Penguins in Hats

Penguins in Hats is a simple story about the exploits of flightless waterfowl wearing headgear, but beneath the surface, it’s a metaphor for the tendency in modern society to define ourselves by labels, such as our occupation, interests, and possessions, rather than things like our beliefs or character. On a third, even deeper level, its about penguins that wear hats.

Penguins in Hats came as a moment of straight up inspiration. I was literally lying in bed doing nothing in particular when the thought occurred, not as some inkling of a idea but as a full concept. It probably had its origins in a little doodle I’d done a year ago as part of random drawing (and possibly the Linux logo), and it still needed some development as to story and characters, but the core premise came into being all at once.

So, there are a lot of vampire stories these days, due mostly to the much-loved and much-maligned Twilight series. I’m gonna be honest here and tell you that this is one too. It’s different of course, but it involves vampires and a whole bunch of other supernatural beasts. But it didn’t start out that way.

The original idea was borne of the desire to do something superpower related, but where there were many people with only a few types of powers, like classes of superheroes. I also thought that it might be interesting to have it be based on blood types, so the powers became magically based.

Glyph is a new story idea I’m working on, and one that I’m very excited about. It started out as a very small idea, and gradually expanded and absorbed other concepts.

Glyph is a fantasy set in a time period similar to that of the Three Musketeers or the Elizabethan Era. This setting, while not original by any means, is still far less clichéd than the standard medieval themed fantasy (although I will hasten to add there is nothing intrinsically wrong with that.) But this was a very colorful time period, with flamboyant fashions, new discoveries, bold voyages, and intricate politics and plots. It was a time of revolution and radical change, or renaissance and reinvention. Firearms exist but have not yet been able to replace traditional weapons. All-in-all, a very exciting time with a lot of possibilities.

Broken World

I don’t think I’d ever written anything bleak before. Even in this piece, the narrator still manages to hold on to a sort of complacent optimism, even in less-than-ideal circumstances. The setting isn’t post-apocolyptic or even terribly oppressive, just a mild dystopia. Still, when I wrote this, it felt a little… deeper than things I had written before. A little more mature, the writing a bit better, evoking a mood. I don’t currently have any plans to return to this story, but I do think it had some merit to it. Enjoy.

Alone, adrift in space. My ship cast off from my broken, desolate world, seeking perhaps, a brighter horizon.  But space is not the best place to seek solace. So much seemed simpler then, before I left, before the solitude cast its whispering doubts in my ear. It all seemed so certain…

•••

Santurin had never been the cleanest city to begin with, in more than one form of the word. Vermin ran rampant in the streets, although some of them seemed to have been elected to public office.

Still, it was a life. It was more than I ever had again. My parents were born into the middle-class, but they worked hard, and as for my childhood, I can at the least say I never went hungry. They died years ago. I work as an industrial engineer, designing the complex machinery required for the lucrative cosmic industry. It paid well enough, I suppose, if I’d have had anything left after the taxes.

Jayson, the leader elect, was rumored to use a good portion of that tax money to support his opulent lifestyle. No one had ever pressed charges, and as long as the local enforcers stayed loyal to him and his favored assistants, I don’t suppose anyone ever will.

I was in love, maybe. I suppose I can say that I was in love, to say that we were turned out to be… difficult. Still, at the time I was not to know. I went to work, slaved over those idiotic equations, and came home to a rundown house and leftovers that hadn’t been fresh when I bought them. Still, it was more than some people had.

Legacy

One summer day, my brother and I were in the front yard, dinking around with boffer swords, because we are nerds.

Furthermore, because we are nerds, we decided to role-play it, and began to make something up spontaneously. The result sparked a thought and captured my intrigue, eventually germinating into the following short story or draft, and now blossoming into a full-fledged story idea. Since this is essentially a rough draft, and much has been changed, I am now putting this out there for the public to enjoy. I hope you enjoy it.

•••

“The council has heard of your treachery, Dragus. Have you anything to say in your defense?”

The sorcerer laughed bitterly. “You know as well as I it makes no difference what I say. They have sent you here to kill me.”

There was no point in denying it. “Yes.”

“They send you here, to kill me in my own tower, my home.”

“Yes.”

“And they send only three men?” he spat. “They underestimate my power.”

