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EricaBeale.com

A Prince and his Dragon: In Progress

My Current Project

I’ve been working on a story off and on for the last few years. For the longest time, I called it “Dragon’s Bond,” but at the advice of someone smarter than I am, I have been trying to think up a better name. I can’t say I’m 100% set on this particular title. It is starting to grow on me.

So, what’s it about?

The kingdoms of Ostea and cKustreiland have been at war for 100 years. Now that both kingdoms are on a decline and each has something the other needs for their society, they’ve called a truce. To solidify the peace, the heir of Ostea is set to marry the princess from Kustreiland. As a show of good faith, the countries bring their courts to a central location for the largest festival ever seen.

Armen is the younger of the two Ostean princes.  He, like the rest of the court, is excited about this massive meeting. With him is his own betrothed, Demma. Until his brother is wed, he is not able to join in his own union, much to both of their disappointment.

The royal houses go on a hunt during the festival, where they are ambushed by malicious fairies. During tight, Armen finds a woman unconscious in the woods.

She is a dragini, a dragon cursed into human form. He attempts to save her as well as himself from the rogue pixies, however, he is wounded. The dragini woman comes to quickly enough to protect him, but in the process their blood mingles, bonding them in ways they could never imagine.

It’s an intensely intimate connection neither of them can shake off, causing a great deal of friction in relationships around them.

There’s more. A lot more. But this is the gist of how it gets started.

Tidbits of artwork

I was lucky enough to get to play with Dalle 2. I’m not saying how good AI is getting is scary, but…

Here are some images Dalle and I came up with for important characters.

Prince Armen of Ostea

This isn’t totally accurate as to the way I imagine him, but it’s not bad

Differences:

  • He has steel gray eyes
  • He only has a goatee, not a beard
  • His hair is a lighter shade and is in braids

Armen is very close to his brother, Heygan. Since he’s the spare, he never had as many responsibilities as his older brother. This led to Armen spending a fair bit of time with Demma growing up. Eentually the pair fell in love.

He is a sensitive soul with a kind heart. And he is very inexperienced with lifie beyond the castle walls.

Lady Demma

Lady Demma is Armen’s childhood best friends. Since she is the daughter of the high general, Gloin, she spent a great deal of time with the royal family.

She and Armen are deeply in love with each other and can’t wait to get married.

Since she is the daughter of the best general, she’s pretty good in a fight herself.

The picture is pretty accurate, actually. I was really impressed.

Iserri the Dragini

Half transformed between a human and a dragon, Iserri winds up being magically bonded with Prince Armen. It’s against both of their wills and they both hate being bonded together.

I’ll tell you more about the Dragini at a later date. It’s…involved.

Her look isn’t quite right.

Differences:

  • Her hair is more like strips of scaled skin
  • Green skin coated in soft, shimmery scales
  • Golden serpent eyes.
  • Probably doesn’t have horns, but after looking at this picture, she very well might going forward.

Pividi, the Dragon Queen

She’s not actually a main character for the story, but I loved how this image turned out, so I wanted to include it.

Pividi is an ancient dragon queen who crowned the warrior Ostea as the king to lead her people. As you may guess, he is one of Armen’s ancestors.

This comes into play during the story.

Writing it all down

I started this for NaNo 2017. Yeah…I should have finished it y now, but I haven’t. It’s being worked on. Luckily, I have a couple of chapters ready to go. I’ll be posting Armen and Iserri’s meeting next time. After that, we’ll see!

In the meantime, you can catch up on my other works. Or, you could explore my absolutely tragic back story.

Until next time. Keep your mind in the gutter.

The Best Laid Plans

Sidetracked. AGAIN.

Well, I had this whole thing written up about the next “big” project I would be working on for a few months. But then, I got sidetracked by the world of Crimson. That world is like a weed. Just when I think I have it under control, it just finds a spot in my brain and starts to grow.


I’m going to have to blame the good dark fantasy stuff that has come out recently. Between The Sandman and House of the Dragon, I’ve been in a very happy place. I mean, both have given me a mega creativity boost and I’m loving it. I’m not sure how much my husband has been enjoying it, though! I don’t mean to neglect you, Nate!


(On the note of HotD: I was super worried I wouldn’t be into Matt Smith playing Daemon Targaryen, but dude is just Slay-All-Day! He’s no longer just my beloved 11th Doctor and I ain’t mad about it.)


Both Bait and Delighted Bite are available on Amazon and Smashwords. Cursed will be dropping next Tuesday, so I’m excited about that. This is the first time I’ve given Xan a real backstory. Hell, I didn’t even know why he was cursed to begin with. I know now, though. It’s not pretty.


