Eärniel's short stories

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

Perhaps my analyzation is weak, but apparently Tara was able to prove to her mother that gymnastics were not so useless afterall. But it took a bit of hallucination for her to be able to do what she did.

She at least managed to prove to herself that gymnastic can be quite useful, but I fear her mother may be a tougher nut to crack.

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Congrats Eärniel! I gathered that EMG-zine is currently showing an interest in bulls and oxes, due to the Chinese zodiac sign (though the Chinese Year of the Ox won't actually begin until the end of January ).

There's a new theme each month. But I believe January is traditionally the one for the Chinese Zodiac. The theme actually was Ox, but I just used the bull because it fitted better in my story.

I'm going to try if I can submit more short stories this year to EMG-zine, it would be a good exercise for me in finishing stories a little sooner than the usual years it takes me now.

Bull Dance is an enjoyable short story. Visiting ancient Crete is nice, whether it's by reading Greek myths or one of Eärniel's writings Did you get your inspiration from a personal visit to Crete?

Alas, maybe one day. But until then I shall have to come by on documentaries. As it happened, there was one on TV the month before I wrote the story, although that one focussed on Evans and Kouroi, not bulls.

I was first kind of surprised that you didn't let the bull dance take place in Corsica. I mean, seeing as you have like a special relationship with that island. But then, in prehistoric times the Cretans amused themselves with leaping over bulls, didn't they? Much more so than the Corsicans I suppose. (But I bet present-day Corsicans wish their cars could leap those darn cows that insist on blocking the roads! )

Hahah, never fear, Corsica is bound to pop up in my stories some place! (In fact it has been referenced briefly in a story excerpt (Of Books, Imps and Otters) but may feature less cryptically if I ever get to expanding it.)

But Corsica doesn't have the mythologic/historic connection to bull dancing that I was looking for. Although I have to say the cows and bulls on Corsica are darn beautiful and intelligent specimen! A real pleasure to run into them. Just not in the middle of the mountain road behind one of those sharp turns, mind you.

[Jonathan]

Considering the proximity to Corsica, I wonder whether the roads of Sardinia are "infested" with cows and cattle as well! I'm going there next week

[Earniel]

Next week?! Dude, half of Corsica was snowed under last week! If the Sardinian cows have any clue they'd be tucked safely and warmly in winter-pens or stables. At any other point, I'd be envious of you since I've never been to Sardinia, but in this type of weather I'll pass.

[Jonathan]

Snowed under, really? That would be peculiar - for me to experience that kind of weather in Sardinia when there's hardly been any snow in Stockholm this winter so far. I always expect sunshine and warmth when travelling south

[Earniel]

A bit of freak weather, I fear. They even had an item about it on the news, and you could see truckers having to actually dig their trucks out of the snow. There seemed to be more snow than Belgium had in the last ten years.

Could be better by now, I suppose. And Sardinia is even more southerly. But then again, as Scandinavian, you'll probably laugh at temperatures at which I'm shivering under three layers of clothing.

[Count Comfect]

Nice story Earniel! Sorry, can't do the umlaut without ASCII codes...

I was just rereading Tolkien Lovers Anonymous...your writing was good then, but it's definitely improved

[Earniel]

Thank you. I never considered my RPG's in relation to my writing, but I guess a good basis was laid with them.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

I never considered my RPG's in relation to my writing, but I guess a good basis was laid with them.

I always consider RPGs as writing exercises (at least any long posts in them), as well as being fun to play.

[Jonathan]

I noticed this story can now be found on Elfwood too.

I also noticed that Fabric Dragons has lost its "Mod's choice" status. What's up with that?

[Earniel]

Yes, I uploaded the story there, since it's no longer available at the EMG-zine. I've only just received the message it went through this morning. I also uploaded Fabric Dragons again with two corrections, but that shouldn't have vanquished the Mod's Choice. Hm, better go and contact them over it.

[Earniel]

A short-story of mine that was just published in the monthly EMG-zine, about how one can encounter selkies in a modern-day setting.

[Coffeehouse]

It suddenly seemed terribly wrong to Jeremy to keep an old lady behind bars on a concrete floor without so much as a blanket.

Good read! This one made me laugh

[Varnafindë]

A captive audience never had a more suitable image.

Indeed ...

[Earniel]

Another short story of mine, just published in EMG-zine.

I very much liked the idea of this one, but it was a rush job, so the writing isn't as solid as it could be and I hope to god there aren't any glaring errors since I didn't have the time to get it corrected. (If you see and error, please let me know.)

[Mari]

Nice! The only error I spotted as I read it quickly, was the error in your post above.

I actually read two books in the past 2 weeks that have a very similar theme. It's very vexing, because in the books the strange animals aren't explained either. >_<

[Earniel]

Thanks! I'm curious, what were those books?

I did have an explanation for my giant squid all ready and worked out and it originally would have been fitted in the final conversation with Marsh. But entries for the e-zine have to be limited to 2000 words and it was already hard enough to put everything else in that I wanted in. So the explanation got booted in exchange for mystery. But if you're interested, read on:

SPOILER ALERT!

