Visions of Arhyalon

Caption This Winner

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:58:56 GMT

We had a number of good captions, but only one made the Wright Household sing!

"99 squeaky toys on the wall, 99 squeaky toys…"

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

In Which I Participate In An SF Signal Mind Meld:

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:42:40 GMT

I was invited to participate in an SF Signal Mind Meld. The question was:

Q: Gods, Goddesses and Myths: From Rick Riordan to Dan Simmons, the popularity of Gods, Goddesses and Mythology, especially but not limited to Classical Greco-Roman and Norse mythology seems as fresh as ever. What is the appeal and power of mythological figures, in and out of their normal time? What do they bring to genre fiction?

You can read it here.

John participated as well.

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Overheard at the Wright Household

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:46:04 GMT

Mom, telling a story: "So the prince went to talk to the old lady who lived on the farm next to the giant hedge."

Juss, using two voices–normal for the first sentence and then slightly lower: "'How did he know that there was an old lady living on the farm?' 'Juss, you are overthinking this.'"

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Caption This!

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:11:10 GMT

Winning caption posted on Wednesday!

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Overheard at the Wright Household

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:10:21 GMT

Orville, upon going up the stairs for the third time after having to go downstairs twice. "I feel like we're playing ping-pong…with us."

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Caption This Winner!

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:14:15 GMT

A number of good ones, but the winner was:

If she'd known they were teleportation devices, she'd never have stuck them in her ears.

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Caption This!

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:36:42 GMT

Winner posted Wednesday.

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Body Image Lies Women Believe: Free Kindle eBook & $100 Giveaway POST HTML:

Wed, 08 May 2013 12:21:18 GMT

UPDATE: Due to technical issues, this book will be free tomorrow and Friday, May 9th and 10th!

Posting this for another author. Her new book is coming out:

—–

By Shelley Hitz and contributing authors

Download on Kindle

FREE three days only: 5/8/13, 5/9/13 and 5/10/13

PLUS enter to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card!

About the Book, Body Image Lies Women Believe:

Are you insecure about your looks?
Have you ever compared yourself to someone else and found yourself wanting?
Do complements or put downs determine the image you have of your beauty?

Real Stories of Overcoming Body Image Lies Women Believe with God's Truth Throughout this book, Christian women share their stories of how they have struggled with body image lies and a distorted view of themselves. However, each of their stories also contains hope – the hope of replacing these lies with God's truth. Our prayer for you is that you find encouragement within these pages and allow Christ to transform you with His truth. We Are Each Created Unique God has created each one of us with unique abilities, unique talents and a unique personality. As women we are influencers and God has given us that role and our beauty to share with others. Yet so often we settle for a counterfeit. The enemy has counterfeited our idea of beauty, convincing us to share our beauty with the world in a distorted way. Today that often means that we see our beauty as what we look like on the outside. What Lies Have You Been Believing? Join us for the journey of replacing body image lies with truth from God's Word.

Download on Kindle

FREE on 5/8/13, 5/9/13 and 5/10/13

Paperback | Large Print | Audiobook

Shelley Hitz Shelley Hitz is an award-winning and international best-selling author. Her openness and vulnerability as she shares her own story of hope and healing through her books will inspire and encourage you. Shelley has been ministering alongside her husband, CJ, since 1998. They currently travel and speak to teens and adults around the country. Shelley's main passion is to share God's truth and the freedom in Christ she has found with others. She does this through her books, websites and speaking engagements.

Follow Shelley Hitz Website | Facebook | Twitter

Enter Below to Win a $100 Amazon Gift Card!

Thank you to our sponsors! The giveaway is sponsored by Staci Stallings, Spirit Filled Kindle, Grace & Faith 4 U and Body and Soul Publishing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Share this FREE book and giveaway with your friends!

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Caption This Winner!

Wed, 08 May 2013 12:07:22 GMT

We have two winners, this week. It was a tie. There were many good responses, but these two amused the most:

What grumps on four feet in the morning, two feet during the day, and three feet in the evening?

and

"Of course it's alright to use it for target practice, mon ami! A few cannon balls could only improve *that* face, non?"

I also think the one that suggested the Washington Monument as a scratching post deserves an honorable mention.

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Caption This!

Mon, 06 May 2013 14:47:38 GMT

Winning caption will be posted on Wed!

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Possible Back Blurb–thoughts welcome.

Thu, 02 May 2013 19:44:36 GMT

Roanoke Academy for the Sorcerous Arts—a school of magic like no other!

Who knew so much could go awry in one week?

