Category: The Blog

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Formatting For Kindle

Today, I’d like to welcome Kait Nolan to my blog to celebrate her recent release Forsaken by Shadow.  I asked if she could share information about how difficult it is to format for the Kindle.

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I was hanging out in Tweetchat a few weeks ago with J.A. Konrath and a bunch of other writers. We were talking about ebooks, which is no big shock given that Joe’s become a poster boy for putting your work out in e.  What positively shocked me to hear, however, was how hard everybody thought formatting for Kindle was.  In fact, it seems to be the prevailing consensus that this is a difficult process to do right.

      Frankly, I think they’re smoking something.  Formatting for Kindle is NOT HARD.  Seriously, I finished mine in half an hour, and most of that was spent paging through the output searching for errors (and not finding any).  I think I probably had such an easy experience because I’d been through formatting for both PDF and Smashwords FIRST, which eliminated a lot of the buggy issues that seem to come up if you’re just formatting for Kindle.  What follows is a very abbreviated summary of steps to take.  It doesn’t cover everything.  Check out the Smashwords Style Guide and Aaron Shepard’s Perfect Pages for an in-depth discussion of e-formatting. 

      I guarantee that the number one mistake that people are making is to either a) directly upload their Microsoft Word document into the Kindle processor to chew up (which is going to spit out all kinds of nastiness) or b) directly saving their Microsoft Word document as html and uploading that (which also spits out gobbledygook).  What’s the commonality here?  Yeah, that’s right.  Microsoft Word. 

      Now don’t get me wrong.  There are many things I love about Word.  It’s my preferred word processing program in most cases.  But it does not play nice with the Kindle system because as Word has become more advanced, it tries to do more and more stuff it THINKS we want for us—which results in embedded codes that produce the ick when you upload it into the Kindle system. 

      So allow me to introduce you to your new best friend: Open Office.  Free, simple, and saves perfect html format files with a little work.  Go, download, install.  We’ll come back here later.

      I want you to go back to your original Word file.  We’re going to clean it up a bit first.  Do yourself a favor and save a new file right now.  If you muck something up, you’ll still have the original.

      Now, first and foremost, you’re going to remove any headers, footers, and page numbers.  They are really irrelevant in an ebook because with the reader’s option to change the font and size, it mucks up how the text flows on the e-reader, thus plunking down page numbers and headers in weird places.  Not to mention that once you change the font and font size, it changes the pagination.  Most e-readers have a page number functionality/progress bar kinda thing at the bottom, so allow it to use that for page numbers. 

      Next up, don’t use any funky fonts.  Straight up Times New Roman.  Garamond.  Maybe Verdana or Georgia.  Be sure to use a serif font.  What’s a serif font?  Well, you have Times New Roman, which is a serif font, vs. Arial, which isn’t.  Notice how there are more hooks and lines and such that cross the Times New Roman letters?  This is what makes it serif.  Serif fonts are easier to read.  What about size?  You want something nice and standard.  12pt is recommended. 

      Now you probably have all your formatting that you like already done in your Word file.  Italics where they belong.  Indents and the like.  Go print yourself a paper copy so you know where all that goes. 

      Whether you’re running Word 2007 or something earlier, I want you to poke around on the toolbar until you find something that looks like a backwards P.  It’s called a pilcrow actually.   It’s usually around the paragraph settings.  This is Word’s Show/Hide feature and it’s going to show you all the formatting in the document.  Now click it.  You’re going to see all kinds of funkk looking marks like arrows and lines and paragraph returns.

      If you see a little arrow in front of a paragraph, it means you’ve used tabs to indent your text.  This is a great big no no and is the number one bad habit of writers.  Likewise if you see a series of dots ………   That’s creating indents with spaces, also bad.  You’re going to find and replace those.  In the Find box enter ^t (this is the reference for tab) and in the Replace box put nothing.  Replace All.  If you used spaces, figure out how many, then enter that many spaces in the Find box and again nothing in the Replace box. 

      Now you’re going to apply indents using the ruler bar—the RIGHT way to do indents.  Make sure your Ruler bar is showing.  Now you can either Select All text or just select the text of your chapter (not including your chapter heading).  See those two triangle looking things to the left of the rulerbar?  Grab the top one and move it over as far as you want your indent.  In a print document it would probably be half an inch.  This is generally too much indent for e.  I like somewhere between .25” and .33”.  Do that all the way through your document (assuming you’re doing it chapter by chapter).  If you don’t dig indents, you can do block paragraphs by having 2 paragraph returns (those backwards looking P things) after each paragraph.

