Samuel Fleming's Blog, page 4
August 12, 2022
“A Pirate’s Compass” — Flash Fiction Friday
Reynolds spat on the tavern floor. “Tis cursed!”
“I don’t care,” the pirate snarled. “Can ye’ take us there!”
“Ain’t a matter o’ can. I won’t—”
A coin purse hit the floor with a heavy clank.
Reynolds twirled his moustache. “Ay, that be the sound o’ my mind changing.”
If you like the vibe of these stories, you might like the ongoing short story collection “Tales from Another World.” You can find the Amazon series page here.
August 5, 2022
“Promises to Keep” — Flash Fiction Friday
“The woods are lovely dark, and deep,” the fey whispers. “And you have promises to keep.”
“Miles to go before I sleep,” I reply, already under its spell. “Miles to go before I sleep.”
As I walk off into the gloom, I think the woods aren’t so scary anymore.
If you like the vibe of these stories, you might like the ongoing short story collection “Tales from Another World.” You can find the Amazon series page here.
July 29, 2022
“A King’s Mercy” — Flash Fiction Friday
The new King Herez sat before the justicars.
“Have you no mercy?” the prisoner asked—Herez’s mortal enemy. A pitiful shadow of a man.
The King replied, “Even the gods’ mercy is finite. Only the mercy of fools is limitless. I strive for divinity. The penalty is death!”
If you like the vibe of these stories, you might like the ongoing short story collection “Tales from Another World.” You can find the Amazon series page here.
July 22, 2022
“Buried in the Waves” —Flash Fiction Friday
“Look out there,” Bast said, pulling his boy close.
Dentin squinted. “All I see is waves.”
“Do you see fish? Pearls? Monsters?”
“No.”
“Men are like the waves. Hide our feelings beneath the surface.”
“Like you?”
“Yes.”
“When I grow—”
“No. Remember the clear shoals? Don’t hide. Talk to me.”
If you like the vibe of these stories, you might like the ongoing short story collection “Tales from Another World.” You can find the Amazon series page here.
July 21, 2022
Gilded Glass — A Fairy Tale Anthology
A while back I posted that writing and publishing are wars of attrition. Keep writing and learning, and you will get better. Keep plugging away at your novel and one day you will finish it. Keep submitting stories to magazines and eventually you will get published. Keep writing and publishing books, and eventually you will earn a profit.
Overwhelm the enemy with slow and steady progress.
And today (well, technically July 19th), I got my first anthology publication. One of my short storie...
July 5, 2022
Housekeeping & Upcoming Publications
I just realized that I haven’t posted on here in a month.
*Cue some platitude/witticism about time getting away from us*
I’m still here. Still writing. Still publishing stuff in the Eluthiya dark fantasy universe.
Did I mention that? My dark fantasy universe consisting (at the moment) of A Battleaxe and a Metal Arm, Tales from Another World, and the upcoming Sword of the Gray Queen officially has a name: Eluthiya. Readers keeping up with BAMA will recognize it from Episode 15… It has ...
June 3, 2022
“Haunted by Beggars” — Flash Fiction Friday
“You seen her before?” John asked, picking his teeth.
I looked upon the haggard performer in the market and found I could not look away. “Maybe, but begs the question, from where?”
“Ain’t been on this side of the world. Maybe she’s a ghost.”
“Ghosts don’t follow people.”
This is the first post of a new series. I really enjoy flash fiction, and I’m excited to stretch my legs a bit. So, expect a new flash fiction post each Friday.
And if you like the vibe of these stories, ...
June 1, 2022
A BATTLEAXE AND A METAL ARM GIVEAWAY — FRIDAY JUNE 3RD THROUGH TUESDAY JUNE 7TH
The 15th episode of A Battleaxe and a Metal Arm releases this Friday, and to celebrate, I’m doing the biggest giveaway yet.
See, releasing Battleaxe as a serial was a gamble. I know there are some of you that like reading books, and the monthly episodes aren’t long enough for you to really get into.
It’s cool. I got you.
I’ve begun bundling episodes together into groups of five. Now you can get convenient Ebook “box sets” of episodes 1-5, 6-10, and 11-15 (which releases this Friday as well).
Fro...
May 20, 2022
A Battleaxe and a Metal Arm — Thoughts & Looking Forward
I never used to think that far ahead. Thinking about the next year was hard enough, let alone 3, 5, or 10 years ahead. A few months was all I could manage.
For most of us, finishing a novel takes that long. Some people may claim they can write a book in a single month (or faster), but they conveniently omit how long editing takes or how long plotting out the whole thing takes. They omit that their books are 60,000 words instead of 80,000, or that they’ve been writing for 20 years already.
...May 18, 2022
Monthly Obscure Trope Series — A Taste of Power
One of my favorite things about TvTropes is that there really does seem to be a trope for everything. I’ve caught up on the Cradle series by Will Wight. It’s been a wild ride.
It inspired this month’s trope dive: Taste of Power. It’s a trope you’ve seen countless times before and probably didn’t know it had a name.
This trope pops up occasionally in science fiction and fantasy where the main character starts out weak and part of the draw of the story is them growing stronger. Think about...
