But today, I am back with a new story, and a long-awaited one at that. Today's story is Mother, Mother, starring Michael Chambers in his debut fiction. It is a tale of children and parents, love, sex and all the things they mean to different people.
Since the polls have been all dramatic lately, here's what I'm going to do with the fiction polls: I'm going to set them with voting options for the storylines that haven't gotten a story in this round of voting, and keep doing that until all of them get a turn. Since last time we voted on everything except Gangs of New York, this time we'll vote on everything except Gangs and the new winner, Better Next Time, and we'll keep doing that until we start over with all the options again.
This is just for the fiction voting - we're still discussing the other polls. And, as always, I reserve the right to go off on a bender and write something just because I want to, because only I am the boss of me. Let's see some more stories faster now!
The poll's being reset, and here are the new options!:
- If you vote for Eastern Promises, you're voting for stories from the nineteenth-century band in a world of colonialism and industry - Leona Middleton, Samuel Vanderbilt and Paniwi Bayteru of the Netjer, Faruza Alinejad and Yadi of the Yazata, Mohini Misra and Padma Billingsworth of the Deva, James Howard and Alvin de Lafayette of the Anunna, and many more. They're currently fighting corruption among local authorities, learning what other cultures have to offer them and finding ways to survive no matter what the cost.
- If you vote for Skeins of Fate, you're voting for stories from our frozen northern band - Aurora Dahl, Woody Anderson and Will Nordstrom of the Aesir, Kettila Blomgren of the Teotl and Vivian Landry of the Orisha. They're currently handling the looming shadow of Ragnarok, the fallout of their parents' political decisions and their own personal desire to deviate from the paths Fate has set them.
- If you vote for Strawberry Fields, you're voting for stories from the wild-eyed Celtic band - Dierdre O'Riordan, Seamus McMann, Jude Shriver and Auggie MacDonough of the Tuatha de Danann and Alaina Bertrand and Ignatius Rex of the Nemetondevos. They're currently gearing up to challenge the combined might of the military and their shadowy puppeteers, while reaching out to their kinsmen around the world.
Enjoy!
Voted! I need Ragnarok in my life!
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
DeleteEvery vote for Skeins of Fate is one step closer to the Ragnarok fiction. *votes*
DeleteI love it. You've captured everything I could of hoped for in Michael and more.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
I'm so glad. :)
Delete"..but really what it boils down to is that I'm the worst. So... sorry about being the worst"
ReplyDeleteAnne, you do all this stuff for us, pro bono, and you say this? Seriously, you remind me of one of those movies where a lifeguard is interviewed and is asked his "number"...
Costner: 22.
Kutcher: 22? I expected it to be a bit more, haven't you been a swimmer for years?
Costner: It's the number of people I couldn't save.
Seriously, you rock.
Also, second Gangs of New York fiction, second round of pure sadness. Pure sniffles all around.
Well, when you put it that way, I feel better. :) You're very welcome.
DeleteYeah, nobody in the Gangs game line is "happy". I think one or two people are sort of generally at equilibrium, but most of them are miserable.
Okay...and I thought Nergal as a divine parent was creepy. You know, I've seen Alex comment on the blog occasionally, whenever Ishtar comes up in conversation, and I always thought it was really sweet, how great a relationship he had with his divine mother. I will NEVER be able to look at those comments again without flinching a little.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, you're writing is, as usual, top-notch. And, as usual, the highlight of it, for me, was Ishtar. I think what really got me hooked to this story was when she so nonchalantly declares "All temples to women are temples to me". Because, of course, the great Inanna would consider herself the prototype for all Goddesses who came after her.
You know, the thing I really love about Visitation fics, is that, I feel at least, that they show the God at their most personal and true. In all subsequent fiction, we see the Gods through the eyes of Scions, who are partly divine themselves and aware of the fact, or in the presence of other Gods. They have social niceties to consider. But in the Visitation fics? In the Visitation fics they are dealing exclusively with mortals. And that is when true nature of the Gods comes shining forth. I doubt Ishtar would ever have said what she did in front of Amaterasu, no matter how much she believes it.
Also, stop beating yourself up about the delay. You might see The pdf Pantheons, the APP rewrites, Titanrealms and fiction as some sort of competing foursome out to tear you away from each other but all we're seeing at the end of the day is Awesome, more Awesome, yet more Awesome and still Awesome.
There's a good reason that the ancient Mesopotamians never assigned Ishtar any offspring or thought of her as a mother in any way. She's sort of the anti-mother. (Personally, I also enjoy the radical difference in relationships between our two Scions of Ishtar - James Howard's life is nothing like Michael's.)
DeleteI also really enjoy Visitations for that reason - it's not just the strange half-and-half world of Scions, where magical stuff happens and that's normal, but direct intrusion of the divine into the mortal. I like the reminder that no matter how "commonplace" things become for Scions, they're not commonplace at all.
Michael is a messed up individual for sure. Plus it's kinda confusing to him because he knows his mortal mother was his biological mother, and had no reason to think otherwise.
DeleteBut now there is some doubt about that, but Anne did a great job to illustrate his very unhealthy relationship with mother figures.