From a pouch in her cloak Muldred drew a leaf folded tightly into a square no bigger than a child’s tooth. She told Thestral to chew it as she placed it on the Queen’s tongue.
Thestral grimaced at the bitter taste. “You’re poisoning me.”
“Far from it, my Lady. That leaf will calm you. No harm. Now lie still.” One hand Muldred burrowed beneath the blankets to rest on Thestral’s womb. The other she placed on Thestral’s head. Muldred closed her eyes. “Do not stop chewing. You are perfectly safe. I’ve done this many times for those on their deathbeds whose loved ones wish to ease their final hours.” Muldred clenched her jaw and breathed deeply.
Thestral chewed the leaf, whose rising bitterness sickened her each time she ground it between her teeth. She expected to die at any moment, but death seemed preferable to the agony of another dead child whose pain and torment she would never know.
Muldred uttered something strange but melodious, like the songs the bards sang in the great hall. She added new phrases then repeated the refrain. Warmth radiated from Muldred’s fingers. She chanted more verses, rising in intensity as the heat from her hands flared. She shouted the last line of the refrain then fell to the floor in a gasping heap.
Thestral held her breath, waiting to die or for the baby to kick.
“What do you feel?” asked Muldred.
“I feel….” Thestral slouched forward and drew up her knees. “Cramped. Pressed together.”
“Good,” said Muldred.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Story Out
My story "A Mother's Gift" is available at Silver Blade Magazine. Here's an except.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
CSFF Blog Tour: Residential Aliens Day Three
"Sharp Stick," by Walter G. Esselman
"Sharp Stick" is a fun romp about a boy and a dragon on a hunting expedition, hunting for giant bugs in underground caves. The boy, Gideon, is a bit young to go hunting on his own but he wants to prove himself after suffering ridicule on the playground. The young dragon Pavataro also has a problem with ridicule. He's afraid to fly and only Gideon knows his secret. The story follows Gideon and Pavataro into the caves where they meet a giant, armored bug and work together to kill it. The struggle forges a deeper bond of friendship between boy and dragon. Aside from the introduction of some background material in the first few paragraphs that could have been handled better, Esselman's narration is smooth and he flavors the story with understated humor.
"The Kitterson Ranch Incident," by Brandon Barr
"The Kitterson Ranch Incident" takes a humorous look at community and minding your own business. Every year the search for Bigfoot brings a hoard of outsiders to town. The residents don't like the visitors tromping all over their property. The narrator says "We’d be watching one another’s backs real close until the week long search ended. There wasn’t a one of us who didn’t have a past he was hiding from." While the narrator is taking a quiet break at Earl’s Bar, Red Ferguson enters with one of the Bigfoot hunters who claims to have caught one of the creatures on film. The patrons at the bar gather around to hear his story. One patron slips out unbeknown to the stranger. The locals suggest that the stranger might have been trespassing on the Kitterson Ranch when he filmed Bigfoot, and then Mr. Kitterson arrives.
"The Sorcerer's Wife," by Erin M. Kinch
Brand, an aged sorcerer, is dying, confined to his bed to rest his aching joints, dependent on his beloved wife Amira. He appears destined for a peaceful death until an old friend pays him a visit. Viola appears as young as ever. They once practiced sorcery together before Brand left to marry Amira. Viola tempts him with a ring that would restore his powers and bring him back into the fold. Brand and Viola debate the merits and demerits of their past life together and what a future life might entail. Brand insists that the love he shares with Amira is greater than anything sorcery could offer, but the ring exercises a powerful attraction, and Viola is persistent. Through effective dialog and interior monologue, Kinch dramatizes Brand's choice between a mortal life with Amira and one of sorcery with Viola.
To learn more about editor Lyn Perry, visit his blogs at http://residentialaliens.blogspot.com/
and http://blogginoutloud.blogspot.com/.
To learn what the other CSFF bloggers are saying, follow the links below:
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
CSFF Blog Tour: Residential Aliens Day Two
"Shadowed," by James T. Coon
Here's something you don't see very often, hard-boiled fantasy. That's right. Tolkien meets Chandler. "Shadowed" is a flash story with a 1930s feel: radios with tubes that have to warm up, switchboard operators, and rusty revolvers, but it's populated with elves, orcs, humans, and various combinations. The action takes place in an Irish bar--O’Smalley’s--and the alley behind it. Brick Munson is a half-orc private investigator who has spent a long day shadowing an insurance scammer. After downing a few ales and listening to some hockey on the radio, he's ready to go home for some rest, but an intoxicated elf armed with a rusty revolver threatens him in the alley behind the bar. The elf is shaking and blubbering about his wife. Munson disarms the elf in a flash and sends him reeling into some garbage cans. You might expect Munson to finish off the elf or haul him to the police station, but Munson does something quite unexpected after questioning the elf. Coon creates a vivid picture of this somewhat familiar world made strange by its unusual inhabitants.
