Edward J. Branley's Blog: Eloquent Profanity, page 11
December 24, 2016
Talents Universe: A gift for my readers
Stories in the Talents Universe
Here are a couple of winter-theme stories set in the Talents universe.
Love in the Oaks is a story I was going to submit for the holiday edition of a literary magazine. They were looking for short, slam-style pieces, and I just couldn’t get it under 800 words. I let it go a bit more, so it’s somewhere between one of the snippets I post on Facebook and a full short story.
Winter Solstice…in the Back of the House is the beginning of a branch of the Talents universe I hope to nurture into more stories, possibly even into a novel. In Hidden Talents, we’ve seen how the Talents have an impact on Ren Alciatore’s careers as a photographer and soccer referee. While I’ve always had a fascination with restaurant operations, I didn’t really include them into Talents. Well, beyond Ren’s family connections, that is. As Talents began to evolve, I kept thinking, what if a cook had Talents? Or maybe a waiter? What would that do to the dynamics in the kitchen? This story makes a bit of a start on that interaction. I’ve run the concept past a friend who has a lot of restaurant experience, and they liked it. So, I’ve got a consultant for the theme! That will (hopefully) inspire me to make it work.
I’m making progress on Trusted Talents, the second novel in the Talents universe. That and the Krauss book occupy most of my writing time at the moment. The Dragons stories are always on my mind as well, and I’ll start outlining the third novel there after Krauss is off to the publisher.
All the books are available via Amazon and local booksellers. Check my Books by Edward page for details.
So, Happy Holidays, Everyone! I hope these two shorts are to your liking!
Solstice Stories (PDF Download)
The post Talents Universe: A gift for my readers appeared first on Edward J. Branley.
November 9, 2016
No NaNoWriMo for me this year
Eleni of the Red Tribe
NaNoWriMo replaced with multiple projects
NaNoWriMo bit the dust this year. I didn’t even try to do anything for National Novel Writing Month. Too many writing projects already started! Here’s a quick update:
Dragon’s Discovery is done! It’s up on CreateSpace and Amazon, and we’ll get the marketing going next week.
Trusted Talents is moving forward. The Krauss book pushed the novel back a bit, but we’ll make it work.
Krauss Departent Store is in progress as well. Making good headway on this book. It’s a different challenge from the “Images of America” books, because it’s more words than photos. The book will be around 30K-33K words and 90ish photos. The research is fun, because it goes in several directions: Jewish merchants, Storyville, Canal Street, just to mention a few.
On top of all this, I’ve got a number of short stories in both the Dragons and Talents universes going. Some finished, some not. Occasionally, the Duchess of the Red Pen (the lovely Dara) sends me info on this call for submissions or that contest. When they’re short (500-2000 words), I’ll take a moment and give it a shot. That leaves room for growth later.
History and Podcasting
I’ve also been busy with the History blog (NOLAHistoryGuy.com) and podcasting. Those will continue, of course. I’ve been a bit too picky on the podcast, in that I want to script things and use my good microphone. If my travel schedule picks up again, I’m going to bring a mic/headset with me on the road, so I can produce some unscripted (and probably shorter) episodes, particularly when it comes to books and book reviews. Lady Duchess and I also have a couple of “industry” projects on the back burner that may also be good for some podcasting commentary.
Dragon’s Danger – Book Two of the Blood Bound Series
by Edward Branley
Can a video game become reality?
David, Anne Marie, and Joey are ready to start another school term after a laid back summer getting to know their dragon. The difference is, they are Blood-Bound to Eleni of the Red Tribe. As if school, band, and drinking chicory coffee are not keeping them busy enough, they are now part of the world of the Dragons. Join the Trio as their days are filled with curiosity, intrigue, and a new video game, while Eleni, the Guardians, Companions, and Merchants guide them through their discovery of life and love.
Available on Amazon.com
The post No NaNoWriMo for me this year appeared first on Edward J. Branley.
September 8, 2016
The Exit
The Exit
The Exit is prominent in all of our life events,
The growth of the Spirit
Is a path to an Exit
That opens a new door.
Like the old saying
About teachers appearing when
The student is ready,
The Exit appears,
Quite simply,
When it’s time for us to leave.
