ready to break ground in the new year and he would be journeying away. The end of 1909 was his chance to say goodbye to his friends. And he was going to do just that. Despite his also being invited to a party by Lord Canphor, he had sent his regrets. Lord Canphor had no use for Harry until he had won the Nobel, and then only to acknowledge that Canphor's son had married a niece of Mrs. Gumstock. When Edward made Harry a peer, Canphor was sending his card up and inviting he and Mrs. Gumstock to every party he had. Canphor's money had been in textiles of course but his father had sold out, and now he tried to live off the interest.

Harry was sure that the son was going to have to seek real work once the Lord was gone. Harry however had started to make money a few short years before and in the half dozen years since he had left the Tech, he had gone from working in his mother's kitchen to the two factory's full of workers.

"Mother, soon enough we are off to London and the new house. Fred and Max are mates that I have known more than ten years now. Surely you can see that we won't have a chance to go to the pub for an ale for a long time. Do you begrudge me this? Next year I shall be in the south and all will only know me as this Lord Gumstock. None will know me as Harry. It will be something that I am sure to miss."

She clucked her tongue. "Your father was the same. A good man, and if there were no patients, then going to the pub for a drink was something he would relish as well. Be off with you, and if you should be drinking all night to toast the new year, be sure to rest a but for I will not have the stink of drink in my house."

Not that Mrs. Gumstock was a teetotaler. She loved her sherry and once he had been able to afford good sherry, she loved it even more.

"Yes mother, I shall be fine." Which meant that he might indeed drink to excess, but he would not let her see that. They had a cook who helped his mother with the cleaning in the house as well. He had no man to help him dress or take care of his needs. He was competent to see to that himself, though knew that he ad to make a change there as well. He could not have a house in Parkesfeld without a some servants but did not want to overdo the pretense of being a baron.

Parkesfeld was just outside of Lymington and this was going to be a perfect spot for his new set of factories. The old ones would be changed to manufacture and prepare the base materials needed in the fine construction in the south. Here in Manchester they would not need as many workers, but he had talked to some other industrialists who were looking for good workers and he had arranged that most could have jobs. Maybe not as great wages, or the same conditions, though some might find better. But he would take others south. Those he knew would excel, and could afford to move south. Those who had skills with his processes that he wanted.

Trolling for Dah Bears

Just over a month since my last update but that does not mean I have not been actively writing.

I have been. I haven't been editing and that is something I have to return to. Especially on the Shattered Mirror . I need to get this book out there.

What I have been writing is the Troll series and currently I am on Book 5, the last book in the lives of Humphrey and Gwendolyn Cutter. Being my age, I have a great deal more perspective on the stages of life. Those that Shakespeare saw and wrote down in As You Like It.

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players:

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lined,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,

His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

But that is book 5. Since it has been a month it is time to share with you the opening of Book 3, Trolling for Dah Bears. Of course there are bears, but they are off camera at the moment. I should bring them back on camera. Just as in the Wizard of Oz, Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my, I set up Trolls and Giants and Dragons, oy vey. Well not the Yiddishkeit. So far in the series in books one and two we saw Trolls, so naturally we have to go forward to Giants and Dragons at some time.

Trolling for Dah Bears explores Giants.

Chapter 1

"Have I mentioned how proud I am of our family lately?" Humphrey said. It was good to hear him talk that way. Now if he would say that he still found her desirable, she would be even better pleased.

"I think perhaps you have. Yesterday you were saying how the older boys were doing so well in arms training. That they would be better than you have ever been. And that gave you a sense of accomplishment," she said. They had three boys, Daniel and Kenneth, the two oldest of their children and then the youngest child, still a babe really, Charles. Their two daughters, Millie and Bea came between Kenneth and Charles and those two girls already had older boys sniffing around thinking of things all young boys thought of.

Every senior officer helped Humphrey and her older sons keep track of her daughters virtue. Gwendolyn had no worries there.

"Well I'm damned if I don't say it enough," Humphrey said. He had done well since they had returned from Mah Wee with little Daniel. Humphrey was angered that all the men he had taken to the foreign kingdom had not survived, but that was the lot of a soldier. King William had not lived either, but his successor, King James Lemmons had done quite well. They had to live there two years after the birth of their son, so that the Talisman of Saint David and Great King Adam could be taken up into Teantellen and ensure that no Trolls were to come against Mah Wee, but it had been two good years once King James had been crowned.