      Those are the big points where stuff gets mucked up.  Now I want you to save your document and close it.  Now go into Open Office and open your document.  Do a quick review to make sure it’s the way you had it in Word (it should be).  Now Save As and select HTML.  Why not do this in Word?  Because Word mucks it up.  I don’t know how exactly, but it was a mess when I tried it.  Open Office just saves a cleaner HTML file.  And this HTML file is what you’re going to upload into the Kindle processor thing.

      As I said earlier, these are only the very, very basics of formatting for Kindle.  I highly highly recommend formatting your book for Smashwords first using their Style Guide (because of course you’re going to go through Smashwords so you can release to Sony, Barnes and Noble, the iBookstore and others, right?), then using Perfect Pages to fine tune things.  The Style Guide is free and Perfect Pages is worth every penny of the $12.60 + shipping.  You won’t be sorry.

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      For those who are interested, my debut paranormal romance novella, Forsaken By Shadow, is available at Scribd, Smashwords, Amazon, and the iBookstore.  It is the first in the Mirus series.

      Banished from their world with his memory wiped, Cade Shepherd doesn’t remember his life as Gage Dempsey, nor the woman he nearly died for. But when Embry Hollister’s father is kidnapped by military scientists, the only one she can turn to is the love from her past. Will Gage remember the Shadow Walker skills he learned from her father? If they survive, will Embry be able to walk away again?

Kait’s writing blog Shadow and Fang

Kait’s cooking blog Pots and Plots

Kait on Twitter

Kait on Facebook

Kait on Goodreads

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A Live Interview with Molly Burkhart

Okay, folks, I’m typing this interview live.  Molly’s sitting here at the table with me (she just said her answer was “blue” even though I haven’t asked her anything yet).  So let’s see how far I can get without dying of laughter.

I already blogged about the background idea for My Gigolo.  What’s your favorite element in the story?  (I think she’s going to say the pirate mini-golf course, so let’s see if I’m right.)

Molly:  if I ever won the powerball jackpot, I am building that mini golf course!

(Okay, she actually said the sister dynamic until I said, dang, what about the mini golf?!)

Do you cast your characters?

Molly:  not at first.  They’re firm in my mind just as they are, and I normally can’t find anyone that looks like that.

If you could have any actor play Jack, who would you choose?

Molly:  Goran Visjnic  (she had to spell it for me.)

How about Gabe?

Molly:  Annie from the original Halloween movie.

Do you plot?

Molly:  Bwahahahahaha.  I do in a way — it’s all in my head.  I don’t use notecards.  I love those “happy accidents” as Bob Ross always said.

Do you have a sequel in mind?  Or a related story?

Molly:  I’d be open to it, either for his friend Brad or Regina, the secretary at the old escort service.  But I don’t have anything planned.

So what’s next on your plate, then?

Molly:  Well…..I was going to do an urban fantasy for MayNoWriMo, but my Samhain editor is very interested in a steampunk with fantasy elements that’s about 1/4 done.

Wheeee, I can’t wait!  I know exactly what story she’s talking about and it will be so. cool.

A serious question:  where you ever tempted to quit writing, either this story or the whole shebang?

Molly:  never the whole shebang but I’ve tempted several times not to write with the goal of publication.  I have to write for my own pleasure and my own sanity, but there are times I wonder why I ever wanted to be published in the first place.  Then days like today remind me! 

Who do you want to be compared to as a writer?

Molly:  I absolutely adore Stephen King, but I don’t want to BE Stephen King.  I’d like to be as well read!  I’ve always kind of wanted to be a Renaissance Man, a jack of all trades but a master of none.  I like to genre hop, even though that’s no longer in fashion.

So if you’re not going to write in a single genre, what’s the one thing we can always find in a Molly Burkhart book?

Molly:  Zombies!  There will always be some mention or joke about zombies.  And someday, I’m going to write a zombie apocalypse!  It’s inevitable….just like The Zombie Apocalypse.

Thank you, my most beloved Sis!  I’m so proud of you! 

Aside:  tonight we’ve talked about everything from chicken soup with homemade noodles (yum) to Craig’s List murders to quails that run backwards to poop.  (My Dad is raising quail, if you’re wondering how the subject arose.) 

