David Michael Williams's Blog: One Million Words (or less), page 4

Storytelling comes full circle

Being an author isn’t all fun and games—but it sure has its moments.

Last month I had the privilege of presenting in front of a few 7th- and 8th-grade classes at St. Mary’s Springs Academy. While prepping for my spiel, which explained how a guy who didn’t read much as a kid ended up becoming an author, I dug into the roots of my storytelling tendencies.

Which means I had to admit that I was a nerd who played with LEGOs through high school.

Long story short, I don’t think I’d be the writer I am today if I hadn’t bought my first Dragonlance book as a sophomore (see also “Battling genre bias with the magic of an open mind”) and if I hadn’t already been such a big fan of LEGO, which allowed me to perform my medieval fantasy worldbuilding in the real world.

Thanks to those plastic castles, customizable minifigs, and plenty of time for playacting, I sculpted epic settings, compelling characters, and thrilling battles inspired by the sword-and-sorcery stories I was devouring each day. A fair number of those early explorations survived decades and many edits to appear in The Renegade Chronicles. Even after all these years, I can’t help but envision the LEGO representations of Klye Tristan and his motley band of rebels when I reread those books.

As a tribute to the analog origins of my storytelling, I even created a few minifigs of characters from my second series, The Soul Sleep Cycle (see also “Storytelling can take many forms”). I recently did the same thing for the protagonists of The Lost Tale of Sir Larpsalot, but not solely for nostalgia’s sake.

No, I actually had a practical purpose this time: playtesting!

During The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd’s playtesting phase, I’m simultaneously running the adventure for two separate groups—one comprised of family members and another for family friends. If time permits, I’d love to do a third run with additional friends.

Going into playtesting, I had almost everything ready to go, including all encounter details, character stats, spell mechanics, and maps. However, none of those would do me much good without figurines to represent the player characters (PCs) and nonplayer characters (NPC), which includes potential allies, enemies, and other supporting cast members.

Many dungeon masters (DMs)—or game masters (GMs), if you prefer—use small plastic minis especially designed and themed for tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). You can even create your own customized minis thanks to websites like HeroForge.com. However, the cost adds up quickly, and because I loathe painting, the price tag would’ve been even higher for pre-painted options.

Fortunately, I had a much easier and cheaper (and retro) solution at hand, and so I dug out my old tub of LEGO minifigure pieces and got to work!

Granted, TTRPG minis need only roughly represent reality, so I probably didn’t need to spend four hours making my minis look as cool as I could with the parts at hand (which included actual hands). But it sure was fun. Here’s the lineup of heroes:

Imagine these adventurers walking toward the camera in slow motion. From left: Sir Lady Larpsalot; Elvish Presley; Brutus the Bullheaded (can you believe I don’t own a minotaur head?); Master Prospero; Tom Foolery; and Edgelord Grimdark, the newest member of Good Company.

Playtesting has been a lot of fun too, though I shouldn’t be surprised. “Play” is in the name, after all. And while tabletop gaming isn’t precisely the same as my pre-writing playacting with plastic figures, I suppose both are forms of interactive storytelling.

Add to everything the fact that those old Dragonlance books were based on Dungeons & Dragons games—the granddaddy of all TTRPGs—and I can’t help but feel that my fiction has truly come full circle in the best possible way.

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Pondering a plethora of possibilities for 2022

Business planning and New Year’s resolutions have a lot in common.

You look back at what you’ve accomplished over the past year and try to envision a better tomorrow. How can I improve? What are my goals? How will I be spending my time in 2022?

That last question fills me with excitement and, if I’m honest, some exhaustion. I tend to push myself pretty hard on the fiction front, and as mentioned last month (Even fantasy needs a reality check), I have more ideas than time.

At the same time, I know I’m going to be working on The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd, my first tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG), for many months yet. So creating a production plan for 2022 is relatively straightforward—at least for the first half of the year.

But what about Q3 and Q4 2022?

Confession: I don’t know.

What I do know is I have a no shortage of options. Here’s a snapshot of my Project Pool:

Barking up the Wrong Tree

Ideas come and go. The ones that excite me get added to the list of possibilities, but deep down I realize I’ll likely never invest the time, money, and energy into bringing them into existence, such as:

“Changelings” — I attempted to write this standalone novel about faerie-blooded people who have to save two worlds back in 2020 but abandoned the project when I couldn’t compose a compelling outline.“Genre Wars” — This card game would capitalize on popular tropes from established book, television, and film genres (such as fantasy, sci-fi, Westerns, romance, paranormal, and more), forcing players to craft a crazy narrative to reach their happy ending.“If Souls Can Sleep: The Movie” — Writing a script based on my novel of the same name could possibly be the first step in bringing The Soul Sleep Cycle to the big screen—but I’d have to learn how to write a screenplay first!The Underdogs

Sometimes the safest ideas aren’t the most appealing. Repurposing content could bring in more revenue, but when push comes to “love,” my passion pushes me toward creating new stories—which is why these not-so-hot dogs have been relegated to the back burner.