He and Humphrey were as close as two men separated by an impassable mountain range could be. While the sea lanes were opened each year, the two corresponded regularly and the Cutter brood had returned to Mah Wee three times since, with King James traveling to Torahn twice himself.

Humphrey was now a member of the Council of Twenty-One which ruled Torahn. Her father had retired and now spent most of his time at a small estate outside of the city. Gwendolyn ran his business interests since Humphrey was also the commanding General of all the armies of Torahn, now over ninety thousand men, Elves and Dwarves. It would probably be over a hundred thousand soldiers within another two years. One of the last things Lord Faireweather had done as First was to take an accurate census of the Valley Kingdom as well as find out more about their many neighbors on this side of the continent.

The other kingdoms on the Western side of the continent were not as populous, though some were very close. But proportionately they all had more soldiers in their armies. It had been many years, over twenty, since Humphrey was a simple woodcutter and part of the militia system that had replaced the full standing army when Torahn had gotten rid of its kings. The system that the Council of Twenty-One had manipulated to fill their pockets with gold and silver and leave the country woefully unsecured against enemies. Enemies such as the Trolls that had vaulted her husband, and herself to prominence amongst the people of the Valley Kingdom.

None were more respected in Torahn for what they had achieved during those years. A time that many still remembered. Now though it was with some warmth, since the terrible sacrifices of the Troll Wars were long gone. Yet others would never forget the losses their families had suffered in the wars. Gwendolyn's father had become First of the Council then. Now many thought it foolish that the Council of Twenty-One had reverted to the old ways of governance without a First. The ways that had given rise to insecurity amongst almost all of Torahn.

Gwendolyn and her father had been crafty enough to use the respect that the populace held for the Faireweathers and Cutters to ensure that when Lord Faireweather put aside the reins of leadership his son by marriage was there to take his seat on the Council. Her father had aged rapidly the last few years of his stewardship of the Valley Kingdom. But once he and mother had retired to their estate, he had become a different man. His cares were lifted and he relaxed. He said what he looked forward to most was those days when his grandchildren visited.

"My you are a fine looking woman. I probably do not say that enough as well. Though I must own that I think it often. And you have bourne five children now. Many other ladies who have carried less do not have near the beauty or figure that you do, my dear." There, he said it and she smiled. Not that Gwendolyn believed Humphrey aware that she needed such compliments, but she did work hard to maintain her looks, not only for him, but for those in the Valley Kingdom of Torahn who thought to envision her as the first woman of the country. She was sure her waist was larger by two inches at least since they had married, and she never would discuss how her backside had increased in size.

"Thank you husband. So, the council is once more at an impasse?"

"Yes, of course. Tor stands with me, though you had said he would not. But Whelan and Jaston lead those against us. I thrust old William forward to fight Trolls in Mah Wee. Should have done the same with Pete Jaston when I had the chance." King William died then. If Pete Jaston had as well, it might have been fortunate for the citizens of Torahn. The death of King William and his being replaced by King James Lemmons certainly had benefited those of Mah Wee.

"Yes, you should have. He has proved untrustworthy since you sent him packing from the Troll War. He is a coward and has never forgiven you for embarrassing him then. Even when it costs him, he will go out of his way to do you a disservice," Gwendolyn said. At first she thought it was a phase of Pete Jaston. For his father and her's were great friends on the Council. Even Pete would work with Lord Faireweather, just against Humphrey. One day she would have to crush the man. Something that she knew how to do well, though she did not think that the men on the Council thought she was capable of such actions. They certainly did not think Humphrey so, else they would fear him more. He did command the most armed men in the realm.

"Well, it is too late now. He means to thwart any motion I propose, though should one of our allies propose some new item and not I, he will back it. Perhaps if we need his vote, that is what I must do in the years to come," Humphrey found a way to work around the problem. He did not like confronting these things in the Council for he might lose his temper. The other councillors were afraid of the General when he did lose his temper. Things seemed to happen then.

"What was the issue, the rice imports? That they want to maintain a tariff twice what we need, and the money that comes from it goes to a few companies improving the sewers and the water lines?" She knew very well what was at stake. They wanted 3 silvers for each ton of rice that was imported. Then half of the money was collected on such imports was more than was needed to ensure that the rice was good quality by inspectors the Council employed. That extra money had been allocated to a company to maintain the sewers of Torahn, and also the water supply. Two companies that eight councillors had their hands in the ownership of.

Two companies that seemed to be more efficient in prior years, doing more with less funding. An audit, Gwendolyn was sure, would reveal that a great deal of money was taken out of the companies by the owners and what was left was barely enough to do the jobs that the companies were tasked to do. Corruption on a grand scale.

