May 9, 2017

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 304

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them.



Iceflame swooped down on the forces of the Jade King. The United Warmachine was a pathetic, patched together conglomeration of cavalry, siege machines, motorized tanks, and flyers. He gathered a breath to let loose a searing blast. A geometric kaleidoscope sprang to life before him. Before he could back wing, the kaleidoscope grabbed him and violently twisted him into a place he couldn’t understand at first.

From his belly, Durdleslip said, “What the hell’s going on out there? Your guts clenched up so tight I thought I was back in the constrictor!”

“I’m…” Iceflame stammered then closed his mouth. He hadn’t uttered a sound anywhere but in his mind. He couldn’t hear anything at all. I thought, “Space. We’re in space.”

Durdleslip squirm and felt Iceflame’s stomach surge, saying “No one can hear you scream, my host.”

“Shut up,” thought Iceflame.

“Let me see what you see!”

Iceflame shuddered and Durdleslip could see. If he breathed, he’d have gasped. Instead, he turned into a tumescent corkscrew, thinking, “Turn it off! Turn it off!”

Iceflame didn’t, amazed by the sight of the blue and white swathed, compressed octahedron spinning slowly below him. Continents visible through the clouds were normal, rough-edged. He reached out to hold the strange, living world between his claws.

“Turn it off!” Durdleslip wailed. There was a pause, then “Spikes!”

Pain lanced – literally – through Iceflame’s guts. He screamed in silence then tumbled into a fall.

By the time a rescue shuttle rapidly detached itself from a ramshackle, castle-like space station orbiting Tetra World, Iceflame was unconscious…

Names: Artificial names

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