Untameable -- Part 1

Read more! Blood oozed from the puncture wounds in Zek’s wrist. Sharp, pearl-like claws squeezed his lower-arm tightly.

Should’ve worn the glove, he thought wincing at the pain. He looked at the Voldon bird balancing on his arm, its wingspan was as wide as he was tall and its memory inconveniently short.
‘Use your feet this time, Thrav. Need my Fezzles alive, so no killing, okay?’ the bird cocked its head and regarded him before ruffling its blue and white wings and staring at the sky in anticipation-- it hadn’t listened, it never listened. Zek sighed stroking the large bird’s feathers.
Thrav had been particularly hard to train, although training any animal out of its natural instinct was tough. Voldons were used by the town’s people as hunting birds, usually to catch fezzles: small animals with a powerful sense of smell. Fezzles were delicious, but the prize was in their nose. Their smelling ability allowed them to find delicacies in the forests such as assorted mushrooms, bulbs and insects used in recipes and medicines.

‘Ready?’ Zek said.
Thrav let out a short, sharp squawk. Zek raised his arm slowly, the bird temporarily blocking the sun from his eyes – he marvelled at how well Thrav camouflaged against the Wynter sky.
Typically a Voldon hunted with the sharp horn that protruded from its forehead, the trick was getting Thrav to capture live prey with its feet.
‘One, Two…’ he lowered his arm, ‘three!’ He used his whole body to thrust the weight of the bird into the air. It screeched hysterically and the gust from its beating wings swept Zek’s dirty hair into his eyes. He brushed the strands away with his fingertips and watched Thrav disappear over the nearby forest – it headed towards the desolate Dastopyan Mountains.

In the distance, the bell from his family’s house chimed twice signalling that he was wanted.

After crossing several paddocks and scaling fences, the smoky chimney appeared through ancient trees. There was movement to the left of the barn and Zek eyed four armoured Arxra. The animals moaned as they slurped at a troph of water. Zek recognised one he’d raised from birth, it was pure black whereas Arxra were usually the colour of dirt. Gold saddle stitching shimmered in the morning Wynter light –the royal guard. Zek cursed under his breath. He hated the highborns.
‘You’re wanted your majesty,’ Zeks younger brother, Reevax, woke him from his ruminating. The boy mocked him by bowing low to the ground. His mother had birthed Reevax three years after Zek and with a different father. Reevax’s jealousy of Zek had consumed him. Zek’s father had been a weather god, the god of Wynter. This meant that Zek was destined to be trained in elemental magic as soon as he reached eighteen -- a distinction that had brought him alienation and misery.
Zek kept his eyes on Reevax as he entered the house, he knew his brother would try to trip him or make a fool out of him in some way. This wounded Zek.
Voices came from inside and Zek recognised one in particular, Captain Harka, a monthly visitor at his parent’s humble home. As Zek entered the guest room Captain Harka leaned back in creaky wooden chair and folded his arms. The mood in the room was dark, tense, Zek’s stomach sunk.

Is it time already? He thought. He’d assumed the Captain would be here on animal business, but he’d been here only last week. It was too soon. Zek’s family trained animals for the royal palace, but the mood of the place had him freaked. He was anxious about that day in his future in which the palace would send for him. The day when he would leave his family forever to become an elementalist.

‘Zek, good to see you again.’ Captain Harka stood putting his palm out, Zek lay his on top hesitantly, the greeting of the highborns -- a mark of royal distinction. Zek swallowed his disgust. He was helpless, halfway between worlds, his mannerisms and appearance were lowborn yet his roots were too famous to be forgotten, the blood that ran through his veins made him a highborn. They’d wanted to move Zek to the palace ages ago, but Zek had raised such a fuss that they let him stay with his family.
He searched the Captain’s eyes for a sign of why he had come, but the Captain looked away and cleared his throat.

‘I see the Bnoks look good and strong this season, we’ll need some more to carry cargo between the towns.’

Bnoks were slow, large animals with a flat shell covering their torso. It made them excellent as transport for people and goods. Of course, only the highborn merchants could afford their massive appetites.
The Captain continued.

‘The Arxra you’ve been supplying the royal palace are better than the ones we’ve been importing from Vonya.’

‘Mologo was my favourite.’ Zek replied.

The Captain smiled in the direction of his mount tied up outside, ‘…yes, he’s a pleasure to ride.’

