Free Promo Friday #2: Bloodlines - Graylin Fox

Six months ago, Tessa and her friends saved humanity by preventing the spread of a deadly virus. Now, they’ve returned to their normal lives in their cabin nestled amid the Appalachian Mountains, slowly recovering from the havoc wreaked by her ex-boyfriend.  

  

When Rusty, a goblin born into slavery, begs Tessa to return to the Otherworld to aid him in freeing his family, she agrees. There they find the most unlikely of residents—Matthew. With no love lost between them, he’s quick to inform her there is a twenty-year-old bounty on her head and the person who concocted the deadly virus wants to collect. Tessa is caught in a race to learn magic, help Rusty, get to her elven family and, oh yeah, save the world—again. 

Excerpt

The forest was beautiful. The plants were between six and seven feet tall with all different colors of flowers. The scent was not overwhelming, but she could tell when it changed as she passed each plant.

Her mind wandered as they walked. The knowledge that her elven family was here somewhere sat in the back of her mind and refused to budge.

Do I look like them? Do I have brothers and sisters? Do they know I’m alive?

The questions repeated over and over as she walked. Every once in a while, she would slow down as she let her mind wander, and Jasper would gently nudge her from behind. Tessa quickly learned that a gentle nudge from a dragon could knock her over if she wasn’t careful. 

“Thanks, Jasper,” she said as she brushed dirt off her knees. 

“I’m so sorry, Tessa. I saw them moving away and wanted to catch up.” His scales flushed pink and he pulled his wings to his belly.

“It’s okay.” She patted his head. “It’s my mind wandering that has my feet slow.” 

“Do you want to ride?” He lowered his head so she could climb into the saddle. 

“I’d rather walk but if you could walk beside me, I’ll hold a wing and you can pull me if I slow down.” She grasped the elbow part of his folded wing and was amazed at the soft leathery feel. They moved fast to catch up to the group, which was now headed by an impatient goblin with his arms folded.  

Did Matthew walk this same path when he was sent here after high school? What did it feel like for him to suddenly be in a different world? A part of her wanted to sit down with him and ask these questions, because if he was evil, it meant she didn’t see it and that would hurt more. She wanted to hear that it was his trip here, an additional rejection to add to the bullying from Earth that drove him to be so angry he could commit genocide. 

I loved him once, but did I know him? 
 


Like what you see? Get more of Graylin at:

Graylin's Barnes and Noble Page :: Bloodlines Book Page

Graylin's Amazon Author Page :: Bloodlines Book Page

Publishers Site (Graylin' page on Decadent's Site)

Smashwords

World-building - Fantasy & Society

This goes for SF too, but I'm in the mood to talk about fantasy today for some reason. I guess between reading Game of Thrones and playing Dragon Age: Origins, I've got fantasy on the brain. Also, I really wish I'd developed this a little better, but hey, I'm not a teacher, so I can get some slack, right? :D

Anyway, one of the most important aspects of building your world, be it SF or fantasy, is the society in which your characters live. This is something Dragon Age does fantastically. In the game, you can choose from three races: Human, Elf, Dwarf. Within those races are classes. For Human, you can choose Mage or noble. For Elf, you can choose Dalish (elves who live in the forest), Mage, or commoner (in which case you live in the alienage, which is an impoverished, sectioned-off portion of a city ). For Dwarf, you can choose noble or commoner. Whatever you choose decides how other characters in the game see you.

If you're a Human noble, for example, everyone treats you with optimum respect, referring to you as "my lady" or "my lord" depending on your gender. If you choose Mage, people are afraid of you because they don't like/understand magic. If you choose Elf, people are more likely to talk down to you because most elves are servants. Regardless of your standing as Gray Warden, people will still refer to you by your previous social status. Most of the time, you have to tell them you're a Gray Warden to get a little respect.

So, what do you need to think about in order to construct your society? Well, a lot, actually. Now don't be alarmed. There are a lot of wonderful tools to help you along your way.

Some important ones:

• Economic/class model - This one is probably THE most important one because this will shape how your characters view the world and themselves. Is it a commerce-based society? Are merchants the at the top or close to the bottom? Is there a gap between haves and have nots? Are you shooting for more of a communist-based society where there's no wealth?
  
         Ex. Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy uses the world's economic model as the catalyst for the Hunger Games. Basically, it's all for rich people's amusement.
  
  
• Technology - Are you writing steam/cyber/other punk? Basing your society around the Middle Ages when people still rode on horses? Is it an era of invention?
  
         Ex. Steampunk is all the rage these days. Kady Cross' The Girl in the Steel Corset utilizes the steampunk automatons and advanced technology. The plot centers around automatons being used for dastardly deeds.
  
  
• Religion/Spirituality - This is probably tied with Economic model in terms of importance because it will help shape your characters, whether they're believers, non-believers, or just don't care either way.
  
         Ex. In Dragon Age (I know, I know, but really, it's a good example), the central religion (Chantry) is built around a prophetess and a higher power referred to as the Maker. Chantry belief dictates everything from the lore surrounding the evil critters you have to kill (Darkspawn) to how Mages are treated to curses and praises. There are people within the Chantry called Chanters who can only speak the religious text the religion is based around.
  
  
• Geography/Setting - The actual world part of your world-building. If you are setting your story anywhere besides present-day Earth, you're going to have to figure out the geography. Draw *really crappy, if you're like me* maps. Figure out important places. Mountain ranges. Deserts. Flat lands. All these things (and more) will determine how your character travels and the potential hazards therein.
  
          Ex. Star Wars. Dune. Game of Thrones. Pitch Black. Each of these uses setting to show something about character, whether it concerns how the character grew up--Luke was raised on a desert planet with 2 suns--, a character's attitude--Ned Stark is often referred to as cold because of his "northern blood" while characters from around Kings Landing are "those southron folks"--or a character's adaptation to his environment--Riddick's night-vision.
  
  As you can see, when you build a world, you literally build a world. You design it. You make its history, its culture, its classes and all of that. Everything, be it where a character's from to what he believes in, will shape your characters and their reactions to the world around them.