By the Book - Covert Christmas

Welcome back,

Books with Christmas themes can be hard to find, so when I came across ‘’Covert Christmas’’, I thought to myself it might make a good book review for December. So here is my review of this novel, written by suspense writer Hope White.

I found this novel in a used bookstore while I was shopping around for reading material.  This is not the type of book I would normally go for, but thought it would work well for future themed book reviews. Coincidently, it is also about suspense, a literary genre I covered just  recently.

           The story is about an ex-police-officer named Scott turned private security agent, who is investigating his employers shady activities. While trying to escape some hired thugs, Scott bumps his head and loses his short term memory. Luckily for him, he is saved by a local search-and-rescue trainer named Breanna, who nurses him back to health. Together, they work on getting Scott’s memories back, and uncovering what illegal activities are going on in the area. As the cover says, this novel is a love inspired suspense, so the story focuses a lot on Scott and Breanna’s feelings for each other as the plot progresses.

Back of the book:

DIAGNOSIS: AMNESIA

A man has been shot and left for dead on Echo Mountain, and Search and Rescue K-9 handler Breanna McBride wants answers. With no memory, all the injured man can recall is that his first name is Scott, and that someone wants him silenced. Scott knows better than to depend on strangers, yet he finds himself falling for his captivating protector. And although Breanna won't rest until she helps him piece together the rest of his past, she vows to ignore the attraction between them. But as they close in on the truth, she becomes the killer's next target. Now the pursuers will stop at nothing to ensure the pair is six feet under by Christmas.

Echo Mountain: Saving lives and finding love in the mountains of Washington State

What I learned from this book:

• Cliff hanger: The author successfully kept the audience engaged in the story by having some pretty intense cliff hangers at the end of every chapter. Random events, such as the unexpected appearance of a lost loved one or sudden gunfire was effective in keeping the readers hooked and wanting to move on immediately to the next chapter.
• Amnesia as a plot tool: Having the main character suffer from amnesia was a creative way of drip feeding information to the audience while explaining how the protagonist didn't have this information himself. This was also effective in making the protagonist vulnerable, and open to receive help from the love interest character, Breanna. However, I felt that amnesia in a love story sounded a bit cliché, reminiscent of old TV soap operas.
• Romance: This being the closest to an actual romance novel I have ever read, it turned out to be a great learning experience. I saw how the author built the relationship between Scott and Breanna little by little, using a combination of simple, causal actions (such as longing stares, honest conversation, etc.) and a dramatic situation (in this case, Scott’s amnesia and being pursued by killers).

Hope White was born and raised in the Midwest and migrated to the Pacific Northwest as an adult. Her hobbies include hiking in the mountains, enjoying a fine cup of tea with friends, or going to the movie theatre.

For those interested in reading more books from Hope White, please check out his website at http://www.hopewhiteauthor.com/

For those interested in learning more about her work on the Love Inspired Suspense series, you can check out this extensive wiki page:

https://www.fictiondb.com/author/hope-white~64811.htm

In closing, I would like to thank you all for dropping by and following my blog. Your patronage and encouragement is truly appreciated.

Until next time!

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

Current Projects part 35

Welcome back,

            Being a little proactive this month by working on my upcoming articles a few weeks in advance. Managed to get everything done an entire week before the arrival of December, which is great, considering I was super busy with big lifestyles changes in November and upcoming preparations for the holidays. I will go into further details on what I have been going through in next month's progress update.

            Given that the holidays are just a few short weeks away, I did my best to have holiday inspired content for December. My inspiration post will be about a location I explored back in early 2016. This type of location has appeared in multiple Christmas stories, so it can prove to be useful to anyone looking for a fitting setting.

Also, my book review for December will be on a novel called Covert Christmas, a suspense story which takes place during the holidays. I’m super excited about it, because I managed to contact the books author, Hope White, and she will be the spotlight of my January interview! This will be a first for me, so I’m looking forward to it.

In regards to my story, I am still working on the character sheet of my main antagonist, Lord Decay. I’ve been at it for over two months now, but given his importance to the story, I believe he is well worth it. I’m currently filling in some details to his backstory, which is pretty extensive. Unfortunately, that is the extent of the progress I made on my story this month.

That being said, I went over all of my material this month, and came to a surprising realization;  not counting my research notes and timeline, I have more than 85 pages written. When you think about it, that is about a third of a novel, which is probably the most I've ever written on one subject in my entire life (not counting my work for Missing Worlds Media, of course). I thought that was quite the milestone for me, and felt I needed to share!

    Speaking of Missing Worlds Media, there has only been one releases in the past month: an introduction to one of our artists and content designer, Gerard Michael Tupaz (a.k.a. Witchikin). The article also shows some of his work, detailing some of the characters that will be present in game (please keep in mind, these are still in the early phases, and may be subject to change).  You can read the full articles on our Kickstarter page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/2040450

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments. I can be reached via the following social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookmarkboundPMosborne/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter: @OzmosisCoH

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+PatrickOsborneOzmosis

That is all I have for this month. Thank you all for dropping by, as your continued support is always appreciated. I hope to see you all at next month's progress update, and most importantly, have a Happy Holidays!