Arxra were obedient and willing, but were cowards in battle-- Zek had paid special attention to Mologo as he had been destined for the captain. That beast was bang proof.
The conversation seemed to dwindle and the ominous feeling returned to his body. Something was wrong.

‘Zek darling…’ his mother began and stopped as she attended to a familiar squawking noise coming from outside.

It was Thrav returned from his hunt.

The Sultan's Lie (first draft finished)

Read more! So I've finished it, the first draft and I'm really happy with the outcome. The Sultan's Lie still has a long way to go before it's even remotely near publishing quality, but as a story, feedback says it's thoroughly entertaining. I can't wait to start writing the second novel in the series, I'm very excited about it but alas, right now, the 'musts' in life are intruding on my spare time and for now I am thinking instead of writing about the second book's ideas.

I also want to go back through my first novel and re-read the story and confirm that it is everything I want it to be. From there I will start planning the second novel also. But the next three months will be hectic and busy so I may not finish for some time. That's the trouble with writing stories, they take a lot of work and time and life simply doesn't always allow for that time.
But like any writer I am passionate and dedicated, not to mention determined to finish these stories and hopefully, maybe, someone will like them enough to publish them. If not, they will be posted up here for anyone to read.

Kylie

Noumena - Overview of my novel

Read more! This novel was written within two months. I powered through it eagerly, wanting to know what happened next. I didn't plan, and I have paid for that by struggling through my second revision. It's easy to get into the zone of writing and forget to make notes of your plot lines.
For now I'm calling my novel Noumena. The Noumenal world is a second dimension from our current one. Inside this dimension there are spirits. There are only two types of spirits; negative and positive. Even though my novel is about a young adult named Sophie and is based around her character development, the novel context is fundamental to Sophie's experiences as she transitions from a human to an Esper (psychic being).
Novel One (My first ever novel)


Some of the ideas in my novel have been gathered from people like Immanuel Kant and Descartes. Sophie is a university student studying psychology and philosophy, and lives in Australia in a small town. She is twenty, and nearing her twenty-first birthday when she begins to have strange experiences. Most of her experiences are related to psychotic symptoms commonly associated with schizophrenia. She discovers secrets about the universe and realises she's not entirely human.
Noumena is in the second draft phase where I'm pulling the story together and smoothing out the bumps. At first it was sort of clunky, not to mention grammar and spelling issues. I'm half way through the second revision, once that's done I'll post a few snippets up here. For now here's an overview of the chapters.


This is a guideline to the novel only. It's 'descriptive' rather than 'gripping'. This is just an outline of the novel per five chapters.

Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Introduces you to Sophie and her university friends (Will and Lara), at the end of the first chapter Sophie hears a voice in her head that gives her a warning about changes coming up. During this warning she faints, and she is awake in her unconscious mind hearing voices and seeing white lights. This is the start of her symptoms. As you learn more about her, the more symptoms intensify. She begins to experience synesthesia, telepathy, visions, infrared vision, hallucinations and delusions. Her symptoms begins to affect the people around her, including her mother (Agnes) and her father (Rodney). Sophie works in a small bookstore for her Aunty who Lara nicknames 'Mad Melinda' - in reality Melinda is very spiritual and alternative and is Sophie's closest confidant. Sophie discloses to Melinda some of her symptoms and Melinda warns her not to tell anyone. Sophie suspects Melinda knows of something to do with her symptoms, but after sensing Melinda's grief and guilt on the subject doesn't press her about it.

Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

After a couple of days of symptoms, one particular voice in her head begins to stand out against the others. She hears it as an evil voice that lies to her. Sophie begins to terrify those closest too her with fainting, yelling/screaming and with angry outbursts. After fainting for the third time Sophie finds herself in hospital restrained to a bed. She's in a psych ward that she cannot leave - it's guarded. Doctor Hofer is a Russian man who is Sophie's brain specialist. He takes her through various tests and tries her on several different medications. Sophie becomes very negative and sarcastic towards those around her. She threatens Doctor Hofer, slaps a nurse in the face - it's her experiences that prompted me to use first person narration for this book. She begins to dream about other worlds where she meets a man, this man has long blond hair and talks to her about her troubles and the universe. They discuss philosophy. In chapter ten she meets Oliver, another patient of the ward. Oliver is an Esper that has come to help Sophie in her transition from human to Esper, but he has a secret too.

