Cary J. Lenehan | Public figure
Cary J. Lenehan
Phone: +61 417 015 558
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25.01.2022 I am very pleased to show the cover of my fifth book of the Warriors of Vhast series, 'Gathering the Strands'. We don't have a launch date yet, but Catherine (the artist) has managed to create five very different covers over the series. This one shows Princess Rani sitting in her study in Mousehole and looking at her Tarot before making a major decision. It looks like Stefan is on watch and two people are on saddles flying in the distance.
25.01.2022 The blog for this week is up. In it I ramble a bit but it is primarily about the need to keep track of any world that you create (as a writer or a gamer) and what I am doing about this. Basically I am talking about why I felt it necessary to create the Encyclopaedia Vhastica and give a couple of examples of entries.
24.01.2022 The Blog for this week is now available through both the website and as a freebie on Patreon. Please leave a like note if you read it on Patreon (it helps site prominence). In it I revisit creating a character and look at it in a little more detail. It is a little longer than usual (sorry). The examples I use are from the next set of stories to come out on Patreon and look back at the history of Vhast. You may have noticed references to the war between Darkreach and the West in the books and a battle (a really big one) at Evilhalt. You may even have noticed that Thord comes from Kharlsbane. These stories start to tell what really happened instead of the legends that have passed down for over 3,000 years.
22.01.2022 The blog for the week is up. I talk about death on the battlefield, well actually after the battle - which is far more deadly for many.
21.01.2022 The blog for this week is up. I talk about archery. I had intended to talk about more than I did, but it is a topic that eats up words. There may (will) be several more posts on the topic. It has been a big month. I finished last month with over 35,000 words written in completing Book 8, writing 3 short stories, blogs, and additions to the book of life, recipes, tarot, and all of the rest. A new month starts when Patreon goes out. I figured that this month would be quieter, b...ut we went out to dinner the other night as a celebration and, while we were sitting in the Chinese restaurant there was a traditional painting of the Five Gorges are on the wall. Yesterday I was sitting around for a while, firstly while giving blood and secondly while waiting for my wife in a doctor's appointment. I wrote 2,700 words of a short story (well this one won;t be very short and will probably have 3 parts). It is a murder mystery set in the Chin Empire in the mountains. Up around 5,000 words for the month already. This is the morning of the fourth day.
21.01.2022 Blog post (on archery) is up for the week. I have decided to also put these posts up on Patreon for viewing by the public and also put it up there as well as the first blog post. I will add an update post there each week as well as the new one.
19.01.2022 I was just asked how to save the weekly blog post with the image attached. The simple way to do this is from the Patreon page, rather than the website. After you have read the website (please still visit this for the page hits), go to my Patreon site (link below). On this I am placing all of the blogs (both current and one from the past until I catch up) as pdfs. They are available to the public as free posts.... https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3009225
19.01.2022 Patreon is up and posted for August. It is an exciting month and a big one. The Patreon subscribers get a sneak peak into the future and there are extras in the Book of Life (Hill Giants, Mummies, Ghosts, Gangrene, Red Terror, and Reveur). The recipe is a simple and very popular one that I need to start making a lot more of (hummus), the character is from the story and, finally, I produce a map of Sharan (or Haven to the people not from that land). I am quite pleased with it and it was not easy to do (for a variety of reasons). It is not too late to subscribe.
18.01.2022 Hi, I have sent off the ideas for a cover illustration for Gathering the Strands, the fifth book of the series to IFWG (my publisher). I am eagerly waiting seeing what my cover artist comes back with this time. I have given four options and they are all very, very different to each other.
17.01.2022 The latest blog post is up for perusal. Again I urge people to please comment or, if reading it through the Patreon site, rate it. This is a great help. It concerns plants and how I have used them (and perhaps others might like to use them) to build a world either for gaming or for writing.
