Why Did I Create This World, Write These Books?

A long, long time ago, when I was a teenager, I started to write fantasy books. I just sat down and typed, on an actual typewriter at first, with no studying how to do it, just what I had sitting in my head from years of reading. My first books weren’t terribly good, and thankfully there was no such thing as indie publishing back then, so I couldn’t foist my creations on the world.

After a few attempts, I came up with an idea for a book that seemed marketable, and I wrote it, and was happy with it. It was a fictional fantasy account of the life of Attila the Hun. I sent the first three chapters off to one of the biggest agents in speculative fiction at the time, and he accepted it based solely on those three chapters. I was over the moon.

Sadly, the rest of the book wasn’t terribly good. He did try to sell it. It didn’t go. The rejection letters, all of which I still have, described it as dull.

I’d managed to write a dull book about Attila the Hun.

I wrote some more. Amongst other things, I had an idea to write about a minstrel whose music contained magic, magic about emotion, as that’s what good art does — it influences the emotions. I got started, wrote a couple of short stories… and then I gave up. Too many rejections, too much time trying, burned out the willpower to continue.

Fast forward a few decades. I retired. I hadn’t really thought much about writing fiction for a long time, but there I was, I had time again. I’m also not terribly good at doing nothing, which is what retirement can turn into. So I decided I’d try writing again, and this old idea about music, magic, and emotion bounced back into my brain.

I ended up writing a trilogy, a prequel novel, a prequel novella, and a prequel short story.

The Eternal Muse Series

I do like to write about minstrels, so that’s the occupation of my first main character, Piper. It’s odd writing about music. Frank Zappa said, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” It’s true, because how do you explain how music sounds, how it makes the audience feel, in words? But that ambiguity didn’t stop me.

My other main character is a warrior priestess, Alaria, who comes from the neighboring country. Through circumstances which I won’t reveal, because I don’t want to give away the plot, Piper and Alaria get together. I won’t say this is a romance book, but romance shows up, and strangely enough for an old writer who had never touched romance before, I found I quite enjoyed those parts.

I also found myself exploring faith in these books. I’m not a religious person at all, but I’ve always been intrigued by faith, and what makes people believe. Piper is a non-believer, Alaria is a priestess. When they find out the truth about the magic that they can sense all around them, both need to adjust their understanding, all the while trying to keep what lies between them from being destroyed by their fundamental disagreement about belief.

The story grew from my initial book into an epic quest. Lots of humor, lots of action, lots of fun.

The One, The Religion

Without giving away too much of the story, there is a single religion, common to both countries. It’s based on the four elements: water, air, fire, the earth. Some people can “hear” these elements, manifested as music that only they and others like them can sense. For musicians, it’s even worse, as the hidden voices can influence an audience’s emotions when they perform, and this is strictly forbidden by the church. When the priests of The One find out that someone is capable of doing this, that person is subjected to a rite that strips away the ability to feel emotion, cutting them off from the magic. This leaves them nearly incapable of functioning. Piper, as one of those who has the power, has trouble controlling it, and he lives in terror of being caught by the priests.

What is the magic, The Song Without Words as it’s called? Where does it come from, and why do the priests hate those who can manipulate it? You’ll need to read the books to find out.

Covers for the The Eternal Muse

All created by Rick Waugh, except for the box set, done by Karen Dimmick at Arcane Covers.

Reading Order for The Eternal Muse

Read the trilogy in order. You can read the prequels at any time, either before or after the trilogy, or in between, but I’d suggest reading the short story, Passion and Fear, first.

More Series

The Eternal Muse is complete. I’ll never say never, but I think it’s done.

Style

There are no detailed descriptions of sex, and no graphic violence. Any sex is fade to black. There is violence, but not in gory detail, no descriptions of rape or torture. There is humor, a lot of humor.