TITLE: Utitled Alternate World Novel, Chapter 3
PROMPT: China
WORD COUNT: 1254
NOTES: This is my week one November contest entry for brigits_flame. It is also an edited excerpt from my Nano novel, which about a scientist who in the process of trying to create doorways to other words keeps accidentally pulling various people and creatures through to his own words by mistake. One of these is a woman from San Francisco, whose point of view is featured here. (In hindsight, I probably should have spent my time writing new words instead of editing this. *shrug*)

---

( Read more... )

TITLE: The Cord
WORD COUNT: 1533
NOTES: This is my week one October contest entry for brigits_flame. I tried something that was slightly outside of my bounds here (being Victorian-ish among other things), and I'm not quite sure I've pulled it off.

( Read more... )

TITLE: White Noise (temporary until I come up with a better one)
PROMPT: Instep
WORD COUNT: 1477
WARNINGS: Some sexual references. Swearing.
NOTES: This is my week one October contest entry for brigits_flame.

( click to read story )

While I still did not complete a significant amount of the tasks I set for myself last week, I still came out of the weekend feeling fairly accomplished. Not only did I get back into the groove of completing my morning poetry/journaling routine, but I also completed all of my marathon training days and made some progress on the writing front. This week I've worked on a short story-ish thing, as well as outlined a possible article for Matador Travel. All of which feels pretty damn good.

I'm making several plans to up the ante in my writing by joining a few online contests to keep me engaged with deadlines and (hopefully) inspiring me to put a little extra effort into my posts. In no particular order:

1. I'm joining therealljidol, which if you haven't heard of it is livejournal "reality show" writing competition, in which contestants write weekly posts based on prompts. The length of the contest is indefinite, as I believe it depends on the number of contestants who sign up. This would (I believe) mostly deal with nonfiction.

I would love to get through many rounds of this (I don't have any delusions that I'll win as there are many great writers out there), but more than that I'm hoping that this will get me thinking more about my daily posts here, even beyond the contest posts.

2. I've also signed up for the October contest at brigits_flame, and I intend to continue to participate long after the contest is over. In general this is a great writing community with a lot of supportive fellow editors and writers.

These contest entries will tend to be fiction and some poetry. I already have my first week's entry mostly done. I had wrote it out in one night, and now I just need to type it up and post it.

3. Despite all that is going on, and despite my better judgement, perhaps, I've also come to the conclusion that once again I will participate in Nanowrimo. I skipped out on this last year, but I'm in the mood to have at this insanity once again. It probably helps that I have an idea for a novel already sitting in my head and on its way to being well planned out.

If you join the groups for numbers one and two (which I recommend), then you'll be informed when polls are posted for voting so that you can (if you are so inclined) give me some support. Please also let me know if you are participating in either of these contests, so that I may return the support. :)


Things to do this week:
-- do my 3-4 marathon training days
-- complete this week's brigits_flame entry
-- finish Matador Travel piece and submit it (I didn't finish this one. Someone snatched up the idea before I could get to it. Big boo.
-- post a new youtube video
-- write 100 words/day or 700 words/week on any writing project
-- prepare and send out a poetry submission
-- do a sketch or two and/or get animation art pages done
-- compile movie listings for zombie site
-- do morning poetry/journaling (5/7 days completed)

So a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I had won (Squee!) the Fantasy Medley Giveaway held by C.E. Murphy (aka mizkit). My advanced readers copy of A Fantasy Medley has arrived signed by Murphy. (Well, technically it arrived a week or so ago, but I was so busy reading it that I didn't get around to posting about it.) With the advanced readers copy, I didn't get to have the pretty cover that was included with the final version, but who cares. I'm thrilled.

A Fantasy Medley, published by Subterranean Press and edited by Yanni Kuznia, includes four fantasy stories. Each story is set in the worlds already created in the authors' novels.  Having never read an work by the other authors, I was most excited to be able to read Murphy's story because I already loved her Negotiator series, (about a mortal woman getting mixed up in the complexities of the Old Races).

