Sable Aradia's Blog, page 16
December 19, 2019
Wormholes & Portals — Toy Soldier Saga
When interstellar Airts form a strong enough connection between one star system and another, it becomes possible for a Star-Pilot in contact with a starfaring engine to fold space. The link between the two is called a wormhole. Wormholes make interstellar travel possible.
Portals
Portals are the openings to wormholes. Unlike Airts, they are visible to the naked eye within a few light-minutes by the warping of background space and their interior illumination. Entering portals is a difficult process of navigating deep whirlpool Gravity Wells, so most captains prefer to have a seasoned Star-Pilot at the helm when they make the attempt.
Read the rest of the article at the Toy Soldier Saga on WorldAnvil!
Subscribe to the Toy Soldier Saga at my Patreon!
December 16, 2019
Maybe Not a Nebula (Yet,) but Consider Me (and Others) for an Aurora?
You maybe haven’t heard of me (yet.) I’m just getting started. I’m a neo-pro with a couple of pro-sales under my belt, not enough to be a full SFWA member yet (c’mon someone, just buy ONE more story!) But I’m out there. I’m a working-class writer, working hard. More than that, I’ve been working with amazing people who have been working hard. If you’re reading for awards, here’s a couple of things you might consider putting on your list for 2019:
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Gunsmoke & Dragonfire: A Fantasy Western Anthology
In March 2019, I published my first anthology. I put a call out on The Grinder and got an amazing cross-section of awesome writers, from indies to established, pro, award-winning, and brand-new writers! I even got a reprint from NYT bestseller Diana Paxson! But there were a lot of originals too, and I really think they deserve your attention. In particular:
Inheritance by Ethan Hedman – a lovely tale of epic quests and legacy magic – in the Old West.A Different Kind of Law by Eric S. Fomley – a stranger comes to down, and a marshal is hunting him. But of course you know there’s a twist…Pinkerton by Liam Hogan – a steampunk twist on how a lawman always gets his man…The Teeth of Winter by Diane Morrison – Part of my Wyrd West Chronicles. Canadian, so Aurora-eligible. An action-packed story of famine, family, and a creepy Canadian legend come to life…Raiders of the Lost World by Ron S. Friedman – Canadian (Aurora-eligible.) The mix of genres in this humourous tale is well worth your time!No-Sell by Ricardo Victoria – when a snake-oil salesman sells new technology in a world of magic…Balthazar Beausoleil’s Blink Wolf Basher by Paul Alex Gray – Canadian (Aurora-eligible). A madcap steampunk tale!The Burning Plains by Brent A. Harris – Marshal Bass Reeves must rid a frontier town of its dragon problem.A Prayer for the Reaping Season by MacKenzie Kincaid – the creepiest story I have read in recent years.Rollo’s Herd by Claire Ryan – Canadian (Aurora eligible). A funny story about herding giant slugs on the open range…Lonesome by Carris Gessner – this one will get you right in the feelz.
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“The World’s More Full of Weeping” in Cities of Dust, Planes of Light
I felt like a got an upgrade in my pay grade when my story was accepted into this lovely little science fantasy anthology, featuring all these amazing award-winning authors! It was published in January. My story is a tale of grief, the complicated love between parent and child, and deciding what’s most important in life. I don’t think it’s Aurora-eligible because it was only published in the United States.
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Once Upon a Time in the Wyrd West
In December 2018 (so still eligible for most 2019 awards) I published my debut novel. (So, I’m a new writer, could be considered for the Campbell, just sayin’…) I’m Canadian so it’s Aurora-eligible too. It’s hard to plug your own work, especially for awards, because who the hell am I? But I’m pretty confident about this one because I’ve been getting amazing critical reviews. Cat Rambo, World Fantasy Award-winner and multiple award nominee, blurbed it for me, and I got an awesome review from On Spec Magazine. Maybe best of all, even though it was turned down for serialization in DreamForge Magazine, Scot Noel sent me the world’s record best rejection letter and said he immediately went out and bought the book. It’s a steampunk weird western with fantasy elements that takes place in a post-apocalyptic Saskatchewan. It’s about loyalty, bravery, family and community. You can see some of its reviews here.
