Wednesday, 9 July 2025

#131 That Tracks

Happy Blog Day Everyone


Another week has flown by and again it feels like I've not got a lot done.

Writing wise, I've made more notes than proper writing and have some alternate chapters to write up. I already know which way I'm leaning with them, but I have to be sure. If I stick to the original plan then I'll have a lot of words that'll need shredding. It's always sad to have to kill words off, but I'm extremely good at using way more than I should, leaving my text a little bloated. Haven't quite mastered the art of saying a lot with a little.

If luck is with me than in Autumn, I can look at plans for the third book in the series, but I feel like I need to change up how I plan these, as my current method isn’t working. For those wondering, my current method is chapter summaries, which I then completely ignore as something bettef flickers into life in my head. This is why I'm thinking of making some big last minute changes now when I really shouldn't be. Next time, I need a plan so good that I won't want to change it...unless I realise my past self was a twit and that a 'brilliant idea' was, in actual fact, a completely pants one. That'll probably be more the case to be fair.

If anyone has any tips for planning, please feel free to share them.

The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz


This week wasn't originally planned to be a follow on from last week, it kind of just happened like that. Does this mean that next week's will follow on? Possibly? All depends on whatever idea creeps into my brain first, as you can tell here, its jam packed with irrelevant ideas that probably shouldn't be paid attention to. For instance, when Brennan says "shouldn't you say something first?" That's refering to Monty Python and the Holy Grail (where the holy hand grenade originates from), and the instructions the priest reads out. What Riz says however, is taken from the Worm's games (I distinctively remember one of the songs of the game starting with one of the worms shouting incoming in their little squeaky voices). Why worms? Because the Holy Hand Grenade was added to the game's arsenal in Worms Armageddon. Makes sense right? Right!?

The last thing Riz says though, is actually taken from a classic Bugs Bunny cartoon where he goes up against Marvin the Martian. There's no connection to Monty Python here, I just really liked that bit so thought it would be funny for Riz.

See? A random collection of references lives free in my head at all times. 

That's all for this week, Phantom Dawn will return with Chapter 11, so please keep an eye out for that!

Till next time...

keep on writing.

Peter James Martin

Quick Links

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Wednesday, 2 July 2025

#130 Just Turn Back + Short Diversions: Phantom Dawn Chapter 10

Happy Blog Day Everyone


As you can tell from the extended title, I'm proud to announce that Phantom Dawn is back! Finally got my act together long enough to continue the story. I'll talk more about it in it's own section, as it's not the only bit of writing I've been doing.

I've finally completed the final chapter of Daemon Soul 2. It's finished, it's done  it's 100% settled...apart from the epilogue. Then there's the edits...At least I'm a step closer than I was last week. I've also made a lot more notes about the next version of the draft, will they hinder or help? Suppose we'll find out soon enough once I write this final part.

Before we get to the Phantom Dawn, let's check in with Brennan and Riz, and their 130th strip...


The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz



Promised something sort of special last week, and I think I've sort of delivered on it. The Rabbit came out a lot better than I expected it, Brennan not as much. If you don't recognise the bunny surrounded by the bones of its kills, and you love absurdist comedy, please check out Monty Python and the Holy Grail. You'll be glad you did. Nee!

This was a fun comic to do, though the limitations of my colour selections shown through a bit more (all colours are one of eleven different colouring pencils as I've still not learned how to do this digitally yet), but it is what it is. Funny to think that we're running down to 150 though.

Short Diversions: Phantom Dawn- Memories of a Rose Chapter 10

Been a hot minute since Phantom Dawn last graced this blog. In essence, this chapter shouldn't have taken that long as I'd already covered the bare bones of it in comic form. I just had to transcribe that and the chapter would be in the bag.

Things didn't quite work out that however, as regular readers of this blog will know. Depression can appear like a bolt from the blue and then leave at a moments notice. My will to do this chapter up and left me till recently. It was also not so straight forward as I strove to give Rose more to do than just stand there looking pretty. Part of this can be seen where she tries to reach out to both Kurz and Mason to stop the fight. That'll be important for future groundwork that comic readers got a glimpse of. Though, Rose will have a lot more to do in the forthcoming chapters as Finch makes a reappearance...