"From Russia, With Love"  is a story of the Old Races and is about the rivalry between Janx and Daisani (two of the Negotiator series' most enigmatic characters) as they attempt win the affection of a barmaid, who happens to be Baba Yaga's daughter. As usual, it was fantastic. I most loved the protrayal of Baba Yaga, who is brutal and powerful and wicked, just as she ought to be. I also liked that this story presented witches, and therefore the possibility of other supernatural creatures that exist outside the restrictions of the old races.

I was quite please to discover that the other stories were wonderful, too.

Kelly Armstrong's "Zen and the Art of Vampirism" (set in Otherworld) is a sassy piece about Zoe Takano, a vampire forced to deal with two vampires who want to supplant her in Toronto, a city filled with supernatural creatures. Zoe is exactly the kind bad ass, fast talking heroine that I love. I expect that her novels in which Zoe appears will be just as fun and witty as this story.

"Riding the Shore of the River of Death" (I drool over this title), written by Kate Elliot, revisits the world of her novel The Crown of Stars. In this story, Kareka, the daughter of the of the begh of Kirshat, must succeed in the hunt in order to prove herself a man or she will be forced into the role of woman and wife forever. I love the gender play in this, how manhood and womanhood in this tribe can defined by what you do and how you act rather than sex alone. The culture of these clans is so detailed, even in this small space, that I feel they could be quite real. The tale is deflty weaved, presenting a fascinating look at a dark and brutal world.

Returning to the Farseer world, "Words Like Coins," by Robin Hobb (I almost wrote Robin Hood *sigh*), looks at how precision of speach can mean all the difference in the world. Mirrifen is a failed hedge-witch apprentice, who has married for security, but her sense of safety is jarred by drought and the arrival of a pregnant pecksie. I love the folklore in this story, and how easily and quickly misundertandings and ignorance can lead to dangerous situtions.

I did get a feeling some times while reading the other three stories that I was missing out on some inside joke that only readers of the complete novels would get. But each of these stories made me want to go out and read the novels so that I could further explore the worlds in which they were set.  (which I think was the point). All around, I would say that this is a successful, if short, collection of fantasy story. It's just a pity that the books were given such a small run (and are therefore sold out), because I would definitely recomend this book to others.

I am floating on a sea of joy right now. I would love to jump up and dance around and shout my joy...but I'm at work, and while it's slow enough for me not to feel guilty about being on the net, I think that kind of behavior would probably be frowned upon. :)

Why so happy? Well, I just found out that I won the FANTASY MEDLEY Give Away, held by C.E. Murphy (aka mizkit). To enter the contest, readers had to say, in 50 words or less, what Old Races story they would like to see told.

Don't know what the Old Races are? The Old Races are apart of the NEGOTIATOR TRILOGY, which includes Heart of Stone, House of Cards, and Hands of Flame. To make my life easier, I'll just quote from the back cover of Heart of Stone:

New York City defense lawyer Margrit Knight has finally met the perfect man...only he's a gargoyle, and wanted for murder. Caught in the strange world of the Old Races, Margrit finds herself in a race against the sunrise to clear Alban's name and keep them both alive....

The Old Races are dragons and djin, selkies and gargoyles, and vampires. I rather enjoyed the Negotiator Trilogy. All of the Old Races characters were fascinating in the way they interacted very inhumanly with the human world (Janx and Daisani are especially interesting), and Margrit keeps pace with them all quite well, while managing to stay convincing.

So I was very excited to hear about the contest when it came up. For my entry, I mentioned that I wanted to see a story from the point of view of a priest (a minor character in the trilogy). I like the idea of seeing the supernatural world from a very specific outside point of view.

Here's the funny thing. I posted my entry...and then completely forgot about it. Completely. I blame the Wedding that ate my brain. No, really, my brain could not think about anything else in that time period.

So today I received a rather polite *poke* today from mizkit reminding me that I won the contest and would I still like to receive my prize of an advanced readers copy of A FANTASY MEDLEY (which features a story of the Old Races, called "From Russia, With Love"). I replied with and immediate, YES!

I guess I can't say "I never win anything" anymore. :D