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A new free short story from fantasist Charles de Lint, a tale of Newford.
Mar. 5th, 2026 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alfreda89ICE cane to Newford, that magical boundary where faerie and humankind can meet.
Big mistake.
https://www.charlesdelint.com/IceOut.html
Onward--Journey of a Novel, Part One
Mar. 5th, 2026 12:08 pmjreynoldswardSo here I am again, pulling out notes and past writings and assorted research materials, organizing my thoughts and thinking about worldbuilding.
Guess that didn’t take long. It’s been just over a week since Vision of Alliance’s launch spluttered and crashed, in spite of me doing advance work that included an absolutely marvelous blurb from a writer and friend whose work I respect. Just under a week since I decided that nope, I’m not going to continue with drafting the Goddess’s Vision trilogy, even though I have a somewhat solid outline and 15,000-some words into the second book.
Sometimes the Universe needs to clobber me with a clue-by-four. Let’s just say that this trilogy has been a real struggle for me and…well…someday I might pick it back up. Or not. I’m not going to let it suck 2026 down the drain, though. Major relief washed over me when I made that decision, which tells me that it was the right choice to make.
Meanwhile. I’ve been poking at the concept of a SFF/Western crossover for some years now. A big chunk of the Martinieres was about letting me play in that world in a more contemporary/near future setting. However, I’ve been wanting to do more with alternate histories and how could things have gone differently and perhaps better with regard to European expansion into the Pacific Northwest.
The history of the region where I grew up is deep in my heritage, at least as far as such things go. My mother’s family was among the early Oregon settlers but, unlike the ancestors of a number of other settler descendants I’ve known over the years, they didn’t seem to aspire to fame or notoriety, even at a local, “old family,” level. I like to joke that they deliberately sought out obscurity. There are several family stories claiming good relationships with the Modoc and Klamath peoples—all fairly obscure connections, of course. Hard to say what the truth of it is, and I’m really not in a good position to prove it one way or the other.
However, I find myself wanting to tell stories in the nineteenth century Oregon Country setting. I suppose it’s something vaguely similar to what John Steinbeck was trying to do with East of Eden (to be honest, I had a high school teacher get me hooked on Steinbeck so he’s been an influence on me for a long time). I’m not as ambitious as Steinbeck, though he has inspired my desire to write about the country where I’ve lived. The land is a living, vibrant character of its own in Steinbeck’s Salinas novels. I’ve found myself drawn to Pacific Northwest writers who evoke that same deep love and knowledge of the land, both realistic and fantastic alike. Ivan Doig. Molly Gloss. Ken Kesey. Mary Emerick. H. L. Davis. A host of others, and…the queen of them all, Ursula K. Le Guin.
My perspective on writing in this land and this setting isn’t about historical realism. There’s lots of that about. Nor am I particularly interested in writing a historical romance. Science fiction and fantasy is the world I like to play in when I’m writing, and…I had several ideas on tap whispering that it was their turn to come out and play.
These ideas don’t slot nicely into categories of “Weird West,” “alternate history,” or “steampunk.” Oh, there are elements of all three categories in the two major ideas I have but the notions don’t fit into any one of them. As a result, I’m calling it all “neoWestern fantasy.” The story I’ve picked to work on is set in the world of my Bearing Witness novella, with something malevolent attacking the multiverse at roughly the same time and place in each universe’s history, around the mid-nineteenth century in North America, and the characters are rallying to protect the multiverse’s last refuge, Kalosin, against the baddies. Time travel gets involved because the baddies want to homogenize all the universes in their image, and they are from the far future. One of the characters is a nineteenth century person abducted from her world at a very young age and conditioned to be a time cop for the baddies due to her skill with languages. Then…she finds out the truth and flees to Kalosin.
Sounds more complicated than it really is, but I’m still building that world. There’s going to be a lot there because I may end up fleshing out some short stories to get a deeper understanding of this particular world. Lots of backstory present, and some of it may well appear in different books. I have a loose idea of what the story is going to be—but where I start it will be what needs to emerge as I rough out my plans and research over the next month. I may start at the beginning…or not.
