Ah… it’s rum and eggnog season! We finally had our great, huge — too huge, and problematic, tree taken down. Too close to the house, too big, and still growing! So we were at last able to put up our outside lights! I did NOT fall out of a tree whilst stringing red and blue LEDs all through it. I *might* have done a bit of shopping on Santa’s behalf the other day, but I won’t burden him with it: I’ll use Canada Post. And we attended a virtual party on the weekend. Those are great because we don’t have to decide who’s the designated driver.
So this week’s episode of the podcast https://totallyfantastictitle.podbean.com/e/33-gatekeepers-deception-10-what-have-you-done-now/ was based on a painting.
I went with my mum to an art show put on by the Burnaby Artists’s guild. We walked up and down the aisles looking at all the racks, hung top to bottom with beautiful paintings and drawings and multi-media pieces, amazing art created by local talent. The piece that caught my eye was a very small watercolour painting, only about 3 x 4″ called Tunnel Vision by Jane Appleby — please look her up, her work is beautiful, lots of nature scenes, and she tends toward colours I like. So this piece caught my eye, and it is just as I describe it in the chapter: the trees are of multiple colours and they sweep overhead in an arch that looks like a rounded tunnel, and I just stood there and stared at this little painting for ages. And I knew I would write about it in my book. I was writing Book Two at the time, as yet untitled, and I had no idea how this tunnel through the trees would fit in the story.
I started writing, describing the voice Kyer heard in her head, and the horses stopping, Kyer going back to find the entrance to the tunnel, Derry being pissed off that she stopped. I wrote it, Jesqellan volunteering to go with her, the trouble they had stepping on the smooth, wet surface, and I had absolutely no idea what they would find at the other end of the tunnel. I kid you not that when the two of them arrived at that clearing, it was covered in mist and I had NO IDEA what was in there. Kyer stepped forward, Jesqellan warned her to stay back, he did his little detect magic spell, then she carried on and when that mist circled upward into the trees, the hairs on my back stood on end. I experienced that scene exactly the same way Kyer did, and when she found that sword, I knew it was the right choice for her to take it. I had no clue what it was, who the dead warrior was, nor if the sword would be significant in any way. In fact I was kind of disappointed that it probably meant she would no longer use Brendow’s sword.
I won’t say anything more about her new weapon at the moment, but now you know that her sword was just as much a mystery to me as it is to Kyer.
Look up Jane Appleby, artist, to see her work, and support your own local artists in your area! https://janeappleby.com
As for me, I would love it if you supported my art by listening to, and liking and sharing my podcast! Drop a kind review of Gatekeeper’s Key on Goodreads…https://www.goodreads.com Honestly, reviews REALLY help authors.
Gatekeeper’s Key is available, in audio only, on lots of platforms including Chirp, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play and others. NOT Audible.
https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/gatekeeper-s-key-by-krista-wallace
https://books.apple.com/ca/audiobook/gatekeepers-key/id1533520773
https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/audiobook/gatekeeper-s-key
https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Krista_Wallace_Gatekeeper_s_Key?id=AQAAAECcmgnahM
Oh look! A rum and eggnog. Cheers!