Sen took one brief moment to cycle water qi and drag enough moisture out of the air to douse the still-burning hair of the bisected ape. Then, he was running. He found Falling Leaf almost thirty feet away, half-buried beneath a pile of leaves, grass, moss, and sticks. He could see where she lande...
2023-05-11 06:53:32 +0000 UTC View PostAs one day dragged into two, two into four, and four into eight, Sen found a kind of unpleasant routine. He’d sleep for a few hours at night while Falling Leaf guarded him. Then, he’d cultivate while she slept. After that, they’d walk. He did his best to avoid fights when he could. The old ...
2023-05-10 10:46:41 +0000 UTC View PostSen stared up at the forest canopy and just ignored the smoldering corpse of the giant hawk next to him. He was tired. He was hurt. Plus, he’d have to keep traveling, despite the fact that night was all but on top of him. Sen reasoned that he’d earned at least two minutes of just staring up a...
2023-05-10 08:41:20 +0000 UTC View PostTo my immense relief, Annie decided to take on pass on those kinds of heavy conversational topics after that. I’m not opposed to discussing complicated issues, but it’s not the kind of thing you want before you’re about to do something dangerous. Fortunately, she segued into things that did...
2023-05-10 02:51:34 +0000 UTC View PostSen was still staring at the goat and trying to figure out what he should do next when Falling Leaf bounded into the clearing. She skidded to a stop when she saw him and then hurried over. She looked him up and down with the most intense look in her eyes that he’d ever seen. Once she seemed sat...
2023-05-09 11:56:42 +0000 UTC View PostThe reality of what was in front of him didn’t really drive home for Sen until he walked out of the gate, considered his options, and started off in an eastern direction. Until then, there had been a haze of unreality about the whole idea. That haze of unreality hadn’t been helped by the sudd...
2023-05-09 09:21:48 +0000 UTC View PostSen was only allowed to nap for a couple of hours before Uncle Kho came to retrieve him. Sen was relieved to discover it was primarily to make sure he got something to eat. On the bright side, Sen finally understood why Uncle Kho had said that his wife was the real cook in the family. There were ...
2023-05-08 16:49:00 +0000 UTC View PostSen gave her a nod and put some distance between them. He thought for a moment before he looked at her.
“When you’re ready.”
Ma Caihong gestured to him. Sen never would have considered attacking her unprovoked. He knew full well that she could crush him like an insect. On the ot...
2023-05-08 11:11:20 +0000 UTC View PostMa Caihong stared at Sen with a slightly stunned expression. It was like she either didn’t know what to say or couldn’t believe that he had spoken those words aloud. The stare persisted until Sen started to fidget.
“I don’t mean to be troublesome,” he said. “I just don’t know ...
2023-05-08 08:00:26 +0000 UTC View PostSen froze in place. He had learned a lot about how to behave properly over the last few years. Yet, here he discovered a gaping hole in that education. He felt confident that there was a proper response to Ma Caihong’s words. He just didn’t know them. He did know that staring at her ...
2023-05-08 00:15:26 +0000 UTC View PostWatching Master Feng have the same argument with two different people felt a little bit like a strange dream to Sen. It was made even stranger because the two people had such different motives. Sen knew that Uncle Kho objected because the old cultivator was actually fond of him. Ma Caihong had ob...
2023-05-08 00:14:09 +0000 UTC View PostSen was both fascinated and a little shocked by the display before him. Uncle Kho was shouting at Master Feng. He had never so much as heard Uncle Kho raise his voice, let alone descend into full-throated shouting. Yet, there it was. The kindly old cultivator who patiently taught Sen to read, who...
2023-05-05 09:01:42 +0000 UTC View PostSen stared at Master Feng’s back as the old cultivator walked a short distance away. He had heard Master Feng and Uncle Kho mention killing intent in passing more than once, but never in a way that roused Sen’s curiosity enough to ask. Now, he was regretting that lack of curiosity. On the one...
2023-05-04 13:05:55 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's Note: Okay, so looking at feedback the last six or seven chapters got elsewhere, I've got some structural problems there to work out. That's ultimately a problem for when I'm editing a finished manuscript of the completed book. On a more general note, though, I ...
2023-05-03 12:25:42 +0000 UTC View PostIt didn’t take too long to load everyone and everything up. Bill and I always had go bags ready in our vehicles. Jessie didn’t have anything except what came with her from Denver. Plus, we were headed to her place anyway, so there wasn’t much point in getting her more stuff. All Annie had w...
