Return of an Old Friend

Dali Shurr mug shot, SHOLARI v1n3

For the novelization of THE ANGEL OF DRAIL, I needed the lead characters. And I'm happy to say, Slam Desti, Boy Yord, is back. All grown up. Nearing middle age. But I like revising old characters.

And know one
knew how old
he really was.

Dali Shurr, the kid who got into so much trouble in SLAM DESTI, BOY YORD is grown up and off to see the world with real adventures, with his buddy Oomo, his best friend Thivin. Oomo has two wives and four children, set up his family business to operate in his absence while he goes on a "business trip" to Ponteer as an agent for their new paper making industry. It's really Oomo's trip and Dali is just going along. But two home boys from the old digs off to Ponteer - that's an adventure.

When I go to Jorune, I think of who I want to see, and the boys were just right for that long ago adventure that introduced trashy literature to the children of Jorune. And the warnings are right - it's just ruining them. Dali "hasn't found the right one yet", but he's a good looking guy, couple of new scars to show off, and still sticking his face places where it shouldn't be seen. I think Oomo is taking care of him.

And there are other connections to the old Ardoth neighbood. They are meeting up with Drenn Hawath, well off the Ponteer trail, just for old times sake. Just to share a meal. He has over thirty Toth's Justice office around the world, and some grateful clients feed him oney to go open more. That's why he's in town.

And that old bastard of a publisher, Del Vodwos, is still around and has built up an empire of yule dreadful thanks to the miracle of ceramic printing. He's is not a bad guy. He's a businessman. A slimey businessman. A publisher who pays the writers as little as possible.

THE ANGEL OF DRAIL was originally outline for a RPG scenario, so there are several scenarios to go through. But this time I get to pick the most dramatic, or at least satisfying, moments to present. And I don't have to worry about a player who ate a bad chicken burrito ruining the game for everyone (vomit across the table, dice, notes, and figs can be distracting).

So cliche. They meet in a bar because they just happen to be there. Not Del, but Drenn Hawath and the boys. He doesn't even try to sucker them into a story line. I already know how that is going to happen.

The Bratty Sister. Yeah,
I'm pretty sure she's
going to be there, too.

I'm mapping the characters, the scenes, who gets introduced when, the Great Arc that is the overall story, and the lesser arcs that would have been suggested scenarios in an RPG write-up.

This is a game that was actually played back in the 1990s when I was still playtesting Jorune 3.5, a clarification of 3rd Edition's system. People from that game were part of my favorite crowd, so it is bringing up a lot of fun memories.

But it cannot be just a write-up of one group's version of a scenario. For long form fiction you do more than that. So I'm using Mind-Mapping to organize the story. I did that for CLIMBING THE SPIRAL MOUNTAIN, a non-genre novel of which I am very proud. (On Amazon, like 500+ pages, but ... the people who have actually read it say it's worth it.)

Due dilligence. That's the phrase. I'm doing due dilligence in the struturing of the book - and it looks like it is going to be a full novel, not a novella. With Thriddle and Trarch and Ramian and some very cool Earth-tec your Sholari might let you possess at some point - you may have perform unspeakable acts. But really, aren't all acts speakable?

THE ANGEL OF DRAIL. I've been moving toward calling the planet by the name the Shantha have always called it - "Sho-Caudal" I'm sorry. I can't animate the isho blossomes that go with saying it in shanthic. Maybe a Shantha will take pity on me and hit me with some Shal to get that part of my brain working. Maybe.

But it's nice to have everything falling into place. I might be able to finish it before the end of the year.

This whole thing fits into my recent fascination with how a low-metal world, such as Sho-Caudal, would deal with knowledge of printing, and printing would change the society forever. You would have wooden type to start, but you could make a master mold of typeset pages and fire a ceramic plate, from which you could use ceramic 'slip' (look it up) to create a number of reverse plates which could be shipped all over the world. Cheaper to ship plates than bound books, and plates survive getting wet - Salu ship in open Chaussis and things get wet. Local papermakers get a boom. Local printers get a boom. and local translaters can create new editions for the various races in their own languages.

It would be all the rage, you know.

And Ponteer is THE place to ship things from the eastern world - Burdoth, Heridoth, Dober, Yobre, Lundere and Shardin - to the Western world - Ponteer, Thantier, Drail, Tan Iricid and even Temauntro. I guess an airship might take plates to Khodre and Jasp.

EVERYTHING would be local editions, by local printers, and everybody pays fat boy for the plates, no matter how many copies they run (or can't run). But when you win, you win big, and Del always wins.

But that's background. The real story starts with the sounds of a fight and an obvious underdog getting the snot beat out of him buy brigands. Yeah. That's where the real story starts and out boys meet the Angel Roger.

Now... If I just knew someone to do a cool cover... Hmmm. Who does Jorune art who might be willing to take some direction to do a cover for the first Jorune long-form fiction?

And where do they meet? Hmm. Just thinking off the top of my head... Ponteer, not on the Ponteer trail.

Map for the dropped GOMO GUIDE: PONTEER. Poo.

Quedi. Open port village on the east coast. Near some Thivin enclaves, even if uncomortably close to some Ramian villages. There is a hard wall of the Shards to the West - getting through to the southern loop of the Ponteer trail is damn dangerous. Easier to go up the coast to Dra-Eeli and just send your goods, or your self, along the Trail to Cerin.

You et the impression I've been here before?

Quedi. Nice place. I know where you can get some great Dothibur Patchak - you can barely taste the durlig. Meat so tender it falls apart. Spicy with potatoes and some other vegetables and ladled over Rav seed. Nice bottle of Rusper. You're set for the the evening. Particularly when you have old friends to share the table.

I'll probably run a few chapters in SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL. It I have people, places, things, and a problem. I'm keeping the problem to myself for a bit. But there is a problem.

Oh, last minute word - I received the last corrections for SHOLARI v2n1 and it will be getting gussied up for DriveThruRPG print edition. Remember when you get the print edition you have the option of download the PDF at no extra cost.