Pirate Game!

Hello,

I ran a pirate game set in the world of the Blue Kingdoms. It was a Dungeons and Dragons game held at a local hobby shop, Cross Class Adventures owned by Lucas and Kendra Garcia. They are great people and let me hold the game. There were about nine players--playing characters aboard the buccaneer ship Crosswind--which is a ship mentioned in my Pirate Witch story.

The game went great and I think everyone had a fun time. It was cool to see all the swashbuckling adventure and crazy mayhem. The players were all excellent and got into the spirit of the game, playing the characters with gusto and skill.

I look forward to DMing a game in the future set in the Blue Kingdoms---because pirates are fun.

Bye for now.

Paul

Pirates of the Blue Kingdoms anthology reviewed

The stories in Pirates of the Blue Kingdoms are fun to read. The author’s came up with some exciting tales that keep you asking for more. There are also three really cool poems by Lester Smith, who is the President of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. Now, here’s a little description of the stories to give you a taste of the swashbuckling adventures.

The Accidental Pirates by Marc Tassin is reminiscent of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. It’s a fun story that makes you laugh out loud. I couldn’t help but smile and loved the plot twists and creative solutions to the most vexing problems. How does a slow ship with a suspect captain and only a few pirates, break into a heavily guarded fortress? The answer will surprise you.

Treasure by Jean Rabe is very creative. Jean has come up with one of her most unique characters. Green William will not be forgotten and the tale is very clever indeed. I’ll not spoil it here, just give it a read.

In my own story, The Pirate Witch, Maeve Tierney learns how wrong she was in marrying the infamous pirate, Bull Tierney, because he did what all pirates do, he went after someone else’s booty . . .

The Coins of Darkun, by Robert E. Vardeman is pretty scary. What would make a captain cut off the magical figurehead of his own ship? Read it and find out.

J. Robert King wrote the The Dreaded Pirate Fuzzytail, but don't let the title fool you. This is the story of the pirate ship, Reaper, the most feard ship in all of the Azure Sea. When Captain Wade Sutherland of the Avenging Angel is hired to find Reaper and sink her, he doesn't realize what he's getting himself into. Be afraid because Reaper is a ghost ship.

Cyren’s Eyes by Kathleen Watness is a fascinating story with the “stranger in a strange land theme.” Who is the mysterious main character and where has he come from? Find out in her engrossing tale that brings out the transitory nature of the Blue Kingdoms. This is one of my favorite stories in the book.

Battle with the Gray Ghost by Jim Ward is a combination of a Harry Potter and Master and Commander. It’s like the famous nautical novels by Patrick O’Brien (the author of the Master and Commander book) have been crossed with a Harry Potter book. I really enjoyed it and many readers will want to read his Halcyon Blythe Midshipman Wizard novels.

Just My Luck by Brandie Tarvin is pretty funny with characters so crazy and unique you’ll probably laugh out loud. It makes you wonder how unlucky a pirate can really be.

Judgment by Lorelei Shannon is a rollicking tale that features Amazon like dog headed pirate women, the Al-Kabar, who romp over the sea and kick so much ass you’ll howl for more. I loved it and I can see why the author had such a great time writing it.

Return of the Black Seraph by Kelly Swails shows you that avenging angels are not to be messed with. The God of Wrath has to have his own champions, doesn’t’ he?

Captain of the Red Coral by Dean Leggett is my favorite story in the book. I loved this tale and thought it was extremely well written--with a great twist at the end. The bite of one of the snake-like Corilla is bad news indeed.

Haunted Isle by Steve Winter is tense, gritty and real. The point of view character was great and the story was very well written. I have great respect for his talent as a writer.

The Adventures of Keva the Freemariner and the Notorious Pirate-Hunters by Jason Mical tells the story of Lord Stockton, hired to get rid of Keva the pirate once and for all!

Shipmates by Stephen D. Sullivan is great story to end the anthology. It has it all, cool battles, heroic characters and lots of pirates. The main character is a ruthless anti-hero put in a tough situation. Stephen helped create the world and has a great grasp of what the Blue Kingdoms are all about. Pirates. Lots of pirates.