2023-05-03 06:49:54 +0000 UTC View PostWell, it's arriving a little late courtesy of a power outage earlier today, but you know what they say. It's Monday somewhere.
***
Sen watched a startling array of emotions cross Master Feng’s face. He saw disbelief, confusion, a moment of anger, realization, and some guilt. A...
2023-05-02 08:08:48 +0000 UTC View Post
There should be new, patron-exclusive chapters up later today. I started going one way with the new material for Unintended Cultivator, then I rethought the direction it was headed. While that's not usually a crisis, it delayed the new material this time. Keep your eyes peeled.
2023-05-01 17:11:28 +0000 UTC View PostOn the whole, Sen usually liked the spring season. When he’d spent most of his time scurrying from alley to alley, spring meant a release from the cold of winter. It meant months and months without the constant fear that he might freeze to death. It also meant that new kinds of food would start...
2023-05-01 02:19:13 +0000 UTC View Post“Uncle Kho, is there a reason you picked this scroll?”
Sen stared down at the partially unrolled scroll, not quite sure why it was in his hands. The scroll was covered with a combination of pictures and text. The pictures were of plants. The text described a variety of things about the ...
2023-04-30 08:11:25 +0000 UTC View PostWhile that question plagued Sen, his life took on a new routine. In the morning, he would get up, practice what he already knew, and go for a run. From time to time, he and Uncle Kho would discuss the new scroll that Sen was reading. The new scroll was a lot less interesting than the first scroll...
2023-04-30 06:12:40 +0000 UTC View PostI've been thinking ahead about Unintended Cultivator. There is a LOT of room for this story to grow and expand over time. At present, I have ideas for at least three books worth of material. Maybe more. So, I've attached the cover I settled on for Vol. 1, and tentative covers for volumes 2 and 3....
2023-04-30 01:23:35 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Sen went inside to have a meal, he found both Master Feng and Uncle Kho inside. He narrowed his eyes at the two. There was something about the way the two men carried themselves that made Sen feel like they had been waiting for him. Despite the feeling he couldn’t shake, the three shared a...
2023-04-29 07:06:47 +0000 UTC View PostSen had the feeling that his days of general rest were just about over. He still grew tired more easily than he’d like, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been. For those first two days, everything felt like an effort. After his conversation with Uncle Kho kept, he kept wondering about the outsid...
2023-04-28 22:31:33 +0000 UTC View PostIt turned out that I was mostly superfluous for that phase of things. Bill and Jessie were still making phone calls. They’d apparently run into a lot of unanswered calls. I was a little skeptical about that, at first. Chalk it up to my age. I’m part of that generation that grew up with smartp...
2023-04-28 03:05:11 +0000 UTC View PostWhile the second pill the old men provided did a lot to restore him, Sen still felt fatigued for several days after what he thought of as the filth purge. While the effects hadn’t been nearly so awful on the second pass, he found himself wondering where all that filth had come from. Most of wha...
2023-04-27 21:18:56 +0000 UTC View PostWith that first cleansing pill, Sen hadn’t known what to expect from it. This time, he wouldn’t get caught unawares. He lay down on the floor. There was no blanket, but he realized he didn’t need one. He was inside where it was warm, not outside in the cold night air. He took deep breaths t...
2023-04-27 13:55:32 +0000 UTC View PostThere was a long moment of silence before Feng answered.
“Indeed. Well done, Sen.”
Sen let his arm drop. The weight of uncertainty lifted from his shoulders. Master Feng was sparing with praise, so it struck home ever more deeply when he offered it. A moment of elation washed thro...
2023-04-27 13:39:35 +0000 UTC View PostSen made his way into the kitchen and was surprised to find it empty. Either Master Feng or Uncle Kho was usually up before him. Still, on those occasions when Sen found himself the first to rise, he knew it was up to him to start breakfast. He stoked a fire in the stove, which added a pleasant w...
2023-04-27 13:37:12 +0000 UTC View PostI did my best not to think too hard on the way back to Gran’s. It’s all too easy to find yourself in a doom spiral when you know something dangerous is ahead of you. You start second-guessing everything. You see every worst-case scenario coming true. That kind of thinking becomes positively l...
2023-04-26 02:55:43 +0000 UTC View PostLunch was a quiet affair. Uncle Kho was busy studying a scroll that had captured his full attention. He’d only stop reading to idly put some food in his mouth every once in a while. Feng was utterly concentrated on the meal. He seemed to make a point of thoroughly chewing every bite before swal...
2023-04-25 15:25:13 +0000 UTC View Post