Rowley Roars!

Rowley's Roar has now been published via Itch.io, including 14 regular tracks and 5 alternative versions. You can play it straight from the store page. The music is available in both FLAC and MP3 format.

It's pay what you want, but if you enjoy it, you can set the price above zero, to tip me.

You can also listen directly from this blog entry:

Tags: audio, music, roaring-rowley

Rowley's Roar #10

For today's blog post, one of the fictional characters from my novels will be sharing a few messages. No, I'm not going crazy. I'm just having a little fun with writing from the perspective of one of my characters, to explain her music.

Without further adieu, please once again welcome Captain Edwina "Roaring" Rowley, who shall be taking a moment to explain another song from an album we're compiling.

The Tiger Witch

Hey itches.

Sorry if I'm in a sad mood today, because we're nearly to the end of my story and I don't want to say goodbye. I don't know what will become of me after this, but I'll get to that in a moment.

So, there I was, the last pirate captain, even though I didn't want to be one anymore. It really sucks that all the others got to go legit after the Dead Queen was finally forced to bow the knee, but not me. I was specifically excluded, simply because the leader of the Pirate Hunters hated me so much and had the ear of the Blackwell sisters, who were the ones that made the offer of amnesty.

I'll never forget seeing Foundation Stone explode so brightly, she outshone the sun, followed by multiple general bone transduction broadcasts, from the Port Keepers that manage the Ice Palaces and handle most day to day communication.

Every time I heard that offer of amnesty, followed by the specific exclusion of myself, my heart twisted a little further, because I never wanted to be a pirate! I was so angry!

In the end, I made up my mind to fly to Cakana, the old harvest moon that used to feed the whole star system.

Since the people there had thrown off the shackle of living under the boot of the Newt Witches and had no contact with space, I figured no one living there would know anything about me. I planned to land Glass House in some remote corner and start over as a little band of traveling minstrels, something the remainder of my crew had no problem with.

I really miss them, because they were the best. The few I had left were my die-hard fans, who were willing to share my grave, if necessary. Mr. Zindo, the rest of my bridge crew and my chief engineer were my closest friends, but unfortunately, their loyalty cost them their lives. Zindo, in particular, was my...oh, never mind, you don't want to hear that.

I just wish I could have gone with them, but that was not my fate...

We got to Cakana orbit and just as I was observing, to make calculations for landing, I was surprised to see a ship rocket into space. Even more strange was the fact it was Starwitch, the little rocket the Blackwell sisters lived and traveled in.

I tried reaching out to the sisters with bone transduction, but got an immediate splitting headache as the magic rebounded, unable to located them. Instead, I recast the spell and focused only on the interior of the other ship.

That's the day I met Lieutenant Colonel Scarth Denholm, who I will curse to the day I die again! That insane woman got me killed, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

We soon learned each of us hated the Blackwell sisters for our own reasons. Furthermore, Denholm was on a mission of revenge, because the sisters had orchestrated the downfall of her nation.

It wasn't long before their ship docked in my landing bay and we met face to face.

I performed Twinkle and Spin for Denholm and her clearly gone in the head companion, who was most certainly a completely deranged blood witch. Surprisingly enough, both of them enjoyed the song.

We became friends, after a fashion, bonding over our shared hatred, and began planning our revenge.

Unfortunately, I realized far too late that Denholm was even more mad than her companion, which is quite the statement. Captain Kristina "Killer" Krauss was a blood witch, assassin and serial killer, but at least with her, I knew where I stood. As a pirate, I dealt with that kind of monster on a regular basis, because they were useful for boarding action.

Denholm, on the other hand, had been hiding a very self-destructive side. With the fall of her nation, which had been the foundation of her obsessive personality, she was completely directionless, aside from her desire to punish Amelia Blackwell for her betrayal. The trouble with that kind is that once they reach the end of the road and get their revenge, almost anything can happen.

By the time I realized that, I was already stuck riding the tiger wherever she led. I'd already agreed and backing out wasn't an option, because Denholm had a real psychotic need to punish betrayers.

In the end, my own hatred cooled and I decided to do the bare minimum to further Denholm's plans, then get as far away as possible, because Denholm's eyes glowed when she was angry.

Do you have any idea what it means for a witch's emotions to make their eyes glow?

It meant Denholm was in the same class as the primordial witches, the first generation, who were so powerful, they could overwhelm their own flesh, if they weren't careful with magic. The worst case of mana burn I studied in school resulted in one of the children of the first witch literally exploding, simply because she pushed her magic too far, too fast.

And let me tell you, that wasn't a small explosion. It vaporized an entire moon and disrupted the gas giant it orbited, leaving the other moons adrift, though that happened in another star system, long, long ago.

Getting back to the point, the Blackwell sisters turned out to be coming right to us on a little errand of their own, so we stayed put, to "welcome" them.

As usual, I took more punishment than I deserved, even though I only fired a warning shot. That's when Iris pulled her little remote-touch trick, literally beating most of my bridge crew half to death and poor Zindo took a full-strength kick to the family jewels! I could have sworn I heard something rupture, but once the rest of us were down, Iris invisibly kicked him in the head, presumably to end his suffering, because he was screaming pretty loud. Then Marta hit Glass House with the full power of the magic she'd stolen from the Dead Queen.

As my ship started to come apart, I decided it was time to do one good thing and kill Denholm. I grabbed my axe and strummed my heart out, like never before! I hit her with the full force of Myth Guitar and I hope I shattered her skull, because she was too crazy to let live!

I played for all my worth in my final moments and even kept going as I was sucked out in space. I kept going as long as I could, hoping to balance my personal ledger a little in my final moments.

I don't know how the battle turned out after that, but as my body began to freeze in the void, I found myself wondering why I'd only been stunned by the vacuum of space, which didn't make sense...

Here's The Tiger Witch for you to enjoy:

Lyrics

Met some witches near harvest moon,
Who knew of sisters Black Well!
Of like purpose, we attune,
Payback would be real swell!

I forgot my own advice,
And teamed up for revenge sake!
I shouldn't have rolled the dice,
Just to have my final stake!

Chorus:
I will now ride the tiger,
This crazy witch will kill us!
I'm an unwilling rider,
Can't we this fate, now discuss?

Iris uses lethal intent,
And Marta's second to none!
My aid I shouldn't have lent,
To myself, what have I done?

In regret, I grab my axe,
Roaring at the tiger witch!
Myth guitar, we pay the tax,
And kill that psychotic itch!

(Chorus)

Knowing I'm dead by own hand,
I strum to balance my sheet!
It is not a gesture grand,
With my fingers moving fleet!

I hope the tiger to see,
On the other side of veil!
To tiger, stand up to she,
And then go to my soul's jail!

(Chorus)

My Glass House, she does now break,
Yet to my grave, I will play!
For more air, yet I do ache,
One more heart to music sway!

Cannot breathe, my fingers freeze,
My life over, music done,
To the Gods, I now beg, "Please?"
Yet how can void only stun?

(Chorus)

Here's a link to the MP3 file, if you'd like to download it.

The Tiger Witch is copyright 2026, Owen Tyme, all rights reserved, but free for your personal enjoyment. Lyrics by Owen Tyme, music generated by ACE-Step 1.5. E-mail me if you want to use it for something else.

Waiting in the Void

So, I died by explosive decompression.

Can't say it surprises me, because that's a pretty common fate for pirates. Thing is, in the old sailing days, defeated pirates would have walked the plank into waters that had been chummed, to bring on the sharks. However, in space, the closest thing to that is an airlock. That's the usual quick punishment that most every ship captain would use on captured pirates. It's a cruel and unusually painful execution method, but since we were cruel and often unusual, it was fitting.