"One day. One day I will turn my mind and my own men to seeing what occurs there." An army that approached one hundred thousand men had several officers and men adept at auditing as well. Men whose honor Humphrey trusted for he and others knew that such a large group could also allow the burgeoning of corruption. When it was found, those responsible, if they were soldiers, were flogged. It discouraged the practice.

"That will do us all well. I have been thinking husband," she began and saw the look on his face turn to one of shock. He always looked that way for usually her thoughts meant a great deal of work for him. She continued, "The parts of Teantellen that grew hot. Did not the Elves tell us that the Dragons and Giants would leave them, and of course we know the Trolls did as well. Does that mean that they are not inhabited by any creatures?"

She had been speaking to Jokazai, the Dwarf companion of her husband who now lived in their household. He did not drill with the soldiers like Bahgdahnzai did each day and now lived amongst the family as a tutor for the children. He insisted that Dwarven legend held that there were ways to cross Teantellen, and not underground in the realm of the Dwarves. Trails in the mountains that the other races had used at one time.

For the progress for the year, well I hope to get between 90 and 100,000 words for May. I have fallen a little behind with moving and unboxing. To date we are at 560,000 words and hope to be at 600,000 by the end of next week.

By the end of next week, should have the first draft of the last of the Trolling series down, and will start work on an Edwardian Romance. I wanted to do more Ruritanian Romances, so if I see a way to transform this, I might. Currently it will be Edwardian just at 1910/1911. The Last Peer that Edward VII creates.

Trolling Down to Old Mah Wee

I finished Trolling Down to Old Mah Wee some time ago.

Then we've been in the midst of the move for sometime as well. It has been hard to do things, like write. Though work has begun on the next book, Trolling for Dah Bears. (Bowling for Dollars)

Trolling Down further explores our heroes and heroine. Here is an excerpt from chapter 1:

Chapter 1

"It all sounds like it was very hot. You've been close, haven't you son?"

Sheriff Daniel was a little older since the last time Humphrey had come to Gladeton. Humphrey didn't get there often as he had the first two years after the Troll War. Trying to leave the army after the war had become impossible. General Ellers and General Packer would not let him. The First of the Council had put pressure on him to stay on as a soldier, and then Gwendolyn had also. She was better at making him do what she desired than the others combined.

Six years since the wars, and three since Gwendolyn and he had married. She had broken their engagement off four times before they actually did wed. He had walked away once. That was what finally had her marry him. She could not imagine him spending time at Lady Stephanie's House in Torahn and so hooked him back to her.

"I've been as close as you can go, at least a human can go. The Dwarves with us got a lot closer. They've told me they have rivers of such molten rock in their homes under the mountains. They said with the right type of thin tunnels, for they can make such little ones like tubes as thin as your finger, they can heat an entire mountain so it is comfortable to live in. They told me that there are gases that the rivers give off that you can not see that have to be vented away, else you would die of breathing." Humphrey might not have believed such a thing before he had left Gladeton for the Troll War, but now he accepted such things as truth.

He knew that there were sounds he could not hear, but they had saved his life at the end of the war. That he was very thankful for. Though he never told Gwen that, but it was one reason why he loved her. She had found the Talisman when all believed it did not exist. Including Humphrey. The Talisman they had named after Saint David and Great King Adam.

Gwen had found the magic talisman and even figured how to make it work. That was impressive. He knew he would never understand that. As he sat in front of the Crowing Rooster with the Sheriff, Majister Burns came out with mugs for all of them. "Shame you know. Lost our best wood cutter when you left," the blacksmith said handing out the refills. They had already had two other rounds. Those Humphrey had brought.

"Thank you for saying it. Means a lot," Humphrey smiled.

"Bet you don't get to cut much wood these days, general," Majister Burns said.

Humphrey sent his glance to the heavens. "I do when my wife makes me crazed. The men all know to get out of my way and let me cut a cord or two," Humphrey chuckled. The other men did also. They both had wives that could make them crazy as well.

"Now lets sit and just enjoy the beer. No titles. Harry you know that when Humphrey comes home he does not like to talk of such things." That was an uncle Daniel saying. Things had changed since his last visit. It would change again when there was the next visit. Each time Humphrey knew that he was further removed from the people that had raised him from when his parents had died to when he had left for the Troll War.

"Yes, you can fill me in on all the gossip. Hopefully of people I know."

