Eldritch Thoughts
Past News and Updates
News updates are the short news blurbs posted on the front page. If you're looking for writings sorted by story, I'd suggest the story archves or Scorpion's Hoard.
Saturday, December 27, 2003
Back by popular demand is one of the best known sources of information on the web, Valian's Journal!! It has been requested that this make another appearance so here it is. Feel free to give any feedback on it! Also, other projects are under construction. More will be announced on these later.
113003
Ok, it's only about two months after my last official update. School and work have really swamped my life, more so than I had planned. I would just like to apologize to all of my loyal fans out there for my lack of...responsibility for lack of a better term. However, I would proudly like to proclaim that I will be updating far more frequently now as it seems I have some work to do. I need to do some research that I will be recording and sending to my editor, who also works on this page. I have not decided if the information will be posted here or not, but if anyone wants to see it, feel free to contact me and I will get you what I have. That's right, actually get ahold of me so that I know I have fans. I need motivation like that.
The final thing on this little agenda of mine boils down to another decision. This is a choice that will require help. As you may have noticed, CoS has been shut down for now, however, I am thinking of picking this up as a project, especially since I will have little to nothing to do over spring break. If you would like this continued, please, let me know and I will get to work right away. A response would definitely inspire me, however, I may pick it up anyway. That is all for now, stay tuned for further updates. Again, contact me if you want any information or storyline I may have. Ways to get my attention are on the contact page where they belong.
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Okay, so it's been a long time, which means there's lots of stuff to cover.
Iridescent Dreams and Circle of Scorpion are pretty much done, both for a variety of reasons. I enjoy the world and characters I've crafted for Iridia, but I do not like the serial mode in which it's presented. The pieces are too short, too fragmented. Also, once something is written, it's written; there's no going back and revising the past to improve it. Iridia will likely become a collection of related short stories when I actually go back to work on it. But both of my serial projects suffer from basically the same thing: I'm having trouble setting aside time to work on them.
On that note, I do still write. The past couple months have seen a number of works spring from my pen. Some I will likely never share during my lifetime (written specifically for somebody else), some I won't share until I'm convinced it won't embarrass me (need a few more rewrites), and one I'm remarkably pleased with. As such, I present to you Life in Print, a bit of speculative dark future. Sure, there are some things that can yet be improved, but it's quite solid and I want to share it.
Other projects in the works. Let's see. I'm still trying to get the manuscript of my first (and unfinished) attempt at a novel into the computer so I can share that, since it will never be continued. In that form, anyway. I'm blocking out characters for a different novel/novella that I probably won't share, since it's likely to turn into my senior project next year. I've taken on a new, secret project that I definitely won't share publicly, one of those things where you realize nobody else is going to do it, so you take charge of it even if you may want to be doing other things. I'm poring over what I have written in Iridescent Dreams and am compiling an Encyclopedia Iridiae of sorts that I will share as it comes together. Lots of things to keep me busy. Not to mention keeping up with my classes.
Anyway, that's all for now. Updates will be irregular and infrequent, but they will still come, probably more frequently than once a month.
- October 17, 2003
- Eldritch's Hoard: Alone
Friday, October 17, 2003
Sorry, didn't work on Iridescent Dreams at all today. I offer this feeble attempt at a peace offering instead. I'll probably write the text that goes along with it over break. But that's all for now. I'm done for now. Back on the 26th. Farewell! [EDIT: Has anyone else noticed I'm having trouble keeping dates straight? Sure, it's fixed now...]
Thursday, October 16, 2003
I apologize for the lack of updates the past couple of days. Tuesday I was too overloaded to write Iridia during the day and collapsed directly into bed after my night class. Last night I was going to write after a short nap which ended with a new installment in a sequence of nightmares that I thought had ended some time ago. I'm still a bit spooked as I write this and am desperately trying to contact Valian. My Thursday, however, is vacant, and I'll have plenty of time to catch up and offer three pages for Friday. I could just skip the back pages, but next week is Fall Break and I'm not going to be updating at all, so I figure I should at least offer a full week before hand.
Damn it, Valian, where are you?
- October 14, 2003
- Iridescent Dreams: Chapter 6-7
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
It came to my attention when I went to update today that Iridescent Dreams didn't get posted properly yesterday. I apologize. It's totally my fault. The problem has been corrected, and you can access yesterday's installment directly from the update box above. Today's installment is also available as usual. As for the story itself, I think I can pretty safely say that you didn't see this coming.
