Realm Walkers Canceled

  I’m sorry, but this month’s Realm Walkers post has been canceled.  This November just slipped right by me, as I was trying to do several projects and school all at once.  However, I do promise that there will be two Realm Walkers posts in December to make up for it.  I’m sorry again.  See you next week.

Black Friday Sale

Hey y'all!  Today is Black Friday!  I actually don't care though, because I don't have money.  But I've decided to post about the five books I'm most thankful for this year, to bring back the gratefulness we all had yesterday.  

1. Dragonwitch, by Anne Elisabeth Stengle
2. Enna Burning, by Shannon Hale
3. Waterfall, by Lisa T. Bergren
4. Judge, by R.J. Larson
5. Orphan's Song, by Gillian Bronte Adams

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to another great year of reading! Speaking of more reading, here’s one more thing to be grateful for. Books on sale! In honor of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, a group of independent Christian authors banded together to offer over seventy discounted books on Nov 27-30. There’s literally something for everyone.

Every single book listed on Indie Christian Books is on sale in one or more ways. Find discounted paperbacks, dozens of books offered with free shipping, $0.99 ebooks, package deals and more. Even if you have a budget of $0, new reading material awaits you.

Don’t know what to pick? The fearless Indie Christian Books team created a quiz that will generate a book list perfect for you! Check it out!

What awesome reads of 2015 are you grateful for? What books are you looking forward to reading in 2016?

A note on the Ebooks Only page. All books are listed as “Sold Out.” This only refers to paperback copies of these titles. Please click onto the product pages to find descriptions and links to discounted or free ebooks.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Leah E. Good for her work organizing this sale, Gloria Repp for completing the time consuming job of uploading book info to the sale website, and Hannah Mills  for her fantastic design work on the website graphics. Hannah can be contacted at hmills(at)omorecollege(dot)edu for more information about her design services.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  So, this week I wanted to do a post to celebrate thanksgiving- obviously.  However, I didn’t want to do the usual alphabetical list of what I’m thankful for- I was getting a little bored after four years.  So, as I was trying to decide what I was going to do instead, I happened to run into one of my main characters, Milonee.  After cracking a joke, she asked what I was doing, and I answered that I was trying to figure out what to do for my next post.  Then Milonee came up with the brilliant idea to ask my characters (including herself) from Dawns Rise what they were most thankful for.  So, after asking her, I went out and asked the seven of my characters, what they were most thankful for.  And here are their answers:

Milonee, what are you most thankful for?

  Thank you for asking.  I am thankful for many things, Race, my parents, Almighty, but you know, if I had to choose one… It would probably be just my family.  Extended family, and immediate.  Despite the fact, that I only get to see them once a year for two months, I still feel like I have a very good relationship with them, especially Race.  Anyways, thanks for asking, and you are so very welcome for the idea.  *smile*

Darrilynn, what are you most thankful for?

  I guess I’m thankful for my mom.  After, my dad… died, my mom and I grew pretty close.  And that pretty much sums up my entire life.

Devon, what are you most thankful for?

  Almighty’s forgiveness.  I would be in a whole lot of trouble if He had never forgiven me for my wrong doings.

Race, what are you most thankful for?

  I’m most thankful for Milonee.  I have the best big sister in the world!  It’s always so boring without her!  The two months a year I get to see her, is the highlight of my life!  Also, I guess I’m pretty excited for the new baby sibling.  I’ve always been the youngest, so it will be weird, but I can’t wait to meet him or her.  

Terissa, what are you most thankful for?

  My home.  And I want to go back.

Kellen, what are you most thankful for?

  The ability that I have to practice with my war axe.  I know it will come within great use someday.

Tylen, what are you most thankful for?

  That we have Almighty to protect us.  And that he knows best, even when it seems to our folly minds that he is cruel.  I pray that we will all come to the Father someday.

There you have it!  I hope you enjoyed that.  Thank you for reading, and happy thanksgiving!