"A Stretch of Time," by Grace Bridges
Everyone can relate to this story. A young Maori mother with too much to do doesn't have time to do what she wants to do, reading and telling stories. She tells her grandmother that times have changed since the creator gave us the twenty-four hour day. Her grandmother gives her a "spiritual gift of time." She thinks her grandmother is playing games with her, but after completing hours of housework, she finds only minutes have passed and the coffee she and her grandmother were sharing is still hot. As she relates her secret to her grandson, she reflects: "This was the beauty of the gift: nigh unlimited time to ponder. Yes, there were many things to do, and I did them all. But this unhurried pace of life had made me impervious to stress and a magnet for those who were not." It appears the protagonist has sipped from the cup of eternity.
"Cries from a Grave," by Janett L. Grady
Grady's "Cries from a Grave" is labeled science fiction but I found it closer to horror. Sara, the protagonist, is dead, floating in space without any air for eighteen hours. Although inanimate, she is still conscious and able to feel pain. What she fears most is burial on Earth where the worms will devour her. Her husband had promised to "bury" her in space but goes back on his word, picking the cheapest box available. Sara seethes with futile anger and damns him to hell in her mind. Eventually, she hears dirt hitting the lid of her coffin. The worms will be coming she thinks, but what is that stench? What happens when you go to your grave with your heart filled with hate? Sara is about to learn. Grady takes a subject that sounds preachy in summary but gives it a corporeal sense of urgency and reality.
To learn more about editor Lyn Perry, visit his blogs at http://residentialaliens.blogspot.com/
and http://blogginoutloud.blogspot.com/.
To learn what the other CSFF bloggers are saying, follow the links below:
Monday, August 22, 2011
CSFF Blog Tour: Residential Aliens Day One
Over the next few days, I will highlight some of the stories from the magazine. My selection is somewhat random and informed by my personal taste which tends toward fantasy. "The Master and the Miller’s Daughter," published as two parts in the September and October 2010 issues is a must read but I won't review it for obvious reasons.
Here are a few reviews (published previously) to get us started.
"This Is My Blood," by Kristen Davis
If done very, very well, flash fiction can be a small gem, amazing in its minute perfection. If done poorly, it comes across as a story skeleton that needs some more flesh and bone. Davis gets it right in "This Is My Blood," an interesting take on contrite vampires and transubstantiation. Father Marell returns to the rectory one night to find a man named Annik with his wrists bound by a rosary. He claims to be a vampire and requests that the priest hear his confession then kill him. The priest hears the confession but refuses to carry out the execution. They debate alternative sources of blood, such as animals, but Annik claims that only human blood quells his lust. Father Marell suggests the blood of Christ and Annik agrees, believing something so holy would certainly kill him. Father Marell's beliefs about the Eucharist are tested and the results are unexpected. The healing power of Christ appears to know no bounds. Davis tells this story from Marell's point of view. The dialogue is succinct, giving us just enough details from the vampire's story to understand how out of control and dangerous he is. As for Marell, Davis provides enough psychological detail to highlight his doubts and fears. In a longer treatment, Davis might have provided more details to highlight the creepiness of the setting, two lone figures at night in a darkened chapel sharing communion.
"Angels of Stone," by Kelly Dillon
"Angels of Stone" is a strange story, haunting and beautiful in its simplicity. Much lies beneath the surface. After multiple readings I'm still puzzled but in a good way. The story is narrated by an angel who resides in a cathedral with only the stone gargoyles for companionship. The angel remarks on the past glories of creation and hints at the horrors of Lucifer's treachery and humanity's misunderstanding of angels. Each year, God visits the angel in human form, asking that the angel return with him to heaven, but each year the angel refuses, answering God's entreaties with "'I need more time yet.'" Many years later, the angel makes a decision. The ramifications are not clear but the result brings tears to God's eyes. In the comments to the story, Dillon states that "this short story is based in part on a novel that I’m looking to publish which deals with the Fall of Lucifer, the creation of the Nephilim, and many other misunderstood aspects of angelic mythology."
"In Hot Water: A Dragonson Vignette," by Walter G. Esselman
"In Hot Water" is a quirky tale with a serious side. The Lords of Bon Su Pear have asked two water nymphs--Regent and Brianna--to retrieve a mysterious box from a sunken ship. The Lords insist the box contains a bottle of cognac. Brianna brings along her playful spell otter, named SOS, whose fur glows blue. They retrieve the box with little trouble, but as they're leaving the ship, an adolescent sea monster--part bull, mostly fish--swallows SOS. Brianna wants to chase down the massive animal but Regent convinces her they need reinforcements. Brianna creates a diversion in the water, allowing Regent and Brianna to avoid their otter's fate but barely. The monster, properly called a Camahueto, isn't done yet. (They never are.) It lunges out of the water to attack the water nymphs and Lords. Regent manages to wound the beast but Brianna takes her revenge with some watergolems who hack it to a bloody, gooey mess. An argument over the box's contents ensues and the Lords reluctantly admit it contains a cure for Wailing Flu. According to tradition, the Lords must anonymously do something to help the people of the city each year, thus the secrecy about the box. Esselman mixes the strange, mundane, and dangerous for comic effect. The nymphs nearly die retrieving what they think is a bottle of booze. High officials asking others to risk their necks to further the interests of the officials is nothing new, and the innocent otter suffers more than anyone but not as much as you think. You'll have to read the story to find out what really happened to that furry, blue critter.
