And thus I have SO MUCH news!
(I may have been slightly busy. I write to you from York, where the dayjob has sent me for a conference; the dayjob has also recently sent me to Istanbul, Paris, and Munich, all since the last time I wrote, which was on my way to Armenia. In addition I have taken myself back to the US to go to many SFF cons and spend time with my girlfriend, and thus have become exceptionally well-acquainted with the Amtrak corridor.
“Fear Death By Water”, out today at Unlikely Story 12.5, the Journal of Unlikely Observances. In which I take a peculiar set of prompts (face-painting, water fights, inversion of power) and come up with … the death of Caesar, except with GIRLS in SPACE. Apologies due to both The Wasteland and the Georgics. Eheh.
Yllia imperator, first of her name, shoved face-down in the reflecting pool with a knee between her shoulderblades, the bright red curve of her murderer’s Judiciary cloak feathering through the water, as good as blood. Her hands scrabble at the tiles. Her mouth opens and her lungs flood. Marcalla, all her weight balanced on that knee, tosses her dripping hair out of her face and looks up at the starfield through the great quartz-glass windows of the Senatorial bridge. Every star she can see is within the scope of what Yllia controlled. Marcalla blinks tears out of her eyes while insisting the moisture to be pool-water. She is thinking two things at the same time.
First: the end of tyranny is the function of my office.
Second: oh I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry.
And from last month, a story I am incredibly proud of: “All The Colors You Thought Were Kings”, in Shimmer #31. I’ve talked about this story before — it was one of my VP application pieces, and it’s also been the source of a lot of my work on/about/with second person POV. Shimmer is the perfect home for it, and I am ecstatic to have it appear there.
Moonrise glitters dull on the sides of the ship that’ll take you away. She’s down by the water, her belly kissing the sand and her skinny landing-legs stuck out like a crab. You and Tamar watched her land, stayed up half the night like babies staring at their first meteor storm, peeking over the railings of Tamar’s balcony and marveling at how the falling star-glimmer lit up the lights under your skins like an echo. You two have been full up with starstuff for as long as you’ve been old enough to go outside the crèche by yourselves. Now you’re almost home.
and lots of reviews of interactive fiction at Spooky Action at a Distance!
And lastly, I will be at Readercon next weekend (July 7-10) and Worldcon in August, if you’re looking for me!
Both great stories – and both make me think of the Empire & Corporation panel at 4th Street.
Plus, playing with the Wasteland is always cool – I’m grabbing handfuls of Eliot myself at the moment, though for a roleplaying game, not a short story.