Christopher B. Wright's Blog, page 19

A Rake by Starlight, Episode Two: "Alas, Poor Yorick"

Grif and his crew sift through the wreckage of a destroyed transport ship looking for something good. What they find is roughly the opposite of that.

A Rake by Starlight, Episode One: "Never Volunteer"

Grif Vindh, captain of the Fool's Errand, is a little out of his way. Doing a favor for a friend, he finds himself in a little-known backwater system where two ships are locked in a desperate fight. Sensing opportunity, Grif resolves to intervene, hoping one or both ships will make decent salvage.

That's how it all starts. It goes downhill from there.

A Rake by Starlight - Chapter 27

WHEREIN Our Hero is Reminded that there is More than One Distraction

The Avadis system wasn’t, at first glance, a particularly interesting place. Its planets had little to mine that couldn’t be found elsewhere—making it an unattractive claim for Trade Barons—and the system sat far enough inside fringe world space that it held little strategic value for the Alliance of Free Worlds or the Radiant Throne. It did, however, have a gas giant that no interstellar power had claimed as its own, and a c...

A Rake by Starlight - Chapter 26

WHEREIN Outside Forces Invite Themselves In

Velis Enge leaned back in her office chair, blearily rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she forced herself to finish reading the mission debrief. She thought back wistfully to her days as a field agent, complaining about having to write them. She smiled briefly—relishing the irony—then forced herself to pay attention to her work. When she finished, she placed the data tablet down on her desk with a sigh and reached for the lukewarm cup of coffee on h...

The Death and Rebirth of The Points Between

Once upon a time I was happily writing a serial called The Points Between. It was a story I was incredibly passionate about telling -- a story that was viscerally important to me, even though it was way out of my comfort zone and far, far above my level of expertise -- and I'd actually finished an entire arc, and had started on the second arc, when a bunch of inconvenient things happened. The result of these inconvenient things was that the story has remained dormant for years: not dead, beca...

Advice to Writers: The Advice You Should Never Take

Today over on Twitter I talked at length about the one kind of advice you should never take from other writers. I liked it, so I storified it, and now I'm posting it here.

[View the story "Advice to Writers: The Criticism You Should Never Take" on Storify]

WHEREIN I Discuss Free Speech and Unify the Nation by Making Everyone Disagree With Me

Free speech is one of those things that everyone loves when they want to use it, and hates when the other guy tries to use it too. This is, of course, an oversimplification, but when you stand back and look at all the churn surrounding the argument over whether or not Neo-Nazis and Klansmen should be allowed to march around, armed to the teeth, shouting “blood and soil” while protesting people who don’t like Civil War monuments, it does seem that when you simplify the arguments, you get “yes,...

The Grudge I Cherish Most: Analog Magazine and the Birth of a Supervillain

A few days ago I saw a game on Twitter where people posted the “grudge they cherish the most.” It was fun reading—people sharing their stories of That One Guy who said something immensely insulting that stuck with them for years and years. I had a story I almost shared, but I didn’t. Why? Because it’s complicated. In many ways, it’s my origin story:

I grew up surrounded by books. Specifically, by science fiction and fantasy books. Once upon a time my parents had a huge library of (mostly) pap...

A Rake by Starlight - Chapter 25

WHEREIN Offers Are Made, And Refusal Is Not Up For Consideration

“Captain Vindh!” Yidoc Messhik, crime lord of the Tyrelos Barony and other principalities, beamed through the video link at Grif’s scowling face. More accurately, he appeared to beam, strictly by human standards, though his facial spines—an integral emotive component for every Invagi Grif had ever met—hardly so much as twitched in place. “I confess I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. On the other hand, I didn’t expect someo...

A Rake By Starlight - Chapter 25

WHEREIN Offers Are Made, And Refusal Is Not Up For Consideration

“Captain Vindh!” Yidoc Messhik, crime lord of the Tyrelos Barony and other principalities, beamed through the video link at Grif’s scowling face. More accurately, he appeared to beam, strictly by human standards, though his facial spines—an integral emotive component for every Invagi Grif had ever met—hardly so much as twitched in place. “I confess I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. On the other hand, I didn’t expect someo...