Hyba Is Writing

Murder in Heliopolis: Cover Reveal! Murder in Heliopolis is a solarpunk murder mystery set in a future in which sprawling eco-cities around the world are thriving. In the supercity of Heliopolis, under the watchful eye of the AI system that runs the city in every possible way, crime rates are lower than ever before. There hasn't been a murder in five years.  Well, until now.  When a successful businesswoman is found killed in her home, Detective Laith Alazraq is put on the case - his very first homicide investigation. But this isn't just any homicide. There are layers upon layers, mystery upon mystery, and all of it points to something bigger, something more dangerous than anyone knows... Murder in Heliopolis is going to be my project for Nanowrimo/Writathon, so I'll be updating it daily and hopefully making the word count goals by the end of both events!   First chapter out on November 1! Today, though, is cover reveal day! Here's my cover for Murder in Heliopolis: As...

Creatures That Inspired Kahlaqrabs: Cambroraster In recent worldbuilding posts for The Pirates of Sissa , I've discussed the kinds of animals that have inspired the creation of my terrifying fictional beasts, the kahlaqrabs. You can learn more about kahlaqrabs in Season 2 Episode 5 of my podcast. In this blog post, I want to talk about yet another creatures that inspired the kahlaqrab design.  Once again, it's a creature that lived in the ocean millions of years ago: the cambroraster.  Cambroraster The cambroraster, like the aegirocassis benmoulai, is a filter feeder. How do I know? Take a look at those appendages in the front of its head: They look a lot like the appendages we saw last time with the A. benmoulai, don't they? They're perfect for filtering stuff out. It actually apparently "sifted through sediment" using those appendages But, once again, these aren't really relevant to my kahlaqrabs. I just think they're cool. So, now let's move on ...

November 2021 Writing Prompts In the November writing prompts list, I've tried to include some very thought-provoking prompts that can be interpreted a range of different ways. As always, every prompt is related to global events, celebrations, and topics surrounding the month of November. Here is the writing prompts list:   As always, you can complete them in whatever order you prefer, and you can even merge more than one writing prompt to create interesting stories using a mix of prompts.  Or you can approach one prompt from various perspectives and genres, allowing you to use it more than once. This is especially fun if you enjoy a handful of prompts the most. To get an idea of how you can use one prompt more than once, check out the example at the end of the October Writing Prompts post!  Happy writing!

 The Beast of Ildenwood: 13. A Village Neglected   The day has yet to begin, but the Wanderer and Lahab are already on the move. He notices her alert posture, the way her eyes search out the most minute of sounds. Ever since their encounter with Zerban, she has been on edge, paranoid of the smallest thing. The Wanderer follows her orders without question; it makes no difference to him, after all, which path they take through the City of Sowarr, or how quickly they travel. Now that all but one of the blocks and drains have been removed by Deletrear, he has other matters to contend with. Memories that return to him in flashes. Whispers of a past that hasn’t yet fully revealed itself to him. And something… something terrible that must have happened to him, and to someone he cares about. Cared about. He doesn’t know anymore. The forest on the edge of Sowarr is a peaceful and beautiful place. The rich greenery that surrounds them as they pass through has ...

 Worldbuilding: Zerban - The Beast of Ildenwood (Coming soon)  

Neon Vape: Ramona's Idle Time I was asked (a long time ago) on Tumblr about how my characters spend their idle time, and I decided to answer the question for Ramona, the main character in my sci-fi WIP Neon Vape: A Vaporwave Odyssey .  In its futuristic setting, technology has taken over everything, especially entertainment and recreation. It has become an exhaustive, pervasive, almost oppressive routine for people - the idea of going to work, spending all day dealing with technology, and then coming back home and spending all evening dealing with more technology. And it’s all screens, all the time, everywhere . So entertainment usually means watching television, reading on electronic devices, playing video games, meeting friends over virtual reality, and so on. In fact, it has become really hard to find ways to connect with people that bypass electronics.  So, for example, Ramona’s day tends to go something along the lines of:   Morning Routine.  Wake up, make break...

