Useful Writer Links, Stuff Coming Up, and Project Sneak Peek - When Medilo Swamp Walks

So, I didn't know what I wanted to write for this year. There are writers with more writing world experience doing predictions and giving New Year's Resolutions, and I'm not into the resolution thing - goals, yes; resolutions, not so much.

Useful Writer Links

Artist Svenja Liv, puts out a set of word trackers each year (also a set of NaNoWriMo word trackers). I like these because they help keep me on track. You can find them HERE, and should check out the rest of Svenja's site, too - especially if you like art.

And, if I had to choose three blogs to follow, these would be the ones:

• Chuck Wendig's Terribleminds Blog: bookmark it. It's irreverent, direct and straight to the point. A bit of no-nonsense in this nonsensically wonderful world of words is to be appreciated.
• The Passive Voice: for industry news and other stuff. Another one to bookmark.
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch: for commonsense, inspiration and encouragement. Bookmark this, also.

Stuff Coming Up

Free Read PDFs

Since I discovered how to embed PDFs, as part of an IT course, I've been working on the PDFs for all the free reads, first chapters and so forth for each year. Of course, C.M. Simpson Publishing caught wind of this (not surprisingly) and asked if I'd do a PDF for each writer.

Freeman's Choice

This science fiction-fantasy novel should be released in the first half of the year.

Anthologies

There are three anthology-type works slated for release this year, including An Anthology of Blades (first quarter), a flash fiction collection (3rd quarter) and a poetry collection (4th quarter).

Annual Collections

I'm debating on whether or not I want to release the usual collection of works released or completed in 2013. Firstly, because it's expensive, and secondly, because this year it will be two volumes of expensive. Stay tuned.

As Madeleine

One more contemporary romance in the first quarter, with the possibility of a second in the third quarter.

As Carlie

I will be trying to put out at least two more titles in the Wheelchair and Rocky series. I'm still researching for the Teacher's Notes for each series.

Covers

More covers coming.

Free Reads

These will consist of similar fodder to last year, but I might add in some poetry this year, as well.

Adventure Edition

Will continue, but progress will be slower. There will also be PDFs made available for download as each Act is completed. First, however, I have to check out the rules updates and make sure the adventures match.

Project Sneak Peak

This, I wrote this morning. It's a short science fiction piece. Enjoy, and may you have fair winds and fortune, all this new year.

When Medilo Swamp Walks

Written on January 1, 2014, for 365 Days of Flash Fiction, this piece is a celebration of beginnings… and endings, fitting for the first day of the year.

Living on the edge of Medilo Swamp is perilous, they say, but I find it hard to believe. Hard to believe they’re going to abandon an entire planet because of one, albeit very large, piece of undesirable real estate. It’s not the swamp itself, they tell me, but the creatures within—the will’o’wisps, stingers, blood birds and lily dragons. Lily dragons sound more beautiful than dangerous—or so I thought until the night the swamp walked.

Once every five decades, the three moons reach conjunction in their fullest lunar phase. Just once, but it is enough. The colonists’ research team had been at the height of excitement for the last month, tuning instruments, preparing diaries, recording everything that moved, breathed, grew, recording the fullness of swamp water and the changes in its composition as the lunar drag pulled new compounds from below. And that night, that glorious, terrifying night, the swamp walked.

Its waters sparkled like mercury touched with amber, reflecting the lights of a dozen will’o’wisps, highlighting the petals of several restlessly moving swarms of water blooms, making the gathered reed stems shiver. At first, we did not notice the swamp, because on the lowland plains between the village and the swamp edge, the floating cactili were coming into bloom, their scent and savour drawing creatures from the hills around us, and bringing birds flocking to perch until every rooftop, washing line, observation post, defensive wall was decorated in balls of multi-coloured plumage—like Christmas with feathers.

Predators came, too. High above the flocks and herds, soared birds of prey. Settling onto rocks in a kind of truce came the smaller flying lizards. Prowling to the very edge of the cactili fields came the great cats, and the silent mountain wolves. All eyes were on the cactili pods, but not one creature ventured among them.

The scientists, for once, took their cue from nature, and their orders from the security team. There were too many predators about, and advanced medical support was too far away to save anyone’s life. Death was a suitable deterrent.

At dusk, the pods began to rise—and still nothing moved. The creatures tensed, yes, but they did not move from their places. The water-based male pods surfaced first, shooting swiftly into the sky, reaching heights of four to six metres, and then they opened their outer leaves, releasing the strong, sharp scent of cactili spice into the air.

The beasts shifted restlessly in place. And then the land-based female pods lifted from the ground, their petals slowly unfurling, a softer scent curling out to mingle with the spice. Not a single creature moved, until most of the female pods had reached two metres and started to release gold and pink mist into the air. Spores, millions of them, slowly rising.

The male pods exploded, throwing more spore high into the air. The rising female seed, would meet the slowly descending male seed, and germination would commence. The mass explosion was the signal the creatures were waiting for, and the herbivores surged forward in a rumble of hooves and skitter of paws and claws.

They jostled further and further onto the stream-riddled plain, snatching at the slowly falling female pods, and bending their necks to seek out the cactili ground forage. The waiting flocks sprang from their perches in a thunderous roar of feathers, some to settle in the furthest reaches of the plains, and others to dive and swoop amidst the germinating spore.

The predators gave the herds time to settle, and the flocks time to establish a feeding pattern. When they moved, so did the swamp, and that was when the settlers discovered just how dangerous and varied the creatures of Medilo truly were.

The will’o’wisps hovered in clouds around downed herd beasts or struggling flyers. Blood birds took their meals from the diving, darting spore swallows, or settled in clouds over larger beasts to feed. Stingers flew or skittered across the water to engulf creatures of all sizes and leave skeletons behind. The reed beds showed themselves to be trolls and as carnivorous as any lion, and the dragons… the dragons had legs and could stalk the land as well as the swamp pools. Lilies are indeed beautiful, but none of us will ever view them as safe again.

The feeding frenzy continued long after dusk had melted into night, and the infra-red equipment earned back its cost in harvested information. The surviving cactili spore descended at dawn, settling on soil enriched by blood and nutrient saturated water from the swamp. By that time, the survivors had retreated back to their ranges in the surrounding hills, and the creatures of Medilo had returned to their lairs within its borders. Although shaken, the Colonists’ Governance let us stay. Medilo, after all, had borders.