Daniel laughed, "Well, you got one of old Sergeant Gardener's boys with you now in Torahn I hear. The older one married Farmer Bales' daughter and is now working land up near Loud Creek. You may remember the land that was Michael Carther's place. He died back in the war when you went away. So the place was vacant and needed someone…" The two men started to fill him in on a great deal how the older of Gardener's sons had taken to the land. Pretty poorly at first it had been. Now he was at least not losing money or too many crops.

His friends were right about the younger Gardener. The man was now one of the lieutenants in the army. In his own division. Over the next hour his old friends, father figures in his life, told him of what had occurred since last he had come to the town. News that he followed but found that he did not care as much as when Gwen told him that Lord Pete was being henpecked by his wife once more for coming home late from Lady Stephanie's House. Probably the best whore house in Torahn.

Or that Lord Whelan had a cold and that so to did three maids who worked in his household but no one else was affected. It left those who heard the tale to speculate that Lord Whelan was not spending any time with his wife any longer but enjoying the entertainment he wanted to.

He would tell Gwendolyn of things that were part of his day. Matters of the army and the defense of the Valley Kingdom. The defense of Torahn was something that he interpreted very broadly, just as General Ellers and Packer were teaching him to do. The generals had momentum from the Troll War and they were not prepared to give back any of their gains now that the realm was at peace.

As Humphrey was often sent to visit the other races in the valley and see how they fared as an ambassador for the Council of Twenty-One and as a military commander, he had much to report to her about that as well. She liked to accompany him when he visited the Elves. Gwendolyn had not liked the visit to the Dwarves and had found entering a mountain and not trying to envision it collapsing on her, hard. She never went again.

Humphrey though liked his time with the Dwarves. They also liked him. Two of them, after listening to the tales of how he had used the axe to fight Trolls thought that he was, as they put it 'Strahaked,' and had taken to following him everywhere. They had left the Dwarven city and were now part of his permanent staff. They were in the Crowing Rooster trying to show his old townsmen that they could out drink any man.

It was good to reminisce. Gladeton had lost a good many men to the war. Now, as a general, Humphrey had begun to think of the boys that went to the fight as men. He gave them that respect.

When he had left Gladeton and gone to Forest's Edge, he had not thought much of those who had gone with him. They were boys, barely able to find hairs to shave. But they had died and that made them more than boys. Too many had died.

Humphrey though was the bonafide hero of Gladeton. A general in the army, killing more Trolls than any other man. Marrying the daughter of the First of the Council of Twenty-One. Humphrey was a success. It did not make up for the many that had not come home, but it gave Gladeton pride, Sheriff Daniel had told him before. Something that no other Town in the Valley Kingdom could boast.

The town's pride was a reason that caused him to return often. Even as Humphrey knew he had changed more than any would probably expect. At the end of the war, he might have been able to come back to Gladeton and put away his war axe for that of a woodcutter. Over time he would certainly have allowed the memories he carried form Karasbahn and Teantellen to fade. The many dead. The killing of the Trolls. The very real fear that would wake him from a sound sleep shaking and drenched with sweat.

Even as he finished another jack of ale, he could see in his mind how he might have come back to what had been his home and resume the life he had led before the war. The life that none thought he would have come back to, for even Sheriff Daniel had thought that Humphrey had marched away to die.

Humphrey might have found a wife then, surely as a local notable, he would have a better pick, and being so successful, he might even be thought of to take a job like Sheriff Daniel had. The man had to retire, and of his two sons, one had died in the fighting. The other was not that imposing to look on. The Army of Torahn and the First though had no intention of letting Humphrey disappear back to Gladeton.

The First surely made it so that he had a great deal of time spent with Gwendolyn, and not many other women in Torahn. Lord Faireweather, along with the Generals, had decided Humphrey's fate more than he had. He could admit that he was attracted to the First's daughter, and liked her a great deal. He had returned to the Capitol though with no expectations of seeing Gwendolyn.

She was his escort to every victory celebration, since she had found the Talisman that saved them. Prior to the Talisman of Saint David and Great King Adam he had wielded the axe that many said saved the Valley Kingdom. Gwendolyn and he had become the heroes of all Torahn. That someone said aloud they should get married had driven them away from each other as if they had been separated by a scissors cutting two halves of a string.

That separation didn't last for the First meddled. They were together often, but not as a couple. Which is why their affection for each surely had deepened. He had admired and desired Gwendolyn before he had come to love her. But love her he did. Even when she threw the crockery at him.

