2016.06.11 - Background and (hopeful) Timeline for Publication

Soon SOON I'll be on track to be able to focus on finishing this set of books!

The symbol(s) are a helix fossil shell and the Circles of Dunnottar. The ancient spiral shell represents ... well ... ancient times. The Circles of Dunnottar are familiar to anyone who's read any of the books of SONG - the outer ones are Family, Friends, Freedom, Future - all interlocked - and bound together by the central circle of Faith.

That they are together in this image has to do with the times they represent ... sort of. The ancient spiral comes into play because in the upcoming set of books COME HELL AND HIGH WATER a couple of the Dunnottar Folk head back in time in search of confirmation that the Faith they share is indeed what it's supposed to be. 

They end up a LOT further back in time than they had anticipated, and find that 'Something Happened' way back then - more than ten thousand years before their own time and more than twelve thousand before ours. What it has to do with their Faith they aren't sure but they're there to find out.

The 'Something' that 'Happened' was an Extinction Level Event (ELE), the one that took many of the big mammals from us, especially those of North America - mammoth, mastodon, giant sloth, camelops, saber cats, dire wolves, many of the larger birds including the Aiolornis (look it up, you'll be amazed!), along with a whole long list of others. The Bison survived; so did the American Bald Eagle and the Crane ... so did others ... but not many of any of them. Whatever people were on North America at the time were also lost to us.

At any rate, the fictional premise of the book has a lot to do with our own incredible rate of technological advances in just the past century, decade, year - and the fact that we are no different from the people who came before us. If we can figure this stuff out, so might they have been able to, at least some of them. The Story Line premise is also based on recent archaeological findings that tell us our ancient forebears were a lot more 'advanced' than we give them credit for. 

They knew math, geometry, physics, architecture, geography, astronomy, cartography, and who knows what all else, and they were skilled enough to produce what even our most powerful equipment cannot replicate. All of this a long time before we thought they could possibly have been doing much of anything except hunting, gathering, and just trying to survive.

Fictionally speaking, we've located a small but extremely advanced society in the middle of North America back in the day - more than 12,000 years ago. 

Nobody can prove they existed. 

Nobody can prove they didn't. 

For our purposes nobody has to try to prove anything. That's one of the joys of writing fiction. It doesn't matter, not really, for our purposes, whether anything like Phi is 'real'. There's no absolute 'evidence', that anyone knows of right now anyway, one way or the other.

Because, you see, 'Something Happened' right around twelve thousand years ago - and about a thousand years worth of life on North America is now compressed into a condensed black mat of carbon way down there under our feet. Beneath that 'black mat' lie the remains of what was here before 'Something Happened'; above it lies the archaeological story of what's happened since. The black mat might have its own story to tell if we can find a way to read it.

The Little Dryas was a rather trying time for everyone but North America bore the brunt of it and was practically scrubbed clear of almost all life forms. 

The fact that our fictional culture of Phi was as technologically advanced as it was (fictionally) allowed some of her folk to escape - but they could not escape the consequences/fallout/impact to all of Earth that the ELE brought.

So that's the general idea of one of the two Story Lines of this set of books.

The other one has to do with what was going on with our fictional Dunnottar Folk  and in the world in general (sort of) starting in the year 500 CE. The Dark Ages were actually a pretty busy time, much more so than I expected when I started writing about them.

We've got the Younglings of Dunnottar following their Destinies here and there and all over the place. The Young Ones are right on their heels and the New Younglings are by no means willing to allow their older cousins to hog all the attention. 

Mythology, Legend, and History merge partly for the fun of it and partly because how do we know there aren't other Dimensions and Realms all entangled with us on one eternal Journey through Time and Space via the Spiral (PHI, the Golden Mean, the Perfect Balance, etc. known to us as 1.618...)? 

We're only just beginning to grasp the possibilities that quantum physics (for example) might present us with. Give us a few millennia (or a few years at the rate we're going!) ... which our fictional Phi Folk would have had before that ELE hit and 'Something Happened' ... the point here being that all this might be pure-dee fiction as it's intended to be - or it might not.

I ain't even kiddin' ya.

Trying to keep up with our Characters is hard enough once they all get on a roll - throw in trying to keep up with our own archaeologists, physicists, astronomers, technologists, and plenty of other '-ists' with all the darned recent things they're all coming out with and it's no wonder I'm wondering what the heck our Characters are getting me into this time.

Even so, it's a Journey I would not trade for all the tea in China or almost anything else.

We've got a preliminary Part One out and the 'actual' one in the works with the additions and changes. It's slated to come out at Summer Solstice; Part Two will hopefully be ready for print at Fall Equinox; with Part Three coming out at Winter Solstice to round out the year. That's the 'plan'.

