{"id":1011,"date":"2011-01-16T15:21:35","date_gmt":"2011-01-16T21:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/?p=1011"},"modified":"2011-01-16T15:22:32","modified_gmt":"2011-01-16T21:22:32","slug":"sunday-snippet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/?p=1011","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Snippet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a snippet from Kings of the North<\/em> to either whet or satisfy your impatience for the release date (65 days from now, not that I’m hinting or anything like that…)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This one is from early in the book.<\/p>\n

Spoiler warning now (mild spoilers but some of you don’t want any spoiler–so if you don’t,\u00a0 don’t click on the “Read the rest of this…” button.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Where:\u00a0 the Verrakai country residence<\/p>\n

When:\u00a0 after Midsummer and Dorrin’s post-coronation activities.\u00a0 Dorrin has come home, accompanied by the Marshal-General and her new squires.<\/p>\n

………………………………………..<\/p>\n

As they neared the house, Paks’s red horse lifted its muzzle from the grass and whinnied loudly.\u00a0 Paks appeared from the gate in the garden wall, trailed by a gaggle of children.<\/p>\n

“Marshal-General!” she called, waving; she broke into a run, leaving the children behind.<\/p>\n

The Marshal-General stiffened; her horse stopped abruptly.\u00a0 “That light!”<\/p>\n

Dorrin said “The sun’s glow?”\u00a0 It seemed especially golden that evening.<\/p>\n

“It’s more than that,” the Marshal-General said.<\/p>\n

“Dorrin,” Paks said, slowing to a walk.\u00a0 “How was it?\u00a0 Did the king like the crown and things?”<\/p>\n

“It’s a long story,” Dorrin said.\u00a0 “I’ll tell it all, once we’ve bathed and eaten.\u00a0 You need to meet my new squires–Gwenno, Beclan, Daryan–”<\/p>\n

She dismounted just in time to meet the swarm of children who had now caught up with Paks.\u00a0 “Auntie Dorrin!\u00a0 Auntie Dorrin!”<\/p>\n

Dorrin looked at Paks, who shrugged.\u00a0 “They’re your family; they needed something to call you besides my lord.”<\/p>\n

It made sense, but…Auntie<\/span>?\u00a0\u00a0 She supposed she was, to most of them, but she had never imagined herself as an auntie.\u00a0 From the looks on her squires’ faces, neither had they.<\/p>\n

…………………………………………<\/p>\n

One of the adjustments Dorrin has to make, changing from cohort captain to lord of a domain, is in the most difficult for her, family relations.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately, as these books wanted to grow in all directions, radiating out from each character,\u00a0 I did not have the space or time to do much with Dorrin becoming a family member to these children, someone they could trust and even love.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Many ideas had to be thrown off the sledge (as another writer friend puts it sometimes.\u00a0 Some of them hopped back on the sledge in Crisis of Vision<\/em>, and I think a few more will climb aboard in Book IV.<\/p>\n

This is the first time the Marshal-General has seen Paks since the ordeal and healing. \u00a0 She had seen Paks in the Duke’s Stronghold (in Oath of Gold<\/em>, before Paks rides off on her paladin mount) but Paks was changed again in that later experience. \u00a0 So the relationship of Marshal-General to this paladin will be different–though figuring it out will take some time.\u00a0\u00a0 That’s another fascinating bit that didn’t fit into this volume.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a snippet from Kings of the North to either whet or satisfy your impatience for the release date (65 days from now, not that I’m hinting or anything like that…)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This one is from early in the book. Spoiler warning now (mild spoilers but some of you don’t want any spoiler–so if you don’t,\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-1011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-snippet","tag-snippet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1011"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1014,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011\/revisions\/1014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}