Rilbur

Chapter Three "Doctor Grayson?" Mathew asked the man who greeted them at the hospital. Given his long, white lab coat it wasn't the worst possible guess in the world. Strangely, he looked oddly familiar, though Mathew could not for the life of him remember when they'd met before. "Magi Trent, it is an honor to meet you," Grayson took Mathew's hand and pumped it, grinning from ear to ear. "It's a pleasure to meet the man who has provided such a boost to the medical field." As annoying as

Chapter Two "Magi Trent," Lieutenant Hendricks snarled across the precinct, "my office! Now!" Before Mathew could get halfway to the 'fun' he'd dreaded earlier, Jenkins had fallen in with him. "I thought you didn't like me," Mathew twitted him. "I don't," Jenkins informed him coolly. "But you do your job, and you don't deserve to be slammed for doing it above and beyond the call of duty." Mathew looked at him for a moment, considering. "If ever you need any help," he let the promise d

Magic used to be a secret. It didn't use to be a constant headache for Mathew, formerly one of the most powerful Magi on Earth. Now he has to deal with bigots who think he should be shot on sight, and a monster who preys on the free will of innocent beings, all with just a fraction of his former power.

Chapter One Mathew Bartholomew Trent cursed at the traffic around him as he tried to shift over to the right hand lane. Driving was something he'd always found stressful, even before the Shift, and the locals attitudes towards his kind didn't help reduce his stress much. Sure, the odds were against the idiots who kept cutting him off knowing what he was, but as he pulled into the parking lot filled with police cars he knew that the people waiting for him did. "You finally got here," one of

Interesting way to while away a half-hour or so. The bonus mode kind of sucks, I'm not interested in playing 'blindfolded' just to earn 5 more levels.

It was meant to be a short story. As I explained in another thread, I'm experimenting (learning) with short stories, and I wanted to try and do something many published authors have done: take a single set of characters, and recur them over multiple, completely independent short stories that nonetheless ALSO form a unified whole.

Oh yes. You could consider 'Fallen Illaria' the introductory piece, as well as the title of the overall series.

To reiterate the nature of the reply... I wasn't happy with this story to begin with. I'd been planning details on it for a while, and in the end the result just isn't anything like what I was planning. I don't have a lot of experience with short stories, so I'm using the anthologies to build it up. One of the things I'm trying to do right now is use a recurring setting (Brevarun) and characters (Etral, and now Flame-Brother) without turning the shorts into chapters in a story, where you have to read the previous ones to understand what's going on. (And, at the same time, without belaboring the point and restating too much in each story). This story was, in many ways, a failed example of what I'm trying to do. I had an idea for the basic story, but it wasn't until far to late that I put the 'pieces' together and realized it just wasn't working. I probably shouldn't have submitted to the anthology, but I wanted to put it out there so that people could 'see' this chapter of the ongoing story if they wanted to. This is, as Cia pointed out, a very unique fantasy world, one in which humans are, fundamentally speaking, intruders -- alien to the world they are born into, that they live in, and that they will die in. The world tolerates them, somewhat, because they were key to it's survival. I'm looking forward to the additional chapters, which will unlock the mystery further.

As for this being much rougher than my usual work, I can only agree. I don't have a lot of practice with short stories, and I'm trying to work on it. I almost didn't even turn this into the anthology, but it helps set the ground for later short stories set in this universe, which I'm planning for later this year.

Another great chapter... But it leaves so many questions! I can't wait to see more!

Etral has fought for most of his life, always alone, frequently in the hostile environment of the deep wilderness of Brevarun. Sometimes, though, the wilderness isn't what you think it is, and the wildlife maybe isn't so hostile.

Fighting for his life had become something of an everyday affair for Etral. But there was a pattern to those fights, and the demons just weren't following the rules today. One of the demons nearly split Etral in half as he spun away, it's long claw digging deep into the tree behind where he'd been standing. The long length of steel in his hands flashed silver as he struck out, slicing the claw off at the joint. The demon howled in agony, it's remaining mantis-like claw waving menacingly, but

I honestly don't get this post. Did you even bother to read the thread before spouting off what honestly looks like gibberish?

