Light at the Edge of Darkness

Darkness swallowed Caleb. He headed into the woods, marching over the uneven forest floor toward the church nestled beyond the hill on the other side. He imagined Travis rolling in the horse stall amid manure and a frantic mare. Would he have to shoot the horse? No, he only had one shot. Hopefully, he'd kill the alien. Or should he kill the alien? What if he needed the alien to figure a way to return the townspeople to themselves?

His foot snagged on a twisted root and sent him sprawling. The lantern clattered into inky obscurity. Caleb blinked. Did I get turned around? He must have strayed from the path. Why didn't I fill the lamp? He paused to get his bearings. Starlit patches peeked through the branches, but not enough showed to determine his direction.

A flash like lightning, shot across the sky and stopped overhead. Brighter than a falling star, it cast enough light to see his shadow. "What in the. . . ." The light pulsated, growing bigger with each throb. Colors kaleidoscoped, filling the woods with brilliance, forcing him to shield his eyes. A nebulous light seeped through the branches, gathering sparkling particles into a coalescing form.

"A spaceship?"

It settled into the clearing beyond the treeline. Through fluid bulwarks, Caleb spotted the path leading to the church on the other side. Should I run? His heart slammed. He stood mesmerized.

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Windwalker- a fantasy novel by Donna Sundblad

Now available in print and ebook formats.

Chapter 1 - The Telling

She dipped her fingertip into the mud and painted a circle on her forehead representing the eternal hope.

Fires burned in the bellies of small stone statues forming a circle within the Kiva. An orange glow warmed the chamber to the center of the gathering. In the back of the crowded cave, Awena sat against the wall resting her arm across her stomach. The baby kicked. Soon, her life with Cedrick would change. What kind of world would their child find? Cedrick's talk of fulfilled prophecies and the cycle of death scared her.

Steady beats of a drum echoed within the chamber. Cedrick stepped to the center of the circle. He sat upon the teaching stone and the drumming stopped.

"Ojal pulled her poncho tighter and steadied her steps with the twisted staff," Cedrick started. He glanced at the intense faces, young and old. "The chilled mountain breeze tugged wisps of steel gray hair free from thick braids draped over her shoulders. She stopped, leaning against the sheer rock wall. Cold seeped through the thick, hand-painted animal skin, but it felt good; this trek was almost more than her old bones could endure. She flexed her foot and secretly cursed the malformation."

A nearby group of girls huddled and whispered. "She was the last of the Augurs," the oldest said.

"There will be another," the girl beside her piped up, "chosen from among the Windwalkers." (Read more.)

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Cover artist Mel Landon wins August 2006 Cover of the Month for Pumping Your Muse.

Pumping Your Muse by Donna Sundblad

Chapter 1 - The Sky

For our first challenge we'll look to the sky. 'Showing' the heavens provides a conduit from the writer's concepts to the reader's imagination. It's an opportunity to implant first hand sensory input, rather than piling up cold 'telling' facts in gray matter storage. Pearl gray skies, cloudless blue expanses, thunder or heat lightning, all show information about the atmosphere above us. Readers recognize the interaction between the sky and the world beneath it. Clouds can provide welcomed relief from the heat or dump heavy rains that lead to the threat of flooding. Letting the reader 'see' the clouds or lack of clouds, through descriptions, gives information without directly 'telling' them things like rain is on the way. Painting a rosy hue along the horizon of the eastern sky gives a time of day without telling the reader it is morning, while scuttling charcoal clouds hiding the full moon shows different detail. Let your words guide the reader down a trail of sensory information ...Read more..