Audiobooks — I’d love to offer audiobook editions of all my novels and have flirted with narrating and producing The Lost Tale of Sir Larpsalot on my own, but the temporal and financial demands outweigh the potential joy of such a journey.Collections and compendiums — Back when I published The Renegade Chronicles , I released a three-in-one e-book collection of the entire trilogy plus some extra goodies. I could easily see myself doing the same with The Soul Sleep Cycle and/or producing a companion resource for digging into the “science” of the phenomena detailed throughout the series, though none of that would truly challenge me creatively.More TTRPGs — As much as I’d like to create a D&D-compatible module set in world of The Renegade Chronicles and Magic’s Daughter or transform one of my preexisting homebrew adventures into a purchasable format or even explore my latest vision—a one-shot called Trapped in the Tavern—I know I’ll need a break from game writing after The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd goes to market.Leaders of the Pack

Starting a completely new piece of fiction can be incredibly time-consuming, and I strongly suspect that once I’m done with my debut TTRPG, I’ll want something a bit more bite-sized than any of these contenders—which is not to say they won’t rise to the top in 2023.

Short story spinoffs — While I have thoughts for a book that follow Nic and Bettie from “The Fix” and a so-called utopian sci-fi saga starring Miranda from “Anthropology in Apogee,” it seems unlikely I’ll revisit these characters before the year’s end.“Curmudgeons & Flagons: The Card Game” — I’m not sure why the idea for card games keep popping into my mind, but I may have already mapped out exactly this one would work. Alas, while I have the tools to make this, I suspect I’ll be craving a more traditional means of storytelling later this year.“The D-Team” — What happens when Earth’s most capable superheroes mysteriously disappear, leaving only those possessing paltry superpowers to pick up the slack? This novel will answer that question—just not in 2022 probably.Glory Hounds

Returning to an already-started series seems the most prudent path forward, as far as efficiency is concerned. Anyway, it would give me an excuse to revisit my old fictional friends and reward loyal readers with the next installments of their adventures. Among the contenders vying for alpha dog are as follows:

Magic’s Disciples — This sequel to Magic’s Daughter follows Selena Nelesti on her quest to make a difference in the world, picks up two new spellcasting protagonists, and takes all three to setting very familiar to fans of The Renegade Chronicles. Tales of Altaerra: Lost Lore — Speaking of The Renegade Chronicles, it might be fun to take a peek at what happens in Port Town after Klye and his rebels fled or what the Renegade Leader from “Reputation” does after learning of the true threat to the island or even where a couple of pirates end up following the climax of the trilogy. This short-story collection could bridge the gap between my first sword-and-sorcery trilogy and the next.The Soul Sleep Cycle, Vol. 4 — A new generation of dream drifters, including Daniel’s daughter, must decide how best to use their gift to defend not only the dreamscape, but also the waking world from a new mind-bending threat.

Naturally, I also have ideas for a second Sir Larpsalot book, and I’m tempted to publish the first volume of Curmudgeons & Flagons webcomics in paperback—and/or dive into Volume 2.

It seems “The End” is never the end.

Best in Show

So there you have it, a fairly comprehensive collection of projects vying for my attention. While I’m leaning toward pursuing a new novel set in Altaerra today, that could easily change between now and this summer. I might end up exploring a fresh cast of characters or sidestep novels altogether and finally dive into my first video game.

Or something completely different.

Rather than commit to what comes next, I’m going to embrace the uncertainty and try out a new resolution: enjoy the project currently on my plate and take comfort that when the time comes to move on, I’ll be in a better place to decide what comes next.

Here’s to a productive—and fulfilling—2022!

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Even fantasy needs a reality check

Arctic weather aside, I love winter.

As the days grow shorter and the remaining weeks of 2021 dwindle, I find myself imagining all of the cool stuff I’m gonna do in 2022.

Ever since I started One Million Words, my indie publishing company, I’ve tried to treat my fiction endeavors as a true-blue business. That includes examining my accomplishments from the prior year and planning the next 365 days.

But while I consider myself a realist, I inevitably overbook myself.

2021 — My Best Intentions

A year ago, I came up with the following battleplan for projects in 2021:

Write, illustrate, and publish the Curmudgeons & Flagons webcomic weekly.Plan, produce, playtest, and publish a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) starring the heroes of The Lost Tale of Sir Larpsalot.Narrate, produce, and publish an audiobook version of The Lost Tale of Sir Larpsalot.Gather feedback, make edits, and publish Ghost Mode & Other Strange Stories.Begin planning for an untitled videogame.Continue to write and publish a blog post and distribute a newsletter monthly.

