The characters (part 12)

THE CAVE MONKEYS

(This is the twelfth in a series of character descriptions from The Death Wizard Chronicles, my six-book epic fantasy.)

Who are the cave monkeys and what is the worm monster?

Cave monkeys are small creatures (about two feet tall and weighing around twenty pounds) that more resemble lemurs than monkeys. But they were given the name cave monkeys by the Torg, the Death-Knower wizard, because he could think of no other. These clever and wondrous creatures live in caves and tunnels deep in the bowels of Mount Asubha, several leagues beneath the surface.

The colony of cave monkeys that Torg encountered numbered about fifty, though the wizard never knew their exact number. They were furry creatures, with pointy noses and mouths filled with flat teeth, and they had long, bushy tails. Their most striking physical feature was their bioluminescent eyes that glowed in the dark. They were supremely athletic and energetic, but also kind and gentle, and they communicated between themselves and with Torg using a very powerful yet noninvasive telepathy.

Also residing beneath Mount Asubha was a titanic creature called the worm monster, which was most likely the largest living being on Triken. Somewhere hidden far beyond finding was the monster’s core body, but extending from it were hundreds of thick tentacles, each more than a mile long and each containing a fang-filled mouth at its tip that was capable of devouring anything it found in the underworld, including cave monkeys. But the worm monster was not particularly intelligent, more an eating machine than anything else, while the cave monkeys were brilliant creatures by any standard. And in an ironic reversal of fortune, the cave monkeys were able—using stone daggers—to leap about just out of reach of the tentacles’ mouths and carve pieces of flesh from the tentacles. This flesh was quite tasty, and it was the cave monkey’s main source of sustenance, along with mushrooms. With these ingredients and a few others, they made delicious soups that Torg quickly grew to adore.

Cave monkeys also were wonderful artists, and they decorated the stone walls of their underground home with intricate drawings using mineral extracts and worm fats to create multicolored pigments.

Was the colony Torg encountered beneath Mount Asubha the only one in existence? And was there only one worm monster on Triken? Or did each large mountain on Triken have its own version of these creatures living deep beneath the surface? The answer to this was beyond Torg’s knowledge.

Photo by Dreamstime.

Up next: the final installment, which will be a list of other characters, both ordinary and magical, with short descriptions of each.

The characters (part 11)

THE DAASA

Photo by Dreamstime

(This is the eleventh in a series of character descriptions from The Death Wizard Chronicles, my six-book epic fantasy.)

Who are the Daasa and why was Invictus the sorcerer able to control them?

The Daasa are a peace-loving and intelligent race of beings who live on the other side of the Akasa Ocean, several thousand miles from the western coast of the land called Triken. Only the Daasa themselves know how many of their kind exist in the world, but in the time-frame of The Death Wizard Chronicles, they numbered close to one million. They communicate with barks, squeals and whistles instead of words, and they prefer forests to mountains or plains, though they also love oceans, lakes and rivers and are excellent swimmers. Nuts and fruits are their main source of nourishment. Like the druids of Dhutanga, they are stewards of the forest, and though the Daasa are not evil like the druids, they also resemble them in the way they psychically interrelate, moving about in single-minded droves.

In their normal state, the Daasa resemble extremely large pigs with purple eyes, and they are adorable. But like Warlish witches, they have the ability, when threatened, to transform into deadly monsters. Thorny spikes rise from their soft flesh, fangs erupt from their mouths, claws spring from their toes, and they growl like rabid wolves. In this state, a single Daasa is capable of killing a cave troll.

In the days of Invictus, a terrible creature resided within a city named Duccarita, more commonly known as the City of Thieves. This being, called the Mahanta pEpa—which in the ancient tongue meant The Great Evil—had come from across the ocean. Once on Triken, Invictus gave it free rein, and the Mahanta pEpa grew to epic proportions with supremely powerful psychic powers that enabled it to control the Daasa en masse—even those who lived across the ocean. So when the sorcerer sent his slave ships, the Daasa clambered on compliantly. Eventually Invictus managed to transport more than one hundred thousand Daasa from their homeland to Triken, where he used them for evil purposes better not discussed here.

Up next: the cave monkeys.

The characters (part 10)

THE STONE-EATERS

(This is the tenth in a series of character descriptions from The Death Wizard Chronicles, my six-book epic fantasy.)

Who are the Stone-Eaters and do they really eat stone?

Stone-Eaters are relatively small yet extremely dangerous creatures that inhabit the interiors of mountains but that often roam the lands, taking sides with whatever evil presence is most powerful at the time.

