Character Spotlight: Songcutter

Don't let the fact that he's blind fool you. Songcutter has the mystical senses to catch you off guard. When the Chessmen land on the planet of Timbak, they meet Songcutter and his giant friend, Yxee (eYix-ee). Becoming good friends, Songcutter helps the Chessmen protect their infant Princess.

This man is a bard. Bards use magic to cast amazing and powerful spells. Each chooses their own instrument but they can sound like a whole orchestra if necessary. Songcutter has a very unique instrument in the songsword. The songsword works as it is swung or angled through the air. It's possible to cast a spell in the midst of a sword duel! Isn't that cheating? Not according to Songcutter. His spells even a lot of odds against multiple enemies.

His bardic prowess is not his first defense of choice. The people of Timbak are well known for their martial arts mastery in what they call Shikitsu (She-keet-sue). Songcutter isn't a Grandmaster, but close enough!  His chi is powerful enough shake the ground fifty feet away.

His senses allow him to handle life and moving around better than sighted people do. He can sense the use of magic within about a mile. He can sense the change in energy nearby when someone is about to appear due to teleportation or magic. No one on Timbak can sneak up on him and it's been tried. Arrows fare little better as he catches them or swats them out of the air. Not only can he hear the twang of the bow from a hundred yards away; he can hear the entire flight of the arrow as it draws in close. He also has a mild sense for the presence of evil.

When things get really lively and there are lots of enemies around, Songcutter has one more weapon at his disposal; a laughing ninato sword. The laughing ninjato is a straight martial sword that is magically animated. It can fly through the air and attack opponents of your command. While doing this, it fills the air with an eerie cackling laughter to un-nerve your enemies. When done with it, command it back into its scabbard and you're on your way. And no, the laughter doesn't interfere with Songcutter's senses.

Songcutter and Yxee are the guardians of a small village that takes in the Chessmen. They're peaceful until threatened, loyal and trustworthy. Songcutter and his village are willing to risk their life for a Princess they had nothing to do with.

Character Spotlight: Sersi, the Mystic Falcon

Sersi is the magical friend and partner to the Falconer, leader of the Chessmen. Her magical prowess and aerial combat ability have served and saved too many times to mention.

Sersi is highly intelligent and capable of communication through telepathy with anyone she wishes. Most of the time she talks to Falconer, who she has a secret love for. Her intelligence takes opponents by surprise as she can quickly out-think or out-maneuver most. She's also an adept mage with a limited number of spells. She primarily uses her magical skills to heal but she has a decent arsenal of combat spells.

Like any falcon, Sersi is deadly fast. In a dive she can break 250 miles per hour until she casts her dive spell. At that point she becomes a red thunderbolt that can knock down even large targets. She also uses her magic to enhance an attack with her razor sharp talons. That attack has been known to pierce armor. She can cast a force field spell that covers a small area and anyone within. Sersi is always trying to improve her magic.

Sersi loves Falconer very much, but her magic is only strong enough to let her show it in his dreams. He has no idea it's her. Sersi hopes to one day master her magic enough to transform into a beautiful woman. Until that time, she is with him everywhere he goes.

For the Chessmen, Sersi is scout, healer and air support. You can read all about her in Chessmen: Opening Moves available on Amazon and Kindle. Catch the link in the upper right to my author's page!

Character Spotlight: Termina

Step aside, mean girls of the universe! This is Termina! She's a mercenary cyber-chick working for the Darksiders. Make a joke about her outfit at your own expense. Termina gave up her real name in becoming a cyborg and few are alive who knew it. She's been angry all her life and not because she's a cyborg. She's had herself made into a cyborg to enact her rage however she sees fit. No one knows where her fury began and asking is a bad idea.

Termina's body has a high molecular density; so even where you don't see armor, she's hard to hurt. She's had a ton of rocks dropped on her and come out without a scratch. She's highly resistant to fire and freezing too. She can exist in the void of space. Along with all that toughness, there's ample strength. She can move 1000 pounds with little to no strain. Add all that together and imagine the damage those metal fists can do. Her metal fingers can tear steel like tissue paper. In combat, she's been known to rip a person's arm off just because she can.

