I spent part of yesterday extinguishing holiday cheer. The prevailing mood was frigid. With the landscape cloaked in icy white, and the temperature restrained to the single digits, I soon discovered that my worn, leather work gloves were woefully insufficient protection. After going back inside to warm my hands, and putting my cheap stretchy gloves inside the leather ones, I leaped into the action once more. 

It was lonely work all by myself, but I shrank not from the fray. I threw the scaling ladder next to the chateau walls and ascended to sack and pillage according to my whim. I spared not a single string of Christmas cheer, dragging them from the stronghold and binding them deftly (or with the meanest of skill as the case may be). The lights in the trees, like guerrilla bands in their mountain haunts, resisted in a most determined fashion, but my superior strength, mental acuity, and tactical brilliance eventually prevailed. There are very few inanimate objects that can defeat me in a straight-up battle of wits.

Earlier in the week, while shoveling snow, I formed a rudimentary fort around the fire pit. It stands forlorn and unused as everyone else maintains that the weather is too cold to loiter about a fire outside.

Last night, there were a hundred or so elk in a field that is off to the left in the snow fort picture. I didn't get a picture of that. 

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Before I share a book review, I must report the surprise that I got today. My biggest fan caught me to tell me that he read my latest book, The Shrinking Zone, and he loved it. He then proceeded to tell me how he would slay red-eyes. Of course, I told him at the time I was writing it that he would like it. I'm not surprised that he read and loved it. I'm surprised that he had obtained a paperback already -- he received it for Christmas. I'm still waiting for my author copy paperbacks to arrive.

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As for the book review:

I finished the last of these (except for a half-hour remaining) while taking down the lights yesterday. These two books are actually one book that has been divided into to 2 audio books on Chirpbooks from Dumas' sequel to The Three Musketeers. Twenty Years After is over 13 hours long, and Blood Royal is nearly fifteen hours long. I acquired them for $2.99 or maybe $4.99 each, although I believe they are both back up to their regular price of $20 or more. The books are read by John Lee who does an absolutely fabulous job. 

As the more perceptive may glean from the title, the story begins 20 years after the conclusion of The Three Musketeers. D'Artagnan is still a lieutenant of musketeers. Athos is a retired country gentleman, Aramis is an abbot. Porthos is also a retired country gentleman. The four friends find themselves on opposite sides in a political dispute that threatens to break out into civil war. They cannot prevail against one another. Only when they combine their talents do they find success--and even that has limits. Milady's son Mordaunt is the major antagonist in the story. Mazarin, the Prime Minister of France, is the secondary villain. The heroes travel from Paris and about France to England, Scotland, London, and back to France again. The story drags in places where the political intrigue among the secondary characters takes center stage. However, as a whole, the story demonstrates Dumas' expertise in weaving a compelling tale of fiction with historical events. D'Artagnan and Porthos continue to be highly satisfying and likeable characters in my opinion. I found Athos and Aramis, particularly Athos, to be less satisfying. Athos grows less mysterious, and Aramis continues to become more mysterious. If I remember correctly from my reading of the final book, Le Vicomte de Bragelonne, Aramis is the only one of the four heroes whose death is not finally revealed. 

In summary--This was a fantastic translation and reading of Dumas' work.

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In my own writing, I'm still wrestling with a short story that I need to submit before the month is over. That's all I've got to say about that.

A few weeks ago I engaged in a new game. What follows is an after actin report of the adventure.

Rescue from the Hangman's Noose - a home brew scenario of Flashing Steel

Athos, Aramis, Porthos and D'Artagnan (at 501 points) must rescue the prisoner before he is hanged. He is guarded by Lt. Rousseau on horseback and 5 more of the Cardinal's Guard on foot (at 500 points).

Each musketeer rolls 1d6 to determine at which of the 6 possible entrances he will arrive.

The house/scenario rules employed include that if a model has one failure on its activation roll, any opposing model may roll for a reaction move, and, if successful, complete it before the original model begins its action(s); if a model rolls two failures on activation, an opposing model may roll for a reaction move and complete it before the original model begins its action; after the original model's action, the initiative passes to the opposing squad. If a musketeer rolls a catastrophic fail (three 1s), the hangman gets a free action. If a guard rolls a catastrophic fail, the spectators knock the guard to the ground.

The guards can take no action other than movement and watching for trouble until they discover the musketeers or the musketeers reveal themselves by any swashbuckling or combat actions. The guards may scan the spectators for signs of trouble - succeeding at spotting a musketeer by passing a very difficult Q check (3 successes) if the nearest musketeer is a long distance or more away, difficult (2 successes) if the nearest musketeer is within medium distance, and tricky (1 success) if within a short distance.

