C.E. Martin's Blog, page 32

Book 3: Blood and Stone

In the process of plotting out and researching Book 2 (Brothers in Stone) I also did a lot of work on the third upcoming Mythical novel, Blood and Stone. It will round out the trilogy started in Mythical, and see the saga of the antediluvian shapeshifters come to a close.

Here's a sneak peak of Blood and Stone's plot, which will hopefully be completed around October 2012.


Another antediluvian shapeshifting giant is on the loose, having escaped after his raid on Detachment 1039's base of operations in Miami, Florida. Josie Winters, with her new powers still developing, is impatient to hunt down the monster, but training comes first.

Josie joins Victor Hornbeck, the newest stone soldier, in private training with Colonel Kenslir, forming the newest generation of America's secret super soldiers. But will their be training be complete before the last shapeshifter can gather the hearts and powers of some of America's deadliest civilian parahumans?

Coming Soon... Mythical #2: Brothers in Stone

The research is done, and I start work today on Mythical #2, continuing the story of Josie Winters, Jimmy Kane and their new mentor, Colonel Mark Kenslir.

Here's a sneak preview of the events of Book 2:

Josie Winters is settling into her new job at Detachment 1039, learning the secret history of the U.S. Armed Forces war against supernatural threats. Jimmy Kane remains petrified, a stone statue of himself, only able to communicate with the outside world by means of a telepath.

But word soon arrives- the shapeshifting giant, Ketzkahtel may be dead and in a freezer at Detachment 1039's headquarters, but someone else is on the loose, in Arizona, ripping the hearts out of hapless victims.

Josie and Colonel Kenslir travel west again, to join up with the FBI's special task force on the "Valentine Killer".

A Mythical Promotion

From now until July 1, 2012, you can download a copy of Mythical from Smashwords for free!

Use coupon ZM38W to download in your choice of format.

Mythical Questions

Mythical is the first book in a series- a trilogy. As such, it has some set ups for the sequels. Mysteries that won't be ansered right away.   As a reader, that might irritate you. The research I've read however, is that readers like series of novels. So Mythical's mysteries were purposely put in to pave the way and link the three books together.   In case you missed them all, or want to know more before deciding to read, here are all of Mythical's planned mysteries and unanswered questions:   1. Where did Ketzkahtel come from, and is his name a misspelling of Quetzacoatl?   2. How did Mark Kenslir get turned to stone? Why does water heal him? What exactly are his powers?   3. Where did the Stone Soldiers come from? How were they made?   4. It seems like an amazing coincidence that Josie and Jimmy happen across Kenslir in the desert.   5. Why didn't Ketzkahtel kill Josie when he had the chance?   6. What happened to Carlos, Kendall and Logan?   7. Why was Ketzkahtel in the Arizona desert to begin with?   All of these questions will be answered in the next installment, Mythical: Brothers in Stone. Which should be done and uploaded to Kindle, Nook and Smashwords in August 2012.    

MYTHICAL: The Blurb

Oh, the horrific blurb, how I hate thee.   In terms difficulty, writing was least difficult, then came converting and uploading to Amazon, then Smashwords then Nook, then comes marketing... and finally... the Blurb.   I think I'm now on my fifth or sixth blurb and I'm still not happy.   The problem is, a good blurb is going to hook the reader and tell them the whole story... which means there are spoilers. Mythical starts as a mystery, then turns into straight action-adventure. I really didn't want the reader to have the solution to the mystery right off the bat, but I guess it makes sense.   So here's Mythical's newest ultra short (logline-ish) blurb, and a slightly longer, almost-back-of-the-book type blurb:   A resurrected super soldier and a group of teens must stop a shape-shifting giant who eats the hearts of his victims to steal their identities.     Teens Josie Winters and Jimmy Kane are drawn into a world of monsters and magic they never knew existed when they find a super soldier left for dead in the desert.