Chapters 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Oliver tells Sophie that she is destined to be an Esper and during the transition is at risk of losing her mind. All her symptoms are a symptom of transitioning to become an Esper, the voices in her mind are caused by positive and negative spirits. Oliver brings her into his noumenal world (a concept of his mind) in her dreams, he explains everything about the universe to her and she begins to realise that she's not crazy. Sophie realises the blonde man from her other dreams is a positive spirit, he's the one who initially warned her of her transition. Despite this, she encounters the negative spirits in the psych ward who're haunting patients and tries to help, but only gets in trouble. Oliver is constantly bailing her out of tricky situations and guiding her. Sophie learns that in order to develop her Esper abilities she must train her mind, she does this through meditation. Sophie's family visits her but doesn't understand, Sophie begins to shut them out of her life because she can't tell them the truth. Not even to Will who has been there for her and is her closest friend.

Chapters 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

Oliver affects Doctor Hofer and manipulates him to let them out to go downstairs to the cafeteria. Sophie continues to develop her meditation abilities. Oliver takes Sophie into the Noumenal dimension of the spirits through his conceptual world in his mind. They run into negative spirits who threaten Sophie, the negative spirits are trying to affect Sophie so she doesn't transition. They believe she'll upset the balance of the universe.
Sophie is allowed out for a two hour home visit and Oliver joins her and her friends at the pub. Things go well and the spirits stay away from Sophie when Oliver is around.
Back at the hospital the negative spirits affect the patients and they begin to attack Sophie, she disappears through the floor and ends up at her Aunts bookstore except she's in the Noumenal dimension.

Chapters 21, 22, 23, 24, 25,

Sophie gets back to the hospital immediately with Olivers help. The Doctors nickname her Houdini for getting outside and having no memory of it. Of course Sophie just pretends to have no memory. Oliver is perplexed at her turning into a spirit, Esper's can only travel through the Noumenal dimension with their minds, not their bodies. It's at this point Sophie and Oliver begin to suspect Sophie might be something different to an Esper, not to mention the negative spirits constantly accusing her of being an abomination.
Sophie begins to train her abilities in her dreams, through Oliver's conceptual world. Oliver teaches Sophie to build her own world in her mind. Melinda visits Sophie and as they're talking Sophie mentions Thale and Melinda leaves Sophie's room abruptly. Sophie ends up trapped in the Noumenal dimension trapped by the negative spirits. They torture and torment her until her mind is lost.

Chapters, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

Sophie can't distinguish between what's real and what isn't and thinks reality is an illusion and illusions are reality. This way the negative spirits have convinced her to lose her mind. Oliver tries to help her but he can't. Sophie's conceptual world which was once beautiful becomes black and nightmarish in reflection of her current state of mind.

~~I'm not going to tell anymore about the ending....

Hope you like my plot. I'm planning three books - so a trilogy for Sophie's Esper adventures.

The Sultan's Lie

Read more! A small section of Chapter One. Enjoy!

The redness of my hair flickered against the blue sky, the wind danced with it; twisting and rolling. I ripped a piece of cloth from my already tattered shirt and wrapped it around my head shielding my delicate skin from the scorching sun. I was going to blister and burn if I didn’t get out of here. My arms were scratched and bruised from fleeing the forest. The scene of crashing trees and dying druids threatened to re-play in my mind. I gritted my teeth and suppressed it. A few grains of sand touched my delicate feet, I flinched in pain at the sensation of stabbing barbs. A hollow feeling spread through my limbs at the sight of the empty stretch of lonely, sandy hills. I raised my hand up shielding my eyes from the glare of the desert, the heat of the day blurred the distant land. Which direction should I walk in? I wanted to collapse into a hopeless heap, I had nothing left, no home to go back to. I cringed controlling my thoughts, I couldn’t let them go there yet, back to the scene of death and destruction, if I allowed it, even for a moment, I would collapse and crumble like a delicate petal. I had to stay strong for them, for the memory of those who'd died. I put my hand out in front of me, spread my fingers and closed my eyes-- the wind became stronger spraying sand in every direction. Once again the memories attempted to infiltrate my mind, my concentration broke momentarily so I pushed them aside. My teeth tightened, I was determined not to think about them --I would mourn later. The familiar green essence trailed from the earth below flowing around my fingers. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt my body soak up the energy, the tips of my fingers tingled with delight, excited by the feeling of regenerated power.

