Crusade to Lisbon

 Fun Fact:

More 2nd Crusade:  (From Chapter 15 of Crusaders by Dan Jones)

Although not part of the 2nd Crusade's proclaimed goals, at about the same time, turmoil in Sicily allowed its fall. Roger II to establish himself there, blending the Muslim influence with the other existing cultures. Likewise, Bernard of Clairvaux authorized the Danes and Saxons to crusade against the Wends near their own lands rather than traveling to join the fight in the Holy Land. Additionally, Lisbon was an important port with links inland via the Tagus; it also had important shipping connections with West Africa. Pope Eugene favored fighting the infidel at every opportunity and approved a plan by Alphonse VII of Castille and Leon to attack on the western peninsula. With the Almoravid Muslims occupied by a Berber rebellion, Alphonso saw an opportunity. Lisbon was also a natural stopping place for crusaders coming from England and Northern Europe by sea--looting along the way would help fund the crusade.

A huge fleet of 164 ships departed from Dartmouth May 23, 1147. When they landed in Porto on June 16, Alphonso was already on the march to Lisbon. After a rousing sermon, they set sail again to join Alphonso at Lisbon where they beached the ships and laid siege to the city. In July, they took the suburbs and constructed siege engines to attach the main city. They locked it up tight and sent back any who dared leave to plead for mercy with their hands cut off. The defenders' repeated sorties were repeatedly rebuffed until they were reduced to hurling taunts and strong language.

The crusaders had taken the main warehouses and the defenders suffered from hunger, sifting through the trash drifting from the crusader ships for food. In late October, a section of the city wall fell to mines and siege towers bridged over another section. The crusaders sacked the city and Alphonso raised his flag. With winter setting in, the crusaders would be unable to travel until spring.

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I'm getting notes that fans are in happy receipt of Accidental Wizard. I think they'll enjoy it even more than Accidental Pirates. Meanwhile, I've only a few chapters left to conclude Accidental Chessmen. The boys go from frying pan to fire, but have so far managed to make the right connections or find the right resources to extricate themselves each time. They'll need everything they've learned to survive the final chapters and find their way back home.

 

Accidental Wizard and The 2nd Crusade

 

 Accidental Wizard released this week. From the back jacket:

Chris and Kenny wanted an adventure. They should have been more specific.

One step through an old fallen log and the twins are hurled into a kingdom at war--where a dying wizard has just spent his life summoning them. Now Chris is a blood mage, and every spell he casts tears his own skin. Kenny gets a sword that never loses and a shirt that turns blades aside. They'll need both.

A dragon-sorceress is coming. Her army is already crossing the desert, and the only thing that can stop her is a staff hidden since Merlin's time--guarded by blood wolves, trolls, and a traitor who wants the boys dead.

Two brothers. One impossible quest. No way home until it's finished.

It gives away a little more of the story than I would've, but it should arouse interest in the story.

You can get it here: ACCIDENTAL WIZARD is on sale this month. (Note this is an affiliate link whereby I or Rac Press or someone may receive some commission on qualifying purchases).

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FUN FACT: (From Chapter 14 of Crusaders by Dan Jones)

Edessa, one of the first Crusader states to be established, came under attack in the fall of 1144 by Imad al-dinn Zengi. The city fell to the besiegers on Christmas eve. Hugh, Bishop of Edessa, was trampled to death in the onslaught. Naturally, the Crusaders looked to Europe for aid.

Hugh, Bishop of Jabala, envoy for the Crusaders, found the papal state in turmoil. The newly elected pope, Bernardo Paganelli, had taken the name of Eugenius III; he needed something behind which Christendom could unite. Eugenius leaned heavily upon his mentor, Bernard of Clairvaux. December 1, 1146, Eugenius issued a call to the faithful to rescue their brethren in the Holy Land by a new crusade.

March 31, 1146, King Louis VII and Bernard of Clairvaux mounted a wooden platform outside Vezelay in northern Burgandy to stir the audience to righteous fervor. While the French King prepared for the crusade, Clairvaux went on to Brussels and elsewhere to spread the good word for action. He persuaded Conrad III of Germany and that king's greatest rival, Welf VI of Bavaria to join the crusade. 

