Really flattered to see that “Memory of Wind” is one of Sarah Ullery’s favorite stories on Tor.com! I really bled over that one; it ended up intersecting some very personal issues. Sarah Ullery lists a bunch of places to find free short stories online — give it a glance. [link]

I think I just wanted to play around with colors so I played around with colors.

This chick definitely goes to pride parades where she lurks near people until they look over and go, “Ahh! Creepy!” and run away.

Time for another round-up of my recent Haiku! (Here is an explanation of why I’ve been writing and posting haiku.)

A startle of wet

briskly awakens my skin.

I am thinking flesh.

The willow droops black

against a lavender sky,

a still precipice.

Dripping, drooping, weak.

The skin and the rain: both grey.

An unrestful sleep.

In early dimness,

a quiet, unmoving sky

chills, waiting for dusk.

Waiting in the cold,

trying not to let my mind

rush when all is calm.

Returning, the cold

breaks against the bedroom glass.

Wild-eyed, the cats watch.

Afternoon, evening,

merge as the sky stops dancing,

parting from the clock.

Meep is a character I drew for a role-playing game I was sketching out called Cats and Dogs Living Together.

Strangers rarely glimpse Meep, a shy, four-pound, six-month-old kitten with a fluffy mass of white fur, enormous blue eyes, and a perpetually perplexed expression. Though quick to startle and flee from anything new or surprising, once Meep has a chance to get comfortable, he’s boisterous and bold. When he’s not sure what to do, he compensates for youthful naivete by copying older animals.

The king is dying,

memory fading.

Now honor is gone

now yesterday’s dinner

now mother’s hand stroking

the ermine collar

of her deathbed gown.

(For now, the world

flat and finite

like his mind. The ocean’s

crisp boundaries

spill over four corners

like memory, disappearing.)

The king orders

a fleet of glass galleons

set out to explore

the edge of the world.

They launch, crystal sails

aloft in the sun,

casting rainbows

through ocean spray.

(A century hence,

the world will be round

like a fruit:

one endless circumference.

Minds, too, become

deeper thoughts hidden

like icebergs

submerged in men’s souls.)

Sailing toward

the periphery

translucence deepens.

Ships pale, disappear,

til but one is left.

Atop the survivor’s mast

the king’s sole

remaining lieutenant

peers at knife’s edge horizon.

The world tapers

stretched thin. Sky bleeds 

navy, royal, azure

fainter  

to absence’s hue.

(World and man

exchange simplicity

for paradox,

linearity curving

swallows its tail.

The traveler’s straight path

leads home again,

in the end. His marriage

disintegrates

in childhood’s castles.)

Beyond, nothing

save slow cascade 

of water pouring nowhere.

King’s faded schooner

balances on edge

one moment neither

within nor without.

Heavy, stern dips

mast creaks and shatters.

Tipping over

she falls

following oceans

over precipice

to comprehension,

lost.

Waiting in the cold,

trying not to let my mind

rush when all is calm.

Pia is a character I drew for a role-playing game I was sketching out called Cats and Dogs Living Together.

Pierrot (“Pia”) – The black spots around Pierrot’s eyes make her look like her namesake, a French clown–but everyone calls her Pia. The plump, thirteen pound, four-year-old does everything with gusto. She wants to be everyone’s friend. She’s energetic, risk-taking, and impulsive–smart enough to think through the consequences of her actions, but far too impatient. She’s always a mess; she has more interesting things to do than worry about her crooked whiskers and matted fur.

This was really neat to read! I always love seeing how people engage so thoughtfully with my stories.

A startle of wet
briskly awakens my skin.
I am thinking flesh.

Zippy is a character I drew for a role-playing game I was sketching out called Cats and Dogs Living Together.