http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:darkfedora&section=today deviantART RSS for by:darkfedora en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:15:45 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/21233054/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/21233054/ Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:02:37 PDT [link]

Reference art... very helpful. And free... Well, at least the getting started is free. It's addictive though.

]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/19890892/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/19890892/ Mon, 11 Aug 2008 05:05:25 PDT
New Comic!

It's a Jewls the Lucky comic ☺

Jewls is helping Flynn get back to Flynn's world so that they can save Alin… only Jewls' world runs on magic and magic is not always the most direct route.

[link]

Nix
[link]

]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/19794072/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/19794072/ Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:24:07 PDT
Long time no update.. like years!

For shame!

So... Michigan is turning out lovely So much to do!

I got a little trampoline today to jump up and down on

I'm trying to join a club

I hope I put the icon right!

I'm updating my story journal with free story too Just in case you like yaoi vampires, or other yaoi characters!

[link]

Now I'm off to draw like a fiend!

Nix

]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/10906948/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/10906948/ Thu, 30 Nov 2006 21:04:18 PST















]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/9030926/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/9030926/ Sat, 10 Jun 2006 19:24:47 PDT
Hi!

It's not a yaoi story, per say.

Craylish is a yaoi boy, but he was in love with Jewls' father. This is just a very small short story, just Craylish comforting Jewls over a hurt butterfly.

[link] < link

And here's a chunk of it Soooo if you like Jewls stories, please take a look. Besides, one of these days I'm going to write a Craylish/Johara story.


Lords of Butterflies




"Where is Jewlie?" Craylish asked. It was a late spring afternoon, warm, the air layered with floral and light sweet incense. Craylish the Wicked Smile was a tall man with a fine boned face and eyes so green they could have been emeralds. Sun warmed cream colored linen lay across strong shoulders, lay only half laced at his throat, and an aura of predator clung to him, of someone who was not quite civilized, not quite safe.

His history in the barding community spoke volumes for the shear silence of what was missing. He did not come into the record until the Master of Earth barded him at the request of Johara the Forever. His age had been listed as unknown, but it had not taken the guild all that long to chase down his parents, to start rumors and whispers in the back of bardhouses. Craylish had never competed in any tournaments, but the notoriety of his master's name had given him openings where a bard of lesser linage would have actually had to sing or show some talent.

It could even be said that there was nothing to Craylish the Wicked Smile that Johara the Forever had not built before Craylish ever arrived. He freely ran debts against his master's account and the fact that he was not dead of alcohol and gambling had cost more than one bard substantial wagers. The last act of abandonment by Johara had given Craylish something more than he'd ever planned on having.

The woman he spoke to now was in her early fifties, three temple braids with only decorative glass baubles hanging from them. She was a woman of square face and sharp eyes, sitting at a desk with dozens of quills. Marith the Cloud had won twenty-three tournaments in her day, had trained five apprentices, and outlived two soulkeepers. Many thought, if the timing were right, she might become Master of Water. In her youth, it was even said that she too had been blessed by the company of Johara the Forever.

"He is with the butterflies," she said, dismissive, irritated at the question somehow. "Look at this." she held out to him a parchment with rows of symbols drawn on it, the full length, then down in another column until it came to a pattern that he did not recognize anymore than the others.

"And this is?" While it was easy enough to see that his apprentice had drawn the symbols, he did not understand the meaning.

One gray eyebrow arched. "It is a puzzle, of sorts. Cr'sier, one of my apprentices, solved it when in her ninth year. I have never known any apprentice to solve it younger than that, and never on the first try. But you see, I told him he could go into the butterfly house, if he solved it."

"Yeah," Cray said, scratching the side of his head, until Marith glared at him as if he had maybe brought lice into her home. "Yeah, uh, Jewlie likes bugs. It's a good thing he got one that tasted bad."

Marith actually paled, then stabbed forward as if she'd lost the last of her reserve, "You can't train him. You know so little of what it really means to be a bard. I will pay you…."

So quickly, he'd crossed the hard wood floor to tower over her. All that was male glittered around him, aggression, violence, possession, strength, conviction, and a powerful projection that what he was to say was the deepest of truths. "If you even try, I'll kill you. You know who my master was, and who his father was. It's not a hard conclusion to draw. For all I know you know who is mother is too, and so you know that if I'd been willing to give him up, I'd have done it for more gold than you've ever owned."

She hissed, the whites of her eyes big, "You dare!"