They rarely attain five feet in height, yet they are stout and physically strong, and their bodies literally burn with magic. A lone Stone-Eater is more than a match for a Warlish witch, making these creatures among the most deadly on Triken. Flames flare from their flat nostrils, smoke seeps from their ears, and their hides are the texture of an elephant halfway turned to stone. Their main sustenance is obsidian, which they eat as easily as a human might snack on an ear of corn. Yet the black volcanic glass fills them with fiery energy, and they are able to vomit foul liquids the thickness and temperature of magma.

Though they appear crude and ugly, Stone-Eaters are not unintelligent. But they crave power and are constantly scheming—both with and against their allies—to attain dominion over others. Like most of the magical creatures on Triken, Stone-Eaters are long-lived, though most do not survive more than ten millennia.

Stone-Eaters are not numerous. At the time-frame of The Death Wizard Chronicles, there were fewer than two hundred Stone-Eaters in the world.

Photo by Dreamstime.


Up next: the Daasa.

The characters (part 3)

This is the third in a series of character descriptions from The Death Wizard Chronicles, my six-book epic fantasy. 

THE DEMON

Who is Vedana and why is she so evil?

Vedana is an ancient demon—more than one hundred thousand years old—who is known as the mother of all demons. Vedana takes the credit for the creation of all magical creatures on Triken, including the other demons, as well as dragons, dracools, witches, vampires and trolls, etc. The dragons and dracools dispute this, being far too proud to believe such a thing. But it is not debated, at least, that Vedana created the Warlish witches, who will be featured in the next vignette.

Vedana exists within the Realm of Undeath, the only one of the three realms that exists outside the rules of karma. In her realm of purgatory-like despair, she is the undisputed master—and she appears as a writhing black worm that is even darker than darkness. But Vedana, like all demons, is able to bleed a portion of her essence into the Realm of Life and exist among the living—in Vedana’s case, as a devilish woman with salt-and-pepper hair in her mid-50s. She is unkempt and wears scraggly robes, and her flesh is sometimes so transparent that you can see her heart and bones.

Vedana is a rascal of the highest order, always causing mischief and constantly attempting to manipulate living beings, which she views with disdain. But at the same time, she is utterly consumed with the desire to be freed from her realm and become a true living being in the Realm of Life. There, she believes she would become all-powerful and rule all realms—Life, Death, and Undeath.

However, the only being powerful enough to break the fabric between dimensions and release her from her prison is a Sun God, a sorcerer who derives his magic from the absorption of sunlight. But the karmic process of creating such a being is fantastically complicated, and Vedana has spent many millennia scheming to do so by mating—using drugs and seduction—with thousands of human males in an attempt to create the perfect bloodline that would give birth to a Sun God.

Up next: the Warlish witches.

The characters (part 2)

 THE SORCERESS

This is the second in a series of character descriptions from The Death Wizard Chronicles, my six-book epic fantasy.

Who is Laylah and what is the source of her magic?

Laylah is the grandchild (unknowingly) of Vedana, the most powerful and ancient of demons. Though the grandmother is selfish and evil, Laylah grows up as an ordinary child—beyond the demon’s influence—and becomes a force of good.

Laylah has one sibling, the evil sorcerer Invictus who is ten years her elder. Invictus derives his power from the absorption of sunlight, which makes him the mightiest of all beings. Laylah derives her power from moonlight, which is a reflection of sunlight, so she is the weaker of the two. But this is not to say that Laylah is not also powerful. It’s just that everyone is weaker than Invictus.

Laylah escapes from her brother’s clutches as a young girl and is raised by a tribe of people in a hidden valley deep within the mountains. But she is eventually recaptured by Invictus and held as his prisoner for many years.

Laylah wields a white magic that flares from her fingers, hands and eyes. Like Torg the Death Wizard, she can both heal and destroy with it. Night is her favorite time, and she often feels queasy and weak during mid-day.

Since Laylah is an offspring of Vedana, her body contains demon magic and therefore she is long-lived. During the time-frame of The Death Wizard Chronicles, Laylah is about ninety years old, but she appears as a woman in her physical prime. She has long, lush blond hair, pale skin and gray-blue eyes and is tall and voluptuous—considered by those who have seen her to be the most beautiful woman in the world.

Laylah eventually escapes from Invictus a second time, and much of the epic tale of The DW Chronicles involves her desperate flight from the insanity and perversion of her brother.

Up next: Vedana, the mother of all demons.

The characters (part 1)

(This is the first in a series of character descriptions from The Death Wizard Chronicles, my six-book epic fantasy. Over the coming days, this and many more vignettes will also appear on this site, as well as on my WEBSITE  my FACEBOOKPAGE and my FACEBOOKFANPAGE)

Who is Torg and what is a Death Wizard?

