Prologue

The sun was setting, somewhere, but between the mountains on every horizon and the blizzard in the area, you couldn’t see it.

The plate greaves crunched through the snow as the Blood Knight slowly climbed the slope leading to Crusader’s Pinnacle. Two humans stood there, staring out into the emptiness of Icecrown Glacier. One turned and walked toward the newcomer, giving and receiving a salute.

“You must be the Knight-Master. Welcome to Icecrown,” the human said.

“And you must be Crusade Commander Entari. It’s an honor,” the elf replied.

“We may send you north to help the Kor’kron assault Ymirheim,” Entari said, gesturing the elf into the lone tower on the hilltop and following him out of the storm. “The ground commander there expressed a great interest when he heard another Dawnblade was joining the fight.”

The Blood Knight lowered his hood and removed his gauntlets, blowing warm air onto his hands. “I’m afraid that I’m of no relation to Champion and Ranger-Captain Dawnblade,” he said neutrally.

“And yet you know of them. But very well. Suffice it to say that you have a challenge before you if you want to be the most beloved Dawnblade in the Crusade.”

The Knight chuckled. “Rest assured, Commander, that I have not come to Icecrown in search of fame.”

“Oh? What is it you’ve come in search of?” the human asked.

The elf smirked at this. “Justice,” he said.

Aw, dangit. That was corny. I shouldn’t have said that.

The human nodded. “That’s what a lot of people say.” He looked back up at the elf.

Gah. See? Think of something more original next time, you dolt. Yeah, the double meaning of both Arthas and Varendil was great, but.. blech. Uh-oh, he’s staring at you. He’s going to think you’re crazy. Do something, quick!

Am I the Last Person to Notice Everything?

How long has that green ‘armband’ been there?

I know it’s been quiet, but that’s in large part because, for the first time in a while, I’ve been writing. Huzzah. Wilson 3, now titled Always Happy to Serve You, is coming along nicely, though the format is tripping me up a bit. It’s turning into a large number of small anecdotes rather than one big narrative, and cramming every little joke or feature that I want to in is proving difficult. Regardless, I think this is going to come out well in the end.

The story’s not-too-loosely based on my own experiences working in food services. See if you can spot the author insertion when the story comes out. Here’s a hint: it’s painfully obvious.

This is only one of two stories I plan on setting at Cliff’s, the thinly veiled Wilsonized version of my own current place of employment. There’s more meat to the second with regard to plot advancement and character development and all that fun stuff that real writers worry about. This one’s largely an attempt to establish the tone of the place, some of the people, and one character in particular, because we’ll be coming back to Clarence Zimmerman down the line, rest assured.

One big difficulty is that I’m essentially writing this out of order. If Wilson was to be one big book of stories someday – and it’s fun to dream, isn’t it? – I’ve already written the last one. You’re Going to Fit In Just Fine fills that spot simply too well, in my opinion. The story I’m working on now is called Wilson 3 because though it’s the fourth story I’m writing in the continuity, it’s third chronologically. Its sequel, the second story at Cliff’s, tentatively titled We Value Your Business, could be anywhere from Wilson 4 to Wilson n-1 where n is YGTFIJF. The overall plot, and I use the term loosely, that I see occupying the middle of the “book” has nothing to do with fast casual dining – at least at the moment. I might shoehorn it in; in fact, I’ve just thought of a pretty good way of shoehorning it in. We’ll see what happens.

So there’s your update. I’m well aware that most all of my readers care more about my Warcraft stuff, and I thank you for your patience as I work on my pet ‘real world’ projects. Rest assured that my poor attention span ensures that I’m thinking about the further adventures of Varendil Dawnblade and family and after Cliff’s I and II, they’re next in the queue.

A Quick Aside

I don’t want to be too political – it halves my potential audience if I think either Bill O’Reilly or Barack Obama is a hero (and that the other should an hero) but I have to say something about Iran. Whether you’re sporting more green than an Irishman in March or you think that the hubbub about the election is simply because of the Jews, this whole… thing is so cool.

This, and by this I mean the link that the first word ‘this’ links to, that being the twitter feed of #iranelection, is simply incredible from an historical standpoint. It’s a complete sign of the times. What we’re seeing could be a revolution, or it could be a Tianamen Square, but either way, this is astounding. Internet junkies are flipping out over what it means for their medium of choice. Some Americans are going ‘Hey, wait, why is BBC covering the crap out of this when CNN couldn’t give two shits?’

Me? I’m a fiction writer, which means I tend to think of things in terms of ‘What if?’ At the moment, it’s ‘What if someday, I’m telling my grandkids about this, the first revolution that wasn’t televised?’

And Here We Thought Only Hunters Could Misdirect

I’ve been desperately wanting to work on my writings lately, but I haven’t been in the mood to write, so I’ve ended up doing a number of much-needed graphic updates to the site. There are the aforementioned banners here, as well as a new layout, which is most noticeable at the top of the page. Credit goes to Lanuria – she had the layout first and I ripped it right off when I decided to look a bit more professional. Hope everyone else likes it as much as I do.

Beyond that, not much news. I’ve two stories worth of inspiration for Wilson, but I sorta just feel like writing WoW stuff. We’ll see what comes up. I’ve had a request for another “Varendil Goes to X” story, which is always fun to write, and I do have a couple of ideas in mind for that. Two days off in a row coming up later this week. Hopefully some kind of writing gets done.