The squids are meant to be living fossils. The animal did once exist, the orthoceras: giant squid in straight shell-cones. So their looks and size were no invention by me, and you can easily look up the real thing. But they've all died out millions of years ago. In my story I intended to have the orthocones live in the deep-sea, that is still pretty much a mystery for us today and was even more so a mystery a century ago. It would explain why no one ever saw them alive before. I figured I could make the squid very old, centuries old, but that they just like some squid species today amass at some point in the ocean or at a shore to spawn. Them coming unto land and defending a patch to attract a female is largely my adaptation of similar behaviour in birds and marine mammals. Modern squid practically swarm and spawn every year, but with the shell-squid being so old, I reckoned they only came on land once every century or so.

[Mari]

Oh, that might have been nice too, but I actually quite like it as a mystery.

Let's see, the titles... "The Lost Island of Tamarind" and... "De wonderbaarlijke reizen van...?" This last one is a bizarre children's book with made up animals and old-Dutch among normal Dutch. Lots of pictures too, very weird. I don't even remember if I finished reading it actually... >_<
The first one is nice enough

[Jonathan]

Eärniel, I love this story! It had me captivated from beginning to end, much thanks to all the memories it brought back of my west coastal summers. The first paragraph induced images in my head of those many times that I've squatted down on a cliff edge on a windy evening in August and listened to the roaring seas and watched as the large bodies of waters hit the rocks with immense force. Reading further, your story just kept on reminding me of my childhood summers at the Swedish west coast. Fishermen, shrimp fishers, seagulls... Even those giant shells reminded me of the hermit crabs I like to capture from the sea bed And for my inner eye, I could see the giant shells emerge on a specific beach not far from my family's summer cabin.

I think the story does better without that explanation. But thanks for posting the explanation here anyway, I had no idea about orthoceras. Your idea about the shells' singing and how the song was produced, was very imaginative. You also described the shells' colours, but what about their shapes?

One thing caused me minor disturbance though. Wilkins and his sons were perplexed over the "pale green lights, moving, pulsating far below, shining like drowned candles in the dark depths of the sea". My immediate thoughts were - That sounds just like bioluminenscent flagellates! In western coastal areas, you can see them particularly well in August (and the plot happens to be set in August). An experienced fisher wouldn't get startled by such lights, but rather be used to them

The story takes place in 1905. At first I thought that was the same year that an unusual event rocked the Swedish west coast (literally rocked the coast, namely Sweden's biggest earthquake ever). I looked it up and it turned out that happened in 1904. Otherwise your choice of year would have been a fun coincidence at least for me.

(Lastly, I noticed a small spelling mistake. Nary should be spelt with a single "r")

Thank you for a great tale!

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Eärniel, I love this story! It had me captivated from beginning to end, much thanks to all the memories it brought back of my west coastal summers.

Thanks! Childhood summers at the beach did indeed enter somewhat into the inspiration for this story. (If you have never gone hunting for hermite crabs, you haven't lived.)

I think the story does better without that explanation.

Yeah, I was thinking the same. Some things just work better with mystery. It would also have been hard for me to make the entire explanation seem plausible. The two characters would have had a though time deducing all that info from just one sighting.

Your idea about the shells' singing and how the song was produced, was very imaginative. You also described the shells' colours, but what about their shapes?

I thought I had at least mentioned that they were smooth and straight. But I realise now, that while I had a picture in my head of them, I never really went into further detail. What I had in mind for the shells looked an aweful lot like a simple snow-cone.

One thing caused me minor disturbance though. Wilkins and his sons were perplexed over the "pale green lights, moving, pulsating far below, shining like drowned candles in the dark depths of the sea". My immediate thoughts were - That sounds just like bioluminenscent flagellates! In western coastal areas, you can see them particularly well in August (and the plot happens to be set in August). An experienced fisher wouldn't get startled by such lights, but rather be used to them

Oh darn. I should have researched that one, then. I hads sort of assumed bioluminescent creatures (I do admit I love bioluminescence, it's so wonderful and often writes itself right in the story) occur in warmer waters so that Wilkins would not be familiar with the phenomenon on this scale.

The story takes place in 1905. At first I thought that was the same year that an unusual event rocked the Swedish west coast (literally rocked the coast, namely Sweden's biggest earthquake ever). I looked it up and it turned out that happened in 1904. Otherwise your choice of year would have been a fun coincidence at least for me.

Haha, funny! Off by just one year! 1905 was chosen pretty randomly. I just wanted something at the turn of last century. I did at first consider placing the story after one of the World Wars so I could have someone comment that the squid were probably an invention of the Germans or Russians, but then decided against it. Just now I realised I could have gone with 1908 too, the year of the Tunguska event when a large meteor crashed in Russia. That one is always very useful for sci-fi stories.

(Lastly, I noticed a small spelling mistake. Nary should be spelt with a single "r")

Ah, thanks. Neither the spell checker or my own dictionary could help me with that one.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

It would also have been hard for me to make the entire explanation seem plausible. The two characters would have had a though time deducing all that info from just one sighting.

They might have found it in a library later - and that would have been rather anti-climactic to the story. Better leave the mystery.