The end is near ~!

The end of the first book is completed. We are working with some personal editors to ensure all is in order and coming up with ideas to fund our promotion, cover art, etc... We are also looking into asking for a grant to publish our book. Let us see how this goes. It seems like the hardest part is done but so much more is always needed. Since we have no sponsors we are looking into self-publishing and will work on a web site to help us distribute this fantasy epic! We ask for your patience during this process. I will try to update this blog on a weekly basis at the end of each Sunday. Until next time...

Unfinished projects

This is my introduction to this blog, which will be a written

report on the progress of the books that I have been

working on. The first project was the Drink of the Gods

trilogy, the first book The Brothers Jade. I have completed

it in partnership with my brother, Herbert Thomas who

is co-author of this project. My name is Donald Lawrence Thomas,

and I am a writer.

The idea for the Drink of the Gods was my brother, and I hope

that we were able to do it justice. It is an amazing story that was

discussed intensively. I personally think that the kernel of the

original story was created when I wrote a short story called

<<<Andar and the Farmer>>> presented in chapter two,

that I thought might have the potential for a possible book.

The idea was in its infancy, when my brother came to me and

asked him to write the tale of the heroes. Andar was one of the

principal characters in the story, and I had already established the

way that I wanted him to be represented in print. It was not long

before we had a general storyline that we wanted to establish.

Books are written, word by word, page by page. It takes

real determination to keep going at it, even when it would be easier

to take another break, or make another excuse. Things were made

easier because this was a partnership, which meant that the whole

thing was not only on the shoulders of myself, but also the shoulders

of my brother.

I am very proud of my brother, for he has shown a determination

that far exceeded my expectations. Things are much easier for me,

since I can devote more of my time to writing since I am on disability.

He has had to maintain a full time job, while working on the book

when opportunity presented itself.

I had it a little easier for another reason. I had always been known for

writing short stories that were a little too long. A couple of years after

my divorce, I seemed to have a lot of time of my hands,

and wanted to do something constructive. I had always been interested

in the movies, and writing screenplays had always been something

of a dream of mine.

So I sat down at the computer and wrote, and I wrote, and before long

I had finished my first screenplay. It was rough, and the format was

unforgivable, but it was a finished project that I was proud of. I found

that writing screenplays was something that I could do, and that

I needed to hone my craft to the level where it would be acceptable

to my own criticism.

After I had written my sixth screenplay, I decided to take

a serious look at my chances of getting one of my scripts produced.

The prospect of a one in a million chance did not look good.

Undeterred I decided to work on something different,

and that was when I got the idea for my short story starring

Andar Thule.

The thing with the short story about Andar, is that I

never seemed to be able to finish it. I had left it for other projects,

and called that one finished, because the short story itself was

finished, I just felt that there was more story to write. I had

decided that one of the banes of writing was the unfinished project.

Every writer knows the horror of the unfinished project. A

good idea, rough notes put down on paper, but never experienced

in its entirety as a completed project. Everyone has what I call a ten

second idea, but very few can put in

words the very fabric of the reality of that idea.

I am making it sound more complicated then it really is,

but the truth is that good writing takes effort. The mind has to

think out a scene, and put it in thereality of black words

on white paper. It is something that you think over,

even at the last second of actually writing down what

you had decided.The thing is that most writers have

an unfinished project locked away somewhere. I cannot speak for

everyone else, but I personally hate the idea

of the unfinished project.

.

Everyday that I can write is devoted to finishing a project.

I have several projects in the development stage, and I considered

the short story that I wrote to be one of them. It kept coming back

to me, and a month would pass, and then I would leave it again.

It was getting to the point where I was writing

an odd page here or there, but that was it.

Then I took a long look down the horizon at the book

that I wanted to write.It did not take long before I had

started the Chronicles of the Assassin.

I worked diligently on that project for months, and was

in the full swing of the story, when I met with my brother.

We started talking about story ideas for books, and then he

talked to me about his idea for a series of books. They

would detail the adventures of the group from which Andar

had been a member.

It was a good dream, and I was happy to help my

brother fulfill his dream. I loved the characters that he wanted

to use, and was more then happy at the very though of writing

out their adventures. It was then that I left my story

about the assassin on the back burner while we finished

the first book The Brothers Jade concerning our trilogy

- the Drink of the Gods.

