The official blog of Denise M. Baran-Unland, author. Discover her books for all ages at bryonyseries.com.
Sunday, October 31, 2021
Saturday, October 30, 2021
Friday, October 29, 2021
Story Round-Up: Features in The Herald-News, Oct. 23 through Oct. 29
Good morning!
Despite working just three days (so far) this week, I still have nine news and features stories to share with you today and few more that will be posted over the weekend, so do watch for them.
I had a very nice, very late (on many levels) birthday dinner with Timothy last night. His birthday was September 8 and last night was the first night we could sync schedules (we did have a very small, very short family celebration on the actual birthday).
I was only able to pop into WriteOn Joliet's launch party for Discord for just thirty minutes and play one game, and I misssed this morning's #5amwritersclub altogether. The group meets on Eastern time, which means 4 a.m. for me.
But we had late dinner reservations, got home even later, and, well, I did try. I don't think I've ever hit snooze so many times!
Here's the thing. Often, when we work for the good of the family, the family (ironically) has to be set aside. Last night was not one of those times, and I'm glad of it. It was a nice dinner and enjoyable time together.
Here's a recap/update on my other BryonySeries porojects:
I am currently re-reading my scribbled first draft for Call of the Siren (the second book in the BryonySeries Limbo trilogy) and starting to color in the lines.
So I will use this time to re-read my scribbles, start coloring in the lines, tackle a few projects (not all writing proects) I hadn't anticipated on tackling, and spending some time with family.
Sue Midlock is nearly done with the art for Cornell Dyer and the "Mistical Being" (cover looks great, by the way) and I'm hoping she can begin art soon for Cornell Dyer and the Calcium Deficient Bones.
Timothy has also scheduled (and canceled) a couple of "Cornell" breakfasts to start working on the next book, a Sherlock Holmes parody (the main character is Sherman Homes) as life has gotten in the way for us. But we will get to it soon.
Sarah also had a crazy dream that sounded perfect for An Adventure of Cornell Dyer mystery. But she wants time to draw some sketches, a map, and write the "rules." It's called Cornell Dyer and the House of Broken Portals.
Bertrand the Mouse has returned, and you can read about it here, here, and here.
Jennifer Wainright (frontispiece artist for Lycanthropic Summer) has completed two portraits for "Girls of the BryonySeries" series for tween girls and is currently working on a third. The portraits are beautiful and it shows that artist Jennifer Wainright can draw anything from werewolves to portraits!
I current have one book in the series completed, and I am working on the second, which I'll revisit this weekend when I'm off work. The goal is to have three of the eight done before I release any of them.
Now back to the nine stories. Simply click on the link of the story that looks interesting to you. Happy scrolling!
But before the stories, I have a list of additional resources and information. Please check them out, too -
Finally, if you'd like to find more kindness in your life, consider this book.
And have a great Friday!
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Sue's Diner is a fictional restaurant in the fictional Munsonville that only exists in the BryonySeries.
Each Sunday, we post a new recipe. The recipe is either featured in one of our cookbooks or will be featured in an upcoming cookbook.
Check out the recipe here.
WRITERS
If you'd like to officially join WriteOn Joliet, we have two tiers of dues. We also have a marketing arm that's getting longer every year, well, except this year. Check us out at writeonjoliet.com.
Daily updates: I do post the briefs on Twitter during the week, so you're welcome to follow me at @Denise_Unland61.
BryonySeries stuff: I post curated content relating to the BryonySeries at @BryonySeries. And assorted related content at www.facebook.com/BryonySeries.
And of course, please follow the adventures of Bertrand the Mouse on Instagram at bertrand_bryonyseries.
BRYONYSERIES BOOKS
For books and more information about the series, visit bryonyseries.com.
BRYONYSERIES EVENTS
A full month of virtual events can be found at bryonyseries.com/calendar-of-events-1.
QUESTIONS
Email me at bryonyseries@gmail.com.Thank you for reading The Herald-News. And for reading this blog. And if you've read (or plan to read) any of my books. Your support is greatly appreciated.
FEATURES
Pets of the Week: Oct. 25: Will County rescues have dogs and cats for adoption
Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Visage."
