The New Portal of Light URL

Jack Shepherd, co-author of Realmwalkers, has changed the location of his Portal of Light blog mentioned in the Dedication Page of our novel.  Please make a note as needed that his blog is now...


The Portal of Light: Potential Realities

Archaic Words of the Day

I hope to kick off the sharing of some of these words with three of the most commonly used in Tiaera. As many of you who have read Realmwalkers and other writings in the past, I like using words that are considered archaic - meaning that they are very old and rarely ever used anymore. When I began writing fantasy fiction years ago, I learned that English or Old English became known as Common in Middle Earth and D&D worlds. This makes it possible for various races and peoples to be able to communicate. Universal Communicators were not yet invented like the ones used in Star Trek. So aside from the elves speaking their elvish and the dwarves speak their dwarvish, etc... almost all in such fantasy worlds grew up to speak some Common (or universal language). Those of you who enjoy writing historical fiction/non-fiction might find these archaic word posts useful in order to give that Old World feel to your stories. I welcome any comments from you.

According to a WOW wikia: "Common is derived from the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game. In that game, the Common tongue is a lingua franca, or a universal language, spoken natively by humans and bilingually by other races. The concept is derived from Westron, the "common tongue" of Tolkien's Middle Earth, hence the name. It is the language of humans, halflings, half-elves, and half-orcs . The Common tongue also has great hints of the Icelandic tongue."

When John and I began RPing and writing stories, I started doing more research about archaic words and I find them very fascinating. I recognized many words from the King James Bible. But I wanted Realmwalkers to be easy to read while incorporating words that the Tiaerans spoke whenever they used Common. I tried to use words that were used before the 15th century, the earlier the better.  I usually checked such words with the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

So here are few words to start us out today.

Afore = Before  
chiefly dialect
Middle English, from Old English onforan, from on + foran before — more at before
First Known Use: before 12th century

Aught = Anything, all, everything, at all
Middle English, from Old English āwiht, from ā ever + wiht creature, thing — more at aye, wight
First Known Use: before 12th century

Beseech = To beg earnestly, to implore
Middle English besechen, from be- + sechen to seek
First Known Use: 12th century


Blog Interview & Hastings Book Signing

Hello friends!

It's been a very busy month with several book signings in the area. The next one is at Hastings Books, Videos and Music next Saturday from 11 - 3PM. This is the Lake Havasu Store located at 321 Lake Havasu Ave. N.  (928) 680-7272. I will be signing copies of Realmwalkers and promoting my new ebook, The Priestess and the Ravenknight. Stop by to visit with me, ask questions and get out of hot mid-day heat at Hastings this Saturday. Is it summer already? Really? What happened to spring?  Hahah!!



I have also been invited to Virginia Nelson's Guardian's Hangout blog when she posted an author's interview about me. If you wish to see it click here: Guardian's Hangout  I hope you find it interesting and inspiring. Virginia also resides in Arizona. Maybe one day we can meet in person. She seems like a very busy lady and is currently doing a blog hop this month.

Keep on writing and stay in touch!