Really hard to create a man that was neither too old nor too young or too much like a model. That was not too broody or ridiculously happy. Hope I've succeeded. Thoughts on all the images are appreciated.
Thanks
The leaves are not necessarily in character but I liked the face.
2024-01-20 16:50:32 +0000 UTC View Post
I found it hard to get the images to be similar as in look like a family but not become too divergent in styles. Struggling to create Kaius as I imagine him to be in line with the rest of the family images. But first day of trying it out so . . .
2024-01-20 16:46:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Tried to get them to look like illustrations for a book
First time using AI generated artwork it is scarily impressive.
I'm alive and I've discovered mid journey.
I am also writing again after a stressful two weeks.
Real life stress has made me less productive last two weeks
Returned to work to have manager tell me
“I have concerns …
Should be fixable and might just need to tighten up stuff or could be precursor to further inspection and job scrutiny. (High turnover of staff at workplace)
Either way spending too much time stressing about it and not sleeping so well and it is impacting writing.
It is making me reconsider job/career and whether I can make it with just wri...
2024-01-15 12:56:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Primum non nocere: First, Do no harm.”
Hippocratic Oath
It was simple enough to grab an empty table and awning. Bjorn had let them know that I might be setting up a stall, and one had been left empty for me. I was told it was for travelling traders, but none were here, so it was free. It was no difficulty setting it up now that I was taller. But it looked a little bare without any goods to place on top of the shelf-like table at the back of it. Without trink...
2024-01-07 11:51:43 +0000 UTC View Post“A sound man is good at salvage, at seeing nothing is lost.”
Laozi
We had uncovered a lot when it was all unpacked and spread around. We even had some money to do some shopping with.
“Were you expecting to find so much?” Namir asked.
“Honestly, no,” I replied. “But I hoped for a little, and look what we found,” I said, pulling forth a cloak that had once been discarded or lost. “Plenty to trade with or repurpose,” I said as I started stacking it ont...
2023-12-30 02:45:18 +0000 UTC View Post“By working, one can bend fortune. She is fond of crafty men.”
Gustave Flaubert
“Wakey, wakey.” I was woken by Namir chomping at the bit. “Time to put your sensory skills to the test.” I groaned as I rolled out of bed. The midnight statue-making session had taken it out of me. Namir was freakishly happy to be up and about.
“Rather than four different patrols, we will spiral outward from the Thorpe until we find something. Then call it in, wait...
2023-12-27 15:32:48 +0000 UTC View PostMerry Christmas if you celebrate it.
Either way, thank you for another year of supporting Singer, Sailor, Merchant, Mage.
Hope you have enjoyed a chapter a day for the last week which makes this a good month despite the discovery it had been copied and published.
Just finished wrapping the presents and putting them under the Christmas tree.
Lots of family visits over the next couple of days but hope to get another chapter out before New Years Eve.
Wishing ...
“Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.”
William Shakespeare.
Fortune also dashes them asunder. It all depends on how Lady Luck is feeling. Sleep did not come easily; I had too much energy. I also had too many playrooms—the Sea of Souls, my Soul, Mind Fortress, and Spatial Vault. I could go to so many different places without ever leaving my room, and Namir would never know. Yet when sleep finally claimed me, I had a rude awakening.
“I a...
2023-12-24 12:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post“Raising children is an uncertain thing; success is reached only after a life of battle and worry.”
Democritus
Namir POV
Watching over the little lord as he fiddled with his ear was momentarily confusing till he revealed the earring. Some elvish sorcery had kept it concealed or, if not hidden, unnoticed even by me. I did not know why I was surprised to see a sliver of the lodestar nestled within the hollow earing now that the enchanted elvish cover had ...
2023-12-23 21:41:22 +0000 UTC View Post“Productivity is being able to do things you were never able to do before.”
Franz Kafka
After an entertaining evening discussing magic with Varvara and her family, we returned to our guest home. I would return to work with Varvara on my runes regardless of whether I hunted or healed knowledge was my drug of choice. Regarding that, it was time to take my next steps. There was a reason I had delayed. The last time I tried to shift my core metier, it cost me mor...
2023-12-22 14:16:22 +0000 UTC View Post“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
E.E. Cummings
Dinner was a pleasant affair. We could eat a selection of foods rather than sticking to the simple fare we had subsisted on as we trekked across the endless ice. There still was not as much variety as I had become accustomed to on Wester Ponente, but I was passing as a half-blood bastard. I could hardly complain if it were not up to my Lordly standards.
“Enjoying the food?” E...
2023-12-22 01:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post“I just think everyone needs their own private space.”
Dick Van Dyke
The Thorpe was laid out much like described—a giant pit carved into the ice like some circular strip mine. Gigantic steps lead ever downward, with homes carved into the outer ice wall on each layer. An enormous monstrosity of stone and steel was suspended in the centre of the clearing where no beast could easily reach it. The only item Bjorn had failed to mention in his description were the coloss...
2023-12-21 00:51:47 +0000 UTC View Post“Every traveller has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it the more from his wandering.”
Charles Dickens
Namir had called it. Our journey back to the Thorpe was interrupted repeatedly by various critters keen to claim our meat and bones. The four giants handled most of the fighting, glad for the extra warning I could provide. But I was always ready to help if needed now that they knew about my magic. It made me realise how lucky we had been when w...
2023-12-19 21:22:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.”
