October Short Story: Dying To Be Your Friend

Trailer for The Cursed Leviathan, Vol. 2 Goddess of the Moon Saga

I made a new book trailer for The Cursed Leviathan Vol. 2 Goddess of the Moon Saga even though I am maybe only half done writing it. To me I needed to do it to help give me vision to write it. You can also view it at YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vb8z_p6Vkw&feature=c4-overview&list=UUavKwqL2b1jDkAd0vvEf3RQ

STEPHENIE MEYER talks her writing before being published

How to Write FAST

Writer's Block Instant Cure

Curse of the Shifter ~ Short Story

Curse of the Shifter

A Short Story

By Glenda Reynolds

Even in death, the beauty of the young Indian girl made your heart ache. Her complexion, once a rosy bronze, now took on an ashen color. Eyes that once twinkled with warm smiles now starred unblinking at the tall, billowy clouds and the flocks of tropical birds. Her body bore marks of bites and claw marks from more than one beast, yet the inhabitants of the Everglades had not claimed her body. At least her face was not frozen in fear nor her hands raised to shield herself from an unspeakable horror. No, she lay at peace with her surroundings in contrast to the scene that played out just hours ago. Her heart had betrayed her to her tragic end like a spring flower that is picked just after blooming at the peak of brilliant color, not left on the stem to fade with age. But just as a picked flower that is cut off from its life source soon withers and dies, the brilliant beauty of Sueniko was quickly fading.

It began during the Spring Festival of the Calusa Indians. Their name meant “the fierce ones” for the reason being they were very tall, warlike people who dominated Southwest Florida. The Calusa Indian nation gathered from all of Southwest Florida to observe this annual celebration. It involved competitions, good food, and traditional tribal dancing. The most popular event was hatchet throwing. The more skilled an Indian boy was with using his hatchet or arrows, the more he was accepted as a man among his people. It was also a chance to attract the females, a potential life mate.

So it was that rivals from two different tribes had always been at odds with each other.

Cheveyo was from the poorest of the Calusa tribes. They lived under the worst conditions and had more old people than young ones. There was not much happiness in his tribe. His leaders would gather around the fire at night and talk about the glory days of the past before the Spanish came to occupy their land. They talked about the Gifted Ones who were able to take on the token form of an animal to protect the people. So far they had kept the Spanish from invading the Calusa territory. But there weren’t many young braves in his tribe to carry on. One of their own tribesmen had betrayed them to the Spanish in return for strong drink. The betrayer told them that if you kill a life mate of a Gifted One, the young brave would remain in his animal state forever. So these shifters remained in the Everglades; many of their women died too.

On the other hand Kitchi was from a wealthier tribe with many young braves. They always had successful hunting or fishing trips. Their women bore many children. They too had tales of glory when they kept the Spanish invaders at bay. Kitchi’s tribe had magic in their blood. They had their own token form of animal protector that was given to certain braves of the tribe.

For a few years now, Cheveyo and Kitchi sought each other out to see who was the better of the two in the skilled events at each new Spring Festival. Both young men were very athletic and skilled in all weaponry.

Sueniko was always present at these events at the urging of Kitchi who secretly wanted to marry her. But she only had eyes for Cheveyo. After all, he was the most beautiful warrior she had ever seen. Though his face had a few scars on his cheeks from battle, they were barely noticeable. His fierce eyes grew kinder whenever she gazed into them. His back and arms rippled with muscles under his bronze skin; his torso tapered to a lean waist traveling to strong thighs that were partially covered with a deerskin loincloth. He didn’t smile that often, but when he did, it was as if she starred into the sun. His brutish and often moody nature only made her want to give him a compassionate touch on his shoulder or brush the hair away from his eyes.