15.01.2022 I have started compiling an Encyclopaedia of Vhast. It contains (in 4 sections: people, places, gaming, and other) sort pieces, sometimes only a line of two about anything or anyone that gets a mention in a book or a story or is needed for gaming on Vhast. At least that is the hope. At the moment it has about five stories covered and that is it. It is up to about 25,000 words. It does not have the detail that the Patreon posts have. For instance the plants have about 2 lines and a small version of the drawing (if it exists) and the towns have the intro section and about an A7 of the plan of the village/town/area. One day I hope there will be a reader who has the skills to do a Vhastopaedia with it. In the meantime, I am open to suggestions on how to put it out.
11.01.2022 Patreon posts made for September. All up for August there were 11,346 words added to the total work. A lot more were written, but I lost over 5,000 from the completion work on my last book. I will get back to that soon. The place is Camelback (and comes with an additional island map). This is all important in stories and books, although the village (so far) is not visited. The recipe is Cold Pork Pies (delicious). The person is Suhe Gerel, a character in an earlier story and... an ancestor of Hulagu. The Tarot is the Three of Talents. We only have a couple of the Talents cards to finish that entire suite. The story is the finish of Rousing. It contains spoilers for book 5, Gathering the Strands, which will be out soon. Lastly the Book of Life has Trolls, Tuna, Strangler Vine, and Frotir (a healing herb) as well as notes on the effects of allergies. It is not too late to subscribe for the month and get all this and all the back issues. Don't forget to leave comments etc on the Patreon page please.
08.01.2022 The blog for this week is now up on the website and free through Patreon. In it I talk about the training and quality of soldiers as we see them in battles in stories, films, and games. It is the second post dealing specifically with battles.
05.01.2022 Patreon for the month is up and available. This month we have Cloud Giants, rare but still the second most common. We look at various species of the 'Dropbear' as they are seen around Vhast. We look at a harmless marsupial the Anagalid with species found on three continents and we look at one of the Poaceae (grasses), and its most common genus, the Tussock Grass. Lemon Mead is a simple and tasty way to start your adventures in brewing.... Cadmas Nalmetos One of the two main characters in the story coming out over the next two months. The Stand of the Eighth Etraria This story goes way back in the history of The Land, over 3,000 years. In it you will learn that the stories that the people in the West learnt about their history are not necessarily accurate. Of course pre-covid my fifth book was supposed to be coming out now, so you (like our last story) find out a few things that others only read about in that. The blog that came out this week may also be useful to look at, for people who are not necessarily fully up to date with fantasy and medieval armies (not essential, but just for those who want some background to go with the tale). Chater: This large village in Freehold receives a mention in a couple of places, but (so far) is never visited in books or stories. It is very much modeled on some of the villages of the Massif Centrale of France. The Tarot for the month is XXI The World and it is seen in Gathering the Strands (Book 5).
04.01.2022 Lots of upheaval in the family, but still working on. I hope to have all of Patreon out on time.
03.01.2022 1,900 words of blog written yesterday (posted now and dealing with the food pyramid). Why do I feel like I have gotten so little done? This week I will be trying to finish off Book 8. So near and yet so far.
01.01.2022 The Patreon posts are posted for this month. The recipe is Curried Scallops. These are one of my favourite foods and the conditions in parts of Darkreach are ideal for the shellfish to prosper. The town is Oldike, a Dwarven settlement that has been mentioned previously in books, but gets visited in 'Gathering the Strands'. Tarot is 6 of Swords, and is one of the best so far (OK I am biased). The story finishes 'The Stand of the Eighth Etraria' and shows some of the real histo...ry of Vhast (which is not what some of the characters in the books believe is true). The character Kassiopeia Trythera is in the stories. The Book of life shows a marine reptile, a vicious plant, a harmless bird and two similar but different lichens (do not confuse them). In other news, I have the proof of the cover for 'Gathering the Strands'. It continues the theme of each cover covering something very different and shows ... no you can wait. I am pleased with it. Of course this is the end of the month and this month I have written in stories, books, or other material, 104,925 words. 92,000 has been in the developing Encyclopaedia Vhastica (a couple of draft entries form this appear with this month's character sheet). Now I get to start again. Total work done is about 2.1 million words.