I even included a couple of stretch goals:

Complete freelance editing projects for Goodman Games.Design and sell Curmudgeons & Flagons apparel/products at Café Press.2021 — The Reality

Here’s how Plan A shook out:

Write, illustrate, and publish the Curmudgeons & Flagons webcomic weekly.Success! A new installment has been released every Friday in 2021, and Issue 53, the final entry of Vol. 1, is already uploaded for Dec. 31.Plan, produce, playtest, and publish a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) starring the heroes of The Lost Tale of Sir Larpsalot.I’m 2 out of 4 on this one: the planning and production of The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd has stretched throughout the year, but playtesting won’t begin until early 2022, with publication slated for several months after that.Narrate, produce, and publish an audiobook version of The Lost Tale of Sir Larpsalot .I abandoned this notion very early in the year because anticipated sales didn’t justify the huge time commitment for recording and editing.Gather feedback, make edits, and publish Ghost Mode & Other Strange Stories .Success! The short story collection was released as a paperback and e-book in June.Begin planning for an untitled videogame.Alas, no.Continue to write and publish a blog post and distribute a newsletter monthly.Success (as of today)!

What about the stretch goals?

Complete freelance editing projects for Goodman Games.Success! In addition to editing hundreds of monsters for the upcoming Dungeon Denizens sourcebook, I had the pleasure of proofing a short adventure, some articles for their annual yearbook, and the designer diaries for the much-anticipated rerelease of Crypt of the Devil Lich—with more freelance work on the horizon.Design and sell Curmudgeons & Flagons apparel/products at Café Press.Nuh-uh.What went wrong right?

It would be easy to lament all of the projects that fell by the wayside, and honestly, a part of me does. But the reality is I have more ideas and ambition than hours in the day—or days in the year, for that matter.

Moreover, when it comes to combat between quantity and quality, I’ll side with the latter every time.

A bigger issue, perhaps, is the inherent difficulty in estimating how long a new task is going to take. I’ve gotten pretty good at predicting how much time it will take to write, revise, edit, lay out, and publish a novel. But when it comes to pioneering new forms of storytelling—from audiobooks to webcomics to video games—I don’t know what I don’t know.

Yes, I’ve become quite enthusiastic about experimentation in recent years. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have pumped 200-plus hours into creating my first TTRPG, which has forced me to extend far beyond my prior comfort zone in terms of honing my technical-writing skills, researching publishing platforms, sampling and subscribing to a mapmaking software platform, enlisting playtesters, hiring freelance illustrators, and so forth.

Truth be told, The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd has proven to be more time-consuming than I imagined. Fortunately, it’s also a lot of fun to work on!

So while I’d love to have recorded an audiobook edition of The Lost Tale of Sir Larpsalot or to begin digging into a digital format for interactive storytelling (i.e. a videogame), I can’t be too disappointed by my progress in 2021. After all, I also squeezed in a few extra activities beyond what is outlined above, including writing and submitting a short story (“Darlings”) to an upcoming dreampunk anthology and participating in a mix of in-person and virtual events.

All in all, I’m pleased with the pace of my production in 2021. Of course, I already have big plans for 2022. More on that next month…

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NPC Sneak Peek: River Eagle

Illustration by Carley Knoll, aka The General

Ally or enemy—your decisions will define her role.

In between editing text, rallying playtesters, and making maps for my tabletop RPG, The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd, I’m working with illustrators to bring my heroes, monsters, and other nonplayer characters (NPCs) to life.

So while much work still lies ahead, I’m thrilled to introduce this ferocious “feral elf.”

River Eagle represents one of three factions with whom Good Company (you and your band of adventurers) can form an alliance. Players will encounter the stoic archer early in their quest. Depending on your actions, you might find her fighting by your side—or across from you on the battlefield!

Enjoy this excerpt from my first draft:

A long-legged elf in simple leathers sits, arms-crossed, by herself at one of the tables. She clutches a tankard but doesn’t drink. Her narrowed eyes watch everything around her—watch you. Green and brown warpaint covers her face, and a pair of feathery tattoos drape down her bare arms like wings.

Her lips twitch, but don’t actually smile, as you approach. She stands and says, “Good Company, yes? I am River Eagle, and I represent the elves of the Untamed North.”

You can meet River Eagle and her rivals—Gildbert G. Goldbottom of the Civilized South and Noh-Wei of the Disorient—when The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd is released in the summer of 2022. Meanwhile, you can contact me if you’re interested in playtesting the game as a GM.

Onward to glory!

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A first glimpse at The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd

I have crossed the Forbidden Frontier, breached the Desolation, and faced the vile abomination lurking within—and you can too!

Next year.

Several months ago, I announced my plans to produce a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) starring the fantasy heroes from my novel The Lost Tale of Sir Larpsalot. Back then, I shared a smattering of preliminary details about the project. I have a lot more to share today.