For a refresher, Kurz is confronting Mason and his men, who are trying to force our heroes out of time. The good guys don't know Mason’s true motivation for this and just assume its because he’s a bully basically. Kurz has also told Rose to stay out of it and leave it all to him. Is this a wise move, or will it come back to bite him. Please read on to find out!

Phantom Dawn Chapter Index

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

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Chapter 10: One Sided Fight


     Kurz looked unfazed as he stared down the barrels of the guns that were now pointed at him. He started walking towards them, playing with the rope in his hands as he did so.

     “Aren’t you going to get them to shoot me? I mean, that is what guns are for isn’t it? To take other people’s lives?” 

     This Kurze seemed a different person to the one that Rose had just met. While he’d been serious then, what he was saying carried a different weight.

     “Let me help you!” Rose shouted.

     Internally, Mason flinched a bit when he heard that, he didn’t want to have to deal with her if he could help it, and even getting rid of Kurz would improve the situation.

     “Look, just turn around and give up, you’ve got no chance here. I’d hate for your old man to have to bury someone else,” Mason didn’t know why he chose to say those words, he regretted it almost as soon as they left his mouth. He’d wanted to sound intimidating but hadn’t thought any further than that. Kurz proved his regret instantly when he started running towards the guns instead of away from them.

     “Open fire you idiots! You can’t let him get close to you!” Mason winced. The three that had volunteered to help him had been lured by the prospect using the weapons, and while there had been no issues with using them on inanimate objects, a flesh and blood person was giving them concern. It was that very concern that allowed Kurz to get in close to them, and by that time, even when they found their own resolve to fire those terrible weapons it was too little, too late.

     As the first guner went to squeeze the trigger, Kurz was already close enough to throw the end of the rope around the barrel, closing the loop. With relative ease, Kurz pulled the gun out of the guy’s hands and swung it right into the face of the second, shattering the visor and knocking the man out cold.

     In this simple act, there was now only one of them left with a weapon, and he was already moving to deal with him, still with the gun stuck in the end of his rope, Kurz spun and tossed the weapon at the last armed man standing. This fellow had already opened fire in a haphazard fashion, being unable to hit anything, let alone the gun that knocked him down with a loud crack. The first gunner, not wanting to be laid out like his friends, turned tail and fled the scene, running past a stunned Mason.

     “Aw yeah! That’s our Kurz!” Si yelled out, he’d now deemed it safe enough to stick his head out of the window. “Show these losers who’s boss!”

     “Empty building eh?” Mason said. “If you had just left already then we wouldn’t be forced to do this!”

     “Forced to do this? You’re the one who started all this. Taking everyone’s money from them to pay Finch’s tithe. You could have walked away anytime! Instead you’ve chosen to ally yourself with a murderer!” Kurz swung the rope around faster and faster. His eyes were already locked on to Mason, and he was certain that the fight wasn’t going to play out as last time.

     Rose still didn’t feel good leaving everything to Kurz, but she was curious about what they were saying. It felt to her that neither were being fully open about things, keeping secrets when they weren’t needed at this junction. Why was Mason forced to do this? Where was Kurz’s sense of justice coming from?

     “Kurz?” she called out, wanting to point out that there was little reason to continue. Mason had lost his backup, and the numbers were now in Kurz’s favour, assuming he chose to invoke them. As it was, he was more than happy for Rose and the others to stay out of it. To him, it was his fight, and his alone.

     “Just stay where you are Rose, I’ve got a good handle on things. This jackass isn’t going to be much of a bother for much longer.”

     Seeing as she wasn’t getting any headway with him, Rose turned to Mason. There was still something about the way he was acting that irked her, making her question things. She hoped that he might see reason, even if she herself didn’t know what that reason was at this point.