Quickie Update

There are a couple of banners I’ve made and am using for links here. Please take a peek, tell me if you like the style and the idea.

To Do:

Wilson:

• Get The Martian Chronicles and Winesburg, Ohio from the library. Read.
• Reread The Women of Brewster Place, which I still own, at least until it jumps the shark.
• Actually start writing my next Wilson story, which has split into two stories.
• Continue developing new overarching plot of Wilson.
• Retool old, unpublished story to fit plot.
• Retool characters from other old, unpublished story to fit new story. Perhaps consider old story apocryphal.

Varendil:

• Put more pictures on wiki page.
• Write that Icecrown story.
• Write that Saelar story.
• Get Saelar to the point in-game where I can write above story.
• Write something with Lissa in it so it doesn’t feel like I’m ignoring her.
• Figure out how to write Lissa.

Other:

• Figure out how to get readers here.
• Figure out if the lack of readers is due to medium taking long time to consume, a failure to advertise, or poor quality work.
• Get some of those delicious pies-in-a-box to snack on.
• Point out to readers that Joyride (I Saw the Film) is really, really catchy.

Everything You Never Wanted To Know About Varendil But Were Afraid To Ask

I’ve just posted, I won’t say finished, a page about World of Warcraft character Varendil Dawnblade – the one from all those awesome stories I write. You’re welcome to take a look.

Don’t have much more to say tonight. Do need some sleep – wedding tomorrow! Big shout out to friend and Rock Band bandmate Brenda Haroldson, who as of thirteen hours after this post will be Brenda Tredinnick. Lemme dig out my wedding invitation and make sure I spelled that right.

Yep.

I’ve never been to a wedding before. I understand they take place in a church, and there is some sort of vow involved?

Golden

I’ve written a short new piece entitled Golden that can be found here. It’s in response to a piece written by the lovely Lanuria, Varendil’s wife, which can be found here, as well a short related work by Aeryliss, his daughter, which can be found here. It may clarify things to read those first. Aside from my laziness, I really think it makes sense from a literary standpoint to have Varendil’s encounter with the well last – he’s the skeptic, after all, and this story reflects that.

I have to say, I’m really proud of this one. I haven’t teared up when writing something since the ending of Krestan, and I got just about there with this. I’m also very eager to see what people think of Varendil’s actions. I think there are multiple interpretations, and I’m eager to see who thinks what – I really feel like I’ve managed a sort of litmus test.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Sneak Peak: Wilson 3

As you might be able to see, I don’t have a title yet. Well, that’s not true. I have three cool titles with no stories attached to them in my mind, so I’m gonna write this and see if any of those apply to it. If not, I’ll come up with something else.

In any case, enjoy this obviously-inspired-by-real-events snippet.

“You’re such a patient young man!” the older woman with gin blossoms said while her face shifted into a smile. Her jowls trembled at the motion like splotchy, flesh-colored Jell-O.

Having taken the handful of coin from the woman and correctly tallied the three quarters, five dimes, seven nickels, and forty pennies into two dollars of currency, the drive-thru worker thanked God as she finally pulled out three singles to pay the remaining portion of her order. A ding and a sigh accompanied the opening of the cash register, and the money was quickly tossed inside. The cashier put on his best customer service smile and adjusted the name tag stating that “JARED would like to feed you today” before turning back to the woman and handing her the order. Two Stentburgers, no tomato or onion – God forbid, the clerk thought, this woman eat anything resembling a vegetable.

The woman with gin blossoms took the bag and set it gingerly on the passenger seat of her car before turning back to the clerk. “Thank you, young man.”

The cashier grinned as if flattered and nodded. “Actually, you want a bit of advice?” he asked.

“Oh? What’s that?” Blossoms replied.

The drive-thru worker leaned in close. “What you might not know is that they have these places, called banks?”

The customer’s Jowl-Os quivered in confusion.

“Yeah. What you do is, you take your change there, and they put it in a machine, and then they give you real money, and you use that to buy sandwiches so that the cashier – that’s me here – doesn’t have to spend five minutes counting your goddamned change while a line of cars grows behind you that I then have to deal with instead of going and getting a drink of soda.”

Blossoms remained silent, shocked.

“So. Next time, you bring me paper money and no more than 99 cents of exact change, or we find out how much your corneas like ketchup and mustard. And maybe ranch dressing.” The cashier nodded sagely. “We’ll play it by ear.”

The woman stared, and the cashier put on his most genuine smile once more. “Thanks for choosing Cliff’s this evening, you have a great night!” And he continued to smile as he slammed the drive-thru service window shut and went and got a drink of soda.

Liveblogging the Conan

So, I’m at the first commercial break of the new Tonight Show, and I think Conan’s found his stride.

The first couple of episodes felt nervous, but that’s expected. The Tonight Show is an institution, and Conan O’Brien’s comedy style is so much more downright silly than Leno or even back to Carson. Carson had oddball, but that comforting smile with it. Conan has the same silliness, but with a wacky grin instead of a comforting smile. I like it, I think young people like it, but I don’t know if the traditional Tonight Show viewer well.

But screw them.

Tonight, Conan’s hit on what I’ve always felt were his strengths: self-depreciation, as seen in his monologue, and the never-old treatment of Max Weinberg and LaBamba as sexual deviants.

However, now that they’re changing my beloved, beloved In the Year 2000 segment… I’m not as sure.

Oh, wait, the flashlights are back. Thank God.