In other news, I have been posting this blog through WordPress, Blogger, and Livejournal. I now am planning just to post at WordPress for I think I can work on the blog pages better there. I may continue to post at the other places, but you can definitely find the blog here: The Things That Catch My Eye

A Trolling We Will Go

That was a quick week. I actually finished A Trolling We Will Go last Thursday. Then started editing it right away. I also started Trolling Down to Old Mah Wee, book 2 in the Trolling Series.

Here is part of A Trolling we Will Go which is now available on Amazon (Sales were already 3 units this am.)

Chapter 1

"Humphrey, best come over here son. I be needing to speak to you." Humphrey looked up from where he was stacking the wood he had been cutting. The man talking to him was not his father, for his father had been dead a very long time. Sheriff Daniel had kept him from an orphanage in the city and had helped him be raised by the families in Gladeton. Now Humphrey was the woodsman of the village. Near enough a town now, and needing a second woodsman if the growth continued. So many families that he could not keep track of all the names. More than three thousand, said Michael who handled the post for Gladeton and all this part of the Kingdom Valley of Torahn.

So many families that Torahn's ruling body, the Council of Twenty-One, since there was no longer any king these last fifty years, had authorized a second post officer to help Michael. And Michael was a fit man in the prime of his life.

Humphrey said, "Aye Sheriff, how can I help you this day." Sheriff Daniel always said he had been friends with Humphrey's father. The Sheriff said that they were of an age, and the Sheriff was now nearing fifty. The gray in his beard and hair, Sheriff Daniel said, he had earned.

"Got word from Torahn city today. The Council says it needs men to go up to the Old Forest and patrol. The Sheriff of Forest's Edge is a friend and he wrote me also saying things were rather peculiar now." Forest's Edge was north and east of Gladeton, and it was the closest town to the Old Forest which fringed the Teantellen Mountains.

Humphrey always liked the ancient elf way of naming them, for humans called them the Tall and Lofty Mountains which was not near as charming. The Old Forest was called Karasbahn in elvish, though Humphrey was sure that only a handful of the families in Gladeton would know that.

"It's bad is it? How many of us are going to go, then. Who will cut wood for the village when I am gone." Sheriff Daniel had thought things might be turning worse and knew Humphrey would be one of the militia who would have to leave if need be. He had asked Humphrey as early as Fall to work all day stockpiling wood, or find a bride. Married men were taken to serve after the unmarrieds.

It had been easier to chop wood. Most girls in Gladeton thought Humphrey stocky and slow of thought. The light brown hair that he kept cut close and framed his brown eyes, revealed a strong dimpled chin, cheeks that were rosy when he had just one ale, and were like two little balls when he laughed, which was often enough.

"We're sending about twenty of you lads for now, but I am sure they will want more before all is said and done. My friend wrote that the Elves and Goblins, in the Old Forest have never given them as much trouble as they begun to have this last year, and Winter just over. If they are hungry up north like we are here, then it's going to be bad. Worse I fear than the Council understands."

Humphrey knew that the Sheriff wouldn't be telling this to the other men going. He was being treated special for Daniel had always cared for him. "I thank you for telling me. Should have taken a bride, eh," Humphrey smiled as he said it.

"I am not sure when this all over, that would have done you any good. I am not sure I won't be going to the Old Forest as well, or the Tall and Loftys. I am hoping the Giants don't stir."

Humphrey nodded, "It has been the Winter for it, that is sure. When do I go? When do I and the others leave."

Daniel shook his head and Humphrey knew the man was not pleased, "I saved the telling last for you. I've known you long and know you can say your goodbyes quickly to any you choose to. You and the others leave in the morning. I'll have maps, food and some coin for you. Least we can do if we are sending you all as our representatives. You'll leave early, a couple hours after sunrise. Peter, Han's son will come and work the wood here. With all you have done, he need not do much chopping to keep the town supplied You'll find your croft waiting for you when you return."

Humphrey nodded and shook the man's hand. He felt the Sheriff did not want to say 'if he returned.'

They had discussed what he needed to take. The leather militia harness and the chest piece of chain he had of his father. The sword he practiced with when he worked amongst the militia twice each week in warm weather, and once each week during the cold winter. His best pair of boots, and he pressed tight his second best, for with marching and fighting, boots wore out quick. All his socks as well. Cold feet, and he would be dead long before he reached any patrolling in the Old Forest that the Council of Torahn wanted done.