I’ve tried to make it easy; if you’re reading for review, just click on any of the titles for a FREE download. And thanks for considering me!
December 13, 2019
Lois McMaster Bujold & the Damon Knight Grand Mistresses of SFF
[image error]One of my favourite authors, Lois McMaster Bujold, was named the 36th Damon Knight Grand Master for her contributions to science fiction and fantasy.
Source: Lois McMaster Bujold & the Damon Knight Grand Mistresses of SFF
December 10, 2019
The Queen’s Dirk
By Diane Morrison
Science Fantasy, Fantasy Space Opera, Military SFF
(Novella)
A green crew. Overwhelming odds. What could go wrong?
When young elven Star-Pilot Shaundar Sunfall lied about his age to join the Avalonian Navy, all he wanted was a chance to prove himself in battle against his people’s ancient enemy, the orcs.
He’s going to get it. The Queen’s Dirk is about to fly directly into an ambush, and only Shaundar’s untested skills and the strength of their untried crew stand between them and destruction. Worse yet, if they don’t survive, their homeworld will remain oblivious of the invasion about to land on their doorstep.
Be careful what you wish for…
Source: The Queen’s Dirk
Read The Queen’s Dirk for FREE exclusively on WorldAnvil!
Special Offer!Subscribe to Diane’s Patreon for more Toy Soldier Saga serialized fiction ($5+) and all the hidden secrets of the Toy Soldier Saga universe ($10+)! Offer available only until January 3rd, so don’t wait!
Subscribe now to Diane’s Patreon for more serialized Toy Soldier Saga stories & novels!
December 8, 2019
Airts – Toy Soldier Saga
“Tell us about your theory of magic.”
Narissa takes a deep breath. “All things exist as potentialities before they become matter. Magic harnesses the energies of those potentialities to create a desired effect. But each time there is a choice to be made, both of those choices are simultaneously created. The Universe we experience has manifested particular choices, but the state between still remains, and can still be manipulated by mages. And sometimes, holy people and psions as well,” she added, “although they have a different understanding of the methodology.
“We see the evidence of that state of being between in the courses of the Airts, by which a Pilot directs a starfaring engine. It is manifestly impossible to travel at the speeds that spacefarers do. And yet, they do it, because an Airt represents a connection in space, time and gravity; or rather, the potential of space, time and gravity. An Airt is the current of the energies of raw creation, from a time before the Universe we know found a form. In essence, a Pilot who traverses an Airt between bodies in space is in both places at once.”
“Then why do Pilots and spacefarers experience a sense of time passing when traversing an Airt?” Lady Oakheart pounces.
“Because our physical minds are limited,” she answers immediately, “and must translate these experiences into understanding. Because we cannot conceive of time not passing, we still experience a passage of time; although greatly reduced, when one considers the vast distances travelled. But as we all know, as a Pilot gains practice and facility with magic, the time needed to travel between two points diminishes. It’s conceivable – though I’ve never heard of it happening in living elven memory – that a Mage-Pilot of sufficient skill could travel instantly from one body to another.”
— –Homefront: Toy Soldier Saga by Diane Morrison
Airts are the natural flow of energetic currents between one body of mass and another. They are closely related to gravity waves, but also have a relationship with space, time and magic. These waves are used by Star-Pilots and Starseeds to navigate through space at speeds that challenge, or in some cases transcend, the speed of light. Airts flow like currents, with varying speed and course of flow. Enchanted sails help starfarers to harness these currents, much as regular sails harness winds.
