M.B. Weston's Blog, page 22
June 24, 2014
M. B. Weston Confirmed for Memphis Comic & Fantasy Convention, November 21-23 2014
I’ve officially been confirmed as a guest at MCFC (Memphis Comic and Fantasy Convention) in Memphis from November 21-23, 2014. Once I get my schedule, I will post it so stay tuned!
Please click here for my “Speaking and Signing Events” page for a list of scheduled signings and conventions I will be attending
Fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston is also the hose of The Final Cut In Movies radio show that airs on TMV Cafe Monday nights at 8:00 EST. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. To receive notification of M. B. Weston’s book releases click here to subscribe to Dark Oak Press & Media’s e-newsletter.
June 23, 2014
Davian’s World Cup Picks: June 23, 2014
Here are my main character Davian’s World Cup Picks for today:
Netherlands vs Chile: Davian’s cheering for the mother country on this. The B. in M. B. Weston stands for Brundage. Go Netherlands!
Australia vs Spain: Davian picks Australia. He likes their toughness. And he thinks Hugh Jackman could play and excellent Davian! And Chris Hemsworth for Marcus…
Cameroon vs Brazil: So… Have you ever been to a Brazilian Steakhouse? This is a no-brainer.
Croatia vs. Mexico: Davian picks Croatia. Tony Ojanovac, the inspiration behind Davian’s best soldier, Marcus, is part Croatian.
We’ll be discussing the games, and of course what beverage of choice you might be drinking during the games, at my new Facebook group: M. B. Weston’s Treetop Inn. Please come join us!
Fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston is also the hose of The Final Cut In Movies radio show that airs on TMV Cafe Monday nights at 8:00 EST. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. To receive notification of M. B. Weston’s book releases click here to subscribe to Dark Oak Press & Media’s e-newsletter.
Elysian Chronicles Fun Facts: Dragon Clans – The Imperials
As stated in an earlier post about dragons, I realized that I needed to divide the dragons into races or clans. Today’s post will focus on the Imperial dragons, and I will focus on the Baethir and Tatsu in later posts.
I needed a race of dragons that would emerge as leaders. I did some research on dragon myths and lore across the globe and found two main types: those in European mythology and those in Asian mythology. (Disclaimer: there were probably others but I focused on those.) I decided to make the Imperials the most European looking. I wanted them scary and vicious. Here are a few notes I made when I was brainstorming.
“Imperial” (needs a root)
Biggest
Five claws
In minority (2-5%)
Rule over the dragons (Rhys is one.)
Royal line of dragons
Long, thin, snouts
Long horns that grow out of their heads, like crown. One for every hundred years.
Thick bodies (like tyrannosaurus rex), thick legs, but front legs are shorter (not at all like T-Rex), can function like arms, too.
“wisest,” least emotional
Spikes down back and on tail.
Blow wide streams of fire
One fold under chin.
A few things about my notes:
The “needs a root” was a note to myself to not call them Imperial dragons. I gave up on finding another name.
In Chinese lore, the 5 clawed dragons were Imperial Dragons–which is where I got the name from.
I made them the minority because that tends to be the percentage of leaders to non-leaders. (I took far to many business classes to be of any use to anyone in business, lol.)
Note the streams of fire being wide. This is not important in Out of the Shadows when the dragons have sided with Davian, but it will be very important in Book III when they dragons have a little civil war of their own.
I don’t remember why they had a fold under their chin… But it sounded cool. :)
Wow. I just realized that saying “The Imperials” sounds like some kind of rock band… #HangsHead.
Be sure to click here for more Elysian Chronicles Fun Facts!
Be sure to join in the discussion at M. B. Weston’s Treetop Inn group on Facebook!
Fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston is also the hose of The Final Cut In Movies radio show that airs on TMV Cafe Monday nights at 8:00 EST. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. To receive notification of M. B. Weston’s book releases click here to subscribe to Dark Oak Press & Media’s e-newsletter.
Tonight’s Final Cut in Movies Radio Show: Indie Films – The Curse of the Rougarou
Join me tonight at 8:00 EST for tonight’s Final Cut in Movies Radio Show. We will be talking with author/producer/actor/stuntman/martial artist/publsher Allan Gilbreath about the ins and outs of making a low-budget indie film. We’ll be focusing most of the conversation on the making and remaking of Dark Oak Press and Media‘s first indie film, Curse of the Rougarou.
Listen Live at TMVcafe.com!
Be sure to join in the discussion afterward at M. B. Weston’s Treetop Inn group on Facebook!
Fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston is also the hose of The Final Cut In Movies radio show that airs on TMV Cafe Monday nights at 8:00 EST. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. To receive notification of M. B. Weston’s book releases click here to subscribe to Dark Oak Press & Media’s e-newsletter.
