So I am currently writing a new Aculeo & Amunet story.
It’s good – I like the guys, and it’s like taking a vacation.
I’d love to have three or four stories for a new collection to publish for Christmas – I’ve one ready, and another I am writing right now… let’s say I’m sort of halfway there..

The story I’m working on right now is very loosely based on a 1976 song called The Road to Babylon, from an album called The Roaring Silence, by the Manfred Mann Earth Band.
As I said in the past, I use a lot of music for inspiration, background, soundtrack and assorted distractions when I write, and listening to this one really got me going.

Here’s the lyrics (by Mann, Thomas, Colin Pattenden):

By the waters of Babylon
We lay down and wept and
Wept for these I am
We remember, we remember, we
Remember these I am

A Golden helmet blinded minds
Among ten thousand swords
Along the road to Babylon
A golden thunder silenced songs
Among ten thousand voices
On the road to Babylon

Well, well, well, beware that golden helmet
Well, well, well
There’s no easy way to go
Well, well, well
No easy road to follow
Well, well, well

A golden ocean turned to fire
And burned ten thousand ships
Along the road to Babylon
Golden dreamer touched the sky
Alone in empty silence
On the road to Babylon

Well, well, well
Beware that golden thunder
Well, well, well
That dreamed and sang the song
Well, well, well
The empty sound of sorrow

Weird, uh?
Images of war, possibly of magic, certainly of a mysterious, possibly mystical golden artifact… there’s stuff enough to get Aculeo and Amunet going for a solid 6000-words story.

“A helmet?” Aculeo asked, rubbing his chin.
Amunet nodded. “Made of gold,” she said in a husky voice.
He snorted. “Not very good at stopping cuts or blows.”
Her violet eyes gleamed in the darkness. “Magic.”
Aculeo brought his hand to his forehead. “I should have guessed.”
“C’mon, big man,” the Aegyptian chuckled. “Do you want to live forever?”
“Why not?”

And this is it, really – I am writing a new story, courtesy of the esteemed Manfred Mann and his Earth Band.
End of the post.
No, OK; I guess you want to listen to the song, too.