It had been many moons ago when Cheveyo came to Sueniko’s village to visit a cousin. Fortunately, Kitchi was away on a hunting trip. Cheveyo and Sueniko had known each other as children over the years, but this visit changed everything. They found themselves strolling to a private area near a creek where they indulged in intimate conversation. The signals were there between them: the eye contact, the smiles, the flirtatious remarks, and finally the first kiss. Their bodies’ responded in the primal grind. Their breath came more quickly. If it weren’t for the voice of Sueniko’s mother calling her nearby, who knows what things may have happened in that heated moment. They rose from the ground and brushed themselves off. From then on there was desire in their eyes for each other. When Kitchi returned from his hunting trip, Suenicko treated him with indifference. It wasn’t until the Spring Festival that Kitchi now knew who the object of her desire was. This inflamed Kitchi’s jealousy. He ordered her to come away to another event. Cheveyo was filled with anger that Kitchi treated her in this manner. 

That little son of a snake! Who does he think he is, ordering her around as if she were a slave? Someone needs to teach him some manners, and quick.

Cheveyo followed the couple to the next event to Sueniko’s delight. The hatchet throwing was in progress. No one had yet hit the bull’s-eye. Kitchi came forward, took a moment to judge the distance, and then threw his hatchet. It landed a few inches right from the center of the bull’s-eye. Not to be outdone, Cheveyo stepped forward and concentrated. He hurled his hatchet at the target. It landed dead center. Cheers went up from the crowd. The other competitors were too afraid to continue. Cheveyo was declared the winner of this event.

Other events followed such as the bow and arrow event, tree climbing, canoeing, and lastly the foot race. The top warriors competed against each other in this event which entailed racing from one point in the Everglades to another while carrying a painted stake. When they arrived at the finish line, the competitor placed his stake into the ground. Cheveyo and Kitchi once again competed against each other.

The young men lined up at the start. A chiefly-looking man with a long pole that was decorated in feathers signaled the start of the race. The young men ran wildly and sometimes blindly into the Everglades where they would encounter many perils. They sometimes came upon snakes or wild animals in their pursuit of the finish line. Sometimes the natural terrain was too difficult to overcome. One by one brave young men dropped out of the race. Only two remained in the running. They were covered in dirt and bloody scratches. These were only trophies in their race for triumph. The finish was in sight. Cheveyo and Kitchi ran with all of their might, but unbeknownst to Kitchi there was a stone in his path that proved the end of his efforts. His toes caught the base of the stone which caused him to somersault once. His palms were outstretched, acting as his breaks. He skidded to a stop on his belly.

Cheveyo loped to the finish line and plunged his stake into the ground. A waiting crowd was there to applaud him. Suenicko was also there. She awarded Cheveyo with a kiss on his cheek and a beautiful smile.

Kitchi pulled himself off of the ground and saw the interaction between Cheveyo and Suenicko. Murder was in his eyes.

As the sun was setting, Cheveyo took Suenicko far away from the crowd to spend some time alone with her. Kitchi followed them at a distance. Just as the couple shared their first embrace and a warm kiss, Kitchi came out of hiding.

“How dare you lay a hand on her! Do you really think that you are good enough for a woman of my tribe, you dog?”

“She apparently has chosen me. Why don’t you ask her yourself?” countered Cheveyo.

“Is it true? Are you interested in this worthless piece of garbage that calls himself a Calusa?”

“I care very much for him. We have promised ourselves to each other. We will be life mates soon,” Suenicko said defiantly with a lift of her chin.

“You won’t be life mates if he is dead now, will you?”

“Stop! Leave us alone!” she pleaded.

“It’s too late for that, Suenicko. Go back to the village while I make an example of this dog.”

Before she could protest any further, Kitchi unsheathed his knife and started to circle Cheveyo. Likewise, Cheveyo took his knife out to defend himself. They scrambled wildly, slashing through the air to draw blood. Kitchi lost his footing while his knife was knocked out of his hand be Cheveyo. It went sailing into the carpet of green sawgrass. When Kitchi realized that he had no weapon to continue fighting, his only option was to shift into his other form. He quivered and became a giant panther.

