The Book Stacks

This prompt is courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

Do your reading habits change in the Spring? Do you read gardening books? Even if you don’t have a garden? More light fiction than during the Winter? Less? Travel books? Light paperbacks you can stick in a knapsack?

Or do you pretty much read the same kinds of things in the Spring as you do the rest of the year?

When I first read this question, my immediate response was no, I don’t change my reading habits in spring. Who has seasonal reading habits? However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I actually do.

When spring comes around, I do start reading ‘lighter’ material like women’s fiction (not that all women’s fiction is ‘lighter reading’ – it just tends to be), shorter books in general (under or around two hundred pages), and books that are easy to put down and pick up again later. That sounds bad, but in the spring, I like my books to travel with me. Big novels with hard covers don’t exactly make easy travel material.

Spring is, after all, the time when I want to get out and about after spending my time primarily indoors tucked up in the warmth with my big, in depth novels. That is, until I realize once again that I am introverted and start reading in the house more often again. Hehe.

That’s not to say, however, that I won’t read big fat novels or murder mysteries in the spring. I just usually have a transition period of reading the light, easily transported novel.

How about you? What are your seasonal reading habits?

Don Miles has been News Director for radio stations in New York City, (WPAT,) Connecticut, Florida, Nebraska and finally Texas. He has won “Best Newscast� award from the Nebraska A.P. Broadcasters and his news teams in Florida and Nebraska have won numerous statewide awards. Don has served on the Board of Directors for Florida’s AP Broadcasters and has judged broadcast news contests for UPI Rhode Island. Don has taught at the Universities of Florida and Nebraska, at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, and at elementary schools in New York, Connecticut, and Texas.

He is the author of two books in the field of broadcast news, (Broadcast News Handbook and Broadcast Newswriting Stylebook.) He has a Bachelors in Education from State University of New York and a Masters in Journalism and Communications from the University of Florida.

Don’s inspiration for the book came mainly from his late wife, Dr. Minerva González-Angulo Miles. Minerva grew up in the neighborhood at the base of Chapultepec Hill in Mexico City, where the Emperor Maximilian’s castle still stands. She would often visit the castle and view the portrait of the emperor and empress whose story is featured in this book.

Don and Minerva traveled extensively throughout Mexico, and over the past few years visited many libraries and bookstores there in the research for this book. They also spent many hours in the stacks at the Benson Latin American Library at the University of Texas in Austin, which is widely recognized as the premier source for information on this topic. They also paid several visits to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. to photocopy various U.S. government documents pertaining to the Mexican situation during the 1860’s.

Don wrote and produced plays and slide shows about Cinco de Mayo for elementary students, teachers and parents.

You can visit his website at http://www.donmiles.com/.

Cinco de Mayo: What is Everybody Celebrating Synopsis:

Under the orders of French Emperor Napoleon III, French troops arrive in Mexico in 1861 with a dual purpose: to conquer Mexico and to help the Confederacy win its war against the United States. As President Benito Juárez suspends payment of Mexico’s foreign debts, the French drop their façade of debt negotiations and head for Puebla, where they are soundly defeated in their attempt to capture the city.

The French withdraw from their stunning setback and spend the summer of 1862 nursing their wounds and awaiting reinforcements in Orizaba. This gives the Mexicans ample time to highly fortify Puebla against a future attack. During the spring of 1863, French troops head for Puebla and Mexico City in what they hope will be a pair of easy victories.

Juárez and his government flee Mexico City rather than trying to defend the capital against overwhelming odds. The French make their grand entrance and immediately encounter problems with the Catholic Church. Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, asked by the French to become emperor of Mexico, will not accept the throne without a “popular� vote from the people.

When the American Civil War ends in 1865, generals and high-ranking officials from the former Confederate government drift into Mexico. General Ulysses S. Grant’s U.S. Army is now free to stage maneuvers along the border, setting off panic in Mexico City and Paris. Grant’s move prompts Napoleon III to cut his losses and pull his troops out. Now, it’s only a matter of time before Mexican forces retake the country …

Read the excerpt! (more…)

Hello everyone!

Talk about a crazy week. I was quite ill last week (thus the late book review last week - sorry) but I am definitely on the mend this week. My reading habits and schedule has changed a bit. I decided not to review the South Beach Book. While I like the book, I’m not sure everyone else will like a review of a diet book…

But I did put in the Second Chance review. Check it out - I like the book a lot.

