Category Archives: Fiction

Tea-Time at Ficlet o'Clock

by Liana Posted on July 9, 2012

THE TEA

Chicory Ginger Maté

2 tsp. yerba maté
1 tsp. roasted chicory root
1/2 tsp. ginger powder
1/2 tsp. stevia leaf

Add ingredients to one MiniMinit filter (see left). Steep in a 8 – 16 oz. mug of hot water, not quite boiled. Steep for 5 – 10 minutes until a rich brown.

Remove filter, slide off its bar, and discard. Enjoy!

THE FICLETS

It's prompting time. Give me a character, pairing, fandom, or storyworld and a favorite poem or quote. Ficlets will be linked here after completion.

The World Turns 'Round

Fandom: X-Men Movieverse
Prompt:  arliddian, Revolving Days by David Malouf. Also whipsy, dancing.

He pretends he hasn’t been exiled from his wife for the last ten years. She pretends her husband hasn’t been in a coma for the last seven. They pretend they aren’t two of the loneliest people in the world.

The Cloths of Heaven

Storyworld: Vardin
Prompt: in_the_blue, Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by Yeats

He hesitated at that, the way she said it so simply, like it meant everything and nothing to her all at once. "Color blind?" he asked, but even as he said it, he realized he already knew the answer.

The Veil Between You and Me

Fandom: Awake
Prompt: lithiumlaughter, the meaning of apocalypse

"You're crazy." Bird stepped away abruptly, didn't look back. How many times had they come to this point before? Talk to me, don't act like everything's the same, you're my partner.

Yeah, well, reality's sometimes hard to take.

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5 Things Meme: Siblings

by Liana Posted on July 8, 2012
This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series 5 Things Meme

Comment to this post saying "FIVE!" and I will pick five things I would like you to talk about. They might make sense or be totally random.

Then post that list, with your commentary, to your journal. Other people can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself, hopefully for the rest of eternity!

From arliddian: Siblings

When it comes to family, they are one of the most important things in both my life and my fiction, a fact not everybody may be aware of. Sisters, brothers, parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents...

But today, let's talk about siblings.

Continue reading →

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0.1 No Air to Breathe

by Liana Posted on July 5, 2012
This entry is part 1 of 13 in the series City of Glass

PROLOGUE:
The Shattering

KEYSTATION shimmers brightly over the gas giant of Talon Mede. The space station is all glass and dark metal glimmering under the brilliance of the star system's near sun.

Night side faces the planet, and a young girl, perhaps in her early twenties, stands near the glass about at dusk, where she can look out toward the other stations, shy fingers nearly touching the glass. She is tall with dark hair and fair skin, as that of most spacers. She is a Mede. From here, she can just glimpse the sweeping curve of emerald brilliance that is Talon Mede. More, her gaze catches the sharp edge of Darkstation.

They know. It is the only possible conclusion to draw.

Continue reading →

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Introducing a Crazy Idea

by Liana Posted on July 1, 2012

So the idea of a piece of serial fiction has been bouncing around in this head for a while now, but I was always convinced I lacked the strength to discipline myself and convinced I lacked the commitment and the ability to write linear without going back to edit, and then, this quote rammed me upside the head and a good look at my profile full of serial fanfiction clinched the deal.

Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Publishing | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Theme in Fiction: How do you take it?

by Liana Posted on June 29, 2012

My characters are beverage drinkers. From Clark Gabrin with his "fine decantation of valuable stimulants and nutrients" designed to taste like an Earl Grey to the national Vardin beverage, sluscheta; to Shelley Huntington's addiction to all things coffee, tea and coffee seems to show up all over in my fiction.