Character Fan Art

No doubt you have heard of the series Percy Jackson and the Olympians- a favorite of mine, honestly- well, have you heard of the spin-off series, Heroes of Olympus?  Oh, it’s a wonderful series!  Building off the characters you know and love, and adding new deep meaningful characters you’ll come to love.  I mean how could you not love him?:  

(Actually, no one really likes him.  His name is Octavian, and he slaughters stuffed animals.  He DESTROYED Percy’s panda bear!)  But anyways, this might come off as surprising- since I just made it sound like I know the series inside and out- but I have not read Heroes of Olympus.  There is some content within it, that neither myself, nor my parents wanted me reading.  However, another person I know reads it, so I have SEVERAL insiders (not to mention I look stuff up about it all the time, I know, probably not good, but just look at the amazing artwork).  Below, is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Oracle of Delphi.

 

Now, I have been staring at this beautiful artwork, just dying to get to know these characters.  After all, you just can’t be satisfied with just hearing their stories, you have to know them.  But, I was going to not read the series, and I was determined not to- honestly, after awhile, I feel like it became a game to see how long I could “hold out.”  I eventually beat it, and no longer had a desire to read the series- well, you know, as little of a desire as I could possibly have.  So, I turned my mind to a project.  I decided I needed to study some certain books and tv shows, to learn how they mastered specific elements of storytelling.

  For example, one of them was Once Upon a Time, I studied several episodes to discover the pattern they used to revealing/creating twists to their stories.  I found books or tv shows that would help me to learn how to master and apply each element, but then I came upon characters.  And no characters have struck me as more alive than when I scanned through my findings of Heroes of Olympus.  I suddenly came to a terrible conclusion, I had to read from the book with the best characters to master the element, but the series, was Heroes of Olympus.  I was in distress for two days I think, just thinking over, and over again, ‘No, there has to be away around it.’  But, nope, there was no way.  But then finally, I decided I needed to find out why I thought it was the only option.  So, I sat down, and opened the amazing artwork of Heroes of Olympus.  

  Meet Leo Valdez!  Repair boy, bad boy supreme, and Captain of Argo II (that’s what he calls himself).  

And his girlfriend, Calypso, daughter of the Titan, Atlas- and imprisoned on the island of Ogygia.  

  The first step I did, was ask myself, ‘Why do I think these characters are the only ones I can learn from?’  I thought about it for a split moment, and quickly answered that it was because they were the only characters who I saw truly come alive even though I hadn’t even read it.

 Then I asked myself, ‘Why do they come alive?  I haven’t even read it, and they’re more alive in my mind than any other character I’ve ever read about.’  After scrolling through a bit longer, I came to the stunning

realization that it was because there was all this beautiful artwork which I could look at, and that is what made them come so alive, along with the things my friend had told me (to the right, is Nico di Angelo, son of Hades).

  So, with the realization, I came to the conclusion, that if I wanted my characters to become “alive” in this way, it would have to be up to artist’s.  (Below, is Hazel Levesque, and her boyfriend, Frank Zhang.)

 But I didn’t want to just leave it up to artist’s to decide if they wanted to draw up one of my character’s or not.  I decided I desired to figure out what made them want to draw these magnificent characters.  

  So, I went to my sister, Riah, who’s an artist, and asked her, “If you could draw one character from any book, what character would it be?”

                                                                                                               

 She thought for a moment, and answered that she would like to draw a character she had recently read about named, Sage.  Here is the conversation that followed:

  “Why do you want to draw Sage?”  I asked, prodding her for answers.

  “Um, because in the book he’s described as having raggy clothes, and messed up hair, and I just think it’d be interesting and different to draw.”  she answered, shaking her hand through her hair as she describes Sage’s.

  An idea, and realization began to sweep over me, as I asked my next question, “Is Sage like homeless or something?”  

  “He’s a peasant.”  

  “Does he get into a lot of trouble, and real mischievous, and good on the streets?”  I asked, smiling as I drew closer to my conclusion.    

My little sister nodded.  “So, you would say, his personality fits his description?”  

  She nodded once again, sealing my victory!

  You see, I had cracked the formula.  The reason why an artist would draw a character is because their personality fits their description, and their description is clearly set apart from everyone else’s.  Thankfully, that afternoon, we were going to the library, so I could test my theory.  