If you would like to try your hand at reviewing, please feel free to contact me using the contact me button under the site description on the right. I’m more than happy to put up guest reviews. I’m also thinking of a best book review contest, but it’s just an idea floating around in my brain at this point.

Reading:
Savage Survival – Darrell Bain
Supernatural – Graham Hancock
Lost Souls – Lisa Jackson
In Bad Dreams – Horror Anthology – Edited by Mark Deniz and Sharyn Lilley
Xenocide - Orson Scott Card

Going to Read:
Sabriel – Garth Nix
Neutron Star – Short story collection – Larry Niven
Firebirds – Fantasy/Sci-fi Anthology – Edited by Sharyn November
The Lab – Jack Heath
Remote Control – Jack Heath
The Foreshadowing – Marcus Sedgwick
The Jaguar Legacy – Maureen Fisher
Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hilary Clinton – Kathleen Willey
To Truckee’s Trail – Celia Hayes
The Redemption of Althalus – David and Leigh Eddings
The Serpent Bride – Sara Douglass
Loving the Goddess Within – Nan Hawthorne
Bad Girls Club – Judy Gregerson
Marwan: The Autobiography of a 9/11 Terrorist – Aram Schefrin

Upcoming Reviews:

So what’s on your list?

Welcome to this week’s A Book By Any Other Name!

The game works like this: Each week I will choose a word and offer a few titles that I’ve come up with containing that word in the title. Then it’s your turn to come up with book titles containing the same word, without duplication (yes, that includes my titles.) I would also like the author, but that is just so I can find the book if I want to read it.

The current challenge: I challenge you all to reach 32 titles containing the weekly word by midnight Friday, (with no more than 10 titles commented per person and not including *my* titles in the total.)

My forfeit? For this challenge I’d like to do a little something different that will hopefully have the both of us smiling. If you all work together and reach the goal, I will send each of you who participate a post card.

Whoo-hoo right? Right! For those of you who don’t know, I live in Australia so you will be getting a postcard featuring the lovely, lovely city of Melbourne. (If you’re willing to give me your postal address, which I promise to delete as soon as I write it on the postcard.)

So if you’d like a post card, join in!

If you don’t reach the goal, we’ll try again next week. If you reach the goal, I’ll have a brand new challenge for you next Monday where you’ll get another chance.

(If you’re feeling pouty about the ten titles per person limit, why not get a friend to come and comment as well? The more, the merrier.)

The word this week is:

Jewel

I Say: Jewel by Bret Lott

You Say…

Mothers, fathers, children, wives, husbands – everyone deserves a second chance, don’t they? Or do they?

Finally! Finally I have found a main character who I can truly relate to as a deeply in love with my husband, slightly neurotic, work at home, list loving woman. Did you hear that sigh of contentedness? That was me.

Second Chance by Joy Collins is the story of Sara Weber, her family, her husband, and her husband’s baggage – namely a daughter named Claudia and the ex-wife, Mona. Sara’s life spirals out of control when her mother’s condition deteriorates and Claudia moves in with Sara and her husband so she can go to the local university.

When Claudia is involved in a car accident, things only get worse when family secrets are slowly reveled and Mona flies down to be with her daughter during recovery.

This book is very relationship driven and I loved every moment of it. As a married woman, I fell right in with Sara and the story of this part of her life. While reading about her disagreements with her husband about the ex-wife, I couldn’t help but wish I could go into the book and say, “It’s not you she doesn’t trust, it’s Mona!�

Being a woman who is divorce and remarried, Sara knows a lot about second chances, which is a strong theme through this book. What I liked best about Collins’ use of this theme is that she makes it realistic – sometimes second chances work and sometimes they come back to bite you in the rear end.

I highly recommend this book, especially if you’re a woman, and especially if you’re in a relationship situation dealing with divorce. This fun and meaningful read will not only help to entertain you but will help you examine your own life.