Considering the fact that this is an extremely busy time for me personally, it's a good thing our Characters have proven to be effective and efficient when need be. All I have to do is write stuff down ;) 

The Mamm Books, Danann, and the Youngling Books are all about the same fictional family that has to make it through some seriously trying times as they both survive themselves and make sure the Legacy of which they are the Keepers survives - and they succeed, which isn't really a 'spoiler' because we are living proof of the Inheritance they've lived, fought, and died to Preserve and Protect on our behalf.

Just sayin' ... the Circles of Dunnottar : Faith, Family, Friends, Freedom, Future : are just as important to a lot of us today as they've been to all of the generations the SONG series is going to take us through as we share the Journey.

In case you were wondering what these books are all about, that kind of sums it up. 

They aren't 'fancy'; they aren't 'scientific'; they aren't 'provocative' (unless you're in a mood to be provoked); they don't have a lot of graphic sex or blood and gore. They're just 'family stories' that are told around the hearth fires of a lot of generations of these Characters.

Welcome to the Alianora Books of SONG!!

A side note here: all royalties generated by on-line sales of all my books go into a 'kitty account' and the current crop of 'Younglings' chooses a charity to donate them to. Last year they chose one of their own local groups, the Stonehaven Fireballs, in honor of the great job the Fireballs do to Protect and Preserve meaningful traditions, and because it was a Fireball event that led to the development of some wonderful friendships.

Alianora Is The Keeper Of The Faith

And it is her Story that is supposed to come next in the SONG series. 

This image is of a 'later' Alianora character ... her time is not yet in our story line but it's coming ... I just like this picture.

At any rate, considering Alianora's timeline is 500-800 CE, I was kind of appalled to find myself deeply immersed in research that falls into a timeline that SONG was never intended to explore - so what the heck was up with the fascination for times LONG past? Like WAAAAAAY back, and I mean far into the past of even the first of the Mamm Books.

Finally, after months of wondering, it dawned on me.

Alianora is the Keeper of the Faith.

She and Drustann take their responsibilities seriously, as we all know if we know these two Characters at all.

While the 500-800 story line moves itself along with all kinds of stuff happening every which way from Tuesday, this pair is also taking everyone along with them on their quest to make absolutely sure they know exactly what their job consists of - what their Faith consists of.

They are well aware of the Circles of Dunnottar:

They also well know the Voice of the SONG of the Holy Trinity which is theirs to Sing. Theirs is the Voice of Faith among the Voices:

Choice

The Spiral of Creation, Life, Death, Eternity

Peace

Faith

Healing

Hope

Love

Unity

But what does their Voice really signify?

Alianora and Drustann will have to Walk the Spiral to make sure of their path, and we are going to Walk it with them. 

Now we know what all that research was getting us into. 

And we're getting an inkling about the meaning of having to go back in order to go ahead. Exactly how FAR back we'll have to go is anybody's guess, but the journey is about to begin.

Danann's Song

Spirals interlocked dimension upon dimension

Colors upon colors

Notes upon notes

Throughout the entirety of the world

Throughout the eternity of the universe

Never ending

Never beginning

Round and round and round

Spinning web after web after web

Blending and twining

Inseparable

What has been

Will again become

What now is

Has before been

What will  become

Has been already

Again

Again

Again

Turning

Changing

Ever eternally the same

Yet forever changing

Locking colors

Locking notes

Locking circles

Spirals upon spirals within spirals

Listen

The music of the universe

Watches

Becomes

Becomes else

Again

Again

Again

What has been

Will again become

What now is

Has before been

What is to become

Has already been

Again

Again

Again

What has been

Will again become

What now is

Has before been

What will  become

Has been already

Locked

Bound

Inseparable

A web woven

Bright colors

Intricately locked

Twined

Symphony of the universe

Repeated melody

No Wonder I'm Tired

We’ve got Realms 

and dimensions 

and ancient mythology 

and legends 

and creatures 

and Aduan 

and technology 

and the stars 

and quarks instead of quacks 

and nanometer transistors 

and strings 

and a MYSTERY 

and Spirals 

and a Phine Line 

and Guardians 

and History as we thought we knew it 

and the Sidhe and our Characters all mixed up all over the place (and time) running rampant through all of the above.

Geez.

No wonder I’m tired.

Whole New Story Line Starting to Incubate!

I'm going to need those short stories and tall tales, and the adventures of the Younglings to keep my balance pretty soon here. 

A whole new, but totally related to our Characters, line is beginning to take shape in my head.