If her armor, strength and cruel attitude aren't enough to scare you away; she has some of the best weaponry a cyborg can be fitted with. She has a blaster on the back of each forearm and one near her neck. Her eye can give you a nasty burn if you get too close. Those spikes and edges on her? They launch as projectiles. The worst weaponry on her is her

midriff cannons. Those are her favorite. They're computer targeted by her electronic eye and can blow a body in half at medium range. You don't want to know what happens up close.

Before Victor, leader of the Darksiders, found her she was already wanted for a long list of murders. She even tried to kill Victor before agreeing to join his crew. Now he knows that she's a loose cannon and only sends her on missions that are okay to be very messy.

Termina fights the Chessmen in my novel, Chessmen: Opening Moves. See the links in the upper right to find my author page on Amazon. Be sure to join the Facebook page!

Character Spotlight: Tick Tock

 

Don't let the strange name or friendly face fool you. Tick Tock is about as deadly and cunning as they come.

No one knows his real name, how he got his powers or where he comes from. Yet, he makes quite an impact with everyone he meets. Tick Tock works for Victor Darksong and the mercenary team, The Darksiders.

If you look into his eyes, you'll see fractured realities reflected in them. He carries a clock staff that he made himself. It has more than one odd effect for in or out of battle. His blue robes act as strong armor, absorbing some of the strongest blows while flowing like silk.

Tick Tock's most incredible ability is that he literally cannot be stopped from anywhere he wants to go. He moves through walls, protective spell barriers, and people as easily as the air. This is because he exists on multiple dimensional planes at the same time. He can shift himself between them at will to go where he pleases. This can also make it difficult to put your hands on him. There's no such thing as keeping Tick Tock out of anywhere. He can also warp realities around him for devastating area effects and damage.

His greatest enjoyment is his trap clocks. He builds them for all manner of terrible events. He builds them to explode, cast spells or merely capture. After dealing with his inventions, you'll never pick up a shiny looking watch next to the road again. He takes great pleasure in the building of his time pieces. Just look around you on any given day and see how many clocks you can count, even digital ones. Then think about none of them ever being innocent time pieces again.

Tick Tock  carries special rank with the Darksiders. Only Victor can give him orders. None of the others dare to make suggestions to the old man. They are far too afraid of him. They worry that he'll shunt them into another nightmare dimension and not bring them back.

There are rumors that he is the distant future and evil version of the hero, Dimension Man, but this has never been confirmed. As of writing this, the two of them have never met.

Tick Tock is one of the villains in my novel, Chessmen: Opening Moves! See the link to my author's page above right to find out how to get your hands on it! (Click on images for larger view)

Character Spotlight: Victor Darksong

Victor Darksong is the leader of a crew of deadly mercenaries called, The Darksiders. He's cruel, ruthless, and has the fatal skills to back up the attitude. Of course, he wasn't always like that.

Victor was once nothing more than a greedy galactic treasure hunter. He was in competition with several others just like him. Greed is a dangerous ally, and one of them tipped him off to an artifact hidden at the heart of a giant asteroid. Victor went right after it, not realizing that the trip was meant to end him.

The Hangman's rope is an intelligent artifact that has a horrifying way of choosing who it will bond to. It wraps itself around the person who finds it and ignites them in supernatural flames. Those who do not survive, it doesn't find worthy. Victor had one saving grace when the rope wound up on him. Victor is a half demon. While the rope still horribly burned and scarred him, he survived the process and the rope settled to be wound around his midsection. To say the least, Victor was a changed man.

The power of the rope made him realize a new calling. He hunted down the person who sent him to the rope and thanked him before killing him. After that, he gathered a team of mercenaries and became one of the most lethal paid killers in the galaxy.

Victor had a scarf made and enchanted to act like the rope. While not intelligent, the scarf can shatter stone and is very good and blocking attackers. Both items can grasp and throw objects or people. The rope has a near armor piercing quality when it attacks in a straight jab. Anything the rope grasps, burns. While Victor enjoys using the rope for an assorted number of attacks; his favorite is strangulation. Victor can also through fire bolts from his hands or eyes.

Victor is a cunning leader and strategist. He hand picked the members of his team based on their abilities. Nothing is done on his team without a specific reason behind it. Should a mark survive or escape, Victor considers it a personal matter to hunt them down. Few mercenaries are as tenacious.

Victor and the Darksiders are in my novel, Chessmen: Opening Moves. (Click on images for larger view)

Character Spotlight: Viro of the Chessmen!

