The title of the latest Darkover anthology, Jewels of Darkover, is aptly fitting. One opens up this collection of short stories, all inspired by the Darkover series, to find a box of jewels. Inside, of course, are the blue matrices, or starstones that helps those gifted with laran to use their powers. Readers will find other gems inside: some golden and dark, others small and rare, some set in necklaces, others, the colors of flames. Readers will find treasures.
The range of the stories here is remarkable. For example,”Golden Eyes” is set about a hundred years after the first humans come to the planet. The protagonist of “Little Mouse” is a young blind woman who borrows the eyes of mice. Other protagonists include woman of the Sisterhood of the Sword, a man and a woman, strangers to each other, marrying to preserve their families. One story is told by a woman of a certain age. And not all protagonists are human.
Somewhat at random, I wanted to go into more detail about two stories in this rich jewel box. I hav easily selected two different ones. “Pebbles,” by Rhondi Salsitz, introduces Paulin, a twelve-year-old poor boy, an orphan, and a double minority on Darkover: brown-skinned, and the grandson of a Terran. His one friend, Tyrmera, is a Traveler, another outsider on Darkover. But Paulin, is Comyn, and gifted with laran. His gift is the ability to hear voices from the future, a rare gift, if not a unique on, and thus the Comyn want him as one of theirs. But what does Paulin want? And others–do they want him, or what he represents? Can this boy and his friend, both outsiders, find a place on Darkover? “Berry-Thorn,” Berry-Thorn, by Leslie Fish, has a nonhuman protagonist, Toshmi, a Kyrri, and like Paulin and Tyrmera, another outsider. Something is happening. Toshmi leads other Kyrri to find out what’s going on, and, if necessary to stop this “great work.” But what is at stake, for Toshmi, for the kyrri, for Darkover itself?
Darkover fans, take note. Jewels await you.
And other note: sadly, this is the 20th, and apparently the last, Darkover anthology. There will be other Darkover novels, Arilinn, by Debrah Ross is forthcoming. But such tales, from the many writers who find inspiration under the red sun, alas, no.
Post 2, June 2022
My fifth novel, In Light’s Shadow: A Fairy Tale, is forthcoming and will be released on September 3, 2022, by JMS Books, LLC. This novel has been a long time coming. It had its genesis in a 2003 short story, “The Golden Boy,” published in The Silver Gryphon, eds. Gary Turner and Marty Halpern, by the late and lamented Golden Gryphon Press, in 2003. “The Golden Boy” was a finalist for the 2004 Spectrum Award for Short Fiction.
And here it is, 2022, and the novel based on this short story is due out in a few months. The story was well received. Gary Turner, the publisher of Golden Gryphon Press, suggested I turn it into a novel. So I did. I started sending out The Golden Boy no later 2007. By 2022, The Golden Boy had been sent to thirteen different presses. Yes, thirteen. The responses ranged from nothing, not even an acknowledgment of receipt, to a long and detailed letter. Each time the novel, I edited and revised–and often, when it came back, more editing and revising.
Now, you may be wondering how it took 15 years to get to print. Life sort of intervened. Harvest of Changelings came out in 2007, its sequel, The Called, in 2010, from Golden Gryphon Press. Not longer that, Golden Gryphon had to close its doors. I did get the press’s logo tattooed on my left shoulder. The Werewolf and His Boy was published by Samhain Press in 2016–and sadly, a year or so later, Samhain closed its doors. Small independent presses all too often don’t have long lifespans. But, that said, of the thirteen to which I sent The Golden Boy–and I did not send it to Golden Gryphon or Samhain–eleven still seem to be alive and well.
In addition to sending various incarnations in the past 15 years, I was busy teaching at the University of Mary Washington, which had its own academic writing demands, and the lesson plans, conferences, classes, and all the rest. Sometimes the book just sat there. Then, ahhh, I’d try again. And again.
Then came 2020, another revision, out to Mirror World in Windsor, Ontario, three chapters, a request for the rest, and then, a long, thoughtful, and detailed rejection letter explaining why, with suggestion for improvement. All right …. but 2020 intervened. I was already on track for retirement, then the pandemic, going online to teach, moving from Fredericksburg to Charlottesville, and finally in 2021, I got back to the novel. A revision. Then, my extraordinary friend and free-lance editor, Ellen McQueen, went to work on The Golden Boy.
Now here we are, with a new title, In Light’s Shadow: A Fairy Tale, and a signed contract with JMS Books, whom I contacted to re-release The Werewolf and His Boy in 2020. The golden boy is still alive and well, but over the years, some things have changed, and Gavin Bookers is a far more active hero. The novel is about him, and about their relationship, as it evolves from their boyhood to adulthood in a dystopian world. The motifs of light and dark, shadow and light, multicolored lights, are sharper, and more vivid.
I hope you like the novel.
Post 1, January 2022
If you are reading this post, then my website, Kingdom of Joria (https://kingdomofjoria.com) has gone live.
Welcome.
This is my second website. The first I created with the assistance of Jim Groom, former head of DTLT, at the University of Mary Washington. Well, more like I assisted him. For various and boring reasons, that website has been buried in a local cyber graveyard. Thank you, Jim!
Here, you will find descriptions of and excerpts from my published fiction, cover art, and buy links. There is a calendar of upcoming events, as they are scheduled. Also, you will find a writer’s bio and contact information.
I want to thank Digital Learning Support’s amazingShannon Hauser and Jerry Slezak. Without their support, hands-on assistance, and troubleshooting, and answering questions, I could not have constructed this website. I want to especially thank Shannon, who directly shepherded me through this process.
So, what can you expect to find here in these occasional posts? Raves and rants, reflections and musings on writing–my writing and the writing of others, for starters. Thoughts on storytelling and the craft of writing, on language, on metaphor. On science fiction and fantasy, on fairytale and folklore, especially gay-themed science fiction and fantasy, as this is mostly what I write. Gay SF and fantasy I see as rhetorical acts, and ongoing arguments for their inherent value, their essential nature, their truths,
Yes, I know not to expect a large audience, or an audience period, especially not at first.
So be it. Thanks for stopping by.
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