            Until then.

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

BOOTCAMP LESSON 15: Impersonation

Seasons Greetings!,

           Welcome to this special holiday edition of the BOOTCAMP writing prompt! It’s been awhile since I made one of these writing exercises, so I hope you are ready to try this one out, cause it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Lesson 15: Impersonation

Impersonation is the act of pretending to be another person, either for the purpose of entertainment or fraud. Most of us are familiar with the concept from childhood games, where we pretended to be adults going to work, or some kind of hero saving the day.

However, impersonation plays an important part when creating characters. Being able to get inside the character's head is a vital component of the process, as it helps the author to better understand and expand their characters.

In today’s exercise, we are going to place ourselves in the minds of some popular, public domain characters. We are going to imagine ourselves as one of these characters and get inside their heads, see how they would go about doing a simple task. This works for any situation, from doing groceries, going to the movies or even cooking supper.

So for today's game, we are going for a more festive activity; writing a letter to Santa! The goal is to imagine what one of the following characters would ask for Christmas in a letter to Santa Claus. This will really allow you to dig deep into the characters motivation and desires.

So, here are today's guidelines!

Rules

1. Below is a list of five ‘’candidates’’, which are public domain characters. Select ONE of the five characters to work with.
2. In the form of standard correspondence, write a letter to Santa Claus from the point of view of the character you have chosen to work with.
3. In the letter, the character must clearly state what they want for Christmas, in a way that suits their personally and needs. The goal is to stay in character!
4. There is no word or length limit to this exercise.

List of candidates

The Scarecrow

Tarzan

Big Bad Wolf

Dr. Jekyll

Ebenezer Scrooge

For those who aren’t afraid to share their entries, feel free to submit your letters as a reply to this post. Remember, this is a game, so no posting bad comments about other people's entries.

Hope you have fun giving this exercise a try. Until next time!

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

Inspiration Part 17 - Shopping Malls

Welcome back,

The holidays are here, and this time of year has many different meanings to many different people. No matter what your beliefs are, however, there is one thing that we all experience this time of year in North America; holiday shopping!

           The idea for this inspiration post struck me as I was navigating my way through the crowds during Black Friday. Shopping malls and centers play a very important role in today’s society, as they are not only an important place of business, but also serve as a social gathering place for many. Furthermore, these places of commerce take on an entire new life during the holidays, as people flock to them in order to be prepared for their holiday festivities.

           With this in mind, I decided to make Shopping Malls the focus on this month's inspiration article. We will explore different aspects of these establishments, such as their architecture and contents, and see how they can play a role in fiction.

           To begin, let us take a look at the architecture of shopping malls. These buildings come in many different styles and formats, but some traits are recurrent among most of them. Their similarities include large hallways and high ceilings to facilitate clientele circulation. Store front will line each side of these passageways. Most will also have large gathering areas allowing people to sit and eat, more commonly known as food courts.

           Of course these buildings would serve no purpose if they did not have stores! Shopping malls contain a variety of different stores in order to cater to their customers. This is convenient for shoppers (and writers looking for inspiration), who might be looking for anything from clothes, groceries, books or more. There are also many different restaurants where customers to rest and take a bite to eat which.

           This covers all the areas that are accessible by the general public, but have you ever thought of what you couldn’t see? As an ex-security guard, I can tell you there is a totally different world behind those stores. Service corridors allowing employees to have access to storage areas, underground parking, mechanical rooms housing machinery which power the building and offices for administrative staff. It is something to take into account when trying to flesh out one of these buildings in a narrative.

           Finally, we have the social aspect of shopping malls. How many of us have gone to shopping malls as teenagers just to hang out with friends? How many times have we seen older generations socializing at the food court or simply walking down the hallways? And aren<t we all guilty of doing the occasional window shopping? Shopping malls are a favorite stomping ground for many, as it has a lot to offer; comfort, accessibility, entertainment and much more.

As you can see, a trip to the mall can be beneficial for any writer. Maybe you are searching for references on the layout of a shopping center for a particular fight scene between superheroes. Or perhaps the mall is the main environment of your story, and you need to get a better idea of the layout, good examples are Mallrats - 1995, Paul Blart Mall Cop - 2009, or Dawn of the Dead - both 1978 and 2004.

As you can see, a trip to a shopping mall can be beneficial to a writer looking for inspiration. I hope you enjoyed this month's inspiration post and that I encouraged you to go out there and experience it for yourself.

Until next time.

