I've given facebook ORU page admin Catherine T. Vogt a memory stick of outtakes, first drafts, old false starts and experimental sketches that never made it into books ... as well, no doubt, as some earlier versions of bits that did or will ... for her to rummage through and share on the Okal Rel Universe facebook page.

Labels: Catherine T. Vogt, facebook

posted by Lynda at 18:51   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 

So many social networking sites, so little time. So sharing today's tweet on my blog. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with twitter so I decided I would use it to work through the whole Okal Rel saga series, page by page and book by book, and see if I caught up with myself. Ideally, each day I tweet a line from a page. Sometimes I miss a few days. Sometimes I find two lines on a page I like too much to chose between and do both. Still working my way through Part 1: Courtesan Prince. To see it all, visit http://twitter.com/okalrelsrv.

Labels: Part 1: Courtesan Prince, Twitter

posted by Lynda at 20:17   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 

I'll be warming up to the launch of Part 6: Avim's Oath on facebook over the next few months. Visitors welcome! Bring a friend, because the ORU is best to share with someone else to talk to it about.

Labels: facebook, Part 6: Avim's Oath

posted by Lynda at 07:43   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 
Couple of things, today, have reminded me of the Big Picture behind Okal Rel as a concept which is to limit competition among humans to means, such as dueling, that are compatible with sustainability for life in the universe. The first stimulus was the Smile or Die video that captures the mania that's got us into the mess we're in, economically, and the second is the gulf oil spill. It's been over twenty years, now, that I've been exploring the tension created by limiting life-and-death struggles for power to duels or arbiter law when more potent means are available - even though using them risks destroying the universe's most precious resources: green worlds. Sexual politics and pressures, including the tension between lust and romance, and the dramatization of the various roles of sex in social life, has been a second preoccupation of the Okal Rel saga and one that has got more play in the drafts of Part 7 and 8 than in previous books as Amel navigated the rocky road to power. But as I head into the home stretch with Parts 9 and 10, it's time to bring up the volume on the sustainability theme, again. Although, of course, the question of limits to the means to an end and the passions that drive us are forever intertwined, as well.

Labels: okal rel, philosophy

posted by Lynda at 09:14   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 

Met author Brian Rathbone on Goodreads, sharing our fondness for Douglas Adams. Getting fond of Goodreads as a book-lover's hang-out and place to commune with fellow writers as well as readers.

Labels: Brian Rathbone, goodreads

posted by Lynda at 21:08   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 
I've just had a very nice request from an unknown reader with a web-page tag that goes to a web page in arabic. Which was a thrill in itself. I know there are a few international readers of the Okal Rel Saga, but they are shadowy figures to me. Love to know them better. In any case, he/she (can't read arabic) asked me to update my blog more often.

"Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is extremely helpful and beneficial to your readers.
עוזרת."

The topic was Paul Strickland reporting the idea of sword law as means to limit warfare. Which was central to the whole vehicle of Okal Rel. I've missed talking and thinking about theme in the scramble to get more visual these days. I've missed the blog, as well. Blogs seem so old fashion since instant messaging and facebook. But I resolve to blog more, and to give myself permission to talk about the deep stuff as well as share pictures and fun bits. The Okal Rel Saga always has been dramatized philosophy for me, and a way to ask and address - if not ever fully answer - hard questions. Like how do we avoid blowing up everything once we have the power to do it?

Labels: Reader Response, theme

posted by Lynda at 07:26   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 
Cover art bought from artist Michelle Milburn for Okal Rel Legacies novella Misfit Leaves Home by author Krysia Anderson. I'm working on edits of the manuscript. Interior text for Opus 04 is off to Absolute XPress for production.

On the Saga front, received the front material of Part 6: Avim's Oath from Edge for proofing, and I am 70,000 words into the first draft of Part 9: Holy War.

Snippet from yesterday's production on Part 9

Sam Dem’Vrel, nee O’Pearl, stood staring at the booted, broad-shouldered bulk of Arm Commander Eler Nersal filling up her family living room and could think of nothing except how completely he failed to suit the quaintly preserved hominess of the space he occupied, with its warm wooden wainscoting, out of fashion draperies and comfortably upholstered furniture.

Labels: Absolute XPress, Krysia Anderson, Michelle Milburn, Misfit Leaves Home, Okal Rel Legacies, opus 4, Part 9: Holy War

posted by Lynda at 06:39   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 1 comments