On the other hand, I'm deeply confused by the fact that even though my body stopped, I didn't. Can you imagine getting spaced, and losing consciousness from the stunning strain of it, only to wake up some time later, merely uncomfortable? That's exactly what happened to me. I'm just lucky my eyes were open when I died, because otherwise, I would have spent the intervening years blind.

Yet, somehow, I kept my hand tightly wrapped around the neck of Myth Guitar. I can't help but smile at the image of a musician getting spaced, only to keep a good grip on her axe. Honestly, it's one of those perfect little things that life sometimes does, adding a little sweet to a bitter end.

I don't know how long I was out, but when I came to, I was alone, though there was some debris from my ship floating about.

I honestly have no idea how much time passed, but after a while, I hoped Nuva, the Goddess of Death, would come to take my soul to the afterlife. In fact, I started to silently pray for her intervention, because there's nothing worse than hanging about, with literally nothing to do.

I prayed for either rescue or a more permanent end, but nothing happened and I was forced to wait. Of course, that was not the end of my prayers, because I spent whole days and weeks turning my thoughts to Nuva and the rest of the Gods.

Eventually, the debris of my ship floated off, since every piece had its own differing velocity. I got to see some of it fall into the atmosphere and burn up, which was kind of pretty.

After seeing that, I crunched the numbers for my own orbit, in the hopes it might decay and bring me to an end, but I was frustrated to realize it was almost stable and would take decades to decay.

So, I mentally settled in for the long haul, composing lyrics and music in my mind. The album I've been sharing with you is the result and I must say, I'm kind of proud of it. I just wish I could try the songs out loud, because they're never quite the same same inside my head versus outside.

My next favorite hobby while I floated was trying to puzzle out what had happened to me, but since I literally flunked Necromancy 101 (I slept through every class), it took me quite a while to realize I'd become a zombie.

You see, I eventually turned my magical senses inward, discovering magic bonding my soul to my skull, which might be how a zombie is made. I don't know, but I'm definitely dead and my soul stuck around, so I must be a zombie, right?

Anyway, that left me with a nagging question: how did I become a zombie? I really don't know, but I have my suspicions. It could be that the Dead Queen put a delayed-activation spell on me, which was designed to turn me into a zombie upon death. From a skilled caster, those can be rather hard to sense.

That's the biggest possibility, because I could see the cruel monster reasoning that would be the perfect punishment for failure. Honestly, I wouldn't be the first witch she did that to. I can also reason that she liked me, despite the fact she treated me like sh...crap. Think of it along the lines of a favorite toy and yes, that is the way she treated me. If your favorite toy breaks, do you throw it out or try to fix it?

Yeah, she fixed me good. I hate that woman.

However, there's one big flaw in my reasoning, because most spells fall apart when their caster dies and I'm certain she's dead, because the Blackwell sisters vaporized her giant, granite star ship. So, if her soul passed on, how could it have maintained the spell that turned me undead?

That brings me to the other possibilities.

First, Nuva is pissed off at me and refused to collect me, but I suspect were that the case, she would have spoken with me, because that's her way. She isn't one to not explain herself.

Second, Nuva has some purpose in mind for me, similar to one of her Blessed, though obviously not so exalted, because she turned me undead, rather than restoring my life to me. On the other hand, if I'm to become one of the Blessed, she may be waiting until I'm no longer lost in space to restore my life and the zombie spell is the means to preserve me. I don't think this is it, but can't rule it out.

Third is some mixture of options one and two, which means Nuva extended the Queen's zombie spell, to preserve me until she's ready to have a word.

Honestly, I find myself asking: what is the Goddess of Death playing at?

Years have passed in silent solitude like no other I've ever known and all I long for is to hear another human voice, but that's the trouble: I have been hearing them. I don't know if I'm losing my mind, but Zindo sometimes speaks with me, as does Owen.

I mean, who is this Owen Tyme fellow? I don't know, but he sure is chatty, asking lots of questions about my life and when we're talking, I always hear him scribbling with a pencil. He tells me my life story is fascinating, but that's the last thing anyone wants to be to some crazy voice in their head, right?

Are they real or am I mad? Increasingly, I've begun to suspect the answer is both.

In the end, I just decided to go with the flow, because it was driving me crazy trying to ignore the voices. I know there's a little ironic humor there, but if I wasn't laughing, I'd be crying, not that I can do either at the moment.

Anyway, today I'm staring at Cakana again, because my slow rotations have brought me back around to face it and I see the most bizarre thing, which I ought to tell you about.

You ever see a hockey puck before? Kind of flat and wide, but round? Well, imagine one made of granite that's probably about twelve to fifteen miles wide and one thick, with a glowing cone of energy on top, which makes the whole thing look a little like a glowing witch hat.

It's one of the most beautiful and bizarre things I've ever seen, with a level of engineering sophistication that looks a little like Amelia Blackwell's work. Of course, that's just an educated guess, though it also reminds me a little of the Dead Queen's star ship.

I remember learning about the old generational ship designs, which carried people between the stars, which was how the Solus system was colonized, about three-thousand years back. Every one of them was a big granite block, because that stone can easily provide a surplus of useful magic. My best guess is that it's meant to be a colony ship.

The walled city I see inside that energy field only adds to that impression, but the magic keeping is safe seems to be failing and fading. That's probably from the wind pressure straining the field, becaise they're rising far too fast.

And now it's turning in the air, to face the other way, probably to present a bare face, rather than something inhabited. It's gaining speed and the underside is glowing quite fiercely, as if they've really got something against being anywhere near the ground.

You know what? After all these years of pleading with the Gods for rescue or my final condemnation to the not-so-gentle ministrations of Nyna, the Goddess of Punishment, I think I've got my answer, because that hunk of rock is coming right at me and I'm probably going to shatter like a flash-frozen rose.

Oh well. Either way, it's an end to my long torment and that's all I want.

Wish me luck and here's what will probably be my final song, little itches, titled Waiting in the Void:

Lyrics

Chorus:
For forgiveness, I do pray,
And someone to come along.
Wish my myth guitar to play,
Maybe even fix my wrong.

Waited for Goddess of Death,
And was Hopeless in the Void.
I could not take in a breath,
Stared at passing asteroid.

Goddess Nuva, where are you?
I do fear you may be late,
Can't say that I mind the view,
But please tell my final fate.

(Chorus)

I can't breathe and I can't move,
So how do I cogitate?
With my axe, would I dare groove,
But all I do: pass the date.

Fill my time composing tunes,
Because my fingers done froze.
I watch all the dancing moons,
Wishing I could scratch my nose.

(Chorus)

Filled with regret for my way,
And better option, a lack.
For punishment, I may pray,
Or perhaps, a better track.

Passing the years, months and days,
Arrange lyrics in my mind,
Trying to push off the craze,
Of fool's fate, self-assigned.

(Chorus)

A zombie, I have become,
Waiting in the void, I am.
All of my flesh is now numb,
Delaying this soul's exam.

At harvest moon, I do stare,
Flying mountain surprises me.
Coming at me, I do swear,
Moving too fast, do you see?

Here's a link to the MP3 file, if you'd like to download it.

Waiting in the Void is copyright 2026, Owen Tyme, all rights reserved, but free for your personal enjoyment. Lyrics by Owen Tyme, music generated by ACE-Step 1.5. E-mail me if you want to use it for something else.

Rowley's Parting Words

Well, little itches, I'm shocked.

That ship really put on the brakes, just as soon as it was out of the atmosphere, and I was almost gently scooped up, with the still-warm underside of the hull thawing me out.

The acceleration from that point on was less, though they were probably shooting for escape velocity, which was handy, because it provided just enough force for me to walk the ship's underside.

I got to the edge and looked around, spotting an airlock. From there, it was just a simple matter of using a little gravity magic to keep me in contact with the side as I climbed to that hatch.

