Tag Archives: fantasy

The Next Big Thing: My Turn

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And so I reach forth to summon my blog from the Beyond, where it has languished for too long in silent obscurity:

Earlier this month, the generally excellent Ellen Gregory tagged me in one of those blog things where people tag each other and stuff.  I had been searching through dusty tomes of arcane lore seeking powerful knowledge with which to resurrect my blog, but the tag thing promises to be much easier.

It’s called The Next Big Thing–a vehicle in which we are to answer ten questions regarding our current writing projects, such as…

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There’s Something a Myth: Psyche and Cupid

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image via SodaHead

Recently in my college English class, the instructor gave us an assignment: write an explanation of who Psyche is in mythology and turn it in for extra credit.  Since mythology and extra credit are like the chocolate and peanut butter of the academic world, I availed myself of the opportunity.

After surveying my handiwork, I realized the content would be a pretty good fit for this blog.  My current fiction projects draw inspiration from mythology in general–Chinese and Norse mythology in particular.  Exploring the timeless tales of heroes and gods seems like a good use of Writer Time™.

After all, what would these ancient stories be without the realms of perilous wonder in which they take place?

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Kung Fu Theater: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

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image via Wikipedia

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was an important achievement in Asian cinema.  Released in 2000, first in Hong Kong and Taiwan, then later in the Unites States, it became an unexpected international success, garnering critical acclaim and over 40 awards.

Although an international co-production, it introduced Chinese wuxia films to mainstream western audiences and allowed others, such as Hero and House of Flying Daggers, to reach theaters in the US.

It’s one of my favorite movies and a major influence on my work-in-progress, an eastern fantasy novel.

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The Lucky 7 Meme: My Turn

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My writer friend Lara Schiffbauer has tagged me for The Lucky 7 Meme.  Thanks, Lara!

These are the rules:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they’re written.
4. Tag 7 authors, and let them know.

So it appears the Lucky 7 Meme is somewhat like a zombie virus for writer-bloggers, except more fun and with less calling out for brains.

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The Valley of the Spring-Daughter

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When a brutal and unnatural winter threatens his people, a lone warrior braves a forbidden valley to uncover the nature of their curse.

image by KristerP

In late 2010 I entered a mythic fantasy piece in the 11th Annual Short Short Story Competition hosted by Writer’s Digest.  It wasn’t selected as a winner, but writing it spawned other ideas set in the same world, creating a side-project I sometimes work on when taking a break from my novel–an eastern fantasy project inspired by martial arts films.

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#amreading: Arena of Antares

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Currently I #amreading Arena of Antares, by Kenneth Bulmer writing as Alan Burt Akers.  It is book 7 in the Dray Prescot series, which first saw publication in 1972 and runs through 53 volumes, though the last several have only appeared in German.

Like the John Carter stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Dray Prescot series belongs to the “sword and planet” subgenre of science fiction and they are similar in many ways.  Inconceivable forces hurl a mighty Earthman to a new world more savage than the one of his birth, catapulting him into the middle of rugged adventure.  He hits things with swords, leaps from burning airships, arm-wrestles creatures who have more limbs than is proper, and resists the alluring charms of mysterious women–sometimes all at once.

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