Book One: The Shadow Soul Archives

21: Too Long for Too Much – Open Book Blog Hop #318

March 28, 2022 By Captain Maiel 6 Comments

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #318
Where were you at 21? How does that reflect in your writing today?

Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop! The authors included in this ongoing series wish to thank you for your reads. Even more so, we appreciate that you share our writings with friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Prepare to become a regular reader.

This should have been a great year of my life, but it really wasn’t. In the US, 21 is like coming of age for good. It’s the last graduation to full adulthood, in many ways. That said, it didn’t come with any great realization or change. That also said, 21 was a tough age as I maneuvered a deep depression and growing anxiety symptoms because of it.

a map lies on the table with books and writing implements, as a person takes notes. Photo by Oxona on Unsplash

21 is the age when we Americans can legally drink alcohol. Big deal, considering we find ways to party regardless of the law. I was no different than any other young person. Thus, gaining this right to choose for myself if I would imbibe wasn’t any big deal. In my family, we didn’t treat the use of alcohol as anything negative or positive. Our deeply European and progressive roots just didn’t cater to prohibition. Historically, we fought against such infringements of freedom–meaning I had family who ran a speakeasy during that ridiculous period of history in the States.

Although we had alcoholism in the family, too, that didn’t change how we felt about the use of drink. I tasted my first beer very young. Wine was my preference until I grew older and also grew a fondness for Cognac. Whisky can be nice, too. I once tried a peat tinged brew that left me deeply impressed. I felt like a dragon, the way the heat rose in my throat and a puff of that smoke followed. Very cool.

Drinking to excess was never something I cared to do. I didn’t like the drunken feeling at all. As someone who has survived assault, being without my faculties to protect was not of interest–especially in mixed company. I guess that this is one of the things that kept me from ever over doing it.

21 had other experiences, too. I was not in a great place mentally. Depression, as I said was deepened at this point. Frustration at so much–between terrible dating experiences, career problems, and feeling trapped by a mundane future weighed heavy. The writing was on the wall, in other words. All I foresaw was struggle. And, I wasn’t wrong, just as I knew, but others insisted I was wrong. Trusting my own mind, quite gifted in putting two and two together, is the one great thing that came of that period.

Trust your gut. I can’t express that enough. We have these senses for a reason, and others attempting to lead us away from them are doing it for their own comfort–I wish I could explain why, but that still eludes me. Being positive is fine, but being real with yourself is smart.

The frustrations of 21 have remained through my thirties and into my forties. This is not to say that I have not gained ground. Quite the contrary. I published my books, just as I wanted. Also, the degree in film finally came in my late thirties. Check and check! Still, I wander around feeling like the level at which I work isn’t enough yet. I want to do more.

21 sucked but 41 was much better by far! I was on my way to having my first baby and I had made immense ground on my career goals. Still, I had been right. The road there was long and convoluted. None of it was great. Worthwhile? That’s complicated. I don’t think anyone should have to suffer as I did trying to get to where they wanted. It truly wears away at the joy you can feel when you do achieve the goal. For instance, I barely noticed that I met my publishing goal when it happened. It felt like nothing. A let down in ways.

I’d not change a thing in having my daughter. In only wish I had her sooner and that I had more! I love kids! That said, I am glad I never compromised on the partner front. That was never worth the frustration and suffering, but learning that took too long and was too much.

It’s interesting how our lives work out when we take the time to look back at that. At nearly 47 years of age, I am happier than I have been in way too long. The road there was fraught with so many perils, and I knew it before I even got started. Much of that has informed my writing in ways I can’t even yet unpack. Take, for instance, my Trailokya series. There are a lot of K Easter eggs locked up in there! A lot of it is fantasy. So much of it is from dreams (both the sleep and the aspirational kind).

Clearly, while I’m not Holly, Claire, or Emily you’ll find pieces of me littered across all my work. You can’t help that as a writer. Even the settings are pieces of me. Every character is a shard. The problem with trying to piece the mosaic together, however, is that you have to know what size and type of material it is. Maybe it’s a reference to other texts, a personal thought, an event, something I love or something I loathe. Literary theory could have a field day trying to piece it together, but I doubt they’d ever get the picture quite right.

Looking back at 21, I see that I had barely begun my journey, but so much had already happened to form the character I would portray in my life story. In so many ways, it’s as if no time at all has passed, just a lot of stuff has gone on. My journey reminds me of the Chutes and Ladders game board. Boy have I hit those chutes too many times to count, sending me backward to the point of losing site of the goal.

Where am I at now? Probably one roll away from the goal or the chute that will send me back to start.

