Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived inland. She loved the feel of the earth under her feet when she went hiking. She loved the muffled thud of horse hooves on soft soil and their gritty clatter on rocky trails. She loved the smell of dusty country roads, of rain on hot pavement, of autumn leaves.
Then one day, she spent an afternoon on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico . The limitless horizon, the sense of unbound freedom, captivated her. Later, she took sailing classes and sailed on the Pacific. When she couldn't rent a boat, she spent as much time as she could on the beach, watching the waves, inhaling briny winds, dreaming of one day living aboard a boat of her own. She loved the sea.
She moved inland once more, and though she rediscovered her love of land, the sea never left her heart.
What does a writer do with a yearning that can't be fulfilled? Use imagination.
I don't have even a rowboat to take on a pond, but ships fill my imagination. Oh, and the vessels there are wonderful. I christen each one with the launch of a story. Aboard them, I travel seas and skies and space.
Fast and sleek, the Minstrel is a harp-ship piloted by music; her great deck-harp sounds the ocean depths for the navigator playing the ship. The Sea Nymph tries to elude sirens who would destroy her on reefs. The galleon Mer l'Etoile ferries elven ambassadors from Africa while the tramp steamer MereleCroix carries her passengers on Atlantic lanes. In the skies, pale sails of the airships Mind theTrees and Sunbeam billow under stars as their crews, on a rescue mission, battle elements and enemies.
And in space, ships steered by cybernetic navigators carry colonists as they flee a world under a dying sun: Inspiratum, Astra Ventus, Cantus Lumen, and others.
So, why settle for a canoe when I have fleets? Today, Tuscan Red launches to pick up a baby dragon for delivery to a new home.
The only thing missing is the bottle of champagne to smash on Tuscan Red's hull as I christen her.
Are these all names of stories you've already written? Wow, if that's true. Time to publish?
ReplyDeleteSome have already been published, some will be coming out in anthologies later this year, and some are in work. For examples,"Ley of the Minstrel" was published by The Cross and the Cosmos (second issue -- included accompanying cover art). The Sea Nymph showed up a long time ago in "The Siren's Reason" a small (and unfortunately short-lived) magazine. Just finished "Inspiratum" but giving it a breather before I really call it good to go.
ReplyDeleteBut that's not all of the vessels I've "christened" -- it's just a sampling. Fidelity will be showing up in a short story titled "Tools of the Trade", in Port Yonder Press's anthology "The Book of Sylvari"; so will Cantus Lumen in another story there (under psuedonym).
The cycle of cybernetic navigator stories will ultimately involve fifteen space ships, but right now, only three are completed. They'll be published in mini-collections under the banner of an ezine publisher who'll be launching its book line later this year.
Of course, now that summer's here, I've also dragged a couple of my boat-building books off the shelves. Never hurts to dream a bit. :)