An Ominous Book 7, Harlequins

I have some good news! Ever since I've been taking advantage of uploading the unfinished novel on Wattpad and doing some minor editing, I have actually taken the annoyance of writing another 1500 words (a huge feat considering I've left this novel idle for 5 months).

Authors don't make a lot of money and it's really hard to compete against fully established authors when you're barely starting out (and even more if you have a limited budget promote your work). Therefore it's critical that we get reviews and word-of-mouth. Every review on the top gun sites like Amazon and Goodreads count like you have no idea. While jumping into the 7th novel might be huge, I'm certain you'll probably enjoy it if you gave it a chance. Here is the book's plot description and enjoy!

Lord Spaulding has a daughter that nobody knew about. Froylan eventually discovers a secret love letter Spaulding wrote to a woman he had a brief encounter with 94 years ago, and attempts to locate the mysterious woman to no avail. After having a terrifying nightmare, Spaulding decides to confide the truth to his most trusted aide Lord Damantin who manages to locate two siblings in a remote cabin in a faraway nation. At first sight they seem human, but Froylan becomes suspicious when he recognizes Hama's unusual name from Spaulding's love letter.
  
  When Spaulding writes an edict that grants the death penalty to the entire guard if Hama and her brother Ruddy are brought to the kingdom against their will, Froylan comissions Spaulding's arch-nemesis Lord Gerasha with the mission to convince Hama to set foot in the kingdom at all costs.
  
  The problem begins when a new enemy of the kingdom named Gulraj who posesses sorcery that makes him nearly immortal has set his eyes on Hama and wants her for himself. Filled with action, comedy and a trip of discovery, Hama must find the way to come to peace with her elf heritage and accept her new position as the heiress to the throne before Gulraj destroys the Elf Kingdom.

CHAPTER 1

“Are you sure of this Trevilin?”

A youthful Richard was in a palace guestroom in the company of Spaulding and Damantin. The elf seemed unusually eager as he unfastened the familiar green velvet collar from his neck.

Spaulding's face became unusually serious when he saw once again the awful scar he unwittingly caused to his best friend such a long time ago. “I just feel worried that you are setting your hopes too high. Richard healed the battle wounds of countless Äimite guards and he has never been able to undo scars that were caused by sorcery.”

However, Trevilin remained unusually upbeat and smiled at his friend. After he placed the velvet collar in his pocket, he began to use sign language. ”Don't worry dear friend. I have told you many times I am not angry at you for burning my neck. I acknowledge I wasted a lot of time explaining too many things to Nelida and Herb that evening.”

“But if I had only been a better ranger, I would have murdered that idiot mage before he injured you in the first place!” The Elf King clenched his fists feeling enraged.

“Well, I am not even sure I can remove the scar but if we are lucky, I could try to restore Trevilin's voice.” Richard smiled with notable enthusiasm nonetheless.

Damantin crossed his arms and grumbled. “Tavelin you don't have to set yourself for disappointment. All of us can speak sign language and even the state secretaries finally took the annoyance of learning it. Your damaged voice isn't an impediment for working in the Master's palace.”

“I spoke to Secretary Ajarna and I am going on a diplomatic mission for a few months. I would really like to speak to humans.”

Damantin shrugged his shoulders and turned around. “Well, Tavelin has made his choice. As one of the nation's senior guards, I give Richard permission to use sorcery for this purpose.”

“Thank you Damantin.”

Richard summoned his familiar Stütgat that floated idly in his hand. Trevilin closed his eyes with a huge smile on his face. Richard calmly placed the beast on his neck and began to focus. The room suddenly became invaded by a blinding blue light and after a few moments, the beast vanished. Richard's face suddenly became filled with disappointment because the familiar neck scar was still there.

“Did you get rid of the scar?” Trevilin's eyes shot open when he could hear the sound of his voice for the first time in ages. Spaulding covered his mouth with his trembling hands whereas a scant tear was visible from Trevilin's eyes.

Damantin squinted his eyes at the scar. “I'm indeed impressed King Richard. Your sorcery managed to restore Tavelin's voice after all.”

