Tag: fantasy fiction
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The Blackswords S1:E7 ‘Marching’
The Blackswords is a serial set in The Inner World, following the misadventures of the eponymous mercenary company. In Marching the company is on their way to a new engagement, when trouble finds them on the road. Read S1:E6 ‘Counting Coins’ here. Content warning: threat/peril, language Marching It was a…
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The Blackswords S1:E6 ‘Counting Coins’
The Blackswords is a serial set in The Inner World, following the misadventures of the eponymous mercenary company. In ‘Counting Coins’ the company is taking stock of their booty, when they discover an unexpected bonus item. Read S1:E5 ‘Prize Fighter’ here. Content warning: language Counting Coins Amudr knew that their…
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My top 10 imaginary worlds, part 2
Click here to read Part 1 Welcome to the second part of this article about my top 10 imaginary worlds. Imaginary worlds are very real to their enthusiasts. While I would never wish to question the reality of millions of French, Spanish, Italian or American people, or the inhabitants of…
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The Blackswords S1:E5 ‘Prize Fighter’
The Blackswords is a serial set in The Inner World, following the misadventures of the eponymous mercenary company. In ‘Prize Fighter’ the company’s second-in-command is attempting to assess a new recruit, but his efforts are hampered by an impromptu wrestling match. Read S1:E4 ‘The Yellowbird’ here. Content warning: language Prize…
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My top 10 imaginary worlds, part 1
This is a blog about writing, but it’s about the specific aspects of writing that I’m most interested in. Probably top of that list is worldbuilding. In fact, I’d go so far as to say I’m interested in worldbuilding first, and storytelling second—although I’d also suggest that you can’t do…
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The Blackswords S1:E4 ‘The Yellowbird’
The Blackswords is a serial set in my fantasy world, The Inner World, following the misadventures of the eponymous mercenary company. In ‘The Yellowbird’ Ashurra, twin sister of the sorcerer-warrior Maghîllin, is dangerously bored as the company sails away from the fall of Dorna… Read S1:E3 ‘Free Beer’ here. Content…
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The Blackswords S1:E3 ‘Free Beer’
The Blackswords is a serial set in my fantasy setting, The Inner World, following the misadventures of the eponymous mercenary company. In ‘Free Beer’, the archer Umbaral is riding point, trying to guide what remains of the company to the docks of Dorna, to escape the city before it is…
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What is worldbuilding?
It says right there on the home page of my blog that I’m interested in worldbuilding. This is something, as you may have noticed, that a lot of fantasy and science-fiction writers talk about. It may be something that you do yourself, or you may be wondering what it is.…
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The Blackswords S1:E2 ‘Lights Out’
The Blackswords is a serial set in my fantasy world, Olnezea, far to the south of the area in which my novel in progress takes place. In this second episode, the mercenary commander Ukhand is eating dinner with the commander who hired him, in the besieged city of Dorna. The…
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The Blackswords S1:E1 ‘Cheap Wine’
More than ten years ago, when I had recently embarked on my hubristically ambitious worldbuilding project, I started writing a serial for this blog. I posted several episodes, and then it petered out. As I’m now close to finishing a novel set in my world, I thought I’d revive the…
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The book closed, the world continues
The best speculative fiction, particularly of the secondary-world variety, immerses its readers in its setting, often in initially quite baffling ways, and lets them work out the details of its imagined cultural and social milieu as they go. Sadly Flamesong doesn’t do this, but takes very slim pretexts from the…
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The Blackswords: Episode 6
Amudr knew that their time in Tua was coming to an end. He was probably alone among the Blackswords in regretting it. The city was not large, but it was a cultured place, with booksellers and libraries, and good discourse to be found in its taverns. Soon he would be…
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The Blackswords: Episode 5
The dice were not favouring Rajir. He looked at yet another fistful of ones, twos and threes, taunting him from the table, and threw a handful of coppers at them, standing. ‘I’ve had enough of this, you whoresons,’ he grumbled. ‘Your luck could change at any moment, sir,’ said Falcon,…
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The Blackswords: Episode 4
The cabin shutters were closed, slicing the the sunlight into a gridwork of thin lines: thicker verticals at the hinges, or where the two leaves met, and fine horizontals that passed between the boards. Ashurra’s eyes traced the lines across the wall, and abruptly out, around the lean knots and…
Oliver Arditi 