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| C. Kevin Thompson |
Once upon a land, in a time not so far away, was an author who wrote a story. The words, flowing from the deepest recesses of her mind, bubbled up and poured from her fingers. Soon, those words blended with the page, and they became as one. It was as if they were meant for each other, like two long, lost lovers, embracing once again after so many epochs of separation and loneliness. This story would never have been the same, the author believed, if the words found their way to any other swath of papyrus.
So magnificent were those verses, they began to multiply, and before long, an entire manuscript was formed, crafted, and molded like putty in the hands of an expert potter. The people close to her, stood attentive, admiring the prose, and chanted with one voice, “This must be for all people! Do not keep it to thyself!”
The author pondered their protestations and said, “If it is to be for all people, then who am I to hoard it?” The author packed some food and drink and set sail, traveling many days and nights until she reached the golden city of Lexiconia.
There, she shared her glorious words with one of the members of the royal family of Lexiconia, Lord Printsalot. He too fell into the tome’s spell and vowed to make it known far and wide. Upon his royal decree, his servants worked tirelessly, day and night, and night and day until finally, the author’s words were pressed upon the finest papyrus and bound together in the most luxurious leather in the royal family’s possession.
Couriers were dispatched with royal announcements to all the land, declaring the author’s words to all who would lend an ear to hear. The people of Lexiconia welcomed the story with open arms, and Lord Printsalot charged his subjects with employing the finest artisans currency could buy to not only produce more volumes, but to spread the word even farther and wider, to the neighboring kingdoms of Opus, Folio, and Quarto.
After many months, the author returned to her homeland, summoned by the King of Lexiconia himself, to produce three more volumes by the next spring harvest. If she did so, then the king would command Lord Printsalot to employ artisans from all the land and import even more from the unconquered peoples of Mapultreowleafe. Her name would be known in the annals of time, and she would be tasked with writing until her golden fingers could produce no more.
***
In another part of the world, many years later, where the great snake flows through the thick, forest land, a young tribal prince, dwelling amongst his native ancestors, set sail for Lexiconia. He too had heard the words of the great author. However, his people could not attain those words. The words were only myth and legend, verbal renderings, handed down from generation to generation. Like so many tribal legends, the details changed from one telling to the next. The young prince decided to go and bring the royal words home to his people. He would purchase many volumes and share them openly and graciously with his homeland.However, when the young prince arrived, he was discouraged. The trinkets of his people did not bring a good price in Lexiconia, so he was not able to purchase as many volumes as he had dreamt. Despondent, and a bit perturbed, he sailed back to his homeland. He took one of the volumes he purchased and rewrote it on banana leaves, rolling them together, and tying them with string. He sold the banana leaf volumes in his homeland, and quickly the people demanded that he produce more. The young prince set sail for Coruscatia, and there he met the great Fire King. With his help, he sent warriors beyond the reaches of the thick forest where the great snake flows. Within months, authors from far and wide came with their words, seeking that their words become kindling and written upon banana leaves.
When the King of Lexiconia heard the news, he was furious. Volume requests diminished. Authors, once flooding his palace steps, trickled through his doors. He demoted Lord Printsalot and fired half of the couriers and artisans in his employ because a great famine had swept across the land. Even the great author, with her vast wealth and popularity, had to hire her own couriers and artisans to help spread the word of her volumes far and wide.
It wasn’t long before the King of Lexiconia went to war with the young prince, who had risen to a kingly status in his own land and became known as King Tarragon.
The wars still wages, even today, my children.
Even today.
Epilogue: Just in case you were wondering…Banana leaves and string are now being used, even in Lexiconia. Most authors, like the great author, now regularly employ their own couriers and artisans, depleting their own coffers.
And Lord Printsalot, a once noble member of the royal family of Lexiconia, is presently an alpaca salesman in the land where the great snake flows. Known now as “Big Al’s Paca Direct,” I hear he will bring your alpaca to you for free before the moon turns full, if you make your purchase with the coins stamped with the image of King Tarragon.
Once upon a land, in a time not so far away, was an author who wrote a story. #seriouslywrite #encouragementforwriters via @CKevinThompson
The Letters
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| The Letters |
THE WORLD IS A CRAZY PLACE
WHEN THE LIVING ARE DEAD
AND THE DEAD ARE ALIVE.
Rachel Hamar—a Manhattan bank teller—lives nothing close to a Manhattan lifestyle. Residing in Washington Heights, NY, the only thing keeping her in The Big Apple is her mother—a long-time patient in a local psychiatric hospital. It’s December 2014 and the twentieth anniversary of her high school sweetheart’s tragic death. She’s not sure how much more heartache she can endure, especially after being told earlier in the day she no longer has a job at the bank. A casualty of downsizing.
In the midst of spiraling depression, Rachel receives a mysterious letter in the mail. When she opens it, she becomes cautious and skeptical of its contents and discards it as a mistake, concluding it’s simply addressed incorrectly or a postal worker’s faux pas in the midst of a busy Christmas season. But another letter arrives the next day. And another the day after that. Before long, she is in possession of several letters. Each one more puzzling than the last.
Thinking that someone may be playing a cruel game, she contacts the police, and this propels Rachel and the two detectives into one of the most bizarre cases they’ve ever encountered. Is it a friend’s cruel joke? Is it some stalker’s perverse idea of manipulation? Or is it something more?
C. KEVIN THOMPSON is a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a kid at heart. Often referred to as “crazy” by his grandchildren, it’s only because he is. He’s a writer. Need he say more?
The second edition of his award-winning debut novel, The Serpent’s Grasp, is now available! The first four books of his Blake Meyer Thriller series are out as well. Book 1, 30 Days Hath Revenge, Book 2, Triple Time, Book 3, The Tide of Times, and Book 4, When the Clock Strikes Fourteen, are now available! Book 5, A Pulse of Time, is coming Memorial Day 2020! And, his newest standalone novel, The Letters, is now available in both e-book and paperback!
Kevin is a huge fan of the TV series 24, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, NCIS, Criminal Minds, BBC shows Broadchurch, Shetland, Hinterland, and Wallander, loves anything to do with Star Trek, and is a Sherlock Holmes fanatic too. But you will never catch him wearing a deerstalker. Ever.
Website: www.ckevinthompson.com/
Kevin’s Writer’s Blog: www.ckevinthompson.blogspot.com/
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