| As the holiday season is upon us, I reflect back upon the past 12 months of 2006 and find myself quite pleased with the advancements made on our web site, Scribal Tales.
Yes, I say, our web site because without you, the authors and the subscribers, Scribal Tales would be one of, perhaps, one million common, ordinary writing sites. But we are not common, nor are we ordinary. We are unique.
We are unique in a very special way because we have treasures beyond mere gems. We have tremendous assets:
Rebecca Gallant, the Web Goddess who maintains our web site, giving us a publishing site that we are proud to be part of, where our writings and illustrations are housed and featured
Michael Battaglia, The Pretentious Twit, who has produced count them 26 critiques, never ever having missed a deadline, a great author with over one million words in print.
We have our authors:
Gabe Morales' wonderful tale of Valdor of Bergeness and Hadrian the Wanderer.
G.C. Dillon's thrilling tales, and excellent character, Dallan the Blind.
Marva Desef's Cadida and the Djinn, the Cursed Valley.
Tala Bar's The Beauties Club and the future Tales of Finbar, The Beckoning, The Apple.
Verna McKinnon's the Raven Bride
Roderick Gladwish's Soul Price the series.
Robert T. Tuohey's Bloody Mary Twisted, the Great Beast's Watch.
Norman Rubin's A Taste of Bitterness.
Gregory Adams' The Family in the Grass.
Rick Magers' The Vault.
Michael Battaglia's Tristian (The Never Ending Series) Time Falls Away.
Christopher Howard's Tyrannicide.
William Kutsch's Reunions.
The Shared World:
Janice Jackson's Karl Strange and the Black Dragon Inn's cast of characters. Peter Welmerink's Eirik.
Joel Levy's Lords of Darkness.
Illustrations: Take a look at this month's acquisition from Dan Mills. I suspect that I am the largest collector of Dan Mills' illustrations. My latest acquisition: A Triptych illustrating the tales of Odan the Scribe. Dan has that unique talent that takes the written word that I struggle with every month and create an illustration that brings it to life. I consider all the illustrations on the web site to be story boards, which add life to our stories.
The Map Project: An enhanced map has been created by the father and son team of Joe and Joel Levy. Special thanks for the detailed work by Joe Levy. Visit our new map, plan a quest, but remember to arrive at the Black Dragon Inn, where your character will find safety before finding a quest that can lead us to honor, and fellowship, deeds of daring. Life can be short in Talos Valley but well worth living.
Odan the Scribe: The Scribe, the Mongrel and Utre (Prince of Trolls) have had quite an adventure over the past twelve months, but have not found the Relic. Stay tuned. I guarantee that the Relic will be found, and then the adventure will well, the adventure will, of course, continue.
So, thank you for your talent, your contributions and for participating in this, our Alpha-Omega Issue.
I present, for your reading pleasure:
Odan the Scribe Chapter 9 Beware and Be Foretold: A mummified body is found in a subterranean cavern. Who is it? What does it have to do with the quest to find the Relic? Can you decipher the cryptic message?
Gold Star for Robo Boy by Michael Battaglia. Michael has crafted a short story for our reading pleasure. Tristian's Agent experiences a pleasant dinner in a coffee shop. Starting with the announcement of, I'll kill her! Read on.
The Pretentious Twit reviews Bent. Need I say more?
Yes, I have to say more: The Pretentious Twit gives us our third annual year in review. Michael continues to encourage the writers to write, the readers to read and to look at the new year as a well, a new year sort of.
Tala Bar's Dragon Ride. Finbar the Minstrel continues his travels and rescues a maiden princess. But since it is Finbar and Tala is doing the writing, things are simply never as they seem.
Norman Rubin submits The Black Cat.
Peter Welmerink's Eirik does battle with the Nightstalkers and joins Karl Strange at the Black Dragon Inn, where he introduces some interesting allies.
Joel Levy's Lord's of Darkness concludes with an epic battle.
From the creative mind of Robert T. Tuohey: The Boy who Killed Bozo. The author of Bent follows up with an old fashioned detective's tale
Scribal Shouts:
Dan Olarnick celebrated his birthday on December 9. Terry-Ann is sending this boy to camp World Poker Tour Camp, that is. More to come.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Welmerink (Eirik's Tales) Congratulations on the birth of their son.
To Marva Desef on becoming published author (Cadida and the Djinn, The Cursed Valley.)
Happy Hanukkah Merry Christmas My best wishes for a happy holiday to all.
- Dan O
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