{"id":284,"date":"2012-05-03T08:27:31","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T13:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/?p=284"},"modified":"2012-05-03T08:27:31","modified_gmt":"2012-05-03T13:27:31","slug":"twvc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/general\/twvc\/","title":{"rendered":"The Writers Voice Contest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is my entry to an agent run\u00a0writing contest called… ta-da!… “The Writers Voice Contest”, which, by some strange\u00a0coincidence, is exactly what I titled this post!\u00a0 All joking aside I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Monica\u00a0B.W<\/a>, Cupid<\/a>, Brenda Drake<\/a>, and Krista Van Dolzer<\/a>\u00a0for their parts in organizing this contest \u2013 please visit their blogs and peruse them at your leisure.\u00a0 Monica\u00a0is a lover of Young Adult literature, as well as an author of the same.\u00a0 Cupid is a matchmaker, Brenda writes, and Krista understands the cycles of life \u2013 as well as literary submissions.<\/p>\n

As for me?\u00a0 Well, I’m an aspiring author of epic adult fantasy with a deeper, and perhaps darker undercurrent.\u00a0 OK, who am I kidding?\u00a0 I don’t really know what genre my writing truly is,\u00a0what I do know is that I need help (some would say “restraints”, of the physical variety) \u2013\u00a0which is what is what I’m hoping for\u00a0by entering this contest.\u00a0 (Wait, do I want help or restraints?\u00a0 It’s all so confusing…)<\/p>\n

I’m feeling on top of the world right now!\u00a0 You see, by purest chance,\u00a0I managed to secure entry number 66\u00a0<\/strong>– which, in the context of Malmaxa, is extremely significant.\u00a0 In Malmaxa\u00a0the number six is called “The Number of the Gods” and is a powerful portend of both good and ill.\u00a0 (Nope, it has nothing to do with the number of the beast…)<\/p>\n

And so, on to the action!<\/p>\n

The Query.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Envision a foreign, yet familiar world. \u00a0A world ruled by ritual devotion to six divine decrees \u2013 immutable laws, which offer no moral guidance, while demanding absolute compliance\u2026<\/p>\n

Liaju longs for her twelfth marks, arcane symbols etched into her flesh \u2013 by command of the second of these strange laws.\u00a0 These mystic marks grant access to Malmaxa, and her first match.\u00a0 Troubling dreams plague Liaju \u2013 visions\u2026 unveiling the precipice the Seizen, her people, approach.\u00a0 Yet Liaju\u2019s dreams also reveal an obscure, hidden path of possible escape.<\/p>\n

Only Liaju holds escape\u2019s elusive key, as incomprehensible as it is frightening…\u00a0 Self-Sacrifice<\/em>.\u00a0 Must she relinquish all, to secure the Seizen\u2019s survival?<\/p>\n

Eden, a mischievous child, succumbs to temptation and leads her cousin astray.\u00a0 Their road leads through terror, then death, and on to ultimate understanding.\u00a0 Trickery reveals treachery, for Eden\u2019s misdeed exposes a monstrous murder.<\/p>\n

Within Malmaxa are no kings or queens, no machines, no pre-determined social hierarchy, and no laws allowed \u2013 other than those of the Gods themselves.\u00a0 Is this anarchy unleashed, or paradise\u2019s picture?<\/p>\n

Envision Malmaxa, then step inside and experience a world at once astonishingly different, and disturbingly familiar.\u00a0 Join me on this journey, and experience\u2026 enlightenment?<\/p>\n

Malmaxa I \u2013 Beltamar\u2019s War<\/em>, is the start of journey unlike anything you have yet experienced.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Whether good or bad, I leave you to be the judge.<\/p>\n

The first 250 words of the Manuscript.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Assigned as sentry when Ripkira called the noon halt, Adelmar was in a foul mood.\u00a0 With winter\u2019s imminent arrival, and their Ancient Enemy suddenly departing the field of battle, his dreams were dashed \u2013 and doubly so.<\/p>\n

Dreams of glory, gone \u2013 for there could be no heroes, without conflict.<\/p>\n

Dreams of vengeance, vanished \u2013 along with the groth, and the elusive chance for revenge each battle brought.<\/p>\n

The only other survivors from his town were Lucinda and Beltamar.\u00a0 Many times had they dodged death together, seen comrades slain, gathered the Chukrah of the fallen for the Rite of Return.\u00a0 He smiled ruefully.\u00a0 They were staunch brothers in arms now, seldom parted for long.<\/p>\n

How he longed to bear Beltamar\u2019s Chukrah to the hoard.\u00a0 Battle after battle he fought with all the tenacity he possessed, struggling to survive and succeeding, albeit barely.\u00a0 After each conflict, he dared hope.\u00a0 Yet always, his searching eyes found Beltamar.<\/p>\n

Alive.<\/p>\n

By petitioning against him at the Convocation, Beltamar had earned his hatred.\u00a0 Petitioning, and prevailing.\u00a0 Jalgar, that stone-faced bastard, had ignored the scribes \u2013 all of whom had termed his petition \u2018exemplary<\/em>\u2019, obviously favoring it over Beltamar\u2019s.\u00a0 Lip curling in scorn, he recalled their lackluster approval of Beltamar\u2019s petition \u2013 damned with the faint praise of being merely \u2018qualified<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n

In every way had his petition surpassed those of all others, and there had been many.\u00a0 Jalgar had listened to the scribes exalting him, in the reserved manner of their class. ….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is my entry to an agent run\u00a0writing contest called… ta-da!… “The Writers Voice Contest”, which, by some strange\u00a0coincidence, is exactly what I titled this post!\u00a0 All joking aside I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Monica\u00a0B.W, Cupid, Brenda Drake, and Krista Van Dolzer\u00a0for their parts in organizing this contest \u2013 please visit their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[22,95,418,467],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-agent-judged-contest","tag-cupid","tag-the-writers-voice","tag-writing-contest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}