Today is a very special day for me, it marks the 14th Year that me and my buddy Becky have known each other and remained best friends, it also marks the 12th Anniversary of the first story I ever started, and only one I really finished, "Shadow of the Mesteno". This is a story that I started at the age of nine from the moment of her birth amongst her fahter's herd, in my first version, to the moment where she finally completed the goal she'd set out for herself when he mother was killed. In my youth the two greatest films to me were Bambi and the Land Before Time, and mix that with the fact that when I met Becky she taught me everything I knew about horses, I read the Silver Brumby for the very first time, and the TV series of it aired; you can see just what my first goal in writing was.
Over the years Shadow had to change, from its humble origin as a child's game between me and Becky, the little comic-story I made about it, and the first time I sat down to write a long story, I've learnt a lot about hroses and their behaviours and asked so many people to give me help and advice. People I now respect today were the ones to tell me the truth on how black foals were born smutty brown when I was only eleven, or that there was more to hrose colouration then the ones I saw in the books. I wanted to thank Ken Stone, who owned the website on information about the Silver Brumby books (as he was probably the first one to ever actually look at Shadow) and Penni (Nepelle) for teaching me everything about horse genetics, coat patterns, and in general natural behaviours amongst them, as well as reading some of the original versions too!
I changed Shadow to make it seem more realistic in that I made it a fantasy world, rather then a real world that people might scold me for when I had never been to the areas described in the stories, although when I was writing it was like I had been there. Not to mention when Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron came out I was running around the house for weeks swearing that Dreamworks were propbing my mind, as the bit on the train was slightly similar to when Shadow was forced onto one with the other captured horses and was panicking about never seeing her family again. There have always been slight similarities, but it was never the same!
Anyway, to this date Shadow is still udner editing and I'm going to put up the first four parts of it that are prepared so you can all have a look at it for yourself. I did send it off for a publisher to look at, along with a few other titles, but got a bored letter of reply that looked like it was a standard "We haven't bothered to look at it, therefore it's crap" letter that you get from time to time. But I've had so much interest from old friends who used to read it, and I think it's a crime to prevent the world from reading any story whether it's a bunch of ideals or bullshit that's not worth it (by this I mean Jeffery Archer, OMG that stuff is wierd!). It is a way to express yourself and a show of the freedom of speech and imagination, therefore I will let you read it.
I will also put up the blood-lines for Shadow's family as I have a very large amount of stories written about her descendants, which I will also put up for you. I gaurantee her son Whirlwind will be a thrilling read for you and her grandsons Burra and Snow will possibly enchant you!
So have a look at Shadow, and I'm also putting up the first two parts of my main Bleach fan-fiction on Rintakara, which is also available on Fan-fiction.net.