Paul Genesse, Author/Pirate

Pirates of the Caribbean 3

Is the pirate world over?

Ahoy Pirate Fans,

I saw Pirates of the Caribbean , At Worlds End on Thursday, May 24 at a special screening at my local theater. It was a fun movie, though quite long and somewhat convoluted. The first one is still my favorite of the three, but I do give this one three and a half out of five stars. The acting is great, the characters are fun, and the special effects are amazing. There's plenty of drama and action to go around. There's plenty of CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow and we all wanted to see Johnny Depp being Jack.

The first movie was five stars, the second one was four stars, and this one was slightly less, so I'll give it three and a half stars. The biggest stumbling block is that this is an epic story and it's hard to wrap up. As a writer who has written a five book fantasy series, (The Iron Dragon Series), I know how hard it is to wrap up all the threads.

Even though the story is a little hard to follow at times, with all the pirates bluffing each other, it's an engrossing movie. We all wanted to find out what was going to happen, and were glued to the screen. The tension was kept high and the ending did not disappoint me. The twist was indeed a twist for me.

If any of you haven't seen it, please stay until the end of the credits. There is a pivotal scene at the very end that you must see. So, make sure you have an empty bladder, plenty of snacks, and something to drink for the movie. It's a long haul, but worth it if you're a pirate fan.

The best thing about the movies for me is the characters. The main ones and the secondary ones are top notch. I love Jack, Elizabeth, and Will so much, and I think that most of us do. That is the success of the film series. We all love them so much we'll sit there for three hours to see what is going to happen to them. The writers and directors of the series did a great job of making us love them. It turned out to be a little too complicated, but I'm glad I saw it.

The big question might have been answered in the title of the film: is the world over? Will we see Jack again? Or have we seen the end of the pirate world?

Either way, it was a fun ride and I'm glad I went on it.

Paul Genesse, Author of

The Pirate Witch

in Pirates of the Blue Kingdoms

www.popcornpress.com

Shadows, Pirates, and Pages

Hello,

It's been a little while since I posted and I have no good excuses. However, I've been busy with writing stuff this week. Three big things happened:

1. Brad Beaulieu sent me his short story, Shadows In Mirrors, which will be in the Dimension Next Door anthology from DAW Books. I'll be in that one also.

2.The galley pages from Pirates of the Blue Kingdom came--my story, The Pirate Witch is in it.

3. The big news: My editor sent me the edited manuscript for my novel, The Golden Cord. He's had it for almost four months, but once he started reading it took him less than two weeks to finish.

Wow, what a week. I read Brad's story, which was amazing, and gave him a critique. Not much to fix there. Brad is such an amazing writer. I've also been invited into the same anthology and I have an idea for it--supplied by my buddy Glenn. I'm not spilling the details yet . . . The deadline is months away, luckily.

I managed to read over the galley pages for my pirate story, The Pirate Witch, and found no errors. The bio was fine too. I'm really excited about it coming out and it could go to press around May 15. Life is good. This summer is going be great.

So, the big job, working on my manuscript. I had one night of fear when I saw my editor wanted a new first line/opening paragraph. This news kicked me in the nuts. Hard. The first line had been green-lighted before, but it could always be better--I knew it then and I know it now. I couldn't face rewriting it that first night (Wednesday) when the MS came, but managed to rewrite it Thursday. It turned out well, but the opening will have to be read over by Brad and Pat before I call it done and send it to John.

Now I'm up to page 87 of 323. The comments from my editor, John, are fine, but I have to read through the whole MS and work on a few things. No major changes, thank the Gods!

This whole process is very time consuming, but I'm not too stressed about it. So far, reading over the MS hasn't been that painful. Perhaps I'm excited because this might be the last time that I have to read this entire manuscript. I still like it, but after you've read something so many times it becomes a little tiresome. I'm being generous, it's a big pain in the ass. But, the book is getting better and I think I'm improving the work. John's comments were excellent and now I just have to get it to him by May 18. No problem there.

