You know someone is a bona fide writer once you hear them speak. They don’t even need to read an excerpt of their work for you to know how good of a writer they are. When you are done listening to them you will walk away not just saying wow, but you will feel inspired to continue with your own works.
That is how I felt today when I left the meeting at my local writers’ group, The Monadnock Writers’ Group. Our speaker was James Patrick Kelly. Do I need to say more? – Fabulous speaker –
Actually, I had never heard of him before today. At least, I don’t remember hearing of him, even though I used to subscribe to Asimov’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine years ago. From what I learned today, James is a regular to that magazine.
He spoke about the differences between Science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Then he even touched a little bit on playwriting. Each subject he spoke about struck a note inside me, the kind that awakens the Kraken – the Muse. Having my Muse awoken was a welcome feeling.
Dragon background design provided by: NVT Office Clips
He touched the subject of Slipstream. Before I had written Aaron and Keja, I didn’t know what Slipstream was or that it existed. It took someone to tag my book Slipstream for me to go and investigate what that term meant, and then I still wasn’t sure about it. I thought it was just for books that used portals between worlds. I didn’t know that it was for stories written without a set of rules to adhere. As when the Orcs find Aaron and suddenly they have no problem communicating with her without the help of the talisman given to them by Arch Lankus.
Thinking about this causes me to rethink why she can do this. Well, if she can read the minds or hear the minds of the creatures – big and small, then what is there to keep her from being able to understand the creatures and humanoids of the other world?
If you have ever read fantasy books, or epics, then you will know that each world has its own set of rules. So if Aaron does not follow the rules of the world, then that must mean she is a rule breaker.
Now that I know that I have a rule breaker on the loose in Orgarlan, I know that anything can go.
So here is to the letting go of realm rules.
May the Gods, Goddesses, and Dragons have mercy on the inhabitants of Orgarlan in the coming pages.
Who rules that world? Frankly I don’t know, but all the inhabitants have their own opinion on who is the overseer of their world.
Linda Nelson 