Sturdy bedrolls and a kit for mess. Needle and thread, his vaguest memory of his mother was her darning clothes for him and his father. Then the last piece of equipment he had would be the axe. Not the ones he chopped the wood with. Or the greater ones he felled trees with. The war axe.

A little longer than Humphrey was tall, and Humphrey was two inches taller than six feet. It had been forged by Majister Burns, the blacksmith. Everyone laughed believing his name was from the flayed flesh he got in his own fires, but Humphrey had watched him work often and never seen ought but the occasional spark fly and hit the man.

He and Majister Burns were standing next to each other on the stoop of The Crowing Rooster, one of the four taverns of Gladeton, each having their jack of beer when a party of dwarves marched by. Twelve, a full dozen. One though was armed with an axe that was no plain weapon. Double headed with the blades curving in more than a half moon on each side.

"Ha, do you think you could wield such a weapon." Majister Burns was half jesting but for all that Humphrey was stocky and slow of speech, he was very fast when he used an axe to cut wood, or practiced with a blade during militia duty.

"It would have to be longer to be of any use to me of course. Perhaps a haft so high and thick so that when swung it would have power to it. A thin haft will snap." Humphrey used his hands to show what he meant.

"Boy, you don't think I know about hafts?" The man made all of the ones he used. "I was making a joke but you think you can swing something like that, then I'll make you one just to see it." A half year ago, just when Sheriff Daniel had said things sounded strange near the Old Forest and asked him to cut more wood, Majister Burns gave him the axe.

Two weeks later at militia training none of his friends could stand against him, and even the veteran soldiers of the garrison who gave the instruction had a time of it. Gladeton was a quiet village and they had not twenty men for the garrison. Most having seen their full term of service and with families had looked for a soft posting. By the end of two twelths, none of the soldiers either could stand against Humphrey and his double bladed axe.

Fastest Love to 300 pages and then finished just after

Another book bites the dust. The Fastest Love on Earth finished at just over 98,200 words. Time of course for the next. This will be the first in my Short Shorts series, A Trolling We Will Go.

But to date we are near 400K words for the year. Still at a pace of 40K per week. The beginning of the third chapter of The Fastest Love on Earth is posted here for review:

3) The Venture is a Great Success

The storm had not helped his disposition, nor the actions of his brother. His sullen mood was enough to try anyone's patience. He did have a mind to cut him off of the two thousand a year he allowed him. His inheritance from their father was a mere three hundred and Kevin made up the difference out of his own goodness.

It was near midnight as he sat in the drawing room of his Liverpool home with Fawkes and drank to put the day behind him. "I suppose you will tell me that it could have been worse."

"I would but you know that to be true," Sir Horatio said. "Besides it is Hampton's job to always be telling us what we already know to be true."

Kevin laughed, "Indeed that is so. I thought that Bartholomew and his actions were horrendous, we are fortunate that we did not take Baron Hampton from his pleasures in Town for this farce."

The room was comfortable and there was not room for many more in it. Perhaps three others. It was not a house for entertaining greatly. Six could sit at the dining table. It was designed to lodge the Earl and a very few others when he had business in Liverpool as he did. Just as the Manchester house was designed for a similar purpose. He had not even changed the wall coverings of those who he had purchased the houses from.

Now that the railroad was complete, he might sell the homes, or having no need to venture north so often any longer, lease them for long terms. He had trained four men so that if he chose he could invest in other endeavors of this railway sort. Those men had near all found something better to do that day. Kevin knew it was because they feared to meet his brother. He did not treat his hirelings like servants but men whose opinions he had come to respect and trust, else they would not be embarked on new railways and ventures that would see England embrace the new age that was come.

Bartholomew treated all men that were beneath him stature whether by one slight rank, or by generations of lord to commoner, as if all were peasants. Kevin loved his brother as he should, but most times found the boy exasperating and wished to box his ears even though a man grown near thirty.

"Yes, I have no doubt that were Hampton here we should hear a litany of complaints against the day as if each were your fault, and it would be repeated constantly. A small miracle that he remained in Town. In the end though, you must be commended for you did try to talk to Wellington and convince him beforehand not to attend or make a spectacle of the day."

Kevin let out a brief laugh, "Ha, did you see the band trudging back from when we left them in Parkside. Still walking when we passed them and we finally arriving over six hours later than we thought we would. Ten hours of travel to do what, seventy miles. Certainly could ride that should I wish to."