My sides hurt from laughing too much!

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Molly Burkhart’s My Gigolo

In case the name doesn’t give it away, Molly really is my sister, and her debut novel My Gigolo releases from Samhain today.  I’ll have an interview with her later today, but first, let me tell you a little of the background about how this book came to be.

So there we were, standing in my kitchen talking about our good friend Jenna’s recent short story that had been included in the MILF anthology (as Anna Black), which included an older heroine hiring a male prostitue for the night.  I made a joke, like “Hey….!  Mom’s always bugging you to date, so maybe I should hire you a gigolo!  Your birthday’s just around the corner!”

Molly snorted and made some crack about where would I even find a gigolo around here?  The more we talked and laughed, the more the idea began to firm in her mind.

My Gigolo is the result.

If you like quirky romance with fun characters in an unusual contemporary romance, check out Molly’s My Gigolo: The Care and Feeding of a Male Prostitue.  Bonus:  a pirate mini-golf course!

When a good man is hard to find, there’s only one thing left to do. Buy one.

As far as Gabrielle is concerned, her life isn’t at all a mess. It’s simply taught her a hard lesson—never rely on anyone else for her own happiness. It’s not that she’s against having sex. Far from it. It’s just that if it comes with strings tied to the word “love”, she’ll pass.

Now if only she could stop her sister and friends from trying to show her the error of her solitary ways. Especially after their latest trick—hiring a male prostitute for her birthday.

In all his time as a male escort, Jack’s never met anyone as intriguing as down-to-earth Gabe. Or as determined to refuse his charms. She has no idea whom she’s dealing with, though. Jack’s a consummate professional in all aspects of his chosen field. Including coercion.

One minute, Gabe is agreeing to a night of no-strings sex. The next, she’s staring up at a man who turns her body and soul inside out. Jack is staring down at a woman he can’t imagine never seeing again. Both are suddenly aware there are only two ways this could end: a match made in heaven…or sheer disaster.

Warning: Explicit sex, illegal sexual practices, zombies, a clown, and the strangest minigolf course ever conceived.

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Coyote Con Live

The website is live and we’ve also got a tentative schedule.  I’m so thrilled that Lynn Viehl, aka Paperback Writer, will be taking questions from the SF/SFR panel and blogging her answers later in the month!  Also Heather Massey and Nathalie Gray will be talking about Steampunk!  woot!

It’s going to be such a great month!

I turned in the blurb sheet for Victor tonight and finished a late critique.  All the MayNoWriMo and Coyote Con stuff has totally derailed me — so it’s a good thing I took the whole month off!  I may not actually get much writing done in May, either, not with all the moderations, guest blog coordination, etc. but it’ll totally be worth it.

I already know what my MayNoWriMo goal will be:  a complete synopsis for Maya #2.  More posts will come this next week about what I need to do to make that goal happen.

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Hidden Object Games

As part of my “vacation” I’ve been playing a bunch of computer games, mostly hidden object games from Big Fish Games.  I love being able to try the game for an hour and decide if I want to buy it or not.  It’s usually pretty obvious within the first few minutes of a game if it’s “for me” or not.

Sounds familiar, I bet.  Agents/editors know within a page or two if the project is right for them.

There are tons of hidden object games out there, but there’s only a handful that I’m going to be willing to buy.  It’s taken me awhile to discover what kind of game I really enjoy — what kind of game is going to compel me to buy it past the one-hour trial.

First, the game has to have really good graphics.  I love the haunted castles with spooky hidden nooks, or the ancient civilization sites where I really have to check behind every stone.  But good graphics alone are far from enough.

(Good, even beautiful writing, isn’t enough to make an agent/editor/reader pick up your book.)

The overlying story has to be appealing to me, too.  Usually I’m on some quest:  free the ghosts, stop the lord of the mirrors, find my father, mentor, children, etc.  But even a “find my children” game — which sounds very compelling — can fail to snag my attention.

(Have a compelling hook or premise to drive the story from the very beginning.)

The lead character of the story driving the game has to be interesting to me.  I don’t care if it’s a man or a woman, and I obviously don’t get as much internal thoughts, etc. as a reguar book, but a well-written hidden object game makes me forget that I’m not really in this fictional world.  I’ve passed on several hidden object games where I just didn’t care for the main character.

