About short story and Ross.

I thought I’ll tell you more about the short story and how it came into being. This story is placed in Reality Series universe and happens, chronologically after Credo Quia Absurdum – book #3 in the series. It features characters that you’d have known from first three books and introduces some new ones. It also introduces a new plotline that I’ll use in next books.

I came upon an idea for this story when on a walk one day. I was passing by a charity shop and noticed a picture of a cat on a display. I thought it would be fun to draw a cat picture myself and wondered about inspiration for it. Then I remembered a photo of my cat, Neko, I’ve taken a while ago. In this picture she looks a bit like an owl. Here, judge by yourselves:

I know my brain works in mysterious ways. There was this moment when it did this weird flip: She’s an owl, she’s a cat, an owlcat!

And thus an owlcat was born. It didn’t take long (I had about three minutes left to get back home) for my mind to provide a whole background story as to why an owlcat even existed. From there the story spun mostly out of control. While writing it I’ve been surprised by my characters times and again. Tyler was afraid of Halloween? Who knew! There were more surprises but I don’t want to give you spoilers, so I’ll keep them to myself. I will tell you though, that Ross is going to be a permanent feature in Jason, Tyler and Toby’s lives.

I’ll post the next part of the story later today, for now I’ll show you the second picture that inspired Ross’s owlcat nature. This one I drew-painted myself from a reference picture.

It’s a Great Horned owl and its expressions remind me of those of a cat. Here’s another image from Google.

But seriously Ross’s appearance and behaviour is mostly based on my cats. I’ve had quite a few cats in my life and working with Ross was really fun

New house, new book, new start.

Ok, so apparently living half your life in past and half in present isn't the best thing to do. I learned it the hard way trying to cling to my old life-work-apartment, and deal with the new ones. Thankfully it's the last week of this dual life. Today I finished most of dragons #2. Only the last scene is left for the book to be finished and I'm so very happy. Now two other books are vying for my attention. I'm still not sure, if I should finish the 3-rd dragons, or concentrate on Bigwell #2. Well, anyway it's going to be decided in the next week.
In the meantime I'm leaving my day-job and staring a new one. Also, I'm ninety-percent moved to the new house. Changing from an apartment to a house and changing flat-mates takes a lot of effort and money, but I hope it is worth it.
Also just a week ahead of me is my week-long holiday. A chance to see my friends, visit my family and be at a cousin's wedding. It suddenly seems that me and my brothers are the last of the family to settle down. It's a strange feeling, but as I was writing today it suddenly occurred to me, It is worth, waiting for the one meant for me. I do realize, it is highly unlikely that I'll find the love of my life just like that, but it's better to live a fulfilled life waiting for my love, than to be  miserable doing so.
Anyway, I'm going to finish my book tomorrow, then start on the next one. Then I'll take care of the rest of many things that needs to be done when it comes to the move.
All in all, life is good.

Captive or Captor #4

Lowell saved his document and turned off the computer. Closing his eyes he stretched his arms up and behind his head. Spending time with his characters was fun but it made his back and shoulder muscles tense. Rolling his head around on his shoulders he felt a few pops and grimaced. It was gross but necessary. With everything properly stretched Lowell gave himself a few minutes to relax and center himself, before getting up and going to do some physical work.

While Lowell’s stay in the mansion was basically an exile he was still the owner’s son. He had no duties around the house, there was enough staff to deal with all the cleaning and day to day running of the big household. Still, Lowell didn’t like being idle. He needed something to keep him occupied and he found it in gardening. There were several gardeners who dealt with the grounds, but Lowell had his own private little garden at the back of the property where he grew flowers, vegetables and herbs. He even had a few young fruit trees. He was the only one taking care of that private sanctuary of his. Deciding it was time to do some weeding he changed into his “business clothes” as he jokingly called the old tattered jeans and hoodie, which he used for his gardening. Waving to some of the staff on his way out, he marched straight to the shed. Grabbing a wheelbarrow filled with all the items he’d need he whistled under his nose as he pushed it to his sanctuary.

Lowell left the wheelbarrow a couple metres away and took the few steps to the small wooden door hidden in an overgrown hedge. His private little garden was hidden well from the prying eyes and no one except himself was allowed in there. People in the mansion knew about the rule and expected it. Lowell decided to introduce the no-trespassing rule to have a place where he could be alone and, if it was possible, bring Purr there. His tiger loved their little garden as much as Lowell did and he often offered his input on the plants Lowell should have there. Lowell would bring his tiger there every chance he got and they would spend an entire days there.

Lowell grimaced at the thought. It was so unfair that Purr had to stay cooped up inside the basement when the weather outside was so lovely. Looking around Lowell noticed that several of the vegetables were ripe and ready to be picked. A smile entered his face as he thought of bringing those to his lover. He could cook a nice dinner for Purr, maybe cheer him up a bit. A plan for the evening all worked out Lowell got to work. He had some weeding to do, then he could take care of his lover.