Horatio shook his head, "But you would not have been able to carry six hundred people to do so as this day proved could be done. And were people not throwing things at the trains, or standing at the tracks we would have arrived considerably sooner. Even on time should the tragedy not have struck Mister Huskisson or those two engines colliding. No brakes, that is something that I should laugh at. Some of your partners were not thinking well this day."

"I do not know if I shall ever laugh at the memory of this day. Nothing good came of it, I am sure," Kevin said.

Horatio did laugh, "Well on that you are wrong. Very wrong and you will own to it. Lady Rockingham came of this day and that was very good indeed. Were I you, I would not try and deny it."

Kevin looked at the decanter he had placed on the low table between them and then reached for it, pouring and offering for Horatio who shook his head. "I shall not argue there but what was the woman thinking? To bring children out on this day and with only a nurse, no male chaperone. It is not done? Did she expect that Stafford was to be that person? I lose respect for the man every time I think of him."

"You fault him too much for many things I am sure that he is not at all responsible for. I shall grant you the clearances for the man was heartless then, but he does much else that supports the nation. You both have spent your wealth on today's endeavor and without you it should not have been done. To be the first nation to host these steam locomotives must make us the envy of every other nation."

Kevin knew that some of that was very true. But one must have a nemesis and Stafford fit the bill so well. "I shall spend some time reconsidering my feelings for the man. I expect though that I shall hold him to blame more than most for the way this day turned out. They all waned to make the day a spectacle and did not think that we should allow our opening to be something without fanfare. Perhaps history will mark me wrong and make the events of the day momentous. I for one though am quite glad that they are over."

Horatio nodded, "I agree with that sentiment, now more of that excellent whisky and we shall talk of a pleasanter subject. You can not blame Lady Rockingham for her joining the adventure this day. It must be the grandest thing in all the north and you saw how the two young boys so much wanted to be a part of it."

Dorchester smiled, "Well Lord Peter assuredly. Very nice young gentlemen. You remember the father of course?"

"Man died owing me ten pounds. It is in the betting book. I naturally consider it nothing and would not worry the widow. Didn't even think to mention it but it shall serve as a topic of conversation when next we meet. Not that I desire the money, just the ability to renew the acquaintance," Horatio mused on the subject.

"Rockingham did not owe me such but he certainly was a man I would give the cut direct to and had on occasion. I suppose I heard he was married though I have never met the lady until today. He did not flaunt her in society as he did his mistresses and other women."

Fastest Love quickly makes its way to 200 pages

It has not been many days at all and now we have reached the conclusion of 200 pages of The Fastest Love on Earth.

I am at chapter 10 in the writing, having just seen the government of the Duke of Wellington fall. He did not heed the call for Reform and thus was doomed.

He was followed by Earl Grey, and he had in his cabinet Lord Palmerston who would later also become Prime Minister. Palmerston, or Pam serves a purpose in my writing this tale for he lived in Romsey, the location where our Hero too has his home.

Since Monday writing has taken us 100 pages, and for the month of February, just the weekend remains, we are at 517 pages. 357,206 words for the year so far.

Here is the beginning of chapter 2.

2) The Worst Accident Imaginable

The step to the ground was a longer climb then when they were along side the landing at Crown Street Station. Lord Dorchester offer his hand but Claire knew the step would require more and with her eyes directed his to her waist. She did not want to say that his helping her to land firmly on the ground by his lifting her would be appreciated but she knew she was still svelte and that it would be little trouble for him to do so.

"Just as if we were at a dance," she said lightly and he understood reaching up to grasp her about the waist and then he lifted her. She could not feel his hands but she felt through her corset the pressure that he applied and thought it had been years since she had felt so. Rockingham would have lifted her but he had little desire to act as her lover once they had married. The moment she was in the air, not even two seconds passing, she felt free of all conventions, just as the wind rushing at them on these new fast conveyances had made her begin to feel, Lord Dorchester completed the feeling.

She had married eight years before after knowing Rockingham for all of two months at her first season. She was now twenty four. Sitting with her parents at Almacks her very first week in London and Rockingham came up, asked for an introduction. When that night was over she had been compliment after compliment from the Marquess. Later she learned that they were all meaningless. He had been told to get a wife that morning from his mama and determined that she was the most handsome of the ladies at Almacks with a position in society that he could marry. He was not looking for a bride to bring money to the marriage bed, he had enough of his own.

She was bought and sold like a piece of cloth at the milliners. He looked over the wares that night and chose her for qualities other than whatever she possessed of thought and intellect. She had been so mistaken believing that was the reason that he had wooed her. She had been a fool and after Maxim was born, he took his attentions elsewhere. All he wanted then of her was to be pleasant at the dinners he hosted.