However Trevilin's face became riddled with a certain degree of sadness. He grabbed a small mirror from his pocket to observe his reflection. The scar was still there, but he smiled nonetheless. He bowed at Richard with utter politeness. “Thank you Richard. Believe me, if I had been less careless, I guarantee we would have rescued you that very night.”

“Don't worry dear friend. We'll find a way to remove that scar.”

Spaulding nodded in agreement and turned around. Much to everyone's surprise, a medium height elf with brunette hair that reached the straw mat floor was cautiously standing in the doorway alongside Seiran. The elf caused an even larger impression because he was wearing a light green servant uniform.

Spaulding's face was invaded with a smile at the sight. “Great to see you finally arrived Johan. Why don't you come inside and greet Trevilin?”

“Are you sure I'm allowed inside of here? I don't want to get into trouble with the Äimite guard.”

Damantin grinned at Johan's reclusive behavior. “I am one of Master Sperdin's highest ranked guards and I give you my blessing to come inside. I am certain you are unarmed.”

Johan became sufficiently convinced with Damantin's comment and treaded inside. He seemed to attract a lot of attention with the strange attire.

“I've been to your tavern dozens of times Johan and it's the first time I see you dressed in green.”

Johan blushed from Trevilin's remark and chuckled. “Quite honestly, I was expecting the servants to dress me in a ceremonial robe.”

“If you'd like, I could use my influences as a senior guard and allow you to work here indefinitely.” Damantin commented with a pleased face.

Johan shook his head but he tried to remain polite. “Lord Noeru once brought me to Tesafar Palace a long time ago because he personally wanted to offer me money in order to remodel my tavern. Quite frankly, I felt uncomfortable enough at his palace but here?” Johan frenetically shook his head at the sight of the ostentatiously decorated room. “As much as I enjoy your company Lord Spauls, I like my own tavern. Feel free to go there anytime.”

Damantin grumbled when Seiran began to laugh with notable rudeness. She was once again dressed in elegant blue robes that dragged on the floor.

“I doubt the Äimite guard would feel pleased to do that but I can't wait to eat the feast you have prepared for us tonight!”

“Well, it's a very special occasion. My friend Trevilin is about to set off for an important voyage and we are all going to miss him.”

Trevilin blushed from Spaulding's felicitation. “You don't have to be so formal Spaulding. I'll be thinking of you every day. Hopefully my trip will be a success.”

Tameer charged into the room feeling usually annoyed with everyone's tardiness. After saluting Spaulding, he looked at his clipboard. “Master Lord Spaulding, the assigned guestroom is ready and we would like everyone to begin their dinner before the food gets too cold.”

***

A while later, Spaulding's excitement eating Johan's dishes didn't abate even though he was nearly full.

Seiran became amused when he grabbed yet another avocado tapa. “Keep on eating like that and you are going to explode.”

“You don't know what it feels like having the guard forbidding you to go outside the palace. Even when I was a clan leader, I could wander wherever I desired without having to ask anyone for permission.”

“Well, why didn't you ask the guard to visit Johan's tavern a long time ago? I'm certain Damantin would have found a way to convince Lord Froylan for you.”

Spaulding stared at the guestroom that was teeming with guards. A tint of sadness invaded him because Damantin's shift had recently ended and the only high ranking guard was Tameer. Spaulding sighed with a tint of boredom on his face.

“Things are just different now. I also don't want to give Damantin too much problems. I constantly drive Froylan's patience thin when I leave the palace with Damantin to hunt with my eagle without notice.”

Seiran grinned as she gulped some beer.

Richard studied his uncle's remorseful face and smiled. “Uncle I have an idea!”

Spaulding raised his eyes and stared at his nephew's bright blue eyes with curiosity. “What do you mean Richard?”

Richard without notice retrieved something from his robes and calmly placed the mysterious object on the table. Spaulding and Seiran were slightly curious whereas Trevilin recognized the stack of small papers on the table instantly.

“Are these papers those things called cards that humans like to play with in taverns?”