Easter, 1147, fifty years after The First Crusade, and more than two years after the fall of Edessa, The Second Crusade set out for the Holy Land.

 

 

 

 

Ghost from the Past

 A ghost from the past formed in the smoke as the candles went out. A scene from Accidental Wizard - preorder now. Available September 11.

Twin brothers walk through a fallen log and land in a kingdom under siege. The wizard who pulled them across dies doing it, and Chris — the one with blood on his cheek — is handed the dead man's job. His first lesson is a knife across the palm and a chandelier he has never been taught to light.

For parents and teachers: roughly 48,000 words across 31 short chapters, first person, alternating between the two brothers. Book 2 of the Accidental Adventures series, and it opens with enough context to be read on its own. No romance, no crude language. Worth knowing going in: the magic system runs on the caster's own blood, and Chris carries wounds through most of the book.

ACCIDENTAL WIZARD is on sale this month. (Note this is an affiliate link whereby I or Rac Press may receive some commission on qualifying purchases).

The unpacking continues. The storage unit is emptied--thanks to some friends--and most of that stuff has found a place in Xanadu. Unfortunately, much of it remains boxed in the caves of ice, but all the bookcases are up and in the process of receiving designated contents. I also discovered these beauties that I hadn't been able to find for years and wondered if they were lost or stolen:

I also found three boxes of metal figures--two 12 packs of adventurers and one of twice that many monsters. Old school heavy metal figures that I painted in high school and gamed with for hundreds of hours. I can honestly say that my painting skills haven't improved.

In writing, I've paused Accidental Chessmen for a day or two in order to work out the details of the titular game, because it can't be regular chess our heroes must play. They must learn and succeed at a similar game on a different planet. I took inspiration from ERB's The Chessmen of Mars for this adventure, and naturally, there must be a fabulous chess game with living players as part of the high stakes conclusion. I have to play a few games to fine tune the relationships between the pieces. The first game revealed that the casualty rate is extremely high. The losing side was down to three pieces before conceding defeat, and the winning side was down to six survivors. The short moves and layout of the board and pieces necessitate trading of pieces in an effort to create an advantage or breakthrough opportunity. The balance of power can shift suddenly.

Here's a scene from Threading the Rude Eye in which Jonathan Knight makes an exit from a tavern in a more conspicuous manner than he had hoped. The knife is supposed to be pinning the malevolent sailor's palm to the bar, but apparently depicting that would violate some ill-defined standard.

The books in the series are on sale for 99 cents each. From Sept 4 to Sept 11 -- and then it's over, so don't miss out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Antonio in the rigging and a book review

  

 Those of you who have read Threading the Rude Eye may recognize this scene in which Antonio dares the British to do their worst. He, of course, has great confidence in his enchanted ward against British ball--as well as his personal charm with women.

Earlier today, I spent a short time Les Freres Corses, and we did one of our talking adventures. (These adventures don't use dice or abilities etc; each participant makes a suggestion of what happens next in the adventure--like being spotted by dinosaurs, making it the ruins, suffering a fall, or what happens when the single lit button in the ancient UFO is pushed--and then everyone votes by playing one of three cards dealt to them to start the game. The suggestion that receives the high card is what happens; and the players each draw another card). Anyway, I'll spare you the turn by turn, but in less than an hour, the heroes escaped dinosaurs, discovered a secret passage into the ruins, activated an ancient starship and survived the crash thereof, were attacked by a giant spider and dinosaurs, did some highly cinematic battle sequences, and completed the mission while suffering some serious wounds.

One of the things we talked about was the imminent release of Accidental Wizard - the sequel to Accidental Pirates. (Amazon Associate link acknowledgement: I, or someone else, may receive some kind of remuneration or commission when the link is used). Let me share with you something about the new book before we get to the book review for this week:

Chris and his twin brother Kenny step into a fallen log on a hike with their grandfather and come out on a grassy hill in a kingdom at war. The court mage who summoned them is dying on the spot from the cost of the spell. Within the hour, Chris has been handed a cut palm and an order to produce fire.

The magic in this book is not free. Every spell Chris casts opens a wound somewhere on his own body — the book calls it the mulct — and it never stops being true. Power costs something and he is the one who pays it.

