Terence Park's Blog

November 8, 2022

Facebook Book Pages

Hasiwriters started up again tonight - Hasiwriters being a writing group that meets in Haslingden Library every two weeks - after an absence of coming on for 5 years. I managed to get off early from work for this re-inaugural session. The group leader was Jim Taylor - a local poet of some repute and after introductions we got down to a 20 minutes writing session. A poet, a script writer, an activist (who smelt of tobacco) and two well-read, readers willing to give writing a go - plus myself. I have to concede my piece was hastily conceived and executed but it was a good to get to grips with writers meetings again.
When I got home I decided to check FB changes to FB pages, after concluding there was quite a lot of pruning to do, I made a list; so this is how my FB pages currently stand:
Door Witch
The Turning Stone
The Slow Holocaust
Burnley
The Tau Device
Silt From Distant Lands
A Guide to First Contact
Unfinished Tales
Ice Made and other stories
Lucky
Terence Park
Burnley (1st)
The Turning Stone Chronicles
My Writing Blog
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Published on November 08, 2022 12:54 Tags: burnley, door-witch, lucky, silt-from-distant-lands, terence-park, the-tau-device, the-turning-stone

November 7, 2022

Burnley Artisan Market

Many thanks to the many people who continue to support me at Burnley Artisan market. This Saturday was cold and windy which meant we couldn't use our gazebos. To wrap up a pretty cold and blustery day, Burnley FC got hammered 5 - 2 by Sheffield United in Association Football.
* * *
I continue to create websites for my books - these are a place to put additional content but I would be delighted if reviews were also left there. My site list currently stands at:
Silt From Distant Lands
Door Witch
The Tau Device
Burnley
A Guide to First Contact

The above can alos be accessed from my main blog site: TP Archie, noting I've made considerable changes to the site menus.
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Published on November 07, 2022 13:30 Tags: burnley-artisan-market, door-witch, terence-park

October 2, 2022

The Tau Device - Survey

During the recent Burnley Artisan Market (01.10.22)I was asked for the survey link for The Tau Device – I have reposted the full survey here The Tau Device Survey - with added spoilers.

I should add that the Artisan Market was cold and windy - this is Burnley in autumn after all - and there were frequent incidents of stallholders rushing to stabilise their stock as gusts of wind tore through the covered walkway. More on this another time.
Interstellar agreements last only as long as the participants are willing – tattered flag of convenience
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Published on October 02, 2022 21:30 Tags: burnley-artisan-market, terence-park, the-tau-device

May 2, 2022

Burnley Artisan Market

By chance I was recently invited to take a stall at Burnley Artisan Market to promote my book about the town and its grammar school, Burnley. Having been written some years ago I realise it makes sense to show more recent work. Door Witch was ready to launch in summer 2021 but due to my wife's deteriorating health, it was held back. It is anime themed and I will be promoting it on 07/05/2022 at Burnley Artisan Market. For the many who have already bought copies of Burnley, I will be signing, so bring them in.
Burnley by Terence Park




Jennifer, my beautiful but fierce wife passed away in February 2022. She became ill in autumn 2020 but due to COVID we delayed getting this checked; eventually there was a phone consultation. Her condition continued to deteriorate over November - December 2020 and she found it more and more difficult to breathe - so mid December 2020 I took her to A&E and then to the nearest hospital where she spent a week. January 2021 we learned there’d been a misdiagnosis; she had lung cancer and had already lost one lung. Treatment followed (chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiotherapy) but valuable time had already been lost. Jennifer passed away in February 2022. I am used to a busy house so even though I am of retirement age, the plight of the Ukrainians resonates with me; my mother was a refugee from the Soviets so I hope to house a refugee Ukrainian family.
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Published on May 02, 2022 09:56 Tags: burnley, door-witch

February 26, 2022

Release date for Door Witch

Breaking news
Door Witch: New e-book sees fate step in as gaming avatar gets real - the perfect read for for fans of YA fantasy, anime and manga

Kindle cover to Door Witch shows witch opening a door upon a down in the dumps young adult male
Published on: 1st March 2022

Synopsis:
An alternate Earth, Alan Bates lives in Lanndern. He's an avid gamer on Earth Myth, an online role playing game and has one of the highest level in-game avatars, a level thirteen nomad, however he's seldom in employment, education or training - but he's just got a job and is hoping to sort his finances out. Fate steps in - late one night he's woken by his mobile - it's a girl claiming to be Sivitya.