On top of that, I’ve decided to give Amazon Vella a shot. Something about writing in a series kind of feels good. It’s about the brothel that Dena’s aunt owned. So far three episodes are up and the next one is due to drop on the 8th. Episodes 1-3 are free. Amazon gives you 200 free tokens upfront. You could use them to read the 4th episode when it releases hint hint.


I have to say, Vella writers are really friggin’ nice. I joined up on a couple of Facebook pages and everyone is really quick to share and like links. I went from no reads to almost 20 reads in less than an hour. It warmed my heart.
I’ll be getting back to my dragon story eventually. Hey, maybe that could be my next Vella project. We’ll have to see.

In the meantime, I’ll be neck-deep into my Crimson stories. Up next will be Hell-Bent which will feature everyone’s favorite blonde devil, Mammon. I have to say, it’s hard getting in the mind of an asshole. WISH ME LUCK!e

Until next time. Keep Your Mind in the Gutter!

The Last Fae is DONE

Well…the first phase of DONE, anyway…

After working on my story for around a decade now, I’ve finally finished up TLF. It was a total weight off my shoulders to get it finished. It’s been on my goal list FOR YEARS. It’s in need of some TLC. I’m still in the process of revamping the world since I borrowed the original world from a friend of mine and it’s way past time for me to do my own thing.

Also, it’s not exactly long enough to be its own novel (right now it’s sitting at 61,815 words). My current goal is to combine it in a volume with the next tale The Demon in Her Skin. That one is still a wreck, but it’s getting there.

I’m feeling good about myself. TLF was one of my major goals to complete while I was 40, and I DID IT! Man, it felt amazing to finish the last sentence. I cried about it. No shame.

Eventually, after I’m done with The Demon in Her Skin, I’m going to rewrite the story to make it happier. That’s Erica’s Problem for Another Day.

In the Meantime…

There are a few bits of the story I really enjoy rereading. They’re not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But I wanted to share one of the parts I especially like. It’s towards the end of the book. Not a lot of context is needed, I think.

Let me know if you’re interested in more story bits!

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

The Last Fae, Part II

The Preview of the Saga Continues

Sorceress Erica, At your Service

First of all, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I’m going to see if I can get around to writing a frightening delicious quickie this afternoon, but I got up early to come into the office, so I’m fully zonked. We shall see!

Also, I apparently woke up in a parallel universe where the Nationals won the World Series. This has to be a different, very peculiar timeline. Right? Why couldn’t it be the Orioles? MEH.

Anyway, let’s get back to what this post is supposed to be about.

Yesterday, I started with the skinny on how The Last Fae even came to be a thing. This time, I want to talk about what it is. It’s all about the meat and potatoes, right?

The Setting

The story takes place in a fictional area of Florida called Knightcrest. Now I think about it, I’m not sure what Knightcrest is exactly. As I mentioned, my friend Thommy came up with the world originally. Huh. Anyway, the city itself is called New Selene, a touristy beach town that serves as one the most supernatural hot spots in the world. I guess that would make Knightcrest the county? Hmmm….That’s what I’m going with.

New Selene is lousy with vampires and were-people. Those two groups of supernaturals dominate the city with an uneasy peace between the two. Honestly, I wouldn’t even say it’s all that peaceful, but at least it’s not all out war.

There are other beings afoot, though. There are a few demons, old gods, and a singular Fae.

Kay Knightstone, The Last Fae

About 2000 years prior to the story, the Fae disappeared leaving only on of their princes behind, Prince Cathan. He wandered aimlessly for a very long time, even briefly losing himself to madness. Luckily, one of the oldest of vampires, The Persian, helped him back from insanity.

After some years of switching between hiding out as a hermit and returning to the human society, Prince Cathan decided to take up the identity of Kain “Kay” Knightstone, a very talented toy-maker. He makes quite the living off of his creations. Kay gets a certain amount of pleasure out of his toys. The rich flock to them and he gives the toys life so he can torment them.

Despite having mostly everything he needs or wants, Kay is a lonely being. While surrounded by fantastical beings, it’s not the same as his own kind. He feels no connection to the world or any of the people in it. It isn’t until fate brings him to Dena that things begin to change.

Dena Johnson, Where Hope Falls

A simple girl from Baltimore.

At least as far as she knows.

Gentle and kind, full of life and mischief, Kay finds himself immediately drawn to her the moment they meet. He doesn’t know why he finds himself drawn to a human like this, but he continues to flock to her over and over again to the point of obsession.