We embrace some exits joyfully,
As life transitions, but
There are individuals who try
To delay their passage through
The Exit,
Staying that extra semester,
Signing that next contract,
Walking past the door.
The Exit appears early,
(Or at least the rest of us may
Believe this to be the case),
For some, hastened by positive
And negative energies.
The prodigy reaches the Exit
Of the school,
Sooner than her classmates.
The soldier finds the Exit,
When the explosive device
Detonates too close.
It’s likely we won’t choose
Which Exit we take from
A life event,
A relationship,
A vacation, or,
The bodies our Spirits occupy.
There are emergency Exits
Available to us, along the path
Spirits will make their way to the
Closest Exit
When troubled, seeing no way
To continue on the path.
Sometimes others spot the Spirit
Heading to the emergency Exit
We do what we think is right,
And pull the spirit back to the path
We believe,
Our clergy believe,
Maybe even our gods believe,
Is proper for them.
In spite of our best intentions,
The Spirit doesn’t listen, finding
Another Exit,
Right away.
The Spirit passes through,
Leaving us to ponder
What “went wrong,”
Rather than understanding
The notion that the Spirit needed
To go,
To wait,
To prepare,
For another journey.
©2016 Edward Branley
The post The Exit appeared first on Edward J. Branley.
July 19, 2016
Books about race for white people
Sandrine’s Letter to Tomorrow, by Dedra Johnson
Books about race
This HuffPo article, 16 Books About Race That Every White Person Should Read, is a good cross-section of books for white people. Contrary to the white-privilege stereotype, many white people want to understand what black folks go through. It includes classics like The Invisible Man and To Kill a Mockingbird. The list also contains Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Check it out, and pick up a couple of these. No, don’t stop with Mockingbird and say you understand black people, please.
Systemic problems
There are a lot of systemic problems in our society that black folks “in their place” that white people simply do not consider. They don’t understand the perspective of non-white people in this country. A white person can’t follow a black friend around for a few days to understand how they’re viewed by the world. The mere presence of the “white friend” skews things. A cop on the street sees a lone black man, and treats him differently from a black guy walking with a white guy.
So, go read. Read about the world through the eyes of your black friend, and his father. That’s the best way to get a feel for what they’re trying to tell you.
In addition to these sixteen books,here’s one more, particularly for my New Orleans friends. Check out Sandrine’s Letter to Tomorrow, by Dedra Johnson. This novel is a coming-of-age novel. It’s often compared to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. While that is high praise, it also fits well as an addendum to this list of books about race. Sandrine is an eight-year old girl, growing up in 1970s New Orleans. Her desire to attend an all-girls Catholic high school in the city. That goal is challenged almost daily by forces out of her control. Locals will recognize neighborhoods and character archetypes from the streets of the city.
In conclusion, go read. It empowers all of us!
The post Books about race for white people appeared first on Edward J. Branley.
February 10, 2016
The Promise of Imbolc
The Imbolc Ritual Altar by Rebecca Radcliff (in the Commons via Flickr)
The Promise of Imbolc
Those who keep the Sabbats know
Each of them is not a one-day event,
But rather a season-long promise.
Those who keep the Sabbats know
The season of Imbolc is the promise
Of Spring to come.
Yes, there is still a lot of Winter to come.
Yule doesn’t give up easily.
Yes, January can be a struggle,
Snow, and ice,
Cold and damp,
Restless
Humans and animals alike.
Those who keep the Sabbats know
To look ahead,
Beyond the Snow,
Beyond the Ice,
Beyond the Cold.
Those who keep the Sabbats know
The promise of Imbolc.
They light the fires, confident
They have saved enough wood to
Make it through February.
Those who keep the Sabbats know
The season of Imbolc will reward them
With the occasional day of sunshine,
Warmth from above becomes a reminder,
Of the Spring to come.
©2016 Edward J. Branley
The post The Promise of Imbolc appeared first on Edward J. Branley.
January 6, 2016
Trusted Talents – Preview for Twelfth Night!
Trusted Talents is coming along, and I’d like to share a preview with you for Twelfth Night!
To start Carnival off right, here’s a preview of the second book in the Bayou Talents series, Trusted Talents. The pic above relates to the story, as you’ll see.
