F3 The Enchanted Sword

     That was definitely a sword in a rock. Back home it was straight out of King Arthur. Here, there was one in every village and kingdom. They were all variations on a chosen hero. Some of the stones lay forgotten in forests. Others rested in places of prominence. Still more were in ruins or guarded by fierce creatures designed to test the bravery.

Misjudged

     For many years, I have misjudged Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Now I believe that this movie is on par with its predecessor, and together they make some of the most perfect movie watching and storytelling imaginable. The depth of personal sacrifice in those movies elevates them to epic proportions. Give them a second look while remembering that while you may find a way to get rid of the no-win scenario, there is always a cost to everything. Quite possibly the greater truth is that there is no such thing as the win-win scenario.

Types of Stories

     So in teaching creative writing, I went over this with my class. The standard types of stories, and how there really are no new ideas, just new executions (call the headsman!). I firmly believe that. The trick, I think is that the execution must be a fairly radical one. Subtle executions don't gain enough notice.
     So it's time to get crazy. Look at those weird combinations, and see if there isn't something that can make them work. Not unlike water (I wish this was a Bruce Lee metaphor, but alas). Two volatile chemicals combine to make a molecule that extinguishes such conflagrations, and is the building block of life itself.
     Maybe such seemingly crazy combinations will make something entirely natural, but in a way that no one ever expected the disparate themes to combine.

F3 Cold Snap

     Temperature typically wasn't our thing. Burners did a much better job of using temperature at both extremes. They could pump heat in or suck it out with equal skill. For Storm Riders, we had to resort to other means, and cold was far easier than heat. It all came down to control.

Losing My Desire to Read

     In my youth, ah, bygone youth, I read voraciously. I could handle an entire epic fantasy trilogy in a day. Whole days whiled by in the bliss of reading, and I loved every minute of it. Now I can't do it. Oh, if a book is one I've been really waiting for I can still devour it quickly enough, but I don't read nearly as much as I used to.
     Strike that. I actually read more. It's what I read.

Gone, but not forgotten

     It's been a brutal year. With injury and illness, the blog was one of the first casualties. Writing was second in order to still pay bills. Fortunately, I am recovering nicely, and climbing my way back up to doing everything I feel I need to be doing, but a bit more organized, hopefully. I'll be toying around with the blog's format a little, and establishing a posting schedule, hopefully. I still enjoy doing bits of flash fiction, so those will keep going up.

F3 Pandora

     It was a jar, not a box. Most people get that wrong, thought it's pretty easy to do, I guess. Modern people aren't used to locking things into jars, so it's only natural that a mistranslation occurred. The thing is, it's a lot harder to close up a jar than it is a box.

F3 Epsilon Station Status Log

Universal Date Code: Mu 6893
Lt. J. Briggs

Report on loss of Epsilon Station: