Creatures of Askrlim

I've started fleshing out what would become my "Monster Manual" if The Tenth Rune were an RPG. I've posted the page over here, where I will be keeping it updated as I develop the world further, but I often find when writing that it helps to have a pool of cultures and creatures to reference. In stories set on present-day Earth that is all set already, but when you decide you need to make up a whole cosmos like I did this time, a bestiary can be handy!

On a similar note, have any of you noticed how hard it is to come up with magical creatures for a fantasy setting? Fantastical creatures tend to be either amalgams of mundane creatures (I'm looking at you, manticore, hippogriff, sphinx and chimera) or else big versions of everyday animals (giant spiders? dire wolves? oversized ladybugs?) Do any of you have any useful advice or resources for creating original monsters?

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The Tenth Rune and Faceless

If you've been to my Projects page, you may have noticed a novel-in-progress with the unfortunately bland title of Flight of the Valkyrie. I've decided to change the (working) title of that one to The Tenth Rune, which I believe to be more fitting to the story.

I've also posted a new short story that may or may not be part of that novel, but tells the origin of the female Loki-equivalent deity in the pantheon: Faceless. Go on and give it a read!

Hopefully I'll add some more of the cosmogony of Askrlim on here as I develop it further. I've done a lot of re-imagining of the Norse myth that the story draws from, and only a limited amount can fit in the story so I think this would be a neat place to display it.

I've also got a few other short stories in the works set on Askrlim, but I can't post them here since I've got some places in mind I'd like to submit them to. I found a call for anthology submissions at World Weaver Press for a few anthologies that I think would suit this world well. I'll keep you filled in on them as I go.

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Satan!

Here we belong, Fighting to survive,
In a world with the darkest powers,
And here we are, We're the princes of the universe

"I love Satan!" I told artist Kelley Williams when he showed my the first colors from the forthcoming comic in the Killer Queen Anthology.

As you can see, I was referring not to a newfound adoration for the Dark Lord, but rather to Kelley's fantastic realization of the Lord of Lies. Fear not, church friends, I still denounce Satan and all his works. Except those in dealing with Space Whales. But we will have to wait a few more months before we get the deets on that conflict!

In the mean time, prime yourself with this:

New Story Up!

Happy Friday everyone!

I've posted a new short story over on the Projects page. Here's the direct link.

This is an unusual story. The only way I see it ever seeing print is in one of those books that have a bunch of stories in the same universe with my "novel"(?)-in-progress Do Gyndroids Dream of Electric Dicks?, formerly known as Dreammaker. (There's something magical about the word dicks in italics. Especially in serif fonts... Dicks.)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. It was an interesting experience.

Depending how busy work is, maybe I'll make these Friday short story posts a thing.

Then again, maybe I'll resume posting DGDoED again. I've got a few chapters written that I never got around to posting. Ideally one day I'll get the whole thing mirrored on this site as well to avoid Tumblr's crappy interface. Aaaand that's how a simple notification turns into a ramble. Jon James out.

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