Character Introductions for Elysian Fields - October 11, 2024
Character Introductions for Elysian Fields- October 11, 2024
Dear Reader,
As many of you know, I usually write the weekend post a few days early. As I stare down another oncoming hurricane, I'm writing this post on Sunday morning. I live in the first evacuation zone, and we don't report for work on Monday, so I better set things up to be prepared to leave. That means crafting the upcoming post with the idea I may not have power or internet service. If you follow me on Substack notes, I'll post updates as I'm able.
Y'all, I'm not enjoying the hurricane season in Florida. Maybe I'm getting old. Maybe it's because I lack the funds to have someone else batten down the hatches. Or perhaps it's the stress and anxiety of fleeing to save one's life while knowing everything could be a loss with no tiny beach trailer to return to.
The story of how I wound up here is worthy of an indie film. To keep it short, I needed a job after Covid, and the student loans had a possibility of being paid off, so here I am in Florida. Working in Florida as a school teacher isn't any better than working anywhere in America as a public servant. It's beyond expensive to live here with the almost lowest pay for teachers in the entire country.
I know you come here for the dream stories, but what happens in the real world affects those stories. And that leads us back to why I'm writing this post early and what I wanted to share before the hurricane hijacked my post. Allow me to introduce the characters from Elysian Fields, volume 4 in the Lyons Gate Miniseries.
Meet the Gryphons
Jacques Renault (left) and Edouard Toussaint (right), identified as potential gryphon shifters in their youth, were both abducted from their families in France at fourteen, forced into the illegal sex-slave trade, and poisoned to force their shift 25 years earlier than its natural occurrence.
By the time Leo Carzoli (a wardog shifter and druid king) rescues them from one of Peter Elliot’s horror houses, the two young men are almost twenty-one, fully gryphon shifters, and so tortured and broken Lazlo Greyson (the Lyons Gate ghost high king) fears they may never assimilate into society, even if they remain sheltered at Draoithe.
Eternity looks bleak until Luke asks Marchand D'Aragon (the gryphon shifter lead ambassador for Draoithe) to add them to the embassy as emissary concierges. Marchand gives the two a mission: Aid the gazelle princesses while they discuss an alliance between Draoithe and the Elysian Fields. Should an alliance agreement be forthcoming, the assignment could be a permanent one.
Meet the Gazelles
Elysian Fields isn't an afterlife of plenty the way old Roman mythology suggests. Rather, it's a grassland matriarchal realm in the Ainglean, ruled by the gazelle shifters. Does of prominence and high rank often maintain harems of men as a sign of their status.
When Queen Muriel learns of a new magical kingdom in the Leaindeail fighting the imbalance of magic, she seeks a potential alliance with Draoithe. She seizes an opportunity from the Council of Grass to send emissaries following the ancient laws and threatens a war with the white dragons if her hand-picked newly made princesses can’t cross into the Leaindeail.
Delilah and Rowena have an opportunity few does ever receive. They take on an ambassadorial spy mission after gaining royal status and sacrificing their lands in the Ainglean, all the while hoping to aid in the balance of magic and save a homeland they may never return to. The prospect of claiming powerful light magic wielding mates from the Leaindeail as part of their mission orders appeals to them enough to chance seeking an alternative path in eternity, serving an outpost shadow realm.
Behind the Scenes with Book Art
When I first began my writing journey, my focus was on the words I needed to get onto the page. Finding my voice as a writer, telling the story I saw on the stage in my mind's eye, was all-encompassing. The passion to write has never left me, but as time passes and more tools become available to tell stories in more ways, I spend a lot more time on cover art and other bookish art concepts.
If you've been following my author journey for a while, or if you chanced looking at old posts, laugh when I remind you I once attempted to publish a manuscript with no cover. I've gone from no book art to many images per tale. I spend hours creating book cover art, then crafting that same art into different formats for many projects.
I don't use AI to write, but I think it's great for story board stuff, cover art, character imagery, scene settings, etc. These are things I could never create myself and lack funds to hire out. None of it's perfect, but it conveys the message rather concisely for my world building and my promotional needs.
I understand the fears many have surrounding the use of AI, but from my perspective, it's nothing more than a super search and a compilation of human created knowledge bases. It can't create anything new, nor can it add to the existing human-generated knowledge base, which we've been building since ancient people first marked cave walls. It only regurgitates what we allow it to access.
Academics will still pursue answers to heretofore unanswered questions in masters and doctoral thesis papers. Researchers will still compile evidence into succinct and logical arguments. Storytellers will still weave fantastic escapes with wild characters and unexpected plot twists to entertain and offer escapes. Artists will still push the boundaries and explore human expression in as many formats as possible.
The difference between what was possible and what is possible with a reduction in the time to accomplish a task is all the difference AI makes. Without the aid of a human mind, AI, like any machine, does nothing.
Should you like to see the latest video posts, please visit OK Videos. Allow me to direct you to OK's Dream Podcast to listen to the serialization of the audiobook, A Pack Forms. I'm going to cut this post short to pack up for the impending evacuation. Please be safe. As always, when you read, I implore you to leave your kind reviews. No matter what the situation, know you are always welcome to the dream...
Be Careful!
Happy Reading,
Ophelia Kee
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Thank you for your support! Welcome to the dream… Sincerely, -OK
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