Tag: creative writing

The Monk – Part 1

Oriana perched on the seat of the bus shelter like a cat ready to pounce. Soon enough the object of her interest appeared almost precisely on schedule: A tall skinny man with red hair over burdened with a hiking backpack that was obviously well loaded with goods, and carrying a case of a dozen tins of beans. The man’s clothing was simple, it was also well worn, and his hair looked tangled. It was a rather warm day and the man was clearly suffering from the heat of the day, but still he pushed on with determination. He came to the road he always turned down at this time of day. This was the point Oriana had chosen to intervene. She skipped across the road and brought herself up alongside the man dragging the heavy load.

“Hi!” she chirped

The man looked up at her and blinked before allowing a friendly smile to grace his lips. He returned her greeting politely, but pushed on without asking her any questions. Oriana, who wasn’t used to not being paid attention to, was not sure what she should do next. She found herself just walking uncomfortable next to him.  They had walked about a hundred metres in silence before she decided that she hadn’t made this bold move to learn nothing. Continue reading “The Monk – Part 1”

Thorns – Part 2

There are few other memories of note that I have of the nursery. Certainly few that are particularly distinct. But in the days leading up to my seventh birthday there was one memory that stayed with me indelibly. I recall feeling terrified and sad for my leaving the state nursery soon. One of the nursemaids noticed and she asked me what was wrong. I told her than I didn’t want to leave, that I was afraid of being thorned. This nursemaid was called Agatha and she had been thorned in her right cheek. The thorn was not a small spot or blemish on the skin. Where the thorn was inserted into the flesh a large black welt appeared. From this black protrusion of the flesh emanated a network of black veins so that Agatha’s entire right cheek was covered in black lines. If I had only had the experience of the other children who were free from such blemishes, I would have thought the sight of a thorn to be disturbing, however, as all the adults had at least one thorn somewhere on their head and so I was accustomed to the sight of them.

Agatha looked anxious for a moment, looking over her shoulder before smiling kindly at me. “This place has become your home hasn’t it?”

“What’s a home?” I asked innocently.

“It’s an old word, long ago people used to live in just one place to grow up in. It was a really small place, nowhere near as big as this nursery. But children would stay with their parents.”

“What are parents?” Continue reading “Thorns – Part 2”

Thorns – Part 1

My earliest memories were from the nursery. I might have been four or five years old at the time. Guards had come into the building. They were men, big tall men, I don’t remember ever seeing a man before in my life. They came for Mariam, one of the nursemaids. I remember them dragging her kicking and screaming out of the building. Then one of the guards punched her in the face. Her slender frame crumpled to the floor started jerking convulsively. She was silent from that point one. They just dragged her out. I wouldn’t see her again until my first thorning years later.

The other nursemaids gathered us together in the main play room. They gave us children a lecture about the dangers of favouritism. Mariam had been guilty of treating some children better than others. I don’t remember feeling any guilt at the time. Years later though I felt horribly guilty when I realised that I was definitely one of Mariam’s favourites. She used to sneak me in extra biscuits and cuddles at night through the bars of my crib. I would eventually conclude that I was the reason why the guard had punched her. That it was my fault she was gone. Continue reading “Thorns – Part 1”

Space Fall – Part Ten

spacefall-lowresThis is the last part of this story! Want to read the whole story from the beginning? Click here!

When the calamity struck Proxima Minor the Ferren guild feared their livelihoods would be the most affected. The Ferren were the miners and refiners of gases, metals, and liquids extracted from the crust of the planet. Their guild motto was, “Everything we have either comes from a plant or a hole in the ground; and we know how to dig.” When the waters approached their mines they moved their homes, refineries, and machinery under ground. Then they sealed themselves in deep underneath the surface. The water from the new ocean above them seeped in, but they pumped that out and built oxygen factories to supply themselves with breatheable air. Safe underground they had access to all the metals, minerals, other chemicals the Comptoni needed to build their machines and with that trade they were able to buy food from the Vegani.

Despite all this, life for the Ferren was not easy. Before the calamity they could do aerial surveys for potential places to build their mines, but now they had no choice but to simply dig and keep digging until they found something worth selling as a refined ore. Places already rich in underground caverns and shafts were the most desirable as they made the process of looking for new ores to extract slightly easier.  One such place was underneath the Oblique Plateau where the first waters from the spatial deluge first landed.  Perhaps many centuries earlier the plateau had been an ocean, but like Mars the waters had been blown away off the planet into space and lost forever. Continue reading “Space Fall – Part Ten”

Writer’s Diary: Finishing Space Fall

Space Fall is almost finished, I won’t get it done tonight alas, I’ve been recovering from the flu this week and while I’m almost better, I’m still feeling quite weak. I am working on part ten and it will be the final part – even if it is a really long part. I am determined to finish my first draft in the ten parts that I originally planned it to be in.  I actually only started writing Space Fall on the day I published part one, and if I hadn’t gotten sick I think I would have finished it a few days ago. It’s been a very exciting experience writing my first fiction piece in the public domain.  I’ve got at least four regular readers of my story so far according to my net stats. Since I’m not well enough to finish writing it, today I thought I would answer some questions instead. Continue reading “Writer’s Diary: Finishing Space Fall”

Space Fall – Part Nine

spacefall-lowresWant to start at part one? Click here!