In any case, off I go on another worldbuilding adventure. We’ll see where it takes me. I’m planning to share the journey of this novel on an irregular basis, but hoping to shoot for weekly updates. At the moment, it has the working title of Vortex Worlds. But whether that becomes a book title or a series title…remains to be seen.
(Will the Martinieres sneak into this series, given that it’s a multiverse and by all logic they’d be part of it? Probably not. Oh, Etienne might make a cameo appearance but the Vortex is not the same thing at all.)
Anyway, right now I’m promoting a bundle on Itch that features several of my women characters with agency. If you haven’t read my work before, it’s a good introduction to several of my series. $18.90 for ten books, or 50% off of individual books. Check it out!
https://itch.io/s/181380/joyces-womens-history-month-special-sampler
#13 The Lost Daughter of Sparta by Felicia Day, Rowan MacColl (Illustrator)
Mar. 4th, 2026 10:53 ammissingvolumeThis black, white and red graphic novel is a story of an unloved princess born with a birthmark on her face and sent away to be raised by herders until they need her to marry for a political alliance. Philonoe is only mentioned in one known text so this is a idea of how she avoided the curse that was placed on her family and her sisters in particular. There are gods and monsters both involved in this tale and as usual in most myths the gods use mortals as pawns for any slights they feel.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
Is the Collection Worth It?
Mar. 2nd, 2026 11:36 amstevenpiziksPeriodic Sunday Book summaries--#4
Mar. 1st, 2026 06:14 pmjreynoldswardSunday book summaries are my casual log of what I’ve been reading this week. These are not formal reviews. They’re more my reactions and musings as taken from my journal when I complete the reading, and at times will contain notes about how they influence my thoughts on what I’m writing.
This one has a couple of weeks’ worth of reading, so again…”periodic.”
Here we go again. Part of March once again looks like it is going to be hectic, so…I may be writing these summaries every couple of weeks or so. Nonetheless, reading is happening.
Starting off with a book I forgot to add to my notes—Megan Kate Nelson’s Saving Yellowstone. While it had some interesting pieces to it about Yellowstone’s history, parts of that history have come close enough to research I’ve done for a book that I spotted areas where things either got glossed over or not discussed. Unfortunate. I suppose that reflects the reality that much of this history isn’t new to me because I’ve been to Yellowstone and read some of its history. I much preferred her The Three-Cornered War, probably in part because it isn’t an area where I’ve done a bit of reading.
The other nonfiction I’ve read recently is Hetta Howes’s Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife. I—somewhat liked this book comparing the lives of four medieval woman—Marie de France, Julian of Norwich, Christine de Pizan, and Margery Kempe. The history and background of what each woman’s everyday life would have looked like is excellent. However. Then Howes tried to sum it up and make this history relevant to modern feminism and…that did not work so well. I’m still not sure why.
I’m off right now on an author reading binge, spurred by a Libby notice about a new book featuring Alexander McCall Smith (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series). As it turns out, Smith wrote a prologue for D. E. Stevenson’s loosely-woven trilogy set in England and Scotland, originally published after World War II and referring to issues from that era. After reading Vittoria Cottage, I was sufficiently enthralled to read the other two books, Music in the Hills and Winter and Rough Weather.
These books are—well, in this era I guess one would call them a cozy read. They’re kinda sorta romance, in that relationships happen during the course of the books, but they aren’t Romance in the typical plot. Additionally, there’s a wee bit too much coincidence involving some secondary characters and their connections. But they’re a pleasant read. Smith sums up Stevenson’s work as “easy, in the sense that they are clearly written, tell an intelligible tale, and do not seek to impress the reader.”
I’d concur with that assessment.