Thursday, October 28, 2021
A Late Birthday Present From Christopher
A couple of weeks ago, Christopher made a surprise stop at my house with Zechariah and Martha (his two youngest children) to present me with a late birthday present.
Now if you think this is a silly present from a nearly forty-year-old son to his sixty-year-old mother (as judging by the photo), let me share the back story first.
My sister and I each had an alligator soap dish when we were very, very young (young enough that my mother bathed us together).
By the way, the top of the alligator's head has a tiny hole, great for filling the 'gator up with water to squirt over sibings.
I'm not certain what happened to my sister's alligator, but mine sat on the bathroom sink of all the homes in which my children lived before they moved into homes of their own.
When we lost the final house in Channahon in 2013 (my husband had dementia), the alligator went to its final resting place in the trash, as it had become quite dry rotted.
So you can imagine my surprise when I opened the box!
Christopher apologized for the late gift, saying it had taken him awhile to find one that was in great shape.
The one he ordered came with this raccoon, which we never owned. I gave it to Rebekah because it looked like the type of item she would enjoy. And she does!
Christopher also pointed out the the 'gator's water hole to Zechariah, explaining it was great for dousing siblings with water.
Now, I don't like leaving shower supplies in the shower (an empty shower is easier to clean), but I've made an exception for the alligator.
And this alligator does his job just as well as his predecessor.
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
A House Full of Stories: Part One
Anyone who's ever had a conversation with me probably knws my penchant for telling stories. Ask me a question, and I will probably have a story to go with it.
Take the items in my house. Just about every one has a story behind it and warm memories of the people in my life. And this is very true when it comes to photographs and artwork.
When we could save very few items from our house when we lost it in 2013, I'm glad we saved photographs and artwork, even though I have happily acquired a few more pieces over these past few years.
On Saturday, Jasmine and Rebekah spent some time sorting, separating, and even hanging some of said photos and artwork.
Here is what they accomplished so far (Jasmine is coming back on Saturday to hang some more) and the stories behind each piece.
Before the era of smart cameras, framed photos were often given as gifts or placed on flat surfaces to keep loved ones close.
Jasmine arranged some of those photos on top of the bookshelves. If you ever visit me, I can tell you the story behind each one.
One tradition in our home that we missed during the nine months we lived with my parents and during the years we lived at The Birches in Joliet was our icon wall/prayer corner.
The reason we never created one there is because we only had one long, deep closet for storage. To go through pictures, icons, and photo books was an arduous process of removing everything from the closet into the living room and putting it all back.
We also have A LOT of icons (and they all have a story). I won't tell them all here.
But Jasmine did ask if I had any that I especially wanted hung. I wanted the most unusual ones on the wall, and then she could pick from there.
This is what she created.
And then she arranged our "family icon tree." Each icon represents a patron or favorite saint of Ron, me, and all nine children (biological and step).
In Channahon, I displayed them over the archway between the living room and the dining room.
Jasmine arranged them here.
Now for the lake art.
When Rebekah, Daniel, and I had moved into the larger townhome in 2019 at The Birches, I had a long wall - so I put a nice lake painting on my wish list.
I wound up with three.
The one below, an Old Calendar Christmas present on January 7, 2020, was too heavy to hang on the wall, so it hung out on my grandmother's dresser (another story). In fact, that wall above it was the "wish wall," and it stayed blank the entire time I had the room.
But that same painting now looks terrific on the wall between my bedroom and Rebekah's bedroom:
The second, also from Timothy and also an Old Calendar Christmas present on January 7, 2020, hungh above my closet door in the former bedroom.
It now hangs between the doors of my new walk-in closet and my bathroom.
The last painting was also an Old Calendar Christmas gift and also from Timothy, but for January 7, 2021, in a final attempt to find a lighter piece to hang on that wall (the wall had brick behind it, so it was difficult to hang a picture).
However, work grew busy for all of us. That painting stood between my grandmother's dresser and my closet until the day I moved.
And, yes, I had to move the painting every time I opened the closet door. The original Bertrand the Mouse is seen guarding it.
