M.H. Thaung's Blog: Musings, page 12

Very short stories #1

Earlier this month, I started participating in a Twitter hashtag game called #vss365 – very short stories. Essentially, a prompt word is posted daily, and you write a tweet-sized story or poem using the prompt. It’s become quite addictive, both creating stories under a time/length constraint and seeing what other people come up with.

I figured I might as well repost my stories to this blog too. It gives me the opportunity to tidy them up a little, and maybe to add images or further thoughts....

Maldon Interview – Annetta the herbalist

Today we’re back in Maldon to interview Annetta Benedict. Annetta is a relatively new resident of the town. In fact, she only arrived here with the last convoy visit a few weeks ago. Annetta’s a herbalist. As you can imagine, herbalists are highly respected in the countryside, given the risk of accidents and lack of more advanced medical care.

[image error] Annetta doesn’t look like a bold explorer, yet she is one of the few people who have upped sticks and migrated

IC: Annetta, thanks for speaking with us...

Oh, yes it is! (Panto season again)

I’m not a regular patron of the performing arts, but we do attend occasional productions. Every year we enjoy the Christmas pantomime put on by the Charles Court Opera. The company specialise in opera, operetta and pantomime performed in small venues (hence “boutique”). Their Gilbert and Sullivan performances are a lot of fun (HMS Pinafore and The Mikado earlier this year) and their pantomimes are a real hoot.

For those of you who don’t know what a pantomime is, it’s… er… a peculiarly British...

Author interview – Dick Pyle, truffle entrepreneur

For this post, I’m delighted to chat with Dick Pyle about truffles. Yes, you heard that right. Truffles. And I do mean the distinctive culinary fungus that people either love or hate… or maybe can’t make up their minds about.

Dick has previously worked in a variety of fields (no pun intended), including as a restaurateur, chartered accountant and plant nurseryman. In 2002, he moved to Barran, in the South West of France. There, he established a truffière: an orchard of oak trees whose roots a...

Ascar Interview – Security Councillor Martek

Today we’re interviewing Devon Martek who is the Chief Security Councillor in Ascar. Councillor Martek has decades of experience working in the city. He started off as a city guard. He then became an administrator. Because of a facility with statistics and collating reports, he developed a reputation for spotting patterns.

 

[image error] I assure you this is not Councillor Martek’s usual appearance!

Here’s a picture of him rather disgruntledly modelling a prototype surveillance gadget. As far as we know,...

Review: Why Icebergs Float

In addition to reading (and writing) fiction, I spend a fair chunk of time reading (and yep, writing) non-fiction. Most of my non-fiction is work-related and very focussed on my specialist area. You can see my teaching blog if you’re curious about that.

But sometimes it’s fun and educational to read more widely. A couple of years ago, I was delighted to see UCL Press making PDFs of their academic books available for download free of charge. The books are also available for conventional puchas...

Review: Don Giovanni

As a change from worldbuilding posts and interviews with specialists, here’s a post about an opera I attended this weekend.

Mozart’s Don Giovanni was first performed at the Prague Estates Theatre in 1787. I’ve been to over a dozen live productions (including at the Prague Estates, although considerably later than 1787!) and watched maybe twenty different recordings on video/DVD.

Some were produced in a historical style…

Period costume performancewhile others had a more modern setting.

Not qui...

Ascar Interview – Chief Councillor Hastings

Today we’re in Ascar again, where we have the opportunity to chat with Chief Councillor John Hastings. He has been in post for many years, and it’ll be interesting to get his take on high-level administration of the realm.

Situated within the Royal Compound, the Council building holds all the governmental records. It’s where administrative meetings are held and decisions made. There are also courtrooms and detention areas where investigations of a sensitive nature are performed.

After I repor...

Ascar Interview – Louis the infirmier

For this interview, we’re finally getting a glimpse inside Ascar’s notorious Keep. However, we’re not going to see where the scientists work or where the evaluation of those with curses takes place. Nor do we visit the mysterious machinery in the basement or the blimp launching pad and bird coops on the roof.

No, today we’re visiting the second floor, which accommodates laboratories and the infirmary. My escort hustled me past a corridor with padlocked doors, muttering “Training and assessmen...

Intrepid Correspondent Interview – Emily

Those of you who have entered Ascar via its southern gates (the only entrance for unescorted visitors) will probably have noticed a large walled complex on your left, just as you enter the city proper. That complex is Ascar’s barracks, where the majority of the guards live.

Note: Despite the military-sounding nomenclature, guards aren’t actually “soldiers,” and Numoeath doesn’t have much concept of “army.” That explains the complete lack of more senior ranks other than “captain.” Strange, yes...