But they’re a nice comfort read right now. Stevenson—Dorothy Emily Stevenson—was related to Robert Louis Stevenson and wrote a book a year for many years. These three books can be read as standalones, but there’s a clear progress. Vittoria Cottage chronicles the life of a new widow of a rather challenging man—not physically abusive but definitely psychologically abusive, and who busily kept isolating those he loved from others. Music in the Hills and Winter and Rough Weather chronicle their son’s exploration of possibly becoming the heir to a relative’s large farm, as well as his romantic endeavors, culminating in his marriage to the love of his life and their early times together. But other romances happen in these last two books which—to some degree adds up with the coincidence overload. A lost family then found, and the uniting of two couples who care for each other but kept finding obstacles to being together are just rather too tightly twined together, depending on the aftereffects of the bombing of Glasgow during World War II. On the other hand, even though I saw these events coming from a long way off, I still didn’t mind being able to figure out the connections.
However, one piece of characterization I really, really liked was that of Mamie Johnstone. Mamie considers herself to be dull, boring, and not as smart as her sisters. But as the stories progress, we see that Mamie is an excellent observer of behavior and draws reasonably accurate conclusions about what she sees. I loved this study of the interior life of a quiet, retiring woman who is smarter than she gives herself credit for being. Stevenson pulled off a portrayal that works for me, and it’s the sort of character that can be quite difficult to do well, without falling into cliché.
So I’m moving on to other Stevenson books, and have Listening Valley up next.
When I was sorting and reshelving books a couple of weeks ago, I found one of my favorite Terry Pratchett Discworld books, Men at Arms. It’s an excellent book overall, but one of the things that make it stand out (not just the famous boot discussion from Vimes) is the deconstruction of the Chosen One trope. Captain Carrot is a descendant of the kings of Ankh-Morpork…and he’s not at all interested in stepping up to that role. Some might say that Carrot doesn’t know about his ancestry, but I definitely think he does.
This is also the book where we start seeing other species appearing in the Night Watch, including one of my favorites, Angua, the werewolf. Always a nice read.
Years ago, I had an obsession with the Inklings and tried to branch out from Tolkien and Lewis to read Charles Williams. I read most of Williams’s work, and found parts of it confusing. Well, I revisited The Greater Trumps, and…I’m just not into that sort of mystical stream-of-consciousness work anymore, if in fact I really was into it in the first place. It went on the “discard” pile. I still have a couple other Williams books, so I might give them a try once more.
Because I’m contemplating working on a multiverse/time travel book, I picked up Fritz Leiber’s The Big Time. Weeell, the Suck Fairy didn’t hit this one too badly, all things considered, but…there were several threads that could have been used to expand the story a bit. Stereotypical characters, and I can’t help but think that a later short story set in the Spiders vs Snakes time war was much better, overall. Now I’ve gotta go dig that one out of the collection. In any case, this book is very much a product of its era.
That’s pretty much it. Besides the Stevenson, I am reading Stephanie Burgis’s Enchanting the Fae Queen. We’ll see how that one goes.
If you like what you’ve read, please feel free to check out my books on my website at https://www.joycereynolds-ward.com or drop a tip at my Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joycereynoldsward
Seems like a good night for a little lost owl.
Feb. 28th, 2026 06:57 pmalfreda89https://apnews.com/article/owl-sleeping-antique-store-new-york-oddities-b5d1c494d0369fb0e3c5051b835fb3b2
Doing what I said I'd never do as an indie....
Feb. 28th, 2026 11:00 amjreynoldswardVision of Alliance is doing incredibly bad in its first week of sales. Like horrifically, AWFULLY bad. This is an epic fantasy with a young empress trying to fix the messes left by her predecessors, and with a disabled but still powerful protagonist.
This is in spite of getting a MARVELOUS promotional quote from Alma Alexander, who LOVED the book.
In spite of dozens of people saying "Oh yeah! I'll read that!"
In spite of advance promotion and significant effort on my part. It doesn't help that Barnes and Noble, my biggest vendor, is still processing the book after eight days. EIGHT DAYS.
I don't want advice or excuses for what's happening. At this point, given the struggles I've had to make Goddess's Vision work as a trilogy, I'm done. Cooked. Stick a fork in me, I should be well-done. This trilogy is obviously broken. So rather than throw away the rest of 2026 on writing something that the market clearly doesn't want, or giving away multiple copies that no one will read in hopes that will create a buzz, I'm moving on.