“That is correct uncle and I'm going to teach you a game I used to play a lot with my knights in Ayrtain.” Richard giggled at his uncle's ignorance of human customs and began shuffling the deck of cards.

Spaulding was awed at his proficiency at work. “Amazing!”

After Richard felt sufficiently convinced that he shuffled the deck, he began delivering cards to the 3 elves and himself.

Seiran's eyes widened as she cautiously grabbed her cards. “Richard, I can see strange drawings and numbers on each card.”

“I'm going to teach all of you a game called crazy eights. Don't let your opponent see your cards or else you might lose.” Richard purposely winked at his bewildered uncle as he continued dealing cards.

Spaulding was obviously the most confused of the group. “Richard, I don't understand these cards. They all look the same to me.”

Johan was casually entering the room while he carried a tray with food and frowned when he noticed Spaulding accidentally grabbed his cards on the wrong side allowing his opponents to see his hand. “It seems like Lord Spauls plays human card games almost as bad as he plays beer coin.”

Spaulding suddenly blushed in utter embarrassment and hid his face. Everyone chuckled at his expense which annoyed the guards standing watch.

“What is beer coin?”

Spaulding was however too utterly embarrassed to respond Seiran's inquiry whereas Trevilin had his arms crossed in deep thought.

Johan chuckled as he served several plates of food on the table. “I guess most elves are unfamiliar with that game. When Spaulding was young, he'd tag along his father Noeru and attempt to play it. He would play the game so poorly his father had to take him to an upstairs guestroom before he ended up blind.”

“Huh?”

“This is embarrassing! This is embarrassing!”

Seiran chuckled because Spaulding was looking increasingly embarrassed.

Trevilin's eyes shot open and recalled something. “I think I remember how to play that game!”

“I'd love to try it out! Maybe we can try out my card game some other time.” Richard said with glee.

Trevilin agreed with a huge smile while Johan nodded in approval.

“I'll bring some glasses and a pitcher of beer from the kitchen. Do you have a coin?”

Richard attempted to dig in his pockets but he shook his head.

Seiran shrugged her shoulders and turned in Spaulding's direction. “Do you have any coins Spaulding?”

However Spaulding didn't feel like answering whereas Trevilin sighed with disappointment.

“I don't have any coins with me and I doubt Spaulding would have any because he has no need to go shopping. What about you Johan?”

The elf shook his head with disdain. “I'm sorry but the guards frisked me and took away all of my belongings.”

“That's a huge bummer because I'd love to try that game!”

A guard approached the table and offered Richard a gold coin. “Here is a coin King Richard.”

“Thank you. Okay Johan, it looks like we have the coin. Can you bring the other items?”

“I'd love to see if Spauls has improved in beer coin ever since he was a kid!” Johan rushed off with a smile and everyone turned in Spaulding's direction.

Trevilin patted his shoulder for encouragement. “Come on Spaulding, I'm certain you don't play this human tavern game that bad. It will be fun.”

***

A while later much to Seiran's amusement and everyone else's dismay, Spaulding was obsessively tossing the gold coin and the second it hit the wooden table, it would always bounce back and hit his forehead.

“Ow!”

“Uncle, you are throwing the coin with too much force. Just try to swing your wrist a little and it's very easy to do.” Richard calmly grabbed the coin and it easily bounced into one of Trevilin's glasses.

Spaulding grumbled with increased annoyance whereas Johan politely chuckled.

“Your nephew is indeed very talented in this human game. Have you played it before in your nation?”

“Not at all. I seldom visited taverns when I was growing up and I had never seen Henry or Owen play it.”

“It's a shame your uncle didn't inherit your talent. Perhaps Spaulding should play knife board.”

“We cannot allow anyone except a guard to bear weapons near the Master!”

Everyone turned around and unanimously frowned at Tameer's protest.

“Dammit, the one tavern game I have true talent and the stupid guards like usual won't let me play with anyone.” Spaulding grumbled once again and gulped an entire glass of beer.

Johan politely served him some more.

“I'm very glad that you managed to visit the palace Johan.”