It now looks very nice over my pretend fireplace. The dresser to the right belonged to Ron's mother, who died the year before I met her. That dresser is one of my most treasured pieces.
See the pillow at the foot of the bed? That's for Faith, my calico, who wouldn't stay off my pillows. So now she has one of her own.
The fake fireplace was a gift from Timothy when Rebekah, Daniel, and I moved into that larger townhome in 2019.
I wanted a fireplace. They did not.
So Timothy bought one for my bedroom.
The leprechaun doll was made for me by a dollmaker I'd interviewed (I ordered and paid for one after the story ran in The Herald-News). This doll has a story all its own for another time.
The blue poncho was a gift from a beautiful lady (now in heaven). That has a special story behind it, too.
Even the gray sweatpants were a gift - from Rebekah.
Oh, and the cat print blanket? Jasmine and Rebekah made it for me - but Faith claimed it.
Onward to my bathroom art.
This first piece was a print I won at a Halloween event at the former middle school in Channahon (now Pioneer Path School).
A local dentist turned magician for special events put on a spectacular production in the school gym. Ron insisted we all attend, because he wanted us to see how special Halloween was in Channahon. We had only lived there two weeks.
And then I got a nap and got up to deliver newspapers.
I bought this "cancer the crab art" from Spencer's Gifts either in high school or college. I framed it early in my marriage (1981 most likely), and I've hung it in the bathroom ever since.
And here is the art on context with each other and with the waterscape shower curtain (with seahorse and shell hooks), which Sarah sent me for my birthday.
On the opposite wall are the four waterscapes Jasmine painted for my birthday.
All the scented soap on the right (stacked on the middle shelf) were all gifts. I'm slowly using them.
It's the first piece anyone sees coming up the third step of stairs.
It goes very nicely with the boat art in the hall.
And that is all: for now.
So everywhere I look, I see reminders of the wonderful people in my life - and feel love.
Their love for me.
My love for them.
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Sue's Diner: Sweet and Sour Meatballs
This week's recipe was submitted by our BryonySeries pianist and composer James Onohan for the BryonySeries cookbook: Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony," which is a permament fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties.
You can try the recipe on the Sue's Diner page on the BryonySeries website.
But try the recipe this week. It will be gone some time next week. A new recipe will take it's place.
Here is the full diner page: bryonyseries.com/sue-s-diner. You can't really order, of course (wouldn't it be great if you could?).
For more BryonySeries recipes, check out our three cookbooks at our BryonySeries bryonyseries.com/general-store.
Monday, October 25, 2021
2021 At-Home Writing Retreat No. 2 Recap
I made my goal.
That's basically it.
Yes, I had a more detailed account of my first retreat last month.
And I shared what I hoped to accomplish before I began.
Essentially, the word sketches are complete.
But the pages are still devoid of color and texture. This is the next stage. It's also the most time intensive stage. But not necessarily the most difficult.
To me, each stage of the writing process is easier than the last.
But they also take more time to perfect.
The hard part, giving the story structure and form, is done. It feels good.
Tomorrow I return to work and will concentrate on writing and editing features for The Herald-News.
Fiction will fade to the background until Friday evening, where it belongs.
What a blessing that all activities have their own path - and their own season.
Just like writing a novel, they shape our lives and give form and meaning to our days.
Have a great Monday!
Sunday, October 24, 2021
Saturday, October 23, 2021
"Four Words to go Forward or Four More to Drop Back" by Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara
Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara is so busy working on his second novel (buy his first one here and my Irish genealogy here) and sending me excerpts that he's stopped sending blog posts for the time being - and who can blame him?
He's also now a full-fledged member of WriteOn Joliet and read this piece to the group last Thursday evening.
For a sneak peek of where Ed's mind (and writing) is heading, read on.
Four Words to
go Forward or Four More to Drop Back
Who are you and what do you want? Whatever it is, now is not a good
time. You see, I’m dropping into my imagination right now, which is trickery
than it might be for you. To me, imagining is like waking from a deep,
disturbing, desolate, dream to find myself in the middle of something that
should be important but doesn’t feel that way because of the incomplete
transition. The sounds are sharper, the colors more vibrant and the consequence
more enduring, but the facts confuse me and I’m unsure which concerns are from
the dream, and which are of my compulsory imaginary life.
