Tag Archives: Richard Parks

Story Time: Golden Bell, Seven, and the Marquis of Zeng

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I’m late again. There are reasons, but I won’t bore you with them. I’m late, that’s all, and to somewhat atone, today’s Story Time is a novelette, “Golden Bell, Seven, and the Marquis of Zeng. It was originally published in the debut issue of Black Gate back in 2000.

The character Golden Bell, literally, came to me in a dream, and this is what she said “I have a fever of poetry that consumes me, a malady of song that wears me down.” I had no idea what that was about, so I basically wrote the story to find out. I did the hard part. If you want to know, all you have to do is read it.

Assuming I’m not late again, “Golden Bell, Seven, and the Marquis of Zeng” will stay online until next Wednesday, September 5th.

Story Time: Fox Tails

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This week’s Story Time is the novelette that began the Yamada Monogatari series, “Fox Tails.” It was originally published in the June 2005 issue of Realms of Fantasy.

As I’ve said before, I originally conceived of Yamada no Goji as a sort of noir style detective in Heian Japan. Unlike some cases, I did know it was a series when I first wrote it. I don’t always know that, witness the Eli Mothersbaugh stories. What I didn’t know and couldn’t have imagined at the time was how much Yamada would evolve over the series from my original concept. Yamada had his own ideas, apparently, but I didn’t mind. Ill behaved characters are usually the best.

Story Time: Conversation in the Tomb of an Unknown King

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Today’s Story Time is “Conversation in the Tomb of an Unknown King,” which first appeared in Weird Tales #341, August/September 2006. Mostly what I remember about writing it was I was meditating, as one does, on the nature of wights, and specifically tomb wights. You think “ogre” or “ghoul” and a specific image is likely to pop up. Wights were always a little harder to pin down. According to Katharine Briggs (my go-to for information on such things), wight is from old Germanic meaning “being” or “creature.” Vague, much? Truth told I still don’t claim to have much of a handle on them, but I had fun playing.

As always, “Conversation in the Tomb of an Unknown King” will stay online until next Wednesday, July 4th. Then, something else. That’s the deal.

 

Story Time: Our Lady of 47 Ursae Majoris

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Today’s Story Time was written about the time astronomers were first piecing together convincing proof of other planets in the universe. Something we all had just assumed to be true before, but now some bright soul had the idea (and equipment sensitive enough) to detect the faint drop in brightness a distant sun displays as an orbiting planet passes between it and us. All I remember about writing this story was the news that at least one planet was detected orbiting  a sun in the constellation of the Great Bear. As for where The Lady or the Gan came from, your guess is as good as mine.

Our Lady of 47 Ursae Majoris was first published in Third Order, vol.2 #1, Winter 2008, an online zine that specialized in stories concerning religion, which this story doesn’t. Except it sort of does, too.

 

As always, this piece will remain online until next Wednesday, June 27th. Then not.