Click on the links below to find out where the other authors were at the age of 21…

Anything But Secondary – Open Book Blog Hop #317

March 21, 2022 By Captain Maiel 6 Comments

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #317
Do you have a favorite secondary character in your books?
Or a favorite sub-plot?

My books each have notable supporting cast members. Whether we are talking about the rapscallion Evan from Blue Honor, Marcel and Aunt Noreen of OP-DEC, or the many rich characters of Trailokya, someone is going to find a favorite secondary character that they will carry with them for life after reading. Me, however, I find it much harder to choose.

Supporting roles are integral to the development and framing of the main characters as wells as the story itself. Without them, it is much more difficult to develop a good story. Arguably, it can be done. Films have made use of the singular focused arch (the most recent of memory being Locke (2013), but I would also state that there is always a secondary character present. One may just not be as obvious to some as others.

My personal difficulty in choosing a favorite is that I see the merit in each and grew fond of them when writing each of my books. I went on a journey with them, much like a road trip, and they became friends who gave me warm memories. Experiencing their trials and tribulations alongside the primary characters built an affection that rarely wanes, even in the site of new journeys.

Trailokya, for example, has a broad cast of interesting characters with a richness of detail and hinted histories that draw the readers (and me the writer) straight into their arms. For instance, there is Zaajah. This captain of the Order of Horus is a direct equal of the primary character Maiel. They are close friends, a bond forged in their time at the Ordo Priori and unbroken despite assignments to different orders in Zion. And, spoiler alert, Zaajah was there when Maiel was still close friends with the mysterious Primus Gediel.

Zaajah has a story of her own to tell, but she quietly assists her dearest friend, whom she sees as a sister. These two are so close that it is Zaajah alone that Maiel trusts to be her guardian while incarnated, not the usual protocol within orders. That protocol is a higher rank officer takes this role, as it is perceived in supervisory terms, and requires the wisdom of experience. This not only speaks to the caliber of guardian that Zaajah is, but the bond between them. In the books, a ketu between them makes perfect sense. However, their atman match to others. They may still fall under the definition of soul mates, as this term describes more broadly reaching, non-sexual bonds.

Beyond Zaajah, there are many more characters of interest. Callidora comes to mind. This is Maiel’s second in command, Evocati, and much like a Padawan of the guardian. The bond with this character is much newer, but Maiel has Cal’s unyielding loyalty. The two are additionally bonded on familial levels revealed as the story progresses.

Luthias, having served as the guardian to Maiel’s husband in numerous incarnations is a very compelling character in that he was once a soul, but has since evolved into a duta. This rare, but achievable feat speaks to the quality of his character, hinting around a long and interesting history of his own. Although Luthias is a veteran, he retains a notable gentleness and fairness. His discernment is strong, leading him to take unexpected sides in the fight to come. And, of course, there is the fact that his life moves forward despite the disintegration around him–ketu and a child, drawing him away from the center of storm.

I can’t go without mentioning the phenomenal Sephr. “This giant svargduta is both the commander and keeper (short for arms keeper) of Walhall, the armory of Zion. Entrusted by the king to scan and suit every legionae, there is no duta atman that does not go under his gaze and is not seen to the core of their very being.” Who wouldn’t love this guy? On top of all of that, he reflects ancient culture from the Middle East in his physical appearance and dress. If the reader is paying attention, they would come to the conclusion that he is the ultimate of all watchers. Consider the quote above again for a clue.

There are so many more, such as Maiel’s brothers, Oriael, Father Gallo, and, of course, all of the bad guys! I know someone out there is going to like Morgentus, Belial, Cursia, and so on. (If you want to learn more about them, check out my online companion or do a search on my site, because they’ve all been written of before). Let’s not kid. Baddies can be some of the best secondary characters going. We all love Darth Vader and Boba Fett.

Don’t let me take all of your time, though. We have other authors on this hop who you should check out. They’ve answered this question, too. Click on their links below to check them out!

K. Williams Lands Honorable Mention in Science Fiction Category for The Shadow Soul

July 17, 2015 By Captain Maiel Leave a Comment

10th AnnualHollywood Book Festival: K. Williams lands Honorable Mention in

the Science Fiction category for The Shadow Soul

The Trailokya Trilogy, Book 1: The Shadow Soul by K. Williams

Booktrope Publishing

ISBN13: 9781620155837

Available on Amazon Paperback | Amazon Kindle | B&N Paperback | B&N Nook

◊ Get Your Copy Now! ◊

Note that it appears K. Williams is also the only woman on the list! Take that Glass Ceiling!

Trailokya Trilogy Inspired by Life, Mythology and Dreams.