Wow, has it really been 4 months since the last chapter? I'm looking forward to the next!

Well, it used to be they didn't. Now, they do. Yay, they fixed the thing keeping me from using GA.Stories on my phone!

What would you want for the app? Forum access? IP actually has that in the works now (or, possibly, in the last year or so they've gone as far as release with it). GA.Stories access? Much harder to do, when the built in browser kinda-sorta works -- and if they ever get the issues with the mobile skin not showing paragraph breaks worked out, it'll work just fine.

Nice use of the comic's tag-line. http://www.sluggy.com/ -- Sluggy freelance. The one, the only, accept no substitutions. Yippee skippy, the evil is here, I'd better get some milk before- GAHH! http://www.kevinandkell.com/ -- daily updates, on time, are always nice. Plus it's got a good sense of humor. "The decline in our dial-up service is directly correlated to the obituaries" http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/ -- Who doesn't love crazy bat-shit video games? http://www.docrat.com.au/ -- Got into this one because of Kevin and Kell. Similar premise, but different humor. http://www.jeffschuetze.com/ -- Crazy. One word: Crazy. http://www.nicky510.com/ -- Nicky and Elf, what crazy fun they have. http://www.dollarstorecaviar.com/comic.htm -- Gay-oriented comic, how lovely! http://www.robandelliot.cycomics.com/ -- They don't update as often as I'd like, but when they do it's usually weird enough to be worth a laugh. http://www.nuklearpower.com/ -- Has a couple of different comics (I jumped in for 8-bit theater) but doesn't update as regularly as it used to. They've 'gone legit' on us! http://www.smbc-comics.com/ -- "As last thoughts go, 'unicorns are real' isn't half bad" http://www.giantitp.com/Comics.html -- They're stick figures, fighting for justice! Ooorah! http://www.erfworld.com/ -- Come'on fatty, do your job! http://www.heroesoflesserearth.com/ -- D&D, where the dungeonmaster's woes are explained. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/ -- Gaming and crazy people; see above. http://whengodsskipout.smackjeeves.com/ -- Fun web-'comic' about people saving the world. Which sits on a counter in the real world. http://www.rodandbarry.com/ -- Little purple people enjoying planet earth's bounty. At least they aren't martians! http://leasticoulddo.com/ -- Because I can. http://lfgcomic.com/page/466 -- If you like LICD, try this one, same people.

Terminal Testosterone Toxicity. Thanks! TTT

Terminal Testosterone Poisoning. (I just wish I could figure out a 'T' word to replace Poisoning... )

Islamics are just behind the times. Christian nations used to be just as bad. Hell, at least they tend to use a nice, clean beheading instead of burning someone at the stake. So much quicker that way, and isn't that nice? (I added the last sentence in an effort to make the tone clear, but in case I failed: tongue in cheek.)

That's pretty bad... The Presbyterians need to get a sense of humor, but then again... they aren't as bad as Southern Baptists.

Checking my email almost always comes first.

What was, was What is, is What will be, will be But in some rare moments Some instants of revelation or change You are in the presence of more What was gives way to is, What is gives way to will be. Professional comes in, Graduate is, whilst student gives way. College of Science and Mathematics Bachelor of Science In other words... I now has a college edumacation! It won't be quite official until next Saturday when the big ceremony occurs, but today's was the ceremony I choose to count.

Depending on the webhost, that may or may not be possible. I know the private webhost I work with runs under a similar principle... so long as my website stays under 10GBs. Once I hit 10 GBs, they have a contractual line item in their terms of service that lets them get away with not doing it. Why? Because they want me to pay more for that privilege

I'd love to write more happy endings, but the unhappy ones are so much better...