Space was at a premium in the Comptoni underwater settlement of Deliverance. Whereas on Earth a submarine pen would be a large spacious structure for a submarine to emerge into, free of the risk of bumping into other vessels, in Deliverance submarines had a very different function. Underneath Comptoni settlements were a series of large one-way tunnels for submarines to travel through as though they were underground trains. They emerged in tiny rooms that looked remarkably like subway stations. Indeed, passenger submarines that ferried Comptonians from one settlement to another ran frequent routes. The submarine carrying our heroes emerged in one such station pen.

Relieved to get out of the cramped conditions of the submarine the group soon observed that Comptoni settlements were not much spacious. The under water city was full of people sitting and sleeping in the corridors. The overcrowding was deplorable and the faces of the people they passed were long pale and sullen.

“Why is this place so over crowded?” asked Kimberley, “the last time I was here it wasn’t like this.” Continue reading “Space Fall – Part Nine”

Space Fall – Part Eight

spacefall-lowresLooking for part one?  Click here!

Submarines on Earth are almost exclusively for research if they are small, while if they are large they are almost exclusively for warfare. On Proxima Minor the situation is quite different. When the Ferrens and the Comptoni decided they were not going to leave the surface of the planet, but rather dig in to resist the flooding coming their way, for the first time commercial sized freight submarines had a market. Thus the submarine our four adventurers are currently travelling on is not like any submarine found on Earth.  It has a small crew quarters, a humble sized engine, and a massive cargo bay. Like all submarines though it is incredibly cramped for the crew. The room our four adventurers were staying in was tiny but incredibly had four bunk beds crammed into it. There was much curiosity about the latest person to join the adventure. Fiona was an Aeron who had heroically prevented an attempt on Kimberley’s life by one of her guildsmen. Continue reading “Space Fall – Part Eight”

Writer’s Diary: Future Projects

Space fall is now most of the way towards completion, and I’ve been thinking about what my next writing project might be.  I have a few contenders.  Presently, I’m fascinated in Anglo-Saxon England and what life was like during this period, especially for the 90-95% outside the aristocracy and clergy.  Life was very difficult back in this era and famines were a constant source of threat to people’s survival.  There is a tendency to dismiss Europeans as being primitive farmers and barbarians before the renaissance, but I figure common sense discounts this idea.  Europe as a continent, especially in the north, has this annual catastrophe called “winter” and in order to survive this the inhabitants of these lands had to adapt to winter conditions in ways people in other parts of the world didn’t need to.  For example, in jungle regions there is fruit all year round, while in Europe fruit is only available in the warmer months.  Europeans had to develop technologies and strategies for coping with winters that exist nowhere else in the world except perhaps Japan, Korea, and Manchuria.

Continue reading “Writer’s Diary: Future Projects”

Space Fall – Part Seven

spacefall-lowresWant to start at the beginning of this story?  Click here!

 

 

Back in the sky city of Pearl, the Aeron chief guild master Kaylim was interrogating the Kiron guild master Sybil.

“What do you know of Kimberley’s plan?”

Sybil sighed heavily, “I know as much about that as you do: she intends to seal the rift.”

“What about those two freemen who helped her to escape?”

“I know nothing about them.”

“I have a witness who says that you cleared them both for entry into the parliament, and also brought them into the parliament chamber,” Kaylim raised his voice, “Why did you let them in if you didn’t know anything about them?”

“Because I hoped they would protect Kimberley when the time came, and they did.”

“You fool!  I’m going to have to kill them now, as well as Kimberley. You have three deaths on your conscience now.”

“My conscience?  You don’t need to kill any of them. That is your choice and your responsibility.” Continue reading “Space Fall – Part Seven”

Space Fall – Part Six

spacefall-lowresWait!  Have you read parts 1 to 5? Click here!

Missed the epic part 5? Click here!

The triplane started moving slowly at first, then as the engine drank in the open throttle it started picking up speed.  At the end of the tunnel the soft yellow light of the sky got bigger, faster and faster.  The landing gear hovered off the ground, landing gear that included pontoons for sea landings.  Alfred had to make quick adjustments to avoid hitting the roof as the plan started to lift.

“Where in the asteroid belt did he learn to fly a triplane?” Cried an astonished Kimberley.

Harold laughed, “Red Baron 2037,” he answered simply.

The plane zipped out of the launching tube and into a sky filled with hot air balloons.  Alfred yawed, pitched, and banked to avoid colliding with them.  He was sloppy at first but within minutes started to show confidence in his handling of the aircraft.  From the gloftoons children could be seen pointing at them and making excited ‘o’ shapes with their mouths.  The city of Pearl was shrinking away much faster than it is appeared to them when travelling there earlier that morning.

“Ok, now we’re escaped, where do we need to get to, Kimberley?” Asked Alfred.

“We need to reach a Vegani settlement, they live on the ocean surface.  So fly down and look for one, preferably with a floating runway!  They have some big trading ships that can accommodate an aircraft like this one.” Continue reading “Space Fall – Part Six”