Cheveyo looked on with wide eyes. He was afraid only for a moment. He could not defend himself against a panther with only a knife. He dropped the knife, and his body quivered. He became a giant alligator.

The panther let out a ferocious growl as it came closer to do battle, but it was clear that there was uncertainty. The alligator hissed and opened its jaws wide to display his teeth. His monstrous tail swung back and forth. The panther pounced on the back of the alligator and tried to chew on its neck as if to strangle him. The alligator did a number of rolls to rid the creature from his back. It worked momentarily. They slowly circled each other. The alligator lunged at the panther, grabbing one leg in its powerful jaws. It tried to drag the panther to a nearby pond. The panther then lunged on the back of the alligator again, though more awkward, and tried gouging its eyes out. This caused the alligator to release the leg. The panther bit into the right front foot of the alligator and tore two of the toes off. Once more they circled slowly before going in for the kill.

Finally, Suenicko who had been watching in silent horror came out of her hiding place. Just as the two creatures poised to lung at each other, she stepped in between them with her hands raised to stop them and screamed for them to stop. The alligator grabbed her around the waist with his powerful jaws. The panther’s claws made deep gouges in her chest while its teeth bit into her skull. The three of them rolled and slashed about in the low growing palms and sawgrass. Finally, the two beasts realized that in their blind instinct for survival, they had both killed the Indian girl.

The panther let out a mournful roar. He quivered and returned to the young Indian boy.

“You have killed her! If it weren’t for you, she’d still be alive!”

The alligator shook his head from side to side as if to say no. He let out a giant hiss.

Kitchi ran back to the village to concoct a story of how Cheveyo murdered Suenicko. Cheveyo remained in his alligator form thereafter because his life mate was now dead. They never found Suenicko’s body. That is because the alligator known as “Three-toed Cheveyo” dragged her deep into the Everglades where he spent the rest of his days.  

My First Author Interview And Character Interview

A lady named Violet was kind enough to give me an author interview on her blog at http://emeraldseer.blogspot.com

This is how it went:

Tuesday, April 9, 2013 Feature Author: Glenda Reynolds Please welcome this week's feature author - Glenda Reynolds. Later, we are also joined by one of her characters who has agreed to answer some questions for us from her book, Goddess of the Moon: Mayan World of Vampires Violet: What is your inspiration? What helps you get through writer's block? Glenda: I find inspiration in the Bible, movies/TV series, and my music playlist. Usually if I’m stumped, a talk with a friend or my husband will spark ideas. Violet: Do you listen to music when you write? Have a completely silent space? Glenda: I do not listen to music while I write. I either like to sit against my headboard on the bed or sit and look out into my lush green backyard through the glass patio door while I write. I have since listened to low volume music in July 2013 with "emotional" / melancholy soundtracks and it helps me to write. Violet: Who inspires you? What authors do you look up to? Why? Glenda: Amanda Hocking and Stephenie Meyer inspire me. I look up to Stephenie Meyer because while she wrote some of the most popular paranormal romance books made into some fantastic movies, she incorporated her Christian beliefs into her writing: no sex before marriage, no bad language and no pornographic scenes. And yet her books still had plenty of romance in them and are accepted by a wide audience. Amanda Hocking also inspires me for the following reasons: her writing style is very basic and fluid; she made self-publishing look easy to do; she became successful even when people balked at her because she was self-published. Violet: When did you first start writing? What genre do you prefer? Glenda: I started writing in March 2010 just for fun at the office. I shared my writing with my coworker and her two young girls. I prefer the young adult genre. Violet: If you had to choose another genre to write, what would it be? Why? Glenda: It might be non-fiction / self-help. This is probably because I recently purchased a book from an author who talked about family estrangement. She mislead me into thinking that her book addressed that when in fact it was journal about her life: her midlife crisis, giving birth to 8 children, her misdiagnosis of being bipolar, her love of country music, and Bible scripture woven in. I would like to try to address family estrangement. Or I would like to do something like a devotional or an inspirational calendar, or combine both. Violet: What is your favorite book (or who is your favorite author) and why? Glenda: I have to say up front that I’m not a big reader; therefore, I don’t have a long list of authors. But Stephenie Meyer would have to top my list. Her writing style draws me in to where it is difficult to put her book down. It makes a love affair come to life inside of me. Her book Twilight, the first in the four book saga, is my favorite of them all. To me it has the most romance.  But my all time favorite book is the Bible for life. Love stories will fade away, but God’s word abides forever. Violet: Do you have another job and if so what is it? Glenda: I work at the home office of a Pizza Hut franchise for 15 stores. I work as an Administrative Assistance. That’s the title I usually tell people since I’m a receptionist / mail person / shipping person who sends the Pizza Huts office supplies when they need them. But I also order their food trucks (stuff to make pizza, pasta, beverages, wings) and analyze their paper work when it arrives at the office. Violet: Tell about your first book and how long it took you to write the first draft? Glenda: I’d say it took me a year and a half for the first draft since in the beginning it wasn’t a serious book project. My coworker urged me along in order to get fresh reading material. I had a fresh appreciation for the modern vampire after Twilight and the Vampire Diaries, especially with the Damon character. I wanted my character to have some kind of beginning, so I chose the Yucatan (since I love the lush green jungle) and to end up in old Florida. I chose the City of Coba since it has been largely unexcavated, and I liked the location. The story follows princess Melanna’s birth that is witnessed by a vampire named Tez. The queen makes Tez promise to protect her daughter before the queen dies. Wherever the princess is, Tez is always close by unnoticed until fate revealed him to her. Meanwhile a vampire queen named Zafrina has taken over the city of Coba and demands the ritual of human sacrifice. The king cowers and gives her what she wants, even if it means his own daughter. Melanna has to deal with an older sister who tries to have her killed. Melanna also discovers that she is the Prophesied One to lead Coba into battle against the vampires that have taken over. There are twists and turns; vampires that you love to hate; a plot that leaves you begging for more. Violet: List all of your titles with a one sentence synopsis of each. Glenda:  Goddess of the Moon: Mayan World of Vampires Vol. 1 A YA kick-butt paranormal romance with a Mayan princess, who overcomes many obstacles to free her city from a blood thirsty vampire coven, gets a drop dead gorgeous vampire boyfriend, reconciles with her father, and meets up with a healing angel, but not without paying a great price. The Cursed Leviathan (unpublished/currently writing) Vol. 2 The story continues with Melanna searching for Tez; the vampire pirate Captain Jon Devon and his cursed love Desiree pillage the Caribbean; and the Dark One wars with the Florida natives. Violet: Who is your favorite character? Why? Glenda: My favorite character is Tez since he was inspired by the Puerto Rican actor / singer Chayanne.  