Given current events, and the US administration's apparent desire to replicate elements of the Netwalk Sequence series, I'm going to promote those books. The technology is much better these days, so I'm going to redo two novellas from the first Netwalk book, Life in the Shadows, in illustrated form. I thought it was a good idea ten years ago, and...well, tech is better these days, plus I have better pictures.
I might even write a few new stories in that world. Who knows?
Meanwhile, it seems that my brain wants to play with a Western/SFF crossover set in the Pacific Northwest during the 19th century. Which...has its own issues. But there's also a multiverse version, an extension of my Bearing Witness novella that features time and multiverse travel, that's kinda poking at me as well.
Maybe it's time to find out more about Kalosin, again.
Magical Horses in the world of Vision of Alliance
Feb. 27th, 2026 07:16 pmjreynoldswardPart of this has to do with a certain—how should I put it?—mythology about horses that gets perpetuated in popular media, with multiple facets. One element says that horses are wise. A source for human emotional healing. All-knowing. Perfectly behaved.
(I can visualize Marker and his herd issuing a massive horse laugh at that last one, with Mocha chiming in from beyond the horizon.)
Sure, horses can have a very positive effect on troubled people. There’s nothing particularly mystical about this—despite what Hollywood would have you think, horses’ primary communication mode is not endless whinnying but rather very subtle non-verbal conversations. Body language. Scent. Touch. Hearing. Additionally, no matter what gender they are, some horses have a very nurturing side and will “mother up” easily with a person or other animal in distress. Ask me about Mocha and her elk baby sometime. Or the case of a tough gelding who, nonetheless, ended up being a babysitter to several weanlings at the ranch last fall for a short period.
Of course there’s the flip side of the mythology, where horses are essentially animated motorcycles, with no need for attention and care and can gallop on forever. Equally problematic.
Then there’s the Black Stallion trope. Oh lordy, the Black Stallion trope. The untamable, wild stallion (why is it always a stallion???), either black or pinto or palomino, who nonetheless is soothed and tamed by The Right Person and no one else. Granted, some of us are good at making one-person horses (um, yeah, well, I kinda have this history), and this particular trope does have some roots in reality—those of us with family who used to work with farm horses can come up with a few of those examples, as can any number of trainers working with high-level performance horses. But a real-life one-person horse is not like the Black Stallion. Other people can handle that horse but that horse’s best performance and best behavior will always be for their one particular person.
The thing that gets me the most about most fantasy depictions of horses, magical or otherwise, is the lack of humor and playfulness. That’s a huge omission for me because so many of the horses I’ve dealt with in my life have been practical jokers and/or playful. The equine sense of humor is roughly equivalent to that of an eleven-year-old human boy—crude, somewhat rude at times, and depending heavily on pratfalls. My old Sparkle mare was quite fond of getting a big mouthful of water and dribbling it on me, and delighted in those moments when she caught me out (I was usually careful to stand clear of her). Or a young horse will pick something up and chase pasturemates with it—and the scarier the item is to the other horses, the more fun it is. Marker likes to play with the grooming caddy, and there’s a mischievous twinkle in his eye when he does it. At my old barn, there were several horses whose idea of fun was to escape their stalls, then go up and down the stable alleyway turning on water faucets. They will tease each other until play fighting and/or a rousing session of herd galloping breaks out. I’ve known several horses who liked having their tongue played with—they would stick it out, wait for the human to gently tug at it, then roll their tongue around before sticking it out for another round. My old mare Mocha, when on stall confinement for an injury, managed to pull her grain bucket out of the wall and put her salt block in it.
Anyway. Enough ranting, let’s talk about daranvelii (plural, daranval for singular), aka my magical horses. They’re a particular breed of magic-gifted horse with the ability to augment human magic. They also have a floating fast gallop that is not only smoother than that of a regular horse but faster than most. Their lifespan is generally thirty to forty years, unless injured or ill.
The daranvelii stronger in magic are also capable of mindspeech with humans, which can range in complexity from simple images to full language usage. Of course, since this is telepathic, the question of whether the daranval in question is actually speaking a human language or if the mechanics of telepathy handwave the difference is…I’m coming down on the side that the meaning is what is conveyed and that it is not the daranval speaking in human language.