Here’s an excerpt from Chapter One:
Tara’s lavender aura surrounded her, as she sat down next to Chuck on the couch. Only now did Ren notice her brown hair, with a touch of blonde highlighting. She wore a green t-shirt that said “Sidewalk Side”, a reference to watching Carnival parades, over black leggings. Chuck, the man next to her, wore loose-fitting cargo pants and a New Orleans Pelicans shirt. His aura was royal blue, slightly muted. McCoy, also casually dressed for a day of parade-drinking, had a muted red aura. Fabian’s aura was the same shade of blue as his jeans, and Meg was surrounded by a golden glow. The white aura of a Teacher engulfed Mike, when Ren looked his way, using his inner Sight.
Those still sitting began to stand. Tara helped him up, leading him into the dining room, where she sat him down in between Meg and McCoy.
Download the preview of Trusted Talents here.
Trusted Talents will drop later this year. We’re hoping to get Dragon’s Discovery, the second book in the Blood Bound series, out for Jazz Fest. That project is coming along nicely as well. I’m excited about 2016! Hopefully Elysian Fields Press will produce more than just my books as well. We’re looking at some themes for anthologies and how to work up good crowdsourcing to make it happen. That takes planning, and a good video explaining the project, so it’s not something thrown together overnight.
Podcasts resuming next week, and we’re continuing the marketing of Hidden Talents!
The post Trusted Talents – Preview for Twelfth Night! appeared first on Edward J. Branley.
December 14, 2015
Alternate History: Podcast #4
Alternate History from the 1960s…
Process and Review
This week’s podcast contains a review of The Man in the High Castle by Phillip Kindred Dick. We’re talking about the book here, not the series on Amazon. The series was fun, and is fodder for a number of discussions, so look for that in the future. The Man in the High Castle is a well-written Alternate History story, and earned Dick a Hugo Award in 1962. The genre has come a long way since then, and it would have been interesting to see what Dick would have done with his universe, had he continued and wrote one or more sequels over time.
We follow the pattern for this podcast series by starting with some process talk. This tends to be rambling/stream-of-conscious talk, so I hope I don’t drive y’all crazy. If nothing else, talking out what the heck I’m doing helps me. This week, it’s a ramble about shifting gears. Just today, for example, it took Lady Editor to reel me in. I have an idea to do an anthology for Elysian Fields Press, and fortunately for me, Dara looks at her editing schedule to keep me on track. It does look like an antho that would drop over next summer, with Dragons2 dropping in the Spring and Talents2 in the fall, might actually work.
The big thing process-wise now is the notion of what happens when the project with the closer deadline produces a bit of writers’ block. Is it OK to shift gears? Is doing any writing better than doing nothing? It’s essentially the process that started the ball rolling on Hidden Talents. I would need a break from the history stuff for the Arcadia books, so I’d go back to thinking about Ren, JJ, and Mike. It worked; as the fiction flowed, it was easy to return to the nonfiction. But there you go, I’m rambling here. Go listen!
The post Alternate History: Podcast #4 appeared first on Edward J. Branley.
December 9, 2015
Alternative History – Some Thoughts
I came late to Alternative History as a genre. There are two reasons for this. First, one of the most-well-known writers in the genre is Harry Turtledove, and I was never interested in his premise/beginning of the Civil War. For all I’m fascinated with so many periods in history, the American Civil War has never done anything for me.
So, I kind of just put alternative history on the back burner. What brought me back to it was a Steve Stirling novel, The Peshawar Lancers. That’s a story for another post, though.
It started in high school
When I was a kid, I read a lot of juvie SF, most notably the Tom Swift books. I shifted to historical fiction when one of my dad’s friends, a librarian, suggested Hornblower to me. Then I got back to SF via an English class at Brother Martin. This was 1974, and the Cold War weighed heavily on everyone. American involvement in Vietnam was coming to an end, shifting the nightly news from the war and Nixon to re-focus on the bigger picture, potential conflict in Europe between the Soviet Bloc and NATO. Stories with a post-nuclear apocalypse theme were just depressing. Off I went into escape! On the teevee, that mean Star Trek, naturally, with Star Wars not far behind. Mr. Tony Hartigan’s English class got us wound up on Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke. I was home! No dwelling on tactical nuclear weapons in West Germany. No thoughts on a “winnable nuclear war”. Stories like this one from Dick just didn’t fit my frame of mind. The US losing WWII and is partitioned between Japan and Germany? That was just too fucked up for me.
