Writing – Page 2 – SJ Shoemaker

Preview February 7, 2023 0

Prologue – Long Live the Kings (Working Title)

Sunrays struggled ineffectually to journey over the horizon and through prevailing grey clouds. It had been a dark night and promised to be an even darker day. Gerlach shifted in his saddle. His joints were made stiff by the long journey. As much as he hated to admit the reality, his age was beginning to make itself known in more visible ways each day. Retirement would approach one day, sooner than later. Gerlach rolled his shoulders, one after the other. For this battle, he would be spry and quick to react. For this battle, he would be in his prime once more. If everything went well, this could be the last battle Rheicona would ever see.

Writing Challenge January 25, 2023 0

Can It!

“What do we got?” Callum ducked his head to fit through the doorway to the small office. The floors were carpeted. Green walls. Bookshelves took up the entire eastern wall.

“You of all people should recognize a corpse,” the dark-haired man jested from the corner of the room. He lined up his shot, and the camera clicked. His target: the victim. In the center of the room sat a red cushioned chair facing a heavy wooden desk. A woman sat motionless in the chair, back to Callum. From where he stood, she look perfectly fine, still among the living apart from the lack of motion.

Writing Challenge January 17, 2023 0

Against the Grain

He had done it!

Aesc had finally cracked the cryptic book of magic spells. It had taken months to track down such a forbidden text. And years more to interpret. Magic had long since been outlawed throughout the kingdom, and the ealdormen of his village were superstitious and zealous to the point of extremism. Caution was foremost on Aesc’s mind, but never at the sake of progress.

Short Story January 8, 2023 0

In-Universe Tale 3 – Novel World Building

The list of exploits from Gudtlieb’s time as a knight derives almost exclusively from the west. According to the area of Waldbach and its surrounding villages, he stopped an invasion of sirens from stealing away the men of Rheicona with their songs. He seduced their leader and threatened to hang her on a drying rack until her hoard relented. In Charmont, there is a tale of him spending a week tracking a unicorn and another solid day hanging from its back as it ran about the kingdom. Eventually, once it had calmed, he presented it as a gift to the king.

Short Story December 24, 2022 0

In-Universe Tale 2 – Novel World Building

Dietlinde was as ordinary as a commonplace fox. Her fur as dull of a red as the rest of her family. Her home, a hole in the ground near the edge of town. She was nothing and came from less than nothing. And she would have died nothing had she not caught the eye of a fox with fur of platinum. He came from a long line of magicians and sorcerers and trained at the best schools available to Silirich. By all means, this story ought to have been his. But he settled for mere adequacy. Opened a small elixir shop near the city’s edge. Held no sway with the Ealdorman, or renown even with the locals. And then, a few short years later, he died of the ancient sickness. The incurable plague. So devastating neither magic nor medicine could halt its progress. The same that ravages the southern Wastelands to this day.

Short Story December 17, 2022 0

In-Universe Tale 1 – Novel World Building

Farvald was a simple man, ordinary in every way but one: he was gifted with an attunement to the world. Or cursed with it, so he would say. Neither deceit nor disguise could hope to fool him. Magical illusions, because magic was common in those days, could not trick his eyes. He saw only reality in its full unruly glory.

Short Story December 10, 2022 0

Dual Creation Myths – Novel World-Building

Before the world, there was only Gadall. No one knows where this god came from. Many say he always was. Others question: Who created the god of creation?
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When time was naught, Gadall was. He is the shapeless void whence we all came. The storm of relentless fury that castes out entire universes in a timeless age formed into a moment.

Short Story July 10, 2022 0

Precious Visions

Ivory smoke plumed and billowed through the room. An elaborate revolution of Ebania’s arms effortlessly masked the movement of her left foot as she pressed a secret switch. The crimson flame turned a deep violet with the addition of salts through a hidden mechanism beneath a floorboard. The effect was impressive and convincing. As if summoned fiery spirits recoiled fearfully from her oversized robes.

Essay February 7, 2022 1

Hadestown: The Tragedy That Changed My Life

Hadestown is a Musical with music and lyrics by Anaïs Mitchell and directed by Rachel Chavkin. It debuted Off-Broadway in 2016. Additional productions followed in Edmonton and London before finally premiering on Broadway in 2019, the very same month the world began to shut down over a virus.

Short Story January 9, 2022 0

Title Withheld

I shiver ceaselessly. When did the heat dissipate? What drove it from the mountain and forbade its return? There, the air itself was enough to blister the skin. I remember the waves of heat which warned against my approach with every step. Warnings I pushed aside with every fiber of fortitude I possessed. Until my departure home. The flames licked at the back of my neck, and my lungs rejoiced at the ease with which they filled with cool, unrestrictive air. But now, in this nowhere between origin and destination.