- October 13, 2003
- Iridescent Dreams: Chapter 6-6
- Eldritch's Hoard: Logo
Monday, October 13, 2003
As much as I may not like it, I'm pushing back Whispers of Change again. I've spent most of my weekend trying to finish a story that's due for my writing class on Tuesday, and I figure that the fiction I'm actually getting graded on is more important than the fiction I do for fun. But don't worry; Trophy Room will probably be available for you to read Wednesday or Friday next week, after it gets workshopped by my classmates and I have time to revise it. And this will give me time to actually collaborate with Valian on Whispers of Change. I know he's been looking forward to writing again.
You may also have noticed a slight alteration in my news icon. The change is permanent. Details can be found on the Logo page of the newly dubbed Eldritch's Hoard.
- October 9, 2003
- Iridescent Dreams: Chapter 6-4
Thursday, October 9, 2003
This really isn't a news update, persay, but since not much else is going on, I figured I may as well use this space to say something. Not that I really even have all that much to say. I guess I'd really just like to admit that it feels so good to be writing again. I'd fallen out of the habit after taking the summer off, but now that I've forced myself to sit down every day and work on this stuff (and it is work, mind you), I really do just feel much better in general. I'm also excited about where Iridescent Dreams is going. Big stuff coming up. And new cast members! W00t!
(Ick. My mouth feels dirty now. Must go wash out d00d speak...)
- October 6, 2003
- Iridescent Dreams: Chapter 6-1
- Transferred story archives and Eldritch's Hoard from the old site.
Monday, October 6, 2003
Okay. The archives are now all transferred over into the new layout, so I've closed down the old version of Eldritch Thoughts. There might still be a few bugs floating around this place though, so if something doesn't seem to be working like it should be, or some archive page links to the wrong place, let me know. There was a lot of stuff to change, and I'm sure I didn't get all of it right the first time.
Also, for your perusal today, as you might have noticed, is the start of a new chapter for Iridescent Dreams. The Circle of Scorpion installment obviously is still incomplete, and won't even be considered for completion until next Monday. But that's the way it will be on Mondays from now on, I hope. Iridia will update every weekday, just as it had so long ago, and CoS will become available on Mondays instead of Sundays. Easier on the authors that way.
That's all for now. Feel free to wander around and try to break things.
Late Update
It's come to my attention that every last page on the site returns a JavaScript error. And since it's an error that seems to make it so I can't view the source of any given page, it's difficult to get at it to try and fix it. However, I have a good idea of what the problem is. See, Tripod adds all this extra code to any given page so that their banner ads will show up. On the old site, every page had two banners, one at the top and one at the bottom. It seems that either some of my scripting or my counter's scripting is interfering with the code Tripod uses to place a banner ad at the bottom of the page. So any errors you see are theirs, not mine. And it's actually an error that saves you from a banner ad. I almost wish I could take credit for it.
- October 3, 2003
- Iridescent Dreams: Interlude
- New layout for Eldritch Thoughts released!
Friday, October 3, 2003
Looklooklooklooklook! It's done! The pages are set up, the layout is finished, and everything is all set for the launch of the new site.
Or I could actually be honest and admit that basically that entire last paragraph is a pack of brazen lies. The basic layout and template for pages is done, so I could make a token offering of the new site, but that's about it. None of the archives have been transferred over, and much of the site is contained in said archives. So basically you can access the most recent installment of any given story and the front page of the various other sections. But it's a start. If you want to get to anything else, use the temporary link in the update box above.
And no, Whispers of Change still isn't done. I've spent all my free time this week working on what you see here. [He lies! It was the translated copies of Dragon Warriors 5 and 6 that he spent all his free time on!] You may, however, have noticed the addition to the navigation bar or the other item listed in the update box. I figured I may as well offer something...
092603
The first order of business is to make it perfectly clear to everyone that I hate school; the work, early class, all of it gets on my nerves. Just thought I would share with all of you.
Secondly, I have sketched out some pictures of Valian, his sword, and Scorpion's weapon. I shall try to have those posted here in the next couple of days. Along those same lines I will try my best to work out some time in my ever so busy life so my comrade and I can start writing CoS more consistently.
Lastly, I would like to, once again, reiterate that I have a severe dislike of school and anything associated with it. I think that takes care of all my business for now. But, I do have class in the morning, we shall see if I go this time.
Friday, September 26, 2003Okay, so Whispers of Change still isn't done yet, but I do have things to report. Valian, who was more or less MIA the past week, finally showed back up. And he brought peace offerings with him.
As before, clicking the image will bring up the full-size .jpg image. This particular image was drawn in pencil by none other than Valian himself, then I went back and colored it. Note that when you color a white tiger, it's still in black and white. We still have the original pencil drawing around somewhere, but I'll let Valian mess with it. I like my colorized version better. So there. I also went in and added this image to Valian's Den in a manner similar to what I have set up in my Hoard. He doesn't know this as of update time, but he knows how to change it if he doesn't like it.
