I share my home with three lovely people. One of them, Peato, has just been diagnosed with cancer. He has a large carcinoma on his arm and encephalitis to boot. He needs lifesaving brain surgery and surgery to remove the fist sized lump on his bicep.

Peato is the dad to a seven year old who needs his father. Peato’s older brother died of cancer when he was 28. They really don’t need to lose Peato, aged 30, as well. Any help funding his surgery so he can have it more quickly would be much appreciated! Please share this.

The second book in the Rift Tide series is underway. For now I am calling it the Sapling; the actual working title I have for it seems more apt for the book coming after it. So the name of this new book is elusive. However, it is steadily putting out new shoots. I call each page I write longhand, in my small lined book, a leaf. Yesterday there were three new leaves and today there have already been two. This book just wants to come out it seems. Long may it continue so. Rewrites on Somewhere Else continue, as always slowly. I find rewriting torturous, until I hit my stride each day, and so I am slow to begin. I need to work my way over this! It is limiting me.

Today I have also spent a lot of time in research. A likely unmentioned aspect of  the history of the two realms is that the last time Kalesskin and other creatures journeyed from Else to Earth (instead of vice versa) was during the Minoan period (*coff coff*). People and animals journeyed from Earth to Else around 100ad – 900ad taking the technology of that period with them. Then 1450 – 1600 AD Else spawn traveled back to Earth on the return tide, heavily influencing Aztec culture. Now, today, that tide has reversed again. At the time of  Somewhere Else people will have been traveling from Earth to Else for 30 years.

At the moment I am collaborating with some really clever artists and programmers. I have no idea what the outcome will be in terms of output but I am very much looking forward to seeing what they come up with. Today I had a huge amount of fun identifying what aspects of Minoan and Aztec culture were influenced by the cultures of Else as it arrived where these civilizations were centered. I sent my artist co-conspirators Aztec and Minoan images to work from with an added dash of Dark Crystal related art because I adore Brian Froud. He and Miyazaki influence nearly everything I do. 🙂

Reading wise I have had an enormous amount of inspiring stuff on the go. Which may also explain why my dreams are currently so heavily populated by dimension shifting magical visitors, zombie stabbings, vampires, and fantastic rollicks through the Middle East. I have read the first of the collected volumes of  Fables stories by Bill Willingham (yes, in some things I am a late bloomer! But better late than never right?!) and am onto the second. I thoroughly enjoyed Robin Hobb/ Megan Linholm’s new anthology Inheritance. It joins Smoke and Mirrors and Daughter of Regals in the category of best short story collections that I love. 😉 Any fan of Hobb and Lindholm will enjoy it.  I have also explored Marvel’s releases of Soleil’s comics (they are a French Graphic Novel house). Ithaq was nice. But my heart was won by the characters and art of Daffodil. I especially liked the badger headed fellow, and wished for more of his back story, and the two human children featured who rather stole the show from all the vampires. Daffodil is charming.

This week I also discovered the wonderful Atlas of True Names which I now covet! What a great source! It looks beautifully done, too.

And now? Alors, more rewriting T__T