With the long null state that this blog wound up taking, I thought long and hard about how to manage my time and still bring good things here for you. Well, I think you'll enjoy the Character Spotlights, giving you and inside view to the characters of GZ. Today, we're looking in on a member of the Chessmen. You can check out his adventures in my novel, Chessmen: Opening Moves. It's available on Amazon. (Click on images for larger view)

Yes, that pic is of Viro, but he didn't always look that way. Viro was an astronaut sent on a mission to investigate a new energy source on a distant star. Unfortunately, the energy turned out to be a strange radiation that overtook his ships controls. As the radiation flooded his craft, he was headed for a nasty crash landing. Overwhelmed, he blacked out.

The next time  he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find out that he still lived. While his own people were unable to save him, another race of beings was nearby. The Cyborians had nothing to fear from the radiation so they intercepted his craft with a powerful tractor beam and pulled him to safety. But the damage had been done. In order to save his life, he had to be put in a containment suit. They warned him, should that suit be breached, the intensity of what he had become, could wipe out all life on any given planet. The very thought made him wish he hadn't been saved at all.

Viro couldn't return to his people. He preferred that they believe him to be dead. So he took to wandering the spaceways, trying to figure out what to do with himself. In his travels, he discovered that he could force some of his viral power out of his suit and  that it would do whatever he commanded. This made him think that there was some better purpose for him. He just needed to find it. Eventually, he came across the planet, Chyssia and befriended a member of the Royal Guard named, Haley. He joined the Royal Guard and now, with the Chessmen, fights to protect their orphaned Princess.

The viruses Viro can emit will literally do almost anything he can think of. He can dissolve solid steel into a puddle. He can override the computers of a starship. He can even heal wounds or possibly regrow someone's missing limb. Even with all the practice he has had, Viro is still working out all the things he can do. His only limit is his energy levels. At times, he must rest and recharge. He is sustained by energies of the universe around him or by dissolving items with his power to absorb.

Viro's containment suit is a powerful suit of armor. It can withstand heavy damage and gives him some extra strength. He can fly through space and lift a thousand pounds.

While his face can be seen inside the green fog within his helmet, it is thought that there is very little left of his original body. Some think what he's been through is why he's so sarcastic and surly in nature. Haley will say not to let it fool you. Underneath it all, Viro is a caring person and devoted to the Chessmen and the Princess completely. Of course, if you ask him, he'll tell you he's often annoyed with the antics of Chessmen member, Major Xeroh.

While you won't find a more serious member of the Chessmen,  you won't find one more unshakable in purpose either.

Time for a new update

So much has been going on that it's been hard to keep up. Sadly, things like my blog here got neglected in the process. How much can you put on your plate along with what life gives you before you get too busy for your own good? It's not hard to do. I'm a chronic multi-tasker and it gets me in trouble.

But a whole lot is going on in my life and GZ is just one great part of it.

On May 10th, I attended the first annual bookfest here in Monroe. The assortment of authors in one place was great. They even came from near New Orleans to where we are in the Northern part of the state. There were several religious/inspirational authors, maybe two other fictional authors and one who wrote of a life after Vietnam. There was one who had a historical look at one man's life here in Lousiana. It was a fine combination of people.

Quite a few people came by including a couple of local friends and I think some new interest was created. The only drawbacks I give the day are that it was HOT. My dear wife has quite a sunburn. Sadly, the crowd was also sparse. I had really hoped to see more people at the Rivermarket. Some people folded up and left early which is a big NO NO in the agreement with the market. I folded a few things up in the last hour, but remained available to sign my books and talk to people until 4 as advertised. Once the day was done, my wife and I were both exhausted. Forget cooking dinner, we went home and ordered a pizza.

All in all, it was a good day and I met some incredible people.

So what about GZ Legends?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I am writing the second storyline and the first is compiled with new edits for the book, Chaos Rising (coming very soon!) but I have to decide what I can most reasonably do with the time on my hands. I have a lot and I mean A LOT of artwork to do for the card game coming up. I have Chessmen 2 still in writing stage and another book of short stories to compile. And it's not just being a one man band, life itself has stepped in. My son has needed me and I'm about to be a Grandad for the first time. I don't think I've ever had so much happening at one time ever in my life. It's quite amazing.

The next thing to come out, should be Chaos Rising if all goes according to plan!

So it's time for me to get back to building and get the activity rolling again! Stay tuned, you never know what's going to happen next!