(The protagonist must be compelling in some way, even though flawed and hopeless at the beginning.)

If I like the graphics, the story, and the main character, I can still end up bailing on a game.  There’s one I can’t remember the name of off the top of my head, but it had gorgeous graphics and a cool story, but I was absolutely lost.  I didn’t know how to get to the other rooms.  I didn’t know what to do.  I stood in the front “room” of the game clicking, confused, and frustrated, until I finally closed the game and deleted the files without purchasing.

I like to be led through a game.  Yes, I know it’s lame but I like the sparkly hints that tell me where to investigate.  I’m playing this game for fun and I don’t want it to be too hard — but I also want it to last much longer than an hour (to justify buying the game).  I want to know and trust that the journey is going to be clear for me.  I’m not going to get down in some basement dungeon and quit out of frustration because I have no idea what to do next.

Now BFG does have blog walkthroughs for many of their games, which helps, but if I have to refer to the blog walkthrough every single time I enter a room just to figure out what to do, I’m sorry.  I’m not buying.

(Make a promise to the reader in the opening scene of the story and carry that promise through all the way to the end on a journey they won’t want to forget.  The reader trusts you never to take them down the wrong path and leave them.)

So now I have good graphics, a storyline that intrigues me, and a lead character to guide me.  The game can still fall part between the hidden object games and the puzzles.  The games I love the most are the ones where I keep items from each hidden-object portion of the game, even if I have no idea what they’re used for.  e.g. In the opening section of the game, a key is one of the 10 items to find.  Then the key is what opens the rusty iron gate.  In another section, I find a glove.  Later, I have to use the glove to reach through thorns.

I don’t like hidden-objects just for the search.  e.g. a bunch of items that have nothing to do with the story, and it’s not crucial that I find a particular item.  I want those objects to all be tied to the story in some way.  The game I played last night was so danged creepy — one of the hidden object scenes involved row after row of old dolls, some clothed, some not, some with holes in their heads, missing eyes, some with huge creepy eyes that kept looking at me.  It was hilarious — I could hardly stand to look for the objects!  Which made that game so very very cool (Return to Ravenhearst if you’re interested).

It’s sort of like reading a mystery and finding a bunch of red herrings.  I love that aspect of a hidden object game.  Great, now I have a can of bug spray in my inventory.  Where in the heck am I going to use that?  It makes me anticipate and plan — which I love.

(Drop elements into the story that tie to the theme, enhance the atmosphere and tone of the story, and drive the plot.)

What I don’t love is when I find a bunch of stuff in my inventory at the end of the game….that I never used.  I can’t stand it!  Did I miss a section of a the game where I was supposed to use the shovel?  Ack!  How did I finish the game?  Should I go back?  But no, I finished… 

(Always tie up as many loose ends as possible even when the climax of the story and the main characters are resolved.  Careful readers make note of every little detail and will feel betrayed if they don’t mean something!)

Lastly, we have the puzzles themselves.  They’re sort of like plot or turning points of the story.  They’re “gatekeepers” to moving on to the next room.  I don’t want the puzzle to be so hard that I have no idea how to even start — or I’ll simply look up the solution in the blog walkthrough and move on.  Yes, I cheat on occasion! 

(I also read ahead to the next chapter — or even the end — to make sure the book isn’t going to fail me.)

The puzzles are more interesting if I’ve had to gather items throughout the game to beat it.  e.g. there are three marbles that I’ve found all over the mansion and now I have to use them to beat the next level.  The puzzle itself should tie to the game and the story it’s leading me through.  The elements should mean something to the game.  e.g. in one ancient civilization game, I had to stack golden skulls on a scale to balance it.  Why use regular old weights when you can use skulls?  How cool! 

I don’t care for puzzles that have absolutely nothing to do with the story itself.  e.g. a jigsaw puzzle and the final image is a contemporary-looking photograph, while the game is a creepy gothic.  The image is an underwater ship — cool — but not if it has absolutely nothing to do with the story of the game.  Don’t show me an underwater ship just because it’s cool.

(Elements of the plot should reflect the theme over and over, every element tied back to the premise, driving the story toward the climax in a logical way.)

I know it’s a great game when I immediately hope there’s a sequel in the same world.  My wish for BFG is that they’d have a way to search by the creator of a particular game.  e.g. if I know team A creates the kind of game I like with the graphics, etc. then I want to buy more by team A.  Right now, I’m relying on “look and feel” to tell me when I might want to buy.