Right now, I’m in an office of some type and everyone is angry, which is
why you should go. I can feel your disembodied presence lurking in my mind. I
believe you can perceive my conscious thoughts as clearly as if I said them
aloud, but I can’t hear your thoughts at all but rather I can guess at what you
might be feeling. I can’t tell your gender or specie, but I do know, without
knowing how that you’re here for some sort of story. You’re not going to leave
until it’s told, are you?
But enough about you. Let’s talk about me.
As
always when I’m waking from reality, it takes me awhile to reckon much and I
need clues to reinforce my memory. Still, I can always remember five things
that give me a starting point to fill in the details.
First, I am the famous, one and only, Ed Calkins. Really? You’ve never
heard of me? I am the soul and creation of the most prolific novelist of all
time, and thou that author, the Goddess, never realized it, I am the true
meaning of her work. True, I did exist before she wrote about me, but my
existence was just a bad excuse for unrealized dreams of world domination. Once
the series was written, world domination seemed unworthy of my greatest.
I won’t judge
you as an ignorant person. I chose to focus on how courageous and honest you’re
being by admitting that. Clearly, you’ve never read any of the novels written
by the Goddess who crafted the ‘Bryony’ series; something you should be doing
now instead of haunting a mixed up mind. That, or you read only the later of
her books and totally missed the point. Perhaps you’re from an earlier time?
Lesser folk might judge you and name you, ‘Ignorant’ or ‘Caveman’, or other
such insulting nick names. I shall think of you as ‘Cah’ the first letters of
‘Courageous and Honest’. But really, Cah, you should leave.
The second thing is that I am ruthless. In saying so, I left out the
word ‘very’ which belongs before the word ‘ruthless’ and should be repeated a
varying number of times depending on the various variances that my mind will verify,
which is way I left the word ‘very’ and all its forms out of my statement. Are
you as confused as I am? Yet right now instead of wondering how best to clarify
my thoughts I am wondering who would trouble with the English language and not
read the Goddess’s novels? To put it plainly. ‘Ed Calkins’ equals ‘ruthless’
times ‘very’ raised to the nth power where n is the variable representing
‘situation’. By rights, I should name that variable ‘s’, but I don’t want to
come across as a nerd.
The third thing is simple but center to my existence. Newspaper delivery
is important. If it weren’t for the need for newspapers to find their
customers, I would simply not exist. Don’t waste too much time I that as I’ll
circle back to it.
Fourth
and final is that I have many wives all over the times and places of the planet
and will continue to marry more; many without their knowledge. I’m allowed this
as marrying Ed Calkins is painless and easy as the word ‘yes’. However, I can
only bed one being who is my eternal lover. This is known as the pink machete
rule. Relax! I’ll circle back to that one too.
You’re still here.
Please try to understand. This meeting seems very important and judging
from the fact that everyone else is situated around the large oak desk, and I’m
the only one behind it, I’m supposed to be leading this anger…or at least
answering to it. The meeting seems to have short middle aged men on one side
and attractive young women on the other. Maybe by suppling you with that detail
you’ll forget that I forgot the fifth thing.
Dang! It’s hard to deceive someone intruding in your stream of
consciousness. Believe me, Cah, this is no time for a story.
Ok, I give up. Go ahead with your story.
Wait.
You’re the silent one. I’m supposed to tell this
story? Well, as much as I’d do anything to make you happy, my telling a story
is impossible as it requires me to know a story. I’m sure it you hang around
long enough for my memory to come back I’ll be able to come up with something.
Hey, here’s a better idea. Go to the library and look under ‘Author’ for
‘Goddess’. You’re not going to do that, are you. Ok, I remember Goldilocks and
the Three Bears…most of it. I don’t remember how it starts.
Maybe I supposed to tell the story that’s happening in my imagination
now…just tell it as it happens? Bad idea. Why is the fifth thing I always
remember that I just forgot. The fifth thing is four little details so less
important than the other four that it’s easy to forget but it makes story
narratives a really bad idea. I’m a dyslexic, psychotic, time traveling,
vampire. Cah, none of this is good for you.