Once this task is done, I'm back to Medusa's Daughter. I want to finish it by November 1, plus two short stories this year. One short story is due in August, the next in November. I have all the time in the world . . . I just have to believe the affirmation posted next to my computer. It reads: I release all that is unlike love. I have time and space for everything I want to do.

I repeat it in my mind, but now I should really start believing it.

A Pirate's Life For Me

Hello Everyone,

I found out today that I made it into the Pirates of the Blue Kingdoms anthology. I was very excited to hear from the editor that I made the cut. I loved writing my story, The Pirate Witch, and have thought about turning it into a full-length novel. A fellow writer friend, Elizabeth Vaughn, made a comment to me that "pirates are the new dragons." I guess they're quite marketable right now. Perhaps once I finish Medusa's Daughter, my fantasy love story set in ancient Greece, I'll write a novel about the pirate witch, using the short story as chapter one. Who knows?

Anyway, having a marketable idea is a key thing. Take Kelly McCullough who wrote WebMage. It’s an amazing idea and he sold the book to a major publisher, ACE. Visit him at http://www.kellymccullough.com/ to learn more. Kelly made the point in an earlier blog posting on my blog that you don’t have to know people to get published, but you do have to have good writing.

The point being, that if you have a great idea and are a good enough writer, you can get published, even if you don’t know people—though I would argue your chances go up if you know them.

Still, some great writers with ideas that are too overdone have trouble selling their books. Pick an idea that you’re passionate about and go for it, but hopefully that idea is marketable.

Write what you love, certainly, but I hope that what you love has a market. If there is no market, then getting it published is going to be tough. When I started out I didn’t understand much about markets, but the more I delve into the publishing industry the more I realize that the market is a major issue we writers need to be aware of. If you love writing westerns, just know that there is a tiny market out there. On the flip-side, romance has a huge market. Being aware of what sells and what doesn’t is important for a writer.

Still, write what you love, but just in case no one is buying UFO novels set in the wild west, you might want to write it as a short story—rather than dedicating so much time to a novel that probably won’t sell. Figuring out the market and writing a book with that in mind is tough, but having a broad knowledge of what editors are buying is a good idea.

Urban fantasy has taken off in the last few years. Holly Black’s Tithe: A Modern Fairy Tale is a good example. I think the key to any writing is being passionate about it. Throw yourself into the work keep making it better. Re-dream the dream if the novel you imagined is not working. Rewrite it. If it’s still not that great, maybe rewrite it again.

At some point you’ve got to move on, but if you truly believe in the work you won’t give up on it. You’ll finish it and then improve it. Getting outside feedback is key. Writers shouldn’t live alone. Share your drafts with other writers and get your work critiqued. I believe that we writers must strive to always improve our work and get better.

Good luck with your writing and keep at it.

Paul

The Pirate Witch

Hello,

Well, I'm 3,400 words into my 6,000 word short story, The Pirate Witch for the Blue Kingdoms anthology. It's going well and I'm at the halfway point. I'm loving the story and am just wondering about length. I hope I'll be able to keep it at 6,000 words, which is the limit. The editor, Jean Rabe said we could go over, but I'd rather not.

The main character is Maeve Tierney, The Pirate Witch. She's a fiery character with a past that is catching up to her in a bad way. Marrying the infamous pirate, Bull Tierney was probably not the greatest idea, but as a witch she got even when the sea dog did what most pirates do--he went after another person's booty . . .

Now Maeve's on the run with only a single friend in the world. Her and Bax were hiding out in a remote pirate town called Bilgewater, and it would have been a perfect place to hide if Cap'n Coyle of the buccaneer ship Vulture hadn't found out where she was.

All she has to do is escape on the last ship in port, a leaking sloop captained by a highly contagious leper and two salty sea dogs. Except for Maeve, all of the crew is about thirty years past their prime.

If she only knew that the worst is still ahead. I hope you'll all enjoy reading The Pirate Witch in the Blue Kingdoms anthology edited by Jean Rabe and Steven D. Sullivan. The book should be out this summer when Pirates of the Caribbean 3 comes out, savvy?

Paul

P.S. I guess this is all assuming that the story is accepted, but I have a good feeling about this one. Visit www.bluekingdoms.com for more info on the world.