     “Mason? If I can call you that, please stop this fight. Your friends have been beaten. We can talk about whatever issues you have,” she said sweetly, and while Kurz brushed her off, Mason was all ears, if only for how her voice sounded to them.

     “To hear an angel calling my name is sweet indeed,” he said with a smile, forgetting where he was for the moment. His response did remind Rose why she felt uncomfortable with him earlier. “Alas, I can’t walk away to be with you, I have to do this! Prepare yourself for the end, Kurz!” Mason darted forward, going for one of the guns that was lying on the ground.

     Kurz did nothing to stop this, instead, his face showed no emotion, he was just watching, and waiting for the right moment.

     “No! Don’t do it! Please!” Rose had reached her limit, and was prepared to throw herself into the middle of their fight, but she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned to see that Neal had made his way to her.

     “I know what you’re feeling, but we have to let Kurz do this. My grandson has been through a lot of things, he feels like he has a lot to prove.”

     “Are you saying we shouldn’t do anything? What if he gets hurt?”

     “While he’s winning, we leave him be. Only when he’s in danger should we act.” 

    Rose didn’t understand the reasoning, all she saw was that someone needed help, and something in her head urged her to do something. Still, she’d decided to trust Neal’s judgment, even in the scant time she’d spent with Neal, she could tell she’d listen.

     “Have faith in Kurz, he’ll show you his worth, don’t worry about Mason’s health either, Kurz is no murderer.” 


     “Look,” Mason said gleefully. “You wasted all your time, and now I’ve got a gun, and I’m aiming it at you! What are you going to do with that silly rope of yours now?” He aimed the gun squarely at Kurz’s face, putting his finger on the trigger, making it clear that he was going to pull it at the next possible chance. “We’re done here, Kurz! Now, take your friends and get out of town! Let me be the hero here!” The last part was so quiet, Rose was sure that she was the only one who heard it..

     Kurz, unfettered, started walking towards his foe, swinging his rope around.

     “If you’re ready then, just shoot me already! Come on!” he shouted.

     “God damn you!” Mason fumbled with the gun, and that was all Kurz needed as he went from a slow walk, to a faster sprint, throwing the rope around the gun, and yanking it out of his hand just like he did to the first assailant, he used the rope to bring it to his own waiting hands.

     “And what are you going to do with that?” Mason asked, aware of how drastic the tables had been turned.

     “I’m just going to do this.” Kurz made it look like he was going to open fire on Mason, but at the last second, pulled the ammo clip out of it, letting the bullets spill to the floor. “I really don’t like guns, can’t you tell? He then dropped the gun to his side, waiting with some satisfaction as it landed with a thud.

     “You idiot…” Mason started trembling. “You god damn idiot!” he raged, running at Mason. “This wasn’t supposed to turn out like this!” 

     “It was only ever going to turn out like this,” Kurz corrected him. “Just me and you now, let’s settle this!” 

     With no fear, Kurz stared down the oncoming Mason, who was running at him as fast as he could. 

     I’ll prove it to you, Rose. I don’t need anyone to fight my battles. I’m going to claim victory!


----------

Next Chapter (not finished yet).

That's all for this week, hopefully this is the restart of the fortnightly schedule for Phantom Dawn. Also have my fingers crossed that I can report back next week that Daemon Soul 2 is complete.

Till next time...

Keep on writing.

Peter James Martin

Quick Links

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Fade to Noir

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Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Ominous Orbs

Daemon Soul Awakening- Amazon, books2read

Wednesday, 25 June 2025

#129 He Has A Lot

Happy Blog Day Everyone.

Still no normal service...yet.

The ending of Daemon Soul 2 continues to elude me but I'm making decent headway with it as more characters are showing me just who they are.