It's almost scary, but will be an amazing journey I think.

Back back back we'll go ... and ahead ahead ahead at the same time. 

It's that Spiral thing, and something called 'M' which I'm going to snag and call 'Mystery' I think. It's got to do with PHI. And the Orkneys. And Stonehenge. And the Sacred Yew. And of course the Sidhe and Dunnottar.

And that's all I know for the moment. 

Tell me something: Do Science and Mystery go together? I think they might. Are we not all seeking Wisdom? Truth? Knowledge?

None of which is here nor there in any practical way, but always always lurking, always here and there. Mostly there, actually. 

*sigh*

Yeh. Being as it's after three in the morning and I have a shift to fill not too many hours from now I'm going to go sleep on this and try to let it be for the next four days.

*wry smile*

I said 'try'. 

The Wrap-up Adventure for the Kin Cousin Books

It's hollering for my attention, it is.

But ... I need sleep.

Maybe I'll just do a quick outline.

Mm-hmmm ... 

It's just a short story! Does it need an outline?

Kind of.

Okay, not really.

I just want to be able to hop out of bed and write it, not have to think about it as I go along.

Since when did you start thinking as you write?

Shhhh ... 

*laughing*

What the heck. Here are the basics.

All of the Younglings of Dunnottar are now there; Merri and Dothann have just arrived from their lifetime of traveling on the Continent. Rua and Corrbed have been around for about a year and Diann has been there for two years, with Brann having been born there (he's now six, Rua's five, Dothann's seven, Corrbed's eight, Diann's nine, and Merri is eleven - just so you know).

The Kin Cousin books tell a little of the back stories of the younglings. They've come for training and for safety. Rua is now an orphan, Diann and Corrbed's homes are battlegrounds, and Merri and Dothann have been on the Continent and witnessed more than anyone realizes of the conditions there as the fifth century CE (the 400s) sees the fall of the Roman Empire - and the seeds being planted for the rise of the Holy Roman Empire. 

That's the background these kids live with.

At the time of this little piece, their individual and collective arrivals on Dunnottar are fresh in their minds, and their emotions are mixed. Of course the story isn't going to go into much, if any, of this stuff - but I want it as fresh in my mind as it is in theirs as I write their adventure.

This time their 'play pretend' has a bit of a dark edge to it. They're all glad to be safe (and together) on Dunnottar, but they're also angry and frightened.

They're angry at the circumstances of their world, and frightened by them. They've seen, they know, how horrific it is out there. Being safe on Dunnottar when their families are either dead or in danger is a mixed blessing. It's very hard for them to remain where they're supposed to be, doing what they're supposed to be doing, when they would rather be venting their anger on the bad guys (in this case 'Rome', the eternal enemy of the Celts from whose culture this family rises). 

They know that right now they are not yet ready to go out there and take on the battle, and they are also conflicted because theirs is a kind of specialized culture within the larger one of the Celtic Peoples - they are the People of Peace. The anger they carry is not natural to them; it hurts them in ways that we probably can't really understand, and nor do they understand it. They aren't going to go to the big folk with their worries - the adults have enough worries of their own.

So it is to their 'play pretend' clearing that they turn, and to one another, to try to work out how to cope with their feelings.

They've got terrific educations (relatively speaking) and part of that is taking the pieces of what they're learning and putting them together to form a complete puzzle that maybe ends up looking different from the 'original' one - but which will meet the needs that our own Younglings have at any given time.

This time it's anger, and pain, and loss, and fear that fuels them.

They're going to take the battle to Rome and they're going to do it their way.

As they choose their individual roles for the 'play pretend' time in the clearing, they're looking for powerful individuals, from whenever and wherever they find them in their studies.

Merri starts her Boudicca kick, which she is going to stay in for quite some time.
Diann chooses a goddess and it doesn't really matter which one - they've got all the times in their world to choose from and Diann knows that the deities fought and won some mighty battles back in their day.
Corrbed our scholar looks to actual history and picks Alexander the Great.
Dothann wants Loki of the Northern Tales, mainly because nobody can ever tell for sure about what Loki is likely to do at any given time.
Brann can't decide but is finally convinced to take on the role of Bran the Blessed, not the last time in his life that he gets put into that role.
And Rua, who is perhaps the most upset of them all right at this time, goes with Scathach, perhaps the most deadly woman to ever grace the face of the earth - she trains the best of the Warriors, which ought to tell us something.

Our Cast of Characters goes straight to the heart of the issue (from their perspective) and decides to head for Rome to try to talk some sense into the connivers who are plotting to take over the world of the Younglings of Dunnottar. If the connivers won't listen, they'll tie them in caves with poison dripping on them forever without killing them, with nobody to catch any of the venom in a cup, either. The Younglings are pretty angry right about now, not feeling much mercy.

