C.G.Ayling

Category: General

General Topics

  • Deadline’s Dawn

    A note of good wishes to all the entrants in the Writer’s Voice contest – accept my apologies if I never managed to visit your blog, work got in the way.  I don’t recall reading a single bad entry, while I do recall reading some I considered outstanding and exceptional in every way.  The judges really have their work cut out for them – and my hat off to them for running this contest.  Thank you all for your efforts!

  • Cover pic2

    arcane symbols, etched within her flesh

  • The Writers Voice Contest

    Here is my entry to an agent run writing contest called… ta-da!… “The Writers Voice Contest”, which, by some strange coincidence, is exactly what I titled this post!  All joking aside I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Monica B.W, Cupid, Brenda Drake, and Krista Van Dolzer for their parts in organizing this contest – please visit their blogs and peruse them at your leisure.  Monica is a lover of Young Adult literature, as well as an author of the same.  Cupid is a matchmaker, Brenda writes, and Krista understands the cycles of life – as well as literary submissions.

    As for me?  Well, I’m an aspiring author of epic adult fantasy with a deeper, and perhaps darker undercurrent.  OK, who am I kidding?  I don’t really know what genre my writing truly is, what I do know is that I need help (some would say “restraints”, of the physical variety) – which is what is what I’m hoping for by entering this contest.  (Wait, do I want help or restraints?  It’s all so confusing…)

    I’m feeling on top of the world right now!  You see, by purest chance, I managed to secure entry number 66 – which, in the context of Malmaxa, is extremely significant.  In Malmaxa the number six is called “The Number of the Gods” and is a powerful portend of both good and ill.  (Nope, it has nothing to do with the number of the beast…)

    And so, on to the action!

    The Query.

    Envision a foreign, yet familiar world.  A world ruled by ritual devotion to six divine decrees – immutable laws, which offer no moral guidance, while demanding absolute compliance…

    Liaju longs for her twelfth marks, arcane symbols etched into her flesh – by command of the second of these strange laws.  These mystic marks grant access to Malmaxa, and her first match.  Troubling dreams plague Liaju – visions… unveiling the precipice the Seizen, her people, approach.  Yet Liaju’s dreams also reveal an obscure, hidden path of possible escape.

    Only Liaju holds escape’s elusive key, as incomprehensible as it is frightening…  Self-Sacrifice.  Must she relinquish all, to secure the Seizen’s survival?

    Eden, a mischievous child, succumbs to temptation and leads her cousin astray.  Their road leads through terror, then death, and on to ultimate understanding.  Trickery reveals treachery, for Eden’s misdeed exposes a monstrous murder.

    Within Malmaxa are no kings or queens, no machines, no pre-determined social hierarchy, and no laws allowed – other than those of the Gods themselves.  Is this anarchy unleashed, or paradise’s picture?

    Envision Malmaxa, then step inside and experience a world at once astonishingly different, and disturbingly familiar.  Join me on this journey, and experience… enlightenment?

    Malmaxa I – Beltamar’s War, is the start of journey unlike anything you have yet experienced.  Weighing in at a meager 135,000 odd words (and yes, I do mean very odd) I can promise, with absolute sincerity, that you have never read anything quite like Malmaxa.  Whether good or bad, I leave you to be the judge.

    The first 250 words of the Manuscript.

    Assigned as sentry when Ripkira called the noon halt, Adelmar was in a foul mood.  With winter’s imminent arrival, and their Ancient Enemy suddenly departing the field of battle, his dreams were dashed – and doubly so.

    Dreams of glory, gone – for there could be no heroes, without conflict.

    Dreams of vengeance, vanished – along with the groth, and the elusive chance for revenge each battle brought.

    The only other survivors from his town were Lucinda and Beltamar.  Many times had they dodged death together, seen comrades slain, gathered the Chukrah of the fallen for the Rite of Return.  He smiled ruefully.  They were staunch brothers in arms now, seldom parted for long.

    How he longed to bear Beltamar’s Chukrah to the hoard.  Battle after battle he fought with all the tenacity he possessed, struggling to survive and succeeding, albeit barely.  After each conflict, he dared hope.  Yet always, his searching eyes found Beltamar.

    Alive.

    By petitioning against him at the Convocation, Beltamar had earned his hatred.  Petitioning, and prevailing.  Jalgar, that stone-faced bastard, had ignored the scribes – all of whom had termed his petition ‘exemplary’, obviously favoring it over Beltamar’s.  Lip curling in scorn, he recalled their lackluster approval of Beltamar’s petition – damned with the faint praise of being merely ‘qualified’.

