Friday, May 29, 2015

Updates, Stories, and Dimensions

Its been a while since I posted, so I'll give an update. I am currently working on the cover art with an illustrator. We have a banner designed for Harmonic Wars incorporating the Symbol of the Holy Warrior, and I really like where the cover is going.  All the editing is complete for Guardians, and I even provided a teaser for the next story in the Harmonic Wars series: Ghost Warriors. This is actually the first book I wrote in the series, but it was too big to publish for a first time author. So, I decided that it was easier to write a prequel to introduce the story, rather than trying to end Ghost Warriors in a rushed ending.

When writing Ghost Warriors, I had something rather peculiar happen. First, I couldn't write a story of good vs evil without using the best examples I could find: angels and demons. While I was writing one of the evil parts of this book, my power switch on my MacBook Pro died. I was not too worried, because I had back ups of most of my chapters, and my publisher was able to send me the most current four chapters that I had submitted, but lost. In the end, I only lost the last chapter, but I still had the outline I was working from. I pulled an old PC that I had in storage and continued working on the last chapter.

Just as I got to the same point in the story, the power supply on the PC fried. Now I got rather spooked, because I was in literally the same point in the book and had the same basic result with a different computer! Shortly after a trip to a computer supply store, I installed a new power supply and was back up and running. The very next day, the internet at the house stopped working and it took them 6 days to fix. Now, I admit this all could be just coincidence, but all the same I spent a great deal of time in prayer and in church after all this! Sometimes the truth CAN be stranger than fiction. Either way, I tell you this really happened.

Now, for some fun fictional info on the different dimensions I created and used in Harmonic Wars.

"Guardians of the Crystal Skulls" highlights a multi-dimensional war fought between two diametrically apposed forces: the Light and the Dark. The Light nurtures, while the Dark destroys. Many dimensions have already fully committed themselves to the Light or the Dark, driving away the opposing force. Many more are still struggling, but are leaning toward one or the other. Only the "Isle of Man" is a truly contested dimension that could put the balance of power dangerously closer to the Dark. All humans originated in the Isle of Man, and some became advanced enough to escape this dimension to build great civilizations in others. Other hominids are scattered throughout the various dimensions, but humans provide the critical connections that the spiritual beings of the Light and the Dark crave: powerful souls.

The chart here provides a glimpse at breakdown of control between the Light and the Dark. All of the dimensions leaning toward the Light are various shades of blue and purples, while the dimensions leaning toward the Dark are shades of red. The Isle of Man is split evenly between the Light and Dark and is where both forces are concentrating their efforts. The Dark knows it cannot hope to ultimately defeat the Light without control of the Isle of Man. Even if the Dark destroys the entire dimension, the Light still has more souls and maintains control.

But if the Isle of Man falls, then the Dark will have gained 49% of the contested dimensions and could use its influence to bring more of the Light Leaning dimensions closer. It would be a real game changer for the Dark forces.

Overriding all of the dimensions, is the fabled "Ashandaria" more commonly known as the "Land of Dreams" by most humans. People access this plane of existence when they are sleeping or sometimes in deep meditation. It's a very dangerous place because many different races of corporeal and spiritual beings scattered throughout the dimensions can also access Ashandaria. These beings can be much more powerful mentally and physically. The Dreamwalkers in the Harmonic Wars series are very powerful in the Land of Dreams, and are only bested by the spiritual beings of the Dark or Light.


You can find me at the following social media platforms:

www.facebook.com/DBStearns.HarmonicWars
google.com/+HarmonicwarsBlogspot
https://twitter.com/DBSHarmonicWars

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Excerpt from "Guardians of the Crystal Skulls"

   Good morning to all! It's been a couple of weeks since I posted anything, because I've been doing the finishing touches on the book. Right now we are on track to be in print no later than July 2015. Very exciting times for me!

   I decided to celebrate reaching this milestone by posting a small excerpt from the book. In this scene two of the characters from the Warrior Guild are trying to hunt down the Guardians, who are from an ancient race of humans called the Balsarius. The Balsarius are a peaceful people who make up the bulk of the Scientist, Artisan and Worker Guilds. They are at war with another race of ancient humans called the G`Alad, who primarily make up the Warrior Guild in this ancient human society. The G'Alad destroyed the colony of the third race of ancient humans, called the Masu`ri, who primarily made up the Religious Guild. 

Enjoy!
~D.B. Stearns



////////////////////////
  Hafs sighed as he handed Ben a sack from the back of the small wagon. The day was warm, and the sky was clear as they stopped at each village to sell or trade a collection of cheap knives as a cover. Through their Klah weapons, they could see the face of the young man they had to find. They knew it was important to bond him to a Klah weapon.

   The days passed as they traveled around looking for the witches. One warm afternoon the wagon rocked to the side. The movement snapped Hafs’s attention back to the road. Ben had fallen asleep, and the horses had started to wander.

  “Ben, wake up,” Hafs complained, nudging Ben.
  “I’m awake. I was just meditating on the meaning of life.”
  “And what is the meaning of life?” asked Hafs.
  “Right now it includes a powerful need to eat,” Ben said with a smile.
 

 “I agree. How far to the next village?”

   Ben rolled up his shirtsleeve and revealed a thin device on his forearm. He

touched a small panel on it and a holographic projection of the area floated in the air in front of them. The mountains rose majestically. A gorgeous lake high in the mountains had a river that flowed down a fertile valley to another lake far below. Several small villages filled the area.

   “Oh, I know where we are now. This is really close to where the Balsarius had their last fort,” Ben said. 

  “There are several villages along here where we can try to sell these knives and maybe get some clues about this medicine woman.”

   “This was where the women struck?” Hafs asked.

   Ben pointed to an area on the map, “Yep, over here. They kicked our asses, ran us off the damn planet, and then abandoned it. Makes no damn sense to me. Stupid witches.”

   Hafs gave Ben an irritated look. “Witches? Really? There’s nothing mystical about Anti-Grav technology.”

   “You don’t know what they’re like. It’s not just the Anti-Grav tech that gets you. It’s all that projecting emotions crap. It’s too much for a person to handle. I know. I was there. You’re lucky you didn’t have to stand against them. It would scare the piss right out of you!”

   “Yeah, I’d trade my time spent in the pits of hell to stand against your witches any day,” Hafs sneered. “So they just abandoned the fort after they ran you off the planet?”

   “Not just the fort. The whole damn planet!” Ben exclaimed. “Been near impossible to track the bitches down ever since. We hear a rumor, get hot on the trail, and it turns cold as a stone. Like chasing damn ghosts, I tell ya.”

   “Wow. We go from witches to ghosts,” Hafs said sarcastically. “We’re bound to run into zombies at the next town at this rate. I heard of a Dead Hookers’ Ball on the coast ...”

   “Just keep laughing, demon-boy!” Ben snarled. “Like I said, they have a new way to travel, and it’s not by shuttle. I would have seen that.”

   “Whatever, Ben,” Hafs said, rolling his eyes. “They probably hear you stumbling around behind them in a drunken stupor, so they just hide and wait till you leave.”

Ben frowned at Hafs, who smiled back at him.

 “Well, there is that ... but I only drink in days that end in ‘Y’,” Ben replied. 

Hafs laughed until Ben joined.