Forging Day Book Trailer

You know, I had this awesome book trailer made by the very talented Rachel Bostwick https://www.fiverr.com/rachelbostwick and then I forgot to share it on my blog. Time to fix that.

Forging Day - The Long View

In the story, a mysterious Change causes roughly one third of the world's population to no longer be human. For the short term, after some initial uneasiness, I think people would roll with it. The lights are on. The internet still works. People still go to work.

Long term things I'm pondering, most well beyond the scope of my story:

If elves and other fantasy races are much longer lived than humans, what happens to social security? What happens to the retirement age?

The next time a census comes around, do they even bother with current racial subtypes? Do they have Human (list of subtypes), Elf (list of subtypes), Were (list of subtypes), etc. Just the race page for each person in the household would be several pages long.

The new races breed true in my stories, so someone that became a troll now has troll DNA. Some races are more fertile than others. I put humans at average. I think trolls have higher fertility. I pegged elves and dwarves with lower fertility, or maybe it's average but stretched out over a longer life span.

Do they come up with new names for children of mixed race? Given some of the crazy mixed breed dog names, it seems likely. What do you call a troll/elf mix? trelf? droll? drelf? Or, as happens in the real world, is the baby defined by society by what's seen as the least desirable portion of their parentage? Do these mixed breed children have trouble being accepted by anyone? Maybe initially. I would expect it to change over time - or would it get worse over time as groups fear losing their unique racial identity?

Do races that regenerate get a discount on their insurance premiums?

Magic exists now. I'm betting they try to get new laws on the book regarding magic use relatively quickly. I already mention in one of the books that weres have to follow certain rules approaching the full moon.

How would you handle jail for races that cannot easily be held? What about a life sentence for a being that lives for hundreds of years? I speculate that the Changed, at least those judged most physically dangerous, wouldn't often live long enough to have their day in court.

Would you have mixed race teams in professional sports? Can a human linebacker compete with an orc? Probably not. What about the Olympic games? Along with male and female, would they have racial subcategories for each event?

Yes, I spend a lot of time pondering the world I created for my characters. I just don't have all the answers.

Forging Day Themes

Hmmph. I started out tonight trying to do a serious blog on how I use religion in Forging Day. The problem is I'm not great at serious blogs. I like poking at things with humor and sarcasm.

I've always figured religion existed to provide spiritual comfort and moral guidance. I don't believe there's only one right choice in this area. Nor do I believe someone has to follow a religion to have a moral compass. If you really need the threat of some sort of eternal damnation to convince you to do the right thing, you're not a religious person - you're a dick. Treat people with compassion because it's the right thing to do.

Excerpt from the beginning of Chapter Two: (warning, language - now where was that whitewashing app when you need it - j/k)

I tried to get some perspective on the short walk home, but my mind just ran in circles. I didn’t want to face my roommates after all of this, but there was nowhere else for me to go but home.

I was nearly there when one of the neighbors came out to put his trash at the curb. Behind me, he called out, “Miss! Miss!”

Oh god, he meant me. I reluctantly stopped and turned around.

“Miss, sorry, I don’t know your name. I’ve seen you around, and I know you live in the big purple house on the corner. Do you need help?” He looked vaguely familiar, tall and skinny with a shock of dark hair, but I would swear I’d never seen him before.

“Miss, please. I’m sorry. I’m doing this all wrong. I’m not trying to be creepy. This is going to sound crazy, but I’m a priest of Crom and I’m kind of new at it, and I’m supposed to offer aid to those in need. No offense, but you look like someone in need.”

Now I knew where I’d seen him before. It was at one of the Pagan open full moon gatherings.

“I’m not trying to be rude. Bob, wasn’t it?”

He nodded. “Well, sort of. My given name is Bob, but my priest name is Ingve.”

“Okay, Ingve. I’m Olivia. Here’s the thing. I’ve had a bad night and a worse morning. Unless your Crom can fix stupid and bad judgment, I don’t think you can help.”

“Not exactly... Crom teaches us about strength and honor, but He knows everyone doesn’t start that way. He calls the trials we go through in life the Forging of our Souls. Shit happens, and you survive and get stronger. You’ve heard, ‘what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger’? It’s like that.”

In spite of myself, I gave a bitter laugh. “Ingve, if what Crom says is true, I’m going to be one badass motherfucker at this rate. Or dead.” I headed off down the sidewalk, and then turned to look at him one more time. “Bob. Ingve. Thanks for caring. It means a lot today.”