Rachel Griffin is a thirteen-year-old girl with one small goal. She wants to know everything! To this end, she has come to Roanoke Academy—located in New York State’s Hudson Highlands—a year younger than her peers. Her perfect memory, which helps her excel at scholastic pursuits, had an unexpected side effect. With it, she can see through the enchantments sorcerers use to hide their secrets.

When someone tries to kill a fellow student, Rachel begins paying attention. She soon discovers that, in the same way her World of the Wise hides from mundane folk, there is another more secret world that hides from the Wise. Rushing forward where others fear to tread, Rachel finds herself beset by wraiths, embarrassing magical pranks, a Raven that brings the doom of worlds, and at least one fire-breathing teacher.

This does not stop her learning magic, making friends and, most importantly, finding romance!

Curiosity can kill a cat, but nothing stops Rachel Griffin!

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Wright's Writing Corner: The Trick Revisited!

Thu, 02 May 2013 11:14:34 GMT

New cover!!!

Last night's writing workshop went very well. The kind folks at Savvy Authors kindly prepared a transcript of the class. For today's post, I am going to post the transcript for the rest of you to enjoy.

The subject of the workshop was 'The Trick', my favorite writing technique for both its simplicity and its effectiveness.

The Trick: Raising expectations in one direction but having the story first go in the opposite direction.

The Trick is the secret to writing, the thing that makes a story work: expectation followed by something other than the expected outcome – but something that is thematically consistent with the original events.

In art, artists use shading to emphasize the lighter portion of their work. The shading provides contrast that draws the eye back to the non-shaded part. In a story, writer’s need to do the same thing. One way of providing that contrast is with The Trick.

Of all writing techniques, The Trick is the easiest to do. You just decide where you want the story to go, and then you indicate—through dialogue, character thought, or narration—that the opposite is coming. If you want to have a happy incident, you make your character glum. If you want something bad to happen, you make him unexpectedly happy. It is that simple, and it is tremendously effective.

You just have to remember to use it. That is all.

How best to use it, of course, gets more difficult. If you are too blatant about your reversals, the audience will not be taken in. I’ve read books or watched shows where every time someone was happy, I winced because I knew something bad was coming. That actually undercuts the effect. The reader is alerted rather than lulled into a false sense of security.

So, the more subtly you can apply it, the more effective your scene. But you would be amazed at how blatant you can be and still have it work. Some of the bestselling authors today are quite obvious in their use of the Trick, and yet people read their books with great eagerness.

How exactly does one use The Trick? Let me use an example from real life. This happened just this spring.

I have a friend whose house was foreclosed by Bank of America. It was a condo, really, but it was his home. It was a very sad thing because he had been up on his payments. However, there was a misunderstanding. Some years earlier, my friend had lost his job. During his jobless period, he had arranged payment plan with B of A, where he was paying a portion of the monthly amount.

My friend is a hard worker. When he got a new job, he approached B of A and offered to return to the full payment. The person on the phone told him to stick to the current payment plan.

Fast forward a few years. My friend gets a sudden call from B of A. They say: Pay up the many thousand dollars you are now behind. Obviously, my friend did not have this on hand.

He lost his home. Time went by. There was a class-action suit against B of A. My friend participated and was part of a winning settlement.

A few days ago, the check arrived. When he called me to share the story, he said that he sat with it in his hand for almost half an hour, praying and terrified, before he opened it. You see, he knew that while some people had gotten as much as $3000 from the settlement, many had only received $300. He did not know if he could bear it if his check contained only $300.

Finally, he ripped open the envelope. It contained a check for $6000!

Pause a moment. Think of how that makes you feel. Okay. Ready? Let’s go on.

Now, there’s another part of this story I left out. My friend works in an office, but he has always wanted to do more. When he graduated from college, he wanted to serve in the army or as a police officer. He wanted to do a job that mattered. He applied many places. Each time, he was turned down due to ill health.

That was nearly twenty years ago. His health has improved. Recently, he discovered that he might qualify to become a firefighter. This is the kind of work he could excel at—active work helping people with truly important things.

To make this change work, it would help a great deal if he could take some paramedic classes. This will be difficult for him, of course, because taking classes while working is always a strain.

When word first came about the B of A settlement, he looked online to find out how much he might be getting. The top payment for someone in his category was: $125,000!

Even though he knew this was probably an exaggeration, my friend spend an evening daydreaming of what he might do if he received the entire $125,000. He could quit his job, pay off his debts, and take the classes! He could be free of his current life entirely! He could be the man he wished to be.

Eventually, however, he discovered that this was not the amount people in his position would receive—and the fears of receiving only $300 began.

Now, think of how different the story I told above would have felt if I had told you: He held the envelope, expecting, hoping, that it would contain $125,000. All his hopes for the future, all his dreams, lay in this one check. He ripped the envelop open. It contained a check for $6000.

