SCI FI FANTASY SATURDAY MAY 18: The Sister Contract

I tried posting this last week but it ran too long. I think I was counting lines, not sentences. Here is a trimmed version.  It's from a rare finished project of mine: an audio skit that ta kes place in the Dungeons & Dragons Online game.

Kastinalia is an NPC: a fighter hireling. She’s telling her friends the story of how she was summoned into a crypt by her current employer, who turns out to be her "inexperienced" younger sister, the priest Mellanda. 

As always, comments are welcome. I’m also looking for volunteers who are good with voices and making recordings.

MELLANDA: Of course it's dangerous; why else would I need a fighter?

KASTINALIA: Fine, I'll complete the contract; but first I'm going to have the party leader send you home.

MELLANDA: You can't do that.

KASTINALIA: I have to. 

MELLANDA: No, I mean you really can't do that.

KASTINALIA: Mother always said it's my job to look out for you, and when I tell the leader --

MELLANDA: Kasti, do you see a party? It's just the two of us.

[pause]

KASTINALIA: We're so dead.

(For more snippets by cool writers, go to http://scififansat.blogspot.com/)

SCI FI FANTASY SATURDAY MAR. 30: "A Mirror Reflects" pt. 3

Has it really been almost a month since I last posted? Scandalous!  Here's the next ten sentences -- honest! --  of "A Mirror Reflects" (trying a new title). As you recall, we learned that the ancient Chinese mirror was originally crafted by someone named Liu An:

         Yes, the legendary Liu An. He was the one who designed me and commissioned the bronze-smith’s work, and after I was delivered to him, the real task of creation began. 

         Liu An had been a court astrologer to his nephew, Emperor Wu, for some years, and he needed a more efficient way to help the Emperor deal with those around him. Which tribal warlords were a true threat, and which could be pacified by a royal marriage? Which courtiers held the Emperor’s interests at least slightly above their own? Which scandals should be concealed, which ones ignored, and which ones turned to his advantage?

         Diplomacy and spying could tell only so much, but just as there is no hiding from fate, that fate cannot hide from one who reads it in the stars.

         Any competent practitioner of Zi wei dou shu can plot a birth chart; all he needs is the year, month, day, and time of the subject’s birth, and to know how to integrate the strokes in the characters that make up the subject’s name.  But to truly understand the relevance of the Yin and Yang, the positions of the Symbolic Stars, the fluidity of the classical Five Phases, and countless other factors – this requires a true master of the science.

         The Old Prince, as Emperor Wu’s courtiers respectfully called Liu An, was such a one; he could interpret these disparate elements, understand a person’s crucial traits and qualities, predict his current and future relations with family and associates, and do no less than calculate the subject’s destiny.

SCI FI FANTASY SATURDAY MAR. 2: More from "Reflections of a Magic Mirror"

(For more snippets by other cool writers, go to http://scififansat.blogspot.com/)

The reason this story scares me is all the stuff I'd want to write about: fun-house mirrors, rear-view mirrors, lasers, even disco balls. All embodied by the Spirit of the Mirror.

And I haven't even finished in ancient China, where the magic mirror begins his memoir:

     I began as a plain round mirror of bronze, fashioned in the early part of the Han Dynasty.   By “plain” I mean I had no will or consciousness, but by the standards of the West I was beautiful and ornate. My golden face was flawlessly smooth, thanks to the bronze-smith’s two belligerent apprentices, who constantly fought or gambled with each other; whoever lost had to take the next turn at polishing me.

     My reverse side, in the manner typical of Han mirrors, was molded with a central knob surrounded by a square, representing China itself. Chevrons at its corners divide the circle into the “Four Seas” – that is, everything outside of the Middle Kingdom proper. This, of course, required four triligands and four elshapes for the proper balance. Between here and the rim were more symbols of equally obvious cosmological significance, and the rim was an arabesque of dragons.

     Actually, this was during the Year of the Rooster; the use of the Holy Ones instead was simple flattery. This was unusually blatant of Liu An, but considering the plans he had for me, he’d need all the help he could get.

SCI FI FANTASY SATURDAY FEB 9: From "Reflections of a Magic Mirror"

(For more snippets by other cool writers, go to http://scififansat.blogspot.com/)

I started this story about four years ago. As the title suggests, it was to be the memoirs of the mirror from "Snow White" in the centuries before and after that tale. Once I did a little reading about mirrors and ancient Chinese history, I was suddenly intimidated by the story's ambitiousness.