Now I'm inside and this place is like a maze. I don't know what's going on, but I hear people shouting. I think I'll go say, "Hi!" Maybe I can be of some assistance?

However, a few parting words, my friends:

Remember what I said once before? Accept others for who they are and don't push them to the edge. That's important, the most valuable lesson I've ever learned, because you never know what might happen. Better to treat people with the decency and respect I never got.

Here's another little gem: hatred isn't the way. All it does it hurt people. I don't know if I'll ever forgive Sakura for the way she treated me and I'm still pretty angry with Denholm for getting me killed, but I guess I'll have to take my own advice and try to let go of my own rage.

Love and kisses, ladies and gentlemen. Love and kisses for all! Goodbye and good journey to all of us!

A Message From Owen

That's the end of this little musical journey, at least for now, though I do have other musical characters in my novels that might merit similar attention. My thinking is I may make some dwarf music to honor some of the characters of The Wizard's Scion, with a chorus of basses and tenors. Some mining and battle music would be good, then there's always Last Keg, which is another song that ought to get made, since it's so important to those characters.

Then there's Lyra, Nicole and Ida, the Siren Sisters, for whom music has always been an important part of their story. The troll birthing and healing songs should be written. Might have to put together an album of troll music.

Captain Edwina "Roaring" Rowley will next be seen in volume four of The Book of Newts, Witchhome. Putting together this album helped me sort out my twisted-up feelings about The Book of Newts and I feel like I can work on the series again.

However, I have a lot of work to do on Ashen Blades/Scarlet Eye and Jigsaw City, so my plans are still taking shape. I'll be playing this by ear, to write the best novels I can for both you and myself, because I'm not going to force the inspiration. That never works.

This album will soon get a little final polish in the form of possibly fading some songs out at the end and in one case, I will probably cut the end off with a fade, because it got a little crazier than I preferred, though the rest of it is spot on. Other songs may get padded with a little silence.

When it's ready, it will be going on Itch.io, since Bandcamp doesn't allow AI-generated music. The price will be pay-what-you-want, since I didn't make this album for money's sake. I really started out to get one song made for a future audiobook, but I had so much fun making Twinkle and Spin, I kept going.

Have a great day. I hope you enjoy my novels and the music that goes with them!

Tags: audio, music, roaring-rowley

Rowley's Roar #9

For today's blog post, one of the fictional characters from my novels will be sharing a few messages. No, I'm not going crazy. I'm just having a little fun with writing from the perspective of one of my characters, to explain her music.

Without further adieu, please once again welcome Captain Edwina "Roaring" Rowley, who shall be taking a moment to explain another song from an album we're compiling.

Nothing to Mourn

This is it, little itches: we're finally to my account of the final battle against the Dead Queen.

Turns out the genius of Amelia Blackwell goes far beyond machines, because she planned the downfall of the Queen in intricate detail, leading the monster in circles around Junas as the sisters quietly spoke with every one of their friends. Publicly, all of them refused to help, but quietly agreed to meet them in Katuna orbit and Amelia plotted custom courses for every one of them, so they could get there first.

I don't know how they did it, but they even talked The Order of Newts into committing everything they had to that battle. We've talking witches trained for battle, with talents even more broad than the Queen, at least when considered as a whole.

While they led the Queen on that epic chase, always keeping just ahead of her, I limped Glass House to Nuva orbit, where the Queen had left significant resources. That's where my crew repaired and practically rebuilt the ship into her truest form, my weapon of vengeance, sacrificing the vast majority of living spaces to get the death ray to its maximum potential.

That's also where we offloaded most of the crew, because there just wasn't room for them and not everyone shared my sentiments about the Queen. To their credit, however, most of them still helped with the rebuild, because they supported my choice, even if they wanted no part of the actual battle.

That final battle made The Battle of 36 look like a little spat, by comparison, and I guess that's the real truth. That first battle was a pirate affair, but the final battle was something everyone living in Junas orbit had some skin in.

Honestly, you should have been there. You should have seen the sheer masses of star ships, swarming like flies around that eight mile wide block of solid granite, throwing everything they could muster at, yet only barely denting the surface.

Everything from a little fleet of simple fish mongers on up to the entire fey fleet and everything between, but things got nasty when a fleet of ticked-off gnomes showed up, to vent their feelings about the theft of the spell-core from their Ice Palace, Junkshop.

I tell you, those psychotic junk merchants used weapons like nothing I've ever seen, producing blinding flashes of intense light that vaporized half of their own ships, simply because they didn't know the power of their own weapons.

But let me make one more thing clear: we were losing the battle, despite everything we had on our side, because Foundation Stone wouldn't hold still. We were doing significant damage, but the spinning of that ship kept us from focusing our attacks, forcing us to blast four sides of it, instead of just one. That also totally ruined the effectiveness of my death ray, leaving a line round the sides of it, without punching for the interior.

All the while, Amelia and Sakura Grim kept the armada together and focused, despite the fact the Queen kept pulling new tricks on us, the worst of which was some kind of focused gravitic pulse that turned whole star ships into shrapnel that tore into the rest. Then there was her macron cannon spell, which turned the stone of her own ship into relativistic blasts of sand!

She even managed to kill Matron Talbot by reversing a spatial translocation spell meant to deliver some kind of secret weapon, forcing it to go off inside the Matron's ship, bearing a striking resemblance to the gnomish explosions.

The real truth is, we were completely outmatched by her and we barely survived each new spell she invented to kill us. Most galling to me, she even turned my roar back on me, reflecting my bone transduction spell to my own skull.

So there we were, having lost all hope, when I saw the most amazingly terrifying thing I've ever witnessed in my life, which I'll never forget.

At the start of the battle, a star ship blasted its way out of the local Ice Palace, revealing it had been a hidden battleship, all along, but the truly bizarre part was the shape: it was a gigantic sword hilt, but since it had been in literal cold storage, it took forever for that thing to warm up for battle.

However, when it was finally ready, the Goddess of War herself, which the moon we orbited had been named after, rose out of the atmosphere of Junas, a giant woman sixteen miles tall! She grabbed that sword-ship and it produced a plasma blade large enough to do significant damage to Foundation Stone!

Katuna soared through space and joined the battle, taking a direct hand, holding Foundation Stone still for us, while she began tunneling through the hull with the sword her worshipers had forged for her to wield.

That's when she looked across the top of the granite ship and met my gaze, giving me a nod of recognition! That event shook me to my core and served to rally all of us to see the battle through to the bitter end.

I still question my beliefs, even now, because I don't know what to think or feel. I never believed in Katuna before that day, but now I know and I've sometimes found myself praying for forgiveness for my abundant sins, because while I didn't believe in her, she certainly believed in me, based on the way she looked right at me.

Between Katuna revitalized our flagging resolve and the clever work of the Blackwell sisters, we won the day, but even though I'd been a big help, Sakura Grim still took an attack run at me, using her infamous Cherry Bombard.

However, I'd seen that coming and turned my ship invisible as soon as my part was done, leaving an illusion behind, because one Cherry Bombard should be more than enough for anyone.

I'd hoped to get some clemency, some kind of recognition for my part in the battle, but since Sakura had the ear of the Blackwells, I didn't get any of that.

Fair enough, I was there to see the Queen put down, once and for all, so my minimum goals were achieved, but the part that never has sat well with me is the fact all other pirates were given a one-time offer to surrender and receive light punishment. It was a chance to go legit and honest, which was all I'd ever wanted. I just want to make music and perform for crowds. I just want to be me, not the monster I was forced to become!

I never wanted to be a pirate! Yeah, I was good at it, but I didn't choose this life! The Dead Queen and Matron Talbot chose it for me, the first by being an evil monster, while the second could have been more understanding of a young witch that loved music.

That, my friends is a lesson to live by: accept others as they are, because you may just help turn them into a monster if you don't. You never know how close someone may be to the edge and they definitely don't need you pushing them off.