Instead of a miraculous triumph, that same $6000 now feels like a crushing defeat.

That’s The Trick.

The rest is available here, but you have to sign up as a member of Savvy Authors (which is free.)

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Here it is! -- My New Cover!

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:18:41 GMT

Here is the cover to my newest book, a fantasy YA, to be released some time this summer.

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Caption Winner

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:05:34 GMT

There were a number of good entries, but this one took the cake for wittiness.

Stop calling her Wendy Darling!

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Happy Walpurgisnacht!

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:13:19 GMT

Tomorrow, May Day, I will be leading a Writing Workshop online. It's free. Details are here:

http://www.savvyauthors.com/vb/showevent.php?eventid=1956

Also, tomorrow I will unveil the cover art for my newest novel: The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin.

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Caption This

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:55:07 GMT

It has been brought to my attention that people need slightly more than twentyfour hours…so the winner will be posted Wednesday.

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Book Review: The Redcap Queen by Danielle Ackley-McPhail

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:09:03 GMT

Danielle Ackley-McPhail is all kinds of awesome! And now, she’s back in print for all of us to enjoy with another Bad-Ass Faerie Tale—a sequel to her HALFLING’s COURT novella.

Suzanne has always resisted her boyfriend Lance’s desire to protect her. Now, he cannot stop the panic caused by her memory of a recent attack by redcaps. Eager to put her terror behind her, she sneaks out to face her fears on her own. This well-meaning desire sets in motion a series of events that threaten to destroy everything—and everyone–Suzanne holds dear.

An intense story filled with heartbreak and adventure. In addition to everyone’s favorite motorcycle-riding faerie-kin, there is a priestess of Avalon whose vows forbid her from warning those she loves of impending doom; a marvelous, magical space-traveling mead shop that nearly steals the show; derby girls with amusingly-crazy names (like Molotov Cupcake, Assault Shaker and Doom Hilda) and hot skating action, plus evil fathers, dangerous fae, and an evil cap of red that can’t be put down.

Suzanne’s relationships with those she loves are tested to the breaking point as the wicked caps threatens to consume her and turn her into a weapon against her friends. Only Lance’s love and the loyalty of the Wild Hunt could save her now…but will they see through what has she become in time?

Look for THE REDCAP’s QUEEN from Dark Quest Books.

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Caption This Winner

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:27:13 GMT

This week, we had many, many good responses. Several of which really made me laugh out loud. Here at the Wright Household, we could not get a consensus, so we have a tie:

Juss The Elf King's Choice:

A commotion occurred in city hall of Many Connecticut today, when a peeping tom that had bothering the townspeople had been brought to justice by Circe's niece Logistilla (pictured above, center, with two of her friends). When asked by the press on why she changed him into a horse she replied "I always wanted a pony."

and

Voted the wittiest–when magic fails:

"I'm reporting live from platform 9 and 3/4s…"

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Caption This!

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:40:25 GMT

This one baffled the boys and I. You all take a stab at it.

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Upcoming Book Signing

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:36:18 GMT

John C. Wright and Virginia Johnson and I will be signing books at:

Prospero Books in historic downtown Manassas, Virginia

on Saturday, May the Fourth, between 11am and 3pm.

Prospero Books

9129 Center St.

Manassas, VA 20110
(703) 257-7895

May the Fourth be with you!

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Reading Poll

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:00:48 GMT

Dolly Garland interviewed a group of readers for their opinion on how reading shaped their life. I was one of them.

http://kaizenreading.com/42-readers-reveal-how-literature-has-contributed-to-their-individual-potential/

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

And Today's Winner was:

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:59:43 GMT

Water… Earth… Fire… Air. Long ago, the twelve tribes lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Roman Empire attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, a carpenter named Jesus. And although his airbending skills are great, he still has a lot to do before he's ready to save anyone. But I believe Jesus can save the world.

Second place to the logically following:

Jesus also has Waterbending down. When he masters Earthbending and Firebending, he can return and take his place as the everlasting Avatar King.

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Interview with Me–SFFWRTCHT Twiter interview all in one place on SF Signal.

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:50:12 GMT

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/04/sffwrtcht-a-chat-with-tor-author-l-jagi-lamplighter/

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

North Salem, New York

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:47:54 GMT

A rather nice article about my home town:

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/09/realestate/if-you-re-thinking-living-north-salem-ny-bucolic-vistas-suburban-westchester.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)

Caption This!

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:53:02 GMT

Juss's pick for this week's Caption This! Best caption wins, posted tomorrow.

Originally posted to Welcome to Arhyalon. (link)