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

**Please note that most of the photos below were taken from free stock images sites such as StockSnap.com, or were found doing a public domain search via Google.**

By the Book - Elvenbane

Welcome back,

           This book has been in my ‘’backup’’ folder for almost ten months now. I read it around last Spring, but thought to myself it might make a good book review for December. My logic was that books with Christmas themes are hard to come by, so given that this one is about elves, I figured I would keep it on standby unless something better presented itself. Since that was not the case, it made the cut for December after all. So here is my review of the Elvenbane by Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton.

           I originally read the Elvenbane back in high school, as part of my second language class. I had found it really well written, and remember feeling some sort of attachment to the main character, Shana. Her struggle to find her place in a world that did not understand her struck a cord back when I was a teenager. Having forgot many of the details since having read it last time, I was happy to rediscover it again.

Another quick note of interest about this book for me was its author, Mercedes Lackey. A few years ago, Mrs. Lackey was part of the movement to save City of Heroes, a Massively Multiplayer Online game which allowed its fan base to customize and play their own super heroic creations. Not only did I have fun playing this game for years, but its closure is what sparked the creation of Missing Worlds Media, the video gaming company I currently volunteer for. This fact is what prompted me to read this book again.

The story takes place in a world dominated by elven lords, while the majority of the human race has been reduced to slavery. There is also a race of sentient dragons, who prefer to stay hidden from the rest of the world. Through this setting, the story focuses on the life of Shana, an elf/human half blood who was raised by dragons. The narrative has a heavy political focus, as we see the many different aspects of the elven society. This is important, as Shana fits the prophecy of the half blood who will take down the elves, and restore mankind to his rightful place in the world.

Book: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/176892.The_Elvenbane

http://www.mercedeslackey.com/books/elven1.html

The Halfblood Chronicles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Halfblood_Chronicles#The_Elvenbane

Back of the book

Two masters of epic fantasy have combined in this brilliant collaboration to create a rousing tale of the sort that becomes an instant favorite. This is the story of Shana, a halfbreed born of the forbidden union of an Elvenlord father and a human mother. Her exiled mother dead, she was rescued and raised by dragons, a proud, ancient race who existed unbeknownst to elven or humankind. From birth, Shana was the embodiment of the Prophecy that the all-powerful Elvenlords feared. Her destiny is the enthralling adventure of a lifetime.   

When Serina Daeth, favorite concubine of the Elf-Lord Dyran, conceives a half-blood child by him, she flees his wrath into the desert, where she quickly succumbs. But the child, born in Serina's dying moments, is rescued by a friendly dragon and raised with her own draconic brood. As the child Shana grows, she develops prodigious sorcerous powers--so strong that it seems she might be the fabled Elvenbane, powerful enough to free the enslaved humans from their elven oppressors. The dragons come to fear her unplumbed power, though, and cast her out. With a renegade elf-lord and his half-blood servant, and the aid of her remaining dragon friends, Shana prepares to challenge the elfish supremacy.

What I learned:

• Politics: A decent portion of the book focuses on describing the elven society. The authors have done some pretty detailed work, explaining they hierarchy of both the elves and humans, and how they rank affects their standing in society. They also contrast the diplomatic elven ranks with the ones of the dragons, which seem more tribal in how they function. This book is a good example for anyone wanting to create a complex social structure.
• The Build up/Payout ratio: This book made me realise that if you build up to a confrontation, you need to deliver on the pay out. One example here is the confrontation between the brother and sister dragon (sorry forgot their names and I no longer have the book). Throughout the entire story, the two confront each other verbally, coming close to blows on a few occasions. When the two finally fight… the story cuts away and we are taken to narrative happening elsewhere, only to come back at the end of the fight to see that the antagonist wins. This is only my personal opinion, but I felt cheated by this result.
• Highlighting the action: This book places a heavy accent on the setting, which made some of the more dramatic character relationships and action scenes seem trivial. The action in certain parts of the story felt rushed and barely addressed, like the example in the previous point.

Andre Alice Norton (February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer, whose work ranged from historical and contemporary fiction, to those of science fiction and fantasy. She wrote primarily under the pen name Andre Norton, but also under Andrew North and Allen Weston. She has received many awards, and was the first woman to be inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.  

Mercedes Ritchie Lackey (born June 24, 1950) is an American writer and has published over 140 books. She is deemed to be one of the most prolific science fiction and fantasy writers of all time. Her novels and trilogies are often  interlinked, and focus on the complex tapestry of interaction between human and non-human protagonists, ranging from elves, mages, vampires, and other mythical beings. Lackey often explore issues of ecology, social class, and gender roles.

For those interested in learning more about these great authors, feel free to visit the following links.

• Andre Norton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Norton
• Mercedes Lackey: http://www.mercedeslackey.com/

In closing, I would like to my family, friends and readers for all the tremendous amount of encouragement you have shown me since the beginning this endeavour.

 

Until next time!

 

Cheers,

 

Patrick Osborne