Then my 21yo called a few weeks back, asking if I’d ever read this novel. The reason, of course, was because Amazon was about to drop a teevee series based on the story.
The post Alternative History – Some Thoughts appeared first on Edward J. Branley.
December 7, 2015
YatBooks Podcast #3
YatBooks Podcast!
The “process” portion of today’s Podcast discusses Goodreads and some strategies we’re using for Hidden Talents on that platform.
Book Review – Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner
Written by the late, brilliant Scott Cunningham, Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner is still the best “how-to” book for those interested in Wicca as a religion. The book has three sections, Theory, Practice, and a Book of Shadows. The chapters in the Theory section explain just what Wicca is, how it’s practiced in a group/coven structure, and how the reader/seeker can modify that practice to become a “Solitary Wiccan”. The author explains the basic tenets of the religion, defines magic, the Goddess, the God, and the days of power. Cunningham’s presentation of the “Wheel of the Year” is solid, giving the seeker a framework to begin a year’s worth of Wiccan observances.
The Practice section outlines a basic format for Wiccan ritual: preparing the sacred space, casting the circle, calling the Gods, the Work itself, and closing the ritual and breaking the circle. Cunningham’s style is simple and clear, giving the seeker what they need to pick up at any time of the year and start “being Wiccan”. The stories of how he acquired some of his tools are wonderful.
The third section of the book is a fully-developed Book of Shadows, which is the Wiccan equivalent of a Christian prayer book, like a Roman Missal or the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. The “Standing Stones Book of Shadows” isn’t merely a template. It’s possible for the seeker to run with this BoS as-is and do good Work.
Cunningham’s language may, in some spots, seem a bit dated. Wicca was about group/coven practice. To be Wiccan, you sought initiation in a coven. The two main “traditions” at the time were Alexandrian and Gardnerian. Cunningham explains how those traditions are not the only paths to the God and Goddess.
From a writer’s perspective, Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner gives good information for character development. While writing about coven dynamics and interpersonal relationships in a group are a challenge, this book gives the writer the ability to develop robust characters as individuals.
The post YatBooks Podcast #3 appeared first on Edward J. Branley.
December 4, 2015
NetGalley Reviewers – Read Hidden Talents!
The Urban Fantasy novel, Hidden Talents, is available for review on NetGalley!
What is NetGalley?
It’s a site/community that makes books available to book professionals–librarians, publishers, booksellers, book industry writers, reviewers, and bloggers. A publisher pays a fee to list their titles on the site. Members of the site can browse the titles and download the books that catch their eye. Some books are available for immediate download, others require members to “request” the book. They then can download the epub or mobi file after approval.
Review requests for Hidden Talents
This is a big step for Elysian Fields Press. NetGalley is pricey by self-publishing standards. All reviews suggest it’s worth it for the exposure. If you know book professionals who use NetGalley, please let them know Hidden Talents is available for their review. They can click the link/widget below to get there. If you know a blogger that accepts direct requests/pitches, please let me know, I’ll send them a media kit. We’re obviously excited about the novel, and want to get it to as many people in the business as possible. Elysian Fields Press’ ad budget isn’t big! Please help us out by talking up the novel. Word-of-mouth advertising is the best kind. Personal recommendations have value to your friends and colleagues. Help us tap those folks. At the same time, if you’re talking to someone who isn’t the Urban Fantasy type, be sure to mention my nonfiction/history books. When you’re at a party, having lunch, etc., tell people about this great book you’re reading. Facebook friends are always asking for suggestions of books to read. Suggest Hidden Talents! It’s all about the personal touch.
What’s in it for you? Good karma. Be sure to tell your friends that you sent them. I don’t forget these things, and always do my best to pay that back/forward. I’m no longer a member of BNI, but I’m still a big believer in their “givers gain” philosophy. I want to help my friends and colleagues, because I know they’ll return the effort. Everyone wins!
Hidden Talents (Book 1 of the Bayou Talents Series)
The post NetGalley Reviewers – Read Hidden Talents! appeared first on Edward J. Branley.
Eloquent Profanity
- Edward J. Branley's profile
- 46 followers