I need to get over that. Comments welcome.

(PS: Remember when I said "Look Around You" was a tentative title? I just discovered three more blogs and a British comedy show with the same title. Now I really have to change it. Ideas?)

     The fairest of them all?

     Well, to be honest, I’d have to say it’s me.

     I know I should not boast, but my long history has given me infinite perspectives on human interaction. I’ve seen endless conflicts, from boudoirs to battlefields; I’ve gazed at emperors and wide-eyed babes, priests and malefactors, as they gazed upon me. I’ve been confessor, counselor, witness, accuser, and sometimes alibi. 

     It is this wealth of human experience that uniquely qualifies me, while having no “human” experiences of my own, to arbitrate the conflicts brought before me, to critique the events of history, and to judge the mortals with an impartiality that only –

     Oh, that’s not what you mean by “fairest”.

SCI FI FANTASY SATURDAY JAN. 12: From Calamity Jane

(For more snippets by other cool writers, go to http://scififansat.blogspot.com/)

This story has a few sci-fi elements, but the snippet has none. Brooke is a secretly the high-tech criminal called "Calamity Jane"; Edward is the newly elected head of local law enforcement. Naturally, they're strongly attracted to each other. This scene takes place at the "Teddy Bear Ball", a real high-society charity event in Los Angeles. (I attended it once, and I saw the two non-fictional people mentioned herein.) 

      

     “Enjoying yourself?” asked Edward.

     “Are you kidding?” said Brooke. Champagne flute in hand, she waved vaguely around the reception area. “Everything’s so beautiful!”

     “I’m guessing this is your first society function.”

     “Is it that obvious? I think I saw Liza Minelli back there!”

     “Quite so, dear,” said a silver-haired matron suddenly appearing beside them. “No reality stars or celebutantes allowed,” she said mirthlessly. “How’s Edward treating you?”

     “We’re just friends, Alice,” said Edward. “You know, the governor’s over there and I’m sure he’d love to see you again.” Alice rolled her eyes and glided away.

     "And who was that charming lady?" said Brooke.

     "My ex-wife's mother," said Edward. "Living proof that 'drama queen' is an hereditary title."

I'm still working on bringing it in under 10 sentences.

Comments welcome. Oh, and how do I embed the SFFS logo and link here on my page?

SCI FI FANTASY SATURDAY DEC. 15


And this week I've discovered that it's really hard to take ten sentences out of your story and have them make sense. But Bullseye has his own problems.

“You really want to leave?” said Ella. “Wouldn’t your friends miss you?”

“Them! They treat me like a pup!” said Bullseye. “I should go over there and say ‘Give me one good reason I should stay, you crumbs! Why shouldn’t I just ride out on my own?’ I should do that, shouldn’t I?”

Ella looked at him, her exotic green eyes sad. A breeze ruffled her lacy yellow bonnet and the frills of her dress.

“Please stay,” she said softly.

Bullseye tried to keep his face straight, but he had to look away.

“Okay,” he said. He rode back to the rear of the herd.

I'm not sure it's clear what I was going for here, but I'll see if your comments answer that for me.

SCIFI FANTASY SATURDAY Dec 1

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My first Snippet for SFFS is from my eternally in-progress "A Fistful of Dragons". Here, the heroes have just  joined a cattle drive and are about to meet some of the other cowhands.

Comments are welcome -- not just on the snippet but on the blog design, title, etc. If this blog becomes a going concern I hope to post more of my fantasy/SF as well as tell about "really cool things" I've read about (natural wonders and other stuff I think everyone should know about, hence "Look Around You").

Meanwhile, out on the trail:

Jon thought the three men coming towards them were leading horses, but they weren't.

They had the dark skin and features of Jon’s own people, long hair tied at the end with beads, and wore wide-brimmed hats decorated with more beads and several feathers – tokens of some brave deeds or big adventures. They wore buckskin shirts like the other cowhands.

From the waist down they were horses.

Jon, gaping, just looked at Wolf.

“They’re called centaurs,” said Wolf.

“I know that!” Jon almost yelled. “But they – well, where I come from you’d never see them on a cattle drive!”

“Why not?  That’s more spare horses for the rest of us.”