Aurora Vera
Gone now the thrush, her night song to rest And on her rowan post, the sparrow In renewed behest, Summons her sire the sun from his chamber, A tawny young daughter, a father of amber. But his eyes open not for the quarrelsome...
Play On
I sing in a voice weakened by shouting, A voice weakened by hunger, By tears, By sickness; Hear my song; I shall sing in spite of these. I dance with feet wounded by asperity, Feet blistered by marching, By wandering, By hard...
The Ride to the Function
I once rode with someone I knew to a function. That is, by someone I knew, I mean someone I had never met once in my life, and by "function," my meaning is inconsequential to the story and the reader need know nothing more about it. I sat across from...
The Tale of Mortibe from the Song of Hannari
Now it came to pass, when the generations since the Time of the Shears when life became mortal were fourteen thousand, four hundred and sixty-three, that the Gods of Old became as mortals, indolent and corrupt in their ways. Dai Yel, He of the Highest...
Creation Story from The Song of Hannari
In long-past time, amid the eternal darkness of chaos that lies beyond the beyond, there was the Great Truth. And the Great Truth chose to be, and it was. And the Great Truth grew vast and fecund, and its fecundity abounded that it would be as good...
In Seven
In the untamed wilds of old, as the solstice chilled the days, Each living thing knew hardship and adapted in their ways. The boar would forage foremost, and the snow faced unafraid; But man had thought himself better, and a glutton he was...
Decontamination Day
Darrin was afraid. The young civet sat restlessly in the iron-clad basement of his suburban home, sitting on an uncomfortable wooden bench across from his mother and sister. Silence. Deathly silence. Most of the thinking people in the land...
The Error
The wolf felt the sting of cold air on his nose, accompanied by a warm smell marked by crisp notes of rosin and smoke. He knew- somehow- that it was the smell of a fire burning in a hearth. It was a good smell, his memories said. One that told...
Torchlight International Part 2: The Initiation
I arrived at the Regent's Suites hotel downtown just a few minutes before 6:30. After checking into the hotel (which, fortunately, was covered in the price of the workshop), I was directed to a row of tables where smartly-dressed volunteers sat...
The Lutenist (In Memory of Randomonlooker)
Ah, joyous lute within the square, The player hidden from our sight, Sends serenades of music fair And plays unto his heart's delight. Re-mi-re-mi-sol, re-mi-re-mi-sol. Ah, loving lute, with roses trimm'd, With passion for a lady...
Torchlight International Part 1: The Grand Road
I was never management material. They could see it in my eyes. I was always on time for work, it's true. I always enforced the dress code, trained new employees, stayed for opening and closing, and kept a sharp eye on the computer and...
The Far Side of Immortal
Nick Dietrich kicked restlessly at the exoskeletons that littered the floor of his cave. The wolf's fur had gone ragged, and his skin clung to his body like a taut canvas over his aching bones. Food was scarce in these times, after all. How...