Tales of Tiberius: Backstory Blog

Just for anyone who might be checking in and wondering what’s happening, here is a quick update on upcoming projects.

Artist and editor are working on an update of “An Elvish Christmas…”  I did not have an editor the first time around and a couple of really bad typos made it through.  So I will be publishing a revised edition.  New illustrations, I’ve seen some and they are worth waiting for.  : )

The next novel is likely to be a new espionage novel.  I’ve been working on this for a while to have something with a little less controversial occult stuff in it.  (Most of my online critics think I talk about Jesus too much, but I also know people who don’t want any occult content.  As a book featuring only real world or near future tech, this should be an easier read for those groups.  I am not changing my opinions, but magic and the spirit world are naturally not central to the story line  here.)

Tales of Tiberius 2 is progressing, and that should be next.  It’s the bottleneck in the Tiberius saga.  I actually started out with short stories (Volume 3) went on to write the first novel (Volume 4) then went back and published the Christmas stories (V 3.5) and the origin story.  (Volume 1).  So if you are a fan of the series, the bad news is Volume 2 may be a bit slow to come out, but Volumes 3-5 will be much faster releases by comparison.  If anything really takes off financially, the pace will pick up.

This isn’t a comprehensive list or a guarantee, just a heads up.

If anyone’s reading this and wants more news, respond or drop me a line.  I have a spam filter on, but legitimate comments are welcome.  I only censor for off topic.

For all of you who have lost someone. Remember this is the day of celebration.
1 Cor 15: 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Magic and high tech can have interesting convergence at times.  I always found it an interesting coincidence that summoning demons and writing computer programs have the same problem.  One little comma is off somewhere in the wrong place and disaster results.  Ti’s spellcasting may seem a bit computer programming like at times.  That’s a natural consequence of trying to write realistic magic.  Think about it.  In your classical magic story, Merlin is supposedly holed up in his tower working on his magic for weeks.  Then someone attacks him, he says Abracadabra or something and a fireball strikes down his assailant.  What’s the connection?  Maybe now that we have the experience of computer programming, this is all starting to seem more possible.  Sounds a lot like someone prepared a program to run on something and then gave the execute command at the right time, doesn’t it?  That’s not all there is to it of course, but I do find some interesting parallels in high tech and ‘magic’ at times.

If you haven’t seen “God is not dead” you ought to go.  This film is an important dramatization of something that is playing out all too often in today’s College classrooms.  Namely the attempted suppression of Christianity by academia.  The reality and seriousness of this issue is shown very clearly at the end of the film where they scroll through an alarmingly large number of real courtroom cases on this very point.

I was very glad to see the film cite the work of John Lennox, one of today’s most underrated scholars  John Lennox is a scientist with unimpeachable credentials who routinely defeats atheists in debates about the scientific plausibility of the existence of God.  You’ve probably never heard of him because he’s not politically correct like Richard Dawkins.

If I have a complaint about this film, it’s that it tries to do too much.  But there is just no way you can fit this debate into a movie, so naturally they brush over some things that really should be explored in depth.  My advice, go see the film, get a feel for the debate and then follow up with some serious reading.  John Lennox would be a good place to start.

Thanks to someone in Canada we have our 100th sale.  (Well I don’t know the person in Canada was the 100th, I just found there was a sale at Amazon.ca and I was at 99 till that point.)  I’m also assuming the CA, UK, and DE sales are not included in the Amazon.com sales, which I’m not sure about either.  Also includes one live sale of the hardcopy edition.

Thanks to everyone that bought a copy.  I hope you enjoy reading it and don’t forget to tell your friends about it.  (If you didn’t like it [and usually I’m about 25-1 like vs don’t like] tell all your friends it was the worst book ever written and that they should get a copy and see for themselves).

Thanks to those who’ve bought my book in Germany. I think it’s Germany, I just get a sales report from Amazon.de   Drop me a line and let me know how you found it.

It’s actually fitting that the book would sell in Germany as there are some German connections. I took a couple of business trips to Germany back in 1999 or so. One time I was stuck there over the weekend so I was able to take a short Rhine cruise. It was great seeing the beautiful countryside.