It was so frustrating, hearing about most of the other pirates getting pardons, while the leaders got a slap on the wrist, knowing that same chance didn't apply to me. No, last I heard, Sakura's people began a systematic search for me, because I was the last living pirate and that really sucks.

That, my friends, is why I hate Sakura Grim with a burning passion, even now, years later. She was the only reason I didn't get to taste the freedom I've always sought and what was her reason? Unthinking hatred, based on a pointless grudge, when all I did to earn her hatred was defend myself, followed by signing some space junk.

Is that justice? Is that even right? I don't think so. The Pirate Hunters think they're paragons of virtue, but the truth is: they're just as cracked as the pirates they made their living hunting.

Unfortunately, I also laid the blame for the lack of clemency on the Blackwell sisters, for listening to Sakura, which led to the greatest mistake I ever made, but that's a story for another song...

Here's Nothing to Mourn for your listening pleasure:

Lyrics

On the Dead Queen, I turned stag,
Aligned with Black Well three,
To help them kill the old hag,
And maybe taste freedom's glee!

The Queen is finally slain,
Yet freedom's song never rang,
Replaced with a brand new chain,
And unexpected sheep's fang!

Chorus:
I see no reason to mourn,
No reason to celebrate!
Yet I'm surprisingly torn,
For my state, my nerves do grate!

Last of the pirates am I,
The rest got a sweet pardon,
But not Rowley, gouge her eye,
'Cause she's not in the bargain!

Greatest show there ever was,
Witches, men, gods on same side!
Pirates also joined the cause,
Some even laid down and died!

(Chorus)

God of War gazed right at me,
I never believed before!
Can a pirate's mercy plea,
Open for her a new door?

The Gods may forgive my soul,
But Sakura never will.
I guess I'll try a Black Hole,
And drop into a drunk lull.

(Chorus)

Brighter than stars, her ship burn,
Now destroy the monolith!
A new age may take its turn,
The beginning of new myth.

To old harvest moon we fly,
Where no one may know my name.
Yet I have to ask them why,
Why can't I release my shame?

(Chorus)

Here's a link to the MP3 file, if you'd like to download it.

Nothing to Mourn is copyright 2026, Owen Tyme, all rights reserved, but free for your personal enjoyment. Lyrics by Owen Tyme, music generated by ACE-Step 1.5. E-mail me if you want to use it for something else

Tags: audio, music, roaring-rowley

Rowley's Roar #8

For today's blog post, one of the fictional characters from my novels will be sharing a few messages. No, I'm not going crazy. I'm just having a little fun with writing from the perspective of one of my characters, to explain her music.

Without further adieu, please once again welcome Captain Edwina "Roaring" Rowley, who shall be taking a moment to explain another song from an album we're compiling.

Blood in the Water

Hey there, itches.

Have you ever been on a boat on the ocean and seen a fisherman looking for sharks throw chum into the water? Have you ever seen the resulting feeding frenzy?

I've never seen any animal more sensitive to the smell of blood in the water and I'm told they'll come from miles out.

Now imagine what happens when the undead pirate Queen, who's kept every pirate in the vicinity of Junas under her heel for a thousand years, shows even the slightest hint of weakness.

We hated her with a screaming passion and I've written more than a few songs about that particular subject. Every last one of the pirates wanted her dead, because she treated us like tools or little pawns. She made us into monsters, just because it amused her to do so, yet held us all off without any trouble for a millennia.

So, let me tell you what happened when that bit...female dog, finally got her hind-end handed to her. The Blackwell sisters beat her and did it on her own ship, no less, which did nothing at all to reduce the ensuing feeding frenzy.

I was there and saw it all, via remote-viewing spells, and I got out of there as fast as I could, because the Blackwells had stolen the spell-core of Foundation Stone. Without that, the Queen couldn't unify the magic flowing from the granite of her ship. I'm just glad she didn't reason the core of Glass House could have solved her troubles, at least before I was gone.

However, in her defense, she was a little busy struggling to communicate with her crew, because when Amelia and her sisters were ready to go, the spell holding in the atmosphere ended and that little ship shot out of Foundation Stone like a cork from a bottle!

The genius of that little witch; she planned even her escape, despite how slim the odds of her success had been.

Anyway, there's the Queen, in a ship she didn't know how to fly without a central magical force to unify the granite and it took her forever to figure out the fact bone transduction turns thoughts into skull vibrations, rather than transmitting sound. Heck, even I didn't know that and I'm an expert with that spell.

So, I ran far away, fast as I could, and pretended I knew nothing about what was going on, waiting until another pirate told me, acting as if it was news to me, though I'd already started preparing my ship for the battle I knew was coming.

You see, this was what I'd been waiting on for years, but when I learned how quickly Captain Church planned to mass an entire fleet of betrayers under his banner, I realized I didn't have time for the full rebuild I'd been planning for Glass House, to punch through the mountain-sized ship. Instead, I set my mind on an extreme range shot, from the outskirts of the coming battle. I intended to lay claim to the kill, by vaporizing her while she sat on her throne, in her bridge.

You see, this was the kind of situation where the one that laid claim to the actual kill would have significant clout in the political restructuring to follow and I fully intended to become the new Queen. Maybe my motives are suspect, but I wanted to rule the pirates with a kinder hand, because I'd seen where full-blown cruelty led. Of course, it didn't turn out that way, since the Queen was so dangerous.

Meanwhile, the Queen got her ship under control via every witch on the ship casting propulsion spells in unison, under her direction. Can you imagine the sheer enormity of that task? Hundreds of witches, most of which knew almost nothing about gravity magic, but with a monster like the Dead Queen cracking the whip, I'm sure they didn't let that get in their way for long.

She made her way to Ice Palace 70, which is also known as Junkshop. There, she stole the station's spell-core from the gnomes that ran it, something you ought to keep in mind for another day. That was technically a violation of treaty, but no one wanted to involve themselves with the gnomes, due to the danger of those barmy inventors, driven mad by a double-measure of the touch of Wambris, the God of Inspiration.

With her ship back under control, the Queen followed the Blackwell sisters, because by our admittedly cracked rules, if she killed those responsible for her defeat, then it would be the same as having never lost, aside from the scars and cleaning up the blood.

She finally caught up to the sisters near Ice Palace 36, also known as The Palace of Punishment, but the thing is, so did most of the pirates orbiting Junas.

I'm told that one is going into the history books as 'The Battle of 36', which was the tipping point in the whole affair. You see, so long as it was an internal pirate affair, our non-aggression treaty with The Order of Newts held sway and they would take no part, but when Foundation Stone was under siege from every angle, the Queen threw out the rule-book and attacked indiscriminately, casting one of her most powerful attack spells: The Strap Attractor. That sent a high-density inverted gravity pulse in all directions, followed by immediately inverting it, to crush the other ships against her hull, leaving her with all the scrap she could need for repairs, plus a number of new spell-cores.

Church's fleet was finished surprisingly easy and the Blackwell sisters actually helped her fight the battle! Guess they reasoned, "Better the devil we know..." Can't say I blame them, there.

However, the important point is the way she not only hit the attacking pirates, but also the Ice Palace and that, little itches, was the straw that broke the camel's back. She really messed it up, because the leading edge of The Scrap Attractor hit one corner before the rest, which got it spinning and the force even knocked it out of its usual orbit. Probably took significant work to correct its orbit, to keep the navigation tables accurate.

Unfortunately, I don't really know what happened in the aftermath of The Battle of 36, because Sakura Grim, the leader of the Pirate Hunters, took an attack run at me, the little back-stabber, but that's the subject of the next song (see below).

