Flames of the Devil Dog and I'm Moving Announcement

    For those who have followed this blog over the past decade, I apologize for my lack of updates. I have spent the last few years, since the COVID-19 quarantine, focusing all my energy on completing my epic fantasy series. I am currently working on setting up a new website, where I'll repost much of the material from here. All blog stories and posts relevant to the new site will be transferred, and all artwork I created but never updated on this blog will be included.

    For those who haven't followed me on social media or lost track of me on Twitter or X, I am pleased to announce that I have finally published a novel.

    Flames of the Devil Dog is available in eBook and Hardcover on Amazon, and the paperback is available on numerous online bookstores, including Barnes & Noble and Waterstones. The adventure stories that I once posted here, which have since been removed, are being reintroduced on my website in different forms. As I create a space where I can share snippets of scenes from my books or post scenes that were edited out of the final version, I will reintroduce these stories at some point.

    Another thing I'll be doing is showcasing the artwork that is contained in my hardcover books. With the help of an artist close to me, we have been working on artwork for the entire series with character sketches, monsters, and maps. I'll be including all the maps from my books on the website, as well as introducing my own Tabletop Role-Playing Game that is being developed around my series.

    It's a great time to be writing. Please follow me over there when the website goes live. I plan to establish a vibrant community there one day, where we can discuss all things fantasy and history. We'll even include some content about movies and books, where I'll review things I've read or watched that inspired me to write about them.

    I'll report back here on this blog with the link to the website once it's available.

In the meantime, please consider buying my book and helping me keep the lights on!

Flames of the Devil Dog, Book 1 of Heaven's Edge

eBook on Amazon

Hardcover on Amazon with bonus illustrations throughout the book

Paperback on Amazon

Paperback on Barnes & Noble

Paperback on BAM! Books-A-Million

Paperback on Bookshop.org

paperback on Waterstones (UK)

My book was published through Shield Blade Publishing.

Weapons & Warriors: The Keris of the Javanese

Art by TL Jeffcoat

This wavy dagger is one of the strangest weapons I’ve ever seen. I first saw in it a video game called Diablo II, and I had to find out if it was a real thing and why it was used as a magical conduit in the game when it looked like a knife. The game titled the dagger with the popular American and European name of Kris, but back in the Indonesia Islands where it originated it is called a Keris. The Keris has three parts, the blade, the hilt, and the sheath

The Keris was a ceremonial decoration, a weapon, and the tool of an executioner. In the ancient kingdom of Java, it was common for every man and woman to strap a Keris on their belt and behind their back when traveling outside of their home. The Javanese believed the dagger housed a magic power of its own that was fueled by the spirit within it, and they annually brought them to specifically trained bladesmiths for maintenance as part of a ritual for the spirit. The relationship between the owner and the Keris was important, and to test a blade the owner would sleep with the Keris under his pillow. Depending on whether his dream was good or bad that night he would then know if the blade was right for him. If it was not, the person got rid of it, because a bad blade could bring misfortune.

The blades were forged in layers of various irons and nickel that were folded together repeatedly. The stronger the smith wanted the blade, the longer he would fold the metal. Some blades were folded hundreds of times and took years to finish. Keris blades came in all sizes, but were never long enough to be considered a short sword.

Fantasy Weapons Lore: Grond of Morgoth

Some of you have heard the name Grond. For those three people left in the world that hasn’t seen the Return of the King, then you have now met one version of the weapons known as Grond. This is the massive flaming wolf headed battering ram that Sauron’s army of orcs used to smash the magic gates once built by an ancient race of men with elven blood and long lives. That’s a mouthful. Throughout the thousands of years of history in Middle-Earth, Grond has taken a few forms that are suspected to be designs of Sauron’s masterful engineering and magic.

During the time of the Return of the King, Grond was a one hundred foot battering ram that stood sixty feet tall. The head was forged from black iron. In the movie, the mouth was filled with fire, but I don’t believe Tolkien envisioned it that way. About the only use fire would have coming from the mouth is intimidation. Tolkien was an experienced military man who served during World War 1, and although the orcs are a flashy raging mass of unthinking hate, they weren’t unorganized when directed by Sauron’s generals like Gothmog. I would assume that just the sheer size would be enough to scare the Gondorians. Hauling fuel for the fire would be an unnecessary additional resource to be carried across rivers and mountains all the way from Mordor. That said, it did add some nice cinematography for the film so it got two thumbs up from me, no matter how impractical it was.