Torg is the main character in The Death Wizard Chronicles. He is king of the Tugars, the famed warriors who live deep within the desert Tējo. Torg has risen to the rank of Asēkha, highest among the Tugars, but he has taken yet another step of ascension. While deep in meditation, Buddhist monks have been known to achieve recorded heart rates of fewer than 10 beats per minute. Torg has taken this to the extreme, meditating so deeply that his heart literally stops, which results in a temporary death.

(Go HERE for a free short story that describes this in detail).

At this point, Torg is able to enter the Realm of Death, where he feeds on death energy. When he returns to life soon afterward, he is engorged with magical powers. Torg is one of the few Asēkhas in Tugarian history who has accomplished this feat and hence become a Death Wizard, or more accurately, a Death-Knower wizard.

Only a Death-Knower can die.

And live again.

Only a Death-Knower can return from death. 

And remember.

Only a Death-Knower can tell the world what he’s seen.

Not all care to listen.

During the time frame of my series, Torg is more than one thousand years old and has died and returned to life more than a thousand times. In addition to being a powerful wizard, he also is a supremely trained warrior with unprecedented physical prowess and strength. He is an imposing figure, standing 7 feet tall and weighing 300 pounds. He is deeply tanned with shoulder-length black hair and deep-blue eyes that glow when he becomes angry. He carries a white staff that he has named Obhasa, which was molded from the tusk of a desert elephant found dead of old age at the base of a desert basin. Obhasa, which Torg has imbued with his magic, is a formidable weapon in its own right and adored by the wizard.

With his powers, Torg is able to destroy but also to heal. He is the leader of the forces of good in the land of Triken—and though some are jealous of his stature, all respect him.

Torg and his Tugars believe in the concept of karma—that all actions result in reactions. Torg has seen this for himself during his daily meditations, which most often do not result in death. Only about once a year does the wizard dare to achieve what the Tugars call Sammasamaadhi, the supreme concentration of mind that results in temporary death.

Though Tugarian history extends into the distant past, Torg is considered by his people to be the greatest of all the Death-Knowers who have ever been—a king among kings. Ironically, death energy has given him the gift of long life, and he could conceivably live for several thousand more years, if the forces of evil don’t get to him first.

Up next: Laylah the sorceress.

Newest novel will give you the creeps

My latest novel, a scary, sexy ghost story called Dream House, is now available as an e-book. It is being distributed by Out of Bounds Press. Order it here.

Here is an excerpt:


Greg collapsed to his knees, and he was squeezing his right wrist with his left hand. His right index finger was pointing skyward, as if blaming the heavens for his unexpected predicament. I felt bile rising in my throat. The finger had become nothing but bare bone, yet somehow it still wriggled.

Greg was screaming, a high-pitched female scream, and then he looked at me with pleading eyes, as if begging me to make it all stop, to take it all back. I took out my cell phone and dialed 911, but when I held the phone to my ear it squealed so sharply I cast it away, and it plunked into the now broiling water. A small geyser followed, as if I had tossed a live hand grenade into the green muck.

I staggered toward Greg with tears in my eyes, and my legs felt heavy as sodden wood. Now he was bent over, his face between his knees but his finger still pointed straight out. Only now even the bone was dissolving, and it smoked like the end of a lit cigarette.

“What’s happening?” I said, sounding as pathetic as a little boy. But I seemed to have nothing else to offer. Then I saw Greg’s cell phone in a case attached to his belt, and I took it out and dialed 911 again. The same squealing, as loud as a siren, caused me to cast the phone down. Only this time the phone hit a root and shattered like glass on terrazzo.

Suddenly I felt the urge to run. I could make it back to my house in just a few minutes, call the police from there, and then wait at the house while they went to Greg’s rescue. Or I could even lead them to the opening in the trees and wait there. After all, I would only get in the way if I tried to help further. Leave it to the pros, right? But Greg was in serious trouble. Now he was puking. As terrified as I was, I had to do something.

I leaned over, grabbed his left bicep, and in a fit of super-crazed strength yanked the man to his feet. His face was pale, his eyes swollen and bloodshot. I’ve never seen anyone look quite so terrified. Perhaps my face mirrored his.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” I said. But it was as if I was shouting into hurricane-force winds that muffled the words.

Still, he seemed to hear me. He nodded weakly and then leaned toward the opening where we had entered the now-nightmarish cove. But as soon as he did that, something occurred that was more frightening than anything I had yet encountered, even dwarfing the face in the bathroom window. All the strength left my limbs, and I fell back on my rump and began to whimper. A pink-skinned arm, tiny yet impossibly strong, sprang from the green gook, and a hand the size of a baby’s somehow seized enough of Greg’s skinny ankle to pull him into the water.

In just a few seconds, he was dragged beneath the surface.

He pleaded with me before he went under.

“Help me!” he squealed.

Then he was gone.