The whole Junas system had put up with the Dead Queen for a thousand years, and her operations had gained tacit acceptance, because The Order of Newts privately doubted their odds against the greatest witch they'd ever seen and those calculations, my dear friends, didn't even consider her fleet, just she and her giant star ship. I wish I could say their calculations had been wrong, but that old bat was really something else, the most dangerous witch I've ever seen, because she got stronger with every battle she fought.

However, since she'd violated the treaty, all bets were off from that point forward. That was the biggest mistake she could have made, because it turned every star ship captain with any combat experience against her, but that's a song for another day...

The first song I present today is titled Blood in the Water:

Lyrics

Dead Queen plumbed the Black Well,
And in the depths almost drown!
It nearly was her death knell,
She really looked the clown!

Three she-wolves dressed as lambs,
Tore the Queen's throat extra wide!
Now broke are all of the dams,
Holding back each pirate's pride!

Chorus:
All we sharks smell our Queen's blood,
For our revenge, we've all waited!
Sharks be ready for the flood,
And to the block, she's fated!

While Dead Queen chases Black Wells,
To regain the face she lost,
We study and charge our spells,
That we no longer be bossed!

Church gathers his fleet of bone,
While the viper plays her part,
And the rest their weapons hone,
That we stab her to the heart!

(Chorus)

Caution to future pirates,
And keep your fellows happy,
Lest you fight like bag of cats,
And end up in the cacky!

No respect from her we got,
And we served under her boot!
Now it's time for poker hot,
Feeding frenzy on old coot!

(Chorus)

Black Wells run to every friend,
With pirate Queen right behind!
While we seek her final end,
Her grave is now assigned!

We nip at our Dead Queen's heels,
Behind her do we linger,
To cover her fate with seals,
And freedom for this singer!

(Chorus)

Here's a link to the MP3 file, if you'd like to download it.

Blood in the Water is copyright 2026, Owen Tyme, all rights reserved, but free for your personal enjoyment. Lyrics by Owen Tyme, music generated by ACE-Step 1.5. E-mail me if you want to use it for something else.

Cherry Bombard

I'm a pirate and that always comes with a load of enemies that hate me, but there's very few I actually hated back. Of course, top of my hit list was always the Dead Queen and Matron Talbot of The Order of Newts. Probably no surprise, right? But number three might raise an eyebrow.

I cannot stand Sakura Grim, the current leader of the Pirate Hunters. Those little jerks were always coming after me, fair enough, I'm one of the biggest bounty heads and it's their bread and butter, but Sakura has a special corner of her black and twisted little heart just for me, because she hates me with a fiery passion that knows no sane bounds.

Apparently, I killed her mentor! What can a pirate say to that? Somebody tried to kill me while I was doing a job I never wanted, which I only took to save my own life! Pirates and Pirate Hunters kill each other every day, but that day, I was in the random mood to sign my work. I took personal control of the death ray, cut out most of the mirrors and re-tuned the lens array into a low-power beam, to write my name on one of the biggest pieces of scrap, just for a little fun.

I as just blowing off some steam after a nasty battle, but geez, apparently little Sakura came along, saw my name burned into some scrap metal and inside her head, I think something broke.

I'll put it this way: I've dealt with pirates every day for years and you what? Very few are particularly sane, but with a little direction, they can do excellent work.

However, Sakura makes them look mildly eccentric, by comparison. Every time she gets near me, she charges her ship's Cherry Bombard and takes a run at me.

I wish I understood that thing, but it's really unique magic and I've never had a decent chance to figure it out, because it tends to explode, which is the best part of that weapon. It's a self-erasing spell, which wipes all traces of its original state, the part I'd like to study.

However, I can tell you about the woman's ship, Cherry Rush. That is a pretty little thing, barely big enough for three people to live in, carved from one solid chunk of rose quartz. It's barely too large to be classed as a fighter, to be honest, and instead tends to fall into the category of a bomber, but it packs the punch of a dedicated destroyer five times its size.

I admire the custom engineering, which marks Sakura as another rare genius, perhaps the equal of Amelia Blackwell, but without that girl's restraint or sanity.

Anyway, it's triangular in shape and the bridge is at the very center, where the crew are safest. That's an important point, because the whole ship was designed for ramming attacks. That is the psychotic and utterly blunt nature of Sakura's genius. Everyone tries to mount weapons and shoot spells, but Sakura must have reasoned, "Why not turn the entire ship into a bludgeoning instrument?"

Like Glass House, it's a unique one-off, which had never been beaten, unlike my poor Glass House. I miss my home, I really do, but that's something for another day...

Getting back to the point, quartz is even harder than granite, a 7.5 out of 10, one of the hardest commonly available stones. There are some metals that are harder, tungsten, for example, but that would have been prohibitively expensive, to the point of there being no point, but metal would have been lighter and Sakura wanted all the mass she could get, so solid quartz was it.

I gather it has serious structural reinforcement, probably using tungsten supports, but that hardly matters, because Sakura's ship uses structural enhancement spells to make itself even tougher, because rocks tend to crack when they smash into metal. According to my calculations, those should punch the hardness all the way up to about 9.8 out of 10, dang near the level of diamond.

It's literally a flying rock with powerful engines, designed for ramming! Sounds real nasty, right? However, it gets far more insidious.

And now we're to details I don't understand, because every time Sakura starts an attack run, she powers up what she calls a Cherry Bombard, which encases her entire ship in a layer of solidified magic, which glows a nice cherry red.

From what I've seen, that spell is composed of multiple layers, like an onion, each providing even more protection for the hull, but when it impacts another ship, the outermost layer of the Cherry Bombard cracks apart, leaving bits of itself behind. Those are sticky, even in the vacuum of space, and the bits get left behind as Cherry Rush zips off at high speed, usually after a through and through strike.

The first time I saw it, I didn't know what I was looking at, then the fragments stopped glowing for a brief instant, then again, and again, winking out, over and over. Worse part is, the winks got faster and faster, until the energy of the Cherry Bombard turned unstable and transitioned back into pure energy, leading to a horribly energetic, red explosion.

It was bad enough that Sakura put a hole clean through the main water tank of Glass House, but the explosion only added insult to injury. My crew and I barely escaped with our lives and I lost more than a few engineers that day, who just happened to be near the fuel tank.

And would you believe the timing? We were in the middle of fighting The Battle of 36! We should have been allies at the time, but she had to trot out her personal hatred. That woman...

Here's Cherry Bombard for your listening pleasure, though I'm not entirely done with this one, just yet, because I want to add some explosions to the background, if I ever find the time to pick the right sound effects:

Lyrics

Sakura, Pirate Hunter,
The Grim woman hates me much,
She would dare see me sunder,
Yet to life, I would dare clutch!

Chorus:
A shield for Sakura's crew,
The Cherry Bombard is red,
Which may stick to you like glue,
And explode to make you dead!

Sakura's ship, Cherry Rush,
It's ramming speed, all the way,
With a body made to crush,
Designed for pirates, to slay!

(Chorus)

I may have killed her mentor,
While I defended myself,
From hunters after the score,
Which grief belongs on a shelf!

(Chorus)

It seemed funny at the time,
I did sign my work with pride,
But Sakura thinks I'm slime,
Upon my dust would she stride!

(Chorus)

Fighting the Dead Queen, we were,
Upon me, Sakura's eye,
Not the time for wound to stir,
Decides it's time I should fry!

(Chorus)

Glass House took the Cherry Rush,
The Bombard in her fuel tank,
The red light winks in a hush,
And I know who gave the shank!

(Chorus)

Here's a link to the MP3 file, if you'd like to download it.

Cherry Bombard is copyright 2026, Owen Tyme, all rights reserved, but free for your personal enjoyment. Lyrics by Owen Tyme, music generated by ACE-Step 1.5. E-mail me if you want to use it for something else

Tags: audio, music, roaring-rowley

Rowley's Roar #7

For today's blog post, one of the fictional characters from my novels will be sharing a few messages. No, I'm not going crazy. I'm just having a little fun with writing from the perspective of one of my characters, to explain her music.