"Yeah, I do. You're right, I can't teach him shit, but he's better than you deserve. He'll learn all you've really got to teach him before he's finished cutting his teeth, and then we'll be off to find another bard with something to teach him. He'll learn from ever bard I can find and he wouldn't even put it together that he's getting the best education any bard ever got. Then when your apprentices' apprentices are competing against him, they're going to go home crying because of the red headed bastard that broke their chops. So get over yourself."

"If you take him bard to bard, som... ]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/8106722/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/8106722/ Wed, 08 Mar 2006 19:28:58 PST
You realize how very nice DA is when you try to set up on a different site! *bangs head*

]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/7188173/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/7188173/ Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:59:35 PST
*cheers*

My book Shadow of Wishes got a good review! It's probably my favorite of my books so far.

Got four angels from Fallen Angel Reviews

[link]

]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/6455175/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/6455175/ Thu, 08 Sep 2005 23:14:02 PDT
[link] < come play at daz and find all the cool hair bits and models! The software's free, and anyway. It's a highly cool site.

Nix

]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/6454304/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/6454304/ Thu, 08 Sep 2005 20:43:25 PDT
City of the Unicorn

by Nix Winter


Spider rolled in his sleep, outrunning a shiver that didn't notice the afternoon heat. He snarled at something in his dream, and settled back with a sigh. Nightmares linger longer than worlds, at times.

The City of the Unicorn is a reef, of sorts, the warm waters of the universe flowing against it. Life and artifacts, lost dreams, struggling hopes, all wash up against the city of the unicorn. It is said that it was founded, thousands of years gone, by the last of an intelligent species native to a world about to go through a very long magicless age. Climate fluctuates one worlds, in galaxies, magic and culture rise, fall, shift, and life goes on.

Shifting tides have brought great riches to this city of towering buildings, street cars, soulful jazz, and dragons. Amid those riches arose a university of mages and scholars, of healers and artists. Information and art are gold and violence will get a person banished.

It was the world that Spider lived in, now. It wasn't the world that haunted his dreams, but even paradise has shadows.

Rising magic levels brought what passed for summer in this world set between the worlds, and he'd kicked away his sheets, the fine worn cotton thin and much too prone to clinging to the hard curves of his body. Midnight violet hair fanned around his pale shoulders. Half held by sleep still, he pushed it back, pulled it up away from his neck, from the slender pointed ear.

It had been cool and dark in the forests of his youth, and he was no different than those forests, really, a creature of moonlight and midnight, something beautiful and yet more dangerous than it seemed. Those forests though were gone, gone with a world swallowed by the rise and flux of reality. He remained though. A shiver rippled over him, defeating the heat of the afternoon.

Alone in the bed, he rolled, nothing but tangled sheets and smooth male body. Sweat ran down the center line of his belly, towards deep orchid curls. One knee bent and he kicked away the sheet, as if he could kick away the heat.

Quick bells, like the sound of tiny prayer bells, rang, and he squeezed both eyes together tightly. He was not late for work. He'd told his boss he wasn't coming in. He wasn't. There were labor laws in this world. He did not want to have to mention them to her again. Do gooders could be so obsessive.

He touched a blue swirl tattooed to his wrist and held up his palm. A holographic depiction of his boss and benefactor distilled out of the hair to stand tapping her foot on his life line. “Where are you?”

“Bed, Gerty. You should join me.”

“Helios! I've found something important. I need you.”

“Oh baby, you say the sweetest things,” he purred, one eye closed as he yawned. Half sitting up now, one hand on the bed, his boss pacing in his palm, Spider wanted coffee, and maybe just a touch of rum, in said coffee. He wanted... something, so fleeting in his mind, something intangible, a warm body next to him that wasn't maybe.
She looked nothing at all like him. They could have been separate species. He wasn't real clear on all of that, even if she did swear that all sentient life was all one species. She also thought all sentient life could be nice to be around too. Yeah. Sure. His people were carnivores. Her species, whatever reality they'd come from, looked a whole like like doves to him. Oh she had a normal enough face, nose, cute and curved, dark brown eyes that hide her emotions about as well as Spider's skin kept him from sun burn. Full lips, and she was built in the front like any woman he'd ever really day dreamed about, mostly, really small, but her hips were nicely curved, yeah, she would have been very pretty, if she hadn't been his boss. It was the wings though that really put him off. Big, black feathered wings, and he'd bloody well seen her fly too. There was just something about them that made his skin crawl, even if she was the nicest person he'd ever known.

“You're in bed? You're still in bed? How much sleep do you need? Oh Helios! What were you doing last night? You smell like...” Her words staggered off... and her wings ruffled.

“That's colonge, boss. Men wear it when they're looking for someone to share their bed with? They don't do that where you're from?”