To learn more about editor Lyn Perry, visit his blogs at http://residentialaliens.blogspot.com/
and http://blogginoutloud.blogspot.com/.
To learn what the other CSFF bloggers are saying, follow the links below:
Friday, August 19, 2011
Short Stuff Take 8
 |
| The Fisherman and the Syren |
| by Frederic Leighton (c. 1856–1858). |
"The Dust of the Earth and the Foam of the Sea," by E. M. Biswell in Mindflights
In beautiful and haunting prose, Biswell tells the story of a dying boy's confrontation with love and immortality in "The Dust of the Earth and the Foam of the Sea." The narrator, Prince Maximilian, is dying of consumption. His mother believes saltwater to be an elixir and has banished him to a palace by the sea with his tutor, the very logical Mr. Alexander, as his only company. He grows weaker every day and passes his hours reading Socrates and Plato with his tutor. "I was too weak for swimming, too old for sandcastles and hope." One morning, he spies a young girl sitting on the palace steps with her feet in the water. She calls herself Hespatia. She is a mermaid, searching for an immortal soul, and asks Maximilian for help. "'If you love me—' she said." But, according to Mr. Alexander's teaching, there is no such thing as love or heaven or souls. Maximilian will return to dust and Hespatia will return to foam. Hespatia remains at the palace for three days and does her best to teach Maximilian to hope and to love someone other than himself. Hespatia and Mr. Alexander stand in contradiction and wage a war of ideas through Maximilian who has never sought beyond his tutor's teachings.
"Do you mean love and heaven when you say fairy tales and lies?" [Hespatia] asked. "If so, I would rather accept my lies than your truth, my foolishness than your wisdom."
"Clear eyes are better than false hope," [Mr. Alexander] said.
"Heaven is real," she said. "And so is love."
Maximilian finds joy in Hespatia's company, and though Mr. Alexander's teachings have a hold over his psyche, Marcus Aurelius' meditations provide little comfort to a dying boy. Who wins the war? You'll have to read the story to find out. It's well worth your time. I'm looking forward to more of E. M. Biswell's stories.
"The Tale of the Emperor’s Sighs," by Elizabeth Hopkinson in Silver Blade Magazine
The twenty-second Emperor of China is despondent. "Day after day, he would look out across his gold-roofed palace and sigh, his hand on his wasted cheek, his eyes filling with tears." His ministers gather to debate and hatch a plan to cure the Emperor of his woes. They order craftsmen to construct an enormous paper lantern with a dish of oil to burn and a basket in which the Emperor can ride. They believe that his spirits will be renewed if he rises above whatever is bothering him. The Emperor embarks on his journey upward. He passes an Abbott living high atop a mountain, greets the princes and princesses in the Palace of the Moon, and then stops when he reaches the Mountain of Paradise. He can rise no higher but his sadness persists. The Enlightened One tells the Emperor that his sadness is concern for the sorrows of the world. He sends the Emperor home on a cloud, telling him it “is made of all the sighs you have given for the sorrow and suffering of others. As long as your compassion continues, it will bear you up, until the time when you return to this mountain." The Emperor returns to earth with a heart filled with purpose. Hopkinson tells a beautiful fable in "The Tale of the Emperor’s Sighs." Her writing has the feel of something ancient and wise. The moral is thoroughly integrated with the plot. What a better place our world would be if every leader shared the concerns of Hopkinson's Emperor.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Story Out and Recent News
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| Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm as |
| painted by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (1855). |
"That's quite a knife you've got there, sis," said Aulden.
"What knife?" Cordelia tucked it among the billowing folds of her skirt, shifting her eyes between her brothers and the outcrop.
The brothers laughed, and while the younger pair held her to the ground and muffled her cries, Aulden wrung the knife from her hand. He examined the runes then tested the blade against a strip of leather that gave way without resistance.
"It's not yours," she said.
"I'm afraid it is, sis. I'm going to say hello to your elf friend. Keep her quiet." Aulden swaggered toward the low hills that marked the trail head.
Cordelia cried out, but the wind carried her warning in the opposite direction and a hand, thick and muscular from farm labor, muffled any further cries. When the elf's hand appeared, Aulden raised the knife and swung it down, a flash of silvery light. The knife sliced through the elf's wrist, severing bone and cauterizing flesh. The elf's deep cry swept across the heath, a cry of betrayal that no wind could divert, the cry of a soul stabbed to the quick. The scream stung Cordelia's ears, ringing on and on as tears welled from her eyes.
In other news, my story "Wilson's Thicket" has been accepted for inclusion in Beneath the Pretty Lies, an anthology from Wicked East Press. The anthology's theme is betrayal and revenge. "Wilson's Thicket" is a contemporary ghost story set in a small town. The protagonist is a junior high boy who witnesses the murder of a teenage girl. At the moment of her death, the girl's spirit enters the protagonist's mind and uses him to carry out her revenge against her killer. The question for the boy is when will her revenge stop?
Monday, August 1, 2011
Recent News
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