(Branding is important.  Make sure readers can find you!)

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Weekend in Review

Now that spring is here, it seems like we’re “springing”  too.  Saturday, we’d made plans to take Uncle J (That Man’s younger brother) and Aunt BB to my family’s favorite Mexican place.  We’ve been eating at this place ever since I can remember.  It was our reward place after going to the dentist.  Anytime we had to drive north to Kansas City (even last year as we were driving to a funeral) we made plans to stop for lunch or dinner at this restaurant, El Sambre’s in Clinton, MO.

My sister is alive today because of this restaurant.  When she was three, she choked on a chip.  The rest of us didn’t know — we were talking, etc. — but the owner heard her, rushed over, and gave her the heimlich. 

Anyway, we’d talked it up so much to my New Jersey SIL that she was determined to make the 1.5 hour drive north and visit my Dad on the way.  However, they ended up not being able to make it — but that didn’t stop US from going.  Oh, no.  Once we make plans to hit El Sambre, we go!

We met my sister at Dad’s place and we all drove up in our van for a delish lunch and shoe shopping in Clinton.  We spent a little time touring Dad’s current “hobby” — raising quail.  The kids got to hold one that was one day old, and petted some of the older birds carefully held in my Dad’s hands.  Of course no trip to Papa’s would be complete without petting the horses.  He has a lovely vegetable garden started already, which totally made me jealous.  I’m all ready to move to the country.  NOW.  I want chickens and a garden!!

But we dragged ourselves back to “civilization” and rushed over to our other inlaws’ (oldest brother) to see That Man’s parents.  Guess which monster inadvertently sat in dog/cat poop outside?  Yes, that would be Middle Monster.  I swear she did it just so she could change into something out of the bag of clothes her cousin had given her.

Sunday was church early and then a trip to Lowes to pick up weed and feed, etc. for the lawn.  Oh, and laundry.  Tons of laundry.  We still have 2 loads to fold and one waiting to hit the washer, plus the actual lawn work.

We also watched The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (while folding).  I have to say, I’m not a Clint Eastwood fan.  I had a hard time getting into this movie and I just didn’t really care about what happened to any of the characters until at least the last third of the movie.

We tried to watch Zombieland but the NetFlix DVD wouldn’t play for some reason — it was all speckled, even after we cleaned it (and the Western played just fine).

For the first time in a long time, I read in the car instead of writing, and finished Kim Knox’s Breaking Chance.  I took my laptop but didn’t ever get it out of the bag.  Watching the movie, I did a ton of cross-stitch, currently working on The Bramble and the Rose with Old Maid of the Heart silk from HDF.  Oh, and I bought my first Heaven and Earth Designs this weekend (yes, I am totally insane — these are MASSIVE!!):  Calling the Crows.  I just couldn’t help myself.  All that black and red, and the crows…totally made me think of Seven Crows, part of the SFR world I’m building!

I have a huge HDF order on its way, including some perforated paper.  I may try my hand at making a bookmark — and if I can get my meager art skills to cooperate, I may just do one with Maya glyphs on it!  I didn’t realize how hard it is to find cross-stitch with Maya influences.  I do plan to buy Ink Circles’ Mother Maya, but otherwise, I couldn’t find anything with the real glyphs like I wanted.  However, I do have a cross-stitch program I bought from Needleprint, so I’m going to try and design my own. 

If it doesn’t look horrible, I’ll giveaway one here on the blog.

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Friday Snippet: The Bloodgate Guardian

Since I’m not writing new material this month and June is not that far away, I decided to start teasing you with snippets of The Bloodgate Guardian, coming this June from Carina Press. 

You’ve been seeing bits of this story under several different names for quite some time.  The original first draft was my first NaNoWriMo project in 2007, then titled Night Sun Rising.  Over a year went by before I got around to the first round of Revision Xibalba.  I spent a lot of time expanding the book, adding subplots and tons of characters.  However, I kinda went overboard, and ended up cutting those subplots out.  Can you say too many characters? 

Now the story is leaner, tighter, and concentrates only on Jaid and Ruin (yes, he got to keep his name!!).  Ironically, exactly the story I ended up with in 2007, just revised, polished, researched, etc.  Not to worry, though — those subplots I spent so much time on will become the fertile soil for the next book.  *winks*

So, here’s part of the opening scene of The Bloodgate Guardian, Chapter One. 

