This page contains links to the prologues and first chapters of my stand-alone novels. These are self-contained Arcadian novels, and have no sequels. Some of them I'm fairly proud of. Others need major work.
I leave it up to you to decide which is which.
(All story material linked off this page copyright 1996-2003 by Anadrel).
Middleman- Talmin Laluten is a curalli, a successful assassin's middleman in the Euras Ataar. However, an enemy and his doubts seem to be catching him up at the same time. (June-July 1996).
Random Notes: This was one of my easiest novels to write, even though it was supposed to be a comic novel and turned serious. Talmin was easy to write about, and the end gives him so many choices that I was very proud.
The Sign and the Emblem- Brin always knew that someday she would inherit her father's Sign and Emblem, the symbols of the mirari's alliance with the corallord sharks. However, she expected she would have some years to do it in, and wouldn't have to contend with a profound mystery when it finally happened. (July-August 1996).
Random Notes: My hardest novel to write. I had no idea where it was going, since I started the book only a few days after getting the idea, and there were several directions I could have taken based even on the first few pages. It worked out as something like a dialogue on the importance of truth-keeping in history, with random notes of its own. Probably the ending doesn't even begin the main action, since it ends with Brin going to convert her people to her vision of the truth- but I don't intend to write a sequel.
Lord of Starfire- Elshar Deathwield wishes to save the life of a child tumbling to her death, and finds himself gifted with sudden, full-blown magic at the age of five. No child can have magic among the churni and go unnoticed, but not all of them have to face the challenges that Elshar does. (December 1996-January 1997).
Random Notes: Elshar was a character I met in the course of the Swordwarder Trilogy, and decided to follow because, hey, why not. He was the first "duty-bound" personality I created, and the most fun. My main problem with the story as it stands is the way that Elshar wound up becoming so important to the history of Arcadia. Most of the events in Lord of Starfire seem to be of importance to the death Elwens only, which, based on the way the later books turned out, is simply not true. Lots of people in Arcadia care what Elshar does, and this book doesn't really reflect that. Oh, well.
Honor's Keeper- It's not easy growing up as a half-Elwen in the midst of the War of Acceptance between the humans and the Elwens. And Zinira finds it even harder than most, thanks to her training with the sword in the world of the pacifistic alalori. (November 1997-January 1998).
Random Notes: Though this story idea was somewhere along the line of the seventh one I created, I put off writing it for a long time. (It was originally going to be the story of a knight, until I mostly threw the idea of knights and kings in the gutter). Then I realized that most of the books I wrote treated the priests- and especially the priests of Sarastaa- as incompetent idiots and took the opportunity to attack religion front and center. Somewhat puzzled by this, I wrote Honor's Keeper as an attempt to force myself into the theist role for once, and to see the priests as good.
Fortune Finder- Chirrirri Lankon has to leave his city. Quickly. And off he goes, more or less randomly causing havoc, until he crosses paths with a time Elwen who finds that annoying. (November-December 1998).
Random Notes: A land Elwen-curalli love story that didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I'd love the chance to write this again, perhaps from the other side, and perhaps someday I will.
Wolf In The Mists- Morna Godtouched is the sister of the Goddess Jamalen reborn- not an enviable position among the Jamalen-worshipping menudi. However, Morna is content to keep to the shadows. Events not of her choice start shoving her forward, though. (January 1999).
Random Notes: The most frustrating part of this novel was Morna herself. She was very easy to write, but so self-effacing that sometimes I thought of her as an idiot. She did improve later in the story, though.
Summerfire- Frief Derme flees the Oasis in the wake of the Change, Changed himself and suffering from loneliness and visions of the dead and the wild magic. He does have a destiny, but whether he chooses to accept it is a different matter. (February 1999).
Random Notes: This is another one I would love the chance to write again, since I didn't know Frief and his Summerfire line were going to become so important to Arcadian history after the Change. There are some elements I would have to leave the same, but others I could work with and around. Perhaps, someday...
Who Hunts The Eagle- Doran Deepen is a skilled bounty hunter. Seemingly, he's been hired to track and kill Kilian, a master assassin who likes to leave his female victims maimed and suffering. But then there's Cyela, assigned to travel with Doran and perhaps kill him, or perhaps to kill Kilian, depending on political expediency. And then there's Kilian, who has his own ideas about all of this. (March 2000).
Random Notes: I was proud of the political situation I began the story with- an insanely complicated one- and thought the rest of the book would be much the same, focused on plot. Instead, Kilian took over. Writing his viewpoint was the only time I've had to stop writing because I sickened myself. In some ways, the empathy I've had with him, and to a lesser extent with my other "dark" characters, is terrifying; it's so easy to let the bonds go and think in those ways when I let myself.
