A'mara Books Update

Here’s what was accomplished at A’mara Books this week:

15,000 new words written

Brighid’s Blood – 9000 words to finish! - Last week, I was calling this one A’mara Dawn, but I realized it was totally the wrong name – possibly for a much later story.

I ended up writing a legend for this one – which will feature at the beginning of this novella. The legend explains some things that happen in the 851 T.C.E. collection that I’m working on at the moment.

Anyway, I brought this story to about 47,000 words making it my longest novella to date.

Acting the Part – 5500 words, mostly on section 2 (between Building on Promise and the story about Zara – as yet unnamed) - current total is over 22k and I have only just started writing section 3! - This is the story of Derick Aiden, a famous actor who is producing exposé films about the Neví. We get to hear more about Iyva and Zilan in this wraparound.

Research points this week:

Volcanoes

Okay, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest – I watched Mt. St. Helens as she spewed ash all over everyone. But I needed a volcano that could wipe out 2/3 of Velantia!

Although the disaster doesn’t happen during the course of the Brighid's Blood or its sequel(s), it had to affect my map making. Also, with the shape of Vendaria mostly set for some later books (maybe I’ll get back to the first one of those soon – though I suspect that Akurey is going to take more mending work than I have time for at the moment) it was clear that there had to be two (possibly related) disasters! For the disaster to wipe out most of life on Velantia/Vendaria, it would be best if it happened at the same time.

So, I researched Krakatoa, probably the largest volcanic event in living memory. It wiped out a huge chunk of island in its Plinian eruption in 1883. The caldera around it is about 10-12 km wide, not quite large enough for what I need from Mt. Vendar, but it’s close enough to scale from. So...

Mt. Vendar has a catastrophic plinian explosion which wipes out everything for many km around – effectively destroying eastern Velantia. (see the current map of Velantia)

But that’s not enough – I have another bite taken out of Vendaria on the NW side… as you can see in this early version of the map (I haven't yet finished the new one.)

That’s when I discovered the difference between the Krakatoa type caldera versus the type famous at Yellowstone. This kind is called a Resurgent caldera and are the largest volcanic structures on Earth. The largest example of a resurgent caldera is the Toba Caldera on the island of Sumatra. It is 100 km (62 miles) long and 29 km (18 miles) wide…) Perfect! https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/caldera/

A resurgent caldera results from the collapse of a magma chamber… possibly made more explosive by the addition of water. Hence...

Mt. Vendar’s magma chamber was located NW of the island – the depletion of the chamber is what caused the slope of the island as this chamber was collapsing. All that needed to happen was a huge eruption of Mt. Vendar, depleting this magma chamber to the point that water is able to seep in… KA-BOOM!

Swing dance aerial moves (air-stepping)

In Acting the Part, the wraparound story for the 851 T.C.E. collection, the famous actor, Derick Aiden is working on the second film exposing the Neví for who they really are - and decides to train his co-star to competition level in swing dance.

Why swing dance?
I learned a little West Coast Swing in my brief time in college. I wish I’d got to learn more than – and I don’t have the figure for it now, for sure, but it was always loads of fun watching the girls who were really good at it! This form of dance is so much fun and has so much scope for competition.

So, to describe some of the training Kauri must go through to dance with Derick, I watched a bunch of how-to videos from the bare basics of getting off the ground to full flips and swings around the partner!

Lark Mervine is another good person to watch if you want to learn swing dance air-stepping.

Protogenius do some great videos on this! Spend this afternoon learning how much fun this type of dance is!

That pretty much sums up this past week of my writing work!

Please catch up!

Rebound of Power is available at a digital store near you! It’s also still FREE – if you’re digital store has a price, try another! It’s also still available at Dbooks for free.

Friendship on Fire is available at a digital store near you for $2.99! It’s also still available at Dbooks for free – limited time only.

Courage to Trust is available at a digital store near you for $2.99! It’s also still available at Dbooks for free – limited time only.

Elect to Change is available at a digital store near you for $2.99! It’s also still available at Dbooks for free – limited time only.

Ocean of Empathy is available at a digital store near you for $2.99! It has not yet been released on Steemit or Dbooks.

At which point, the Rebound of Power collection will be completed.

Don’t forget!

I’m still offering 1 Steem Basic Income share for any newbie (100 SP or less) who asks me a question which prompts an “Ask the Author” post! I’m thinking about putting these into a Dbooks ebook all its own, actually.

Image Credits:

Cover art based on image from Pexels – creative commons, no attribution required.
Shaze based on a katana from Pixabay – creative commons, no attribution required.
Shaze chapter ender from Wikipedia Commons – used within terms of license – sword adapted for use as a shaze.
Grass texture for maps from Pixabay

All maps/editing by myself on GIMP and Photoscape, both free programs.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Although the penalty of knowing me in real life is that you will influence the creation of my characters; any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Lori Svensen – A'mara Books & Viking Visual

Banner by @shai-hulud

A'mara Books Update - July 9