Daranvelii have the Court of Stallions (which includes geldings) and the Gathering of Mares. Humans don’t know much about what happens in the Court or the Gathering because daranvelii keep this private. What is known is that daranvelii rank each other not only in their individual herds in the usual manner of horse herd hierarchies, but for all daranvelii on a continent, based on magical skill. The higher-ranked daranvelii may speak to each other across further distances than they can speak to their bonded humans, and may frequently advise each other about significant magical happenings in a nation. Humans bonded to a particular daranval may feel a faint buzzing sensation in their head when their daranval is engaged in private communication with another daranval.
Generally, daranvelii bond to one person. Doesn’t mean that others can’t handle them, just that this is the person with whom they work magic. For example, Katerin ea Miteal uses her daranvelii in her capacity as a Healer, where she asks them to “sniff, look, tell” about aches, fevers, and injuries. She has had three daranvelii, two of whom we see in the Goddess’s Honor series. Heinmyets has had one daranval, Elantai, famous for his speed and magical strength. While human and daranval may casually mindspeak—Katerin’s daranval Mira was infamous for her visualization of buffalo dung covering anything and anyone who offended her—major magical workings involve a direct connection between them and a recitation of their combined names—Humananddaranval from the human; Daranvalandhuman from the daranval. That particular spellcasting cements the melding of the two minds. The human directs the spell; the daranval provides magical strength and support.
Age of daranval bonding varies. In some cases, a daranval may be fully mature before they bond with a human. In others, such as Witmara and her daranval Daro, they bond around the time that the daranval is weaned from their dam. Most of the time daranvelii choose their partners. It is rare for a daranval presented as a gift to choose the human they were given to; in those situations it is usually the circumstance that the daranval has come to maturity and rejected other possible bondmates. This was the case with Alicira and her daranval Narasin, featured in the Goddess’s Honor series.
The death of either bondmate is traumatizing to the surviving partner above and beyond typical mourning, because it is a severance of a magical connection. In some cases surviving daranvelii and humans have been known to engage in self-destructive behaviors until they either die or form a new bond with another partner.
And yes, daranvelii have a sense of humor and playfulness. Mira with her visualizations of buffalo dung. Multiple human bondmates have reported the sensation that their daranval is laughing at them, especially if there’s a group of daranvelii—apparently daranvelii like to gossip as much as people do. The daranval featured in Vision of Alliance, Nameless, is a known trickster who plays pranks on his herdmates and the humans who care for him. He will let himself out of whatever stall or pen he is in and go where he pleases, and he’ll tease other daranvelii and horses into a chase game. Despite his disabilities, he can still dodge and turn more quickly than many other equines.
I could go on…but check out the books! The first book of Goddess’s Vision, Vision of Alliance, is currently available through all major retailers. Find your preferred retailer at the book landing site on my website: https://joycereynolds-ward.com/books/vision-of-alliance/ef7ac7a1-fb6b-4a6b-8c5a-203b9915fda6
Gods in the world of Vision of Alliance
Feb. 26th, 2026 05:08 pmjreynoldswardHow each God or Goddess is worshiped varies from land to land, but several factors remain the same. There are always Seven. The Seven have acolytes whose titles and roles may differ from God-to-God and land-to-land. While reincarnation is accepted as reality in some of the lands of the Seven Crowned Gods, it is not a universal constant. For example, the only nations of Varen that accept reincarnation are Saubral and Keratil. Conversely, reincarnation—at least a partial form of reincarnation, where elements of a person’s essence may be reborn—is held to be true in Daran and its subject nations.
The Gods will often elevate trusted deceased followers to be their Voices and Messengers to the living. This role does not go on for eternity but for an unspecified period of time—frequently, a Voice or Messenger retains their role as long as one or two generations of the living, then they move on to an unspecified fate. Some Voices or Messengers may reincarnate as Guardians of places that hold particular magical significance and become ageless and enduring, living long beyond a typical human lifespan—for example, Imnari of Wickmasa, who protects that particular Gods-haunted village in the Varenese nation of Keldara. This tends to happen most often in the nations of Varen and in the nation of Ternar amongst the subject states of Daran. Nenanim of Waykemin, though made temporarily mindless as a kendar minost—an expedient one—by the Witches of Waykemin, may be another example.