Neither party may fire a weapon until the crowd begins to clear. The crowd will begin to clear after the second change of initiative after the musketeers are revealed/discovered.

No morale checks are required for outright kills.

The Hangman may only attempt one action per turn. His movement distance is short. His Q is 5 and his Cis 0; he may not be attacked nor may he attack, but swashbuckling moves against him are allowed. He must move from deep inside the jail to the scaffold, climb the scaffold, move to the prisoner, put the rope around the prisoner's neck, move to the release lever, and release the trapdoor to hang the prisoner. (In later replays for a more interesting game, the hangman's move was one short move per turn automatic)

Once contacted by a musketeer, the prisoner may move with the musketeer on the musketeer's activation but is limited to one short movement distance per turn. The prisoner does not engage in combat and may not be attacked. Swashbuckling actions may be taken against him.

The game ends if the prisoner is successfully hanged. The Cardinal's Guards win if the prisoner is hanged. The Musketeers win if they prevent the hanging. 

Athos and Aramis come in at entrance 1 on the right of the plaza. Porthos enters via entrance 4 at the bottom left. D'Artagnan arrives at entrance 5 on the left between the jail and the hotel. The jailer (represented by a woodland Indian model) starts at the back of the jail. Three guards monitor the crowd between the pillars near the center of the plaza. Lt. Rousseau on horseback oversees from a distance directly in front of the scaffold. The Sergeant stands in front of the jail waiting for the hangman and the last guard watches between the hotel and the scaffold.

The Musketeers begin.

-Athos begins (rolling three dice with one failure, which gives the hangman a chance to activate, but the hangman fails the activation). Athos advances toward the guards.

-Aramis prepares to advance but is blocked by the spectators. He loses the initiative and the hangman gets a free move for the catastrophic fail.

-After the free move, the hangman tries for another move but fails. Aramis is still blocked by the crowd and unable to react.

-Guard 3 attempts to scan the crowd for trouble. His view is blocked by a ladies large hat, and the initiative goes back to the rescuers.

-Aramis moves through the crowd.

-Athos also moves but is delayed by a pickpocket which allows the hangman a chance to move - and the hangman advances toward the scaffold.

-D'Artagnan decides that he must move to intercept the hangman. He advances and is momentarily lost in the press of the crowd. The initiative goes back to the guards.

-Guard 2 pushes spectators away, giving the musketeers a reaction move - but Athos can't do anything with it. The guard scans the crowd but doesn't notice Athos moving toward him.

-Guard 3 also separates the crowd - and gives the musketeers a chance to react - D'Artagnan takes the opportunity to fling a nearby barrel into the hangman who takes the hit and goes down, shaken. (The barrels weren't in the previous picture because I had forgotten to place them).

(The hangman will have to spend two actions and as he only gets 1 per turn, D'Artagnan has bought at least 2 turns for the prisoner.

-Guard 3 spots Aramis.

-Guard 4 spots D'Artagnan in the crowd.

-Guard 2 is confused by the activity back near the scaffold where the hangman has fallen and turns over the initiative.

-Porthos rushes Lt. Rousseau and attempts to drag him from his horse. Porthos only succeeds in pushing Rousseau back.

-D'Artagnan can see that the time for stealth has expired. Thanks to his Dashing ability, he is able to attack the nearest guard. The Gascon was delayed by someone in the crowd and muffed his attack, being pushed back by Guard 1, and turning the initiative back to the guards.

-Guard 1 attacks back at the musketeer and knocks him to the ground!

-The hangman tries to fight through the haze that enshrouded his head when he hit the paving stones but isn't successful.

-Rousseau turns his steed and attacks Porthos, bowling over the big musketeer.

Two of the musketeers are down!

-Guard 4 rushes to his Lt.'s aid (because the best time to help is when the opponent is down). The musketeers get a chance to react but can't.

-Guard 3 sees Aramis as the crowd in the square flees from the armed combat, but gives the musketeers a chance to react and Porthos scrambles to his feet. The guard fires his pistol at Aramis but misses.

-Guard 2 fires his pistol at the oncoming Athos, but Athos is quicker and gets a shot off that causes the guard to dodge as he fires; both shots miss their targets.

-All the guards and hangman having had a chance to act, the musketeers take over.

-D'Artagnan gets to his feet, and puts his rapier through Guard 1's heart. Things aren't looking quite so dark for the musketeers.

-Athos moves in behind the black powder smoke from the pistols but Guard 2 has guessed his move and forces Athos to the ground to avoid a fatal wound. 