The vampire thing…that can be fatal. Forget about biting. Vampires,
especially long enduring ones, are often literally bored to death, and I am the
longest enduring vampire in history. While its truth that those other four
things that I never forget mitigates some of that boredom, empathizing with me
might bore you to death. Time travel is very confusing, and dyslexic makes a
mess of the order of words and numbers, not to mention when words sound similar
(remember the ‘very’ thing) Don’t even get me started on the psychotic thing
which will drive you crazy.
Cah, if you want me to do this, I’ll try, but damn it would be so much
better if you used your library card.
Let me start by describing the room a
little better. It would be a good guess that I’m in Ireland right now…or at
least as I imagine it. The two parties, which seem to be as angry with the
other as they are with me, are leprechauns and merrows.
Stop!
Cah, put the damn digital dictionary down!
I
told you I was dyslexic, which means, if I’m to tell the story with my
thoughts, I have to do it the way I’ve learned to think. I can’t just give you
the background, I have to map it out first. That means I’m going to say things
you can possibly understand, use words you might not be familiar with or even
don’t exist. But I’ll circle back to all of it and explain it better when you
have more contexts. That way, it won’t matter if I forget a detail or two, or
even mix up the order. You’ll have some of the answers to put it right in your
own mind. Besides that, you’ll have perspective of the other narrating
characters to form your own sense of the plot. In that way, you might come to
know the story as well as I do, or even better. You might disagree with me on
what happened. What fun that would be!
Think of it this way. When I was young and as confused as I am right
now, my future self appeared before me and insisted that I memorize forty
words; made me repeat them until I said them all without any mistakes; and
disappeared without explaining any of it. The forty words made no sense, and
some were words I never heard before. Try as I did to remember all of them, I
started forgetting some as I practiced in my head on my way to wherever I was
compelled to go. I found myself in a classroom where final exams where
happening. I had no memory of ever taking a class on the subject, but when the
test appeared on my desk, I realized those words were the answers to the forty
questions. Even the words I thought I forget, when prompted with the question,
I was able to recall. Not everything made complete sense, but I did know a lot
more about forty words. I still flunked, however, as I knew how to say the
words, but didn’t have a clue how to spell them.
Cah, you are in the same position here, expect instead of forty words,
you have four. If you wish to understand the story, you need remember only four
words…Ed Calkins, ruthless, newspapers, wives (or the pink machete rule if you
prefer.) If you want reasons not to understand the story, the four words change
to dyslexic, psychotic, time travel, vampire. Either way, the answers are
before you. The point is, don’t give up just because you don’t understand, I
don’t understand half the stuff I’m thinking either, but I am mapping it out,
and it will all make sense in the end.
But you wanted to know about merrows. For now, I’ll just ask you to
think of them as Irish mermaids with legs.
Together, we’ll look for the next clue, which might be this letter on my
desk.
Friday, October 22, 2021
Story Round-Up: Features in The Herald-News, Oct. 16 through Oct. 22
Good morning!
Despite being on writers retreat this week, I still have fifteen news and features stories to share with you today and few more that will be posted over the weekend, so do watch for them.
I wrote these stories last week, so they are a good example of the writing that happens in the background while others stories are published.
Speaking of writers retreat, I am happy to report that yesterday I hit the goals I set for myself for Call of the Siren (the second book in the BryonySeries Limbo trilogy) and I still have three and a half days to go.
So I will use this time to re-read my scribbles, start coloring in the lines, tackle a few projects (not all writing proects) I hadn't anticipated on tackling, and spending some time with family.
Here's a recap/update on my other BryonySeries porojects:
I finished Cornell Dyer and the Calcium Deficient Bones. But I probably won't release it this year. I'm waiting for Sue to complete the art for Cornell Dyer and the "Mistical Being," and then I can chat with her about art for this book.
Timothy has also scheduled (and canceled) a couple of "Cornell" breakfasts to start working on the next book, a Sherlock Holmes parody (the main character is Sherman Homes) as life has gotten in the way for us. But now that I've finished my retreat goals - this weekend, perhaps?