The problem is Sivitya is a Door Witch he hired to protect his property - on Earth Myth - and she's a non-playable character. There are problems for Sivitya too: to start with she only knows the Earth Myth avatar who hired her, and Alan Bates doesn't look anything like him. Through encounters with a nosy neighbour, Jimbo's Cafe, the local hospital and the law, they have to figure each other out. They also need to take on board her news. And yet Earth Myth is only a game so how is Alan Bates going to get Sivitya back; but then events take a hand, turning his life upside down.

Door Witch n
NPC class in Earth Myth equipped with portal spells. Responsible for organising the defences of your House when you are offline. Also useful defending against raids.

Get this
on Kindle Door Witch
in paperback - on Lulu as Earth Myth An Isekai Fantasy
an advance review copy on Reedsy: Door-Witch-Terence-Park (membership of Reedsy may be required)

Other info:
Site
Lore
Facebook page
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Published on February 26, 2022 06:12 Tags: anime, door-witch, manga, ya-fantasy

October 3, 2021

Door Witch

At the moment my wife is recovering from radiotherapy. She has small-cell cancer which spreads rapidly and isn't easy to treat. The prognosis is she has only a few months left to live. That's been the background to my life for the past year. We carry on; there is no other way. As a side issue, I'm down with a bug - standard cold / cough I'm hoping, as Jennifer's immune system has been wrecked by the treatment she's been through. This is my site for Door Witch Lore.

In book news, Door Witch looks like it will be published - before Xmas I'm hoping.
I've also got to first draft on The Samurai-Knight. The Samurai Knight deals with over-population, pollution, first contact and the moral code (or absence of) of the warrior.
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Published on October 03, 2021 08:50 Tags: door-witch, the-samurai-knight

August 11, 2021

Door Witch - preview

I can't remember when I first became interested in anime but it must be sometime after I began to follow the films from Studio Ghibli. I started collecting them on DVD - for a while Princess Mononoke was a great hit with my kids. Anyway, as a survivor of MMORPG EverQuest, I consider myself an honorary fan of anime themed isekai - Journey to Another World. My first reads on that them go back to works such as Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Nomads of Gor by John Norman and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.
A couple of years back, while watching shows such as If It's for My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat a Demon Lord and Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? I wondered what I would make of isekai, if I tried my hand. Thus began Door Witch.

Door Witch
In an alternate Earth, Alan Bates lives in Lanndern. He's an avid gamer on Earth Myth, an online role playing game and has one of the highest level in-game avatars, a level thirteen nomad, however he's seldom in employment, education or training - but he's just got a job and is hoping to sort his finances out. Fate steps in - late one night he's woken by his mobile - it's a girl claiming to be Sivitya. The problem is Sivitya is a Door Witch he hired to protect his property - on Earth Myth - and she's a non-playable character. There are problems for Sivitya too: to start with she only knows the Earth Myth avatar who hired her and Alan Bates doesn't look anything like him. Through encounters with a nosy neighbour, Jimbo's Cafe, the local hospital and the law, they have to figure each other out. They also need to take on board her news. And yet Earth Myth is only a game so how is Alan Bates going to get Sivitya back; but then events take a hand, turning his life upside down.
Door Witch is narrated by Sivitya and Alan Bates (and occasionally by his avatars). It is Young Adult Fantasy.

Publication date: TBA
Further information TBA
Cover art C. Rachel
Internal illustrations: ArtKapele
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Published on August 11, 2021 03:08 Tags: isekai, journey-to-another-world, magic-realism, role-playing-game, ya-fantasy

August 23, 2020

New works update 2020

The Covid-19 outbreak taught us one thing: take nothing for granted. On a similar note, last year I was happily preparing works for Kindle and hard copy release when the unexpected happened: I was launched into a job that was at times terrifying in the demands it made from me. On the plus side I enjoyed the work but on the minus side, I'd get home at night absolutely drained of energy. That has an impact on pastimes such as walking our pet Alsatian or shopping sensibly - junk food re-entered our lives with a vengeance... then Lockdown came. Regardless of the science and the justifications, it brought many things crashing to a halt. In my case, publishing time-scales slipped by six months plus. You adapt; it's what you do.

The following works should be released in the next few months:
Door Witch (Isekai, Shoujo)
This is RPG fantasy with realism. Alan Bates has spent long hours on Earth Myth an online RPG. The catch to being a gamer is it doesn't pay the bills, even shabby one room apartments. In the middle of the night, a girl rings Alan claiming to be an NPC he hired on Earth Myth. Is this a wind up?

