Meanwhile…

I went to see The Conspirator (not fantasy, but there were people in very fine hats). It is story of normal people having to put up with the bullshit. Different century. Same nonsense of ordinary citizenry offered up on the altar of political convenience. Nothing has changed.

The movie is quite good, by the way.

Anyway, this is a bit of a fantasy story. I thought, why not a police procedural in a world of gods and magic? The first few hundred words of the nearly 1,400 that I wrote.

Continue reading

I will post just a portion of this one. It came out to over 1,300 words and is set in the same world as my recently finished and (so far) thrice submitted historical fantasy story, Mercier’s Flight. Maybe I’ll look for a market for this one, though I don’t have the faintest idea where to start. Anyone know of a good historical fantasy war story market?

Continue reading

I imagine this to be part of my Chuck Chaykin space western universe. Almost 600 words of two-fisted robot-busting action!

Continue reading

A little something. Will it go anywhere? Who knows! Just about 500 words.

Continue reading

Today begins the writing group’s annual Story Every Day event. Should be fun! I’ve got a jump on a story already that I’ve been working on, so some of my SEDs will likely be chunks of that. We’ll be meeting tonight to get started, as a group. I’ll be posting as much as I can here in the process.

In other news, I’ve been watching “Luthor” via Netflix. Sooooo good. If you need a good example of how to write great villains without overshadowing your equally great hero, this is where you want to look.

Edit: SONUVA–link removed because there are some major spoilers there. I just ruined some major plot points for myself. Thanks, BBC!

I utterly failed in my April Fool’s tradition. I had an idea for one, but not in time for me to really execute it properly. Perhaps next year.

In exchange, I offer the beginning of a story I just started. I rather like it. Continue reading

From the bottom:

Daredevil: Shadowland – Not bad. I’ve never been as big a fan of the ninja Daredevil stories as I am of the lawyer Daredevil stories. The annoying thing about this story was how it’s broken up across about four trades, only two of which I’ve got (and intend to get). There are several plot threads that begin in these, but are finished in the books I don’t have. Looking forward to what’s coming up for Matt Murdock next. He’s always at his best when his life is at its low points.

The Flash: Dastardly Death of the Rogues – Greatness. Really fun story with some time traveling versions of the Rogues-turned-heroes from the future. The Rogues are some of  comicdom’s most entertaining (and most underrated) villains, especially in Geoff Johns’s hands. Manapul’s art gets an 11 out of 10. I guess this is my first full, proper Barry Allen story, and he’s pretty great. It’s a Flash fact!

Morning Glories, vol. 1 – I nabbed this on impulse because it was cheap on pre-order and I had heard it was good. A story about a group of smart teens recruited for a prep school where…well, all is not as it seems. Unless all seems really fucked up and horrific. Then I guess it is exactly what it seems. I don’t even know how to describe it further. Really good read, and I’ll be reading more.

I’m in the middle of each of the three novels.

Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Sharing Knife sucked me in the most, but it’s kind of more romancey than I’m normally into. Still, it’s very well written and I like the setting, so I’ll have no problem finishing. I’ll have to seek out some of Bujold’s science fiction.

I kind of stalled in David Drake’s With the Lightnings. I liked the sound of it, but I’ve gotten so far in with nothing really happening yet, which isn’t what I was expecting at all. For something one of the cover blurbs described as a space opera, there’s so far been very little action.

Phillip K. Dick’s We Can Build You is quite funny. Not far enough in yet to offer more than that.

I was working on an article for the Flash Fiction Chronicles about localized apocalypses in fantasy and science fiction – then a localized apocalypse actually happened in Japan and I haven’t had the heart to return to the topic.

This site is pretty awesome. Who doesn’t love old pulp art?

I liked this one quite a bit. Reminds me of some of Jonathan Hickman’s work.