Like any tool, information can be helpful, harmful, or just confusing. You can use the chart below to discover news that may help you on your way. Roll a d10 to choose one randomly or, better yet, just read ’em all in order.

d10Tidbit1Henceforth, my TTRPG will be called The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd.2As the name probably suggests, the game is a lighthearted and sometimes irreverent tribute to traditional sword-and-sorcery adventures.3While it adheres to Dungeons & Dragons’ fifth-edition rules, I’m taking steps to streamline the game to accommodate new and/or rusty players and first-time gamemasters (GMs), including younger gamers.4Players can choose one of the original five heroes of Good Company—Sir Larpsalot, Elvish Presley, Brutus the Bullheaded, Master Prospero, and Tom Foolery—or a new companion: the broody Lord Grimdark.5The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd is designed to be scalable. One to six players (and a GM) can tackle the adventure, and thanks to an optional “Session Zero” segment and supplementary random encounters, players can complete the game in as few as three or as many as six sessions.6The three-act adventure encourages multiple playthroughs, allowing gamers the opportunity to play as different heroes, choose different allies, and encounter new enemies.7Although the GM will still need to know the basics of 5E D&D, I’m doing everything I can to make The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd self-contained by including all pertinent information about the characters, cultures, original monsters, puzzles, unique spells (including Torchnado!), and quirky treasures strewn throughout the quest.8The story itself focuses on three factions vying for territory in a region that was once cursed (and likely still is). Good Company’s path forward ultimately depends on which nation the heroes support.9To accommodate a variety of player preferences, three types of challenges are emphasized throughout the game: combat, puzzle solving, and diplomacy. Each hero is better suited for some challenges than others.10If all goes according to plan, The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd will be available in mid-2022 as a digital download or as a hardcopy—maybe even in hardcover.

Having recently completed the first draft last month (YAY!), I’m extremely excited about how the game is shaping up. There is still plenty of work ahead, but in the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at a location encountered early in the game.

The Winking Cyclops

The Winking Cyclops has rustic charm to spare. A sign that bears the inn’s name in Common as well as a poorly sketched visage of the titular creature welcomes guests, as does the proprietress, who seems to stand behind the bar morning, noon, and night. The common room is comprised of well-worn tables and chairs, where patrons can enjoy stale beer or moonshine and wash it down with some stew. A crust of hard bread costs extra. Several closet-sized rooms on the second floor are available for rent.

Of course, an adventure doesn’t have to start at a tavern. It’s just good form. Besides, what better place to hold peace talks than the common room of the finest/only inn the Forbidden Frontier has to offer?

I’m looking forward to sharing more about The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd, so stay tuned for additional teasers in the months to come!

Oh, and please contact me if you’re interested in being a play tester!

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Ghost Mode free through 9/17/21

Can you believe it’s already the fifth-annual Reader Appreciation Day?

Because I said so, September 13 is a day to thank the family, friends, and fans that support my fiction-writing endeavors. Also because I said so, the Kindle version of Ghost Mode & Other Strange Stories will be free for the next five days.

Rather than belabor the point—and to give you more time to read the short stories—I’ll just drop the link here. Enjoy!

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The thrill of tackling a new title

It took me some time to start calling myself a writer and even longer to embrace being an author.

But I’m going to claim this right now: I’m also a cartoonist.

Back Issues

The title might not mean much to some, but it certainly makes me smile. Like most kids, I cycled through a few when-I-grow-up careers. Along with comedian and detective, cartoonist ranked among my first professional aspirations.

I loved to doodle. Just ask my grade-school teachers, who were treated to bizarrely illustrated borders on my assignments. I also possessed a respectable sense of humor (see also “comedian” above) and harbor fond memories of ripping open the Sunday paper to find Calvin & Hobbes and The Far Side in the funnies.

Years later, I got hooked on comic books that contained more heroics than humor, which redoubled my interest in pursuing this visual medium. I even tried drawing my own once. It was awful.

Even though I continued to sketch my heroes and villains throughout high school, I never transitioned into a serious artist. I quickly decided that I could better capture my characters and their stories with the written word. After that, my creative time was dedicated to worldbuilding, dabbling with fiction, and finally, writing novels.

In recent years, creating a comic book crawled its way up my bucket list. I almost made one with some friends, but the project fizzled, and the Sir Larpsalot one-shot became a full-fledged novel instead.

Then, at some point in 2020, I got it in my head that pursuing a digital-only, pixel-art comic could be both fun and feasible despite my meager art skills.

Infinite Canvas

Only after publishing 32 issues of Curmudgeons & Flagons did it dawn on me that I’ve come full circle back to cartoonist.

For those not in the know, Curmudgeons & Flagons is a humorous commentary on Dungeons & Dragons, RPG video games, and getting older. Osmund the Oak, Sister Sidra, Kaf’ael, and Ronnie while away their retirement at an inn, drinking, reliving their glory days, and questioning the changing world around them.

It’s essentially a free five-panel comic, and while each issue builds on the next to a small degree, it’s mostly episodic—just like so many of those old newspaper comics. Curmudgeons & Flagons even comes out once a week, though on Fridays, not Sundays.

While I can’t say for certain where Curmudgeons & Flagons will end up, I am committed to concluding Volume 1 at Issue 53 on Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. Whether I return for Volume 2 depends largely on readership: if enough people click each week, I might be motivated to keep going.

Truth be told, I’d love to transition from self-contained episodes to an epic serial that sees the former adventurers leave the inn to face an adversary both new and old—which, in fact, was my original idea for the comic—though that would require me to make many new art assets, an investment to be sure. And since creating a video game is also on my bucket list, one wonders how difficult it would be to transform Curmudgeons & Flagons into an old-school, turn-based RPG.