Without further adieu, please once again welcome Captain Edwina "Roaring" Rowley, who shall be taking a moment to explain another song from an album we're compiling.

Biding Time

Hey, itches.

I felt the album needed something between The Book of Newts and the song to follow, which will be detailed next.

This is a little instrumental piece that was originally supposed to be a variation of my stunning song, but which mutated into something else, which works well as an interlude.

After the Dead Queen defeated the Blackwell sisters, my ship, Glass House, spent several days in the docking bay of Foundation Stone, during which my crew feverishly worked to restore her to functionality. It was mostly a matter of patching up the hull with repair spells, though we had to entirely replace the rocket nozzles.

During that time, I entertained myself by watching the drama unfold via remote-viewing spells. I really must say, the Dead Queen was a vicious monster. She decided to consume the souls of both Marta and Iris Blackwell, but she found Amelia's magic so weak, she decided to "throw the fish back", ordering her zombies to dump the young woman in her ship, alone, but not before they'd drained its fuel tanks.

However, the Queen failed to notice some vitally-important details:

• Amelia's star ship was infested with Brownies
• The Book of Newts was still on board
• Amelia is a rare genius of phenomenal talent
• Despite her lack of power, she's also exceptionally skilled with magic

It was amazing to see, but the brownies patched up most of the damage to the ship, leaving only one of the four masts still broken, which was the one my warning shot had nearly cut off, the bulk of which got left behind when they ran from the Queen. It would seem brownies can't fix what's missing.

Then Amelia began to follow, using the waste magic left in the wake of the Queen's ship to power her light sails. No ordinary witch could have done that, which is what tells me Amelia is something special, with great sensitivity to magic. If she had the raw power of one of her sisters, she would be utterly terrifying with magic, able to cast spells only the witches of legend could master.

When the Queen entered Kryenna orbit, Amelia surprised me by going for a polar orbit, at ninety degrees to that of Foundation Stone. She left the monolith's wake and lost that potent energy, but it was clear she'd done so with great precision.

I didn't understand her plan at the time, but looking back, I'm shocked by the bold and crazy scale of it, which I'll get into for the next song...

For the moment, please enjoy the interlude, Biding Time.

Here's a link to the MP3 file, if you'd like to download it.

Biding Time is copyright 2026, Owen Tyme, all rights reserved, but free for your personal enjoyment. Music generated by ACE-Step 1.5. E-mail me if you want to use it for something else.

Mouse With a Gonne

So, trying to puzzle out what Amelia was up to, I watched everything she did, at least when I was awake, but when she put on a pressure suit, to extend how long she could breathe, I knew she was down to the final stretch and getting desperate.

Then she cast a weak atmospheric seal spell similar to the sort spell-cores use for emergencies. With that strange action complete, she left her ship and opened an exterior cargo hatch, finally illuminating a hidden compartment my remote-viewing spells had been blind to, due to a lack of light. Inside was a steel-shod, horseless, steam-powered wagon with rubber tires, which was most certainly a weapon of war, based on the weapons mounted to it. She spent a fair amount of time working a manual wench to flip the wagon over. I'm amazed the Queen never ordered the ship searched, but she always was arrogant.

The presence of the wagon explained the seal spell: she was trying to avoid blowing the tires in the vacuum of space.

With that done, she resealed the compartment, leaving the wagon in the perfect position to be driven right out of the ship.

After that, she entered her ship and hunkered down for the final bit of waiting.

I still didn't get it, but Amelia was clearly planning to use her armored war wagon, which meant she planned to board Foundation Stone.

I waited until the time came for Amelia's course to cross that of Foundation Stone and what I witnessed shook me to my core: that weak witch got within range of the monolith and began greedily gobbling up its waste magic at a suicidal pace, far outstripping the average witch's capacity. She used more magic than even I could have, at least without mana burning myself. The only witch with greater capacity that I've seen is the Dead Queen, who artificially achieved that ability by consuming the souls of other witches.

As the magic peaked, Amelia's eyes glowed blue, which is not normal! That marks her as something extraordinary: a primordial witch. If it weren't for her strange inability to draw magic at her true capacity, she would have been the greatest witch to ever live, bar none. She had some help from The Book of Newts, which I later learned is intelligent, but I couldn't tell you what it did for her.

There's only one other witch I ever met whose eyes glowed when feeling something intense. She was also a primordial witch, but that's a story for another song... Ugh, yeah, definitely a story for another song.

Anyway, Amelia used that massive surge of magic to enact a gravity-manipulation spell she used to change her orbital inclination by ninety degrees! That is the most expensive of orbital adjustments, requiring a ridiculous amount of thrust, and she did it over a very short time!

She then turned her ship to face Foundation Stone, engines first, using the tiny amount of fuel she had to physically blast out the massive window of the bridge, landing her little ship backwards! That girl is the very best at mathematics I've ever seen, rivaling the most talented of Newt Witches! She did all of the calculations ahead of time, in her head, plotting her attack run days in advance, because that was the only way she could have.

Unfortunately, the Queen escaped the blast, though her bridge crew was sucked into space. Then Amelia closed the hull breach with her atmospheric seal spell, allowing her to unload her war wagon and drive off.

She soon caught up to the Queen and drove right over her, without a second thought! You should have heard me laugh, because I nearly coughed up a lung!

From that point, the Queen's zombie rottweiler took off, chasing after her. It was touch and go for a bit, with that death dog ripping into the steel of the wagon with his bare teeth, but Amelia eventually got far ahead of him, following a tracking spell to her sisters.

When she reached her oldest sister, Marta, the dog was right on her tail again and Amelia screamed for help, only for the woman to wake up and tell the dog to stop. Turns out, the Queen had already been feeding on Marta's soul, which had created a link between them, leaving the dog confused about who she was, seeing her as his master.

After that, Amelia drove over the Queen a second time, on their way to steal the ship's spell-core, and once they'd done that, they headed for their ship, ending up in a face-to-face duel with the Queen.

They lost the wagon, but won the fight, which I hadn't thought possible. Seemed as if Marta had become the Queen's magical equal, due to the link between their souls.

They beat the pirate Queen on her own ship and flew off, leaving Foundation Stone adrift, which was surprising wonderful to see. Of course, that was going to cause the sisters no end of trouble, but that is a subject for other songs...

The second song for today is named Mouse With a Gonne, in honor of the six-shooter hand-gonne Amelia assembled to defend herself with, during her desperate boarding action.

Lyrics

I warned you of Black Wells,
Now hear what came of the Queen,
Who put two of them in cells,
Thought magic of third too lean!

Released that one for the sport,
A mouse for the cat to play,
Gave no fuel of any sort,
Expecting the void to slay!

Chorus:
No mouse could Amelia be,
Except with hand-gonne she aim!
No way would mouse ever flee,
Before older sisters gain!

She desperate or barmy,
Or just have no other choice?
One against the Queen's army?
Yet she's hoping to rejoice!

Girl crashed into the Queen's bridge,
The zombies sucked into space,
With her fuel only a smidge!
Then Queen's dog begins to chase!

(Chorus)

She drives armored war wagon,
Over the Queen without thought!
The loyal old dog hunts on,
That he might erase the blot!

It's death dog versus young witch,
Wagon of war isn't enough!
Teeth rip steel, is it a glitch?
That monster is no cream puff!

(Chorus)

The sisters Black Well are saved,
And Amelia isn't dog chow!
With the death dog well behaved,
I really must say, "Wow!"

For reprise: steal the spell-core,
And the Queen confront the witch!
She seeks to settle the score,
But sisters leave her to twitch!

(Chorus)

(Chorus)

Here's a link to the MP3 file, if you'd like to download it.

