Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Soothsayer Ch. 3, Pt. 2

Notes: Here we go marching on, finally getting a little of the main plot going! I know this one will leave some of your frustrated, but I swear it's getting better. We're closer and closer to our primary conflict every day, and I'm having a huge amount of fun with this. One of the great things about urban fantasy as a genre is the freedom it encourages when thinking about mythology and magic, and I've got some fun ahead. Thanks, Iceland!

Also included this time around: a custom sketch of Marisol, courtesy of the phenomenal Nico Baum, whose art you can find here on Tumblr: http://n4ut.tumblr.com/. Thank you! So, who should I commission next, guys? Phin? Roger? Maybe the mysterious he? Leave a comment and let me know!


Title: Soothsayer, Chapter 3, Part Two.


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“Only after disaster can we be resurrected.” – Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club


Dreams were always a problem for me, but dreaming of him was the worst. I’d made a lot of bad decisions in my life, poor choices that couldn’t just be explained away with youth and stupidity, but the things I did with him were far and away the most shameful moments of my life. I could try and excuse it by saying that I was a captive, trying to escape before the Viking patriarch of that twisted little family lost patience and did away with me. I could say that my mother had failed me by not letting me know about the danger I was about to get into before I was tumbling into it, head over heels. I could say that he should have been the one to bear the shame, since he was technically free while I was the one imprisoned, but all of that would be lies, awful, facetious. The truth is…the truth is, I saw an opportunity in Sören’s eyes, and I took it.


9 comments:

  1. Wait. I'm confused. Soren and Olafur are the same person, right? It's been a long day... Maybe I'm missing something. I think I need to read this again.

    Confusion aside, I am intrigued by the glimpse into Cillian's past. Finally, "him" is revealed! Woot!

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    1. Actually, they're not the same person. Icelandic names traditionally don't go family style the way ours do. So Soren Olafurson is the son of Olafur Egilsson. Hmm, maybe I should clarify somewhere in the next chapter...

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    2. Ohhh. That makes perfect sense. I wasn't thinking of it that way before but I get it now :-) Clarification might help though.

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  2. This is getting good! I'm going to have to read up on tarot cards though - I think the sum total of my existing knowledge is from Live and Let Die, and I suspect they may have played fast and loose with the rules :-)

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    1. I've had my cards read numerous times (I can hear your "OMG Boulder" sigh from here, and yes, that's pretty much why) but the rest is all courtesy of Google. Glad it's picking up speed for you!

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  3. I freakin' love Marisol and Phin...together. :D

    I haven't felt that this is slow, at all. It's just well paced. The only slow bit is waiting for the next chapter, but I'm just impatient like that. This is just so different. I don't think I've read anything quite like it. It feels mysterious, but so real. I've said that about your work before though, haven't I.

    “Oh please, I’ve seen it all before, you’re not going to shock me with your morning wood.”

    Love her!

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    1. Oh yes - I wasn't meaning that I thought it was [too] slow - just that now we've had the fun 'meet the characters' and are moving on to the funner 'what they get up to'. Also - Viking mystery? Count me in!

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    2. Oh no, VC, Cari had prefaced this post with "finally getting to the main plot" and I didn't want her to think that we were anything less than absorbed already :) I much prefer this ease into the story rather than an info dump any day.

      Viking mystery! I love that :D

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    3. HI Lisa!

      Aren't Marisol and Phin lovely? I just had to do it. And I'm glad you like the pacing, blog stories tend to bring out the worst in me in terms of "hey, this would be neat, let's write it and see what happens" as opposed to "This is your word limit, now get cracking." But I have more fun that way, I think. I'm very pleased you're enjoying it, I wanted to do something fun and different for you.

      And VC, viking mystery! With all the requisite viking paraphernalia: crazy blondes, a healthy respect for mythology and a very strange antagonist/protagonist. It'll be a doozy.

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