Find more at SecondChanceNovel.com

1. Mr. No-Kleenex - Mr. No-Kleenex sniffles away, often very loudly, oblivious to his noisy nose in the bookstore quiet.
2. The Genre Snubber - This bookstore person has a set idea of what genres are acceptable and which aren’t. Go into the unacceptable genre sections and be prepared for dirty/snooty looks.
3. Overeager Book Store Worker - “Can I help you?” has gone from a question to a mantra for this person. This person doesn’t understand the beauty of wandering around in a bookstore. Alone.
4. The Genre Fanatic - Somewhat the opposite of the genre snubber, the genre fanatic loves his/her chosen genre…and won’t hesitate to tell you how much…at length.
5. The Space Invader - Initially viewed as harmless, the space invader will slowly move into your section, then your territory, and then your personal space. It is not yet known why this species behaves this way.
6. The Snobby Cashier - Cousin to the genre snubber, the snobby cashier makes to effort to hide just exactly what s/he thinks of your selections.
7. Finger Lickers - This strange species insists on licking their fingers before turning pages in books they don’t own…
8. The Super Browser - This person will work his/her way through the store once, twice, and probably a third time. Don’t be surprised to run into this person (sometimes literally) several times during your own browsing.
9. Just-Here-To-Get-Paid Worker - Apparently never having read a book in his/her life, this species doesn’t seem to belong in a bookstore. And yet they exist…
10. Oblivious Parent - The baby may be crying or the children causing a mess, but oblivious parent will continue browsing despite the disturbance to everyone else.
11. Mobile Phone People - I don’t think anyone needs a description for this one.
12. Bubble Gum Worker - Cousin to just-here-to-get-paid, bubble gum worker doesn’t know about books, doesn’t know where anything is, and doesn’t know how the coffee machine works.
13. Fanboys/girls - Sibling to the genre fanatic, this species (usually traveling in packs) hones in one one book or series and will often try to engage you in conversations about the glory of said book or series.

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships

All novels have characters, setting, and plot but only the mystery has clues. In order to make the clues more appetizing to the reader, writers need to inject a certain degree of foreshadowing and red herrings to accompany their clues.

Foreshadowing is simply the writer’s way of hinting to the reader that something usual is about to occur. The weather, time of day, character names or the decay of an object can all be used to foreshadow the events yet to come in a novel.

Red herrings are well placed distractions for the reader. In a mystery, the sleuth will often think that she has found a clue but it is in fact a red herring meant to provide misdirection.

Unlike foreshadowing and red herrings, clues are facts that will lead to the solution of the cozy mystery puzzle. Clues can come from the following sources:

• Character – The characters’ behavior, circumstances, lies and truth can all generate clues for the reader.

• People’s secret lives – Everyone has a secret in a mystery and these secrets can either individually or combined serve as a clue.

• Relationships – The origin or purpose of a particular relationship can be a clue. When deciding on which relationships to use as clues, remember that the character with the clearest motive is never the murderer and the least likely suspect is also never the murderer.

• The body – This is where the forensic information comes into play. The smallest item on the body like a speck of lint could be a clue or even how the victim was dressed when the body was discovered.

• Dialog – When characters talk to each other, sometimes what they don’t say can be a clue just a much as what they actually say. This can also take the form of a conversation being overheard.

• The scene of the crime – There may be something that the murderer takes with him or leaves behind.

• The missing item – This could be an item that would normally be there but is now missing such as a light bulb in a lamp, contact lenses solution and etc.
When deciding on your clues, remember to be selective and to be fair with your readers. You want to tease them but you don’t want to insult them or frustrate them too much.

I had no idea it had been so long since I put one of these up!

Okay, so maybe it hasn’t been quite as long as I am making it out to be, but it has been a while since I have put up one of these lists. While my reading list hasn’t changed majorly, it has a little bit. Things have been a bit crazy in my life lately making reading and putting up regular posts a bit difficult. I’m hoping that all will settle down and things will get back to normal.

If you would like to try your hand at reviewing, please feel free to contact me using the contact me button under the site description on the right. I’m more than happy to put up guest reviews. I’m also thinking of a best book review contest, but it’s just an idea floating around in my brain at this point.

Reading:
Savage Survival – Darrell Bain
Supernatural – Graham Hancock
Second Chance – Joy Collins
Lost Souls – Lisa Jackson

Going to Read:
Sabriel – Garth Nix
Neutron Star – Short story collection – Larry Niven
Firebirds – Fantasy/Sci-fi Anthology – Edited by Sharyn November
In Bad Dreams – Horror Anthology – Edited by Mark Deniz and Sharyn Lilley
The Lab – Jack Heath
Remote Control – Jack Heath
The Foreshadowing – Marcus Sedgwick
The Jaguar Legacy – Maureen Fisher
Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hilary Clinton – Kathleen Willey
To Truckee’s Trail – Celia Hayes
The Redemption of Althalus – David and Leigh Eddings
The Serpent Bride – Sara Douglass
Loving the Goddess Within – Nan Hawthorne
Bad Girls Club – Judy Gregerson
Marwan: The Autobiography of a 9/11 Terrorist – Aram Schefrin

Upcoming Reviews:
The South Beach Diet – Dr. Arthur Agatston

So what’s on your list?

