The Wordsmith's Forge

My story "The Museum of Mortality" (Part 1 and Part 2) has been sponsored by Amelia Margetts. It is now visible to the public.
Brelig works in a museum while recovering from a sea monster fight.
Brelig works hard to regain his stamina for warsailor work.

This is a sequel to "Without Fail" so if you haven't already read that, I recommend starting there.
Warsailor Brelig meets License Master Alaaffi on a cruise ship.

The May 2013 Muse Fusion is open over on Torn World.  We're looking for prompts about sea monsters, but other ideas are welcome too.  Come leave or claim prompts, or just enjoy the goodies.


What I Have Written

"Installing the Unicorn" -- this session's freebie is a poem about a new aquarium.

"Something Bigger and Hungrier" -- 21 lines, $5
A ship faces two sea monsters.

"A Clever Jab" -- 12 lines, $5
The prompt about harpoon snails led to the free-verse poem "A Clever Jab."  It's all about who strikes first!


From My Prompts

ellenmillion has drawn an awesome picture of a heat-thief eating a young deathfin.  These are two related species of Torn World sea monsters.  They don't ordinarily live together, but individuals may travel outside the usual ranges.

I've been reading about Star Trek: Into Darkness, intrigued by the trailers but displeased by some of the buzz. I posted about the racebending, which led to an interesting discussion in the comments that inspired the story below. Special thanks to Rogan for part of the description.

This story fills the "au: historical" square on my card for the trope_bingo fest.

Format: Fiction
Title: "Nothing But Whitebread Left"
Fandom: Star Trek
Summary: Khan has a plan to take over the world.
Required Warnings: No standard warnings apply.

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If you've read "Why I Write Fanfic," you have an idea of some things I aim to accomplish with this activity. This is where you come in. When people started asking me for more of favorite storylines in fanfic, I had to stop and think about it. It's not the same as my crowdfunded stuff, where audience prompts and donations significantly influence which series get developed more. I had to consider what if anything fanfic and its readers could do for me, before doing more than random tidbits. As useful as money is, it's not the only consideration. There are lots of ways to support a favorite author, including some non-cash methods. So here are some thoughts particularly tuned to supporting fanfic ...

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Here's a brilliant essay about the role of outer space, or the lack thereof, in space opera.  The same applies to other branches of science fiction.  The use of Middle Earth as a counter-example from fantasy is also exceptionally apt.

What makes this challenging is that it's very difficult to convey travel itself as interesting.  The tendency is to cut to the chase, showing only the most exciting action scenes.  But you really do lose a lot that way.  So you have to find ways of revealing why and how the journey is as important as the destination, the ways in which the setting drives the plot.

Take a look at my poetic series An Army of One: The Autistic Secession in Space.  Because the setting falls between two galactic arms, you know they have relatively fast space travel.  However, it's not like teleporting; it's more akin to international relations during the Age of Sail.  It takes time to cross from the Carina-Sagittarius Arm to the Orion-Cygnus Arm; that's why the Lacuna is important and turns into a no-man's-land.  It's out of easy reach, outside the core population centers.  After the secession, the setting continues to play a major role.  The secessionists don't have a planet to live on; they're scattered across little bases and ships.  They don't have the kind of resources that most people take for granted, like having a place to grow food or dip water out of a lake.  They only have what they can bring in or recycle.  They can travel to each other but that, too, takes some time.  Space is not just a backdrop; it influences the political dynamics and other challenges the characters have to solve in order to survive.

For a fantasy comparison, look at Path of the Paladins.  Most of the action takes place in villages or towns, but there are several battlefields in the middle of nowhere, and a handful of encounters along roads or trails.  Threaded throughout are indications of how empty and damaged the world has become due to all the fighting.  This series has a slow, one step at a time approach because it focuses on the practical effects of all the heroic action that fantasy often ignores.

A while back, someone raised the topic of religion in Schrodinger's Heroes. This matter is not addressed much in canon, just hinted at based on various people's relationship with their home culture(s). However, diversity is part of the base premise, so that means religious diversity must follow along with ethnic and sexual diversity.  

Also worth noting is that Three Weeks for Dreamwidth marks the anniversary of Schrodinger's Heroes, which I launched in 2011.  It's come a long way since then -- most notably, the "imaginary fandom" has turned into a very real following, and there are now several folks contributing content.

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Come to Torn World for Sea Monster Month!  I should have some new material going up this month, featuring the hostile aquatic megafauna.  I helped design an entire ecosystem of sea monsters.  It's pretty cool.

"Squiggles: Excerpts from Nleimen's Journal"

1505.07.13

I want a hole mouse! They come in lilac. They're rare around here, though, and it's not lawful to keep or transport them because they are considered pests. They've spread pretty far from their native range, and people are trying to control them. So I can only have a hole mouse if I move to a city where they're already well established. I still want one!

I borrowed a book from the library to help with my essay. It had lots of articles on animals from different regions. The hole mouse is just my favorite. The chapter on diseases was pretty scary, though. You never know what might be lurking in some forgotten corner of the world.


See the landing page for "Squiggles: Excerpts from Nleimen's Journal."

The April 2013 Muse Fusion is now open.  Come give us prompts or claim some for your own inspiration.  You don't have to be a Torn World member to play.  We have a travel contest closing at the end of April and then May will be Sea Monster Month, so those are good targets if you want a theme.


What I Have Written

"Stinging Like Nettles" -- a poem introducing a Northern girl, Lekeeth, with touch aversion.

"Swift Travelers" -- 14 lines, $5
Your prompt about traveling insects led to the free-verse poem "Swift Travelers." Nleimen draws cartoons of insects.  

"Wandering the Heights" -- 98 lines, $24.50  SOLD
Lekeeth, a young girl with touch aversion, becomes more adventurous as she approaches the time when she'll join an age-set. There is also a sequence where she sympathizes with Taiv, someone I thought likely to suffer from pregnancy-caused hypersensitivity. That's not approved yet so I'll need to check with the character owner. 

 aldersprig has written "Q for the Queen's Quilt" based on my prompt.  It's science fantasy about power, boredom, and the stars.