March 2023 Short Story Poll

So this month we've got one Aetheriad short story (Replacements, set on the world of The Wrack- which some people have been eagerly awaiting for a few months now) and two non-Aetheriad works. Both of the latter were the kind of short stories inspired directly by another author's book I was reading at the time- Howl's Moving Castle, by Dianna Wynne Jones, for First and Last; and Kraken, by China Mieville, for Theomachies Plural.

Theomachies Plural, fair warning, contains a HIGH degree of cussing. It's normally not my style- I don't have a problem with cussing in real life or in writing, I just don't do it much, save when it's warranted- but I genuinely couldn't make the protagonist's voice work without having her cuss three out of five sentences or so. (And, since the story is set in an alternate England, it uses the c-word once or twice- it has very different connotations in England (and Australia) than it does in America, where it's considered much more obscene.)

One of the biggest reasons I do this Patreon is to push myself as a writer, try new voices, techniques, and styles. (Second only to just plain loving short stories.) This one was definitely a workout with my voice skills, and I'm pretty proud of it.

(I'm proud of my short stories in general, I just wanted to explain why I felt the need to use so much obscenity in the story, since I know it bothers some people. I don't intend to make a habit of it, but... this story needed it, imho.)

• Replacements (Iopis): A blacksmith starts insisting everyone they love have been replaced with malicious dopplegangers, and a healer must figure out what’s happened before it’s too late. (Written)
• First and Last (Non-Aetheriad): The first and last acts of wizards are powerful things, in the flying gemstone city of Nimbus. And on the day the evil wizard Saxus Gold-Eye is due to return, the student wizard who last defeated him seems determined to waste her first act of the day. (Inspired by Dianna Wynne Jones.)
• Theomachies Plural (Non-Aetheriad): There have been a lot of good reasons through history to rebel against the heavens. This foul-mouthed succubus from upstate New York, however, is joining the revolution because she can't afford her damned (literally) student loans. (Inspired by China Mieville. Very foul language.)