June 22, 2014
Davian’s World Cup Picks: June 22, 2014
Here are my main character Davian’s World Cup Picks for today:
Belgium vs Russia: In the bag here. It’s not just a competition between chocolate and pilsners vs borscht. This is the country the world basically let Hitler take over (Belgium) vs a country trying to take the Ukraine (Russia). History past meets history present. Davian choose Belgium for hopes of less human bloodshed. See Out of the Shadows Chapter 7 for more details.
South Korea vs Algeria: Hands down and no surprises, Davian picks South Korea. See Out of the Shadows for details on this one.
USA vs Portugal: Davian picks the USA. He has no choice because his creator, M. B. Weston, won’t give him one.
We’ll be discussing the games, and of course what beverage of choice you might be drinking during the games, at my new Facebook group: M. B. Weston’s Treetop Inn. Please come join us!
Fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston is also the hose of The Final Cut In Movies radio show that airs on TMV Cafe Monday nights at 8:00 EST. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. To receive notification of M. B. Weston’s book releases click here to subscribe to Dark Oak Press & Media’s e-newsletter.
M. B. Weston Confirmed for The Steampunk Expo, August 8-10, 2014
I’ve officially been confirmed as a guest at The Steampunk Expo & Gothic Con in Chattanooga from August 8th-10th, 2014. Once I get my schedule, I will post it so stay tuned!
Please click here for my “Speaking and Signing Events” page for a list of scheduled signings and conventions I will be attending
Fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston is also the hose of The Final Cut In Movies radio show that airs on TMV Cafe Monday nights at 8:00 EST. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. To receive notification of M. B. Weston’s book releases click here to subscribe to Dark Oak Press & Media’s e-newsletter.
June 21, 2014
Elysian Chronicles Fun Facts: The US Naval Academy’s Admiral Farragut Window
I’ve been focusing a lot on Elysia during these fun facts. It’s time to focus on the other half of the Elysian Chronicles: Earth. In Out of the Shadows, most of the Earth sections take place at the United States Naval Academy.
One of the keys to the Earth/Naval Academy sections of Out of the Shadows (and actually to the entire trilogy) is Tommy realizing who he is and what he is meant to do. To help this process, I needed him to realize that cherubians were real real and that the memories he had suppressed when he was younger actually occurred.
One such memory haunts Tommy: seeing Davian and Eric (both morphed into humans) grappling on the floor. He wonders why they had such gaping holes in the armor in their backs.
Tom lay back down, trying to erase the dream—or the memory. One picture haunted him, a picture of Davian and the other soldier wrestling. Something about the image felt wrong—beyond two men wearing kilts and Romanesque armor in modern-day America. Tom replayed the dream. It’s the armor, he thought. The armor covering their backs was attached to their breastplates at the shoulders and dipped well below their shoulder blades, leaving the top half of their backs exposed. The back of their tunics buttoned at the nape of their necks but sported a hole in the same place, and Tom clearly saw their back muscles flexing while they grappled. Whoever heard of backless armor? And why a hole in the tunics?
“It’s just a dream,” Tom whispered. He refused to believe it was a memory. No soldier would leave his back exposed, and no one walked around in armor like that nowadays.
What Tom doesn’t realize at the beginning of the story is that Davian and Eric aren’t human. They have wings, which their armor has to accommodate when they are in their cherubian state. I needed Tommy to figure this out on his own–and preferably at the Naval Academy because with him being only a freshman, I couldn’t get him off campus.
I found the solution to my problem quite unexpectedly while I was on a tour of the Naval Academy. Inside the chapel I saw this window:
Admiral Farragut Stained Glass Window
It’s a stained glass window near the pulpit that depicts the Arch Angel Michael presiding over Admiral Farragut in the Battle of Mobile Bay. (Can I hear anyone say, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”?)
The armor Michael is wearing is the exact same armor Davian would have been wearing when Tom saw him in A Prophecy Forgotten!
The window was exactly what I needed Tom to see to realize that cherubians were real. My hands were shaking so badly from excitement that I couldn’t even take a steady picture!
Be sure to click here for more Elysian Chronicles Fun Facts!
Be sure to join in the discussion at M. B. Weston’s Treetop Inn group on Facebook!
Fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston is also the hose of The Final Cut In Movies radio show that airs on TMV Cafe Monday nights at 8:00 EST. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. To receive notification of M. B. Weston’s book releases click here to subscribe to Dark Oak Press & Media’s e-newsletter.
Davian’s World Cup Picks: June 21, 2014
Soccer isn’t my favorite sport, but I love the nationalism of the World Cup. I decided it would be fun to figure out what my main character, Davian, might pick for the world cup.
Here are Davian’s World Cup Picks for today:
Argentina vs Iran: Davian supports Argentina in this one. He opposes any nation that arrests teenagers for dancing to happy songs. Also, Argentina has some rather nice Malbecs…
Germany vs. Ghana: Davian is rooting for a tie in this one. Anything to help the USA. :) Gotta cheer for the country where most Elysian Chronicles fans are!