Welcome to this week’s A Book By Any Other Name!

The game works like this: Each week I will choose a word and offer a few titles that I’ve come up with containing that word in the title. Then it’s your turn to come up with book titles containing the same word, without duplication (yes, that includes my titles.) I would also like the author, but that is just so I can find the book if I want to read it.

The current challenge: I challenge you all to reach 32 titles containing the weekly word by midnight Friday, (with no more than 10 titles commented per person and not including *my* titles in the total.)

My forfeit? For this challenge I’d like to do a little something different that will hopefully have the both of us smiling. If you all work together and reach the goal, I will send each of you who participate a post card.

Whoo-hoo right? Right! For those of you who don’t know, I live in Australia so you will be getting a postcard featuring the lovely, lovely city of Melbourne. (If you’re willing to give me your postal address, which I promise to delete as soon as I write it on the postcard.)

So if you’d like a post card, join in!

If you don’t reach the goal, we’ll try again next week. If you reach the goal, I’ll have a brand new challenge for you next Monday where you’ll get another chance.

(If you’re feeling pouty about the ten titles per person limit, why not get a friend to come and comment as well? The more, the merrier.)

The word this week is:

Heart

I Say: Change of Heart: A Novel by Jodi Picoult

You Say…

Daniel Crosse, highwayman, thief, murderer and leader of the notorious Country Gentlemen, is unaware he carries a secret. Daniel holds the key to the future existence of the world.

Cassandra is the lock to Daniel’s key, with knowledge that will set his life upon a course he never dreamed possible. Will love be strong enough, set amid the beauty and dangers of a volcanic land, to fulfill an eight-hundred-year-old prophecy?

DragonCrosse, the first of a trilogy, is a book that leaves me feeling a bit conflicted as to how to ‘rate’ it.

The book reads easily, as if it was written for a younger audience, but this definitely isn’t a young adult fantasy book. With sex, violence, swearing and more, it lands well and truly in the ‘adult fantasy’ side of the spectrum.

Thomas has paid a lot of attention to detail, especially for geography’s sake. Having travelled around New Zealand volcanic areas in person, I loved the setting of the volcanic areas Thomas created by inspiration and didn’t mind the long descriptions of the landscape there.

Unfortunately, this can and will bore some readers, who would rather not pay attention to the geography wherever and whenever the Country Gentlemen (which is often). Descriptions often come in paragraph(s) length and very much contribute to the 700+ page length of the book. Though Thomas’s love of geography definitely shines through, she lets it dominate her book like a huge character who never does anything.

After about the fifth or sixth mention of how silver Princess Cassandra’s eyes are and how blue Daniel’s are, I found myself getting a bit annoyed whenever they were mentioned after. But like with a lot of my nitpicks with this book, I ignored them and kept reading on.

All in all, DragonCrosse is an entertaining book and a good light read for anyone who is looking for such. If that is what you’re looking for, then I definitely recommend it.

However, if you want something a bit ‘deeper’ that will truly make you think or are looking forward to a book full of action, then this probably isn’t the book for you. There is a lot of human interaction, but the plot isn’t filled with a lot besides relationships and geography.

**This Thursday Thirteen went up a bit late two weeks ago, so I’m going to pull a “Thursday Thirteen Repeat” and put this up again. Plus, I do think they’re funny enough to put up twice anyway.**

So I’m in the mood for a chuckle. Something a bit different from my usual Thursday Thirteen that should bring you some enjoyment.

This post contains a lot of images, so I am putting most of them behind the ‘more’ tag. Please do check it out. They’re definitely worth the extra click. I hope you enjoy.

All images in this post are from Longmire does Romance Novels. Please visit the site and say hello. These are just a few selections from the much bigger collection there, so heading over there is also definitely worth the extra click.

1.
2.
3.
(more…)

Author Peter Nennhaus joins us today to talk about his book and much more…
***

This surprising question is being raised in my recently released book entitled Quo Vadis, Israel? Written with clinical honesty and directness, it takes a hard look at Israel’s future and comes up with an unwelcome prognosis. After a review of the Jews’ bitter history especially in Eastern Europe, and the liberating idea of Zionism, it turns to the untidy and worrisome effects the creation of the Israeli homeland in 1948 has brought about.