June 1, 2015 By Captain Maiel Leave a Comment

The Trailokya Trilogy came to me in a dream. Actually, it’s come to me in a series of dreams over about 30-33 years or more. From recurring themes to continuing sagas, sleeping is quite the adventure. I guess I was always blessed with this imagination or a conduit into something like the greatest first person role play ever. (Yes, I used to game—until everything pretty much went online and this introvert backed out. Glad I did for not having to deal with trolls, but sad because there are awesome games out there I would really enjoy.)

Dare I mention that OP-DEC came in a dream too? That I was on a date with the perfect guy. Oh, yes, Carsten Reiniger is a perfect guy. We were seeing Star Wars—which is an obvious thing if you know me. Then the bead and the whole scene happened. I woke up to roll over but it continued and by then, I was being whisked away in a Junkers bomber with my aunt and mother. Upon really waking that morning, I decided I needed to write the book. So, too, Trailokya came to be Faith Fallen, a screenplay I penned back in 2006 and let lay fallow until five years later. It was going to be an enormous production to bring that into a novel, and I wasn’t prepared to do it at the time. I had a lot to learn about various subjects that were sure to crop up, and more things to dream.

The world of Trailokya comes as it is. It’s limitless in scope really, as any dreamscape is. However, it is attached to our universe, our Earth, and the spaces we occupy in waking life are limited by the rules of physics and other scientific concepts. Trailokya is a very specific term which describes the three worlds that interact heavily in the manuscript: Zion, Samsara and Jahannam. These words should be quite familiar to the average person. Zion is another word for heaven, but in the book it is the homeworld, where we all are created and visit Samsara, the universe in which Earth resides. Jahannam is an Islamic word for hell. This is the prison realm where those who have committed egregious crimes against Zion and the entities living there are put, to keep the rest of the universes safe from them. It is not fool-proof, like any other prison. It was not created by a god, but ordered into being and created by his emissaries. The myths of Judeo-Christian and Islamic faith have quite a showing in Trailokya, right beside Hindu (Lord Ganesha, overseer of the Great Council), Buddhist (Trailokya, Samsara) and the ancient faiths of the ancient world, such as Greco-Roman (Jahannam’s provinces, Duta leaders, Arcadia) and Egyptian (Order of Horus).

To keep my focus, I rely on the dreams I had. Believe it or not they started matching up after years of having them. The make sense to me, despite not always coming in linear episodes. On the side, I keep a list that applies to all three places, a quick reference, so I can remember the terminology I have applied. There is nothing like it which I have yet found, but yet it is so natural coming from my mind to the paper. I also kept a screensaver and music playlist full of inspirational art to spur me on and keep me excited. It showed throughout the process that was cataloged on Facebook 2011-2014.I’ve archived most of the process so that anyone interested could see how I made this happen. Questions come in, people want to interact. Other authors are looking for themselves in you, for that glimmer of hope they’re doing it right (yes, you are!), when there is really no one right way to do a book. The book will show you the path.

Writing Trailokya was a cathartic experience, but I don’t dare answer exactly why until Trailokya’s second installment is released. That would just be a spoiler. The music and the art and imagining something that was corked up inside my head and putting it on paper for others to see, that was therapy.

The characters of Trailokya are fleshed out in much the same way as the landscapes and concepts. A lot of them come from mythological or faith based lore: General Mikael and the other three commanders of the four legions of Zion. I’m sure you can name them without me listing them. Among them is Captain Maiel, of the Moon Order, a legion under General Mikael that is commanded by Artemis and her sister. She is sometimes mistaken for her commander, as she and her twin brother Joel look very much like Diana and Apollo. In the dreams, I am always Maiel. I feel her excitement at facing foes, her concern in missing her children and her love for those in her care. Jungian psychology would likely chalk this aberration up to desiring power in a world where women are powerless. Captain Maiel is a very strong female, who is equal with her male counterparts, in a world that doesn’t equate gender with ability.

There is also the mysterious Primus Gediel, Wolf Leader, Watcher. He is responsible for training the canine soldiers that serve in the legions. These packs are special and few. His second titles, Watcher, corresponds to the role of those angels who were charged by God with the oversight of humanity in the early days of civilization. They’re the spies and special forces of the legions. The mystery shrouding them is deepened by a conflict that happened at the outset of humanity’s occupation of earth, a very dark conflict that led to the prison of Jahannam. Gediel’s darkness is mostly made by his exile to the outskirts of Zion, but more so from his grandfather who fell to Jahannam in the conflict, and for who he is named.