  I rushed over to the books of Percy Jackson, and snatched the first book of Heroes of Olympus off the shelf.  I flipped open to the first page, to see if there was a description.  There was, it was Piper Mclean’s description.  As I read it, I realized that Rick Riordan- the author- described the standard necessities, such as eyes, and hair, but then expanded.  

(Piper Mclean, Jason’s girlfriend)

  (Percy, and Annabeth)

  He described the clothes she wore, and the the way that her hair was chopped unevenly, and her kaleidoscope eyes.  Then he went on to explain the first impression someone would get from seeing her:  That she didn’t want to be noticed.  Thus, through the description, a belief of Piper had was revealed (of course, then the narrator went on to say that her effort didn’t work, because she was gorgeous).  So, with this new found knowledge, I created rules for myself when describing a character:

1. Go further in depth of description with hair and eyes
2. Create a first impression               

3. Set them apart from the other characters
4. Describe the clothing they wear
5. Match their description to their personality                       
6. Implant a belief about the character from the description

                                                                             

Starbucks

This will be a very short post this week, but I just want to talk about this new Starbucks issue real quick.  When I first heard about it, I thought it was ridiculous!  Christmas is about Jesus, not snowflakes.  Now, keep in mind though, that I don't even like coffee, therefore I don't go to Starbucks.  But there was once when I wanted to go, because there was a specific drink I wanted to try.  Then some friends of my family told me some interesting news.  Starbucks is one of the main donors to Planned Parenthood...
   If you want something to yell at Starbucks about, don't yell about snowflakes, please, it's ridiculous.  Yell about this issue.

Prayer

Outside my world is crumbling.  But I’ll be safe as long as I stay in here.  Children are being taught they are nothing.  But it’s fine, I’m safe as long as I stay here.  Abortion has taken the lives of millions.  But I’m not bad, I’m only sitting here on the couch.  Nothing can happen to me, that’s what they tell me so they must be right.  Children are being shot.  But isn’t it fine?  They are nothing.  I’ll be fine.  The screen is telling me there is no truth.  Alright.  I don’t need to join the fight because this has nothing to do with me.  It’s legal to be gay now.  After all there are no absolutes, people can decide who they are.  Can’t they?  That’s what the people are telling me.  

  There was a shooting at a college.  The shooter killed only Christians.  But I’ll be fine.  Because I’m not going to get involved.  People have begun to attack Christian beliefs.  But if I don’t speak, I’ll be fine.  Christians are being attacked.  God is being attacked.  And my world is dying.  This is not my fight.  I’m watching my screen, becoming a drone as they tell me about a fight which is not mine.  Someone has come into my house, saying that everything right, that we are nothing.  Okay, that’s what the screen told me.  There’s a shot.  I stare at my screen.  A bullet goes through my head.  My blood splatters over the furniture that I sat at when I believed this wasn’t my fight.  

   For years I have been wrestling with the question of what I could do about these heavy subjects.  Recently though, I have come upon this idea in a book that I feel we all need to take action in.  Prayer is the most powerful tool we have as Christians.  I know you hear that a lot though, and by now they are probably only empty words to your ears.  But let me explain the story in Daniel 10.  It describes how Daniel had been fasting and praying for three weeks concerning a vision.  On the twenty-fourth day an angel finally came down, presenting himself to Daniel.  He proceeded to tell Daniel that he had been fighting his way to him since the first day he began to pray, but that he and his other fellow angels had been in the midst of a battle with some bad angels.
   They had fought a heavenly battle for weeks, trying to answer Daniel's prayer.  And finally they did.
   The angels loved Daniel, because he prayed constantly.  And with each prayer he spoke, an army of angels was sent out.  Never thought of it that way did you?  That with every single prayer, you send out an army of angels to fulfill your prayer.  We have a power right at the tip of our tongues, and we're not doing anything with it.  Imagine what could happen if only five hundred people prayed once a day that abortions would be stopped.  Army after army of angels would be sent out to save the precious lives of babies.  You might not see the difference for a long time, even years, but keep praying.  Because the angels need help to keep fighting off the evil spirits.
   So, please, whenever you feel the need to pray for something, whether it's something as big as abortion, or as simple as a prayer for joy, please pray for whatever it is.  Unleash an army of angels.