Gods can be deposed if they choose to work against their siblings or exploit their human followers. It is rare that this happens, and is usually tied to a human sorcerer’s attempt to make themselves a God. The most recent examples are the Outcast God, who sought to elevate himself above all other Gods as the only God to be worshiped, and the Goddess Nitel, the Outcast God’s former consort, who tried to do the same in the name of her strongest follower, Chatain, Emperor of Daran. Chatain was not the only human ruler who sought Nitel’s patronage in an attempt to elevate themselves to the divine. An unnamed sorcerer in Waykemin tried to do the same thing, leading to Terani-the-God-Killer banishing Nitel’s divine presence from Waykemin. Zauril en Ralsem had the same ambition, leading the Darani Emperor Dunaran to distract Zauril by sending him to Varen with the goal of expanding Darani colonies there. When Zauril’s efforts failed, he attempted to force the issue by forcing himself on the heir to the land of Medvara, Alicira, hoping to create a sorcerer sufficiently powerful to ascend to Godhood and perhaps also elevate him as well.
Zauril failed, but his daughter Rekaré succeeded—in part due to her sacrifice to ensure that Witmara ea Miteal became the Empress of Daran.
The current makeup of the Seven Crowned Gods and the months named after them are as follows:
Artel the Judge. Head of the Seven Crowned Gods, he is often the patron of those in authority. To him falls the honor of the first month of the year after Winter Solstice, Artel’s Judgment. His anointed acolytes also frequently serve as those who hear disputes between community members, and bear the special title of shaman. Artel adjudicates specific disputes between the Gods, and his word is law.
Staul the Balancer/Staul the Destroyer—The only God with an acknowledged dual nature, the balance between chaos and order is Staul’s focus. His benign side is acknowledged as the Balancer. However, when destruction and doom become dominant, then the Destroyer side of Staul rides rampant over the lands. A manifestation of the Destroyer is never a good thing. Staul’s acolytes often help ease the dying to make the transition between life and death. They are considered to be priests, and frequently record community events as well as the weather, as part of observing the Balance.
Staul is also the lover of Dovré. Three months bear his name—Staul’s Dream, the month that follows Artel’s Judgment. Springtime two months later is celebrated as the month that Staul and Dovré first became lovers, and is called The Dance of Staul and Dovré. Staul’s last honored month is the first month of autumn, the month of the autumn equinox, and is called Staul’s Shadow to reflect the shortening days as winter approaches.
Dovré the Golden—Patroness of healers and powerful women. Dovré guides those women who are placed in positions of power, and expresses her healing side through her support of healers—this last is best known in the lands of Varen. She is usually considered to be a gentle Goddess, but when her wrath is awakened—watch out! Even Staul will falter in the face of her anger, which can be greater than Artel’s and Staul’s combined.
Two months bear her name—the month following Staul’s Dream, known as Dovré’s Awakening, then the following month that she shares with Staul, the celebration of their romance.
Terat of the Waters—Patroness of all those who travel the waters as well as lakes, springs, seeps, and the sap flowing in the plants of all the lands. She is especially beloved of the Sorcerer-Captains who sail the ocean in the magical sailships. Little is known about the ritual by which a petitioner can become a Sorcerer-Captain, except that it involves much study and a significant apprenticeship before the final ceremony where the candidate either succeeds—or never returns from Terat’s waters. The two months dedicated to Terat are the month following the Dance, Terat’s Tears, named for the rains that hopefully fall within that month, and the month following Staul’s Shadow, Terat’s Awakening, reflecting her ascension as Goddess during the autumn.