The Seal of Samsara, astrological wheel. This image doesn’t include Metatron’s cube, but the idea reflects the wheel as coordinates attached to the stars/constellations

Technology is another aspect of Trailokya. The series is not merely a fantasy. It uses science and hammers back myths to show a more reasoned synthesis of how and why and where do we come from. The gates the characters use to travel back and forth beyond the vales (borders between universes) are energy based, Wi-Fi even, connections and keys. Tesla would be over the moon. The seals use coordinates, to dial in a location. For instance, the seal of Samsara looks like a compass, and it is, based on the constellations of that universe. It also happens to contain Metatron’s Cube, a theory from alchemist Solomon that continues to have great meaning today to the spiritual, drawing from science and the Kabbalah.

Other scientific theories in Trailokya will be familiar to those following physics. Zion is a forever expanding universe, but not quite like Samsara. A sun and moon phase around it. There are stars, but it is the only ‘planet’ in the space, and it’s growing larger to accommodate all those beings who remain, tempered by all those who ascend beyond to Nirvana. Are the stars potential other universes? Worlds being forged? I cannot tell you. It could be argued that Nirvana is our real home, Zion is just another stop on the way in the journey away from and back to it and the stars are Nirvana leaking through the barriers.

As for the other worlds, Jahannam is a dark mirror of Zion, bereft of sky and satellites, while Samsara is a shattered reflection, encompassing the wrecks of both worlds, touching into universes between: Astral, Avernus and Oblivion. Avernus is the undoing of all physical things, a world of entropy where barriers are broken down and everything laces into everything else; the last barrier keeping Zion and the upper realms safe from invasion. Astral is a theoretical playground where all things are possible, and yet bound by the player’s limitations; a dream world. Oblivion is utter destruction, the antithesis of Nirvana and creation; a nothing place where matter is destroyed.

In the coming installments, the technology becomes increasingly prominent, but again, spoilers. So, I will leave it there before I tell you everything and spoil the read.

Image Credits:

Image1 – Wolf by Pixabay.com
Image 2 – http://priteeboy.deviantart.com/
Image 3 – Playlist. Screencapture of the Trailokya Trilogy playlist on Spotify.
Image 4 & 5 Captain Maielle: http://natelyon.deviantart.com/art/08-Maielle-39958972 Uknown: Is this Gediel or what? cannot find the page this was from, please let me know if you do, so I can give credit and referral.
Image 5 – Astro Chart by Pixabay

Do You Ever Make Play Lists For Your Writing? Here’s The Soundtrack I Made For The Trailokya Trilogy…(Spoiler alert?)

May 29, 2015 By Captain Maiel Leave a Comment

(Click to enlarge photo.)

The Soundtrack For The Trailokya Trilogy

The creative process for authors is vastly different across the board, but there are some similarities too. For instance, I learned that my process of downloading images on the web to use in a picture cycling screensaver as well as building a music play list is employed by many of the writers I know and adore. And, who doesn’t like casting their characters for that future film they want to make?

My favorite thing to do is the soundtrack. I’ve made one for every book. OP-DEC is all the swing music I can muster together in my collection, Jazz—Sinatra and Dean, Benny and Basie. Blue was more difficult, I reached out to Celtic artists, things like you hear on the Last of the Mohicans Soundtrack, and a local band called The McKrells (their version of Ride On—perfect). For Trailokya, I chose things that ranged from electronic to new age, country and metal—the whole gamut of genres. Somehow the songs all work together.

What this playlist does for me is focuses me on a moment in time. It reminds me of a memory of a dream. It sets tone and even setting. It helps me feel what should be felt in that section of the text to which it applies. The list covers the entire trilogy, so the song titles can be a bit of a spoiler, but then that’s often too obvious. A song isn’t always titled perfectly and how does Come On by Andy Hunter clarify anything? If readers were to build this list on Spotify – and they must pay careful attention to the mix, not just the title, as that alters the sound and mood completely, they would have a further insight into the ‘image’ of Trailokya. Playlists of songs are immersive, another layer of ‘text’ we can read beside the written text. It brings the reader that much closer to the intention of the author.

Additionally, a playlist serves to hold continuity across the installments. Sometimes when an author pens several connected books, the tone changes. It was necessary for these books that their tone was fluid, like the Lord of the Rings. This is another reason I wrote them one after another, then did my edits post completion. Continuity is required in so many aspects – word use, labels, definitions, how a character talks, dresses or feels. Argus of book one needs to be the same into book three, unless he goes through some major experience that alters him. As a supporting character, I chose consistency. His growth is tied to Maiel’s and therefore the music that reflects their emotions in the playlist helped to keep that bond and development on track without being distracting. The playlist is subtle in how it focuses the brain and hence the project.

Comment back to me with questions on the songs – where do they go in the narrative. Does a character have a theme song? What images or feelings do you get, or how did that song particularly frame the story? I’d love to discuss it.

Here’s a link to the list on Spotify!