If nothing else, I’m sorely tempted to design a Curmudgeons & Flagons T-shirt so that I can keep the Bright Warriors close for years to come.

Circulation

Regardless of whether Curmudgeons & Flagons continues as a free webcomic, the title evolves into something more, or I find my way into a collaboration for a full-blown comic book, I’ve had so much fun exploring this storytelling medium.

Creating the art itself simultaneously stimulates the left and right sides of my brain, and the sprites (disclaimer: any video game sprites) never fail to make my heart happy. It’s also a boon to be able to publish something new every week, instead of a novel once or twice a year!

The tabletop roleplaying game I alluded to last month, tentatively titled The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd, will take at least another year to finish. In the meantime, I’m delighted to share a few more drinks with the Bright Warriors.

Why not pull up a chair?

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Let the games begin!

Publishing a book triggers a twofold celebration for me: I can finally share my work with the world, and I’m able to jump wholeheartedly into a new project.

With Ghost Mode & Other Strange Stories now available on Amazon, I’ve already turned my attention to the next book. And while there are no shortage of sequels I could pen or other original stories clamoring for my attention, I’ve decided to step away from traditional storytelling for a while.

Instead, I’m going to try my hand at interactive fiction—specifically, a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) set in the parodical fantasy world of Mezzo-Earth, featured in The Lost Tale of Sir Larpsalot (LToSL).

Make an insight check

If this sounds familiar, I admit I teased something similar for Altaerra, the world of The Renegade Chronicles and Magic’s Daughter, a couple of years ago (“Renegade Chronicles coming to tabletop RPGs”). But whereas that blog post was an April Fools’ prank, I am truly committed to the Larpsalot TTRPG.

As a matter of fact, after making the aforementioned joke, I did spend some time exploring the possibility of creating an Altaerra-based adventure—maybe a campaign set in Port Town that runs parallel to the Renegades’ escapades or a quest in Western Capricon that shows what happens after Klye et al. leave.

I ultimately elected not pursue it for the following reasons:

Altaerra is big, so creating a module that taps into so much lore—and deciding what makes the cut and what doesn’t—is a daunting proposition.While Altaerra is big, the island province of Capricon isn’t particularly diverse as far as creatures go. I worried about a lack of variety in battles and other encounters.The Renegade Chronicles sets many significant events in stone, so tying a campaign to that time and setting is limiting in other ways, too.

Better to start to start with something smaller in scope, like The Lost Tale of Sir Larpsalot—which is not to say I won’t revisit the possibility of producing an Altaerra TTRPG in the future.

Roll for initiative

Before I go into specifics about the LToSL TTRPG, you might be wondering why this novelist is even interested in writing a game.

As alluded to in a past blog post (“A fantasy author’s approach to D&D”), I was interested in playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) at a young age but settled for reading the shared-world fiction that surrounded settings like Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms. In recent years, however, I’ve played and even led a number of tabletop adventures. To make a long tale short, D&D has become a favorite pastime of mine.

I also have had the pleasure of working on a project with Goodman Games, a purveyor of high-quality TTRPGs, earlier this year. I’ll be sharing more about endeavor that in a future post, but suffice it to say, the experience provided an excellent excuse to dive into the game mechanics of fifth-edition D&D. Moreover, I’ve had “Make a Video Game” on my bucket list for a long time, and producing a tabletop game seems a smart way to earn experience and learn more about interactive fiction as a whole.

Most importantly, I believe a playable adventure that explores the pun-riddled realm of Mezzo-Earth will yield a hoard of fun.

Make an investigation check

Even though I’m still early in the planning of this project, here are a few details I can share:

The as-of-yet unnamed Sir Larpsalot TTRPG will be published in print and digital formats and will likely be distributed via drivethrurpg.com.The game will largely adhere to D&D 5E rules.My best guess is that the campaign will take two or three sessions to complete, but my goal is to write it in such a way that multiple playthroughs are not only possible, but rewarding.Because I’m gearing this adventure to both avid tabletop gamers and younger/inexperienced players, I’ll be including six pre-rolled characters—the original heroes of Good Company plus a new (secret) character.The game will feature original classes, spells, and magical items.Plan A—no, not Brutus’s battleaxe—has me working on the writing and commissioning the art throughout 2021, with the hopes of making the game available for playtesting in early 2022. That means the game won’t be available to the public until mid-2022 at the earliest.

Contact me if you are interested in being a playtester!

Roll with advantage

As that final bullet illustrates, the LToSL TTRPG will keep me quite busy for the next year. Of course, I have a smattering of other projects to be interspersed throughout that period, including polishing a short story for an upcoming anthology, hopefully editing more Goodman Games products, and publishing my weekly webcomic Curmudgeons & Flagons.

However, I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves, roll some dice, and eventually roll out my first true work of interactive fiction.

