Tag Archives: Jack Frost

5 Most Popular Classic Posts in 2015

Lita is so delighted when Gentle Readers drop by her blog posts from earlier years. Here are the top five most visited classic posts in 2015.

A beautiful harpy in the Clockpunk Wizard world

FIFTH PLACE: Harpies Are Misunderstood

Madam Harpy, our Winged Sister of the Sky. Who did a disservice to this magical creature, turning her from a beautiful woman with feathery wings, into a fearsome hag?

Hesiod, a Greek oral poet from the same time period as Homer, described harpies as women with fetching hair. Pottery showed them as lovely damsels with wings. Just what Lita was looking for, pretty bird gals having chronic Good Hair Days. More…

Shy Jack Frost, Winter’s Fantasy Boy

FOURTH PLACE: Fantasy Boy of Winter: Jack Frost

Burr, it’s wintertime outside of Lita’s castle here in the northern realms. Someone painted icy filigree on the windows. Let’s bundle up, go outside, and meet the artist.

Say hello to handsome Jack Frost, winter’s fantasy boy. This magician embodies lacy window paintings, trees draped with sparkling snow, and crystalline sculptures made of ice. He tosses about sheets of sleet as if they were billowing linens on a clothesline. More…

The Length of the Wand Matters Not

THIRD PLACE: 6 Critical Elements for Fantasy World Building (Part 3)

This is the third of a 3-part blog post about building rich fantasy worlds to immerse your readers. In part 1 we looked at two “big picture” elements: maps and politics. Part 2 was a “medium” view about wimpy food and eavesdropping.

This time we’ll talk about a couple of “detail” topics: the decorative apostrophe, and why it’s no fun for wizards to just wave their wands and rule the world. More…

Readers Love to Eavesdrop

SECOND PLACE: 6 Critical Elements for Fantasy World Building (Part 2)

This is the second of a 3-part blog post about building rich fantasy worlds to immerse your readers. In part 1 we looked at two “big picture” elements in building a fantasy world: maps and politics.

Today we will take a “medium-sized” view and see why meat and grog are wimpy. We’ll also learn how to speak in tongues. More…

There is Always Someone Opposing Your Fantasy People

FIRST PLACE: 6 Critical Elements for Fantasy World Building (Part 1)

World-building techniques have always fascinated me. High Fantasy and Epic Fantasy books were my delight as a young reader. I poured over the maps on the book’s end papers, studied every entry in the glossary in the back, even marveled over the lengthy character name lists in the front.

When it comes to creating fantasy worlds for my own fiction, I’m a writer who knows the details of the characters’ environment. I must have their vitae close at hand so I know them well enough to write about their struggles. It also doesn’t hurt to speak their language and follow the latest fads for their clothing styles. More…

Here are more for the curious minded:

Bestiarum Vocabulum: Familiar

1 Reply

The Bestiarum Vocabulum is the wizard’s encyclopedia of faerie beasties and mundane crossovers living in the lake and forest near Lita’s castle.

Sorceress’s Familiar

familiar [fə milyər] noun, c.1325; ME < L familiāris; replacing ME famulier < MF < L; also totem, animal spirit, mage’s critter

Denizen of the Clockpunk Wizard world.
A sentient magical animal that bonds to a human wizard or sorceress. Human mages can acquire many familiars, although one is the normal number. Depending on the quality of the magician, a familiar’s magical ability ranges from a few simple spells, to using mind voice and other advanced magic. Only the most talented mages acquire a familiar that is a magical hybrid, such as a cynanthrope, werecat, or faun.
Personages: Furgo, Wizard Kadmeion’s magical hybrid familiar in Forever Boy and Old Bony Blue Eyes. Also Vixen-shay, the Winter Wizard’s mink familiar in Glitter Ponies.
See “Dramatis Personæ: Furgo” and “Go Fer and Furgo”

Fantasy Boy of Winter: Jack Frost

7 Replies

Jack on His Way to Another Window Painting Gig

Burr, it’s wintertime outside of Lita’s castle here in the northern realms. Someone painted icy filigree on the windows. Let’s bundle up, go outside, and meet the artist.

Say hello to handsome Jack Frost, winter’s fantasy boy. This magician embodies lacy window paintings, trees draped with sparkling snow, and crystalline sculptures made of ice. He tosses about sheets of sleet as if they were billowing linens on a clothesline.

Lacy Artwork Left on a Windowpane

Jack is an affectionate one. He nips noses and toes with tingling kisses, and leaves behind his enthralling magic.

Snow sports enthusiasts adore this mischievous ne’er-do-well’s wintry efforts. Mister Frost delights in all chilly artwork, whether he fills mountain valleys with champagne powder for skiers or freezes a lowland lake until it is a perfect dance floor for an ice skater’s blades.

One of Jack’s Clever Ice Sculptures

He is an artist and sculptor, too. His icy paintings on windowpanes have many admirers. Jack also molds frigid streams into whimsy ice figurines. He does his work when your back is turned or during the long and dark winter nights. Just don’t try stealing a kiss back from handsome Jack by putting your lips on a frozen well handle. Ouch. Lita warned you. Hear that cad giggle at your foolishness in trying to catch him unawares?

He Nips Noses and Toes with Tingling Kisses and Weaves Icy Enchantments

Enough of this winter enchanter’s tricks for now. His sly kisses have flushed Lita’s cheeks and turned her toes into numb nubbins. The snow crunches with every step and the darkening sky dances with the eerie northern lights. Lita puts her hip to the frozen door to shut wintertime outside.

Back inside now to the cozy fireplace and purring cat. Shall we have a cup of cocoa? A warm computer awaits to help thaw Lita’s fingers so she can type the next chapter of Glitter Ponies.

Oh, look over there. Jack painted more icy lace on the window while we were outside. What a sly guy.