Sarah also had a crazy dream that sounded perfect for An Adventure of Cornell Dyer mystery. But she wants time to draw some sketches, a map, and write the "rules." It's called Cornell Dyer and the House of Broken Portals.
Bertrand the Mouse has returned, and you can read about it here, here, and here.
Jennifer Wainright (frontispiece artist for Lycanthropic Summer) has completed two portraits for "Girls of the BryonySeries" series for tween girls and is currently working on a third. The portraits are beautiful and it shows that artist Jennifer Wainright can draw anything from werewolves to portraits!
I current have one book in the series completed, and I am working on the second, which I'll revisit this weekend when I'm off work. The goal is to have three of the eight done before I release any of them.
Now back to the seventeen stories. Simply click on the link of the story that looks interesting to you. Happy scrolling!
But before the stories, I have a list of additional resources and information. Please check them out, too -
Finally, if you'd like to find more kindness in your life, consider this book.
And have a great Friday!
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Sue's Diner is a fictional restaurant in the fictional Munsonville that only exists in the BryonySeries.
Each Sunday, we post a new recipe. The recipe is either featured in one of our cookbooks or will be featured in an upcoming cookbook.
Check out the recipe here.
WRITERS
If you'd like to officially join WriteOn Joliet, we have two tiers of dues. We also have a marketing arm that's getting longer every year, well, except this year. Check us out at writeonjoliet.com.
Daily updates: I do post the briefs on Twitter during the week, so you're welcome to follow me at @Denise_Unland61.
BryonySeries stuff: I post curated content relating to the BryonySeries at @BryonySeries. And assorted related content at www.facebook.com/BryonySeries.
And of course, please follow the adventures of Bertrand the Mouse on Instagram at bertrand_bryonyseries.
BRYONYSERIES BOOKS
For books and more information about the series, visit bryonyseries.com.
BRYONYSERIES EVENTS
A full month of virtual events can be found at bryonyseries.com/calendar-of-events-1.
QUESTIONS
Email me at bryonyseries@gmail.com.Thank you for reading The Herald-News. And for reading this blog. And if you've read (or plan to read) any of my books. Your support is greatly appreciated.
FEATURES
Plainfield bus fire injures 2 people: 2 people transported to the hospital
Pets of the Week: Oct. 18: Will County rescues have dogs and cats for adoption
Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Visage"
Thursday, October 21, 2021
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Sue's Diner: Beer Bread
This week's recipe was submitted by our BryonySeries pianist and composer James Onohan for the BryonySeries cookbook: Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony," which is a permament fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties.
You can try the recipe on the Sue's Diner page on the BryonySeries website.
But try the recipe this week. It will be gone some time next week. A new recipe will take it's place.
Here is the full diner page: bryonyseries.com/sue-s-diner. You can't really order, of course (wouldn't it be great if you could?).
For more BryonySeries recipes, check out our three cookbooks at our BryonySeries bryonyseries.com/general-store.
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Monday, October 18, 2021
Goals for this Week's At-Home Writing Retreat
Since vacation time at The Herald-News doesn't carry over into the next calendar year, I've decided to schedule a couple at-home writing retreats, although I've held back a few days, just in case I can get down to Raleigh this year.
The second at-home retreat actually began when I left work yesterday.
Read this post to see what these retreats typically look like.
Read this post to see what I accomplished on last month's retreat.
The goals are fairly simple, although not simply executed. I'm planning to write a decent draft of the second book in the BryonySeries Limbo series, which is called Call of the Siren.
The entire book is outlined and chunks of it is written. Those chunks do make the drafting easier. Unfortunately, I have far less actually written in the second half than I do in the first.
Just so you can see the themes and the work I'm tackling, I'm including the back cover summary, the chapter titles (the dividing line represents the work for each respective retreat) and the cover art (thank you, Nancy Calkins).
Wish me luck and full cooperation of my muse!
Sue Bass is haunted by dreams of her father, who died
in a boating accident before she was born, alluring dreams of water and song.
But then a soft-spoken outside man with an inside plan comes to town, and Sue's
sleepwalking stops, only to resurface with greater magnetism when he leaves.