Rekaré the Wise/ The Lady of Sorrow—The newest member of the Seven Crowned Gods. Rekaré is the patroness of those who sorrow as well as those who seek wisdom. A powerful sorcerer in life, she abdicated her role as Leader of Medvara when she brought about the name and curse of Kinslayer after killing a close cousin who brought about the deaths of several of Rekaré’s close family. In that role of Kinslayer, Rekaré negotiated the unification of the lands of Varen through earning the loyalty of the Shadowwalkers of Saubral, becoming their benghaalph or prophet, the One Spoken Of.
Rekaré was raised in the Two Nations, Keldara and Clenda. Her mother Alicira was one of the Three Leaders of the Two Nations, part of a threefold bond with Heinmyets of Keldara and Inharise of Clenda. Heinmyets served as her Heartfather, a surrogate for her father Zauril, and Inharise was her Heartmother. Her months are the one containing the Summer Solstice, Rekaré’s Dreaming, and the one after Terat’s Awakening, Rekaré’s Shadow.
Karnoi of War—Twin to Cirdel, son of the Outcast God and the Goddess Nitel. Karnoi thrives in heat and flames, often expressing himself in great thunderstorms that kick off massive wildfires in forested areas. Along with Cirdel, he frequently manifests in the form of a wolf leading a pack that contains their dead acolytes. While Karnoi often feuds with most of the other Gods, his greatest loyalty is to his sister Cirdel. They are often the tools of the other Gods when vengeance is required. His month is the one after the Summer Solstice, Karnoi’s Dance, and he shares the month of Winter Solstice with his sister Cirdel, Karnoi and Cirdel’s Hunt. Their actions seek to bring offenders to Artel’s judgment. Along with Cirdel, the only children of Gods in the Seven Crowned Gods.
Cirdel of Chaos—Twin to Karnoi, daughter of the Outcast God and the Goddess Nitel. Chaotic, whimsical, and above all else unpredictable, Cirdel brings the random judgment of fate upon those who turn their faces away from the Gods. Those who seek chaos also fear overstepping their bounds and bringing about her judgment—in many ways, Cirdel takes after her mother Nitel in her pitiless pursuit of wrongdoers. Her months are Cirdel’s Judgment, the month of high summer after Karnoi’s Dance, and the shared month with Karnoi, Karnoi and Cirdel’s Hunt. Cirdel is often cited as a seducer of those contemplating wrongdoing, and leading them willy-nilly down her chaotic path to destruction. And yet those appearances of hers are frequently false manifestations.
Cirdel on her own is particularly beloved of the Wild Riders and Sorcerers of Daran’s Western Grasslands, because she reflects so much of the chaotic nature of that land.
This is but a brief introduction to the Seven Crowned Gods—or at least, all that they’re willing to share of themselves with me at this time. To discover more, check out the first book of Goddess’s Vision, Vision of Alliance, currently available through all major retailers. Find your preferred retailer at the book landing site on my website: https://joycereynolds-ward.com/books/vision-of-alliance/ef7ac7a1-fb6b-4a6b-8c5a-203b9915fda6
Given the poor response so far to this book, unless I start seeing more interest, I will not be planning to continue working further on this trilogy. I’ll probably pick it up later on but right now, it appears that there’s no particular interest in epic fantasy with a protagonist who has a disability, much less a story about a female Empress struggling with her land’s magic.
Magic in the world of Vision of Alliance
Feb. 25th, 2026 05:07 pmjreynoldswardI’ve always been ambivalent about writing hard and fast magic systems with unbreakable rules. For one thing, from my perspective, that turns magic into science when…magic is intended to be a tricksy, fluttering, elusive thing that sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t. If it’s always predictable, with A + B = C for results, then what’s the magic there? It’s just science using spellcasting or innate powers to achieve a goal. Oh yeah, sure, Fate (aka dice rolls) can change things out a bit but…is that really magic?
In the world of the Seven Crowned Gods, spirits of different lands end up being strongly entwined with hereditary magical abilities. I don’t distinguish between sorcery and magic. All practitioners are called sorcerers. No differentiation between malign and good labels—they’re all sorcerers. And magic isn’t limited to the rich and powerful. The Healers in the lands of Varen all possess a certain degree of magic. Some of the rich and powerful have magic, while others don’t.
