The DragonHawk Saga is Under Construction

Hi there!

Wondering where I've been?

I've been struggling to make some progress on Dragon Heart. I have recently figured out that the reason that I'm having problems making progress is that I left some key things out of Dragon Hunters.

One of those things is some sort of glossary. I've been working on that. And I'll add it into Dragon Hunters as I go back through and fix some of the problems that have been bothering.

Short entry tonight. Lots of work to do! If you bought an early copy of Dragon Hunters, send me an e-mail. I'll get you an update when I post Rev B.

Thanks for your patience!

And as always, Thanks for Reading!

Dave

It's September Already!

What is going on with time?

Is the planet spinning faster?

I can't believe that September is already here!

But it is, and that means I've got to get my butt in gear and finish writing Dragon Heart. I have a lot of good ideas, just have to get them written down!

I have been making pretty good progress. I had a bit of writer's block, but I've overcome that, so its onward and upward!

Meanwhile, sales of Dragon Hunters have slowed. If you've read the book and liked it, then please go to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you bought it and write a review! Then send the review to a friend and tell them to buy a copy!

If you haven't bought a copy of Dragon Hunters, then what are you waiting for? Need something to read for the weekend? Well, there you go!

Dragon Hunters is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, and Smashwords.

As always, thanks for reading!


Dave

Summer Dragon

I've been distracted from the main task of writing the stories of the DragonHawk Saga lately. Not only by family and work issues, but a side project for a summer writing group. It's called Summer Dragon, and it turned out to be an interesting mixture of fantasy and reality. I doubt if anyone other than myself will ever read any of it... It's much too personal, too much of a personal fantasy of mine...

Okay, reign in your imaginations. Nothing weird... Well, not really weird...

As I started writing, I needed some character names. Being lazy, I decided to use some characters from the Saga. From Dragon Summer, as a matter of fact. Thus the title: Summer Dragon.

In Summer Dragon, Morgan Hawkes, our Saga hero, is an orphan who has been shopped around orphanages and foster homes all over the state. He is a troubled youth, who does not get along well with others. He has all of these strange dreams all of the time, some of which turn into nightmares. When he tries to explain his dreams and nightmares, people come to think that he is just plain crazy. Eventually he is adopted by a foster family that really does not care for him, only the money being offered by the state orphanage to take him off their hands. He is enrolled in the local high school, where he makes a few friends and slowly begins to adapt. The dreams and nightmares continue, but not as bad as before. Following a suggestion from a school counselor, he decides to write them down. Thus is born the DragonHawk Saga.

Where does the story go from there? Well, it goes from our fictional town of Bay Pointe, Texas, to Los Angeles California, where Morgan Hawkes meets a girl and falls in love. It just so happened that her mother is a high powered lawyer who works with literary agents in the industry. She likes what Morgan has written... and thus, the DragonHawk Saga gets published and becomes a big hit!

But the stories are not just dreams and nightmares. Unbeknownst to Morgan, he is being trained by his Dragon Within. Because he is not just Morgan Hawkes, the orphan writer. He is Morgan Hawkes, son of Elias Tycho Hawkes and Annie Tolen Hawkes, the DragonHawk of the Great Dragon Tycho.

Told you it was weird.

Meanwhile, back in the Saga, I have completely rewritten Dragon Hunters. It was full of typographical and grammatical errors. That's what happens when you are the writing department, editorial board, and marketing agent, as is the case here at StarHawke Enterprises, home of the Cats & Dragons Blog.

So Dragon Hunters has been reposted and I am back working on Dragon Heart. Got to get these two Drakkon married so they can start raising their family! Meanwhile, the Dragon Hunters and the Rahhol are still out there, as the Third DragonHawk War looms large.

What happens to Morgan in Summer Dragon?

I don't know. What do you think happens?

Wait, you say. What's his girlfriend's name? What about her father?

Her name is Sarah Alexandra Conner. Alex, for short. And her father? He's a high ranking executive in the Disney organization. You didn't think I'd go all the way to California without going to Disneyland did you?

Thanks for reading,


Dave


 

From Stargate Cove to the DragonHawk Saga...

I found this digging through some old files and notes. Thought I would scan and share. Stargate Cove became Gateway Station became Tycho Station became the DragonHawk Saga. The date is August 25, 1985, but I had been writing for some time before I got this organizer and tried to figure out how to use it.

Stray notes in small pocket-sized notebooks, 3x5 file cards in a shirt pocket, spiral notebooks. A TI 99-4A Computer with cassettes, then 5-1/4 inch floppy disks. 1 chapter per 360k disk. 3-1/2 inch disks when I moved to a MS-Dos machine in 1990, I believe.

The current version of the DragonHawk Saga occupies 794 MB of disk space on my computer...

Thanks for reading!

