The Red Etin Corporation

I haven't posted in a long time. On top of being busy with my master's dissertation, I've had a bit of difficulty knowing just how to write on this blog. I've never quite had a sense of whom I'm talking to here and in what manner they should be spoken to, and that makes it difficult. My posts are probably quite disparate in tone since I can't decide on one. But I should get back to at least trying!

I have a decent excuse to break the streak of quiet months. I've just had a story appear in Manawaker Studio's Starward Tales, an anthology of myths and fairy tales placed in science fiction worlds. Mine's a little retelling of the Scottish tale of the Red Etin—of course titled The Red Etin Corporation. You can find the traditional story in both Grierson's and Lang's collections, the latter having a nice bit of Scots dialect. Starward Tales is on Amazon for a few dollars, yes.

That is the most commercial thing I've ever said of something containing my personal work, and already it's somewhat uncomfortable.

About the story itself, it was quick to write and just for fun— lighthearted, in the sense of being light in the amount of heart put in it. I'd seen the call for submissions when I had already been reading Grierson's volume of Scottish stories, and retelling one of them averted the problems I often have with plot and trying to develop disconnected ideas and scenes into full narratives. Unlike the other contributors to the anthology, I preserved a fairy tale sort of style. I felt a bit awkward about that when I first noticed, but upon further thought, I rather like my decision. The result is a future-set story that's also recognizable as a fairy tale even if you're not familiar with the source material.