I've also had inspiration strike me at the most random of times, and while I need to discuss it with my editor, it could solve a bunch of my issues with the second book and lead to an interesting dynamic for the third. Of course, it'll lead to more edits that are needed for the last chapters to make sense but thats about par for the course now. The other inspiration is a bit trickier to describe as it involves various loose threads in my head, and is more about future developments, other than providing Cypher an interesting mirror (to go alongside the other, more twisted mirror that Void holds up to him). To boil it down, the character re-purposes an existing one (okay, he's never appeared in writing and was in a RPG Maker game I was tinkering with ages ago, and a tabletop rpg I was doing.), taking him from the existing archetype and transplanting him wholesale, but losing a certain aspect (promise I'll explain better when the character is in print). I'm in two minds about his name, leaning towards keeping it, and having him absolutely hate it.

In either case, these will inserted into the manuscript after its finished, and I'll fight the urge to make changes now because that'll just bog me down even further.

In other news, I'm hoping to make time to continue Phantom Dawn this week (though, given what I said about Daemon Soul 2 just above, take this with a pinch of salt), I need to make time for it again.

Before I sign off for the week, let's see what Brennan and Riz are up to...

The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz



Hmmm, I think I needed longer to really get that joke perfect. The original idea was that Riz thought his cheese was in the box but ultimately, Brennan would reveal it was on the side in the kitchen. Fearing that I'd not gotten that across (I hadn't), I changed it to just being the bread in the box, and Brennan reduced to complaining about Riz leaving the cheese out. The joke had well and truly fallen flat.

Next week's is issue 130 though, and if I can pull it off, it should be a fun one indeed.

That's it for now,

Till next time,

Keep on writing.

Peter James Martin

Quick Links

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Fade to Noir

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Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Ominous Orbs

Daemon Soul Awakening - Amazon, books2read

Wednesday, 18 June 2025

#128 Just Checking

Happy Blog Day Everyone

I think everyone is familiar with the drill by now. There's no Phantom Dawn this week, but as I'm feeling a little bit better, I'm hoping that it'll start up again in a fortnights time, jumping back in to the fight between Kurz and Mason (which started here). 

Whilst I'm still not writing as much as I would like, I'm getting things done and a recent part I've been working on has meant that I had to take a character back to the drawing board slightly to figure out how her powers actually worked. I'd had an idea in my head for them, allowing me to write scenes where she'd looked the part, but the actual mechanics weren't there. If I had just left as is then her powers were incredibly broken and over powered.

The character in question is one Lady Morgana, who, simply put, could make things explode. My rationale at first was that she was doing something with the oxygen in the air, and already you should see the problems with such a power, seeing as we need oxygen to live and that it gets carried around our bodies by our blood. If left, she could literally blow people up without them even knowing what was coming. This works fine at a distance, and can be seen as intimidating to other characters but I need her to be more than that (especially in the future, which is why it's so important to get this right now). The fights would end up very one-sided leaving me to have to show my hand quite aggressively in order to do it properly. I know there's merit in using it to create dramatic tension ("oh snap, how is so-and-so going to survive this!") But the victory has to be somewhat believable otherwise you get things like: "Why didn't she kill him as soon as he opened his mouth? How is this a challenge?". My aim is more to create fights like that seen in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventures manga and anime series, where the author often comes up with ingenious ways to end fights. If I accomplish that remains to be seen, as the character in question will be stepping into the limelight in future books and is only getting started here. 

As it stands, work on Daemon Soul 2 continues apace and all thats left to do is wrapping up stuff...and edits, oh God the edits are going to break me.

Things have seemingly turned around this week in order of content, so let's finish up with everyone's favourite duo.


The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz


Originally this strip was supposed to be called Chances Are a Million to One (why yes, I have been listening to Jeff Waynes Musical War of the World, how can you tell?), sadly I couldn't back it up within the strip so that's how you ended up with this!

Not sure what the bigger question is though, the fact there's life on Mars or how Riz borrowed money from them...

That's all for this week.

Till next time,

Keep on writing.