Author Interview! An author friend of mine, Etta Grace , interviewed me recently, and I have to say: She had some of the most thought-provoking and thoughtful questions for me, and I had a blast answering them! The interview focuses on my psychological thriller, Apartment , so give it a look-see! Read the interview here. While it's currently unavailable, if you'd like to get your hands on a copy of Apartment , I will be making it available again soon! Keep an eye on my social media or my blog, and you'll know when it's out! 😄

Creatures That Inspired Kahlaqrabs: Aegirocassis benmoulai In Season 2 Episode 5 of my podcast, I talked a little about the inspiration for my fantasy creature, the kahlaqrab, which is featured in my high fantasy novel, The Pirates of Sissa .  Last time, I wrote about the Acutiramus, an animal that inspired the kahlaqrab. This time, I'll be talking about the Aegirocassis benmoulai. It is the second creature in my list of awe-inspiring creatures. Once again, all the images are linked in from the Wikimedia Commons.  Aegirocassis benmoulai The A. benmoulai is a creature I came across while researching arachnid creatures from the Cretaceous period. This creature, though, lived during the Paleozoic Era - during the Ordivician period to be more precise. Here's a rendition of what it probably looked like: The segmented body shape is something that it seems to have in common with Acutiramus, but there's very little else that overlaps from what I can tell! It's quite possible th...

The Beast of Ildenwood 12. A Delicate Situation The King of Samat is a gracious host, even in such turbulent times. By the time Deletrear receives word from Lahab and the Wanderer of Realms, he has bathed, has slipped into new embroidered robes gifted him by the King, and has eaten a hearty meal made by the talented Royal Chef. In fact, he is feeling quite rejuvenated – right up until the message arrives.   Guidebook Linkage System Alert   A Message has arrived!   Would you like to read it now?   “Yes,” Deletrear murmurs, rolling his sleeves up out of habit. Another floating parchment materializes before his very eyes, and he reads the contents of the message intently.   Message This Message comes by way of the Noble Guardian of Ildenwood. T his Message has been sent to the Noble Guardian of Miraya.   Zerban is a traitor. He attacked us in Sowarr. He meant to take Muna, but we fought back. He will be fou...

Neon Vape Worldbuilding: Dragonine City   Dragonine City is one of the major locations in the world of Neon Vape: A Vaporwave Odyssey . The game developers created it to be a destination for any and all gamers interested in partaking in fictional criminal activities and living the life of a lawless fugitive. Below is a quote from the manuscript describing the Dragonine City: The Dragonine City was a replica of the Kowloon Walled City - or, at least, inspired by it. The developers had realized that some players enjoyed the ability to play as criminals in virtual reality - to lead a life vastly different from their own - and to that end had hoped that by providing them with an entire city within the world of Neon Vape, these particular players would remain occupied and keep their criminal activities constrained to this geographical area. They felt that most hard-core ‘criminal’ characters would, in this way, keep away from causing trouble in the rest of the vast world of Neon Vape. W...

Worldbuilding: The Ruins of Ateeq - The Beast of Ildenwood They've been mentioned a few times already in the story, and while they'll be mentioned some more in the future, I wanted to go ahead and introduce the Ruins of Ateeq and their place in the world of The Beast of Ildenwood .  My attempt at completely digital art. Line art and shading are officially out of the question until I figure out how in the world they're supposed to work digitally! The Ruins of Ateeq are the resting place of the mysterious and powerful artifact that is unearthed prior to the beginning of the story. This artifact, called Muna, is the reason everything is taking place. There are those who theorize that the war is only a farce - a distraction the enemies from over the western seas have brought about so that they can fight their way to the peaceful and largely uninhabited Ruins of Ateeq and unearth Muna.  Old and crumbling, the Ruins of Ateeq are also a place of great historical significance. The ...