It’s Me Me Monday at Queer Sci Fi, a day to promote, strut, and celebrate your Me-ness!
As a result, it’s become one of the days I share part of an ongoing story here at this Cauldron. I’ve been posting preludes to my book under revision, ‘Stealing Myself From Shadows’ here.
These preludes appear in segments every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday for Me Me Monday (at Queer Sci Fi), QueerBlogWed, and Rainbow Snippets. (This means the Saturday segment is very short.)
I started out with ‘Waiting for Rebirth’, a tale of how Christopher came into his current existence, plus how he found and lost Damian Ashelocke. It was written in first person from Christopher’s perspective (much like ‘Stealing Myself From Shadows’ itself).
The second was ‘Unwilling to Be Yours’, which introduced Peter, a new character, written from his perspective. Peter ended up falling in love with Christopher, only to realize he had very little chance of winning the object of his affection.
Right now, I’m posting ‘Be My Valentine…Snack’, which returns to Christopher’s Point of View. He’s trying to rescue a Peter on the rebound from throwing himself into arms…and mouth of Duessa Ashelocke, a dangerous arachnocratic lady who is Damian’s own aunt.
For these preludes (and ‘Stealing Myself From Shadows) are not just part of a series, but a collection of stories I call ‘Tales of the Navel/The Shadow Forest’. They’re part of a subgenre I’m trying to create called ambient fantasy. This is fantasy isn’t quite as adventure and action driven as the mainstream fantasy genre. It’s more emotional and internally driven than what the market expects fantasy to be. It’s a lot closer to shoujo manga in its overall feel.
My particular series was inspired by Tarot imagery. It’s very dear to my heart and I’ve been working on it for some time.
Enough exposition! 🙂 Christopher will now pick up where he left off on Saturday in ‘Rainbow Snippets’…
“Why, how can I turn down such a gracious offer?” Duessa nodded graciously at Peter. Two more eyes opened on her face, gleaming in possessive triumph. “You heard my sweet Valentine, ‘Brie. He gave his consent.”
“Yes, I did.” The smile disappeared from Gabrielle’s face.
She turned to Peter with no trace of humour in her manner. “You’re making a dangerous decision, possibly a fatal one. She truly will eat you alive, if you agree to it.”
“Oh, please, being devoured is nothing I can’t handle!” Peter raised the rose to his lips with one hand.
The other waved Brie’s warning away in almost contemptuous dismissal.
“Well, since I have your consent, shall we go?” Duessa asked, offering her arm. One of her arms. She would a second limb around Peter’s waist.
He seemed completely unaware of its presence.
“Indeed, I was about to take a break.” Peter beamed at her, but he shivered.
Did he have the sense to be a little scared?
Probably not.
inspirationcauldron 