Mouse With a Gonne is copyright 2026, Owen Tyme, all rights reserved, but free for your personal enjoyment. Lyrics by Owen Tyme, music generated by ACE-Step 1.5. E-mail me if you want to use it for something else.

Tags: audio, music, roaring-rowley

Rowley's Roar #6

For today's blog post, one of the fictional characters from my novels will be sharing a few messages. No, I'm not going crazy. I'm just having a little fun with writing from the perspective of one of my characters, to explain her music.

Without further adieu, please once again welcome Captain Edwina "Roaring" Rowley, who shall be taking a moment to explain another song from an album we're compiling.

The Book of Newts

Little itches, when it rains, it pours and that's how I feel about events after my defeat at the hands of the Blackwell sisters. I was about as low as I could feel when I acted on prior orders and contacted the Dead Queen regarding my defeat.

That's when I finally learned exactly how powerful she was, because she somehow managed to cast a spatial translocation spell to instantly move her ship from Nuva orbit all the way to Taneas orbit!

Keep in mind that Taneas is moon number 73, while Nuva is 37. Most witches can't even manage to extend a bone transduction between two moons in close alignment and moving matter such a vast distance is unimaginable, especially considering the fact spatial translocation is beyond dangerous to learn in the first place. Most that try end up with half body ending up at the target location, while the rest remains at the origin point. For that very reason, The Order of Newts made such spells a forbidden technique and the only two witches I'm aware of that know it are the Dead Queen and Matron Talbot.

It's utterly unthinkable to imagine moving an entire mountain of granite through space like that, but that's exactly what the Queen did.

After picking up my ship, she chased the Blackwell sisters, who pulled out all the stops. They failed and the Queen took them prisoner...but I'm getting ahead of myself and the rest of that tale will have to wait for other songs.

Anyway, during my report on my failure, the Queen puzzled out the fact I was after The Book of Newts, which was in Amelia Blackwell's possession. Without any worry at all, the Queen offered to give me The Book once she captured the Blackwells and informed me she was the witch that stole it from The Order of Newts in the first place.

She even went on to explain what the book held: not the powerful spells I craved to kill the Queen with, but more scientific data than I would ever be able to fathom.

That truly was the worst day of my life to that point: my pride was shattered, the Queen made me eat crow, then idly offered me the thing I'd been dreaming of possessing in the hope of freedom, only to twist the knife by pointing out what it really contained.

I hated her so much for that, but I was forced to be polite, lest she consume my soul. I was forced to eat her sh...crappy words, which was the very worst part of that day and withing my own heart, I vowed to find a way to make her pay for her disrespect, though I doubted I ever would, because she'd so easily defeated the trio of witches that had so skillfully beaten me.

I initially had hopes they might do for her as they'd done for me, but that was not the day of her defeat. That day is the subject of another song, which I hinted at in earlier "posts".

Anyway, today's song is The Book of Newts:

Lyrics

Chorus:
Book of Magic, Book of Fate,
The Book of Newts, my desire,
Magic beyond measure great,
A weapon for the Queen's pyre!

Spells of power I would dream,
Magic which will change my fate,
The power for which I scheme,
But for now, I'll have to wait!

(Chorus)

The book in hands of Black Well,
Wolf sisters three in sheep's skin,
In defeat I'm forced to yell,
For the day, the Queen to win!

(Chorus)

Where I failed, the Queen succeeds,
And crow, I was forced to eat,
Offers the book for my reads,
Only adds to my defeat!

(Chorus)

No book of magic is it,
Few spells within the pages,
No hairs did the Dead Queen split,
'Twas science for my wages!

(Chorus)

"What is the point?" I did ask,
"When the magic calls to me?"
It was back to my old task,
Searching the way to be free.

(Chorus)

For me, no book of magic,
No book of fate to break chains,
Just bitterness turned tragic,
And the seldom little gains.

Here's a link to the MP3 file, if you'd like to download it.

Ripe for the Taking is copyright 2026, Owen Tyme, all rights reserved, but free for your personal enjoyment. Lyrics by Owen Tyme, music generated by ACE-Step 1.5. E-mail me if you want to use it for something else.

Tags: audio, music, roaring-rowley

Rowley's Roar #5

For today's blog post, one of the fictional characters from my novels will be sharing a few messages. No, I'm not going crazy. I'm just having a little fun with writing from the perspective of one of my characters, to explain her music.

Without further adieu, please once again welcome Captain Edwina "Roaring" Rowley, who shall be taking a moment to explain another song from an album we're compiling.

Ripe for the Taking

Well, little itches, today I have to tell you about my lowest moment. In retrospect, it may also have been the turning point for my...life. Hehe. In a black sort of way, that's pretty funny, but today isn't the day to explain that.

At this point, I'd been working for the Dead Queen at least a decade and I'd proven myself well enough to become part of her inner circle, but I'd never forgotten my primary goal: to destroy the undead witch, once and for all. Every little thing I did was meant to bring me closer to that day, to free all of the pirates from the scourge of living under her rotting thumb.

The real ironic twist is how much I hate old women. I ran from Matron Talbot, to escape her ridiculous prejudice against my music, only to end up in the clutches of an even older witch.

However, I had to play my part, lest she destroy me. I attacked more courier ships than I could count and sold their crews into slavery. I killed more than my fair share of men, just because I valued my own life over theirs.

That's the trouble with the Dead Queen: she made us into dark little reflections of herself and I was no exception. All I truly cared about was my music, but to survive to play, I had to kill. However, I'm not apologizing or making excuses. I'm just telling my little tale of woe.

I heard rumors of a trio of sisters and witches that had recently rocketed into space from Cakana, the old harvest moon that used to feed the whole system.

The rumors claimed the youngest sister was a mathematical genius, able to chart direct courses through space, just like a Newt Witch. That's what caught my attention, because a witch with that kind of talent is worth a King's ransom in the pirate slave markets.

Between a little scrying magic and some old-fashion detective work, I found them just as they left Ice Palace Three, in orbit of Usdal. I never saw such a small ship move so fast and realized some rather superior engineering work had gone into the design. That's when they deployed their light sails, picking up even more speed.

I crunched the numbers and projected the course in my mind, quickly concluding they were on their way to Ice Palace Sixty-Eight at an unprecedented pace. Following the navigation tables of the Ice Palaces, that would have been a nine month journey, but they were going to pull off the same trek in mere days!

That told me all I needed to know: the rumors were true and a latent Newt Witch with no affiliation really had entered the space lanes.

I decided to go with the old 'remote empire' con, a trick it'd never seen used, but which was famous among the pirates, but which the common man has yet to catch onto, because the con only works every few centuries.

To summarize, the moon in the highest orbit around Junas, Taneas, is extremely difficult to reach, because it's in an elliptical orbit, rather than the usual circular shape. Since Taneas is so hard to reach, it has become the center of rumors and myth. Some claim it's a place of incredible wealth, while other insist it's inhabited by demons.

For my money, I think it's probably both, because every star ship that's approached for landing in the past hundred years (mostly pirates seeking the wealth) was shot down by long, solid tungsten rods flying at a significant fraction of the speed of light, making my ship's death ray look like a toy. I saw it first-hand, scrying from my ship while one of my compatriots entered the atmosphere.

We call such weapons Rods From God, all mass and velocity, with no exploitable weaknesses. When they hit, the impact is usually explosive, though I don't quite understand how, but I suspect it disturbs the nuclei of atoms, which can be a dangerous thing to do.

The first shot was a through and through that left the bridge wide open to space, then two more took out the engines and let me tell you, those were the slowest shots fired, at only ten percent of light speed, while the third and final gathered the energy required for the coup-de-grace: seventy-five percent of light speed. When that Rod From God hit, the entire ship was vaporized.

