Captain Vivian Orville stepped onto her bridge. Most of the crew she could rely on, but there were a few new faces who were unsure about a female commander. It was a good thing for them this was a private vessel, not one that relied on military discipline. Her lip twitched a half smile as the lieutenant struggled to his feet.
“Are we ready to depart?” She asked him. He scrambled for his clipboard.
“Yes, sir, er, Ma’am. But the ground crew is on tea break.”
She sighed. “Very well. Lord knows they won’t get a rest for a while.”
The Voyage 016: Vivian
May 19, 2015
Uncategorized 140 Characters, Drabble, The Voyage, Vivian Leave a comment
The Voyage 014: Annabelle
May 17, 2015
Uncategorized 140 Characters, Annabelle, Drabble, The Voyage Leave a comment
Annabelle came running up a moment later, and took a cup of tea gratefully from the girl. She was all out of breath, which, combined with her oil-smudged face and men’s coveralls, made her altogether far less ladylike than her prim sister. She didn’t much care though.
“They’re loading the last of it now,” she said. “That final passenger, a doctor or something, found a problem with the scales, and we should be light enough to get off the ground.” Or at least, the ship will, she thought. But someday, she’d be a pilot herself, and then she’d soar.
The Voyage 012: Ariel
May 15, 2015
The handlers all struggled to doff their hats as Ariel came strolling up for her cuppa. Having one hand occupied with the gauntlets and the other holding hot tea made the whole maneuver comically awkward, much to her delight. The men still didn’t know what to make of her and her twin sister Annabelle. They were Signalers, not precisely a ladylike position but still professional. She smiled and inclined her head, and took a cup delicately in her gloved hands. They took it as a signal to relax, and they resumed their conversation, if with a bit more guarded tongues.
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Nice Kicks! Queen City Conquest and In Their Own Worlds
May 3, 2015
Uncategorized Arts, Gaming, kicstarter, Nice kicks! Leave a comment
Nice Kicks-Queen City Conquest and In Their Own Worlds!
Hello readers! It’s finally spring! The temptation to turn off the computer and frolic in the sunshine weighs heavily upon me, but I have news to share. Specifically, some Kickstarter projects I’m backing that you should jump on before they finish.
Queen City Conquest
The fourth itteration of this Buffalo, NY table-top and board gaming convention is quickly becoming a local institution! This more than any other is the con where I get introduced to new games that I HAVE to get, stretch my dungeon-crawling legs, and score great swag in their charity silent auction. Last year, I played “Boss Monster” and “Sentinels of the Multiverse” for the first time. This is a real community convention, and it is the highlight of my September. Weekend Passes for this year’s event are going for $30 on the Kickstarter! Trust me, that’s a deal too good to pass up!
In Their Own Worlds
J. R. Blackwell is one of those rare creative polymaths with a golden touch. A Photographer, Journalist, Writer, Costumer and Game Designer, she’s something of a geek renaisance woman. Nowhere is this more apparent than in her latest project, “In Their Own Worlds.” A synthesis of her exceptional talents, she has begun a series of photography sessions in which she photographs authors in the settings of their own works. She photographed her husband Jared Axelrod as a bystander of his own super-villain creation Comrade Cocroach as a proof of concept, and has plans for shoots with Mur Lafferty, Ursula Vernon, Chuck Wendig, and other popular speculative fiction authors. New shoots are being constantly unlocked as stretch goals, so the more you donate, the better it gets.
These two projects are in their last weeks. I wholeheartedly recommend both of them.
Support Hugh on Patreon for bonus content and more goodies!
“The City: A Story in 140 Characters” is now available via Amazon and Gumroad!
Announcing “Prompt Succor” in Dirty Magick: New Orleans!
April 24, 2015
Uncategorized announcemnts, Fiction, promotion Leave a comment
I am pleased to announce that my story “Prompt Succor” is included in the new anthology Dirty Magick: New Orleans edited by Charlie Brown!
DM: NO is a collection urban fantasy stories with a noir twist, all set in The Big Easy. It includes fiction from Mike Plested, Scott Roche, and a whole host of other outstanding writers!
“Prompt Succor” is a story about “Sharp” Terry O’Byrne, an Irish ex-patriot who sees spirits and works for bootleggers. When Terry gets a visit from the Catholic Church, he’ll have to solve a hundred and ten-year old mystery to accomplish something he’s never done before: putting ghosts to rest.
Dirty Magick: New Orleans is now available as an Kindle-exclusive ebook, and will be appearing in print later this month
Cover Preview: The City: A Novel in 140 Characters!
April 11, 2015
Hello, readers! I hope you enjoyed our presentation of “The City: A Story in 140 Characters. Here’s some not quite final cover art for the ebook! If all goes well, the ebook will launch on gumroad, smashwords and amazon next weekend! It will include an introduction as well as a preview of the next entry in the “140 Characters” series, “The Voyage!” So stay tuned, let me know what you think of the cover, and above all, thanks for reading!