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Embrace the weird with Ghost Mode

Ghost Mode & Other Strange Stories is now available in paperback and e-book at Amazon.com!

All 13 stories are self-contained and stand on their own, with several of them tying into prior works of fiction, including The Renegade Chronicles, The Soul Sleep Cycle, and The Lost Tale of Sir Larpsalot.

Fans of the bold, the broken, the bizarre—what are you waiting for?

Uncommon Denominators

A hacker-for-hire who blurs the line between hero and villain…

A guardian angel struggling with a deceptively simple assignment…

A cunning grifter whose easy mark is much more than she seems…

Encompassing a diverse array of speculative fiction—including sci-fi, fantasy, dreampunk, and paranormal—this collection of short stories celebrates the supernatural while exploring exactly what it means to be human.

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A teaser to tempt fans of strange stories

Anybody up for a free fairy tale?

To build some excitement for my upcoming short story collection, I’m publishing one of the adventures that just missed out on being included with the Chosen 13.

Think of it as a B-side for Ghost Mode & Other Strange Stories.

Hopefully, “Dead Magic” will not only satisfy your craving for supernatural fiction, but also whet your appetite for more next month!

Image credit: DianeFeeley, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RavensdalePark_FairyFort_srgb.jpg

Dead Magic

© 2021 One Million Words

Plenty of stories have been penned about what happens when the World of Faerie overlaps with the World of Man.

You may know them as fairy tales, but the fay affix a different name to them: mortal lays. The double entendre is most certainly intended, since so many of these stories contain carnal interactions betwixt the two peoples. Most mortal lays position their fay heroes as cunning characters who outsmart the dull and greedy Children of Seth—while fairy tales, for their part, encompass everything from whimsical romances to dark yarns both cautionary and tragic.

Fairy tales are the farthest thing from Veda’s thoughts as she traverses a gloomy wood this fine autumn evening. She is a practical lady, as evidenced by her thick-soled boots, a faded yellow scarf wrapped about her neck, and the firearm at her hip. Her concerns center on more earthly threats, such as the wolves or drug-addled vagabonds rumored to haunt these acres of pine.

There is also a chance, however slim, that someone has followed her from the rustic village found on few maps, the one which rests just outside the ancient forest and where she parked her also-pragmatic pickup. She looks over her shoulder, but the halfmoon reveals neither shape nor shadow suggesting a pursuer. Though she carries a flashlight in the pack upon her back, she knows better than to waste time wresting it from the bundle.

One can never count on such contraptions in the Ringweald.

So Veda trudges forward, occasionally glancing down at the loadstone compass cupped in her finger-clipped gloves. With no man-made paths or even game trails to guide her, the simple device is her only means of reaching a destination that seems to settle in a different place each time she visits.

On the summer solstice, she had had to cross a stream whose still, stagnant waters showed a reflection with ominous disparities. Veda shudders at the memory of gazing upon her one-eyed twin with empty, bleeding socket. She is relieved when her next step takes her into a familiar clearing, though the circle of unevenly spaced stones makes her skin crawl just the same. For a moment, the thirty-eight rocks look to be perfectly round and of uniform size—all pristine models of the half-hidden moon above—but their mundane appearance returns just as quickly.

She pauses midway between the trees behind and the ring before her. While a part of her yearns for the euphoric effects that accompany a breech into the circle, she is also wary of losing any amount of clarity. Unconsciously, her bare fingertips graze the grip of her gun.

In the span of three deep breaths, the woman reminds herself that she has successfully negotiated this same situation twelve times before. Each encounter has proven easier than the last. And though she will never trust her contact completely, a mutual respect for their arrangement should ensure no harm befalls her this night.

Veda Shah closes her eyes, and while has never considered herself a remotely religious person, she mutters a prayer to Vishnu before stepping into the ring of stones and out of the English countryside.

*     *     *

Laughter, song, and the smell of flowers assail her senses. She keeps her eyes shut and focuses on the first lesson Lyr taught her: do not yield to the siren call during passage.

When at last the sounds of revelry fade, Veda looks around. The setting flickers between the ancient forest of back home and an expansive field spreading out from the hillock upon which she now stands. She grimaces against a surge of nausea, impatiently awaiting the reconciliation of Britain and Albion in her peripheral. Though she desires to keep watch for her fay counterpart, she is forced to look down at her feet as the scenery settles into a stationary blend of both worlds.

She waits for Lyr long enough to wonder what it would be like to step out of the circle in the midst of the tempest and during those moments when the horizon shows nothing but the faeries’ realm. Researching the possibilities in her own world proved limited at best. However, the direst scenario—becoming a captive of the fay and, ultimately, a depleted husk of a human—was enough to quash any wellsprings of curiosity and bravery alike.

Nestled firmly in the nexus between worlds, Veda taps her foot, crushing blades of bright green grass. The sky here is bright despite a conspicuous lack of sun. Conjecture and a fair number of stories suggest time works differently in the two realms. Yet Lyr has never been late before, not when the window of convergence is as limited as an hour during first- or third-quarter moons.

