Written while listening to Sunn O)))

(Specifically inspired by the song Between Sleipnir’s Breaths from their album Life Metal) As I descended ever deeper into the mountain tunnels the flame of my torch began to flicker under the power of a breeze not felt upon my skin. Deeper yet and it’s light though bright as ever did not pierce the darkness…

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A metaphor for your fandom

The sacred rites were complete, the new high priest had taken his oaths before the entire cult and now the leadership were alone discussing policy over bowls of wine in their sanctuary. “Thousands of plebeians attended the funeral of Maximus”, said the new high priest, Septimus. “That can only mean that someone in our order…

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The King’s torture

The following scene came to me under unusual circumstances. It might eventually be integrated into a larger story but this is all for now. Though shackled The Hero stood proud and resolute, ready for what ever The King was preparing. He had already been cut, burned and worse in his training. What difference was it…

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Science – Science Fiction cross promotion

What if science fiction writers joined science research teams? The writer would convert the knowledge, challenges and discoveries of his peers into stories that excite the public into donating to the institution. These stories could also be used to correct public misconceptions of scientists, their work and theories. The reasons that I want to see…

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Christchurch Snakes

The new trend amongst students in Christchurch was taking selfies with snakes. Nobody asked how the snakes came to New Zealand or why so many were comfortable with one sitting on their shoulders. As students graduated the snakes spread. Hospital departments competed over who had the largest constrictor, law firms adopted serpentine logos, public libraries…

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Is he a god? Is he insane?
No! He’s the Eleatian Philosopher!
A strange visitor from across the waves
he has come to our city to fight for
Truth!
Justice
And the Athenian way!

Exoplanet-3: Chapter 3

Botany report, 57 days after landing Since we have arrived on this planet there has been a persistent mystery of how a jungle can have so little oxygen. Our investigations into this have identified that most of what we first identified as plants do not produce oxygen… Email from Tane Wakanui to George Howard, 64…

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Exoplanet-3: Chapter 1


Our worst fears surrounding the colonisation of an unexplored planet have been proven false. Exoplanet-3 does exist and is of similar mass to Earth. The atmosphere’s CO2 is too high to breath safely for an extended period but we came prepared for that. What we didn’t anticipate is that the nearest thing to land the cartographers can find is the polar ice caps.

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