The brunette elf picked up some empty plates of food with a polite chuckle. “Ever since the word came out that Spaulding was chosen as the new Elf King, Äimite guards began flocking to my tavern in huge droves and it didn't take long for ordinary citizens to discover my tavern.”

Spaulding grumbled as he munched on an avocado tapa in silence.

“Does the place get filled with a lot of elves Johan?” Trevilin asked.

“Let's put it this way Trevilin; I have a 6 month waiting list for reservations.”

“This is why I always liked it when nobody knew about your tavern Johan. Being invaded by off duty guards and countless curious onlookers takes away what I liked about that place.”

Johan was understanding and politely patted Spaulding's shoulder. “I had to ask some relatives to lend me a hand because there is too much work.”

Spaulding grumbled once again. “But your tavern is in the end of a small alley in a residential neighborhood. The people that live right next to your tavern must detest the attention.”

Johan smiled with embarrassment. “The guard purchased all of the surrounding houses and they had them refurbished so that I can serve them with complete privacy. I think it works best for both parties because many civilians wouldn't feel comfortable drinking near guards.” Johan's candidness grabbed everyone's interest.

Richard turned towards the guards. “It must have cost the government a lot of money to purchase all of those houses and remodel them.”

“Don't worry about that King Richard and enjoy your meal.”

Tameer's vague answer merely increased Trevilin's curiosity.

“Have any of you gone there?”

Tameer bowed with reverent politeness. “Do not worry about that and enjoy your meal.”

Trevilin and Spaulding stared at each other and unanimously frowned.

Johan once again began to speak. “I'll bring some of those fruit tarts you like so much Spauls. Keep on practicing beer coin and maybe someday, you might become good at it.”

***

Several weeks later, a group of guards in a medium sized dining room were playing the aforementioned game cheering nonstop.

“Drink it all Harmelha!”

A notably drunk guard gulped his entire glass of beer and nearly belched on the table increasing the sound of everyone's laughter even more.

“What an amazing game! Ever since Tameer began playing it in the Äimite Castle, everyone I know has tried it out!”

“I can't blame him. I was starting to get tired of playing that knife game in Johan's Tavern.”

“I was also getting tired of knife board. There is no point in playing it if we all ace the bullseye on the first try and score a perfect game.”

“I can't believe the Master plays this tavern game so poorly if it's so easy!”

Everyone continued watching how both guards took turns tossing coins on the glasses that were filled with beer of their opponent.

One of the curious onlookers turned around and noticed a lonely guard was seated in the back corner of the room as he ate in silence. “Hey guard, do you want to try this game? It's really fun!”

The guard opened his blue eyes when someone rudely yanked his silver shirt.

“Don't talk to that elf, it's HIM.”

The guard gasped when he recognized the elf's face in the distance that earnestly tried to ignore everyone. “Oh, um... keep on eating guard.”

A medium height guard with black hair that nearly reached his shoulders and thick eyebrows sighed as he stared at his food while he listened to the relentless chatter of amused guards.

***

A while later the elf was inside of his modest room tossing a coin into a glass cup on the table with disdain. The elf would continuously sigh with sadness every time the coin easily landed inside of the cup.

“Yet another thing that the Master cannot do that I can with so much ease.”

The guard crossed his arms, hunched his body on the table and closed his eyes with sadness as his forehead pressed on the lacquered dark wood. Tears began falling from his dark brown eyes.

“I would be glad to teach him how to improve in this game.”

The guard began crying in silence until he fell asleep.

----
Did you enjoy this?
Read the novel at Wattpad and don't forget to vote!

Text by Nancy Foster. AI training or unauthorized reproduction forbidden.

I'm a complete moron when it comes to Wattpad

It seems like everyone swears by the awesomeness of Wattpad in attracting new fans. It's even better if you write Young Adult novels.

Two w00ts for me because I'm so not into writing Grimdark. I already see more than enough depressing stuff at my job, I kind of like writing more upbeat books.

So I create a Wattpad account and not only uploaded the full first novel of An Ominous Book that isn't bound by the rules of KU, I even uploaded the first 19 chapters of the unfinished 7th novel Harlequins.

