Last week I mentioned some of the short stories I’ve been thinking of writing, leaving you with the premises for each of them and asking you to vote on which one you’d like to see the most. As tends to be the case with polls on The Mental Attic, everyone who voted picked a different story, leaving me with a massive tie.
I’m used to this, so I made the call on which story to write first, picking one I had worked on for some hours already. Lion’s Claw, with its non-magic fantasy setting was my pick and I wrote most of it, leaving it just shy of the last scene, as it’s a big confrontation sequence that I need to think to make sure it’s believable.
But then out of nowhere I received another vote and Fringes pushed to the lead, so that’s the one I’ll publish first. I’m really excited for that one because it’s an idea I worked on with my brother in law a couple of years ago, while we discussed the possibility of our own comic book. We never did anything with it beyond the initial concept but it’s been in a corner of my mind for a while, desperately seeking my attention.
Just in case you missed the article and didn’t vote—which you totally should as I’ve kept the poll open and it’s at the bottom of this article—here are the premises for both Lion’s Claw and Fringes.
| Title: | The Lion’s Claw |
| Genre | Fantasy – No Magic |
| Premise | The King orders Captain Marius to escort his son to a neighbouring kingdom’s capital to negotiate an alliance, and to protect him at all costs. But to the prince, people are there to serve and die for him, so Marius will have to protect him from the greatest danger: himself. |
| Title: | Fringes |
| Genre | Science-Fiction |
| Premise | Xander Cath lives in the fringes of the Milky Way galaxy, taking odd jobs as a mercenary, always on the move without calling any place home. When a gig comes up promising to set him up for life, with enough credits to keep him safe, Xander’s naturally suspicious but he takes the job anyway, tired of running, tired of not living. But if they catch him, there’s no talking his way out. After all, they want what’s in his blood. |
Will I have a story this week? Not really, no, since I want to make sure I polish the stories to perfection. I want to be happy with the product I’m publishing, and that is especially true for this sci-fi story.
And there’s a second reason, one that is responsible for my writing all the articles within mere hours of publishing and not ahead of time as I like to do it, and that is the big EU Referendum. I have recently moved to England after jumping through more life-hoops than a circus lion or a member of StarFox and this vote scares the living hell out of me. As a Croatian citizen, the treaty rights re the only thing keeping here and the possibility of those going away in a very short time is frankly frightening, because to be quite honest…I don’t want to leave. I like it here, a lot. Today’s vote has been on my mind for a few weeks now and it completely dominates my conscious thoughts, so I can’t focus on anything else until I know which way things swing and which backup plans and secondary ploys I’ll have to engage to keep my dreams aloft.
This weekend though, I am going to be working on the stories, heavily so and will most likely have the first one ready for you next week or the following one at the latest. The polls remain open, though I’m locking Fringes and Lion’s Claw in place right now—you won’t see them as available options anymore. But your votes will help me decide which stories will come next. I’ll be honest, The Song is one I personally love and want to have as third, but it’s had the lowest number of votes…none in fact. If you feel as I do for this story, give it some love in the polls!
But, because my head never stops working, here are the premises for two stories for your consideration! They’re both set in the same setting, two sides of a very strange coin.
| Title: | Cooking Up Trouble |
| Genre | Science-Fantasy |
| Premise | Carol’s life used to be simple. As an inspector in the city’s guard, she dealt with simple crimes, a theft here, an illegal Trink there. Olteen was a peaceful city, and its people the most civilised in the six realms, patrons of art and a beacon of culture. But then her world, her reality, collided with the other one, the sky breaking apart like glass, its golden glow forever banished by the sight of this intruding world, a vision of a dead city of steel and stone with lights that shone brighter than stars in the night.
Now, as an officer of the Inquisition, she deals with dangers from another world, strange artefacts defying all logic, powered by a strange magicks and their function nearly impossible to predict or contain. The latest one is a horrifying weapon, a box that cooks its victims from within! |
| Title: | Detective George & The Dragon |
| Genre | Science-Fantasy |
| Premise | George Crass loved how things used to be. Bring in a crook, get lunch with the boys at Steve’s diner in Queens and then go back home to his Franny. Greenhorns complained about he beat, but NYPD Detective Crass had it all figured out.
And then the blue sky and yellow sun broke and vanished, leaving only a permanent view on an alien city, with golden towers and a river flowing through it, through a myriad of canals. Now the world works on weirder rules and George wishes he could quit, but he can’t risk losing the pension. But is it worth it? He’s only a Detective, trained to find and catch humans, not the things coming from the other side. He definitely didn’t get the memo on how to deal with a dragon, but he’s gonna have to anyway. |
Please vote and keep an eye open for Lion’s Claw and Fringes, coming to you very soon!
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