“Or perhaps you have underestimated us.” He shouldn’t have boasted, he knew that, he had just lost the element of surprise, but he was tired, he was thirsty, he wasn’t thinking straight. For months they’d been chasing this cursed sorcerer, and he wanted this business over with.

“The council has awoken the old magic.” he said, hoping to turn his gaffe into intimidation. It worked. Although the sorcerer was concealed in shadow, he drew a sharp breath, then regained his composure.

“That magic cannot harm me.” he said contemptuously. “I bear the talisman of Chael.”

If this presented a problem, then the young warrior didn’t show it. He merely drew his weapon, followed shortly by his companions.

“Fools,” spat Dragus, and drew his own weapon. The torchlight flickered, then vanished. The room grew chill, and a breeze swept the curtains aside, bathing the scene in cold, pale moonlight. The warrior couldn’t help but shudder as the sorcerer revealed himself.

Just something short from a while ago. I thought you might enjoy it. Feel free to share if this amuses you, although a link back to my site would be appreciated. Enjoy.

 

An astronomical discourse in verse

 Twinkle twinkle ball of gas,

Giant flaming spaceous mass,

Distortions in the atmosphere,

Make you seem to twinkle here,

Twinkle twinkle ball of gas,

Giant flaming spaceous mass.

Lately I’ve been reading through the old blog posts, looking at what I’ve put up, and I have to say, it’s been interesting. Some good, some not so much. But interesting, at least to me. It’s funny coming back to something after two years.

A lot has changed in two years. Therefore, I will be making some revisions to the site. I’m going to leave the old posts intact, (aside from perhaps a few spelling corrections,) but I will be revising my Proposed Lego Games pages quite a bit, especially since several of them have actually become a reality since then. Also, I will be adding a section for reviews of movies, books, and games, just in case anybody is interested on my perspective on them. That will probably be a mix of both old and new material.

In addition, where most of my posts before were retrospectives on old work, I think things will be decidedly more present and future oriented. I’ve got a lot of ideas,so hang tight.

In addition, on January 12th, The Legend of Lithra, my other site, we will be starting brand-new story, so stay tuned there as well.

Cheers, and happy new year!

Hello, folks. There haven’t been any posts for a while, which I am aware of. It was planned, since I have been gone for a while doing something very special and important for 2 years. During that time, although my work and efforts were focused on other things, I did come up with some wonderful marvelous ideas that I am very excited about. Stay tuned!

This is the eleventh and final installment (extra long)  to the original Convergence chain story, currently slated to be completely overhauled. If you haven’t read the previous sections, I suggest you do so first.

As usual, my sections are in bold, his are in italic, and notes will follow.

6.4.3. 18:32

They stopped the missiles. So I ordered long-duration laser fire. This time we did move back. The enemy started to come out, thinking we were retreating. Then it came. A focused pillar of light so intense my light adjusting visor could barely compensate for it, and so wide it engulfed the entire building. Invisible heat waves bounced off the building, leaving crackling air in place of the building. After half a minute, the beam shut off as quickly as it began. Only a small metal cube was left at the bottom, shiny and obviously refractive enough to defy the laser. Probably separately shielded, too. Obviously something important, I concluded it was most likely a command station. I gave the order to ray it up. The cube slowly faded away, then flashed as it was shuttled back to the ship, to be put in an isolation chamber. Maybe it would have prisoners.

Holy Cow, it’s the tenth installment of this story. In case you haven’t been following, this is the original chain story of Convergence, with me writing the story of one side, and him writing the other. Story got written, arguments got started, and some dumb stuff happened. We’re close to the end now, but we’ve still got a few more parts coming, and I’ll be working on an all new outline for this story soon, elevating it to the status of actual book.

As usual, sections I wrote are in bold, sections he wrote are italics, and there will be notes on each section at the bottom. Here we go.

6.4.3 17:69

One weapons factory was gone. At least it wasn’t a barracks. Oh well. I was manning the Plazma cannon which had been upgraded to use an assortment of missiles. The missiles had  been brought up here. We have about 2,000 missiles in this chamber alone. You can tell just how big this Plazma cannon was. It can hold up to fifty Nemhan missiles. But we kept the range of missiles open. So it could hold fifty assorted missiles. That would last us for awhile.