So views for 2 months. Odd.

So today I decided to take a look and noticed that even though I uploaded text on these books, I never formally "published" them. They have been sitting idly in the database as unpublished drafts. Damn.

I am publishing the initial 19 chapters of the 7th novel and while I bet a lot of people will be lost from all of the things that happen in the prior novels, the story is so engaging that I'm certain someone will stumble upon my work and enjoy it.

If I get some votes and positive comments, I'll consider to continue uploading the subsequent finished chapters. Please recall that I haven't finished the last 30% of the novel (but I have been writing some scenes here and there).

HOWEVER! Maybe I'll feel more inclined to continue writing if people comment oin my work, beg and moan for more and maybe, just maybe read the first book and perhaps... write a positive review??????

Why did I only upload the first 19 Chapters? Because it's the first half of the story that entirely focuses on one of my favorite characters named Hama. Spaulding was staunchly against marriage or having children and yet he never knew he fathered a bastard daughter a long time ago.

After the guard discovered Hama's wherebouts, they being a secret mission to bring her to Spaulding's palace to begin training her to become the next heir to the throne. Little did they know, a powerful hybrid elf named Gulraj has his eyes set on Hama as well and will not stop until he kidnaps Hama and forces her to become his wife.

Can Spaulding accept the truth that he has a daughter and protect her from one of the most terrifying enemies in the world?

The second half of the novel focuses on Gulraj and the ensuing battle...

Are you interested in reading this novel?

Sharing is caring!

Text by Nancy Foster. AI training or unauthorized reproduction forbidden.

Lots of writing competitions open for September

I'm glad that An Ominous Book got a mostly positive review by a highly respected blogger for the SPFBO 2017 competition. Many novels are only getting 2 star reviews so to get a 3 1/2 despitemy grammar flaws with a huge enjoyment of the speed of the story and enjoyable characters is a huge ego boost.

There seems to be a huge array of other writing competitions for next month that I was unaware of. I am really short of cash right now for various reasons (among other things, I had to pay tuition for my Masters Program... yes, in a way I am technically a college student. I also had to spend cash for an advanced difficult airway course which totally rocked and bought some bougies now that I finally know how to use them).

Medical rambling aside, if you are an author, maybe you will enjoy the upcoming competitions.

Do you want to participate in an event? Check them HERE.

Text by Nancy Foster. AI training or unauthorized reproduction forbidden.

Another weird dream

Like a cliché, but a lot of the initial rough ideas I get for my novels come from the odd dreams I have. The surprising ending of An Ominous Book originated from a dream.

This morning I dreamt I was invited to Saudi Arabia for some nonsensical reason and my fancy hosts were having a BBQ of horrors. They hogtied several live animals to a stick and ignited a bonfire. I was in some sort of compound where you could wear normal clothes and became enraged that they wanted to burn alive the cutest fluffy ginger kitten you could ever imagine. Without caring about the consequences, I rudely saved the kitten and ran off. Apparently I iggered a prince or something and now had the entire cops looking for me.

Someone gave an abaya to me and I was rushing around and eventually caught after hiding the kitten somewhere. Imaginary dreamland Saudi prison was no joyride BTW. The dream however ended and I didn't know what became of me...

Everytime I dream something related to Saudi Arabia, weird stuff happens or I get into trouble...

But I feel glad I saved a cute kitten.

Text by Nancy Foster. AI training or unauthorized reproduction forbidden.

Google's boy's club and minority inclusion issues are widespread

I have had an amusing time reading some of the articles regarding the witch hunt current and former female Google employees have engaged against the company. It's like the company has been so busy trying to be so PC to maintain an image that it tried to brush any sexual and racial hostilities against their scant minority employees under the sand instead of addressing the problem beforehand.

I'm hispanic, female and I studied a STEM degree ever since I was a child because I wanted to. I ended up studying medicine although I had a huge interest in getting a computer programming degree in college. Do I regret the degree I got? I never did and enjoy medicine very much despite the bad aspects of the profession.

