C. S. Thurman

Happy late Father’s day and Happy late Fourth of July! It has been a crazy couple of months. June was the month of Vacations for me and my family. If I wasn’t so busy you guys would have gotten a similar post to the Mother’s day one and a little more info on what I had been up too sooner.

At the beginning of June my family did a little staycation not too far away and did a little trip to the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium which is expanding. They cover more grounds now which let’s them get away with so much more entertainment. It was way fun to see my kids reactions when a shark swam over their heads and the other animals were amazing to see too. It’s crazy to think of the diverse world that we live in.

A week after that we went to a family reunion on my wife’s side up to Bear Lake, UT. This was a 6-day trip, and it was a lot of work but totally worth it. Unfortunately, the weather was too chilly for any real swimming at the lake, but we had a great time at the beach doing a picnic, and the other activities we did that week worked out perfectly with the 65–70-degree temperatures. You may not realize it, but Bear Lake has a lot more to offer than just swimming. They had go-karts, a mini-theatre, a long trail that you walk down and enjoy the sites and a wild area called Bridgerland Adventure Park. It was a blast and would 10/10 recommend others to go and visit.

I have to say I have more respect for parents who do vacations more often than us with their kids. It’s a lot to get everyone packed, ready to go and kept happy for long car rides together. This was especially true for us since we have a baby who is only nine months old and did not like her car seat by the end of the trip. I’m pretty sure my wife and I were on the verge of tears by the time we got back home. Whether those were tears of joy or relief in the end I’ll let you figure that out.

Like I said before, these last few months have been pretty crazy and have made it hard for me to write. However, I am pleased to have gotten more done on my writing. I know that I have mentioned that I was about half way through my edit of the book I am writing and I am still at about half way. The thing about this edit is it isn’t just a line edit, its a full story edit too about how the story works (thank you Michele!). I’ve had some feedback from other people about my story and they felt that it had too much of a Harry Potter feel to it, so I have been trying to make it my own rather than feeding too much off of J. K. Rowling’s work.

I think this is the first time that I have talked about it but I figured why not. “March of the Necromancer” came about as a “what if” question. It started back in 2018 when someone who knew that I liked dragons suggested that I make a story with zombie dragons in it. Now I’m not a big fan of zombies, but it did get the wheels turning and I soon had a story that I had made and wrote a good chunk of during that years National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The best comparison that I can give it is post-apocalyptic Harry Potter meets zombies. Now I know that Harry Potter has it’s own zombies in there, but this is different.

Now, please bare with me as this is a work in progress blurb/pitch of the book but I hope you like it and if possible can give feedback.

“Marvin Harris is a boy who lives in what use to be the State of Utah, now turned territory of the Rocky Mountains when magic was discovered and caused the world to nearly collapse on itself. Marvin’s family is torn between their fear of magic, and their love of family, with Marvin thrown right into the middle of it when it is revealed that he has magic too! And only if that were the least of his problems. Chilling voices from the beyond speak of death and destruction of his home and have been plaguing Marvin for months, and now he has a choice to make. Can he save the city he grew up in, and can he do it without half of his family hating him forever?”

My next writing goal is to have my son’s book finished for him this Christmas, and then after that I can start working on other projects while I wait to see what happens to “March of the Necromancer.” My goal is to be able to turn this in to publishers/agents in September and to see what happens from there. I’m still on the fence about going with an agent, but I may look into getting one as time goes by. But for now, enjoy and I hope to have more stuff for you as time goes on, maybe even a few more sample chapters for “March of the Necromancer.”