It enumerates its seven wars, the intifadas and the endless list of massacres, bombings, and other belligerence and concludes that in the sixty-year history of the State of Israel there has probably been only a single year that was truly peaceful. To this day, this persistent tragedy has not yielded to well over fifty peacemaking endeavors that have been made by the United Nations and numerous influential governments.

The book makes an appraisal of the underlying emotional, religious, and cultural causes of the conflict. It outlines a number of conceivable scenarios, none of which offer a reasonable chance of securing peace and normalcy. It reaches the conclusion that the dispute is basically irreconcilable and will be so in the future. As a result, I end up viewing Israel much like a patient whose illness is chronic and incurable.

That is not all. The so-called demographic time bomb is a well-known concern. The higher birthrate of the Israeli Arabs inevitably will reach a stage where they will outnumber the Israeli Jews. Not only would then Israel lose its Jewish imprint and character, but more ominously, it would expose the Jewish minority to the vengeance of Arab extremists. Whenever that happens, whether in three or four generations, it would likely spell out the demise of Zionism. In that case, the patient’s disease would be not only incurable but fatal to boot.

Had it not been for special circumstances, I would agree with those who think it inappropriate to paint the devil on the wall in this manner. It seems to violate our commitment and loyalty toward Israel and our determination to ensure its survival and security. Even though I might have had concerns of this sort for many years, nobody could have prodded me to tactlessly trumpet them out loud, if I had not been propelled to this dark prognosis by an optimistic and bold new vision.

By pure happenstance, I learned about a land, which not only would be a greatly superior homeland for the Jews than the present Israel, but which might actually be available for purchase. It is a territory presently called the Kaliningrad Oblast, located at the southern shores of the Baltic Sea. It used to be part of the old province of East Prussia, which the Soviet Union annexed upon Germany’s defeat in WW II. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the independence of all of the “satellite countries�, it has become an exclave separated from the nearest Russian border by some 500 kilometers.

As described in the book, it is economically non-viable and destitute and has succumbed to a welter of infestations that include rampant alcoholism, drug abuse, drug trade, AIDS, corruption, and an unhealthy society ruled by incompetence, criminality, and the permeating tentacles of the Russian Mafia. Of particular interest is the hopeless outlook for the future as both Moscow and the EU have abandoned all further attempts to provide assistance, thus leaving the territory in a state of limbo. In fact, rumors have been voiced in Brussels that before long Russia would be willing to palm off the Kaliningrad Territory to the West for a tidy sum.

That state of affairs gives rise to the thought that here is a land that might be available as an alternate location for the State of Israel. Were it to happen, it would offer an unimaginable wealth of benefits and blessings, chiefly for the Israelis, but also for all other involved parties. The Israelis would be miraculously extricated from a tormenting and fatal disease. Never again would neighbors accuse them of having stolen their land.

That new land would be larger, more fertile, climatically more temperate, and economically more advantageous than their present land in the Middle East. Becoming part of the EU, they would hardly be in need of armed forces. The Palestinians would be out of their minds with joy and begin to live like a normal nation. The Europeans would be delighted to have replaced “the Devil’s kitchen� with a vibrant and sound new occupant. The destitute Russian population in that land would become rich after accepting generous financial retribution for returning to Russia.

The Russian Federation would receive billions of Euros for decades for selling the land. Enthusiastic international approval would be guaranteed and the hostility ravaging the Middle East would fade as would much of Islamic terrorism. Suicide bombers would be a matter of the past. The world would take a deep breath of relief.

Certainly, there will be doubts, misgivings, protests, warnings and other objections, but whether or not the concept is eventually approved, give it your good attention first before discarding it. It is perhaps only a dream, but, for a while, enjoy the refreshing new vista it offers just the same and should you by any chance be concerned about recurrent anti-Semitism, this is a must-read book.

“Fear” – it’s only a four lettered word but boy what an impact it can have on your life.

There are so many people in this world that have great stories to tell, and maybe you’re one of them. So don’t let fear hold you back. Instead, put it under the spotlight and do something about it.

Here are three of the most common fears that writers have and what you can do to overcome them.

1. “I Can’t Write”
For most of us, grammar and spelling classes are a distant memory. So when you sit down and write your first paragraphs, you suddenly start to be super self-conscious about stringing together coherent sentences. And when it doesn’t flow the first time, it’s so easy to give up. The secret of course, is to practice, practice and then practice some more. And buy a really good dictionary.