However, while I would feel insulted that I was hired by a top notch company to be the token employee to fill out a checklist of minority new hire goals, maybe companies should look further to locate potential employees that might not have the 100% qualifications but might instead offer something else.

I really like my tablet for example. Android for the most part is a cool operating system and I have no complaints with the hardware of the Samsung products I own. However! Let's face it, these machines have a tiny amount of memory and Google's uber super brilliant PhD dudes believe that chugging a tablet or smartphone with 50 crap apps that nobody ever uses that take off lots of space and you seemingly can't delete was somehow a good idea.

Hogwash.

Decisions like that don't need an employee that belongs to a specific token gender or ethnic group, they need common sense from the common mortal.

If Google or other Silicon Valley corporations have a hard time finding token employees, maybe they should find more creative ways to locate them in the first place. I hold US citizenship but given I studied something that isn't engineering, I would never get hired by the company.

Quite frankly, I've never taken a look at the kind of positions they want. However, I have taken a look at the kinds of things the WHO asks to hire someone in a medical field. To work for a 50,000 USD salary in an exotic faraway location, a physician must be a specialist with a Master's Degree in Public Health, 10 years minimum experience in a very specific subfield and a dozen other arsinine requirements. It reminded me of the Neurologists in rural Brazil that started to associate Zika infection in utero and certain birth defects in children. These are the most highly qualified people in these specific diseases and yet they would never land a job at the CDC because of arcane minimum qualifications. And then the CDC complains they can't fill 70% of their job positions.

Back in the 1990's, companies used to hire people that had the right temperament, values that aligned with the motto of a company and other random traits and they paid the employee cash to get a Masters Degree or any other training needed for the job. Graduate School was still reasonably affordable and companies seemed to want to retain talent. After 2009 when fresh & unemployed college grads were a dime a dozen, companies went to the opposite end and became so picky that they can't locate ridiculously over qualified employees.

Associating a lot of these issues as a fantasy author, I have noticed that there is a current of people complaining that there aren't a lot of minority authors or whatever the hell that means. As a reader, I don't care about the skin color or sex of the author, I care about the book. But that's just my personal biased opinion.

As a hispanic, part of the reason why there are so few hispanic fantasy authors is either because most of them write in Spanish therefore limiting themselves to a smaller audience that can read the language or live in countries where people don't read books at all. I have already written a post a year ago regarding a library that was opened in Toluca which features some amusing photos of Mexico's desperate plea to convince parents to read a book to their children. They make it seem like reading books was a chore.

I still can't recover from the shock that Chileans read so many books and that Santiago's subway has a book sharing service in a lot of stations.

Should I open a support group for hispanic fantasy authors to band together and prove to readers we are here too and love to write as a hobby and a living?

It would be fun indeed. Sadly I work more than 100 hours a week for the time being and can't put the time & effort for now.

Would Google hire someone like me? I seriously doubt it. Instead of offering on the job training they want people fresh out of school with their pricey Master's Degree literally cutting themselves out of hiring a potentially amazing employee that could offer suggestions to improve their products.

Does Google even know how to make minorities feel welcome? I doubt it as well. If they want to attract more people like me, just watch Saint Seiya. We love that anime. One of the funniest experiences I had in Bolivia was chatting with locals which unanimously loved that anime along with Dragon Ball Z. The continent is huge and we're all a bit different, but it's cool to know we have some things that unite us.

Text by Nancy Foster. AI training or unauthorized reproduction forbidden.

Anime review - Earth Girl Arjuna

My blog isn't focused on reviews per se, but if you have bothered to look at some of my posts you'll notice I have written a few rants here and there to curb my boredom.

Today I felt like reviewing an anime that is over 10 years old known as Earth Girl Arjuna. Why would I bother to review a somewhat unknown anime that is this old?

Because I hated it.

At first sight this anime seemed really awesome. An anime that fully learned how to combine digital animation without a plastic feel that plagued a lot of tv series of that time, even for today's standards (that have been crudely dumbed down for crappy third rate animation), the animation is great.

This is one of the huge draws of this show and in that sense Arjuna showed a lot of promise.

The problem arises with everything else.