-Aramis benefiting from his Impetus and Dashing abilities moves into combat with Guard 3, making him retreat back across the courtyard.

-Porthos puts Guard 4 to the ground, but still faces the Lt. on horseback.

-The turn passes to the guards. The Sgt. who forgot to move last time (my fault) elects to engage D'Artagnan but is unable to attack and turns over the initiative.

-Athos rises only to be knocked down again.

-Aramis takes aim at the Lt., giving Guard 2 a chance to stab at Athos but the Guard can't react. Aramis' shot goes wide. He rushes to engage the mounted guard.

-D'Artagnan struggles with the Sgt and is knocked down again. He immediately rises and knocks down his opponent.

-The guards take over. Guard 4 wants to get up but slips and falls back to the cobblestones, turning over the initiative.

-Porthos finishes off Guard 4 and turns over the initiative. (Guard 4 had a chance to react and rise but failed). Two guards are out of the fight and the hangman is still down and shaken.

-Guard 2 tries to take out Athos but is so slow about it that he allows Athos to rise to his feet, but knocks him back down again before turning the initiative back to the musketeers.

-D'Artagnan slays the Sgt, runs to the scaffold and climbs the ladder. Three guards are out. D'Artagnan has slain two of them.

-Aramis attacks the mounted guard leader, but gives the guards a reaction. Guard 3 races to the bottom of the ladder. Aramis attacks the Lt. without result. 

-Porthos is driven back after attacking the Lt, and he causes a turnover.

-Guard 2 stabs at Athos but the musketeer bests him even from the ground allowing Athos to rise.

-Lt. Rousseau pushes Aramis away and rides to the fallen hangman.

-Guard three wants to reload but doesn't, instead giving D'Artagnan time to fire at the Lt, but the shot goes wide.

-Athos allows the guards to react. The Lt. fires at D'Artagnan who dodges out of the bullet's path. Athos lunges, skewering Guard 2, putting a fourth guard down and out. The guards test morale. The Lt. thinks that he should go for help and rides his mount out of the plaza. Guard 3 has the courage to stand but sees no point in continuing with what has become an unwinnable contest. He bows and sweeps his hat in salute before giving up the field and the prisoner to the musketeers.

The four musketeers are painted. I must say that my painting skills occasionally soar to heights very nearly approaching the underbelly of mediocrity. This wasn't one of those times (I'll aspire to mediocrity another time), but sometimes it happens.

Aramis, Porthos, Athos, and D'Artagnan.

More importantly, the manuscript for Justice Resurgent is (I hope) being proofread by one of the extremely talented people who suffer though such things for me. But the most fun I had this week was writing on, not one, but two novels. A while back I started writing a new novel, but I felt guilty that I had not yet done the sequel to my YA Fantasy Finding Jack Book One The Orb (FJBOTO, or The Orb). More importantly, a particular fan of that book keeps insisting that I write the sequel right away. So, I decided to ease my conscience, get that fan off my back, and work on the sequel: Finding Jack Book Two The Rod (FJBTTR or The Rod). I can't stop the new novel either, so I have to do both. That's a rookie mistake, but it's how I wrote Smoke, Justice Resurgent, and The Orb--working on all three until I had to focus on each one in turn to write the last portion of each.

I had to re-read the last couple chapters of The Orb to get back into the right mindset, and to pickup right where the first book ends. I'm only a few thousand words into it, but it's a fun one to write.

Here are a couple excepts from The Orb, copyright 2016--used with the author's permission, of course--all other rights reserved. These are from the last third of the book. (Also, the paragraph indentation didn't transfer properly).

Nazanzires stirred. A familiar fragrance filled her olfactory receptors. A certain and distinctive incense lingered in the air. Her eyes snapped open as she recognized the scent…of sorcery. Magic had been brought, or wrought, within the confines of her den; a whiff of wizardry mingled with the usual odors of her habitation. Like an aromatic spice, the perfume permeated the entirety of the cavern.

She turned her head about, searching for a tell-tale stream emanating from the source of the odor. In a few seconds she had found not one, but three sources. One source she traced to the wall where she knew it had been for a time; but now it had been activated, and its odor aroused. There she also found the trace of two humans, each with the scent of sorcery upon them.

The location of the familiar item radiated a pulsing red hue of a scent. The other two streams smelled of latent, unused power; one bore a swirly pastel scent. The other struck her suddenly; even in its dormancy it burned with a steady white intensity.