* * * *

Lowell stood up and patted his jeans to get rid of the soil that clung to it. The weeding took him longer than he expected and it was already getting grey outside. Despite nice, hot weather autumn was bringing with it shorter days and Lowell realised it was time to go. He quickly picked up the vegetables he’d need for his planned dinner and he loaded all the tools on the wheelbarrow. He set the vegetables on top and marched towards the house.

There was a sudden feeling of unease creeping up his back. He couldn’t say what was wrong exactly, but there was definitely something not quite right about his surroundings. A strange stillness, an air of anticipation, as if something was about to happen. Just as Lowell quickened his steps, the unease getting the better of him, there was a loud noise from the direction of the mansion. A startling band, then a lot of shouting. Lowell dropped the wheelbarrow and run to the house. He noticed strangers in a combat gear standing outside, corralling the nervous looking staff on the front driveway. Completely ignoring the sight Lowell rushed to the house.

It was about Purr, it had to be. His father’s spies learned about the shifter finally and his father send his people for him. Lowell wasn’t about to let the man win. His father wasn’t about to take the most important person in Lowell’s life from him.

Lowell reached the kitchen door and run inside. There was a shouting behind him, the armed men spotted him and shouted for him not to enter. Lowell ignored it. He didn’t care who these people were, he wasn’t letting them take Purr from him. The shouting grew louder, angrier, but he couldn’t listen. As he run down the corridor and up the stairs he noticed smoke coming from the direction of his room. No, it wasn’t happening! He had to get to Purr, he had to save his lover!

Alas, it wasn’t happening. There were more shouts behind him and then he felt a horrible pain in his back. They shot him! These bastards actually shot him! Lowell gritted his teeth and pushed on. He reached the top of the stairs, he had to only go down the hallway to get to his room. From there he could barricade himself in, open the secret passage and go free his lover. They could run away, hide somewhere, where his father wouldn’t find them, they could live happily, just the two of them.

Even as Lowell thought that his vision grew blurry and the word started spinning. Before he could brace himself on the wall hi knees gave out under him, and he fell face-first on the rug-covered floor. He had enough time to see black combat shoes stepping into his line of sight, before his body gave up and he fell into a total darkness. His last thought was about Purr and what was going to happen to the shifter, now that Lowell failed to protect him.

The move and other horror stories

The move is now underway and I am losing my mind. There's packing that seems neverending, paperwork, and I need to be in at least two places at the same time on Monday. The money is tight and time is even tighter. It is also incredible how much stuff one can gather in less than a year. I'm feeling like a director of a circus. Trying to herd all the monkeys and lions and camels in their pens, deal with clowns and acrobats and stay sane. I don't think I'm succeeding. Add to that the need for final edits to Credo Quia Absurdum and trying to finish second book about dragons... Yeah call the people with straitjackets, will ya? Anyway it's just one more week and then it all should calm down slightly. I crave blessed silence and ability to drown in my stories for hours on end. Let's hope I survive long enough to have it once again.
Wish me luck people!

Captive or Captor #3

Lowell left the secret passage and went into his bedroom. He’d forever be grateful to his ancestors for building a mansion with secret passageways. It was what made visiting Purr possible. Everyone working in the mansion knew not to disturb him when Lowell was in his rooms. He had a suite consisting of a bedroom, bathroom and a study. He’d often go into the study pretending to work on a book. Everyone in the mansion knew Lowell was working on writing a book. He was, however most of the time he pretended to write he was actually spending with Purr.

When he had first been sent to the mansion Lowell had no idea what to do with his time. Nobody in the nearby village would hire the son of the dreaded politician, especially since he wasn’t in his father’s good graces. No one wanted to cross Sir Iain Hayes. Frustrated Lowell took to pouring all of his feelings on paper. After a while he turned his frustrations into fictional stories were heroes defeated foes who suspiciously resembled Lowell’s father. Craving real love and romance Lowell created stories were good always triumphed over evil and everyone found their happily ever after with the love of their lives.

It wasn’t until Purr showed up in his life and they became friends that Lowell decided to send those stories to a publisher. It was only after Purr’s insistence that Lowell did so. Surprisingly he was accepted and people actually bought his books. After a while Lowell’s pen name became recognized as an author of erotic shifter romance. Purr was his muse. Every love story he wrote was a story of his and Purr’s love. It was always different characters, but the feelings he wrote about were his true feelings for Purr, they permeated each and every one of his books.

His father wasn’t bothered by his writing. Romance novels were way beyond great Sir Iain Hayes. It suited Lowell. He saved quite a nest egg with his writing. He could probably support himself and Purr if they were to start a new life somewhere. The only thing holding him back now was fear of what his father would do. Lowell wasn’t about to risk his lover’s safety. Purr was more important to him than anything else. He’d gladly give up his life for the shifter.

