Archive | February 11, 2015

Lost Collar, a ficlet of fae apoc

Content warning: violence.

The muggers had taken almost everything off of Westcott – his phone, all his cash, the one credit card he carried, his rings, his diamond earrings, his coat, even his shoes. They’d left him for dead, or at least for hypothermia, beaten half into unconsciousness in a back alley.

He wouldn’t have fought them over the earring, or even the shoes or the phone. but they’d taken his collar, the collar his Lady had locked around his neck. They’d taken bolt cutters to it, laughing the whole time.

Westcott thought about dying. Then he remembered he had orders against that. He thought about staying in the alley until it wasn’t a choice, and remembered he needed to be home by midnight. He thought about tracking the muggers down and killing them… and had no orders against that, but no way to do it, either.

In the end, Westcott found his feet and began to limp home. His neck felt naked, more bare than his feet did. He felt incomplete; he felt wrong.

The hooker accosted him when he was halfway to the bus stop. “Hey, kid. Spare a light?”

He shouldn’t, but the energy for the Kwxe Working was easy, and he cupped his hands to hide the lack of lighter. “It’s going to get colder. You should be inside.”

“You offering, kiddo?”

“I don’t even have bus fare.” It hit him them. “Shit, I don’t even have bus fare.”

“You look like you got it bad.” She probably wasn’t older than Westcott; she probably wasn’t even older than the face he was wearing. But she looked worn thin already. “Here, buck fifty, right?” She dug change out of the pocket of her miniskirt. “Next time you’re around, remember me, all right?”

His collar was still missing, his neck was still bare. But Westcott managed a smile. “I can do that. Thanks.” There would be another collar. And, if he was lucky, his Lady would help him find the fiends who had taken it. “Thanks a lot.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/896875.html. You can comment here or there.

On Crows and Crow Cages

Crows, the email from April said. Just crows. An anthology of crows.

Ideas started flitting through my head. The Crow (the movies(s), the comics…). No. Crow Change. Neat… but not a story. Crow Therian. Snow White with crows instead of bluebirds. The corvids in the field outside my house. Crows.

Crows, it said, and I started thinking. I knew I didn’t want to do another Fae apoc, not yet. I was pretty sure I wanted to use an urban fantasy setting I’d been bouncing around in my head, one set on a university campus much like the one where I spent most of my twenties (I had a protracted early-adulthood, okay?) And, obvious, it needed to involve crows.

And then my husband, brainstorming over croissant french toast stuffed with strawberries (we have the best diner) mentioned demons.

And Crow Cage was born.

I’ve worked with April before – on What Follows, where my Fae Apoc story Monster Godmother is published. I’m excited to be working with her again on Mobbing Midnight, and I’m excited to be working again with such a wonderful selection of writers.

Go check it out! Every little bit gets us closer to our goal. Annnd… if you you haven’t bought What Follows yet, check out the $20 and higher levels – you can kill two birds with one stone!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/896722.html. You can comment here or there.

Climbing imaginary hills whilst writing imaginary worlds (blog post)

I’ve been watching HaikuJaguar‘s talk of her walking desk with quite a bit of interest. I have a desk job, a desk second-job (writing), and, in the winter especially, sedentary hobbies (reading, TV).

Space & money constraints mean such a thing isn’t in the cards for me right now. But I have this lovely tablet I bought for myself for Black Friday (Samsung Galaxy 4.0 Nook) and this lovely keyboard for said table my parents bought me for Christmas….

…and it works. I wouldn’t want to try balancing anything bigger on the treadmill’s magazine rack, and it only works on two treadmills at my gym (one of which is out of order perpetually), but I got on the right treadmill yesterday and wrote 569 words in 30 minutes. Not my top rate, surely, on either writing or calorie burning. But fun!

It’s a case where multi-tasking actually does good. I like it. 🙂

Now if only I could write while I drove…

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/896343.html. You can comment here or there.