With the perfumed air cloying in her nostrils, she considers leaving. Instinct itches at the back of her mind, reminding her that she has survived this long in an admittedly dodgy lifestyle by not sticking around when situations sour. Her father had always told her to trust her gut and that no payout was worth risking her life.

Two steps backward, and she would find herself in the Ringweald once more.

Her pack feels twice as heavy, as though the merchandise inside is protesting the idea of making a return trip. Veda has no other buyer lined up. If she waits until the next opportunity to meet with Lyr, she will have to sit on the contraband for another month. Surely, she thinks, another few minutes can’t hurt.

Mid-yawn, she spies something moving in the distance. Even though she knows better than to try, she finds herself squinting at the traveler. No matter how hard she focuses, however, she sees naught but a vaguely human shape that she knows is not human at all. Not until her fay counterpart—her otherworldly business partner—breaches the stone circle will she see the elf’s grotesque countenance.

Her hand drops back to her hip when a creature much taller, masked, and not at all masculine enters the ring.

“Who the hell are you, then?” Veda demands. She does not draw her weapon, but neither does she loosen her grip. Her other hand tugs absently at the lucky yellow scarf.

Another shiver ravishes her as she stares into the empty eyeholes of a lupine mask. She looks away, suddenly reminded of the cycloptic vision of herself in the stream. Below the wolfish visage is an ethereal green gown that accentuates what curves it does not outright reveal. Were it not for the fear coursing through her veins, Veda might have found the faerie’s appearance arousing. Certainly, this lithe figure is far more alluring than Lyr’s hunched and shriveled form!

“You may call me Posey.”

Veda wrenches her gaze back up to the mask. Long golden tresses undulate in a wind the woman herself cannot feel. In other circumstances, she surely would have smirked at the irony of so pastoral a name being attached to so primal a personage.

“Where’s Lyr?” Veda’s question drips with suspicion.

The wolf mask cocks to one side before Posey answers, “I am afraid he will not be joining us tonight.”

Veda waits for the stranger to explain herself. When she does not, Veda says, “Me and Lyr have an arrangement. It’s just the two of us. That’s what keeps this thing we have profitable…and safe.”

Posey takes a step closer to Veda, leaving scarcely a yard between them. “My apologies for depriving you of Lyr’s company. Yet you would be naïve to believe your dealings with that wretched kobalt has ever been anything but perilous.”

Veda takes one step back. “What do you want?”

“I want what you and Lyr had…and more,” Posey says, unfolding her hands to gesture vaguely at the space around them. “Have you brought the munitions?”

Veda considers her options. Lyr is the only fay she has dealt with since stumbling upon the Ringweald folklore and then finding the elf stones on a drunken dare. He had not told her much about his kin—the relationship was strictly commercial—but she inferred, over the past year, that the fay arms dealer was supplying one faerie faction over the other.

She has no way of knowing whether Posey is a customer who decided to cut out the middleman, so to speak, or an agent of his enemy looking to capitalize on Lyr’s foreign connection. Her thoughts racing, Veda decides on the spot that she does not care about Posey’s faction or even the fate of gnarled, misshapen Lyr.

As long as Posey can make the payment, the weapons will be hers.

“Right. Let me show you what I’ve brought.”

Veda shrugs off her pack, unzips the bag, and removes three handguns and several boxes of ammunition. She arranges the goods on the ground between them because Lyr always refused to touch them, insisting that she put them into his sack after appraising the delivery. The surviving legends speak truthfully on at least one aspect of the fay: they cannot abide iron, including that which is rendered into stainless steel.

Posey regards the weapons wordlessly. Before Veda can react, the faerie lowers herself to her knees and picks up one of the pistols. Her pale arm jerks, and her delicate fingers tremble. Veda expects her to drop the piece. Instead Posey studies the gun for a few seconds before producing a deep pouch from somewhere beneath her gown.

As Posey drops the first weapon into the sack, Veda says, “Wotcher! We ought to discuss what you bring to the trade before you begin packing up, yeah?”

Only after she finishes packing up does Posey deign to reply. Standing tall once more, the fay reaches a hand behind her back. Veda holds her breath, ready to draw and fire. She lets out a silent sigh when Posey opens her grasp to reveal a roughly hewn chunk of gold.

Veda hesitates.

“I assure you it is real,” Posey says, amusement rich in her dulcet voice. “You will not find a heel of bread in its place on the morrow.”

But Veda cannot bring herself to take the gold. “Ol’ Lyr offered me plenty of dosh, and I even took a few old coins when he was skint. Terribly hard to move on my side, though. The last bloke thought I nicked them from a museum. That’s why I now insist on items of a more unique nature from your land.”

The hollow eyes of the wolf bore into Veda.

“Magic stuff,” she explains. “They’re just trinkets on your side, eh? But back in Britain, they’re bloody priceless.”

The mask tilts upward, which Veda interprets as a sign the fay is lost in thought. Finally, Posey says, “Your terms are fair. I can secure some vestiges of my people…but only if you can procure much more of your dead magic.”

