Tag: writing

The Apostate Saint: Chapter 8 – A Lively Feast

Andrew Michael Miller2 Comments

The feast was already in its early stages about an hour and a half after the final competition had completed. The Son had extended the invitation to dine to all immediate families of the day's competitors. Even though that cast a wide net for a potentially integrated crowd, the audience still looked an awful lot like a typical elite gathering in the City. Everything from the servants offering fresh fruit and libations to the entertainers scattered throughout the gardens where the event was taking place screamed upper class private gathering. At least there was music. Alaric would have preferred to be among the musicians rather than being overwhelmed by all of the well-wishers and social climbers now bombarding him with niceties.

The Apostate Saint: Chapter 7 – The Broken

Andrew Michael Miller2 Comments

Just like that, the only thing in Fridok's life that mattered to him was gone. He held the pieces of the blade in his hands, staring at them in disbelief. The registrar was right - Fridok was sold a poorly made weapon. What a fool he had been. All of the coins he had starved himself to stash away for so many years might as well have been thrown over the wall. The blade had failed when he needed it most. He lost, and now, despite the fact that the Son had taken pity on him, his inclusion was a consolation and nothing more. He was a warrior without a weapon, and outside of charity, there would be no way for him to afford another.

The Apostate Saint: Chapter 5 – The Price of Entry

Andrew Michael Miller2 Comments

His chance, it seemed, had finally come. Without even allowing himself to catch his breath, Fridok gathered his sword and attached it to his waist. It was time to emerge, once and for all, from this loathsome place with its dank, mold-covered walls and all sorts of foul-smelling odors from any number of the other inhabitants who were rotting away in their own filth. The son of the Toriad had returned to the City to liberate His people from the demons and from themselves, and he had openly called for warriors to join him; His companions would win their place by His side in the proving grounds. There would never again be another chance for Fridok to claim his own salvation, and he knew it.

The Apostate Saint: Chapter 3 – The Stones

Andrew Michael Miller1 Comment

Nineteen years before the betrayal The hardy young laborer Fridok wiped sweat from his brow and drank the bitter and sandy water from his banged-up, dingy tin canteen. He tried and failed to tune out the foreman squawking insults at the other stone workers. Those kids wouldn't cut it in this hard vocation; they would have to find something else to do for their wages. Pity. Stone work was decent pay for someone of Fridok's station. It would never elevate his status in the City, but it would keep his belly full and his hands busy. He couldn't hope for more than that. The Walls kept the demons outside at bay, but did nothing to address the invisible demons that… Continue reading The Apostate Saint: Chapter 3 – The Stones

Update on Book Two & More

Andrew Michael Miller2 Comments

So, I wanted to give a brief update on the progress being made toward the sequel to Pancho's Fall, as well as the current progress for trying to get the book out there to publishers. I just wanted to highlight the current state of everything and a few of my additional thoughts, in order to clue you in a bit on the process. And, as everything worth doing is, it's definitely a process. But through processes that work, we can achieve anything.