2. “I’m Not Good Enough”
We all have our own inner critic sitting on our shoulder whispering snarky comments in our ear like, “Who do you think you are?” and “Why would anyone listen to you?” It can be very debilitating, especially if deep down a part of you secretly agrees. The way to overcome this is to think like a CSI Detective and gather “evidence.” Next time your inner critic speaks, get your pen and paper and write down three reasons to prove it’s wrong.

3. “What If No-One Buys It?”
So you’ve overcome the first two obstacles and you’ve finished your manuscript. The fear now becomes whether an agent or a publisher will want to publish it, or whether any customers will buy it once it’s on the shelf. The good news is that this one is easy to overcome. You have to be your book’s number one fan. If you can’t say why it’s amazing, fabulastic and the secret solution to world peace, then how can you expect anyone else to get excited about it?

And on that note, if you really want to kick your fears into touch, then “Gulp!” gives you a 7 day roadmap to show you how, plus tons of practical techniques, action plans and inspiring stories of people who’ve overcome their fear and turned their dream into a reality.

If you’d like an inspiration boost right now, then watch my “Gulp!” book trailer. It might just be the nudge you need.

Welcome to this week’s A Book By Any Other Name!

The game works like this: Each week I will choose a word and offer a few titles that I’ve come up with containing that word in the title. Then it’s your turn to come up with book titles containing the same word, without duplication (yes, that includes my titles.) I would also like the author, but that is just so I can find the book if I want to read it.

The current challenge: I challenge you all to reach 32 titles containing the weekly word by midnight Friday, (with no more than 10 titles commented per person and not including *my* titles in the total.)

My forfeit? For this challenge I’d like to do a little something different that will hopefully have the both of us smiling. If you all work together and reach the goal, I will send each of you who participate a post card.

Whoo-hoo right? Right! For those of you who don’t know, I live in Australia so you will be getting a postcard featuring the lovely, lovely city of Melbourne. (If you’re willing to give me your postal address, which I promise to delete as soon as I write it on the postcard.)

So if you’d like a post card, join in!

If you don’t reach the goal, we’ll try again next week. If you reach the goal, I’ll have a brand new challenge for you next Monday where you’ll get another chance.

(If you’re feeling pouty about the ten titles per person limit, why not get a friend to come and comment as well? The more, the merrier.)

The word this week is:

Mystery

I Say:

Mysteries of the Middle Ages: And the Beginning of the Modern World (Hinges of History) by Thomas Cahill

You Say…

From “The Wyrd of War� – by Bill Ward

It was the autumn of the world. On the hard earth of Toth, where the bones of twice ten thousand lay broken and scattered upon the plain, great hosts marched to war. From the north came proud armies beneath banners of rust red and red-gold and the stark white of wasteland snow. Assembled from fenland and mountain dale, city, town, and freehold, the able few of all tribes and nations stood within its ranks. They were the last of their kind upon the lands, the last to stand against the Animus – the living shadow at world’s end.

It had waxed strong, this unseen power, sweeping armies from the field and devouring whole kingdoms in its wars. It had spread across the lands, a blight, enslaving those it did not destroy. Now on this, the last day, the Animus brought forth its force of beasts and bestial men upon the parched earth of the ancient battle-plain, and there made war for the fate of all.

At the northern army’s leftmost point stood Vendic and his fate-bound brothers, eying the vile host that surged across the plain – a patchwork mass uncountable and chaotic, as inconsistent in its component parts as the hordings of a madman. It held no common step, no order of march, no signal banner. Among its many files and divisions jungle savages cavorted before the stately remnants of baronial armies, somber steppe horsemen canted side-by-side with stave-ribbed wolves, and baboons in leathern armor ambled soberly amongst mobs of blood-mad berserkers. Still stranger things moved within this vast and many-headed shadow, half-men and unmen, unnatural fusions of man, beast, and other, creatures warped and debased by the energies of the Animus.

The sky above the horde was filled with raucous birds, a million bits of dirty rag caught swirling in a maelstrom.

Perhaps it was the dark sorceries that now dominated Vendic and his comrades that allowed him to view the approaching host without fear. Or perhaps it was a still larger fate than that demanded by the necromantic charms he wore beneath his skin, a world-fate of supreme indifference, that provided the anchor for his own fatalism. No matter.

As if seized by a single impulse Vendic and his battle-brothers, the forty-nine men of the Wyrdkin, strode forward, leaving behind the defending line of spearmen and archers of the left flank. They would be the first to meet the enemy, the first to die. The first to test fate – to find their wyrd.

Unaccompanied by the bray of horn or the pounding of drums the onrushing horde charged.