Bluebelle (Medieval Fantasy)
Aerythe and Cerise are wood nymphs set to guard Darkling Woods, this being an entrance to the lands of the Fae. In the nearby village of Tranby, Illius, son of widow Lizzy, dreams of being a heroic warrior; however he catches the eye of Aerythe. Thus are events set in motion to shake the Fae all the way to the Courts of the Goodly.

In the coming months, the following works will be issued as ebooks:
The Slow Holocaust
Silt From Distant Lands

Works in the pipeline
Angel in my Heart
Dragon Shard
Man for the Stars
On Kaikoku Isle / Star Samurai


Bolton University have asked for copies of my works to add to their archive of Lancashire authors. I will forward the following works (after issuing them in paperback):
The Turning Stone - Arshaana's Calling
Under Winter's Bough
In addition to these, I plan to forward front cover variants from earlier works.

* * *

Thankfully my job continues
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Published on August 23, 2020 07:29 Tags: bluebelle, bolton-university, door-witch

December 10, 2019

Door Witch

When I bought my first Studio Ghibli film


Image result for Grave of the Fireflies studio ghibli


Grave of the Fireflies





I didn't realise how large Anime was but gradually, through outlets like Crunchyroll I have been educated, and gradually I have developed a taste for it. Anime originated in Japan and what first drew me was was its use of scenery, bringing the world to light in stunning ways; then I fell for the characters and the drama. Japanese Anime is more than Studio Ghibli,


Image result for spirited away studio ghibli

Spirited Away





there are all kinds of shows on Crunchyroll: Fantasy, Romance, Sci-fi, Horror...


If It's for My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat a Demon Lord

If It's for My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat a Demon Lord





Those I have seen focus on MMORPGs - MMORPGs are online role playing games where players from all over the world interact and play in the same game world, one in which they slay monsters, loot treasure, go on quests and raids and in general hang around with their online buddies, even adventure solo.




Log Horizon


Log Horizon





The pull of such online adventures is new sights, new sounds, new experiences new rewards - all as 'toons. 'Toons: realistic looking but ultimately cartoon personifications.
Those who follow this kind of media will know that Anime is largely derived from Manga which in turn has roots in the Japanese Light Novel. A Japanese Light Novel is printed in A6 format and might have around 300 pages.




Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?


Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? II

























=======================================

In Door Witch I am reversing all that. Sivitiya is a door witch who gets sucked into the real world. She doesn't think of herself as a 'toon - her job is real - guarding the property of Akalito. She isn't powerless and can wield magic to some effect in the game world, but will that power carry over into the real Earth? Also, her world is a pastoral paradise… for wayfarers and heroes. It isn't built up and has no cities, travel, technology, fast food, business, shows, transport, libraries… and certainly no masses of people. These are all things she has yet to witness and discover.

Door Witch is a Western reflection on the Eastern anime-manga-light novel phenomenon. It will be realistic but there will also be magic, quests and skulduggery. In short Anime with a make-over to make it plausible. It is a fantasy romance — real world crossover.

Door Witch reverse engineers Light Novel from Anime... with MMORPG influences
:-)

Current state of play:
Draft 2/3 complete
Wordcount: 20,000
Point of view: First person narrative alternating male and female
Genre info: Adventure + realism + magic + moderate violence
Age range: 16 +
Book cover: Looking an for artist to do Anime style illustration.
ETA: Early 2020

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Published on December 10, 2019 12:54 Tags: mmorpg, work-in-progress, young-adult-fantasy

October 31, 2019

Halloween Blind Date Story

Still working on my latest MMORPG styled work: Door Witch. Sivitya is a door witch in the realm of Gamia. Akalito is the current avatar of Alan Bates in MMORPG Earth Myth. The two are destined to meet in this interlocking first person tale, as told by Sivitya and Akalito.

Status: Still in Progress
Word count: 13,000

and...

I just did the Halloween Blind Date Short Story MMORPG-style.

At The Haunted showcases Darkness Falls, a horror themed MMORPG where the hero is recruited into the Virtuous Hero guild. Things go south almost immediately as the hero is a level 1 Knight newbie.
He makes a few surprising discoveries starting with: Virtuous Hero isn't all that virtuous and culminating in: what remains when you leave an MMORPG.
To song theme of: A Night on Bare Mountain, Mussorgsky

Story title: At The Haunted
Word count: 4,200

* * * * *
Competition info:
https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/...
https://www.supportindieauthors.org/s...
Competition Ends 31/10/2019, Midnight
* * * * *
My Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/My-Writing-B...
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Published on October 31, 2019 14:53 Tags: door-witch, earth-myth, halloween-blind-date, horror, mmorpg, romance