Myself, I am a bit of a tea connoisseur. The family cupboard has always been stuffed to the brim with assorted teas, mostly supplemental or Celestial Seasonings, and my father's pantry contained even more exotic varieties, including coffee alternatives, such as Roma and Pero. When I opened up shop in my own pantry, I included hefty doses of tea for both healing and flavor. An introduction to a local tea room owner led me to fall in love with rooibos as well. So, when my characters began showing personality through their choice of beverage, not only did it not really take me by surprise, but it made for a delightful round table of who likes what and what that says about them.

Continue reading →

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Nerve-Wracked: On Kickstarter and Book Covers

by Liana Posted on June 27, 2012

I am seriously considering (drafting) a Kickstarter project to help pay to get digital (and printed) editions of Soul (Breath), Radiance (Radiant Lands), and Gone Hunting (Vardin) to be gorgeous, properly covered, and properly copywritten.

And then, I actually come up with a cover I think I like. But will my audience like it?

Posted in Fiction, Publishing | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Snippet: Storm

by Liana Posted on May 16, 2012

So on Write a Book with Me, Kirsten asked for snippets and shared an amazing one of her own. I went ahead and went out on a limb (for me, anyway) and shared the first bit of Storm, the new bit of the overhaul of my Vardin novelverse into The Rothnen Cycle.

I wasn't expecting much; I've been scared to really go where this book goes, but her response just about choked me up and told me I am finally doing this right. It's still scary, if I'm honest, but I hope that I can keep doing, reaching down into the real parts of this story that draw me and compel me and share them, no matter how much I worry that it's going to go down wrong.

She fell into sleep wearing her usual blonde braid and her long, flannel nightgown. She woke to a rocky beach with her golden hair loose and blowing in the softly singing winds and wearing a simple cream-colored dress under a dark cloak. He was there. He was always there, waiting for her. A little older than she was, maybe twelve or thirteen, and visibly too thin without his shirt. He liked to hang his bare legs in the water and let the water and wind ruffle his hair into unkempt auburn. He liked to sit just in front of her and grin when she wasn’t being serious.

But tonight—or day, the sun was glimmering softly over here through a haze of beautiful blue so intense, it seemed she could swirl her finger in it—she was serious as she settled her cloaked back against the large rock leading upward toward the cliffs. She was serious often enough to know he would not laugh or grin, but listen to her intently, like his life hung upon her words.

“What day is it?” she asked, softly, like speaking too loud would change his answer.

It was an old question between them, something worrisome and weary filling the gap between.

“The seventeenth,” he answered solemnly.

“What month is it?”

He waited a moment, dark eyes holding hers. “The second.”

The same day. She slept and awoke and it was all her own life. It bothered her.

He was all pent-up, restless energy and stepped up as if to go, but she caught his hand and held it tightly. He let her and sat beside her while she waited for the ache of confusion within her to leave her for the winds and drift away.

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Who—and What—is the Book About

by Liana Posted on May 14, 2012

There is a thought in writing that the best point of view for a scene is the character who knows the least and has the most to lose.

Last week or thereabouts, I had an epiphany. Summerlight is not about the discovery of Vardin or the opening of the Barrier, but about the Vardin succession while those things are going on. It's about people, in particular a person who loses everything whether or not she succeeds her mother on the throne.

Most people think knowing who you are supposed to marry is a good thing. I used to—until I knew I could never marry him.

Summerlight is about the person who has most to lose and, typically, one of the last characters whose role within the story I knew anything about.

Apparently, I tend to start with those who have most to gain because they are driven and informative and drive the story forward. But they don't have the same sacrifices, the same loss. They may even already be resigned to the possibility of not-having.

Despite my general desire for relief from romance, I find my Vardin series is starting with the rothnen, the soulmates, for lack of a better understood shorthand. They are complex and deal very much with sacrifice, though it mostly falls on the non-rothnen side at first. Those who grow up always knowing are far more aware that they may never have. Being rothnen is fraught with issues like consent, invasion of privacy, pain, and belief or disbelief in fate. In short, despite running from romantic angst in my original fic, I find myself smack dab in it again.

Oh well.

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