Lowell closed the hidden door and put a potted plant in front of it. He made sure that nothing indicated that there was an entrance to a hidden passageway in this room. He has made a habit of moving the furniture around in his study quite often. This way it was harder to guess there was anything odd about the room if someone became suspicious. Lowell’s every thought was about Purr’s safety first, his comfort next. Lowell’s whole life was built around Purr.

Satisfied that the passageway was well hidden Lowell powered up his PC and opened the file with his newest book. Taking a deep breath he tried to clear all the thoughts from his head. Emptying one’s brain of all the worries was necessary to let the story flow in. Well, at least it was for Lowell, he didn’t know how it worked for other authors.

Settling in his comfy hair Lowell let his imagination take over. Words flew easily spinning a story of love, danger and betrayal, leaving Lowell oblivious to the outside world.

An update

My life is closely following the truth that: the only thing constant in life is change. Right now I'm in a middle of organising yet another move. After that I'll be seeking a new day job. It's all very bothersome and stressful. I can hardly concentrate and writing is out of question.
I will, however, try and motivate myself to write the next entry in my blog story. The characters went suspiciously quiet while I deal with stress, but I'm gonna wake them up sometime this upcoming week. The next thing I'll do is the edits for the third book in Reality series which is scheduled to be published on 17 September.
Unfortunately all this trouble messed up with my plan of finishing second book about dragons. Ur's story was supposed to be finished a month ago, and yet I'm still struggling with the finishing touches.
Well I decided that my mental health is more important than keeping up with deadlines that I myself placed on my writing.
Let's hope the move goes smoothly from now on and I can find a job that'll allow me to write as much as I wish.
On a different note, I got my CBT training done yesterday, so now I can ride a motorbike. I think I'm gonna buy one asap, I loved it so much. My ultimate goal is to get a full cat. A driving licence and buy a Harley Davidson. It is a far in the future goal but it is good to have something to look forward to, isn't it? :)

Captive or Captor #2

Like I said, I'm not good at being consistent, hence the delay in my blog story. But here comes part two of it. It is extended to twice the length as it covers for previous and this week. Hope you enjoy it!

“I’m so sorry, Purr.” Lowell swallowed the knot of guilt that lodged in his throat. He hated giving his lover bad news. “I’m afraid it won’t be possible in the near future. I suspect some of the new staff in the mansion to be my father’s spies. We can’t let them find out about you. It would be a disaster, you know that.” Lowell nearly wept at the crushing disappointment in his lover’s eyes. He hated denying Purr’s request, but he had no choice. Nobody could learn that there was a shifter living in the mansion’s basement, it was too dangerous for both of them.

Shifters revealed their existence to humans in late nineteenth century. They thought with advancement in technology brought by industrial revolution, and progressive views started by Enlightenment the old horror stories about monsters would be outweighed by reason. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Once humans learned how shifters were stronger and had more endurance than humans they started using them as slaves. Capturing shifter children and training them to be slaves become a common practice. Soon every shifter feared for their lives.

Fortunately there were those who shared shifters’ views on equality. These people worked hard and managed to outlaw keeping shifters as slaves. Now, well into twenty first century most people thought that enslavement was thing of the past. Still, there were those, like Lowell’s father, who thought shifters should have only limited rights.

Lowell’s father, Sir Iain Hayes, was a well-recognized political figure. He fought for implementing various restrictions for shifters. Lowell did not share his father’s views, quite the opposite. As a teenager he used to work actively in a shifter-rights organization. When he became recognizable by people his father gave him an ultimatum. He would quit his work in the organization and move to this secluded mansion in the country or he’ll never see his mother and younger siblings again. Lowell agreed. The thought of losing his family was too much to bear. He moved to this mansion eight years ago as an eighteen years old and lived here ever since.

It wasn’t long after he moved in that he found Purr. He was walking down a countryside road when he heard some strange sounds from an abandoned barn. It was a middle of nowhere, the whole area left unused years ago, after the previous owners moved to the city. Lowell’s first thought was that someone had hurt an animal and left it for dead. He heard of such things happening, people abusing their pets, then leaving them to die of their wounds or starve to death. Not thinking about it another minute Lowell went in to rescue the perceived animal.

What he found horrified him. There, in the abandoned barn, tied to one of the support beams was a shifter. There was no question as to the boy’s identity. Even though Lowell never heard of a shifter stuck in mid-forms that was obviously what happened to the boy. Lowell didn’t even think, he acted. He released the boy from ropes holding him uprights and tended his wounds as well as possible. Fortunately the kid lost consciousness when Lowell cut his binds, so he didn’t have to suffer through Lowell’s ministrations.