An open challenge to anyone who doesn’t read diversely
March 25, 2015
Uncategorized books Leave a comment
So you say you don’t judge a book by it’s author, that you don’t ‘notice’ race, gender, or national identity. Fine. I’m calling your bluff. Below are ten excellent genre books, listed only by their descriptions. Each one is a link to amazon. Some are bestsellers. Some are classics. Some are even *gasp* self-published. But they’re all stories of the highest quality. I challenge you to pick out the one you find most interesting, and read it. If you aren’t afraid to read something that without checking the cover first, that is.
A retelling of the Hades/Persephone myth with Zeus as the villain.
A falsely imprisoned man is consumed by his quest for revenge.
The Son of a Spanish nobleman and a Shoshone woman fights injustice in 18th Century California.
The City: 126: Marcus
March 23, 2015
Uncategorized 140 Characters, Marcus, The Cat Lady, The City, The Daytrippers, Zombies Leave a comment
Marcus was the first sentry to fall. The roads to the Bay were clogged with abandoned cars, and the zombies were lurking everywhere. They wandered around earlier in the day, but now they hid. They lurked in backseats and under bridges, waiting.
The Cat Lady summoned a small army of her artificial intellegences to scout ahead, but the zombies left them alone. They weren’t alive. Marcus wondered if they were the only living people left in The City.
The one that picked him off had wedged itself underneath a storm grate. When it burst out, he stepped in its path.
2014 Final Results
December 31, 2014
Earlier this year, I made a pledge to increase my productivity this year, and set some pretty lofty goals. I called this project ‘The Page of Awesome’ and kept track of it in my primary notebook. You can find the original post HERE. I also kept sporadic track of my progress in a little box on the sidebar of this site.
So now that it’s December 31st, it’s time to look over my goals and see how I measured up.
Writing Submissions:
This year I wanted to increase my number of story submissions. I made a goal of one hundred submissions for the year, but end up with only fifty. Of these submissions, I had two published short stories released. “The Montressor Method” to Over My Dead Body Online Magazine, and “The Duke’s Fountain,” to Wicked Words Quarterly. Additionally, I have a third forthcoming sale which I hope to share with you in 2015. While I didn’t meet my goal for this year, I still feel alright with this one. My failure to reach the goal had more to do with a reluctance to perform necessary butt-in-chair editing rather than cold feet at the submission stage, so that is where I need to improve to increase this stat in 2015.
Podcasts:
In 2014, I made a goal to podcast more frequently and more consistently. I made a goal of 50 podcasts, and released 35. So again, this was short of my goal, but I am mostly satisfied with the podcasting work I did this year. I still have a lot of work to do for 2015, including some promised voice work for friends and the completion of “The Dark Wife.” I hope to have a few more surprises as well.
Blog Posts:
I also wanted to release more blog posts. I made a goal of one-hundred posts, and published about 130, including this one. My math might be a bit off. I think the primary reason I was able to meet this goal is the steady release of “The City: A story in 140 Characters,” which began at the end of September and is ongoing.
2014 has been a year of ups and downs, great triumphs and deep tragedies. I’m ending the year with a deep sense of personal gratitude to those who have believed in me and encouraged me throughout the year. I’d particularly like to thank my husband Jeremy for his constant support, and the occasional prod when I needed it. I want to thank everyone in Smoky Writers for welcoming me into the group, and encouraging my twisted sense of humor. I’d like to say thank you to Skinner Co and everybody in The Mob for all of their support and friendship, too. I am, and ever shall be, your bro. And thanks to you for reading.
Tomorrow is the first day of 2015. It’s almost time to make a whole new set of goals. But for now, the snow is white and fresh (where it’s falling) and the sun is setting on 2014. Tonight, pour a drink, think of the good that came out of this year, and toast auld lang sine.
A New Writing Project Coming Next Week!
September 23, 2014
Starting next week, I’m going to tray a bit of a literary experiment here on the Blog. Introducing, “The City, A Story in 140 Characters!”
I’ve always liked comic strips, and particularly webcomics as form of short serialized storytelling. I’ve wanted to do one, but I can’t draw worth sour apples. I was blown away by Jake Bible’s novel Dead Mech, and ever since I first listened to the podcast version, I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a longer story broken up into 100 word parts. This is my first attempt.
Here’s the twist: Each Drabble is going to focus on a different character, for a total of one-hundred and forty. Can I tell a coherent story broken up into so many viewpoints, in so short a wordcount? Even I don’t know yet, but I can’t wait to find out!
Come back every weekday for a new drabble, a new character, and a new look at the mysterious world of The City!
Hugh J. O'Donnell 