Manifestation
Airts are invisible to the naked eye. One must be in contact with a starfaring helm in order to perceive the Airts. To such a Pilot, the Airts “look” like shifting flows of light in the blue to ultraviolet spectrum. They move in swirls, pooling in gravity wells around large stellar objects such as planets, stars, or even black holes, and they may interact with, or interfere with each other. Space is not two-dimensional, so they also appear in three dimensions, and may be perceived as almost topographical landscapes. As a Pilot gains greater facility in their ability to perceive the Airts, they become capable of progressively faster space travel.
Localization
Just like winds, or currents, they are occasionally subject to whirlpools, eddies, calms, storms, and other hazards. Some Airts are safer to travel than others, and finding faster Airts between frequented worlds is a constant quest of starfarers. The farther away one is from a gravity well, the faster the currents of an Airt move. It is impossible to travel at interplanetary speeds within close proximity to a gravity well (whether generated by a starfaring ship’s engine or by a celestial body,) and it is impossible to travel at interstellar speeds within close proximity of a larger gravity well as generated by a stellar object (stars, quasars, black holes, white dwarfs, etc.) At the edges of solar systems, which represent the outer limits of a stellar object’s gravity well, Airts form portals that allow access to wormholes (see Wormholes & Portals .)
Want to see more on Airts? Check it out at this link! Right now if you Subscribe at my Patreon, you get all the secrets & hidden articles, or even all the Toy Soldier Saga serialized fiction!
[image error]Or click here just to Follow, too!
And if you want to see more articles like this, check out my Toy Soldier site on WorldAnvil.
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December 4, 2019
Tree of Life (Starseed) – Toy Soldier Saga at WorldAnvil
The stars are almost completely blotted out of their view in the branches of the Great Tree the Telasian System elves called Yggdrasil’s Sprout. Each leaf is as large as a small moon. For the first time, it occurs to her to wonder about the astrophysics of it all. Is it the enormous tree that makes gravity on the tiny world of Peridot seem Telasian-normal? Or is there some magic of the Airts of which she is unaware?
—Homefront by Diane Morrison
Trees of Life are a naturally-occurring starfaring species of plant that navigate the Airts as a normal part of their reproductive cycle. They are often so vast that they become literal words of their own. Because these mysterious trees manipulate the Airts (and therefore, gravity) they provide sufficient gravity to sustain populations and in some cases ecosystems, with a fully functioning atmosphere created by the Tree’s off-gasses.Trees of Life produce the coveted Starseeds, which were the first form of space travel, and which the elves still use as their exclusive spaceships. Starseed ships are classified by size (ship class,) which is determined by the point in their cycle at which they were harvested. Starseed ships can range from a tiny pinnace to an enormous dreadnaught.Trees of Life also spin in space, just like any other planetary body. They have a peculiar quality that no matter how far away they are from a system’s sun, their natural feeding cycle produces enough light to create a normal day cycle on the side that the sun is currently facing, and enough natural heat of their own to sustain life. Indeed, it’s almost as if the Divine designed them for this purpose. Also by some unique twist, believed to be a side effect of their natural Airt manipulation, smaller “worlds” on the outer edges of a Tree of Life’s branches or roots do not see the tree’s limbs or trunk in their night sky. This, however, is not true of “worlds” or settlements located within the branch or root structures.Many significant locations in the Known Worlds are Trees of Life, including Yggdrasil’s Sprout, Greenwood, and Trinhea.
Read the full article at Toy Soldier Saga on WorldAnvil.
Welcome to My Worlds!
Toy Soldier Saga
A fantasy space opera series. Gunpowder fantasy meets military sci-fi. World of Warcraft meets Master & Commander meets Treasure Planet.
Follow at WorldAnvil. Then subscribe at my Patreon.
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The Wyrd West
A post-apocalyptic steampunk high fantasy weird western serial. Like Fallout meets Firefly meets Supernatural meets Shannara.
Follow at WorldAnvil. Then subscribe at my Patreon.
December 3, 2019
ANNOUNCING: New Patron Benefits & a Special Offer!
Dec 2 at 10:31am
ANNOUNCING: New Patron Benefits & a Special Offer!