Two voices beckon. Which one will she heed?
PART ONE: WATER
Chapter 1: Lullaby
Chapter 2: Music or Madness.
Chapter 3: Town Mouse: Monday, Sept. 13 morning
Chapter 4: Country Mouse, Monday Sept. 13, afternoon
Chapter 5: Water, Butter, and Wine, Tuesday Sept. 14,
morning
Chapter 6: Little Girl Lost, Tuesday, Sept. 14,
afternoon
Chapter 7: The Lure of Their Eyes, Wednesday, Sept. 15
morning
PART TWO: FIRE
Chapter 8: Flames and Frost, Wednesday, Sept. 15,
afternoon
Chapter 9: Even The Sparrow, Friday, Sept. 17 morning
Chapter 10: Bewitched By Her Sweetness, Friday, Sept,
17, afternoon
Chapter 11: House Calls, Saturday, Sept. 18, morning
Chapter 12: Coin for the Passage, Saturday, Sept. 18,
afternoon
Chapter 13: Plaintive Cries, Sunday, Sept. 19, morning
Chapter 14: As Sharp as Spears, Sunday, Sept. 19,
afternoon
Chapter 15: The Meadow of Skeletons, Monday, Sept. 20,
morning
PART THREE: AIR
Chapter 16: Gates of Horn
and Ivory, Monday, Sept. 20, afternoon
Chapter 17 Ask, and It Shall be Given You, Monday,
Oct. 18, morning
Chapter 18: Seek, and Ye Shall Find, Monday, Oct. 18, afternoon
Chapter 19: Knock, and it Shall Be Opened Unto You,
Tuesday, Oct. 19, morning
Chapter 20: The Stain No Storm Could Wash Away, Monday,
Oct. 19, afternoon
Chapter 21: A Stone and a Serpent, Wednesday, Oct. 20,
morning
Chapter 22: Treading Water, Wednesday, Oct. 20, afternoon
Chapter 23: Last Dream of my Soul, Thursday, Oct. 21,
morning
PART FOUR: EARTH
Chapter 24: On Solid Ground, Thursday, Oct. 21,
afternoon
Chapter 25: Ideal – and Worthy of Envy, Friday, Oct.
22, morning
Chapter 26: Sue’s Diner, Friday, Oct. 22, afternoon
Chapter 27: In Dark Depths Lurking, Saturday, Oct. 23,
morning
Chapter 28: The Abyss Beckons, Saturday, Oct. 23,
afternoon
Chapter 29: No Breath of Wind, No Ripple of Water,
Sunday, Oct. 24, morning
Chapter 30: Ferry and Scythe, Sunday, Oct. 24
Epilogue, Monday, Oct. 25, afternoon
Cover art for "Call of the Siren" by Nancy Calkins
Sunday, October 17, 2021
Saturday, October 16, 2021
"Brownie Points," by Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara
Enjoy this semi-realistic account of what it's like to deliver newspapers in the middle of the night.
This excerpt is from the BryonySeries novel Ruthless by Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara,
For more information on the BryonySeries, visit bryonyseries.com.
Once in the van, I’m confronted with the angry faces of twenty-four brownies which should have been twenty-five. My earlier description of them might have left out too much detail. Brownies always seemed to me as if a child drew their features, Although they are entirely brown, their lips, now formed into an angry frown, and eyebrows, now narrowed over their eyes, are darker brown then the rest. Their tongues, now wagging recriminations, are much lighter, almost yellow.
Ramon, the leader, made the most words while pointing
to an hourglass shrunk to scale in the “humans around” size.
“Brownies wait for ride to Steward’s newspaper barn,”
he proclaimed. “Brownies wait and wait and wait!”
By “Steward” he meant me, Ed Calkins, the Steward of
Tara and most ruthless dictator of all time, but now I feel like I’m being
treated like a truant. I’m tempted to kick them out of the van and make them
walk the whole way, which is ridiculous as it is ineffective. Brownies don’t
know the way to the newspaper barn.
Who will blink first? I cross my arms, eying the
brownies. They cross their arms, eying me back. Well, this isn’t getting any
work done.
