Dive into adventure, mythology, and storytelling with a side helping of kiwi (New Zealand) fantasy and two adorable moggies, Maisie and Herbert.
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A.J. Ponder's Worlds of Adventure
Published 20 days ago • 4 min read
Fantasy adventure
Hi,
I hope you're having a great day and a wonderful week, with plenty of time for reading. And lots of wonderful books.
I managed to pick up a couple more books from the Cozy the Day Away sale as one of the hazards of not being in America means I miss out on the special prices. Still, two is better than none! And I'm excited to get to read them. And it was also suggested by a friend that I should read the next Greton's Marvellous Maps book. So far I'm really enjoying it, so thanks for the pick! I always appreciate suggestions for good reads.
My writing:
The Clockwork Dragon (working title) is now 49,000 words.
I spent most of my week getting rid of placeholders. Things like minor characters whose names I hadn't decided on, or even if I needed to have them as named characters. And so now that's a little more under control, I've printed it out so I can pull it apart and put it back together again before putting it on hiatus. That way I can come back to it with fresh eyes. It's been such a fun project, I've always wanted to write something a bit steampunk and I've enjoyed playing with the lore (why so little electricity) and delving into a society that I want to explore more of. I love the way it's all coming together. But I'm also excited to get back to my original project Mostly Armless. I know it's a long wait between books, but I think you'll find it's worth the wait! :)
This week:
And the winner for...guess what magical creature is on the cover of Into FaerLand and be in to WIN a paperback of The Secret Story! is...
Dragons Out and About: Aspen the Magnificent
What I'm reading: Charms, Charts, and Conspiracies: A Cozy Neurodivergent Caper (Greton's Marvellous Maps Book 2) by David Green.
Promotions: Two Free Fantasy and Sci Fi Promotions
Yay, congratulations to CR!!! I've emailed them already, and hope to hear back soon.
(The new covers will be coming up over the next week!)
Dragons Out and About: Aspen the Magnificent
Aspen is a green dragon who is a bit of a hoarder. I found them holding one of the jewels that had fallen off another dragon...well, fallen or taken! It was resting in the hollow between their tail and their body.
Still, Aspen doesn't hold a grudge, especially as I took them out forest bathing straight after. There's nothing green dragons love more than forest bathing.
And when Aspen looks up at the massive trees overhead, they always say. "I did that. Without all the nitrogen oxides in my breath, they would never grown so green or so tall!"
The Expanse meets Old Man's War. A special forces veteran reborn. A galaxy on the brink.
The Humans Are Coming. The Galaxy Better Be Ready.
The astonishing truth? The human race didn’t evolve on Earth.
Ewan Scott was a dying SAS veteran, until a 300-year-old alien AI Avatar offered him a second chance: rebirth in a bio-engineered body, fitter, stronger, movie-star handsome. His mission? Reunite humanity with its parent civilization, the Saret Federation, before merciless enemies erase all life on Earth....
Winner of the London Book Festival 2025 (Science Fiction) Perfect for fans of John Scalzi and Craig Alanson, with the epic scope of The Expanse and the fleet warfare of David Weber.
Magic has a price, and for Stric Deamara, that price is everything he holds dear.
It began the night the kingdom fell. Veltak's royal family is dead, its magicians reduced to ashes, and the sorcerer who did it now rules with an army of the undead and abominations forged from living stone.
Stric barely survives the massacre, only to be hurled by his dying Grandmaster twenty years into a ruined future, carrying one impossible task: find the infant prince smuggled out of the burning palace....
The Oracle's Bridge is Book One of The Bridges of Magic: an epic fantasy of found family, slow-burn romance, and hard, rule-driven magic, where multi-race alliances and portal-and-time twists collide in cinematic battles for a broken world.
For readers of Jenn Lyons, James Islington, and Ryan Cahill.
What I'm reading: Charms, Charts, and Conspiracies: Greton's Marvellous Maps Book 2, by David Green
I was a little reticent about reading this book, I liked Magic, Maps and Mischief, but wasn't sure a second book would really add anything.
But I'm half way into this one and very much enjoying it. The struggles the character has very much impact the action, and this brings a poignancy and an extra layer for our intrepid hero to overcome which is great.
I'm not going to say much, except that I hope it ends as well as the middle is going. :)
Herbert looking a little whiskery today. But he's in super-cat pose, with his arm out, so it can't be all bad.
He's also an attention-seeking missile, but he's also more of a home body, so much easier to find as he's often curled up on the couch.
Maisie has decided that she needs attention any time she's in the house. This was the best of a dozen blurry photos over two sessions. She's just too keen to get brushed and then go out and explore. (I should have taken a pic when she was outside on the car cover.)
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Fantasy adventure Hi, I hope you're enjoying the change in seasons and getting some great weather. I love spring and autumn so much. We've had some lovely days over the last few weeks, so I thought I'd show off a picture of Wellington at night on a delightfully warm evening, to try and forget how cold it is tonight. (It's not that actually that cold, it just feels cold.) My writing: The Clockwork Dragon (working title) is over 50,000 words. I'm about half way through the last pass before it...
Fantasy adventure Hi, I hope you’ve had a lovely week. This week I've got the exciting Cozy the Day Away sale on. Last time I picked up I think it was nearly a dozen books for 99c or free. So I think it's really worth checking out. And in other news, I did go for that walk around Pāuatahanui inlet. It's such a pretty walk past the cheerful Camborne boat sheds. And I did find that poem from NZ poet Poet Sam Hunt. He's not my favourite poet, but it's so cool having the poem Of Dan and the...