Nigeria vs Bosnia & Herzegovina. Davian supports Nigeria in this one. He’s still annoyed with Bosnia for the genocide in the early 90′s, and if Elysian regulations allowed him to intervene on behalf of the kidnapped Nigerian girls, he would.
We’ll be discussing the games, and of course what beverage of choice you might be drinking during the games, at my new Facebook group: M. B. Weston’s Treetop Inn. Please come join us!
Fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston is also the hose of The Final Cut In Movies radio show that airs on TMV Cafe Monday nights at 8:00 EST. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. To receive notification of M. B. Weston’s book releases click here to subscribe to Dark Oak Press & Media’s e-newsletter.
June 20, 2014
M. B. Weston Confirmed for Imaginarium in Louisville, September 19-21 2014
I’ve officially been confirmed as a guest at the Imaginarium in Louisville, KY from September 19-21 2014. Once I get my schedule, I will post it so stay tuned!
Please click here for my “Speaking and Signing Events” page for a list of scheduled signings and conventions I will be attending.
Fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston is also the hose of The Final Cut In Movies radio show that airs on TMV Cafe Monday nights at 8:00 EST. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. To receive notification of M. B. Weston’s book releases click here to subscribe to Dark Oak Press & Media’s e-newsletter.
June 19, 2014
Elysian Chronicles Fun Facts: Cassadern Isn’t Actually A Unicorn…
While I try to keep a basic storyline when I’m writing, even I have to admit that some things I just don’t see coming. Cassadern not being fully unicorn was one of those things.
In my first book, A Prophecy Forgotten, I differentiate Cassadern, the unicorn seer, from the other unicorns by his eyes.
Suddenly Davian felt Cassadern’s horn touch his temple. It tickled, and Davian pulled away. Cassadern stared at him, and Davian returned the stare. Then he noticed that even though the pupils in Cassadern’s eyes appeared round from a distance, they were actually shaped like large stars with more than twenty points. Davian felt his feathers stand up straight. Only one line of unicorns had eyes like that.
He put his lips to Cassadern’s ear and whispered, “You’re a seer, aren’t you?”
–A Prophecy Forgotten, Chapter 18: The Seer
In the Out of the Shadows, we discover that Cassadern differs from unicorns in more ways than just his eyes. He turns out to be Jaliel’s apprentice. I haven’t fully developed the mythology behind Jaliel’s and Cassadern’s species (for lack of a better word) yet, but I can tell you two things:
Unlike cherubians, they can enter more than 2 dimensions.
I did not realize Cassadern one of them.
Cassadern was only supposed to be a unicorn with cool eyes. I had no idea he was something different until I was developing this scene in Out of the Shadows:
Gabriella began to sob between coughing spurts. The flogging had dislocated her wing, and pain ran up and down her spine. She crawled to the wall, and flung herself against it to push her wing back into place. After letting out a stifled yell, she collapsed to the ground. Even her skin ached. She eyed the stale piece of crust and the water the soldiers had left her that morning. Normally, she would have eaten them, but she had no appetite. She reached for the water and dragged it to her. She lifted the cup to her mouth and sipped, then spit it back. It tasted bitter and metallic. She looked at the window, hoping for a bit of moonlight, but none shone through. She turned her head back to the door and closed her eyes, her thoughts wandering to the two things she had worried about since her capture. First, she hoped Tom was okay, and she also worried for Davian, hoping Picante would not find him.
A small animal cheeped outside her door.
Gabriella opened her eyes and saw a sparrow looking through her cell bars. The sparrow cocked its neck, hopped through the bars, and landed in front of her.
Gabriella gave it a weak smile. “How did you get in here?” She closed her eyes.
“Through the door, just like everyone else.”
Gabriella’s eyes shot open. The sparrow had turned into a balding cherubian with a goatee, dressed in a white cloak. He put his finger to his lips and knelt down beside her. His eyes reminded of Gabriella of Jaliel’s, the pupils like stars instead of circles. “Jaliel?” she whispered.
“No. I’m Cassadern, Jaliel’s apprentice.”
–Out of the Shadows, Chapter 26: Reinforcements
I write like I am watching a movie and I’m recording what I see. In this scene, I didn’t know the bird was special until he turned into a cherubian on me. I didn’t know who he was until he told Gabriella.
I love it when the subconscious mind totally creates something like that!
Click here to read more Fun Facts about M. B. Weston’s books & short stories!
Fantasy, steampunk, and paranormal novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston is also the hose of The Final Cut In Movies radio show that airs on TMV Cafe Monday nights at 8:00 EST. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. To receive notification of M. B. Weston’s book releases click here to subscribe to Dark Oak Press & Media’s e-newsletter.