Nazanzires reared back in pain and anger as the piquant white scent seared her nostrils. She felt an instinctive wave of wrath rising within herself. She opened her jaws and, with more than a hiss, but less than a roar, spewed her fiery breath at the area with the heaviest concentration of the stinging stench. She drew back to the far side of the lair. She ran her scaly tail along the wall, rapidly clicking the bony ridge scales against the rock. The action served as a sort of release of nervous energy, a calming exercise. She knew that smell. She knew its source. She would regain her composure before she left the lair to pursue the thieves, one of whom bore that baneful stone.

...

...

Jack closed his eyes, expecting to be consumed in flame. He opened them a moment later to see fire nearly engulfing himself and the stranger; but the fire turned away, unable to penetrate some unseen shield that protected the two of them.

“You’ve been rousing monsters. You won’t live long here!” the stranger shouted grimly over the sound of the pounding flames.

Jack didn’t have any response. He looked around. Vinto lay unmoving near the tree where the horses had been tied. The horses were nowhere in sight.

The flames stopped. Jack glimpsed the silhouette of the dragon rising from its swooping attack. The beast flew over them. As the dragon passed, the stranger rose, and ran toward a patch of trees, nearly a hundred yards away.

Nazanzires turned back toward the sorcery. Her first flaming onslaught had been ineffectual against the power of the stone. She knew that her fire could not penetrate that shield. She also knew somewhat of the workings of the stone. She knew that eventually her attacks would deplete the power of the stone. Then would the bearer be at her mercy.

As she turned, Nazanzires saw the bearer of the stone running away. She swooped back toward the retreating figure. The figure turned, holding a strange object in one hand, the stone in the other. The figure pointed the strange object at her. She stuttered in her flight as a force struck her. Delayed, but not deterred, she continued toward her target. Again the wave of force struck her. It was stronger this time, but she only shuddered under its impact without breaking off the attack. She dove downward, spewing flame.

Jack managed to roll to his stomach. He pressed himself against the earth, and the dragon swooped over him toward the stranger. Standing now, the stranger held the orb between himself and the dragon. The beast’s flaming breath beat upon the unseen shield without burning the stranger. But the stranger was being forced backwards, as if he were inside of a ball being pushed by a strong wind.

When her fiery breath stopped, Nazanzires did not turn away. She came straight at the stone-bearer. Only as she was about to impact the figure did she pull up to drive her talons toward her target. 

I note that The Orb is available now for only $0.99. That's real value!

Dumas' Progeny

Although this picture of Faye Dunaway and Christopher Lee in The 4th Musketeer: Milady's Revenge would be from 1974, it causes me to think of the Bonnie and Clyde movie from 1967 in which she starred with Warren Beatty. The coach in this picture seems to have more headroom than the stolen Ford Deluxe in which Bonnie and Clyde met their demise in May 1934, but the shoulder room looks a little tight. Perhaps those two pistols behind the heads of Milady and Rochefort are what raised that memory of the two young bandits jerking like electrified frogs' legs under a relentless spray of lead which perforated both the Ford and its occupants. I saw that movie as a kid on television many years after its theatrical release; the memory of that scene is still quite vivid.

Although I was allowed to watch Bonnie and Clyde on television, I did not get to go to the theater to watch The Three Musketeers, or The 4th Musketeer....because...Mom. I suppose the fact that I was less than 10 years old could've had something to do with it. Fortunately, I did get to see both of these movies after I was married--which was a considerable number of years later--and I'm still angry that I never got to see those movies as a kid. Of course I had not read Dumas' Three Musketeers in either English or French at that time, I just knew that I would love the story--it had SWORD FIGHTING. I did read the book in English when I was a freshmen in high school; several years later I was able to read it in French...and I continue to reread it in that language every few years for fun. It's a great story. My theory is that Dumas' characters were at least part of the inspiration for the Cartwrights of Bonanza, as well as Kirk, Spock, Bones, and Scotty of Star Trek. Some day I may compare the various movies based on Dumas' book...but not today. My copy of the book in the original language came to me via one of the booksellers along the Seine in Paris...but I digress.

The Three Musketeers is an outstanding story because it has adventure, intrigue, sinister villains, beautiful women, interesting characters,...and did I mention sword fighting? Why do I bring that up? Because those are significant elements in memorable stories. No doubt, Dumas has influenced my own writing. In Justice in Season, the hero, McBride, is certainly like D'Artagnan; Parker may be a little like Captain Treville, or Athos; Shorty and Vaughn compare with the musketeers Aramis and Porthos; Sheriff Upton has a whiff of Cardinal Richelieu about him; and McBride's nemesis correlates with Rochefort. The stories are certainly different, and I never made any intentional transposition of characters. However, looking at the completed story, I can see the parallels...except for the sword fighting...unless the gunfights count.