Veda recalls Lyr using that phrase once or twice. The best she has been able to deduce is that “dead magic” means technology. She cannot know how most faeries detest the Children of Seth’s soulless science or that they see it as the antithesis of their own natural and spiritual enchantments.

Indeed, dead magic is another instance of fay wordplay: not only is the source of the power lifeless, but the results unerringly lead to destruction and death.

Veda frowns and ignores her stomach’s lurching as she meets the empty stare of the mask. “More is something of a problem, actually. Small quantities is how I’m able to stay off the radar of the local constabulary, if you catch my meaning.”

The statuesque fay regards her silently.

“What I’m saying is,” Veda continues, “I don’t really have access to more guns.”

“What about larger weapons? Mortal lays from the past century speak of cannons that contain the power of a hailstorm and orbs that burst into plumes of fire and deadly steel thorns when thrown.”

Veda laughs in spite of herself. “I can’t get you machine guns and grenades. This isn’t the States, mate!”

The temperature within the circle plummets, wreathing Veda in a cocoon colder than the autumn night she left behind.

“Then you will find me a human who can,” Posey says softly.

“No. I won’t.” Veda scowls at the masked faerie. “You haven’t been listening. The reason this arrangement between Lyr and me worked so well is we kept it small. Can’t say I’m thrilled you’ve been brought into it, and I’m sure as shite not gonna bring a Yank into this madness.”

The sound behind Posey’s mask sounds like a hum at first, but as it grows louder, Veda knows it for the laugh it is. “And do you fancy yourself the only Child of Seth who can follow a compass? Alas, you are all replaceable.”

Veda raises her gun and aims at the wolf mask. “I’m definitely missing Lyr right about now. At least he was only ugly on the outside.”

“Put that away.”

The words flow from behind the mask. However, Veda hears two distinct voices—perhaps even three. She obeys, but before she can holster the weapon, she understands what is happening. Fighting the invisible hand of the glamor, Veda fights to bring the weapon back up, inch by inch.

“You will not shoot me,” says the elf or an angel or a legion of demons.

Veda tries to squeeze the trigger, but her finger refuses to cooperate. Her entire body quakes, and she knows the tightness in her muscles and the protesting pain in her skull will vanish the moment she stands down.

But she will not.

“No,” Veda spits. “I have protection from your charms…this scarf…”

Posey leans forward to study the old cloth wound around her neck. “Is worthless,” she finishes.

Veda swallows bitterness and bile while struggling to keep the gun level with her foe.

“Oh, did that ebon toad tell you it was enchanted?” the fay mocks. “Did he tell you it was a remnant of Titania’s mantle or some such fantasy? Hear me well, human, for all her faults, the Faerie Queen would not use that rag for a bog roll!”

Sweat drips down from Veda’s brow, stinging one of her eyes. Unable to endure the agony of defiance for a moment longer, she lowers her aim. The scream of frustration that escapes her lips sounds more bestial than human.

“Do you now comprehend your place…your inferiority?” Posey asks. “Truth to tell, I am amazed your kind has not yet learned the simplest of morals among my kind.”

Posey leans forward again, the lupine snout mere inches from Veda’s nose.

“Never, ever trust a member of the Unseelie Court!”

The sudden surge of anger in Veda’s breast is echoed by an intense heat around her throat. The faded yellow scarf shimmers brightly before disintegrating. Posey recoils, growling low behind her mask.

This time, Veda does not hesitate. She raises her gun and fires.

*     *     *

Veda Shah gasps for breath in the darkness.

Between the sudden shock of chilly nightfall and the searing burn on one side of her face, she cannot make sense of where she is and what has happened. Something pulls on her leg. Veda jerks back, losing her boot but freeing her foot from the circle of stones.

She desperately backpedals away from the seemingly empty portal, practically crab-walking across the glade until her shoulder strikes a tree. All the while, she stares at the ring, waiting for the wolf-masked elf to emerge.

Her gun is gone, and she knows with all certainty that if Posey pursues her, she will die tonight.

Watching the ring with one eye—for the other side of her face is covered in blood—Veda strains to recall her final moments with the fay. A jolt of joy shoots through her when she realizes the scarf freed her from Posey’s glamor. Any guilt over her unkind thoughts toward Lyr are washed away, however, when she understands what happened next.

Her aim had been true. By some miracle, the bullet penetrated the eyehole of the mask—except some spell had repelled the attack, redirecting the projectile back at its owner. Numb, trembling fingers reach up to the side of her face and explore the same empty eye socket she had glimpsed in the stream on the solstice.

Veda allows herself one whimper before dragging herself to her feet. Her run through the ancient wood will not be remembered. By the time she reaches the nameless village and raids the first-aid kit in her pickup, she has moved on from cursing her stupidity to thanking all the gods she is still alive.

Yet whether this fairy tale proves to be merely a cautionary tale or a truly tragic one remains to be seen, since any fay of worth can track a human if possessed of a single belonging. Even a solitary boot.

Ready for more?

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