You might ask if that short story that I wrote about
Andar Thule, is it in the book? The answer to that is yes and no.
The problem is that a computer mishap occurred and the original
story was lost. The only solution was for me to rewrite the entire story.
This was not so bad, because I could then write it in the context of
the entire story, and not just a brief glimpse.

There are things in this book that will simply amaze you. There is
a large cast of memorable characters. I think that we have a story
that will be well received. It is about this group of people and their
influence on the world around them. The world is full of allies and
enemies, and it is my pleasure helping my brother bring it to print.

The Brothers Jade

E-mails have been sent to various artists to do our cover art.


The Scene:

A gypsy elf is looking into a crystal ball where two brothers are.

The Gypsy Elf- Esmerelda

She is a typical gypsy except elven. Dark hair- tanned, elven ears,
green eyes. Ruby Red lips. Looking into a crystal ball. In the crystal ball are the two brothers. She looks as if in anticipation - like she has been awaiting their coming.


One brother is a short-haired handsome,athletic wizard.
He has brown hair and a goatee. He carries a large rod with iron-tipped ends. The length is five feet. It is made from Goldenleaf's wood. He is a war wizard so many times he is casting explosive magiks and he is quite proficient with the staff-rod.

The second brother is young, bald with a certain 'charisma'. He is
an enchanter and uses his 'mystical arts' to entrance others.
Although rather plain looking dressed in an ornate green robe.
He uses jewels and gestures to accentuate his presence.
He will always carry a jeweled dagger by his side.

They stand back to back as if expecting an attack.

About The World of Mythas

Greetings and Salutations,

I am Herbert 'Joe' Thomas and this is a blog dedicated to the works of myself and my brother- Donald Lawrence Thomas. Currently we are finishing up on our first fantasy novel The Brothers Jade. We currently have over 600 pages complete and we our finishing up the finale. Because there are some of you that were in our gaming group some 20 years ago you will find that this story is loosely based upon our gaming experiences.

We have just attended MidSouthcon 26 and had a thoroughly good time with the authors and gamers there. We appreciate the seminars and all the authors that took a moment of their time to give us those precious gems of insight in how to produce a novel. Special thanks to Selina Rosen from Yard Dog Publishing who was the Toastmaster- we appreciate her taking time out to talk to the fans.

About the Authors:

I am Herbert 'Joe' Thomas. I am an accomplished poet . This is my first novel and I am working on a short story featuring one of my known warriors.It has yet to be published and I may post it here. J.R.R. Tolkien (who I consider the Father of Modern Fantasy), C.S. Lewis, Stephen Donaldson,John Morressy, George Lucas, Stephen King, Dean Koontz,Fritz Lieber and Gary Gygax were all inspirations to me and my work. Also credit must go to Joseph Campbell who inspired me with his idea of the monomyth and the Hero's Journey.

Some twenty-plus years ago when I was in eighth grade in Rock Springs, Wyoming I was introduced into role-playing by Shaun Neilson. I'll never forget my brother's first time playing he was having so much fun he was about to hyperventilate. What we found out was that their was this new game that you would 'role-play' knights,wizard, rangers, rogues, monks and assassins. It was basically the same as 'play pretend' when you were kids where you would imagine you were another person or character and be faced with challenges by another person or dm.

We absolutely fell in love with the game and it even helped us socialize with other teenagers since we were constantly moving from place to place. Not long into our 'initiation' into role-playing we found a huge negativity concerning the game. Our parents tried to throw all of our books away- we rescued them from the trash. People were scared because of the 'outer-planar' creatures and the study of gods and demi-gods. Also certain 'gamers' went 'goth' which took us even more out of the norm. My gaming group constantly was ridiculed because of our affiliations with certain games.

My defense to that is that role-playing is like any other 'artistic tool' it can be used for good or evil or just plain entertainment. Music is a nice parallel- you know of all forms of music and the right song can be mood altering -enhancing or changing your frame of mind. Well role-playing is the same way. It can be used in a positive or negative manner depending on the group and its motives. Personally I believed our group maintained a positive outlook focusing on our own search for the Holy Grail- or exploring Joseph Campbell's monomyth through role-playing.


Out of these sessions came this story that we wanted the public to have a chance to read. My brother and I felt like this was our life's work to put this out to the public. We thoroughly believe in the characters (I will be posting pix of them and a written description on this website), the story and we believe it to be entertaining and we hope you do too.