Ren Warom's Blog, page 14

Umwelt: Darkness Flows Like A River Episode 38: Light and Shadow

Vespesian watches from the castle gates as Margo gives herself up. The scheming bitch. If she thinks that by these actions she can get to the vessel before him, she is mistaken. He has his love to guide him, but here, in the shadow of the castle, it has fallen strangely silent.

Climbing the walls, Vespesian follows the bitch’s spoor. He observes, at first with glee and then with rising anger, her strength in the face of the Mother’s violence. She should suffer, not endure. This shallow, self-c...

Clarion Write-a-thon Update: Numero Cuatro

First order of business in this update is to send a big shout-out of thanks to my two sponsors! Many, many thanks! Have raised $30 thus far, and am delighted! That’s two flash pieces to write after the write-a-thon is finito. Exciting! I am all the exclamation marks.

Second order o’ business. Words. How have I done? Hit my target again, thank you very much. By the skin o’ my teeth, thanks to a day out Wednesday. Seems I can quite easily hit a 7k per week (1k for each day) even with days like...

Clarion West Write-a-Thon Update: Numero Tres

So…*taps foot* Seems I’m doing what I promised, minus a day here and there where life frankly gets in the way of decent, brain functioning time to write, and I have elicited precisely zero sponsorship for Clarion West. Guess no one wants a flash fiction of their own, hmmm? I’m deeply disappointed in you all. Do better. *sad face*

Anyway, update time. As usual, words have been written this week tallying to 1k per day, even accounting for the days with zero time to write (had my daughter’s birth...

Umwelt: Darkness Flows Like A River Episode 37: In the Libraryrinth

Down in the Libraryrinth, the Librarian waits. For so long he listened to what came, collated it, and recorded it in the book. Then the man came. The man who was not a man. He came for the vessel. He had to sign for it. Oh but if he knew what he’d signed. Some things have high prices, even those you think you have not paid for.

The man took the vessel away. And things began to change. Lost things stopped coming to the Library. The shelves ceased their moving, and the collated items began to gr...

This Is How You Die – Spectacular Pre-order Linky with Free Stories & Super Fun Trailer!

Well, it’s been in my ‘Upcoming Publications and Stories in the Wild’ page for some time that I sold a story to the barnstorming follow-up to the incredible, best selling, MACHINE OF DEATH anthology. My story is a strange (no, really?!)and slightly disjointed (how surprising)cyber/bio-punk tale called ‘IN SLEEP’. It was my first ever sale, and I’m actually extremely proud of it.

The book within whose pages it delicately resides (at pg 379 if yer interested ( I was ;P) ) is called THIS IS HOW Y...

Clarion West Write-a-Thon: Sunday Check Numero Deux

So here we are again, on Sunday, doin’ the checking in dance. How have I fared this week? I hit my 1k a day target, *loud crazy cheers* but a lot of those were rewriting words *less loud crazy cheers*. My count of entirely new words, as in words on brand new scenes, is 4k. Now I know words are words, and any new words in old scenes are still new, but the idea here is kinda ‘keep moving the novel forward’ not ‘go back and tinker with bits you already wrote’. I’ll admit, the whole tinkering thi...

Clarion Write-a-thon Round-up…

So, I’m participating (again) in the Clarion write-a-thon, you can find my profile here. I’ve edited it a touch since I first decided to re-register, and my new aims (not yet updated, but hopefully soon) are at least 1k a day, with aspirations of up to 3k. My over-arching goal being to finish a little project I call Codename:E.

Codename:E stands for Escapology (and yes, the octopus in the piccie does have relevance to that but I’m not giving away exactly what *peers over steepled fingers*). Es...

Umwelt: Darkness Flows Like A River Episode 36: Face to Face

Rolf wakes, stifling a scream as nerves driven to hysteria cry out in symphony. Screaming will only make it worse. He moves his head. The crackling of bones and a wave of nausea, deep as seasickness, warn him against trying, but still he persists. He needs to know. Last time he woke, imagining himself to be on the floor, he was trapped high on the wall like an insect and endured endless minutes of being slammed from one to the other. He doesn’t know if he can handle that again…and live.

Fighti...

Umwelt: Darkness Flows Like A River Episode 35: Consequences and Things Forgotten

Moe watches for a long time after Margo is gone. She’s left a residue. Infinite progressions like chords upon the air he can play to recreate her passage.

He’s filled with two absolute certainties. That he wants to help her and doesn’t know how, and that something is missing, something is new. He doesn’t understand this second certainty, but he knows it to be true and tries to read her residue for what it is, because he can no longer ask her. She is gone.

‘What’s the matter?’ The Kitty speaks q...

Umwelt: Darkness Flows Like A River Episode 33: Sacrifice

Margo hasn’t taken her eyes off the castle. Those clear-cut as an amethyst green irises swirl with shadows, boil with flame. Moe watches her as intently as she watches the castle. He’s worried. He knows Margo. He knows that look. Behind him, he feels the presence of Kitty, the Seraphim. It’s indescribable, but if you could feel light, could see music, could touch joy, hold it in your hands, you might come close to knowing something of what it feels like to be touched by his aura.

‘She’s planni...