First line meme
Feb. 9th, 2007 09:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hawkwing_lbFirst line meme behind the
Unfinished short stories:
1. untitled dragon fairytale (c1.5K words)
It started when I found my grandson's wife trying to turn my great-granddaughter Fionnuala into a swan.
- this is the ridiculous story that I just want to have fun with. It is not now, nor will ever be, serious.
2. "Sorrow in the Court of the Shadow Queen" (c1K words)
The barge that carried the princess Sorrow came to the lee shore of the Isle of Dusk as the last light of the summer sun slid beneath the western horizon.
3. "The alchemist of dreams" (which awaits a better title) (c2K words)
Last night wasn't the first time I've dreamt of rain, but it might be the last.
4. "The witch of Oriel" (also awaiting better title) (c1K words)
MacCormac's youngest boy was missing.
5. "Blood Mirage", aka the faux-Aegypt coming-of-age story (first line and notes only)
When the jackal-headed god walked out of the desert, Kleobis was afraid.
6. untitled suburban ghoul story (first line and notes only)
Jennifer didn't realise there was a ghoul in town until after the children started dying.
7. "Arc of Heaven", aka the SFnal xenoarchaeology story (c 500 words)
The last leg of the journey inward from the glittering stations of the transfer ring took three days.
8. untitled world-ends life-goes-on story (first line and notes)
The day after the world ends, Patrick gets up to feed the pigeons.
9. untitled WWI-type trench warfare story, with magic (c1.5K words, in need of severe editing)
We kicked mud over Renard’s corpse in the dawn, when the dull pounding of the guns had grown silent at last and the wizardfire on the horizon died to a flickering haze.
10. untitled SF (first line only, no clue)
Michael Devalera Hattori doesn't want to go to Sappho's Landing.
--
Not-short stories
1. "Santander Cray and the Necromancer" (placeholder title) (c5K words)
Early in the morning on the last day of the Jade moon, a dapper gentleman left a sealed note to the salle on the Street of Masques in the city of Alusind.
*
2. untitled post-fascist future Dublin murder-espionage mystery (c1K words)
It's 0500 hours on the third of January when my pocket beeps me out of an old nightmare.
*
3. untitled vampire story (many words, in need of sorting)
Christopher Prospero apologises before he puts a bullet in my head.
*
4. untitled possible novel, which I fear needs much editing before I dare write more:
Rain misted across the mountains, grey cloud drifting over the knife edges of jagged, sky-reaching peaks. Autumn had come to the tree-crowded valleys, orange and rust brilliance dulled by the darkening sky, and even the spines of the evergreens had thinned. The wind that rustled through their dying hues carried more than a hint of chill. The season of change had come early and harsh to the Silmairel Range, and promised a cruel winter in its wake.
Naomasa Vryanar lowered the glass from his eye and sat back on his heels.
*
5. Carrion Gods
Another Faux-Aegypt story. No first line, but I do have the slightest inkling of what I want to do with it.
6. Grave Water
No first line. But ghouls! and murder! and car chases!
7. Obsidian.
No first line. But it wants to be Arthuriana. (I will not give in.)
Well, I think that's quite enough to be going on with.
Unfinished short stories:
1. untitled dragon fairytale (c1.5K words)
It started when I found my grandson's wife trying to turn my great-granddaughter Fionnuala into a swan.
- this is the ridiculous story that I just want to have fun with. It is not now, nor will ever be, serious.
2. "Sorrow in the Court of the Shadow Queen" (c1K words)
The barge that carried the princess Sorrow came to the lee shore of the Isle of Dusk as the last light of the summer sun slid beneath the western horizon.
3. "The alchemist of dreams" (which awaits a better title) (c2K words)
Last night wasn't the first time I've dreamt of rain, but it might be the last.
4. "The witch of Oriel" (also awaiting better title) (c1K words)
MacCormac's youngest boy was missing.
5. "Blood Mirage", aka the faux-Aegypt coming-of-age story (first line and notes only)
When the jackal-headed god walked out of the desert, Kleobis was afraid.
6. untitled suburban ghoul story (first line and notes only)
Jennifer didn't realise there was a ghoul in town until after the children started dying.
7. "Arc of Heaven", aka the SFnal xenoarchaeology story (c 500 words)
The last leg of the journey inward from the glittering stations of the transfer ring took three days.
8. untitled world-ends life-goes-on story (first line and notes)
The day after the world ends, Patrick gets up to feed the pigeons.
9. untitled WWI-type trench warfare story, with magic (c1.5K words, in need of severe editing)
We kicked mud over Renard’s corpse in the dawn, when the dull pounding of the guns had grown silent at last and the wizardfire on the horizon died to a flickering haze.
10. untitled SF (first line only, no clue)
Michael Devalera Hattori doesn't want to go to Sappho's Landing.
--
Not-short stories
1. "Santander Cray and the Necromancer" (placeholder title) (c5K words)
Early in the morning on the last day of the Jade moon, a dapper gentleman left a sealed note to the salle on the Street of Masques in the city of Alusind.
*
2. untitled post-fascist future Dublin murder-espionage mystery (c1K words)
It's 0500 hours on the third of January when my pocket beeps me out of an old nightmare.
*
3. untitled vampire story (many words, in need of sorting)
Christopher Prospero apologises before he puts a bullet in my head.
*
4. untitled possible novel, which I fear needs much editing before I dare write more:
Rain misted across the mountains, grey cloud drifting over the knife edges of jagged, sky-reaching peaks. Autumn had come to the tree-crowded valleys, orange and rust brilliance dulled by the darkening sky, and even the spines of the evergreens had thinned. The wind that rustled through their dying hues carried more than a hint of chill. The season of change had come early and harsh to the Silmairel Range, and promised a cruel winter in its wake.
Naomasa Vryanar lowered the glass from his eye and sat back on his heels.
*
5. Carrion Gods
Another Faux-Aegypt story. No first line, but I do have the slightest inkling of what I want to do with it.
6. Grave Water
No first line. But ghouls! and murder! and car chases!
7. Obsidian.
No first line. But it wants to be Arthuriana. (I will not give in.)
Well, I think that's quite enough to be going on with.