Lowell couldn’t notify authorities, he knew there were some who still hated shifters and wouldn’t help them, and then there were others who’d probably blame him for what happened to the boy just to get back at his father. Not having anyone to turn to, Lowell smuggled the young, wounded shifter into the mansion’s basement. He knew it was unused and nobody ever went there. There were even stories of it being haunted, so Lowell had a pretty good idea that nobody would find his shifter.

He tended the boy’s wounds to the best of his abilities and smuggled him food and some blankets to rest on. Before the boy woke up he had a pretty comfortable den created for him in one of the cellars furthest from the entrance, just in case somebody did come to look.

When the boy finally did wake up, he was terrified. Lowell has never before seen someone so scared in his life. After much coaxing he managed to get the boy’s story from him. His name was Patrick Peters and he was a tiger-shifter. Unfortunately he was born with the rare defect that made him unable to fully transform into either one of his forms. He was forever stuck in this in-between form and both his parents and his streak hated him for that. When Patrick was five they sold him to a human circus owner to be showed off as a freak of nature. Patrick was kept in a pen for ten years and treated more like an animal than a sentient being. He suffered many horrors, constant beatings, being starved and tortured for fun of bloodthirsty-crowd.

A couple of week previous he saw one of the circus lions being beaten up by the tamer. The lion was an old animal and couldn’t work as hard as the human wanted him too. Patrick stood in the animal’s defence. It angered the man so badly that he had beaten Patrick to within an inch of his life. Once the circus director learned about it, he decided to cover the whole thing up. They dragged him to that barn and tied him to the beam hoping he’d die and be eaten by animals, his body never found. In the least it would give them time to close the circus and move on to their next location.

After hearing the story Lowell was horrified. That such things happened in twenty-first century was unbelievable. Not that he didn’t believe the boy, because he did. He simply couldn’t comprehend such inhumanness. It was a foreign concept to him.

He decided to keep the boy, then. It wasn’t safe for the shifter in the outside world, as proved by the boy’s parents’ actions. He didn’t want to risk someone hurting his shifter again. He told the boy that he was safe and that Lowell would take care of him. And that was exactly what he did. After a while Patrick, whom Lowell nicknamed Purr after hearing the noises the boy made when he ate, started trusting Lowell. They became best friends, and after a few years, lovers.

Lowell worried sometimes about his shifter. Purr’s time outside was very limited. They had to keep his existence secret least someone discover him and reports it to authorities. Lowell didn’t know what would happen if anyone learned about Purr. They weren’t doing anything illegal exactly, Purr lived in the mansion with Lowell’s permission after all, but if Lowell’s father ever learned about his shifter friends, Lowell feared for their lives. His father might be a golden-mouthed politician, but he was also a cunning and ruthless man. Lowell didn’t want to be on the bad side of the man’s wrath.

Lowell lifted his head slightly to look into Purr’s beautiful golden eyes. He saw the man hide his disappointment, but Lowell knew him too well. The tiger-shifter was an open book to him.

“I’m sorry love. I wish I could do anything to make it easier on you, but I’m helpless.”

“Sometimes I wish we could run away together, hide somewhere where we could live happily, just the two of us, no hiding, and no sneaking around.”

“You know I’d love that, too. But it’s just too dangerous. If my father learned about you…” Lowell shuddered “He’d fins us anywhere. He has money, he has connections, and he could probably track us on the other end of the world. Right now we’re safe because we’re hiding right under his nose, he’d never suspect I could defy him. As long as I stay obediently in the mansion I am of no interest to him. He’ll send his spies every once a year or so, and once they tell him I’m not involved in anything shifter-rights related, he’ll leave me alone.”

“I know, Master. You already did so much for me. I just wish I was normal, so we could be together without hiding.”

“You are normal Purr! You’re beautiful and I love you. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If not for the threat of my father I’d gladly take you out on a date in the middle of London to show you off to everyone. They’d be so jealous! I found myself the most beautiful shifter in the world.”

“Do you really mean it, Master?” There was uncertainty in Purr’s eyes and Lowell cursed all those who made his lover think less of himself.

“Of course I mean it. Can’t you scent it? I thought you shifters had this superior sense of smell?”

“We do, but I’m always worried that I read what I want from your scent, not what is true.”

“Well, you read what you want, BECAUSE it is true.” Lowell accentuated the word. “Now, come cuddle with me some more. I’ll need to go soon and I want to fill up on your cuddles. You’re the best cuddler in the world, you know that?”

Purr laughed a throaty laugh but obeyed pulling him closer. Lowell closed his eyes and breathed in his lover’s scent, clearing his head from all thoughts. He’ll have a lot of time for worrying once he was back to his human life. Pretending took a lot out of him, but he couldn’t have it any other way. Purr’s safety had to be his priority, nothing else mattered.