An Announcement

An Announcement:

I am sure many have already noticed, but I have removed the Ballad of the Emerald Bard from the website.  Why you may ask?  The time has come for the next phase in Deeya’s life.  I am going to publish the Ballads into novel length collections of short stories.  These new editions are unedited (as Blogspot’s policies stated I could not publish “adult” content and still have AdSpace), extended editions that fit together better now that they no longer have to be broken up in serial format.

What this means is, soon, you will be able to buy hard cover, physical editions, as well as a digital edition for you Kindle.  On top of these new versions of the stories, which are radically different, there will be brand new stories!  In the first Opus, the first story is now a much better introduction to the character, showing her range, secrets, and morality.

Anyways, stay tuned for more info!

--Dan

A Character's Story

Everyone knows, by now, that I truly love writing and creating characters.  Its one of the true joys of creativity, to be able to really get into a story and work through it.  What most don’t know is, the character of El’Mindeeya Do’Katal, the Emerald Bard, has been around for quite some time, probably close to a decade, and only just recently has she been truly captured in a high quality picture.

She started off as just a name.  Deeya.  Such a simple beginning, but I loved how the name sounded.  It sounded almost elvish, but it was used in other ways first.  In fact, before we go any further, let me go even further back.

(poem - Deeya) - Altar of Desires

I think of the ways we've been
I think of the ways we want to be
I want to see you in your glory
I want to see you dance for me

My heart beats within my chest
Souly for you, do my desires crest
I give myself freely
I sacrifice my body, unto your altar

I'd love to see you in the moonlight
With your head thrown back
And your body on fire
Lit by the lashes of my desire

My soul is yours, my body as well
All my sins are yours to sell
This I declare in the name of the night
Everything I am, is rendered in your plight

As our bodies join together
And our screams escape
I will call out your name
Urging you forward

To a time when our souls merge
Our bodies as one
The love we both share
Combined and done

For you I exist, for you I do dream
A future where we will forever
Never refrain
From loving completely, all of our strains

This night is but one
Of many we'll share
This I do promise
This I do swear

I will see you in the moonlight
Your head thrown back
Your body will be on fire
Lit by the lashes of my desire.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

(poem - Deeya) - A Closed Heart

My heart was closed
For so very long
Closed to all
Who wanted to get along

I had suiters
To be sure
But I cared for none
No matter how pure.

Seeking Artist for the Ballad of the Emerald Bard

The one thing my blog lacks, and I know it lacks this more than anything else, is photos and pictures.  I get a decent amount of traffic and I’m very proud and humbled by how much I do get, but there’s no telling how much more I’d get if I spent a bit more time and tossed in some pictures.  So, I’ve decided to go out of my way to attempt to add a bit of life to at least part of the blog.

Recently I’ve started a campaign to get some artist renditions of the Ballad of the Emerald Bard’s main character, Deeya, drawn.  Its actually quite daunting looking at artist’s work and then seeing how much they would do a piece of art for.

(poem) - Cahsh Dynar Night.

Back in Ballad of the Emerald Bard: Making the Band - 5, I knew that Deeya, for the second time, would be called out to perform on stage.  It was a wonderful opportunity to pull out a song from her early days as a video game character.  The problem is, the song I had in mind was quite interlaced in that old video game's lore.

So, I set about rewriting it.  As I rewrote the poem, I created a new city, a desert city named Cahsh Dynar, where there are sultans and the slave trade, giving the city a very ancient Arabian city, with a seedy side.  This, in turn, brought out the character named The Masked Canary, and inspired parts four through six of Making the Band.  It also allowed me to bring in a different version of Deeya's backstory and add a bit of mystery to her history.  I truly love it when inspiration goes in a circle like that.

Either way, please enjoy this poem, out of the story's performance setting where you can judge it on its poetic merits.

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Ballad of the Emerald Bard: Appendix - Characters

I've been pondering on doing this for a while, and now that Mother of the Bride is finished, now is the best time, I believe.  This is an appendix to Ballad of the Emerald Bard, in which I keep a list of every character Deeya comes across.  For those that really enjoy the Ballad, this will be an extremely valuable resource.  Expect it to change and grow as the Ballad continues to be sung.

(poem - Deeya) - Howl in the Night

For those of you who are reading, or have read Running With Wolves, the third chapter in the Ballad of the Emerald Bard Saga, you know that Aloucia of the Fae, and El'Mindeeya Do'Katal have a 'history' that's alluded to.  The following poem is a song Deeya wrote for Aloucia while they were together, way back when they were first exploring a romance together.  So please enjoy this glimpse into the beginning of their doomed relationship, long before Deeya realized that Aloucia was a being that belonged in the wild, that could never have any form of leash around her neck....

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(poem - Deeya) - Encroaching Darkness

For those of you following Ballad of the Emerald Bard: Buried Secrets, you know that Deeya has had a trap sprung upon her, and she's in a very dark place.  So, I went in and pulled out an old Deeya poem that reflects what she's going through, not knowing if she's going to pull though, yet having to pick yourself up and keep trudging along.  I hope you enjoy Encroaching Darkness, a poem that Deeya has performed 'live,' at one of her venues.

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(poem - Deeya) I Have Loved

(( In celebration of the 3rd part of Ballad of the Emerald Bard - Old Debts coming out tomorrow, I would like to share this older poem.  I've often mentioned that Deeya was a character and I wrote poems for her to be songs.  This is one such poem, and is kind of relevant to the story, Old Debts.  Here I also include an actual performance with the emotes, so you can get an idea of what it was like to see Deeya perform live. Please enjoy, and if you want to see the story jump straight to the Ballad of the Emerald Bard Page with a Table of Contents to the whole story so far!)) ))

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An Etymology of the Emerald Bard

For those of you wondering about where Deeya came from, I decided to write a blog about it.  If you haven’t checked into the weekly serial you can catch the entire series HERE, and they will continue to come out every Saturday at 7pm CST.

Her original name was, “El’Mindeeya Do’Katal, the Emerald Bard of Kelethin.”  She was created in an MMO, and was a true Role Play character.  The MMO went into decline, and I pulled out of it.  It was truly a shame, but the company that ran it, Sony, just did not understand its fanbase.  It’s a tragic but true thing about online gaming, that will hopefully one day be addressed by someone.

Metric Milestones

Milestones are such simple little things that always seem to mean so much.  Just a round number most times, they tend to radiate an accomplishment.  There are so many stats on this blog thing, so much to keep track of.  I have surpassed 1000 page views, and I’m very happy about that milestone.

But now what’s next for me?  I am actually close to getting 1000 pages views per month, maybe that will be it.  I know I’ll keep track the next two, 2000 and 2500 total page views.  And I’m steadily approaching 50 posts.  I currently have 86 published comments, so that’s approaching 100, which will be a nice one, though I don’t see a stat about how many were mine....