Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

G is for Gorg Following the suggestion of fellow blogger and amazing author Jemima Pett, I'm doing a very simple A to Z with characters from my writing and the books of my author friends! I'm just posting a brief profile, sometimes a quote, and the book cover with links. Though you may also see some of my typical reviews (when I feature other peoples’ books) and the usual Friday Flash Fiction. In a nutshell:  Gorg is, well, a troll. He's a living pile of rock and a leader among trolls in the Vegetative Kingdom ruled by King Celery the Halfwit. He's also smarter than the average troll, especially after an encounter with a misguided human wizard. His biggest secret:  Gorg is terrified of deep water. Stones sink. Favorite quote: "Gorg gave the innkeeper a blank look—all too easy when one’s face is made of stone." Gorg doesn't have his own book yet...only a very rough draft of one.  But I'm going to do my flash fiction for the week (yeah, it's Satur...

Something happened to my good intentions about weekly updates, and since my first update on Nov. 5, somehow an extra week slipped past. I'm happy to report, though, that it didn't slip past my writing, and I can report progress good enough to probably carry me through the Thanksgiving weekend with its more limited writing opportunities. I caught up to par on the 14th (so it did take me almost half the month), and have been sailing on ahead since, continuing with 1800-2200 words most days. I will confess that because I am turning a collection of flash fiction into a novel, I am able at times to lift a paragraph or two from the short stories (far less than I expected, though, and each of them needs careful consideration and reworking to fit the novel). I guess that means I can't claim a "legit" victory. News Flash: I'm not interested in playing by a set of arbitrary rules. I'm interested in writing a novel. I think that's the text for the pep talk part o...

It's November, and that mean National Novel Writing Month--a.k.a. NaNoWriMo, or just NaNo. It's a national challenge to all the writers and would-be writers to put the backside in the chair and write 50,000 words in a month (that's a decent juvvy novel, but well short of an actual adult novel, even a trade-paperback mystery. It's still a good start and a great accomplishment). I've done it, twice. The first time, the result was Death By Trombone . The second time, I produced a mess of words that's supposed to be the 3rd Pismawallops PTA mystery (and it will be. I'll start revisions on rewriting that in December. But it went so far awry that I can't even use the working title). This time, I'm probably cheating a bit, but I'm working on converting a collection of flash fiction about Gorg the Troll into a novel. So, like Halitor the Hero , it's back to the world of fantasy that can't quite keep a straight face. I thought I'd throw in a...

As a special treat this week, we return to the continuing adventures of Gorg the Troll! Gorg and the Mages Gorg Trollheim stood at the window at the top of the tower and studied the Valley of Baleful Stones. He tried not to notice the scattering of stone trolls. He would bring them back to life if he could. He just had to find Duke Bale, kill him yet again, and force his sorcerer to undo the petrifying spell. Bale wasn’t in his tower. Gorg had found only three empty grey robes, like the one that had failed to stop him from entering. These didn’t speak to him, but they did stand in their corners unsupported, which gave him a creepy feeling. Were they watching him? Probably they were. He couldn’t help that. What he had to do, and do fast, was figure out where Bale and the actual sorcerer had gone. A strange idea was starting to tickle his stone mind, and Gorg didn’t like ideas, especially strange ones. To distract himself he broke a bit of stone off the windowsill and put it in his mouth...

With no prompt from Chuck Wendig this week, I rooted through various old prompts, stared blankly for a long time at a page with a glorious title (which I still hope to use, if the story ever comes to me), and concluded that I would return with pleasure to Gorg Trollheim. Gorg has starred in a number of stories, something of a serial, which you can find here . That's a list of all my short stories; scroll to the bottom for the Gorg Saga. I made it exactly 1000 words this time (though that's mostly luck). Return to the Valley of Baleful Stones Gorg Trollheim was angry. A careful observer could have seen this wrath, which was great enough to be just visible even on his stone features. A wise observer, seeing this, would have stayed well out of his way. Gorg was large, even for a troll, and a seasoned fighter. As far as Gorg could tell, there were no observers, wise or foolish, as he strode across the Iron Desert toward the Valley of Baleful Stones. Nor did anyone impede his path. ...