|
Things I had to start with:
- Magic. - A family to run back to if this whole 'moving to the big city' thing went bust. - A lack of assumptions about what to expect (and yes, I'm counting that in the positives column). - A car and a new address to drive it towards. Things I knew I needed: - To finally move out of my parents' house. - A world as interesting on the outside as I am on the inside. - Scope. (For what? That remains to be discovered.) Things I found: - A really great fountain. (LOTS of really great fountains!) - Artistic excellence (and the artists to go with). - Two dragons and a selkie. - Humans somehow just as remarkable. - Magic, like and unlike my own. - And a very different verse of the oldest song I know: Family. "Big City, Little Magics: The Would-Be Diary of Amygdala Wroth" - now available to read for free on ArchiveOfOurOwn.org! |
|
Amygdala: "Poll question! What's the best part of the sequel to 'Big City, Little Magics'?" Couch: "Why is there a sequel?" Sleeves: "Pretty sure the author's just obsessed with us and wanted to see what else we'll do." Manchester: "Authors do be like." Harkness: "My favorite part is the conversations like these, because it is fun that we ask and answer such important questions as 'What is home to you?' and 'What do you think red smells like?' and 'What do you love about Harkness?'" *smiling sun emoji* Travis: "I like- well, /most appreciate/ the Manchester POV chapters. Far from easy, but deeply important. I hope they reach the readers who need them." Amygdala: "Of which the author was one." Amygdala: "Best part in my opinion? Getting a chance to further explore the different social dynamics between our various friend combos within the band. I like us liking each other. :)" |
|
Sleeves: "I like us speaking probable blasphemies while high."
Couch: "I like the new song." Couch: "Not new to us, but to anyone who hasn't heard it yet." Couch: "Edit: /read/ it yet. (The author needs to get around to making audio for this shit.)" Manchester: "Best part of the sequel? Same as the best part of the original: Friend-family making the most of their magics to deepen each other's lives." Sleeves: "Plus the Pride Night aesthetics." Manchester: "Oh, HELL YES, the Pride Night aesthetics." "Big Feels, Unlimited Magics: More Days in the Life of
Amygdala Wroth (and Friends)" - now available to read for free on ArchiveOfOurOwn.org! * * * |
|
|
Once upon a time, there was a road trip…
Farther back. Once upon a time, there was a slaughter… Farther. Once upon a time, an unbearable goodbye… Back. Once upon a time, there was a monster… Once upon a time, and again, and again, Several times upon a time, there was a darkness. And the dark contained a demon – or, perhaps, a deity… Certainly, the dark contained a dragoness. But ‘contained’ is not the word. Nothing kept in check about it, Though she fought to hold herself controlled and tight. Shadows leaking out the cracks, blackness creeping past the edges, And we all know only wrongness shuns the light. Right? |
What if
Once and twice and thrice the monster reached across the times, Claiming all the potent power of the inverse of the sun? What if Time could be rewritten through the act of self-alliance? If the dragon truly saves herself in this one? What would having that do? Dream it true. "The Self-Construction of Couch" - now available to read for free on ArchiveOfOurOwn.org!
* * * Also on ArchiveOfOurOwn.org: "Extra-Little Magics"! Short stories, flash fics, and vignettes set in the world of "Big City, Little Magics" |
|
* * *
|
Title Art for the "Extra-Little Magics" Collection
* * *
Amygdala Wroth ~ The Anti-Witch
|
“I lugged two boxes of your crystals and candles and grimoires up the stairs last night, but you’re not a witch.”
I make a noise of disgust into my mug. “The word is dead. Used as a weaponized synonym for ‘woman’, then commercialized by Big Magic because neopaganism sells. I reject any and all affiliation.” Her brow’s still up, but it’s gone amused. “With what all, exactly? Neopaganism? Big Magic? Women?” “The second one, for sure. As regards the third, all women are magic. It’s just that not all of us know how to tap into our full power. Hell, maybe none of us do. I probably don’t. But I reach for what I can.” |
|
Couch ~ The Dragon Roommate
|
Things I knew about dragons before ever actually meeting one:
– Dragons hoard things. – Despite having wings, they can’t actually fly. – Despite science being unable to account for it, dragons can breathe fire. – Apart from the wings and the fire … and the scales … and the teeth … and the fact that they routinely get away with manslaughter because everyone’s too scared to prosecute … dragons are virtually indistinguishable from humans. […] Things I knew about Couch, specifically, before agreeing to become her roommate: – She has a cat. – She has turned all of her previous roommates into stone. – She’s a Scorpio. Things I am learning about Couch now that we live together: – Time shall tell. |
|
Harkness ~ The Selkie Sweetheart
|
She’s perfect in the way seals are perfect. Their grace in the water. The sculptural quality of their shape. The silly joy they spark while sitting oh-so-roundly and slapping their tummies and skooching up to nose at wildlife photographers’ cameras.
The light in her liquid-dark eyes is perfect. The dimples in her smile are perfect. Her poetic butchery of her second language is perfect. (Or would English be her third language, after le français and the tongue of the seals?) The way she drapes herself over Couch, casually cuddly, is perfect, as is the artless glee she takes in any little thing. But no, not artless, because you can tell: She knows the effect it has. She sees the pleasure it brings. |
|
Manchester Leif ~ The Broken Writer
|
“Do you have any idea,” he says quietly, “how people react when I tell them I’ve written my books?”
“I’d imagine they’d be…” I shrug. “Impressed?” “Oh, yes.” That chuckle had so little cheer, it should have its card revoked. “Everyone is always very impressed. Incredibly excited. It’s so cool that I’ve written a book. They’ll ask what my work’s about, and where they can find it. And then… Almost no one goes on to buy the book, Amygdala. And of the few who do, almost no one gets around to reading it.” I almost say, That’s a shame. But that look of his tells me it is more than that. So I say instead, “That’s a tragedy.” |
|
Sleeves ~ Just Your Average Guy from the Dragon District, I Guess?
|
“Work’s only bad when your job sucks,” says Sleeves.
I ask, “Does yours not?” “Nah, man.” He smirks. “According to society, I’m an Underground fighter slash hitman slash tat artist.” “Only two of those are true of you,” says Manchester. |
|
Travis Marina ~ Born of the Bay
|
Travis holds out a hand for the labradorite, the May I? implied. I pass it along, and he studies it a moment in a particular kind of silence. “Solid,” he says at last, returning it with a nod of thanks.
In a company containing dragons, a selkie, and me, I wonder whether Travis might low key be the most magical of us. |
|