Peter James Martin

Quick Links

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Fade to Noir

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Daemon Soul Awakening- Amazon, Books2read

Wednesday, 11 June 2025

#127 Almost Worked

Happy Blog Day Everyone

Not much to talk about again today, but it's not all doom and gloom. I've actually gotten more words down for Daemon Soul 2, which included finally finishing up the chapter thst had been feeling like a slog. I've said this before but it should feel like downhill from here in terms of actually finishing it as now is the point of tying up plot threads (the ones that need it) and laying down fresh hooks for story number 3. The word count currently sits 10k over where I want it, which is a bit concerning, as unlike Daemon Soul 1, there isn't any obvious cuts that could be done. Of course I say that but there is some passages that I'm currently looking at and questioning their worth. Untangling things though make it a tricky proposition to straight up remove. Annoying thing as well is that I still have bits I need to add based on notes I made previously.

Will I be able to get this done?

Time will tell.

My mood is shifting slightly because of this, but it's still early days.

Enough talk though, time to see what Brennan and Riz are doing.

The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz


First up, sorry about the mistake on the border of the first panel, my finger slipped while inking.

Secondly, I had this idea kicking atojnd my head about Riz trying to send himself places in order to save travel expenses. In fact there was even a line of dialogue cut from this strip expressing that. The idea did raise questions, such as how would he get the box sealed, given Brennan would only help so far. Hence why this strip was designed the way it was. It was a stupid idea for Riz really. Thinking about it, he'd have more luck hiding in someone's luggage, assuming they were going his way of course.

Fun fact: Normally I use the comic stripes full title for the name of the blog, but this is the firsf time I've shortened it. Why? I wasn't sure how the brackets would go as sometimes their inclusion can make things go a bit screwy.

That's all for this week. Hopefully I can keep some momentum going on my writing and fully turn the corner. I'll keep you all updated.

Thank you and till next time.

Keep on writing.

Peter James Martin

Quick Links

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Fade to Noir 

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Hubble Bubble

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Ominous Orbs

Daemon Soul Awakening- Amazon, books2read

Wednesday, 4 June 2025

#126 A Bit Dramatic

Happy Blog Day Everyone!

Yes, as you may have guessed, there's no Phantom Dawn this week, breaking a long running tradition (in the sense that I hadn't missed a chapter upload since I started doing it back in January, prologue not withstanding as that was actually already written). I think I explained it last week, but to quickly recap, I'm not in the best place at the moment, and haven't touched a word document since I uploaded the last chapter of Phantom Dawn.

I am trying to ease myself back in, but only a few hundred words, if that. I'll let you all know next week how this goes. I'm unsure if it'll help but hopefully Phantom Dawn will only be on hiatus for these next couple of weeks.

Of course, you still get a new Comic of course (quality not assured).

The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz


I think we all know someone like this...It should come as no surprise that Riz is a complete drama queen. Don't think it came out too badly (for my standards anyway).

Sadly, that's it for this week.

Sorry for another content lite post, but that's just how it goes I guess.

Till next time,

Keep on writing.

Peter James Martin

Quick Links





Daemon Soul Awakening- Amazon, books2read

Wednesday, 28 May 2025

#125 Time To Go

Happy Blog Day Everyone


Really not a lot to say today so it's pretty much just the comic and that's it. I think I've fallen into a bad place mentally and it's affected my output. It takes a lot to just do my dailies on social media and the weekly comic. Whether I've flown to close to the sun with what I was putting on myself, or in the same vein, I burned myself out. The result is the same. 

I've been like this before though and sunk to darker depths, but I think I may need to just get out of my own head.


With all that said, there may be no new chapter of Phantom Dawn next week. I can't promise something like that given how I'm feeling. I'd settle for feeling like my old self again.

With that said, here's Brennan and Riz.

The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz


This is the end of the beach theme, for now at least. I reserve the right to do more if the summer holiday provides more inspiration. Next week though, not doubt we'll get a new setting...or at least their office again.

As I said above, that's pretty much it for this week.

Till next time (and hopefully a better time).

Keep on writing

Peter James Martin

Quick Links

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Fade to Noir

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Hubble Bubble

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Ominous Orbs

Daemon Soul Awakening- Amazon, books2read