John F Kennedy
It had run out without me noticing; suddenly, nothing was holding me up. Failing to transition to flight from stationary with my clothes still wrapped tightly around me, I fell, landing lightly on the ice.
The moment my feet hit the ice, the Wyrm somehow sensed the source of its pains and turned to face me. It seemed so much sm...
2023-12-18 18:22:46 +0000 UTC View Post“Even if we’re apart. I’ll always be with you.”
Winnie the Pooh
Once settled, I activated the skill to soar into the ether. Then, I turned to follow the frequency of the string that tied my heart to my mother's. I shot along the vector through the void; soul stars streamed past me before I found myself bathing in the warmth of my mother’s soul once more.
My time was short; this time, I searched for my sister’s soul. It was not far from my mother...
2023-12-18 13:36:37 +0000 UTC View PostAfter tracking the publishing on Amazon back to (I believe) Wattpad, I was wondering where readers came from. I originally posted to RoyalRoad, then tried Scribblehub, then added Wattpad and Tapas, but SSMM didn't seem to take off there, so I forgot about them.
Guessing the 2-year hiatus on those meant that someone thought they could pinch it without anyone noticing.
Is there anywhere else I should consider posting?
Thanks
Notlimah
Thank you to a reader who noticed Singer, Sailor, Merchant, Mage had been published without my knowledge or consent on Amazon this month. I have put in a complaint form, and it seems to have been taken down, but I have attached what it looked like for the last ten days it was live.
Ironically, I quite liked the AI-generated artwork, and the synopsis below was not bad either (Possibly also AI generated) see below.
"A harrowing encounter with fate: a car skidding on ice at a peril...
“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is.”
Jedi Master Yoda
“So, moving on. Exactly how big is your spatial vault?” He mentally queried, resigned to another expansion of his mental horizons in understanding reality related to his unique and revolutionary charge.
“There’s only one way to find out,” I responded telepathically, then grinned, ...
2023-12-10 14:29:44 +0000 UTC View PostAs I finish typing this chapter or rather rewriting it with a different newly discovered focus, I’m looking up at the stars in a clear sky, watching the counter tick over 4,000,000 views on Royal Road.
Thank you for all of your support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Notlimah
“If people looked at the stars each night, they’d live a lot differently. When you look into infinity, you realise that there are more important things than what people do all day.”<...
"In essence, String Theory describes space and time, matter and energy, gravity and light, indeed all of God’s creation . . . as music.”
Roy H William
As we pulled up for the day, I had not expected to watch the seemingly nomadic and Stone Age giants break my understanding of space and magic. I had yet to process precisely how little stuff they were hauling with them compared to Namir and me. Especially not when considering how much people of their stature wo...
2023-12-01 15:06:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Trying to communicate a cover idea to an artist is a skill all of its own.
I do not think that I necessarily succeeded here.
The Cephlapod is far more sinister-looking than I had intended.
Removing the head and leaving the tentacles I think might work better.
That being said I did pay for it with money earned from Patreon so felt it was only fair to share.
Thoughts?
“There and Back Again, by Bilbo Baggins.”
Tolkien
“When?” I asked
“No time the present,” Kyrus replied
“Okay, how do we do this?” I asked just for clarification before we jumped off into the unknown. I wanted to know if it was possible, but was it worth the risk?
“Simple enough.” He said. I felt the skill activating and saw his physical representation float off over the sea, angling up to shoot into the sky to one of the stars that r...
2023-11-23 13:13:42 +0000 UTC View Post“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Aristotle
I did not spend the whole afternoon sleeping away as we were pulled across the endless ice. Although I did feel significantly safer with the four giants around. No, once I awoke, rather than alerting them to that fact and having to spend the rest of the afternoon slugging across the landscape on my skis I got down to some internal tidying up while I was wrapped up warm within the pelts and hidden from the i...
2023-11-21 20:41:09 +0000 UTC View Post“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”
C.S. Lewis
In the end, the giants did not return till the next morning. Still, it allowed us time to process the bear’s carcass, preserve the meat as best we could, cure the hide, and clean the fur to add another layer to our sledge. Magic made many impossibilities possible, and I couldn’t quite imagine how challenging our stranding would h...
2023-11-18 00:52:28 +0000 UTC View Post“Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first.”
Steve Irwin
The giants paused on the ridgeline, looking down at Namir. Cleary surprised to see someone in their way. After only a moment’s confusion and a look between the four of them, they hailed Namir.
“Heil og sæl.” Their leader shouted down from the ridgeline, his voice as deep as his chest was wide. The words effectively m...
2023-11-07 01:11:23 +0000 UTC View Post“Time doesn’t always heal all wounds.”
A.J. Darkholme
A sombre crew slowly made their way home to Wester Ponente. They had unwillingly watched their little lord swallowed by the storm that had so nearly taken their own lives. No matter how many times he had managed a miraculous escape or victory before, it was difficult not to think the worst when it came to his fate. His father, Kaius, seemed to be beside himself that he had not been on board with his son ...
2023-11-02 15:42:31 +0000 UTC View Post“If you like to sled – you have to like to drag the sledge.”
Russian Proverb
Namir was less than enthused when it was time to set out on the sledge. I had carefully packed it, tied the rope to it, and now sitting expectantly on top of it, waiting to go. Nyx had already taken the place of pride on the tip. I felt that she would soon be retreating into our clothes once the whistling wind whipped the heat out of the air, but for now, I let her sit there happil...
2023-10-26 09:42:24 +0000 UTC View Post