Novel

'Mana: The Shadows of Destiny' is progressing quite well but through outside influences (such as trying to actually get my house in Dungannon ready to live in by Christmas) it hasn't really grown much in the past month.

In that time I have found myself thinking a lot about my paranormal mystery novel set in the Victorian era, I say 'paranormal' but the general idea was of an adventure with seemingly metaphysical factors in which investigator Jonathon Mainwaring would uncover the actual truth. The idea is to make Jonathon Mainwaring a modern day Allan Quatermain, or more appropriately to make Jonathon Mainwaring an Allan Quatermain for this century, and I am of course referring to the original novels like 'King Solomons Mines' and not the graphic novel or the atrocious film derived from it. Jonathon Mainwaring is at heart an adventurer finding the ordinary in the extraordinary situations that he finds himself in.

Anyone who knows me well enough will know that I generally jump from story to story and back again, so I should point out now that I have not actually left Mana in any way, I just haven't had the time to write. Period. I've just been having ideas for the other story and have noted them duly.

The Mother of all Updates (at the moment)

Haven't updated for a while, and since I am currently drunk I can think of no better time (though some may question my reasoning, but since this is my blog you can all go perform oral sex on a diseased warthog [if you disagree that is, if you agree then may the deity of your choice rain milk, honey and whatever rainbows and happiness of your choosing upon your household]).

So, what's new..? Not a hell of a lot really. Dublin Horse Show was as usual a blast, and I have once again drank at least my body weight in Jack Daniels whiskey (I swear that they should be sending me a medal or something by now). There have been a few ups (those responsible you know who you are, and I thank you), there have been a few downs (those responsible you also know who you are, and I may be a nice person but I am also very vindictive), and there have been those few occasions where not a lot has really been worth recording here but is worthy of mention because I am trying to fill space.

Have now not looked at a short story effort in almost a year and the novel is finally getting to the main plot (God you would not believe how much lead time you have to give a story just so you can say 'And now this happens...'), and again I am questioning my ability to write beyond sci-fi or the *cough* numerous love stories that I have (I haven't typed them up Aven because I still want to maintain some kind of credibility).

Other than that, new house in Dungannon is proceeding slowly if expensively, and the closer I get to moving back home the more I find myself wondering if the best thing in the world for me would be to buy a one way ticket to Dubrovnik and start working my way east.

Apart from all else mentioned I am still drinking my brains out and acting like some hyperactive teenager instead of the adult I am. (Plus I have the suspicion that this evening I may have inadvertently cost my father a lot of money... whoops).

Feelin' Blue

No not depressed, have been ill. Bit of a head cold really, headaches, fever, stuff like that. I blame Aven for trying to be supernatural and using his ungodly powers of ultimate pointystickedness in order to mess up my dreams but must have taken a wrong turn at the occipital lobe. Worst of all it has meant that for the last few days I have been sitting around wrapped up in a blanket, watching DVDs and drinking tea. Oh woe is me. *snicker*

Novel Update 2

The plot main plot outline and most of the sub-stories have been finished, plus I've already completed the ending. I had hoped to make a trilogy and I think that I've got enough potential storyline left over to do just that, so I present 'The Broken History' trilogy:

-Mana: The Shadows of Destiny
-Mana: Shattered in Time
-Mana: Fate Rising

Novel Update

Keeping in line with the new storyline for 'Mana: The Rising' I have changed the novel title to something a little more appropriate to the story, it's now 'Mana: The Shadows of Destiny' (somewhat cliched I know, but I'll probably whittle it down to something that's less of a mouthful nearer the time of seeking publication). The revised version has a pretty high body count already and the main adventure really hasn't even begun yet, but I'm aiming for 'bleak' so its all good.

As a small aside I have written a short children's adventure based on a historical event from the same world. This is a surprisingly good creative tool for building legends that may or may not get referenced in the main story but certainly help to add more depth to the world.

Another Joke

It's late afternoon and Miss Wilson has just started her English lesson for her Primary 7 class, today they are learning more complicated words.
"Ok class, our first word is 'contagious'. Can anyone use this word in a sentence?"
Wee Sammy at the back of the class raises his hand, "Please Miss. Yesterday our neighbour was painting his fence with a 1 and a quarter inch brush and me da' said it would take the contagious."

About the author...

So I have spent the last few days more or less writing, some of you (my sister for example) will be like 'Oh God what a waste' but I really enjoyed it, I used to get a real kick out of blowing entire days just sitting in Ground* writing the TBB stories and occasionally working on my own novel. Then those new red-coated traffic wardens came in and I couldn't just abandon my car for eight hours anymore, bastards.

Anyway I've managed to fix a few of the problems that I had encountered with one of my works and have jumped at it again with renewed enthusiasm. Anyway on the way home I started thinking about what I would have as my description on the back page of the novel and after sifting out that which I really thought most important I came up with this-

About the author…

Kyle Spence was born in Dungannon, Northern Ireland in December 1981 (December 8th if you want to send him a card) and freely admits to having no life.

He lives in Portstewart with Amy (his pet scorpion) and spends far too much time in coffee shops. His favourite film is Transformers: The Movie (1986) because Orson Welles has some truly awesome dialogue.

His writing career really took off when he started writing short stories for the online gaming community ‘The Bridge Burners’ and the reception to these stories gave him the impetus to actually try to finish one of the many novels he had started.

Mana: The Rising is his first book and he hopes that you enjoy it, or at least paid for it before leaving the store.


To contact Kyle email:
Kylespence.online@googlemail.com

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*Ground is responsible for putting up with me for every single Bridge Burners story and when I finally get published they will be receiving due recognition for their support over the years.