Posts tagged with "fairy tale" - Faerye Net

The Lay of the Wise Woman's Fire

2012-08-19T20:51:20+00:00

What ho, readers! I wrote something a little odd, so I thought I’d put it on Faerye.net, where the odd things go.

The Lay of the Wise Woman’s Fire
In a forest past a mountain
Where a gleaming birch stood bright,
Shrugged a tiny cottage doorway
Barely shutting out the night.

Low the coals burned in the pit there,
’Twixt walls pierced by draughts and cold
But the etched face of the bent crone
Showed a cunning smile, and bold.

“Come on in and sit, ye traveler!
By my dying fire you’ll tide
And hear a story or a puzzle,
A lie in which great truths can hide.”

In beside the soughing embers,
’Cross the fire from the old dame,
Lurched the third son of a warlord,
Fortune-seeker, Brait by name.

Long and far his path had ta’en him,
Or so it seemed to untried Brait,
Before the moonlit path had shown him
The way to this old woman’s gate.

“Fame do you seek, or glory?”
Asked the smiling glint-eyed crone.
“Bright-haired noblewomen’s daughters?
Magic? Treasure? Or a throne?”

“Any of these would I leap at!”
Said the boy, half-rising, awed.
“Sure you must know much, great wise one,
Sure the right path have I trod!”

“Tell me where my story takes me!
Give me clues to find my fate!
And your hands I’ll fill with silver,
After fortune makes me great!”

“Fortune’s fickle,” laughed the wise one.
“Many heroes have I seen…
Promised gold and promised silver
In the counting lose their sheen.

“Have you aught of honest value,
Son of mighty warlord’s halls?
For a treasure of your past, then,
I may share destiny’s call.”

Forth Brait drew his gleaming longsword,
Ruby-studded, rich in names.
“This I give to buy my future!”
Watchful Night heard him proclaim.

Through the dark he took her counsel,
Learned her riddles, drew her maps,
’Til one hour past the daybreak,
Brait strode forth to try his haps.

And when, one year hence, Brait returned there —
To the slope-roofed cottage old?
All he found was broken thatching,
Tumbled wall stones, fire cold.

For however dark the forest,
However wizened the dame may seem,
Not every old crone is a wise one —
Despite her knowing eyeballs’ gleam.

Rich the house and straight its timbers,
Warm and bright and great its fires!
Fat and happy on the sword’s price
Lives not a witch, but yes, a liar!

First Ever Chapbook: The Lonely Mecha-Dragon

2008-11-19T00:27:50+00:00

Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered…okay, mostly through printing problems and logistical errors, including some on my part (Captain’s Log: must…tell…artist…project due date!), I have produced my first ever chapbook. Well, once I stitched one together in a Book Arts class my pal Julie Madsen taught, but only a real completionist is going to argue that counts.

My first chapbook, brought into existence for the occasion of Orycon 30, consists of the (hopefully) humorous story The Lonely Mecha-Dragon, briefly published on this website and now polished into chapbook form. Most notably, it now has cover art by my fabulous friend Amanda Van Howe, who came through under duress with a lovely, classic mecha-dragon. Classic except for being mecha, that is! She is a very gifted illustrator and artiste and I feel very lucky.

The Lonely Mecha-Dragon, by Felicity Shoulders under the auspices of (coughherselfcough) Paracosmonaut Press, is a limited edition of 100, hand-numbered by the author! I will also sign them if given the slightest provocation. How can you get them? Well, first of all, by being named in the “Thanks” section (there go five or six of one-hundred), second of all, by coming to Orycon and paying the low, low Orycon price, and third of all…yet to be determined. Watch this space. But not for too long, you might get pixel-burn on your eyes.

The Lonely Mecha-Dragon

2008-07-30T15:17:45+00:00

Sadly, this piece of fiction received too many accolades and therefore has been removed so I can shop it around to magazines. My publishing a piece for free on the web longterm can really destroy its chances in the magazine market.