If you have read The Skull Chronicles, you'll know that the Skulls of Light come in a variety of mineral types. I thought it would be fun to run a short series of occasional posts highlighting those that have featured to date.
We kick off with Blue Obsidian, and Gal-Athiel, Voice of the Mother, from Book I, Lost Legacy. You'll find Blue Obsidian in most crystal shops. Most is man-made, although this type is either coloured glass or created from slag, a by-product of the smelting process. Not that this should put you off as it still has powerful healing and metaphysical properties. Natural Blue Obsidian, however, is a rare treasure. Like all Obsidians, it is a silica rich volcanic rock that gets its unusual soft aqua colour from either beryllium and/or aluminium sulphate. Obsidian is an amorphous rock formed when molten material from beneath the Earth's surface (in other words, lava) cools so quickly that its atoms don't have time to rearrange themselves into a crystalline structure. It is classified as 'mineraloid' - not quite a true mineral. How can you tell the natural from the man-made? As with most things, nature is not flawless and the natural kind is unlikely to be perfect. It may have variations on the depth of colour, inclusions or other marks.
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Oh boy, it's been a busy week and I'm taking a bit of a breather today, though not for too long. So, what's new?
I received the initial cover draft for Heart of Regulus a couple of weeks ago and it's been back and forward to the designer a couple of times already for tweaking. On Friday he sent me the latest version. It's close, just not quite there yet, so it's gone back to him today for what I hope will be the final time. Now... drum roll and trumpet fanfare please, and break out the bubbly. I have at last finished the final edit. It's taken a LOT longer than I expected - those pesky perfectionist tendencies - but I've got there. Proof editing is in hand this week. My other book-related jobs for the week? Finalising the back matter (you know, those bits after the story that say 'Other books by', short bio and so on).. This time, I'm also adding in an appendix, for want of a better word, summarising what happened with Gemma at the end of Khalia's Tomb. Because, let's face it, it's been a while! I forgot a lot of it and had to re-read so unless you've been burying your nose in it recently, I'm sure you'll have forgotten a lot of it too. There will also be memory joggers on the skulls and the permanent characters. New to the series? I'll be flagging up the sections containing 'spoilers' to the previous books so you can skip them if you want. XXX
Well, it appears that we are all going to have a bit more time on our hands for the next few weeks, if not months. This virus is unlikely to disappear any time soon. So, while it is going to challenge all of us to move into a very different way of living, why not make the most of the slower pace of life it will demand of us all, and embrace the gifts it brings?
If staying in is the new going out, what a great opportunity to catch up on our reading. In this blog, I've recommended 6 books that I've read (or re-read) recently and have loved. The descriptions have come from the books' Amazon pages and I've given you the Amazon links.
Last week I was invited onto The Outer Limits Radio Show on Swindon 105.5 to chat about crystal skulls and The Skull Chronicles with hosts Peggy-Sue and Chloe Dee Ford.
I had a fabulous time chatting all things skullie and writing related and answering a stream of listeners' questions. Listen in here: The Outer Limits Show
Recently, I met up with the fabulous Naz Goldbourne, guesting on her Inspired Writer podcast. It was a lot of fun. Lots of laughter (especially when her gorgeous little black and white cat decided to introduce a live mouse into the proceedings) and plenty of chat about The Skull Chronicles, my writing inspiration and so much more...
Listen in here (I've currently got my shoulder to the wheel, working hard to finish Book V of The Skull Chronicles. When time permits, I'll post the transcript of the interview here for those of you who, like me, prefer to read than listen.) |
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November 2020
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