Juna is some ordinary school girl that is chosen to become a warrior that fights for Mother Earth that is being plagued by the contamination brought by humans. When she fully transformed into her Earth warrior self, she even reminds me a bit of a mixture between an elf and Captain Planet!

Yes, I grew up during the 80's and saw that idiotic tv show on Saturday mornings.

I totally dig the ordinary girl becomes a heroine for the preservation of Earth. The Princess Mononoke is my favorite Hayao Miyazaki film which shows how to tactfully deal with the struggle between humans damaging their planet to survive and the mythical godly beasts that are affected by them.

The problem is that instead of making Arjuna a really cool show with a coherent plot or any purpose, it goes in a direction that is both a mixture between ridiculiusly preachy and with no real solution. Ever since Juna has been touched by this mythical power against her will, she can feel the agony of animals dying and pesticides everytime she eats something. You'd think she'd die of starvation because she never eats anything. I always found that to be super annoying with the show.

I like her relationship with Chris, a crippled psychic boy that wants to help her fulfill her mission. The relationship is rather interesting and dynamic, mostly because Juna is a lot older than him.

One thing that strikes me about Chriss is that he bloats that he is so awesome because his mom decided it would be a cool idea to give birth to him in the ocean. Now, I'm a physician and know that a lot of women crave water births because they feel it's more natural. The debate as to whether children born in a tub do better is still open, but many Ob/Gyns believe the risk of infection and drowning overcome the benefits. Still, the few private hospitals in Mexico that offer this special kind of birth sure like to charge a ridiculously huge pricetag for it.

At the end, Juna never really accomplishes anything in the short series and Earth remains the way it is without her. Quite frankly, if you want to watch a far better series about people with supernatural powers fighting to kill humanity in order to save Earth, you should be watching CLAMP's X instead.

Text by Nancy Foster. AI training or unauthorized reproduction forbidden.

Is Froylan friend or foe?

Just a short post. A super fan of my book series has commented to me recently that he has decided that the series's main antagonist Lord Froylan is now his 3rd favorite character which he oddly enough tied with Spaulding.

He used to hate him with a passion because of his nastiness, cruelty and sadism and yet his opinion of Froylan changed dramatically as he read the third novel Exile. While there hasn't been a considerable amount of people that have read up to the third novel, several people have commented that after reading the first novel, they absolutely despise Froylan and probably have no idea why I love writing him so much.

Forced to become a guard almost 2000 years ago against his will after being captured for multiple heinious crimes, Froylan initially detested his new life as an Äimite guard and that he had to obey his superiors and king. He wished to burn Salman into pieces with all of his soul, but over time, something changed in him.

Perhaps he started to find a common goal when he discovered that Salman is as cruel as himself or perhaps he enjoyed his newlyfound social position as a newly minted nobleelf that was both feared and respected by the populace. A talented fire mage and swordsman from the start, it probably didn't take him very long to move up the ranks and become promoted as a captain.

Not much is known about his initial life as a guard because it happened such a long time ago or the reason why he likes to wear his characteristic short black cape, but we do know that he asked the previous commander of the guard Lord Ferhyr about the veracity of some rumors regarding how Salman's father King Faisah died. Salman eventually promoted him to a highly coveted Senior guard position several centuries before the beginning of the series and he was one of the two guards that permanently maimed Lord Jamarnid 800 years ago.

While he will always be vicious, cruel, sadistic and a pathological liar, we start to see a change of heart in him in the third novel. As he ponders with himself about conflicting feelings of being forced to serve Spaulding who he always detested, he starts to show a softer side in the initial hopes that he could start to gain Spaulding's favor. Perhaps his initial kindness was a ruse, but it starts to seem like he has genuine feelings of appreciation for Spaulding over the following novels.

The finale of the 6th novel Quandary has a pivotal scene where he seems to have shown what his true side is much to Spaulding's astonishment. He continues to play a huge role in the unfinished Harlequins novel and I'm certain that if you give the sequel novels a chance, you'll find him to be a most versatile and fascinating character to read.

Text by Nancy Foster. AI training or unauthorized reproduction forbidden.