This is a coming out post. Even as a child I never liked my first name, preferring often to simply use the letter "A." I used to think it was because "Amy" seemed too wimpy and I also resented being named after a character in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (yes, my parents did that).…
QQ Excerpt: More Lucky LaFey
Artwork via HeroForge.com Excerpt from The Queerest Quest of the Guild of Ornamental Hermits: To hear Lucky tell it, he’d spent a chunk of time hobnobbing with the poshest Sonoma county growers (grapes, not cannabis) and had known Ginger’s parents as well as Ginger. He’d lived on this property as a sort of unofficial caretaker, off…
“The Queerest Quest” Has Begun!
November 1st (my birthday) is also the start of each year's National Novel Writing Month, fondly known as NaNoWriMo. In NaNoWriMo 2016, I launched my fantasy novel, The Dire Deeds of the Guild of Ornamental Hermits, and continued to write all year. In NaNoWriMo 2017, I continued work on Dire Deeds and then revised and completed…
QQ Excerpt: Lucky LaFey: Character Sketch
Lucky LaFey is a new main character who appears in the third volume of The Guild of Ornamental Hermits series, The Queerest Quest of the Guild of Ornamental Hermits. This third book takes place in Lake County, CA. Lucky LaFey is a drifter. He wears his mileage lightly though he's travelled the roughest of roads. However his…
You Need a Scorecard to Keep Track…
Joe Hillstrom Sidley Croom Joe and Sidley are on again, off again lovers. Artwork via HeroForge.com. Oyster Olson Babe Bump Tomma Bedlam Three of the main characters. Artwork via HeroForge.com. Here is a list of some of the relationship configurations involving the characters in The Guild of Ornamental Hermits fantasy series. Check out our characters…
“Dire Deeds” Story Set in The Restored Hawaiian Kingdom
Uncle Iolana Kamapua'a Kia'i'okamauna Kamapua'a Namaka Kamapua'a Three members of the Kamapua`a `Ohana. Images via HeroForge.com and NewProfilePic.com. The Dire Deeds of the Guild of Ornamental Hermits takes place in Hawai'i in a "not too distant" future. As I work my way through the second draft, it became obvious to me that I wanted that future…
Why a Tale of “Mid-Life Magic?”
I grew up reading fairy tales and fantasy fiction. I always wanted to see myself as one of the characters in whatever I was reading and/or have that character's abilities. Childhood examples include: Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (for having the coolest submarine and for being disgusted with humanity); Doctor Doolittle (for being…
“Hermitville in Hawai’i” – A Subtext of Spiritual Settler/Colonialism in Occupied Lands
Hawai'i nei (beloved Hawai'i) has struggled with many, many forms of invasion over the last few hundred years - people, invasive species, political, military, economic, spiritual, and so on. The results have not been happy or sustainable for either the islands themselves or for the original people, the Kanaka Maoli. This blog is not going…
Intersex Characters in Hermitville
Babe Bump Frank Talk Babe Bump and Frank Talk, depicted as game peices, designed via HeroForge.com. Babe Bump, the book's primary narrator, and Frank Talk, one of Hermitville's fine musicans, live in bodies that have intersex variations. However, Babe and Frank each deal with a different set of circumstances, as the intersex variation of each…
Western Magic Influences
This is the excerpt for your very first post.
The Guild of Ornamental Hermits 