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 14 days ago • 3 min read
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 goes on hiatus, which means reading it on paper, making annotations and then ignoring the annotations. (See, I told you I've been reading Douglas Adams.) Of course it's not really true, but I'll often use my memory of what's wrong with a scene before going back and checking the annotations. I'm enjoying Patricia, who is inspired by my grandmother. A woman who was absolutely mad about plants, she really adored them, and so they are "baked into" her character as it were. And now I'm wondering if she should be baking, too. She used to make this wonderful brown sugar and fruit bread scrolls. Yum.
Mostly Armless. I'm gearing up to be writing this again, reading Douglas Adams to see if I can find some inspiration. And I even took a peak and now I desperately want to be writing this story again. But I need to hold out for another week or two to square Clockwork Dragon so that I can get back to my fae dragons and my library crew.
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: Stoneleigh
What I'm reading: Charms, Charts, and Conspiracies: A Cozy Neurodivergent Caper (Greton's Marvellous Maps Book 2) by David Green.
Promotions: Mythical creatures and Free!
The cats: Herbert and Maisie
New Blood of the Fae covers now up in ebook!
I really love these new covers. They better represent the mythology, the adventure and the twity, turny plots! :)
Stoneleigh is usually very hard to find, hiding in plain sight on almost any concrete or grey-stone surface.
An absolute champion at hide and seek—one year Stoneleigh went missing for about nine months and was only found in the back of a cupboard after we moved house. Even now, in the special dragon cabinet, they like to hide under the wing of a larger dragon.
Today Stoneleigh's having a wee snooze in the garden, happy there are lots of dragons and people and even cats to keep them safe.
What I'm reading: Charms, Charts, and Conspiracies: Greton's Marvellous Maps Book 2, by David Green
Very much if you liked the first book, then you'll love this one as well. Like the first one it can be a little iterative, but that thematically that makes sense.
And as I said last newsletter there's poignancy and feeling, so if you want a fantastical caper with realistic neurodivergent rep, I don't think you can do better.
You wouldn't believe the state of my copy of this book. The pages are near falling out...and I'm actually considering rebinding it, it's such a treasure.
I'm not in a hurry to finish it, wanting to slowly absorb a touch of the style for "Mostly Armless." Although it's quite different because it's the stoic British gent facing disaster with choleric indignation that carries the book.
Herbert looking really good at the moment with his eyes bright and his fur all fluffy and shiny.
We thought something might be happening with his gut with all his injuries, so he's getting special wet food in the morning (which seems to help). A treat he now yowls for.
Maisie on the car cover. She loves it. Whether its on the car, or on the porch, it's apparently the best place to be.
And it's molting season, so she's back to jumping onto my computer chair to insist on brushing. She almost yowls for brushes as loudly as Herbert does for treats!
Fantasy adventure Hi, I have to admit I'm a little exhausted today. I've been cleaning and scrubbing, demolishing shelves and digging out the leaves from between our shed and the retaining wall. Ah, spring and spring cleaning are not my favourite things. But it will be nice to have the shed, which is also the laundry, spick and span so that we can find all tools that are stored there. My writing: The Clockwork Dragon (working title) is getting to 51,000 words—it's not really growing because...
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...
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...
