Tuesday, April 23, 2024

T is for Troile

The home is doomed. My selfish brother angered gods and Achaens alike with his choices.

Troy isn’t without allies among the gods. I’m not without allies. If only Ganymede’s voice carried as much weight as Hera, but he’s decided to champion me by sending to the side of an Achaen whom might also be an ally.

Achille delights in battle. He might well delight in Troy’s destruction along with my own. His friends and loved ones are our enemies.

Everyone and everything dear to me is in danger from him. As Troile and Achille, we’re fated to fight each other.

As Aissa and Polyxena, can we challenge that fate? I pray we can, but how can we succeed in skirts when our swords are destined to clash?

The gods only know how we’ll free ourselves from the tangle of tragedy the Fates have waiting for us.

Monday, April 22, 2024

S is for Shelley

The only power I had in Paradise was to choose my name. Byron and I took those of rebel poets from a lost world remembered only in book and tales. Our names gave us the courage to raise A Rebel Song in Paradise. Cast from the church choir, we were given to one of the Pale Lords of our holy city who dwell in great estates apart from simpler folk. Byron and I were separated, tended by Lord Ruthvyn’s doll-like servants, and struggling to find our way through the labyrinthe of living art which is our master’s estate. We’re starting to see what’s On the Other Side of the Mask Lord Ruthvyn and his servants show to the outside world. Byron and I are losing ourselves and each other as we become part of our master’s world. Our only hope is to hold on, to find Lord Ruthvyn’s lost humanity with our songs. If we don’t, we’ll lose ourselves, our mind, and become part of our master’s collection of statues, paintings, and other furnishings whom were once like us. Caught between Paradise and mad decadence, it’s all we can do, not to slip away.

Saturday, April 20, 2024

R is for Rhodry

I was born in a roleplaying campaign, only to be changed for different one-shot convention games, changed in the campaign its. I struggled for a new existence in The Keep, formed true bonds there as Rhodry Mavelyne.

The scribbler must have loved Rhodry Mavelyne as much as I loved being Rhodry Mavelyne. Why else would she use the name rhodrymavelyne for her identity on Twitter, Archive of Our Own, Wordpress, NaNoWriMo, her Facebook Author Page, and one of her livejournals?

Rhodry Mavelyne had deep ties of blood and love to other characters belonging to other authors. When I was him, I was truly entrenched in The Keep.

As Rhodry Nevalyn, I’m descended from a dangerous evil called the Serpent. Nevalyn was the other name She used. Daeric is proud of the name, yet fears to use it. Daeric came with me from The Keep along the gargoyles Imp and Smirk. They guard the top of Daeric’s tower now. Daeric himself has a touch of the sinister which my father/uncle in the original campaign possessed. I don’t think he plans on sacrificing me, but if I’m the key to the Vampire Corwyth or worse Nevalyn herself returning to the World of Ouroborous, I fear he would.

Look at what he did to Kyra Nevalyn, whom was also his kin. She was a tiny dragon imprisoned in a box in his study for at least a hundred years. Kyra assures me her own actions had as much to with this as anything. I thought she was the hero who stopped the Serpent from returning to the world a hundred years ago. She seems to think she’s responsible for the fall of an empire and the rise of vampires.

Vampires are returning to the world. They’re causing Trouble at Caerac Keep, according to Faith, a Unicorn acolyte fate has been rude enough to link my destiny to. She’s not happy about it either. She blames me for everything since I’m Serpent-Born. To make matters worse, I’ve started to get visions of her hate, her fear.

I know vampires aren’t behind the disappearances, nor the strange sickness striking down many people of Caerac Keep, including Faith’s own sister. A vampire has been visiting me nightly, feeding upon me.

Daeric knew nothing of this. He would definitely disapprove. He already disapproves of my visits to the Tipsy Hedgehog, to hear the owner’s stories of being an adventurer, and to see Kevin, who works at the bar. The strange visions I get of an Aethyrian sorceress in peril, the strange song I hear of someone crying for help have him ready to lock me up in his tower.

Only Daeric isn’t going to be locking anyone up. He’s disappeared, along with one of Faith’s sister clerics.

Lord William of Caerac Keep has ordered Faith and myself to help the lost sorceress’s sister find our missing people, to solve the mystery of Caerac Keep. As if working with Faith and a stranger wasn’t hard enough, a seductively sinister sorcerer has decided to join us in our quest.

We had enough Trouble at Caerac Keep. Now it’s going to get worse.

Friday, April 19, 2024

Q is for Quartz

No, I’m not the dead dwarf among seven brothers who once lived with the Fairest of them all in the Forest of Tears! I’m just sleeping off the nasty backlash of a curse which struck down my poor Fairest and was absorbed by the poor crystal trying to heal her. I guess I took a blow for both of them. I’d tell you more Of Cuckoo Clocks and Crystal Coffins, a yellow-stockinged sprite named Nimmie Not, and the deal I made with a dragon if that blasted scribbler ever finishes my story! Secondary Characters Speak Out once a month at inspirationcauldron.wordpress.com, getting their long overdue, thanks to me. Right, the other Cauldron of Eternal Inspiration. Trust that scribbler to confuse us with two Cauldrons, eh? Go on and read my Fairest’s tale if you can follow the links. She deserves a little love in her life. Just don’t believe that I’m dead, you hear?