Fantasy Weapons Lore: Callandor of Rand al’Thor

One of the most powerful weapons ever imagined up is the sword called Callandor. Despite its appearance it is not actually a sword. This flashy crystal-like sword is a conduit for the male channelers of saidin (The One Power). Channeling this power and weaving it into the elements in the Wheel of Time series is how magicians cast spells. They don’t use wands and some are powerful enough to sink entire cities.

Callandor is one of the most powerful tools ever designed in this world and was molded into the shape of a sword for the man who wielded it into battle at the head of his huge armies against the Dark One's forces. It was made to allow a man to greatly increase the amount of power that he can normally channel.

This is not the same as the wands and staffs of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Although those items increases a sorcerer’s power and allows the caster to cast spells at greater speeds without instant fatigue, the casters in the Wheel of Time don’t require hand movements or words to cast spells. All they have to do is learn to mentally manipulate the elements they can draw on to do what they want. Each “spell” is actually a weave of elements that is controlled through channeling the One Power.

Fantasy Weapons Lore: Mjölnir of Thor Odinson

Marvel Comics wasn’t far off on the magical abilities of this heavy iron hammer. Marvel claimed it’s made from a fictional metal called Uru, but the myths say it is only iron. Thor’s ferocity and pride as the greatest warrior of the Norse deities was also as the legends described. Aside from Norse Myhtology descriptions of him with red hair instead of blond, the character you see watching The Avengers is much the same as the legendary god of thunder.

In the stories told in the Prose Edda, the dwarf, Brokkr, was visiting Asgard, when Loki approached him with a challenge. After showing off several treasures made by the Sons of Ivaldi that were gifts to Asgard, Loki claimed that no other dwarf could ever make anything as beautiful or useful. Brokkr was offended and bet his head for Loki’s head that his brother could make more useful treasures.

Fantasy Weapons Lore: Excalibur of Arthur Pendragon

There is some confusion on the origin of one of the most famous legendary swords in history. So let’s set things straight. There are actually two swords in the legend of King Arthur and Excalibur is the second one he wielded. Excalibur was said to have been made by an Elvish smith from the island of Avalon. It was magically imbued so that nobody could defeat its owner. To aid the sword, its scabbard was also magically enchanted so that anyone wearing it would never bleed and could heal their wounds instantly.

The other sword used by Arthur Pendragon is known as the Sword in the Stone and was nothing more than an extravagant typical broadsword that was used by his father, Uther Pendragon. When Arthur was born, Uther was slain in battle. Merlin took this sword and jammed into the rock and enchanted it so that only the true heir of Uther Pendragon could pull the sword. Arthur’s half-sister, Morgan le Fay was not the heir as long as Arthur was alive and is why she never claimed the blade of her father. This is not Excalibur, despite a lot of popular movies, books and cartoons making the blades the same.

Eventually Arthur came to the sword in the stone and retrieved it, making himself the king of Britain. Merlin gave him his support and Arthur went on to gather the people under the new banner of Pendragon. That would also involve some battles as Arthur’s father was a warmonger and not very well liked by several rulers. Many lords joined with Morgan le Fay, Arthur’s half-sister, who felt cheated out of the throne by a brother she didn’t know existed.

Fantasy Weapons Lore: The Elder Wand of Harry Potter

Believe it or not, in the hands of a trained wizard, this little dinky branch is an extremely dangerous weapon. What some people may not realize, unless they are Harry Potter fans, is that wands are partially sentient. They choose their master as much as they are chosen. The Elder Wand in the Harry Potter series is no exception, but unlike most, it is believed to be the most powerful wand ever created. The power isn’t the only thing that sets the wand apart from other wands. What makes the Elder Wand so different is its lack of loyalty. It only bonds with whichever wizard it feels is the more powerful which is proven by defeating the current master.

Then it moves on and works with the new owner without any disruption in power. This becomes tricky in the series however when Harry Potter becomes the master of the wand through a series of actions that he was not aware of. Voldemort struggled after that to discover who the true master of the wand was after he gained possession of it and killed those he thought had earned its allegiance. It wasn’t till he tried using the wand against its true master did he realize that Harry was the man all along he needed to defeat.