Returning to life, with partial amnesia, Colonel Mark Kenslir eventually remembers his last mission: stop a shapeshifter on the loose in America. It can take the form, memories and even the powers of anyone- by ripping out and consuming their heart. Kenslir and his squad were sent to stop the shapeshifter, but were all killed when it unexpectedly assumed the form of a dragon.

Unarmed, with no support and not sure who to trust, Kenslir sets out with the teens to stop the shapeshifter's killing spree.

Mythical Tomatos

Tomato, Toe-mah-toe. How do we pronounce some of the words we see in books?   Take for example, Mythical protagonist, Col. Mark Kenslir, call sign "Antaean".   In Mythical, we see how it's pronounced "An-tay-ann".   The internet doesn't agree...   A Word a Day says it's "ann-tee-un". Well, that just makes no sense.   ANTAEAN comes from the Greek giant of mythology, Antaeus. That's AN-TAY-US, according to at least one of the Kevin Sorbo Hercules movies of the 1990s. It's a word meaning "possessing super-human strength". A descriptor for Col. Kenslir's most prominent super power- his strength.   A Word A Day would have us believe it's An-tee-ann, possibly from the sissified giant, Ann-Tea-us. As in, "Hey, giant! It's noon and we're thirsty! Tea us!"   I don't think so.   A word based on the giant An-tay-us, would clearly be Ann-tay-un.      

Mythical Extras: There were Giants in the Earth in those days...

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.   -Genesis, 6:4     Choosing the right villain for a novel is never easy. Some folks pick a villain (the antagonist) first, then a hero (the protagonist) to counter it. Other writers have their hero in mind, then have to come up with a suitable villain for them to oppose. Such was my case with Mythical.   At it's core, the idea for Mythical was simple: the last of the previous generation's super soldiers is discovered by teenagers and with their help completes his last mission. It's an old-meets-new situation. And yes, it paves the way for a sequel where our hapless teen(s) become the next generation of super soldiers.   I had Antaean down- Colonel Mark Kenslir was a hero from a previous series of books I write in the 1980s and 90s, but never got published. Killing him off, then having him come back from the dead seemed a great way to symbolize how I took an old idea and resurrected it. But I couldn't make the whole book be about the mysteries of Kenslir's previous life.   I needed a villain.   My first idea was to make a super soldier fight a super vampire. But vampires have been done to super death lately, and I just didn't think slapping a "super" label on a vampire was all that interesting. Then a thought occured to me: giant-size a vampire.   It worked for countless monster movies as far back as the 1950s, like Tarantula (1954). So why not a giant vampire?   I began my research on giants- beginning with the earliest account I had heard of a giant: Goliath.   Turns out, the Bible is . And there are a number of internet sites that claim giants' remains abound on modern day Earth. They were a great starting point.   So what were giants? Well, the consensus is they were the offpsring of people and something more. Fallen angels, by Biblical accounts. Aliens by others. They were bigger versions of men, capable of amazing feats, and in most folklore not the friendliest of chaps.   One of my favorite websites claims giant skeletons were discovered in North America by early explorers- normally buried in Indian mounds. The Smithsonian rounded up all the skeletons and hid them though. Another website features a museum in South America where giant remains are on display- sowing the giants to be six-fingered, six-toed brutes with two row of teeth in their over-sized heads.   Now THAT sounds like a villain.   But a giant vampire...? I still wasn't sold. Then it hit me- there have been lots of variations on vampires. One of my favorites is from the 1985 movie "Lifeforce". In that film, the vampires just suck the energy right out of you. No neck biting needed. And being a giant, our antagonist would clealry need a LOT of victims.   From there the idea just evolved, into the heart-ripping, power-stealing super giant of Mythical. A very appropriate enemy for the last of the super soldiers to face. But to make it even more complicated, and give it that just-over-the-top feel, shapeshifting had to come in. That's right, a shapeshifting, lifeforce-devouring giant.   Vampires beware.