If only I’d given it more thought. If only I’d concentrated before re-locating. I was lucky to be alive, baron deserts was nothing compared to where I might’ve ended up-- the ocean or in space, causing me instant death. I was nearing full regeneration now, I looked up at the sky raising my arms. The sky obliged, white cumulus clouds rushed towards me from every direction. They swished and tumbled joining together growing larger, darker and blacker. Small pulses of light flickered in the depths of the darkest cloud. Droplets of rain began to fall. I placed two fingers on my temple willing my essence to form a small barrier around my body, the droplets splashed hitting an imaginary barrier-- I watched the water pool trickle down the sides. That’s better I thought. I hated the hot weather and my almost translucent skin would dry and crack like the desert floor. I missed my ancient forest and its energy, how I wish I could be back there again – it wouldn’t be easy –- I knew there was nothing left of the home I once knew. Was I the last of my kind? I touched the poisoned darts and blow pipe that sat on my hip-- I knew what I had to do, I had to find him, he was the jungles only hope. I collapsed into a sitting position on the now cool wet sand. I whispered to the wind projecting my energy into it. I used it’s consciousness to search the surrounding wilderness. Life forces called to my attention from all difference directions, but I needed a specific type; humans. Eventually I found a small village, I heard people around me squeal as I directed my gust of breeze into the heart of the city, people held down objects that threatened to be blown away as I moved in and around. The people here could be Arabian or Egyptian I couldn’t understand their language, but my grandfather had taught me about desert dwellers -- I would have to enter their minds to be sure. I trailed along one person’s essence traveling into their body until I found their brain, I entered the mind. I inhabited the body of a young boy about twelve, the memory of my son flashed up from my unconscious mind, I repressed it, pushing it back down. Not now! Not yet! I thought commanding my mind, I had to remain strong. The image dissipated as I detached it from myself. I took on the boy’s life force now, he resisted initially, but having entered many minds of men, I knew he'd yield. I searched his mind, the first things I saw were his characteristics he was shy but smart and as I suspected he was Egyptian and spoke Arabic. That was some teleport! So far I’d only accumulated knowledge of English, bird, spider monkey, Portuguese, Mexican Spanish, and several other tribal ones, but no Arabic. I left the boys mind and traveled along the wind again, I stopped just outside the town in a deserted and quiet area. I took in the image, my awareness noted every rock, building, sound and colour. After I was certain I had the image firmly fixed in my mind, I traveled backto my body. When I'd returned back to the sandy hills of the desert I stood, closed my eyes, and pictured myself in the scene preparing myself for re-location.
My body buzzed with electricity as the town materialised around me, it was bigger than I’d expected, rows of flat sand-stone houses spread across the flat plains. The sound of the ocean and ships bells echoed in the distance. The emptiness in my body signaled the need to regenerate my energy sources. I spread my fingers feeling underneath the ground, the energy quality here was weak I needed something more concentrated. Back in the jungle the energy was so strong I survived on very little, here, I would collapse on that amount. The excited tingling through my fingers spread through my body as I became full. I had teleported between two houses and was well hidden. I was in an alley way, behind me was a quiet empty courtyard, in front stalls lined the streets and people bartered and argued. This was obviously the cities market. I was used to bartering with items of value back home, but not with coins. These Egyptians used a local currency. I had encountered money before, but I had never used it, I would have to attain some with the local’s language. I would never make it back home without a more concentrated source of power so I would have to use human travel, which would require money. My fingers traced the smoothness of the sandstone walls as I peeked around the corner. Aromatic spices, meats and incense floated along the wind. I sniffed the new smells curiously as I observed silently, I spotted a little monkey resting in the rafters of one of the stalls. Brilliant! I thought. I pushed my essence away from my body-- trailing along the ground, moving in between pillars, poles, chairs and feet. I floated up to the monkey and inhabited it’s body. His limbs were light and flexible compared to mine. Back home chimps were my favourite animal to inhabit apart from birds. Swinging through the tree tops was almost as good as soaring through the air. I heard the monkey's mind wake up at the intrusion, I willed him back to sleep and he stopped resisting. The urge to scratch the fleas roaming through it’s fur was unbearable, irritation filled his body and I screeched unexpectedly. A large object moved beside me and the stench of a fat smelly man became stronger as I was scratched on the head. The man made weird cooing noises. As he did I felt the supressed monkey inside of me relax at the sound. I didn’t understand any of it except for one word that pricked familiarity in the monkey’s consciousness. Qerd was the name for the critter. The fat smelly man went back to bartering with a buyer and I intended to use his distraction for my own gain. Using my tail for balance I looked around the stall for coins. I spotted the fat man’s stash of coins bulging from a piece of cloth which hung from his belt. Carefully, I untied the pouch easily with my tiny fingers. The pouch nestled between my front legs, I scampered back towards my hiding place. I dropped it at my feet, I inspected myself, I looked terrible, holes in my clothes, hair matted and scratches and bruises everywhere. I'd have to get new clothes and wash. I took the monkeys body back to the stall. Before removing myself from his mind, I took the opportunity to orient myself, Qerd had a keen sense of direction and knew the town well. I removed my essence again thanking the monkey as I left. I welcomed the familiarity of my own agile frame. I had spent too long in Qerd’s body, I was drained. I willed the energy from the earth to rise up, the source of the energy moved and began to drain underneath the ground. I had to be careful not to exhaust this supply --it was waning quickly. The town’s people would need it to grow crops. I chose my next mind carefully. I needed someone with a strong grasp of the Egyptian -Arabic language and an understanding of street smarts. Exotic dancing girls burst through the streets and men cheered and clapped. The women shook their firm bodies fluidly like snakes draping fine pieces of silk around merchant’s necks. The men ogled tripping over themselves. Following the dancing girls were twenty muscly men dressed in black and gold skirts carried a large wooden litter on poles, silken cloth kept the inhabitants from the outside streets. I was certain that inside there would be the perfect mind with knowledge of the intimate parts of the region for I was certain it was royalty. With Qerd’s body still fresh in my mind I readied my essence to become a translucent monkey, I planned my infiltration first. I would push it outwards away from my torso, and then move quickly in between the crowd and into the litter. Patiently waiting for the litter to get closer I sat down on the ground anticipating the energy drain. If I used too much I would faint. The litter was about three meters away when I let my essence leave my body jumping and bounding about the crowd I scampered up the leg of one of the load bearing men, he flinched slightly as I balanced on a wooden pole he was carrying. Pushing a green silken curtain aside I arrived at the scent of perfumed lilies. Inside a young man pressed his head into his hands, his visage despondent and lifeless. Dark eyes matched with dark wavy dishevelled hair -- they contrasted against his white tunic. Black eye-makeup emphasised the almond shape of his striking eyes and golden bracelets lined his arms. I moved closer feeling my essence being soaked up into him. I willed him to sleep but he wouldn’t budge, he fought with so much strength that I couldn’t tap into the information I needed.