The allowance he gave her though Rockingham may have thought bought her silence. He was wrong. It brought her disappointment. He went to his mistresses and whores and suggested that should she want a lover she should take one. She however was by his side the last two months of his life as he died of consumption. She wanted love, something she knew she had not had, and was always amazed when men sought to speak so to her, men whom she did not encounter nearly enough as they spent most of the year at the Marquess' estate at Gateacre here on the outskirts of Liverpool.

Now suspended in the arms of a man who had shown such kindness to the boys she remembered her old schoolgirl wishes for just such a man. Handsome, strong of character, kind to children, and assuredly rich. Nothing was ever wrong with marrying a rich man her father had told her. That was why the Baron Markham had been so easily swayed to allowed the marriage with Rockingham.

When her husband had died she found that he was indeed wealthy. Enough that they had ten thousand a year and three great estates and a house in London. But she had no desire to raise her boys spoilt as there father had been. She thus came north to the smallest of the estates. Society did not live in Liverpool and it had been three years since she had been to Town. Her parents urged her to return to them in the south and sometimes she thought to do so, but they had allowed her to marry the man who had kept her chained to a loveless and embarrassing marriage. She still had not forgiven her father.

"Thank you my lord." She said to Dorchester as she landed on the ground.

"A pleasure and as you have said, just like a dance. Though I have not been to one these few years."

"You do not dance?" She asked as they walked to the carriage in front. Others were doing so as well it seemed.

"I do, just not recently. I suppose I should do so again."

She nodded and thought about it then asked something else instead. Dancing was too intimate a subject to speak of to the handsome man. "These leaflets that you distributed said we should not leave the carriage but look at the water tower from safety there."

"Yes, we advised that for most will not know what is about here. We have five lines for we think we will connect to other rails as well, such as the Bolton and Leigh which is already in operation."

"Then you are not the first railway? I can not keep track for this is something that Peter does."

They were almost to where the Marquess of Stafford stood at the carriage door with the Duke of Wellington discussing the watering tower it seemed. "They carry freight alone as do a few others. I believe the distinction for our train is the longest, the fastest and the first for passengers. Now here, let us get your cousins attention for as the leaflet does discuss should other trains come by it may unnerve you. Here, Stafford, I say Stafford, come I have Lady Rockingham here who is keen to say her hellos."

Stafford turned and so too did the Duke, "Why this lovely woman is lady Rockingham and you escort her Dorchester? To be young again and have such pleasures, eh Stafford. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance but did you not ask for Stafford? Dorchester I am the Prime Minister, do you not think I deserve preferment when presenting such a beauty?"

She knew the Prime Minister was teasing but in a nice friendly way. He was in a very good mood from all the crowds that had been cheering their progress along the line. Claire fussed with her bonnet, for there was a light drizzle just then. "Oh, will you allow me Lady Rockingham," Lord Dorchester said, "Your Grace, make way there for I shall hand her ladyship up to the carriage that she may get out of the rain until we return to our own carriage." He then did so and once more she felt the pressure of his hands squeeze her in her corset as she was lifted to this much more opulent carriage.

"Why you travel well here indeed. We are surely in steerage behind you," She joked.

"We do. Much better than on campaign, eh Dorchester?" The Duke said.

"Certainly much better than I remember Spain to be, your grace," Lord Dorchester replied. "Look at all these men who are about the tracks. I shall have to see that they remember we have not advised that it is safe unless they know what they are about. I shall return in a moment." He turned and went off quickly to attend to all. The Duke then said something she was sure indicating he wished to sit for a moment and the Marquess of Stafford remained to speak to her.

"You have done will with Dorchester to guide you and your boys. He understand well what this all about. He and Mr. Sandars. They seem to have a vision for this."

"Then why cousin did you invest so much money in the venture?" She asked. Peter had been ready to write their man of business to purchase shares as well but she had told her son that if it succeeds she would instruct him to do so. But not until then.

"I have a vision for the growth of capital my dear. I suspect Dorchester does also and it is why he takes a dislike to me, but then younger men often do to we who are older for little good reason. I well remember having done so. But tell me, you have made a conquest in this hour of travel. I would quip that it must be the fastest love affair ever, but I do not know that anything was set to subdue Dorchester. He has seemed rather solitaire about all such matters these many years."

Claire was intrigued. "Do you know the man well?"