There is no romance subplot and no crude language. What there is: two brothers who refuse to be separated, and a grandfather who sends them off expecting them to come back having learned something.

ACCIDENTAL WIZARD is on sale this month.

Check out the cover: 

 

Book Review:

 

I finished reading Rick Cutler's excellent book, Colt Ostergaard: Man with a Gun. I've already sent him a note of appreciation for writing the book. It's a rip-roaring good time and a rootin' tootin' shootin' read. Colt's a man of honor surrounded by dishonorable people from both sides of a war, the wounds from which have never healed. Colt is the man in the middle, the honorable man who is therefore a target and scapegoat for those carrying the wounds. Speaking of wounds, Colt's not the white knight hero who never gets a wound. In fact, if there is something that is opposite of the guy who never gets a scratch, it would be Colt. Get his book on your list to be read immediately.

I could tell you more about this book, the planet Fenris, the war with the Alphies, the fur snakes, the 40 year winter, the exoskeletons, etc., but I won't ruin the delightful discovery of these things for yourself. 

 

The Oracle

 

I was able to spend some time with Les Freres Corses last week. In addition to having pizza, we found time to bust out some tabletop gaming. Above is the picture of the board they prepared for their two adventurers. I called it The Oracle, because of the crystal ball in the center. The T-Rex on the hill was the guardian of the oracle and the plastic army men were another group coming to seize the oracle for their warlord.

What do you use to measure movement when you don't have your red, blue, and green gaming measurement sticks? You use the Bunny System, of course. Everything moved in increments of one, two, or three bunnies. The ghost was some mysterious creature that only activated on an 11 or 12 on a d12, and if active, would go dormant on a 1 on the d12. It was not a big factor in the game.

The oracle activated whenever anyone came into contact with it. Naturally, that attracted the attention of the guardian.

 As it turned out, I think T-Rex gobbled one soldier and the adventurers killed one soldier while taking little or no damage themselves--not counting the incident. The incident involved K-man's character getting to the oracle and activating it and stating his wish. On a wild fluke (a 1 on a d20), the oracle took a sudden and intense dislike to the character and struck him with a bold of lightning--probably not unlike Apollo striking Scotty with lightning in that Star Trek episode--which proved fatal to this character.

RC's character was not dissuaded and made his way to the oracle to get his one wish. He was not struck dead and his wish was granted. Unfortunately, his wish was not for his brother's character to return to life, but he was able to restore him with some particular magic power he had from an earlier adventure. Thus the K-man was also able to live and get a wish. Meanwhile, the surviving soldiers decided to ignore their orders and each used his wish to make himself a super soldier who had no need to follow the directions of the warlord. 

Meanwhile, the adventurers found a teleportation device that took them to town--from which they were soon chased. I forget the reasons.

On a second scenario, after being chased from town, they had to take the tunnel beneath a mountain and find some kind of treasure. After uncooperative dice prevented them from finding the treasure at any of the locations indicated on their map, they had to search the base of the mountain, and eventually found it. They escaped the dinosaurs stalking them by causing a cave-in on one of their pursuers.

In a third scenario, they had to return to and find a passage through the collapsed cave and get off the far side of the board. 

We departed from the usual rules in favor of a "story adventure" in which we used no dice. Instead of measuring movement and rolling dice, we each stated what we thought would happen next. After everyone had made their statements, we voted on the statements by playing one of the three cards we held in our hands. Whichever possibility received the highest card in its favor was adopted. Of course, once a card was played it had to be discarded and a new card drawn to replace it. The system made for a faster game and gave the boys a chance to state possibilities, so there was never a time when nothing really happened. It did seem like one of them always drew better cards than the rest of us, but we did have some close calls and some injuries.

We may have even played a fourth scenario because the "story adventure" system finished quickly enough that we had time for another game under the usual house rules.

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Also, this is still happening: 

When island warriors capture Kenny and Court in a net trap, Chris is the one who stays free — hidden in the stream, watching. He could run. Instead, he follows them at a distance, alone in unfamiliar territory, determined to find a way to help.

It's a quiet but powerful character moment: an ordinary kid choosing to stay close to danger because his brother needs him, without any superpowers to make it easy.

Accidental Pirates is on sale this month