Dave

Changes to Dragon Hunters

Work on Dragon Heart has slowed, while I go back through Dragon Hunters and make some changes. Most of the changes involve grammar and sentence structure errors. But I won't rule out the possibility that I might tweak the story here and there...

Why the changes now? Amazon is changing the way that series books are listed in their system. I have to change the way the saga name and book name are listed in manuscript. So, I thought I would take the opportunity to fix some of the things I have found that needed fixing.

And, just between you and me. There will be some changes and some new things. I left some things out that I didn't want to leave out, but thought that I needed to. Some of those things are gonna make their way back in...

If you've read Dragon Hunters, and know of some of the errors, of which I speak, send me an e-mail and let me know what they are, and where they are. Chances are, they're on my list.

I'll let you know when the revised version is available, so you can update your copy.

I apologize for so long between blog updates. I'll try to do better. At least keep you posted on what is going on with the Cats and the Dragons, and the DragonHawk Saga!

As always,

Thanks for reading!

Dave

Dragon Hunter Sales

Hey! Guess what?

In the six months that Dragon Hunters has been on sale on both Amazon, Smashwords, Apple, Barnes & Noble, etc., I've sold 10 copies!

Considering all of the start-up problems and On-The-Job training I've gone through, I feel pretty good about that!

Meanwhile, Dragon Heart is coming along. I've been off course a couple of times, but I've calibrated the Navigation Computer and aligned the Primary Drive. I'm back on course with the goal of having Dragon Heart completed for you by my birthday, June 16th!

So, to all of you who have purchased a copy of Dragon Hunters...

Thanks for reading!

And if you haven't got your copy yet, go over to the website and click on the links of your favorite online bookstore!

You can use this link or click on one of the links here on the blog!The DragonHawk Saga Website

Like I said earlier,

Thanks for reading!

Dave

Hurricane Cats

I wrote this during lunch. If you are familiar with Galveston, Texas, before Hurricane Ike, then this story takes place off of 61st street, behind the old Popeye's Chicken near the old HEB. Hope you enjoy.

Don't worry, the Dragons are still flying around in my head! They haven't gone anywhere. In the meantime, enjoy a bit of a story about Big Boy and Baby Girl, titled "Hurricane Cats."

The big, old Tom meowed loudly as he sniffed around the back of the building.  He could usually find something to eat where the humans dumped things. Despite the danger, this was one of their better spots for food. The humans were lazy and sometimes just dropped the bags on the ground, saving them trouble of climbing into the big, metal box.

He glanced back at a pair of big grey eyes, that watched him carefully from the deep grass beyond the edge of the pavement. She wouldn’t come out until he told her it was safe, and he had managed to find something for them to eat. He poked around among the bags, analyzing the many smells. After a few tries, he found one that seemed promising, promptly ripping it open with his front claws. He was immediately rewarded by a large number of chicken parts that tumbled out onto the ground. He turned back to signal his mate, but she had been watching him, and was already half way across the pavement from her hiding spot. He returned his attention to the chicken, sniffing them appraisingly to find a suitable piece as the little female helped herself to a drumstick.

A cool wind, blowing in off the gulf, sent a chill over them as they ate their dinner. They paused again to look around, sniffing the air, knowing that the wind meant a storm was coming. They would need to return to their home soon, before the weather turned worse and it started to rain. They paused from their feast, cautiously glancing around, knowing that the humans could interrupt them at any time. The little female paused, her teeth still hurting from their last run-in with the humans, abandoned the drumstick in search of something softer. She found another piece that suited her tender mouth and dug in.

A strong gust of wind startled them from their meal, sending the trash and debris skittering around them. The sudden, loud screeching of the rusty metal door on the back of the building was all of the warning they had, as two of the humans stepped out of the building. The little cat quickly abandoned her meal, darting back into the tall grass. The big cat quickly followed her, but not before grabbing another large hunk of chicken from the ripped bag. The humans shouted, but the two cats were gone before they could react. He quickly joined her on the far side of the grassy yard, where she had taken shelter under the edge of a woodpile, alongside of a old garage. She watched as he dropped the food in front of her, turning his attention to the two humans, who were still yelling at them. 

Suddenly something thumped against the wall above them. They froze, not sure if the humans had discovered their hiding spot. Much to their surprise, a piece of chicken landed on the ground in front of their hiding place. The big Tom didn’t hesitate, darting quickly out to secure the piece, and drag it back into the safety of their hide. By the time he returned, the female was tentatively licking the piece he had carried over. He meowed approvingly at her, settling down in the deep grass and the safety of their hide to enjoy the piece that had fallen out of the sky. 

The wind continued to blow, as the rain began to fall. They continued to feed, knowing they would eat as long as they could before retreating to their den. They could tell it was going to be a big storm, but they were not worried. Their den was strong, and had protected them from the humans and storms for a long time.