Tez is the best and the worst in all of us but seeks to find redemption and a place in this world. He is dark, gorgeous, witty, and profound. Violet: Who is your least favorite character? Why? Glenda: My least favorite character would have to be Melanna’s sister, Eleuia. One of my relatives was the inspiration for this character. You could say it was therapy. Violet: Which character was most difficult to write? Glenda: I might have to say that Zafrina was difficult to write. How do you get into the mind of pure evil? What drives her besides blood lust? Violet: What scenes are most difficult to write? Glenda: The fighting scenes were difficult. It’s like choreographing a fight scene for the big screen except on a smaller scale in my head. Violet: Do you see yourself in any of your characters? Glenda: I think I see a bit of me in Melanna as far as dealing with a dysfunctional family Violet:  Indie pub or trad pub? Glenda: Indie pub for now. I’d like to become traditionally published since a writer gets more recognition that way: big stores carry your books and the publisher does some advertizing for you. Violet: What is your favorite scene? Why? Glenda: I think that the honeymoon is my favorite scene because it contains a twist and some passion. Violet: Give a one sentence summary. Glenda: Melanna awaits her fate in the honeymoon suite, plotting to put an end to the man behind the mask, but she ends up surrendering to him body and soul. Violet:  If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why? Glenda: Maybe Amanda Hocking to ask her what has driven her to write so many stories even before she became famous and for her to tell me any other secrets about the writing industry that I haven’t discovered yet. Violet: If you could take the place of one of your characters, which one would you choose and why? Glenda: I would probably choose Xoco, a warrior woman of Coba who has an ordinary boyfriend. She has real attitude and knows how to handle herself. At least there are no complications with vampirism when you have an ordinary boyfriend. Violet: If you could vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go and what would you do? Glenda: I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii. I would like to hula dance and maybe visit some beautiful gardens and parks there. Violet: What is your favorite TV show/movie from your childhood?  What is it now? Glenda: I loved watching Lost in Space when I was a kid. I use to fantasize that Professor Robinson (Guy Williams) would make a good father to me (I grew up without my father). Today it’s between Dancing with The Stars and Vampire Diaries. Like what you read?  You can find more about Glenda here:  http://glenda-reynolds.weebly.com  Here is an interview with Tez  from Goddess of the Moon: Mayan World of Vampires Q. What is your full name? A. Tezcatli Uetzcayotl. My friends call me Tez. Q. Where were you born/created? A. The Northern Yucatan near Palenque. My immortal life began on my honeymoon when Zafrina and her Ancients decimated my village and murdered my bride. Zafrina was hoping that I’d be her companion. She made me drink from her and threw me over a high waterfall where my mortal life ended. Q. What would you say are your greatest strengths?  Weaknesses? A. Strengths ~ power to affect plant life, compulsion, great muscular strength and speed, musically gifted on the flute, and the ability to call birds of prey with my cuff bracelet. Weaknesses ~ I will burn up in the sun without my silver talisman Q. Who is your best friend and why? A. Amoxtli, our priest of the Brotherhood of the Eagle, is my closest friend. He knows all about me and my history with the brotherhood. Q. If you could be anything other than Tez the vampire what would you be and why? A. I would be Tez the mortal, father of many children, husband to a beautiful Mayan woman, farmer, and fisherman. I would live a fulfilling life, and when my time would come, my spirit will fly like the eagles. Q. If you could be any other character, who would you be and why? A. I think I would make a better king Tetaneeka. I would like to think that I could be the kind of father to Melanna that she never had. She would’ve grown up knowing that she was loved instead of being cast off to be tended to by other people.  I would not have withheld my love from her because her mother died giving birth to her. Although I have always been there in the shadows watching over her, as her father I would’ve been there for her no matter what. Q. What is your favorite book and why? A. “The Fall of Man and the Promise of the Great Spirit”. It’s a book that gives me hope and that prophesies about my beloved princess Melanna who becomes the Prophesied One who overthrows the reign of the vampire queen Zafrina. Q. If you could take a vacation anywhere, where would you go? A. I think that I would enter the seventh heaven on a billowy cloud with Melanna and make passionate love with her until we are both spent. Q. What do you think of your author? A. She calls herself the “accidental author”. For someone who never planned to be a writer, I say she does pretty good. I noticed that her style is very reserved, hence the honeymoon scene without the graphic detail. Although being a guy and a vampire, I don’t have a problem with such things, but I agree that “kid friendly” is a good thing. If anyone has a strong disagreement with me on this may find himself hanging from a tree in the garden with the words “Don’t mess with the author” written in blood on his chest. Q. If you were on Vampire Diaries Survivor, which character would win?  Who would be voted off first? A. I think that Stephen would be voted off first. After all, I’m older and feed from sharks and jaguars. I am stronger when I feed from larger animals versus feeding from small humans. I think I would have a good chance to win, although Katerina is older than I am. But then she doesn’t possess any special gifts as a vampire. On the other hand the original vampires would be difficult to beat. But then they don’t have the Great Spirit to draw strength from or to be able to call on birds of prey to help.