What is important for a ruler to have, however, is an actual relationship with the spirit of a particular land. Magic comes from the land. It can be a small gift, such as the ability to infuse clothing with magical protections or create healing potions. Or it can be a large and powerful gift, with the ability to summon up lines of power from the earth to survey the lands of a particular nation. Not all rulers have the big magic, but they need to have some sort of magic to relate to the land. In the nations of Varen, this takes the form of the ability to create a magical Tapestry that aids in their leadership.
Magic also differs between the continent that contain the nations of Varen and the continent that contains Daran and its subject nations. Besides the spirit of the land and the patronage of one of the Seven Crowned Gods, the Varenese have mostly small magics, with the exception of powerful Leaders of the various lands. Until Rekaré ea Miteal became Leader of Medvara, there was very little integration of magic and technology. However, magic is expressed through the magical horses (singular, daranval, plural, daranvelii) from the Two Nations of Keldara and Clenda, as well as the magic-bearing fleeces of the Stardance line of sheep from the nation of Medvara. Some jewelers possess the ability to create necklaces, bracelets, and rings that can be infused with a wearer’s magic.
The Healers of Varen possess much more power than their Darani counterparts. They can work great spells in the creation of healing potions. The more powerful sorcerers end up traveling as village circuit Healers in their youth, depending on their magic to keep them safe. There are substances such as glimmer dust (of varying degrees of purity) that even non-sorcerers can use to work small spells to make boots and clothing more durable. The Varenese also create woven speaking squares that allow people to speak across distances, but the use of speaking squares requires a God’s patronage in order for them to work.
Daran, on the other hand, has multiple powerful sources of magic. Goodwood and darkwood (later renamed angrywood) provide sorcerers with the tools to work spells. Both woods have been used by sorcerers—goodwood provides the foundation for the magical sailships operated by Sorcerer-Captains. Darkwood/angrywood has been used for communicators and listening devices. The Emperors of Daran have become alienated from their land’s magic over many years, which has led to the land expressing its discontent through venomous and toxic plants, along with the mysterious entities that haunt the mountains between the two major continental provinces of Daran, Adalane and Daraelen.
In order for the new Empress Witmara to successfully rule Daran, she has to fix many of the problems left to her by her predecessors—including regaining control of the land’s magic. Not an easy task when the land itself resists human control, due to misuses of that power over the years! Additionally, there has been a curse on Daran from its founding, and it is up to Witmara and her allies to fix that long-standing issue. Which—can have multiple impacts on the lives of Daran’s people.
Daily life in Daran functions through multiple spells, unlike in Varen. Those spells are often coupled with technology, such as the mix of magic and technology that powers Betsona’s wheelchair, as well as the spells encoded within her chair that allow her to open doors and other basic household management functions. Household items can be encoded to either allow someone to listen to conversations, or block conversations. Sorcerers in Daran keep their personal quarters stark, with minimal décor, to avoid being spied upon.
In both continents, the Gods are also the source of a lot of the magic available to humans. Everyone has a particular divine patron but the divine patron is most influential in sorcerers and Leaders, whatever a particular Leader is called or how they reach that status. However, the Gods have limits on what they can do to help their beloveds—and the extent of those limits is not made known to humans. Some restrictions are ordained by Artel the Judge, who in most cases is the Leader of the Gods. Not all restrictions come from Artel, and their source is unknown.
All in all, magic in the world of the Seven Crowned Gods is not limited to hard and fast rules. Some of those rules are unknowable and…perhaps with the exception of Artel, Gods can be deposed. Which is one of the factors in the Goddess’s Vision series.
The first book of Goddess’s Vision, Vision of Alliance, is currently available through all major retailers. Links here:
Books2Read (ebook)
I plan to release Vision of Chaos in late June/early July, and Vision of Order in late October/early November. For more information about the timing of these releases, follow my website at https://www.joycereynolds-ward.com or check out my Substack (Speculations from the Wide Open Spaces, https://joycereynoldsward.substack.com/), or follow me on Bluesky at @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social. Note: please have SOMETHING in your Bluesky account if you follow me. Due to social media weirdness, I tend to block empty accounts with no posts.