    In every way had his petition surpassed those of all others, and there had been many.  Jalgar had listened to the scribes exalting him, in the reserved manner of their class. ….

  • Malmaxa II – The Pilgrimage, 1st edit done!

    I completed the first pass through Malmaxa II – The Pilgrimage about a week ago.  After a few days of elation and recuperation I set to entering the edits and got though them in short order.  Feeling delighted, I printed out the first hard-copy proof – a mere 797 double spaced pages – and felt hope drain away as I read through the first page…  ton’s more work is still needed before the manuscript is in a state I’ll be willing to publish.  Oh well.  Round two begins.

  • ABNA 2012

    As a token of my support for ABNA 2012, a worthwhile literary contest about which you can read more at www.amazon.com/ABNA, I have temporarily lowered the eBook price of Malmaxa I – Beltamar’s War to $3.33.

    This is a limited time offer.  Please, pay the price of a fast food meal, and purchase sustenance for your soul instead.  But only after you read the sample, and ensure you enjoy its flavor…

  • Tweets, for Posterity’s end…

    You’ve reached the end of my archived Tweets. You may return to the start of this sad saga, by clicking the link below.

    My favorite tweets.

  • Tweets for Posterity 251.

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    RT @MissAnonNews Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

    Our privacy, is sacrosanct. Please join me in calling on the NSA and the US government to @stopwatchingus Sign this https://stopwatching.us

    When citizens fear their government, its time to get a new government.

    NSA don’t care who you are, where you live, or what you do. They’re already, watching you… @Canadian_Cath *Chuckle*, they already are…

    If language is a boundary, might emotion be its key. #thought

    Poetry, more than mere rhyme, poetry, opens the mind. Poetry, truly from the heart, doth deeper wisdom, impart.

    Is the first granted kiss, that which sets false love remiss. #thought

    if a love is false, how can it last, best end it… fast.

    So much pain, and for what, an unrequited kiss, this is no gain.

    Years of youth remain as memories true, nothing can tear these from you.

  • Tweets for Posterity 237.

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    and so, @amiegallette what groveling must one do, to squeeze a review http://artz3.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/book-review-beltamars-war-malmaxa-by-c-g-ayling/ … from one so special, as you? 🙂

    Got to love @akmakansi she tells it like it is, in a great yet kind way. If you’re “marketing” on Twitter, read this http://artz3.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/five-ways-to-get-me-to-not-read-your-book/ …

    Time dilutes memories, of pain while crystallizing the memories we cherish. #thought

    Though I don’t know what I seek, I believe it lies far from where I am. #thought

    “The sensation of warm wet mud squishing between her toes brought childhood memories rushing back.” – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0054RFWU2

    A flow, or a flood, either way when inspiration comes, it often washes us clean away. #thought

    Introducing Genetically Modified Organisms into food supplies {GMO sounds so cute!} – who could possibly think this is a good idea? #thought

    How easy it is, to comprehend simple, elegant truths. ~ RT @katwomanfifi Human foresight is usually short-sighted.

    Shackled souls, can be happy, while that are bound, would be free. #thought

    Film negatives, viewed through by opposite eyes. #iam

  • Tweets for Posterity 227.

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    Can’t afford to live, till you find you can’t afford to die either. #thought

    Hiding the homeless, is no cure. #thought

    The best thing about freeloaders, is how little guilt you feel in unloading them. #thought

    History offers us so much, yet from it we learn so little.

    does the half-moon bear half the guilt? if so, does the full moon bear it all?

    Without limits, expect excess. #thought

    Bond with a device, it doesn’t think of you once, let alone twice. Bond with your friends, they think of you, without end.

    The older we get, the deeper our debt.

    @jasbrai without excess, there is no need for limits. #thought

    The realist feels the rose’s beauty, and the sting its thorns can bring.

  • Tweets for Posterity 220.

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    Humor bridges many gaps, anger bridges none. #thought

    The passage of the ones we love, splashes us with guilt. #thought

    Our only chance at eternity, is in the hearts of the ones we love, and who love us in return. #thought

    How many loves, can one heart hold. Infinity, plus you. {little truths, in smaller rhymes}

    Like a tango, it takes two to talk, both parties must listen as well as talk.

    The past, is where our dreams are born. The present, where they grow, The future, where the fruits will form. Of the three None stands Alone

    Action without thought, is thoughtless. #thought

    Music makes the heart speed up, and our passions cool. Music is the beat of life, without it, we’re untrue.

    At time some arguments are best left undressed. #thought

    Music, I’ll take it any way it comes a voice so fair, a finger, on a string, or key Failing these, a heartbeat might be beat enough, for me