Thursday Thoughts

Homebound today. Surprised at the amount of work I got done while vacationing. The only thing I haven't started is reading the Scylla and Charybdis manuscript.

My travels have given me a keen interest in historical spies. Unfortunately, there's no way to weave that in to the novels I'm planning. Well ... maybe it would fit in The Idea, but it wasn't originally constructed with spies, and if I put anything else in, it will explode. It might be possible to do a spy "episode" in my reality TV concept.

Also banked a lot of ideas for use in the "Flow" universe. Even though I am almost close to conceding defeat with the book, the setting remains a strong one for me ... and I already have a concept for another novel in the same setting, so it's not wasted work. I've also written (and am writing) short stories set in that contemporary-verse.

One of the conflicts in the setting is the clash between the water-witches - who believe in cooperation and containment of the fairy folk - and the Borderwatch - who believe that any fairy should be killed. The water-witches think the Borderwatch are fanatics who kill good "people" due to their black and white view; the Borderwatch think the water-witches are unrealistic, naive and the risk to humanity if a "good" fairy isn't is too high. (And both are, as far as me-as-author is concerned, correct.) Flow is presented primarily from the water-witch POV because Chailyn IS one. In the short stories, I've had more opportunity to explore things from the Borderwatch perspective.

I suspect my next reading binge is going to be non-fiction. I picked up two books and have two historical figures I want to do some research on: Mercy Otis Warren and Sarah Edmonds. This is slightly less weird than my previous binges. I've come out of my library with every book I could find on Helen of Troy ... dream interpretation ... gem mythology ... beauty pageants ... (for the record, despite the Helen of Troy legend containing the first beauty pageant, the two topics were not related.)

But this research may not go unused: I do have a setting that is the equivalent of post-Revolutionary America. "Menagerie" in The Sword Review was based in this world, and I've never used it since. I would have to reread the story (cringing all the way, I'm sure) to mine the setting points, but there's certainly room for sequel stories with those characters.

And, of course, so much of what I read gets transformed, reimagined, or sparks me in a completely different direction. Okay, now I'm just excited.