She pressed a finger to her temple and the opposite tip of her wing just twitched. “Well, shower before you come in. I need some help, so hurry. We're gonna make a jump out to this privative world. I need you to be my front runner, Spider. Get your ass moving!”

Yeah. He'd seen pictures of people with wings. Some people called them angels. Some worlds ate bugs too. Not him. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said, really fast, the tips of his ears darkening wi... ]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/6057105/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/6057105/ Thu, 28 Jul 2005 11:03:24 PDT
Hi!

Sarah's Hawk is Book of the Day at Venus Press Chatters!

Come hang out and read some excerpts and some brand new story bits that no one has ever seen, 'cept my editor

There will be a free copy of Sarah's Hawk given away by random drawing of all the people who chat on Venus Press Chatters today And a copy of The Pet 1, 2, 3 too

[link]


4.5 HEARTS from The Romance Studio




SARAH'S HAWK, a novella, is by Nix Winter. This story starts off a little slow, but after the first couple of pages, it really takes off! Once this reader got into the relationship between Sarah and Craylish The Wicked Smile, "Cray," it was beautiful! This is different type of story by Ms. Winter. The passion is softer, sweeter. This story touched and pulled at this reader's heart and soul! The storyline and dialogue is a breathtaking masterpiece of words. This reviewer fell in love with all the wonderfully immersing and caring characters in this story. Ms. Winter's writing abilities are a true testament to a great writer. No one can spin an extraordinary tale quite like Ms. Winter. She is in a class of her own!
Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Mildly sensual
Reviewer: Janalee
June 15, 2005
Full Review here - [link]


Four Cups at Coffee Time

Sarah Lightkeeper is the daughter of a Lighthouse Keeper. Being a courageous young woman, she hurries to the side of the survivors of a shipwreck, where she encounters a bard, Craylish The Wicked, and his apprentice, Jewlie. She uses her knowledge to rescue Jewlie by giving him CPR. Sarah and her father have a strained relationship, so
he becomes extremely angry she saved the Bard and his apprentice. Sarah has always had an inner longing for the ships that come near the lighthouse and has never been made to feel as beautiful as Craylish makes her feel.

Craylish spent his life traveling the seas with his apprentice, trading goods and seeing the world. His ship sinks near the lighthouse that Sarah and her father keep and he immediately is attracted to her. Never before has the handsome, worldly man felt like settling down, until he meets this young woman. Knowing that the town is not friendly to his kind, he attempts to fit in to get closer to Sarah.

Sarah and Craylish have an unbelievable attraction for each other. Instantly, they are ready to settle down, but Sarah's father has other ideas. A hard night at the tavern has allowed the man's tongue to loosen and shocking revelations come out about Sarah's past. These very revelations allow her to make decisions that change her life forever.

Definitely a good read, this book has very believable characters. The plot is excellent and the twist at the end was unexpected. I never would have guessed the turns that Nix takes with this one. This is another one to add to the book collection, folks.

Sue F.
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance

[link]

]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5982677/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5982677/ Wed, 20 Jul 2005 00:49:33 PDT
Sooooo
I made a calendar with all my pretty pics on it.

[link]

]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5940652/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5940652/ Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:57:33 PDT
Hard to Touch

by Nix Winter




The air was not good. Thick and clingy, summer on Salem Whitegate, when the air filtration system was overhauled. Summer came when they were farthest from their system's sun. The heat clung to everything, so that even the floor of the two room apartment was too hot, the chair, the metal frame on the window.

Jira squatted by the window and set the oil pan down. “Tan, what are you doing? Didn't I tell you not to do this again?”

She spoke to a man, slender and flushed, blond hair clinging to damn skin, lips parted, breath ragged. His eyes were a pale blue, violet, and smiling as he watched her. That was about all he had the energy for.

She reached into the oil pan, into the cool water that rose over her hot fingers, so the water was almost painful cold in the comparison. The cloth that she pulled out had been a tee-shirt for Tanin's lover, once. Jira had cut the bullet holes out and burned them. Moving from one foot to the other, a little closer, a little back, easing some of the stickiness of her vacuum suit boots, she washed his face with the cool water, washed way sweat and dust from the outside, fever from the inside.

Of Spacer stock, she was taller than he was, but not much more mass, short brown hair, bleached at the tips in defiance of the sun. She had earth brown eyes too, at least that's what Arin had said, that her eyes were the color of earth in the forest, dark and peaceful. He didn't know a damn thing about space. She didn't know anything about Earth. If Tanin hadn't been in love with the bastard.

