Blaine D. Arden here with the opening post for my The Forester II: Lost and Found blog tour! Join me in celebrating and be sure to read to the bottom. There’s a mini-competition I’d love for you all to participate in!
When I was a wee one, I spent a lot of my time daydreaming, and I don’t think I ever stopped doing that. Only, now, my daydreaming mostly consists of me making up worlds for my characters to play in and for others to enjoy. Sometimes I’m not even sure I’m from this world.
This world is fast, full of technology, and we always seem to be on our way to one thing or another. Of course, there are times I have to be surgically removed from my laptop, desktop, and smart phone, but they are more or less necessities of my writing. That said, should I ever survive an apocalypse, I’m sure I’d adjust to writing on cave walls or paper again. Us humans are an adaptable lot, after all.
One of the worlds I like to spend my days in is my forest world. There are no cell phones in the Forest, no cars, planes, or electricity. No money, either. The forest tribes are self-sufficient and provide for all their elves. The harvest is evenly divided, as are the hunters’ catches. A carpenter will make a cabinet for a new tunic or a nice dress for his vowed. I can’t help it, I love the idea of bartering, of helping each other out, and I can just imagine Taruif, one of the main characters in The Forester Trilogy, making me a lovely attic room in my favorite tree where I can write.
Now, I can’t promise that life in the forest is more evenly paced, easier, or quieter, and I’m not saying the small forest communities are perfect. Every tribe has its own problems, from strife between neighbors to common thieves, and even the occasional murder. Not to mention the chance of a ruined harvest or disease among the villagers or the animals they hunt. The tribes can also be quite isolated, other villages are often at least a week’s walk away.
But… it’s certainly a change of pace, and sometimes all we want is a change of environment.
Today, you can all be whoever you want to be, from winged hunter to a wingless baker. You can experience living in the forest’s gorgeous tree-houses and sit in the center, chatting, eating, and drinking with the rest of the tribe. So… who would you want to be?
Feel free to choose from the lists below by picking whatever catches your eye, or if you’re more of a gambling person, throw some dice and see what that brings you.
Because I still need to sort out some of the characters within my current work in progress, I’ll randomly choose one commenter’s Elf for a (small) role in Part Three of The Forester Trilogy, after the blog tour has finished.
1: wings or no wings:
In the forest, there are two species: the winged cloud elves (dice: 1,3,5), or the grounded tree elves (dice: 2,4,6). Choose one, or throw your dice.
2: How to earn our keep in the village:
For that, we obviously need a job, don’t we? Now, since this tribe already has a Guide, a Truth Seeker, and a Forester, those jobs are unavailable at this point. Furthermore, while there can be a little overlap, some jobs are mostly performed by one species of elf. Something to do with different species having different abilities.
Choices for a Tree Elf |
Choices for a Cloud Elf |
1. Smith |
2. Healer |
3. Farmer |
4. Bone Carver |
5. Hunter |
6. Baker |
1. Herder |
2. Messenger |
3. Hunter |
4. Healer |
5. Baker |
6. Bone Carver |
3: We also need fitting Forest names, of course:
1. Kore
2. Roan
3. Vide
4. Guur
5. Ocer
6. Remza
4: Last, but certainly not least, feel free to choose gender and sexuality. No dice, this time. Choose any combination you like:
Male, Female, Trans*, Gender Queer, Asexual, Straight, Gay, Lesbian, Pansexual, Bisexual, and any term I’ve not mentioned. It’s really whatever you feel fits best.
One final note: You can of course make up your own name or profession… but I’ll have to check it against my list of Forest characters to see if I can use it.
Enjoy the game and remember to comment with your results!
*****
The Forester II: Lost and Found – Now Available for just $3.99!
“The Guide mentioned puddles, but I envisioned lakes, deep treacherous lakes, and I was drowning.”
One turn has passed, another Solstice is just around the corner, and having an illicit affair with not one but two lovers—smith Ianys and shunned Forester Taruif—is taking its toll on Truth Seeker Kelnaht.
If it isn’t sneaking around to find some quality time with his lovers, it’s heavy rainfall hiding traces of a missing stripling, or waiting for the elders to decide whether or not to set Taruif free.
And if that’s not enough, Kelnaht fears that in gaining one lover, he might be losing another, as Ianys seems to be pulling away from them, and it looks like someone is, once again, trying to frame Taruif.
Blaine D. Arden is a purple haired, forty-something writer of gay and trans* romance with a love of men, music, mystery, magic, fairies, platform shoes, and the colours black, purple and red, who sings her way through life.
You can find Blaine at blainedarden.com, twitter,facebook, and goodreads.

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