Taking a Rhein cruise is an inspiration for fantasy writing.  The terrain isn’t really different from what you would find in the border lands in my stories.  Just as in Germany, the border lands are a little bit inland with a major river flowing through and castles strung along the river.  People grow wine and hams like they do back in Germany.  I learned a lot about the kind of towns you’d have in that region.  Finally, no one can seriously talk about Dwarves without thinking of the story of the Rheingold.  With any luck I’ll get back there one day for some book signings. : )

Here’s a thought experiment for you.  Take your classic leprechaun.  Now I want you to imagine that he’s going to put on a different suit of clothes.  Instead of the modern green jacket, we’re going to put him in a red jacket like some of the earliest stories say he actually wore.  Keep the same thick black belt with a big square buckle.  We’re going to replace the hat with a red stocking cap with fur trim.  Not much of a change, just the jacket and hat, but what do we have?  A Christmas elf. Hmm.  Lets change the color to Brown instead of red or green.  Now lets put them with old Rip Van Winkle.  I know he said they were the ghosts of Henry Hudson, but maybe not.  Maybe we have three sightings of the same basic critter in three different locations.

This goes on a lot with fairy folk.  People don’t stop to realize that we may not be talking about different creatures.  Just different names for the same creature.

It’s gets more interesting when you go back and look at the old stories and realize some of these are more like UFO sightings than campfire stories.  Respectable people who have seen something strange.  Well, as the Bard said.  There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. – Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio

Something to think about next time you hear about a Leprechaun and his pot of gold.

Sometimes you have to put up with a little poetic license in a movie.  I think the best example is what I call Hollywood helmet syndrome.  There are times in real life when you have to put something in front of your face.  Scuba diving, for example, because breathing is good.  On the other hand, good acting generally requires you to see an actors face.  It’s a severe handicap to an actor if they can’t relate to the audience with their facial expressions.  As a result, movies will bend over backwards to show an actors face, even in circumstances where in real life, that’s off the table.  Thus in WWII movies you’ll see pilots letting their oxygen mask dangle at times when this would cause the crew to actually pass out from lack of oxygen.  Hollywood Helmet syndrome.  Really we just need to let it slide.  The actors are doing their best.

How does this relate to the Army of the Stewardship?  Well I admit I thought about this when designing the equipment for the standard soldier in the Army of the Stewardship.  There are lots of different styles of pre-industrial helmets out there, why not pick one that makes sense and yet doesn’t block the face.

Is that even possible?  Actually yes.  English troops have worn the pot helm, similar to the WWI helmet, back to the days of the longbow man.  Also the Comb Marion helm (The one you see the Spanish conquistadors wearing) was also in use.

I wanted a Roman inspired uniform, but I didn’t want one that was too roman.  I liked the lorica segmentata, but why not change the helmet?  I don’t know that this particular combination was tried in antiquity, but it’s not absurd.  Spaniards did wear chainmail at times, so did the Romans.  Romans also wore different types of helm.  I don’t know if it’s the best looking armor ever invented, but it’s practical, can be mass produced and it’s something a little different.  And oh yea, if the movie ever gets made, you’ll see the actors faces.  😉

This will come as a shock to some of you, I guess, but owing a flight simulator is not actually evidence that you are part of a sinister conspiracy to take over the world.  I say this because I’m hearing a lot of news coverage about the missing Malaysian plane and reporters keep focusing on the fact that one of the pilots had an elaborate flight simulator set up.  This is like being concerned because an attorney has a small law library at home, or a physician keeps an elaborate first aid kit in the trunk of his car.  Duh.

Many, though not all, professional pilots play around with flight simulators.  Some do serious work, on them, like practicing an approach to a new airport.  Others write articles on navigation for the hobby like “Computer Pilot Magazine.”

Yes you can get a bit carried away with your hobby.  It’s only relative financial poverty that prevents me from getting a full avionics package for my personal flight simulator.

Hopefully I will not need a license and a five day waiting period before purchasing my next flight simulator product.  I admit to having played with flight simulators for years and having practiced some things I would never do in real life with them, like landing a seaplane in the Epcot lake or flying under the Brooklyn bridge.

If you’ve never tried a flight simulator, I recommend it.  I’ve been a casual flight sim fan for years.  Pick up a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator for under $5.00 on Amazon.  If you buy one and only one add on, get a terrain mesh, as it’s amazing the difference that having an accurate terrain map makes.  (A Terrain mesh makes sure that the mountains and hills are the right height.  The one that comes with the game is laughably inaccurate compared to the add ons, so Bear mountain will tend to blend in with the surrounding landscape.  A good terrain mesh will fix this so mountains look like mountains).  You’ll learn a lot about airplanes by flying the simulators.