It would seem the people of Taneas want to be left alone and that suits the pirates just fine. Presumably, the Newt Witches know about that political situation, but they're not likely to share the details and I certainly never heard about it, at least until I became a pirate.

So, the essence of the 'remote empire' con is a personal invitation from the ruler of Taneas to come visit the world, to discuss acting as the ruler's go-between with the rest of those in orbit of Junas. Naturally, the go-between would get a percentage of all sales and they would be helping a people that have trouble trading with others, due to the orbital disharmony.

When the sisters were halfway to Sixty-Eight and just before I set off for Taneas, I dropped off one of my crew with a hand-written note, which was passed to the Port Commander, a nice little touch that gave the matter an extra measure of legitimacy. The sisters believed every word and wanted to help 'those poor people' that couldn't reliably trade.

I watched and waited, eager to earn more money than I'd made on any previous job.

If I'd know then what I do now, I probably wouldn't have done it, but on the other hand, I just don't know...

Marta, Iris and Amelia Blackwell were my greatest foes and facing them led directly to my greatest defeat. Marta smashed up my ship with a space rock, Iris somehow twisted a remote-viewing spell into something more physical, kicking the living crap out of my bridge crew and Amelia used perfect timing to fry all of my fighter pilots with the engines of her little ship, just as I was about to take them prisoner.

My pride was shattered and I was defeated, with Glass House left adrift in space. My poor first officer even lost a tooth and my mythril guitar got used as a club to beat me with, doing more than a little damage to it.

That left me in the unenviable position of acting on standing orders: I contacted the Dead Queen via a long-range bone transduction spell and told her of my defeat, because she has a taste for the souls of powerful witches.

I thought the Blackwell sisters were three lost, little lambs, because their reputation was so lily-white, but they proved themselves to be wolves in sheep's clothing, thrashing me within exactly an inch of my life. I sometimes wish they'd just gone the extra inch, but then I look back on all the sh...crap that happened after that and it almost makes up for the crow I had to eat.

The Queen's downward spiral and the ensuing feeding frenzy from her lieutenants is the subject of more than one song to come, so I'll leave things there, for now.

Here's today's song, named in reference to my flawed initial impression of the Blackwell sisters, Ripe for the Taking:

Lyrics

On their own, three little lambs,
They were ripe for the taking.
Here I thought to make some clams,
And leave everyone shaking.

Chorus:
No lambs were these sisters three,
But in their clothing, wolves dressed!
Caution with Black Wells, you see,
Lest to their depths, I attest!

"For commerce sake, fly to me,
For to earn your daily bread."
It's a trap for them, you see,
Blindly into spider's web.

(Chorus)

"Easy marks and suckers all."
I hoped to say over drinks.
But I didn't get the haul,
Nor the usual high jinks.

(Chorus)

My Glass House did take a stone,
And myth guitar may be broke!
Of lost tooth Zindo does drone,
And for the bruises we'll all soak!

(Chorus)

Earthen magic, martial way,
And intellectual spree!
Heed my words and stay away,
From these sisters Black Well three!

(Chorus)

Here's a link to the MP3 file, if you'd like to download it.

Ripe for the Taking is copyright 2026, Owen Tyme, all rights reserved, but free for your personal enjoyment. Lyrics by Owen Tyme, music generated by ACE-Step 1.5. E-mail me if you want to use it for something else.

Tags: audio, music, roaring-rowley

Rowley's Roar #4

For today's blog post, one of the fictional characters from my novels will be sharing a few messages. No, I'm not going crazy. I'm just having a little fun with writing from the perspective of one of my characters, to explain her music.

Without further adieu, please once again welcome Captain Edwina "Roaring" Rowley, who shall be taking a moment to explain another song from an album we're compiling.

Glass House

Hey little itches, today I'm going to tell you all about my star ship, Glass House.

After I impressed the Dead Queen and she made the offer I couldn't refuse (the alternative was having my soul sucked out, to fuel her undead existence), she gave me a rather hefty budget with which to build a battleship.

You see, every one of her lieutenants is supposed to have a unique ship, because no off-the-shelf hardware would do. After all, we constantly faced the biggest existential threat any pirate could: the Pirate Hunters.

Those cracked freaks are led by former Newt Witches, giving them the mathematical talent to plot direct courses through space, without which they could never catch us. Even worse, every one of the whiny itches thinks they have a big bone to pick with us, just for daring to be different and free.

I spent a small amount of time examining the other pirate ships and came to the awful conclusion that they all suffered from the same flaw: short range or non-existent weapons, because they all relied on magic for combat. Even the pirate queen's ship relies on her for combat spells.

So, I decided the best way to survive would be to sneak about and hit targets from extreme range. Since my roar works at interplanetary distance, I see no reason to get close. To that end, I used my budget to experiment with optics, a rarely-explored subject.

I'll put it this way: have you ever used a magnifying glass to fry an ant? Yeah, well, imagine scaling that up, though I'm not talking about a bigger lens. Instead, imagine a big array of mirrors, all angled to reflect the light on the same target. It's real nasty, even in the atmosphere of a planet.

The trouble is, scaling that up isn't easy, but that's what I set out to do with my ship. I drew up a number of different designs, but ultimately decided to settle on a mixture of rune-enhanced glass and crystal for construction, since I had to put some very fine glass for optics all over in the body.

In the end, I settled on a ship with 16 pop-out mirrors that would reflect the sun onto arrays of 16 by 16 panels of light guides, which sent the rays of the sun inward, to the center of the ship, where a series of lenses combined all 4096 rays into one pencil-thin beam.

In the void of outer space, with no atmosphere to reduce the power of the sun, that was always extremely deadly.

However, my glass ship had an alternate configuration, which sacrificed crew quarters for even greater firepower, which I intended to serve as my final revenge on the Dead Queen.

In that setup, it carried 256 mirrors, each with a 32 by 32 array of light guides, for a final light amplification of 262,144. In the final battle between the entire Solus system and the Queen's granite monolith, Foundation Stone, I used that setup to bore through the side of the ship, helping the pirate hunters to do some serious damage.

That was one he...ahem heck of a fight, because even the Gods took part, to make sure the Dead Queen finally went down. I'll tell you, it can really shake a person up, looking into the face of a Goddess they never believed existed. I still don't know how I feel, in a religious sense, but I'm no longer an atheist.

Getting back to the point, Glass House filled a unique role in the pirate fleet, because it was the only long-range artillery we had. On top of that, her death ray was entirely non-magical, allowing my crew and I to focus our magical efforts elsewhere.

Between the death ray and my mythril guitar's roar, I was untouchable and undefeated for many years, until I dared tangle with the Blackwell sisters, Marta, Iris and Amelia, but that's a story for another song...

Here's today's song, named in honor of my ship, Glass House:

Lyrics

I would dare kill the Dead Queen,
Weapon of vengeance for me,
Battleship made for the scene,
That I finally soar free!

Chorus:
The Glass House need throw no stone,
Body of crystal and glass,
The unique weapon is flown,
With a death ray that's first class!

Mirrors to reflect the sun,
Into the lenses center,
Combination for the one,
For the pyre to ignite her!

(Chorus)

On back burner, hate simmer,
For old women I abhor,
Burn them for freedom's glimmer,
The Queen's death would I adore!

(Chorus)

Awaiting the day to strike,
Patiently bide time, for now,
Searching many minds alike,
For to never again bow!

(Chorus)

Each of us dreams the same thing,
For death of our evil Queen,
For that very final sting,
We would dare sweep the slate clean!

(Chorus)

Here's a link to the MP3 file, if you'd like to download it.

Glass House is copyright 2026, Owen Tyme, all rights reserved, but free for your personal enjoyment. Lyrics by Owen Tyme, music generated by ACE-Step 1.5. E-mail me if you want to use it for something else.

Tags: audio, music, roaring-rowley