Not only did he do this impressive drawing of Valian, he sketched the emblem weapons wielded by Drake and Lee. These, however, were both rejected by me, and are undergoing revision. Hopefully they'll be available soon.
Anyway, since most of our artwork is done and Valian assures me that he's going to try and be available, we should have time to actually get back to work on Circle of Scorpion. Of course, since I'll be away from any computers for much of this weekend, I'm not going to commit us to any more than finishing Whispers of Change. Next week we can spend time looking at what needs to be done and finally get back to work on writing. I'm really looking forward to it.
In other news, rumors persist that Scorpion, having cancelled Iridescent Dreams, is getting restless and may plan to ressurect this story. Details are still sketchy at this time, and the author refused to give comments one way or the other.
091703
Ok, enough of that terrible rendition of Valian. Any comments and such regarding that picture will be quickly destroyed and the sender will be hunted down. But, just for fun, I will leave the caption of this section as it is. *looks around and unpacks a little more* Well, it is certainly good to finally be in the process of moving. I have my cozy space and my ideas to toss down onto paper, or cyberspace or wherever it's going.
Next, I do have a separate email address if you have any comments or questions for me. It is listed in the contact list. However, please continue to send all hate mail to the same address. He likes it, trust me.
Finally, as it is late and this is a very short update, I would like to share something with you all. I hope you enjoy it.
Scorpion's true colors - [Link removed for the protection of the innocent. --Editor]
Wednesday, September 17, 2003Valian's moved in finally, and though I might take offense at his choice of artwork, it is his space, and I do deserve it. (For those of you who missed it, you can find my chosen rendition of Valian here [Link removed for the protection of the innocent. --Editor], which complements his choice of rendition for me nicely.) [Edit: I also changed the name of the Other Writings section to Scorpion's Hoard to keep the authorship of both sections perfectly clear.]
Also, in case you haven't noticed, I didn't have a chance to finish Circle of Scorpion, and actually have yet to do so. I'd actually be remarkably overjoyed if I got to use my free time for anything besides sleeping. I could stop sleeping, I guess. Anyway, right now, it looks as though the rest of the story will be available next Monday. Without the new site layout.
Damn...
Monday, September 15, 2003
Work progresses on the new site layout. I hope very much to have it finished by next Monday. So enjoy this horribly broken layout while you can. And in the meantime, check out Valian's new space. I've opened it up for him and given him access to edit it, so if it's still empty come update, you can blame him. [Edit: There wasn't anything there at update, so I filled it in an attempt to... entice him to get to work.]
And about Circle of Scorpion. I had gotten an early start on it during the week, since my workload was rather light, but had planned to have the weekend available to me to finish and polish it. However, my literature professor, who never gave an actual schedule of what we're supposed to have read when, mentioned in class that he expected us to have next week's novel finished by today, since we had discussed a movie last week and didn't have any reading to do at all. Like I said, light workload. I wasn't overly concerned about this, since the book we had to read was relatively slim: less than 300 pages, nothing for a weekend's worth of reading.
Little did I realize what horrors lurked in wait for me. I quickly realized that it didn't matter how many pages A Voyage to Arcturus had, it was still the longest, hardest, and all-around most evil book I've ever read. Those who've read it will understand. Those who haven't, let me try to explain. It's like you want to accept it as nonsense for nonsense's sake, but you know it's not nonsense, so you dig deeper to try and find meaning, and all you're left with is handfuls of more nonsense. I have yet to finish the book and am fervently hoping that there's something at the end to make sense of it all.
That said, today's Circle of Scorpion isn't finished. I've posted what I do have done, but it's going to feel even more truncated that last week's "To Be Continued..." type ending. I'm hoping to get back to it sometime this afternoon and have it finished up for tomorrow. My Mondays pretty consistantly smack me around and leave me begging for mercy without having extra work, but I'll have it done. So help me, it will be done. So come back tomorrow for the conclusion to the season premiere of Circle of Scorpion.
Monday, September 8, 2003
I left last Friday's news update below this one in case anybody missed it because it's kind of important.
E-mail continues to trickle into my account from last week. Lycos Mail assures all of its users that all mail will be delivered by tomorrow, so if you sent something and I haven't responded, it's highly likely that I haven't actually received it yet. Be patient. There's nothing I can do.
Iridescent Dreams is going on hiatus. I'm not going to go so far as cancelling it entirely, but I'm not going to stress myself out by trying to work on it on top of everything else I'm doing at the moment. What else am I doing? I'm glad you asked.
