Z is for Zoanthropes

Zoanthropes, shapeshifters, werebeasts: the names don't matter.

They watch us, and we watch them.

Pity and fear flowing back and forth across the barriers between us, it's hard to say who's worse off, or whether we peer at them through the bars of a prison or a zoo. They are bound by their natures - who could blame them for that? - and expect that their outrageous claims will be accepted, even when the facts that contradict them seem obvious to any who can see the undistorted truth.

They are delusional, it's clear - whether unwitting victims of some deep hypnotic suggestion, or by some accident of chemistry, it matters not at all - their perceptions are flawed, and they see what isn't there, hear voices pitched by their own imagining, and base their actions on those bizarre artifacts of their condition. We are patient with them, for our pity and compassion are real, but when their actions threaten us, risk our lives, then we have no choice but to act.

Many of them won't live out the week. It's hard to see them like this, know the fate that awaits them, and still smile blandly, keeping them calm and unsuspecting until the end comes.

And the end will come. All our arguments, discussions, and plans come down to this: reason, pity, and sentiment cannot stand against the ancient, bone-bred imperative to protect the self, the tribe, eradicate the threat. Soon, when the gates are next opened, Death will come through them, perhaps carried by a pale horse... or, perhaps, by some more fearsome thing.

Yes, Death will come through the gates, and in the presence of that Entity who brings such clarity to life, they will see too late that they have misjudged us, see too late that their delusions, the strange misfirings of their sorry, tortured brains have betrayed them at the end. Will they relent, recant, attest at last to the veracity of all we have tried so patiently to explain? Will they see in those last moments the reality so far hidden from their minds, our fur and our feathers at last revealed, our beaks and our fangs, the leaping, loping strides of the hunter that they have so far denied made clear? Or will they meet Death confused, still seeing soft and stubby fingers in the place of glistening claws, not grasping how flabby, fangless mouths could tear them with such abandon, how two of our legs could so swiftly outrun the fastest among them? We are few, but strong. We have been patient, more than patient, and we have shown them pity and compassion, and our pity and compassion were real. But no more.

Is that the gatekeeper's key?


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Since I didn't have the time or energy (or, let's face it, the talent) to draw endless interlaced zoomorphic illuminations for the final day of the A-Z challenge, and I didn't want to skip the last day, even if I haven't been perfect about posting, you get a short story about Zoanthropes and unexpected endings instead. It isn't really too tightly linked to the Nine Worlds setting, and it doesn't fall into any of the other tags here, except, possibly, microfiction, if you really want to stretch the term, but you do what you can do. I hope it is an enjoyably creepy ending to this month's series of posts.

Many thanks to everyone who has stopped by during the A-Z event. I hope you liked what you found here, and will keep checking back. I will continue to post as much as humanly possible under the circumstances. I have really enjoyed reading through your posts this month, and have found some great new blogs as a result of this exercise in the past 30 days.

I'm hoping that the energy and the creativity will carry through to next year's event!

Flash Fearsday: Xenophobia

Stranger, danger!
Don't stray yonder. Walk right home. Never wander, run or play:
stick to the familiar way.
What else would a hunter say?


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This is my response to the April 28th, 2011 Flash Fearsday exercise over at Lunching on Lamias, which challenges you to write a horror story in exactly 140 characters. It is also my "X" entry for the A-Z Blogging Challenge.

V is for Vortices

Maelstroms of energy interlaced with whirlpools of utter nothingness, the Vortices of the Void are spoken of only in hushed whispers...or, if you frequent precisely the wrong bars, in the slurred, perpetually-intoxicated, muttering half-shouts of those few who have seen them and lived.

While most Navigators consider the Vortices to be readily identifiable and avoidable hazards, there is a small but steady stream of adventurous challengers who attempt to traverse this treacherous and deadly region, ranging from those who enjoy courting death (many of whom find their advances accepted more quickly and completely than they had actually planned) to those who believe, against all evidence to the contrary, that the Vortices of the Void hold the secret of creating the next Jakkar Instability.