Not like she couldn't see why. Arin was what neither of them were, beautiful, tall, powerful, graceful, like some damn black swan. Dangerous. He'd come into Salem Whitegate on a crippled shuttle that scavengers had gotten to before Jira could stake a claim to it. She'd had a right to claim it too, because some nice person had brought the ventilated Earther to Tanin. Tanin was the only doctor on the starward side of Salem Whitegate and saying he was a doctor was like saying she was a pilot. They got what they knew out of manuals and abandoned archive computers. Reading was a skill that set them apart though. Tanin's mother had been a teacher before the war began and she'd given them that, before she'd given her spirit back to the sun.

And if Tanin's skills had saved his black swan from the five holes that had been in him, Jira figured her keeping them in supplies ought to have counted for a claim on the shuttle. Doctors never got paid anything accept plague. She dropped down to her knees and re-wet the cloth. “Want to try to eat something?”

“No,” he said, voice low, thick, not like Tanin's normal voice.

“You have to eat, Tan,” she said, pulling a silver wrapped bar from the pocket. “I got chocolate. Good stuff.”

“Sorry, Jira. Don't feel good.”

She traced the cloth over his lips, scrubbing at the dry skin in the corner a little. “It's okay Tanin, but baby, you gotta drink a little at least.” Her fingers moved the water tube closer to his lips, then she gave the water pouch a little squeeze.

Their door dragged as it opened, metal on bare metal and heat from inside the building rushed them.

And there he was, the ship stealing bastard. Where he'd taken her ship, she didn't know, but she was on her feet, cloth smothered in one fist. “Where the hell did you go?”

“I have made arrangements.” He was so like a black swan, dark hair against pale skin, black eyes that a person could just fall into. He had new clothes on, a black trench coat and new boots, not the kind of stuff one could get on the starward side of Salem. “We will save his life.”

“How are you gonna do that?” She threw the cloth at him and it hit wetly on the metal floor of their apartment. “Did you sell my ship?”

“No,” he said, closing the door behind him, “But I know you would have if it would have bought his life. You are a good person.”

“How are you going to save him? He's got the plague!” The heels of her hands went to her forehead and heat burned her eyes as tears screamed into being.

Cool fingers skimmed across her cheek, and before she knew it, had cupped her chin, lifting her to look up into. Under those clean fingers, she felt grimy, and it was all out of place, this man who was her lover's lover, clean shaven, a spice of some scent to him, and then his lips touched hers. They brushed over her lips, smooth silk against normal human lips and she blinked, lips parting in surprise. The only other person she'd ever kissed her whole life was Tanin and his kisses were like his voice, light and playful.

This kiss stopped at her lips, the brush of his tongue along her lower lip, so personal, so vuln... ]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5909381/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5909381/ Mon, 11 Jul 2005 23:22:26 PDT
It's my weekend now. I hope I get wild amounts of stuff created! Then my life will feel like it has some meaning.

]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5748751/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5748751/ Fri, 24 Jun 2005 21:39:43 PDT
It's been a lovely day! Two more days and I get four off!

Nix

]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5237123/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5237123/ Sun, 01 May 2005 10:09:24 PDT all I really want to write is Jewls
but I should write something that I can publish, or give to my publisher.
I have so many stories in progress.

Earlier,it was so much easier to just pick something. I need a big wheel that spins and picks for me.

David Yang's Ghost

A Northern Prince

Blood Sparrow

Something romantic with a trio, of Daniel... and hestitation has slowed that idea for today. I'm going to write Jewls because he is the most important to me. ]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5192798/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5192798/ Tue, 26 Apr 2005 08:05:51 PDT Have got some nerve
They toss you smiles
Like they'll never leave you
But then you've got plots holes
And bills for dorm rooms
They fritter away your sleep
With dishwashers on at six in the morning
And banks robbed at two
Love for them aches tears down my face
But the choices they make
The stories they tell
Can be pulled and molded only so much
Children and characters
A world I watch from behind my glass
Some days it's not as lonely
As it is on others ]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5157008/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5157008/ Fri, 22 Apr 2005 10:07:56 PDT
Bard Risk found a home with Naughty Hamster Quarterly, which is going to be out in June ]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5109456/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5109456/ Sun, 17 Apr 2005 07:02:53 PDT ]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5005606/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/5005606/ Tue, 05 Apr 2005 09:15:11 PDT
I'm going to put up a story in a moment. But
It's like... this place is very special somehow... like I should write something meaningful in my journal.
Maybe next time. ]]> ~darkfedora http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/4084291/ http://darkfedora.deviantart.com/journal/4084291/ Thu, 16 Dec 2004 21:31:35 PST ~darkfedora