Happy December! I have some great news that I’m really excited about. I’ve done a revamp of some of my Patreon reward tiers, which includes a Special Offer & exciting benefits!
First, I’ve eliminated the tiers that nobody was taking. But I’ve made some changes to the $25 tiers. You now have two options: Sailmaster (a print book and writing classes,) or Chief Engineer (all my music and Pagan classes.) Otherwise, the rewards for those two tiers are identical.
Second, I’ve changed the $50 tier (First Mate) to give you EVERY PRINT BOOK I publish, as long as you maintain the tier! Basically, this is a book subscription option. I’ll just send you everything I do, in print, as soon as it comes out.
And now I’ll be stepping up my publishing schedule to include a new fiction series, the long-awaited Toy Soldier Saga! In addition, I am teaming up with my husband to convert the TSS and the Wyrd West Chronicles to tabletop RPG books adapted for your favourite 3rd party game systems! The TSS main book is in draft as we speak. And yes; your subscription at $50 a month will include all our RPG books as well!
That makes me excited enough! But now the best of all: I recently joined WorldAnvil, a worldbuilding utility for writers and gamemasters. And where has this been all my life?! You can reveal the details of the vast worlds you create, keep track of characters, languages, changes in the laws of physics and how they work, history, timelines…the possibilities are ENDLESS!
I can have as many followers as I want (and really, I encourage you to follow! It’s awesome!) But I only get 10 subscribers. What is a subscriber at WA, you ask? It means you get access to secret and hidden articles–the real inside scoop on what’s going on in my worlds.
So here’s what I’m going to do. Right now, as a Special Offer, if you sign up at the $5 Patron level (Able Seaman) or higher, you can get subscriptions to my WA sites! At $10 or more (Boatswain or higher,) that subscription will also include access to ALL THE FICTION written for each of those worlds! It will be serialized to the site before it’s published anywhere else, including anything that’s out of print or NSFW. This offer is available to all existing, all upgrading, and all new Patrons who qualify.
To claim one, sign up for the eligible tier you want, sign up for a free WorldAnvil account, and follow one or both of the worlds I’ve created:
[image error] Toy Soldier Saga
[image error] Wyrd West Chronicles
Then let me know that you’ve done so. I’ll add you as a subscriber. But ACT NOW! Because there are ONLY a grand total of 10 available subscriptions in all. Get ’em before somebody else does!
Special Offer available from Dec. 3 at 12:45 pm Pacific until January 3rd at 12:45 pm Pacific. Happy holidays everyone! Here’s my Yuletide gift to you! And thanks again for all your support. I really couldn’t do it without you.
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November 28, 2019
Building Palaces Out of Paragraphs: Sentence Linkage in V. E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic
By Phoebe Low
Hello friend! Today I’m going to talk paragraph structure, mostly as it applies to description, by doing something I haven’t done since college—close reading! I’ll examine V. E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic not only because it’s a gem of a book and you should read it and write a review on Conglomerate-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, but because of the unique way Schwab ties sentences together—not just in the general sense of oh yeah writing *grunt grunt* but literally linking each individual sentence together with each individual other sentence in a way that blew my mind when I first encountered it. And made the stuff I was writing at the time look like daisy chains. Or, you know, separate, slightly wilted daisies.
Read the full article at Be Your Own Mentor.
November 25, 2019
What Makes a Good Flash Fiction Piece?
By Juenta Key
To answer that question, we need to understand what flash fiction is about. It is a short story under 1000 words, generally right at or around 500 words. Flash fiction is the length of one short scene with emotional IMPACT using shocks, twists, irony, OR something deeply meaningful to end it.
Anything less than 500 that is Micro Fiction, which has several sub-categories, or more than 1000 words which would still be considered a short story, not flash fiction. The purpose of micro-fiction is to express interesting ideas or tell a brief story in as few words as possible differing it from flash fiction which depicts a scene or a “moment or realization” in the life of your character.
Read the full article on Writer’s Gambit.
