“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go. Valencia, at the first sign of trouble, we’re bailing. Watch them closely.” “Mode?” asked Valencia. Ah. Fast-talking or fisticuffs? Based on how she’d described the experience, it wasn’t so much that she had a demon or devil’s thoughts, it was that for the strong ones, their skills became so much […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 111: Peer Pressure
The oppressive feeling of being trapped in a corner faded away once Fenn was through the portal. Dealing with gravity was a bit tricky, as she’d gone down through a hole and come out the side of a tree, but she landed on her feet easily enough and took stock of where she was. It […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 110: Bubblegum
I was alone. I’d thought that it would feel like I’d made a huge mistake, but strangely, there was a feeling of righteousness that came with my decision. I probably shouldn’t have felt exhilarated, but I did. Whatever thing Fenn had felt so strongly, I only had a twinge of it. Did that mean that […]
State of Writing, 2018
About four years ago, I made two posts that cataloged the progress on various writing projects that were either in progress, stalled out, or something else. Since it’s been a long time since I’ve taken inventory, I decided to do that again, but a little more abbreviated. Glimwarden Currently on my website, Glimwarden has thirteen […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 109: The Veil of the World
“They’re a recognized phenomenon,” said Amaryllis. “To maintain the deception for so long, under so much scrutiny, you’d need –” “Powerful magic,” replied Masters. “I was going to say that you’d need the complicity of far too many people,” replied Amaryllis. “People — scholars — would come to this place and they’d want to speak […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 108: The Dream That Skewers
When looking at the athenaeum system as a whole, I was very much reminded about what Figaro Finch and I had talked about regarding specialized hammers. If all you had were thirteen special hammers, then eventually you would start designating some of them for ‘close-enough’ purposes. Each of the athenaeums had carved out their own […]