It turns out she is the key to unlocking the realms and helping bring back the rest of the daemon back into the human world. Also, by doing so, the door to Avalon could be unlocked, allowing Kay access to the Elder Fae who fled before the rest of his kind were wiped from the planet.

The process would cost her life.

The Bond

Kay and Dena have various obstacles in their way. First of all, her being thousands of years younger would be an extreme deterrent on his part. However, that doesn’t turn him away. The fact she’s in a committed relationship with David, a young, handsome college jock, doesn’t squash the attraction between the two. And, of course, there is the glaring fact she is merely human while he is one of the most powerful beings on the planet.

Nothing can stop the powerful blossoming friendship between the pair. No matter how much they realize it’s ultimately going to be a problem.

Joseph Mamm: Puppeteer Behind the Scenes

The real problem is Joseph Mamm, the King of Hell left behind when the daemon fled the mortal plane. He uses the pair as a pawn in his plan to bring his people back. He’ll stop at nothing. And he knows the fact if he brings the Daemon back, he can open the world to the Fae, which would be enticing to the lonely Prince. Mamm, along with his associate, Dominik, maneuver the two so they can be used as the beacon in the dark, lighting the others’ way home.

That’s the gist of what is happening in The Last Fae. It’s fantastical, dark urban fantasy fun, with more than a sprinkling of smut mixed in. I’ll be posting a bit of the story as I go along for Nano, especially the dirty bits. Be on the look out!

The Last Fae

My 2019 NaNoWriMo Project

NaNoWriMo starts this Friday. I’m part excited and part nervous, but I’m sure anyone planning to participate is feeling the same twitterpation. Ho boy.

Luckily, my outline at the ready and a couple of character profiles written, which puts me way further ahead in the process than I’ve been in the past for NaNo. Hell, I’ve only ever fully written out one other novel’s outline in all my years of writing.

However, I never finished that book, though. Certainly another journey to work on, I guess.

Since the day is right around the corner, I’ll post about The Last Fae, my project for NaNo (and probably for the rest of the year). I’ve had this story in mind for the better part of a decade. In fact, this story is the reason I started dating my husband so many moons ago. So this story is particularly close to my heart.

How the Last Fae Came to Be

Years ago, one of my good friends Thommy introduced me to a world he created along with some friends. A world filled with mystery and magic set in modern times. He wound up creating a forum RPG for his world and invited me to join.

Real talk? I was hesitant. Your resident Smut Writer does enjoy a good video game, but I never tried anything close to a pen-and-paper RPG before. Didn’t know how to work it and I was terrified of looking/sounding like an idiot.

After some coaxing, I gave in. He offered for me to play one of his characters, Cossette, an old vampire in service of one of the much older vampires, The Persian.  Cossette is a tough woman with a mouth full of filth. So…my kind of lady. If I remember correctly, I played her timid, though, despite her background.

I’ll admit, I was uncomfortable playing with someone else’s creation. The intense fear of fucking up made it hard for me to really get into it. I mean, it was fun, don’t get me wrong. Just not as fun as it could be.

Eventually, I made a character. In fact…I made ME into a character.

I felt like I was taking a risk inserting myself as a character into his story. I thought everyone would think it was stupid (if you couldn’t tell, I have self-esteem problems). But, there she was, Erica from Baltimore who followed her friend, Juanita, to a fictional Florida vacation town called New Selene.

As an aside, years later, I wound up really having a friend named Juanita, though I’d be surprised if she moved to the most supernatural-filled town in North America.

HIMMM (How I Met My Mans)

Did I mention there was this cute guy who followed me to the game? Yeah, I had an online guy friend named Nate that joined in on the fun. He and I met on a Transformers forum, of all places. Keep in mind, I wasn’t a Transformers fan at the time, but I had friends who were.

Feels like a lifetime ago now.

Cute Guy Nate made up a character named Kain, a horror-bunny Fae creature that became one of the most powerful beings in the fantasy world. Kain was drawn to Erica, and vice-versa. Their stories intertwined over years of delicious, supernatural drama.

In real life, CGN moved from the West Coast to my way and we got hitched. It’s been 13 years now. Thankfully, he hasn’t turned into a scary, green bunny yet, but I kind of expect it any day now. Hah.

Somehow his character became the main focus of the story I’m crafting now (or rather will be starting on 11/1/19). I have a lot of that delicious drama planned for those two. Should be quite a ride.

Part 2 of this should be coming sometime tomorrow. Get to know Kay Knightstone and his lady love, Dena (yeah, I didn’t want to continue calling her Erica, considering what happens to her. YOU’LL SEE.)

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