Nine Star Press: https://ninestarpress.com/product/fairest/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fairest-K-S-Trenten-ebook/dp/B0CNSL28YR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=26Q4LNG7UIVW2&keywords=Fairest+by+K.S.Trenten&qid=1701720288&s=books&sprefix=fairest+by+k.s.trenten,stripbooks,143&sr=1-1

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fairest-ks-trenten/1123806892?ean=2940179155874

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/fairest-19

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1483368

Apple Book: https://books.apple.com/us/book/fairest/id6472735190

Thursday, April 18, 2024

P is for Phaedra

I lived with my lover, Pausania, almost losing myself in her. I need to find myself. Perhaps I will at A Symposium in Space which Agathea, the most powerful citizen in the Intergalactic Democracy has invited us to. Some of the finest minds in Democracy have been invited, not all of which are in Agathea’s thrall. Pausania insists it’s a trap. I don’t know what’s between Agathea and Pausania, why she’s determined not to go. Sometimes I feel like she wants to keep me locked in a gilded cage on a planet where she can have me all to herself. Why can’t she understand? I need to roam the stars, allow my body and spirit to take flight. I need to find myself in order to love myself. I don’t think I can love anyone else until I do. Come with me on my journey, visit our Symposium, and see what lies in wait for us.

Nine Star Press: https://ninestarpress.com/product/a-symposium-in-space/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Symposium-Space-Feast-Words-ebook/dp/B07PGB15FY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3BPACY58MCCMV&keywords=a+symposium+in+space&qid=1552937461&s=digital-text&sprefix=A+Sympo%2Caps%2C239&sr=1-1

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1130883509?ean=2940161507872

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-symposium-in-space

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/928136

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/a-symposium-in-space/id1455892042

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

O is for Opal

Someone has got to keep their feet on the ground in this family. That someone is me. No way can I trust any of my brothers to do it. The five of them are quivering in their boots after all that’s happened. Aye, just five of them, not six. I’m the oldest because Quartz is a pebble-brained fool who followed a kobold, made a deal with a dragon, and let trouble into the home. Not that I blame our Fairest, the human girl who came to live with us. I can’t help thinking life would have been simpler if Quartz hadn’t taken her in.

Right. Aye, I did the same. I opened the door to that witch Oriana, because I pitied the princess with her. I got to be careful about that. I know nothing Of Cuckoo Clocks and Crystal Coffins, save the cuckoo clock is always watching and I’ve got a brother in a crystal coffin where a human maiden slept off a cursed sleep.

You want to know all about that? This is all I’ll tell you, for now…

Nine Star Press: https://ninestarpress.com/product/fairest/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fairest-K-S-Trenten-ebook/dp/B0CNSL28YR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=26Q4LNG7UIVW2&keywords=Fairest+by+K.S.Trenten&qid=1701720288&s=books&sprefix=fairest+by+k.s.trenten,stripbooks,143&sr=1-1

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fairest-ks-trenten/1123806892?ean=2940179155874

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/fairest-19

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1483368

Apple Book: https://books.apple.com/us/book/fairest/id6472735190

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

N is for Nathalie

Wind Me Up, One More Time, for I need the laughter, the creative energy. I fear the gears of industry may have caught my beloved Maia within their relentless grind. She is no Iama the Terrible, for all she jokes about being that evil enchantress, turning her victims into gold. I fear what she may become in her attempts to provide for my sister, Grace, and me. I fear I’m not half the mother Grace needs, but what choice do I have? Mama Morisot and Mama Bebe left us. Why does it fall to me to be responsible when our mothers leave us behind? I can’t leave Grace behind the way they left us. I just can’t. I have to make my sister laugh. I have to keep her spirits up along with my own. Grace has her Theodora Bear. I have my stories. We both have our mother’s stories where we can be princesses, a stuffed animal will always save us, and an evil enchantress’s heart can return to her. If only life could be like those stories or can it? Follow the links and find out…

Mischief Corner Books/Shenanigans Press: https://www.mischiefcornerbooks.com/store/p161/Wind_Me_Up%2C_One_More_Time.html#/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081LPX2WH/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Wind+Me+Up%2C+One+More+Time&qid=1573974211&s=books&sr=1-1

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/wind-me-up-one-more-time

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wind-me-up-one-more-time-ks-trenten/1134959345

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1488235515?fbclid=IwAR1_ox2T5jIHibPFBHUqTck0SNaP3pcZIgNM4DS3VAjU47mn3o5iu260bMA