He never hated his magic until it compelled him to kill.

From the broken shadows of his temple, the priest watched the encroacher attempt to work his doomed magic.  Brilliant ruby pooled in the pocked basin of the altar and overflowed, streaming across the hand-carved stone in vibrant filigree.  The blood glowed like molten rock hot from the earth’s heart, releasing magic into the night.

The once all-powerful priest shuddered, his skin crawling with the caress of power.  His nostrils flared to catch the tantalizing scent of sweet copper.  Such temptation.  He tightened his grip on the starved jaguar pacing within him.  Such power.

The city once known as the Mouth of Creation had kept his secrets for a thousand years.  Now he must kill this man to protect that forbidden knowledge.  Keeping to the shadows, the priest called out, “As Gatekeeper of Chi’Ch’ul, I command you to leave my city or die.”

The man whirled and whipped the bloody heart behind his back.  At least this one’s victim had been a goat and not human.  “Nobody else should know the name of my dig.  Who are you working for?”

The priest stepped into the moonlight, and the other man recoiled.  With the jaguar prowling the cage of his body, he knew all too well the image he made:  eyes gleaming like golden lamps, jaguar spots dotting his arms and blending with the tribal tattoos on his upper body, angular cheekbones and sharp forehead compounded by the stark topknot pulling his hair back from his face.   The man had discovered the city, unburied it stone by stone. He could not help but recognize a priest of what had once been a grand and powerful nation.  “My city has already been destroyed.  Would you destroy the world as well?”

“I have powerful, rich friends,” the man said, backing away slowly.  “Name your price.”

So be it.  Small golden lights began buzzing around the priest and his bones throbbed with magic.  “Nothing you can offer will stay my hand.  As long as I live, these sacred waters shall lie still and silent.  My curse demands your death.  The Gates must remain locked until the Return.”

Ignoring his threats, the man smiled with elation.  “We were right!  I knew it.  After all these years, I finally found the center of the world!”

The balls of light blazed brighter.  A golden swirling wave obliterated his vision.  Bones cracked and twisted.  His scream of pain rumbled bass, a jaguar’s roar piercing the night. 

Tail lashing, the jaguar crouched in a pile of torn denim.  The sharp stink of his prey’s fear burned his nose. It had been a very long time since he’d hunted. The big cat knew his purpose.  He was only called forth to kill.

The foolish man turned toward his modern equipment stationed on the nearby boulder, presenting his back to the jaguar.  “Jaid, don’t come here!  Don’t trust anybody and don’t let the codex out of your hands!  Especially don’t give it to Venus Star!” 

The jaguar growled a threat.  If this person possessed the codex, he must die too.

Whirling, the man ran up the peninsula that extended over Lake Atitlan.  He slung the goat’s heart out over the water and threw his weight off the side, angling toward the beach instead of the lake.  Effortlessly, the jaguar leaped after him.  The man gasped in pain and rolled away, narrowly escaping the slashing claws.

Wet with rain, a sudden gust of wind swept across the shore.  Clouds boiled across the sky to hide the moon and stars.  Thunder rolled through the night and the ground trembled.  Lightning split the sky, winds increasing until the trees thrashed and waves whipped the surface of the lake.

A shape formed in the darkened waters.  Thrashing, bulging outward, a hand rose from the depths.  Water broke, cascading down the sceptered arm, which was white and blotched with spots of age and disease.

The jaguar clamped his ears and tail tight to his body and terror rippled through his fur.  Oh, stupid human fool!  Why had he opened Xibalba, with no wards to lock the demons beyond?

Shuddering with horror, the man whimpered.  “Where are the golden plumes?  The jade feathers?  This isn’t Great Feathered Serpent!”

The jaguar swiped at the man’s abdomen.  Jerking away, the man screamed and fell backward into the lake.  He thrashed helplessly, then sank like a stone through the Gate as a Lord of Death crawled onto the beach with another demon right behind.

Snarling, the jaguar slammed into the first demon, trying to knock it back through the Gate.  Even weak as a newborn babe, it refused to go back to the Place of Fright.  The other Death Lord crawled out of the lake clutching a small hunk of flesh.  Cradling the now-cold heart to its mouth, the demon feasted, while the other sniffed the air.  His gaze turned unerringly to the goat carcass above.

Every drop of blood would give them power.  Power that could destroy the world.