U is for Usual

This is my response to this week's Poetry Potluck, which I discovered thanks to a link over at Porky's Expanse!. The theme for the week is "Muse, Art, Music and Poetry"

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The Usual Muse

Within the ordinary things we find
a fire that, once seen, will spark the mind,
illuminate extraordinary roads
that cross in unexpected ways, form nodes
which link bright worlds within to anchors of
substantial form. Our senses fall in love,
and through them, born of our delight, we share
the flame, ignite another when we dare
express the wonder in a common stone,
the way the sand-smoothed, tumbled surface shone
beneath the flashlight's beam, a moon touched by
some alien gleam, refracting through a sky
half-framed by grass along the path. Strange dreams,
awoken by the real, reveal what seems
for what it is: the every-day surreal.

Expansion Joints: part 9, "Temper"

Once again, my indecisiveness makes an appearance. These are my responses to this week's Expansion Joints Challenge., and my entry for the letter "T" in the April A-Z Blogging Challenge

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Time travel's tricky.
Both clavier and composer were in ill temper.
Make note - Bach later.

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"Poison! I could die before morning!"
"To avoid Mother's visit? Try to temper your enthusiasm."

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"You dare haggle here, over these?"
Unlike the smith, his blades always held their temper.

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Expansion Joints Challenge: part 9, "Temper"

When this exercise was hosted over at Porky's Expanse!, he always chose the word for the Expanders! challenge based on some relevant happening that had occurred during the previous week. This week has seen some commentary on Fantasy as a genre that has created a bit of controversy, and, as I am desperate for something to help me narrow my word choice to one, I seized upon this as an excuse, and proclaimed the word of the week to be "temper".

If you aren't familiar with the Expansion Joints project, it all began over at Porky's Expanse!.

The rules are just as they are described over at Porky's: as much narrative as you can cram into fifteen words, one of which must be the word of the week.

This can take the form of

1. An epyllion,or litle epic, a stand-alone fifteen-word narrative, or

2. An epos, or 'epic'. Instead of an independent 15-word story, you can choose to develop someone else's story from a previous week, or extend your own story from week to week. Just write the next installment. If it has 15 words, uses the word of the week, and continues the story, you've done it.

There are two important things to think about if you choose epos. First, you should have the permission of the person who wrote the story you will develop. If anyone writes a 15-word epyllion or adds to an epos and is happy for others to develop it later, please say so, with something like 'for use in an epos'. Second, by using specific elements of someone else's story, we technically create a derivative work, so it's best to avoid this.

There are a number of generous contributors who have given express permission to use some of their writing as the basis for epos:

Porky, the founder of the project, offers up all of his contributions.

GDMNW has opened up the three stories here.

Dave G_Nplusplus makes any of his Expanders! stories available for use in an epos.

Jim Hale has an epos running on his Expanders! page, and he has graciously extended permission to play with any or all of the contributions there.

Andy, over at The Creepy Corridor, has also made his epos posts available for expansion.

And, as always, feel free to use any of the stories on this blog that are tagged as "Expansion Joints" in an epos.

Words that have previously made an appearance in an Expanders!/Expansion Joints include: food, fort, stuff, elf, rogue, pass, fool, hammer, and note, in case you are of an historical bent, or wish to write a complete set.

When you've finished writing your entry for this week, either post your 15-word story directly in the comments here, or leave a link in the comments to the blog page where we can find it.

Flash Fearsday: Q is for Quiescent

Sleep...
Beautiful Sleep!
Sleep, where the Hunger cannot follow...
The Hunger rising? No!
Flee! Return to sleep, sweet sleep?
Too late...


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This is my presponse to the April 21st, 2011 Flash Fearsday exercise over at Lunching on Lamias, which challenges you to write a horror story in exactly 140 characters. It is also my "Q" entry for the A-Z Blogging Challenge.