I've finally gotten fed up with using Tripod's Site Builder to keep this place up-to-date. As such, I have to redesign this place from the ground up all on my lonesome. Fortunately, I have some experience with this and I'm a quick learner in general. The problem isn't so much getting it to look like I want as it is figuring out how I want it to look. So the next week or two are going to be spent completely overhauling this place. Stay tuned for new designs.
Since I'm going to be moving everything around anyway, I've offered my coauthor, Ross, space here, and he has graciously accepted it. So there will be a new area going up around here sometime soon for his own personal work. I'll probably end up doing most of the code/HTML for his stuff too, but that's okay, because his current site just sucks. In addition, rather than going by our own names, we've decided--okay, I've decided--that we'll be using personas just like the rest of the Internet, and since Scorpion and Valian were our names before they were Drake's and Lee's, we'll be using those.
Speaking of Scorpion and Valian, I performed a little experiment over the weekend in the time that I wasn't slaving over today's--or last Sunday's--Circle of Scorpion installment. I pulled out my trusty pad of Post-It notes and began to doodle Scorpion just to prove to myself that I was justified in considering myself a totally inept artist. To my dismay, my experiement uncovered that my assumption was, in large part, totally unfounded.
Clicking that picture will let you see a full size .jpg of the same image. Of course, full size is all relative. In real life, the thing fits on a 3"x3" Post-It note. Anyway, fool that I am, I showed that to Ross... er, Valian, and he decided he wanted me to try my hand at a portrait of him. I'm leery of the assignment, since I'm still convinced on a spiritual level that I cannot draw, but we'll see how it goes.
And you'll probably see next Monday, which is when I've decided to update this place for a while. So Circle of Scorpion will come on Mondays, news blurbs will come on Mondays, radical changes to design and layout will come on Mondays, and so on. So if you're coming here today, rest assured that you won't see anything new until a week from now, which would be.... Right! Monday! This may change--on a Monday!--sometime in the future once things begin to settle down. But for now, just assume that anything new will come on a Monday.
I think that's everything. If not, it'll wait until next Monday. So until next Monday, farewell.
Friday, September 5, 2003
Long update today, so bear with me.
For those of you trying to e-mail me, Lycos Mail has been down pretty much all week, so I can't even log in to see how much hate mail people are throwing at me. Although I'm not going to argue that I might deserve it. I don't even have a good excuse, really. I have the kick-off installment of Circle of Scorpion sitting half-written on my hard drive and a complete mental plan of where it needs to go and what needs to happen. Maybe part of me just doesn't want those things to happen. You'll probably understand when it finally gets posted.
In other news, I haven't totally been squandering my time procrastinating, though most of it has just been lost. Eldritch Thoughts is growing far larger than I had expected it to, even though I expected to house a lot of writing here. The problem is I really didn't appreciate just how many pages that amount of writing would take up. What this boils down to is that any updates that require changes to every page involve massive amounts of time that I not only don't want to spend, I will actively resist spending. So I'm looking into options for new site layouts and such. I'm also toying with the idea of opening a forum, but I'm not sure if there are enough of you to make it worthwhile. If anybody has any suggestions or related experience, let me know at eldritch05@lycos.com, because they assure me that it will be available today at noon (just like they said it would be available at noon yesterday... and the day before...) [Edit: Oh look! It got pushed back to 6 PM. Imagine that!]
Not only am I soliciting the services of a web designer, I'm trying to track down an artist. I work with words, see? I'm remarkably creative, but I can't create artwork worth anything. It might just be that my standards are too high, but that's the way it is. I know what I want it to look like in my head, but I have no skills to transfer that image onto paper. As an image, anyway. I can describe it very well. Which just makes me remarkably picky. Anyway, I've spent a good deal of time poring through the collections at Elfwood looking for anything that vaguely resembles what Scorpion looks like, and my efforts have come to naught. So if anybody wants to try their hand at drawing Scorpion as I've described him or knows somebody who would, I would so incredibly appreciate it. And actually, if I could get Drake standing in the same pose, that would be even more fantastic. I'm sure Ross would love to get something similar of his own precious Lee/Valian, but I'll leave that to him. ... Great. Now I'm advocating opening a fanart section. Even more pages to update.
*shuffles some pages* Next item of business. I'm seriously considering discontinuing Iridescent Dreams. And there are currently no plans to replace it with anything if I do indeed scrap it. You're welcome to scream at me as much as you want, but I can't guarantee that it will help at all. Not that I honestly expect this to stop you from trying. But that's what it is.
Ummm.... what next? *glances back at his notes* Ah yes. I hate school. A lot.
And in closing, I'd just like to wish myself a happy 21st birthday today. First person who sends me alcoholic presents will receive a free gift invovling the opening of their carotid artery... through their stomach.
That is all. Have a nice day.