Naturally, as these are mainly Warriors they've chosen, they have to fight their way across the Continent. They find foes aplenty and they find friends and allies as well, some in unexpected places.

Just as naturally, some of them fall in battle and the rest have to go on without them.

Finally there are only Scathach, Loki, and the goddess left as the mortals die along the way. They worry a little about Scathach because nobody really knows whether or not she's immortal - but she isn't worried. She just wants to fight the bad guys, come what may ... and so she does.

Ironically, when they finally make it to Rome and find the connivers, nobody can see them or hear them. They have the head of Bran with them, of course, but nobody in the Rome of 487 CE is likely to pay attention to a head that has no body to go with it.

The dragons show up and get a little attention but are gone with their riders before anyone has gotten over the shock of seeing them so the attention is short-lived and soon forgotten.

They go get Bran's Cauldron, collect Boudicca, Alexander, and the body of Bran, get everyone back to 'normal' - and are in short order back in their own 'play pretend' clearing.

They're disappointed that they haven't been able to change anything in their world, but the 'battles' have vented much of their rage, which helps at least a little. 

Their conclusions?

They decide that what they've gotten out of their adventure is that all they can do is the best they can do in the time and the place that is given them, with whatever they have to work with - and to know that always there have been, are, and will be others who are also doing the same in their own times, their own places.

Then they set up their targets while a flock of doves flies into the clearing to sit on the branches of the surrounding trees.

Hmmm ...

That's pretty dark all the way through. Loki and Scathach are going to have to provide some comic relief as we go along.

Good Lord.

I'm liable to have nightmares.

If I can't sleep, I'll get up and write the darned story and get it out of my system.  

*sigh*

Welcome to my life.

So Glad Mamm Isn't All Alone!

Watched the movie 'Frozen' with my daughter and grandboy ...

We cherish our together time; it's all too limited.

On this evening we chose to watch one of their favorite movies, one I had heard about but hadn't seen yet.

Z-Bug snuggled in with me and we munched our popcorn as the beginning of the movie unfolded.

My daughter's facial expressions cued me as to what sort of scenes were coming up - smiles, a serious sort of concentration, a frown - so I wasn't as taken by surprise as I might otherwise have been.

Part of the joy was hearing them sing along with the songs of the movie.

Another part of the whole thing was my own reaction.

At one point we took a mid-movie break. My daughter told me that she and her husband had discussed their own reactions to this movie, had been kind of surprised at the intensity of those reactions and wanted to understand them.

She told me their observations and conclusions, and they confirmed something I had recognized in my own self as I watched and listened to the movie.

The two of them had been taken back to a time they remembered from their younger days, a time when the movies had been more like some of the original fairy tales, with dangerous obstacles for the characters to overcome, bad guys for them to defeat, and the romance of a happy ending to look forward to.

My own time being even further back than theirs, the memories evoked by this tale were more of reading than of watching movies.

To top it off, from the opening notes of music through the entirety of the movie I kept having feelings that were borderline deja vu. 

Remember that I've only recently finished a series of books based on ancient times with hints of ancient myths and legends here and there for those who may recognize the (mostly) subtle references. Researched material from the very old days fit well with this movie. 

No wonder it felt sort of familiar to me.

No wonder I enjoyed it. 

I was responding not only with the part of me that has held to the myths and legends I read of in my long ago days, but with the more recent part of me which spent so much time immersed in stories much like the one of this movie.

And, you know, it makes me smile.

It seems there is something within many of us which responds to the ancient roots of this story.

I think it's the same something that led me through the labyrinth of the writing of The Mamm Books.

We want to believe, or to at least spend a little time now then pretending that we might believe, in heroes and heroines who overcome whatever comes into their path, who defeat the bad guys, and who prove that love triumphs over all in the end.

So yeah. It makes me smile to see Faith, Family, Friendship, Freedom, and the Future prevail in this story. I like seeing the components of Choice, the Cycle of Life, Peace, Faith, Healing, Hope, Love, and Unity all come together.

It makes me happy to realize that the Characters of The Mamm Books and the Younglings of Dunnottar aren't all alone, and that the people of our own times respond, intuitively perhaps, to stories of  'ancient times'. 

The old old stories have survived the ages; it's pleasing to know that they're surviving still. 

As the time comes upon me to follow the Younglings of Dunnottar, wherever and whenever their imaginations take them, in the books that are looming on the horizon it's encouraging to realize that I'm not the only one in this day and age that believes in the value of the ancient tales.