Kismet- Maln Shadowdancer is an Ender, an official assassin hired by the Lady Eleriad Deerfriend to break the back of the humans' war-effort. Of course there are people who just can't leave it at that. (September-October 2000).
Random Notes: Another story that was on my mind for three years before I wrote it. It really is a mess, though. In essence it "began" three times, and I should really try to straighten it out. It does have some nice commentaries on the ridiculousness of light/dark dualism, though.
Fox's Luck- Jindun Riversfast knows his place: as dog and guardian of the den, since the foxes his mother keeps taking as mates don't do their job properly. And Ryani Gracedancer knows her place: as a Civilizer who would bring in the wild jarumi and teach them to live in society. As it happens, they're both wrong. (November-December 2000).
Random Notes: One of my only books not to end with a battle; one of my few dual-character books where I didn't wind up liking one of them a lot better than the other. I like it.
Memory of a Forest Green- The eluvori had lost their Forest in the Change, and since then had wandered, seeking some place to plant a new home. Now they've come to the valley they think might be the place, and Escorie, their Vision-Bearer, goes forward alone, into Audvelyn. It's not really her fault that Damiel Summerfire is there. (December 2000).
Random Notes: I got to write about the transformation of a duty-bound personality into a carefree one in Memory. That was very fun, since I usually tend to go the other way.
Zerasa Rhapsody- Jyeron Silkshadow sells the highly addictive drug chaunri. And is a language teacher. He's faithful to one love alone, and frequents whores. He's a respectable, upstanding citizen, and he has a secret hideout where he lived with the Image he has created from his immensely powerful wild magic. Jyeron is a julaludara, an Elwen with a will so powerful that he rode the magic of the Change- but he finds his mortality slipping away from him. (January 2001).
Random Notes: Jyeron does things, essentially, for himself (especially after he learns some of the less than savory secrets that people around him are hiding). I did my best to make him seem immortal, with a long weight of memory, and desperate not to lose what he had left of mortality, for fear of what he might become. It probably doesn't make a good motive for many other people, but it does for me.
Ever Here- Sometimes Melsinon Shirrindolor was still unsure of his course. But the Goddess Suulta had spoken: No humans could stay in Her sacred city of Oak, and so Melsinon turns on them, and begins the course that, he knows, will inevitably lead Oak into war with the powerful city of Rowan. His faith has to be his armor, and his belief in the goodness of his goddess his sword. (February 2001).
Random Notes: Another attempt at trying to force myself to adopt a perspective I don't understand, and again it's a theistic perspective. This book assumes the answer to the question "Should another race be pushed out of one race's homeland?" is "Yes" and goes from there. It doesn't endorse racism, it doesn't endorse religion, and I don't even endorse Melsinon. He is just there.
Westfire- Various people seem to want to kill Clor. That's fine; a free-lance assassin who designs traps and tests new magical weapons has to accept the possibility of violent death. But there are also people who want to enslave him, and Clor does object to that. (November-December 2001).
Random Notes: I was very unhappy with this book until the end. It would not decide where it was going, and I wasn't sure how to take the end at first until I was actually writing it. But this gave me the idea for the damarothi, and I think they are cool.
Hero Out of Song- Penya is a damaroth, one of the "daggers against the gods," who has come to the Forest of his birth to free his people from the slavery of worship. Limlar, a young curalli woman, serves the rising power- for the moment. (May-July 2002).
Random Notes: A lot of sloppy writing in the first part, but I really like the ending.
Homeward- Faerian Aamadol has lived alone in the woods for so long that he has forgotten there are things the outside world might want with him. (July-August 2002).
Random Notes: This story involved incredibly violent people. And even though a lot of murder took place, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Blood and Laughter- Somal Deerfriend is involved in an incestuous relationship with his sister, as well as trying to defeat the Goddess Tirosina. And that's just for starters. (April 2003-June 2003)
Random Notes: Dark fantasy; very dark. Consensual incest, torture, and dysfunctional family relationships. Did I mention all the main characters are crazy?
Made Glorious Summer- Title stolen from Shakespeare; plot is my own. A thousand years after the War of the Falling and the death of Maruss Freewind, Yubro Deerfriend encounters the first signs of a strange sickness. The beginning of the plague will sweep him up and set the pattern for a future he never dreamed of having. June 2003-November 2003).
Random Notes: This one progressed slowly, and the sequel is likely to be slower. After all, I was only doing 1000 words a day on it. But it's a story I've wanted to tell for a very long time, and I'm glad to be finally able to tell it.