“Ekroj halan”

I didn’t understand. He repeated this over and over. Eventually I won the battle but he didn’t sleep. This had never happened before, I could make all humans and animals sleep, I hoped he wasn't aware of who I was or what I looked like. But, I knew he was watching me learning about the locals language and city. This was the Prince and it was his wedding day--he was not happy about it.

“That’s enough now. Please leave my mind”

“How do you know I’m here?”

“We’re not so different. You have what you need. Now go before I find you and kill you.”

I withdrew from his mind and watched him stretch out his limbs in response to my inhabiting them. When I was back, my eyes opened to blurriness and disorientation, I fell sideways towards the ground.

Outline of 'The Sultans' Lie'

Read more! Second Novel - So far called 'The Sultans lie'

This novel is only in the beginning stages of the first draft. The protagonist is a druid from the Amazon rainforest who has teleported to the sandy deserts of Egypt. Having red hair and very white fine skin, the sun takes a toll on her and she's forced to use the energy of the earth to quickly find a nearby town. She travels on the consciousness of the wind and finds Tiet, an ancient Egyptian city that has been isolated from the outside modern world. The sultan of the city is preserving traditional ways of life by paying off it's neighbours and Egyptian government. Only a select few people of Tiet know about the modern world, and there is conflict about whether Tiet should be allowed to trade with neighbouring cities. After Feteira the druid teleports to Tiet, she enters the mind of Prince Haydar to learn about traditions and layout of the city. She uses up too much energy and faints.
She awakes in the Prince's quarters of the palace grounds. She is not being held prisoner as Haydar makes a pact with her - she helps the city recover from drought and economical hardship and he helps her find her son.

Feteira left the amazon because men with machines destroyed her home. Her son was about the age of five and teleported as they cut down the forest. The men wouldn't have seen the druid people because once in the rainforest they're invisible to man. Her son could've teleported to anywhere in the world including the ocean or somewhere dangerous. She's not even sure if he's alive. But first, she must help the city of Tiet.

Feteira changes the people around her to care more for nature and living things and they teach her about human ways, including suffering and love.

It's an odd plot, but hopefully it all turns out well. I suspect there will be two books in this series.

Ciao!