Starting the van, I put the trans into reverse, but I look
back at them before releasing the brake.
“Maybe, I’ll make it up to the brownies,” I muse aloud
“Maybe I’ll give each of you one brownie point for being patient…”
The brownies uncrossed their arms but remain
suspicious.
“…to off-set the one brownie point each of you lost
for yelling at me!”
I’m driving at this point, so they are too busy
enjoying the ride to continue their protest of gestures. Some are even shouting
and screaming as one might while riding a roller coaster. The roads to my
workplace look just as they always did, yet I know without evidence that somewhere the time-scape has changed. I am in
a reality where some of the people I’ve known in life don’t exist as if they
never existed. The same might be true of people that exist here, but not in my
former life. There’s no way to tell, of course. The memory changes with the
time-scape. I know for example, that the brownies now look healthier,
handsomer, happier, more rested, then they did…when? I don’t know at this
point.
The newspaper barn, or distribution center, is now in
my headlights, and I can see that I’m again in trouble before I can park. I see
the unhappy look in one of my wives’ eyes about having to wait for me to count
the papers off the dock.
Even worse, the brownies expect to go in with me.
Policing carriers is hard enough. But having to explaining brownies to those
who believe – along with the brownies’ consequences of them trying to help - to
those that don’t is more than I can handle. Fortunately, brownies know they are
in an undiscovered land of humans.
“Now is a special time for brownies here,” I tell
them. “People work, but brownies nap now. Isn’t that nice?”
“Brownies nap in big white wheel box?” Ramon asked,
referring to my van.
“That’s the custom.” Before I can open my door, the
brownies are cluster snoring. God, I hope no one hears them.
“Good morning, wife number six,” I called to her
cheerfully, hoping for forgiveness for being late. One of the trucks has
already brought papers; Millie could have been bagging them. She notes the
promotion from wife seven to wife six, but it doesn’t save me a lecture. My
human-only wives find it unthinkable to entertain me in bed, but all of them
fulfill their marital obligation to nag.
Now Millie is one of the carriers I took with me with
when the Daily Post took over the Examiner and made things much worse for
people in the industry. Pay cuts, disrespectfulness, and impossible standards
were imposed on the remaining contractors who didn’t lose their jobs.
Millie is the only one here right now, but I find myself wondering who
will be present in this time-scape and who will be absent. For those of you
still spying on me instead of studying the Frost poem I recommended, I suppose
I’m going to have to explain ‘time-scape’ and how it works.
You guys are killing me.
This is my first day as a vampire and it’s not like I
went to vampire school, so I have to figure the whole thing out on the fly. It
would help if you stopped trying to put a timeline on this. Nothing in the
universe is straight or a line. Time may seem like two opposite vectors joined
at a single point in the present, but it’s an illusion dependent on creatures
with senses such as hearing and sight. Time is nothing more than motion, and
the present is a point but has no duration. If you look at any event occurring
in the present, you’ll discover one of three things; it’s actually in the
recent past, it’s evitable but in the recent future, or parts of it have
happened and parts of it will inevitably happen which is as close to the
present as living things can get to the here/now.
No, I’m not getting anywhere like this.
Try this. Image a basin of blood which is the history
of humanity. Let your soul prick its finger and let a drop of your blood drip
into the basin as your gift to future generations. Notice the ripple on the
surface. That ripple is your lifetime. Notice the expanding circle wave in all
directions moving away from the drop. Your conscious rides the wave from only
one perspective, but it doesn’t matter, because the view is the same from any
side. When I say time-scape, I’m talking about a point of view riding on that
ripple which is usually indistinguishable from any other time-scape in a given
lifetime.
That changes when vampires abode. When some schmuck
dies but doesn’t stop living, all time-scapes that collide with it vary from
the others in its lifetime ripple. The past changes, as well as the person’s
memories to match the new past. A single vampire will disrupt the natural order
of past and future until that vampire is destroyed, and everything returns to
normal. The basin of blood becomes placid as not to matter. Here’s what
matters: what was in that drop of blood? Only its contents will appraise the
humanity that history serves.
