Notebook: The Swordmaster

Behold: the first glimmerings of my fantasy magnum opus! I've been working on my own heroic cycle for a long time now -- a lot of that time was spent developing a world that both echoed the familiar themes of the genre while pushing for its own unique identity -- and the culmination of that work is what I am tentatively calling the Maric di Ascalon short stories, set in the universe of Sphaeren.

I'm drawing from many, many sources of inspiration: George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher, the Warhammer Fantasy universe, Robert E. Howard's Conan, and various historical and mythical pieces. Hopefully, by combining elements from these great exemplars of fantasy, and both treading familiar ground and cutting new paths, I can tell a story that is both enjoyable and provoking. Tell me what you think!

Also, here's a link to the audio file, with me reading!

In Tolkien's The Children of Hurin, Turin wields the black sword, Gurthang. (Picture by Ted Nasmith)

The Swordmaster

By Blake Tan

The songs of the old oracles name the easterly wind Aes, the eldest daughter of Wodan Sky-Father. They say she flies upon a raven-winged horse, cursed to ride against the fury of the sun god, Aurahel Aelar, whom the elves call Ancestor, for her part in the treachery of Malaketh, who sought to usurp Wodan’s throne. When Aes must ride, the bright fire of Aurahel’s undimmed glory scorches her silver hair and gray ashes rain down upon the world. The oracles tell that it is these ashes that bring ruin and misery to mortal men. 

Notebook: Revolutionary Day

Revolutionary Day

By Blake Tan

Carlos Villabuena was born on the west end of Pasaquinas, near the municipal center of Pasaquinas City, in 1952. His mother was the fourth child of a family of seventeen, the oldest daughter, and had met his father, Luis Sanchez Villabuena, when she attended the Santa Clara College for Women in 1946. He was the dashing son of an aristocratic family from the east end of the island, who, along with his like-minded, youthful compatriots with money to spend, liked to roam Metro Pasaquinas for university girls. Rita Corón had seen him, the handsome principalia lieutenant, smiling at her from across the bar. She smiled back, and the rest, as the Pasaquinos say, is la cuenta que todos saben.

Notebook: Confessional Booth

Confessional Booth

By Blake Tan

“Speak, mi hijo, confess your sins
so the Savior can forgive you,”
says the padre behind the screen.
Amado squirms in the rickety room,
the confessional booth creaking.
His mama had yanked him off the fence
where he liked to sit and admire the schoolgirls
as they marched to the Santa Maria preparatoria atop the hill,
their blue plaid skirts hiked up to their knees,
where the dirt road muddied their brown-flecked black socks.

Why I Preordered XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Strategy games have always held my rather short attention spans longer than most other games. There's a draw that strategy games, whether it's grand strategy (Crusader Kings II), RTS (Starcraft, Company of Heroes), or turn-based (Civilization), that keeps me around longer than a hectic, story-lite FPS or even RPGs nowadays. When I first saw a preview of XCOM: Enemy Unknown in a GameInformer issue many months ago, my interest was already piqued. Now that I've read previews from IGN, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, and PC Gamer, watched the trailers about a hundred times, I thought: "To hell with it! I'll drop the fifty bucks and preorder the damn game already!"

The free copy of Civilization V that went along with the preorder on Steam definitely helped that decision.

Notebook: Garamba National Park

Garamba National Park

By Blake Tan

Twenty-two dead elephants,
including several very young ones,
clumped together
on the open savanna,
many killed by a single
bullet to the top of the head.

A field of massive bones –
ribcages, skulls, meter-long femurs –
a testament to the slaughter.

Notebook: My Red Lady

My Red Lady

By Blake Tan

It’s amazing how much things can change.
Nights I used to wake up in torment, you hanging over me,
a spirit conjured up by my sleep,
white, cold fingers wrapped around my heart,
crushing and squeezing until it fought no more.
I couldn’t let myself heal over. No one else to fit
the wound in my breast, to staunch the bleeding.
All I’d see was your face superimposed over theirs,
golden, brown, or black hair – it didn’t matter –
you were always there. Half a hundred girls
all wearing your face.

Ukulele Songs for Nerds

You may not know this about me, but I am something of a ukulele enthusiast. I've always been interested in the instrument. It's like a guitar, but little and cuter! So, last year I was perusing the local stores in Athens when I came upon a little place called the The Tone Zone where I found a series of ukuleles hanging on the wall in the brightest and coolest colors you could conceive. I immediately purchased one (I named her Lady Violet) and have since slowly plucked my way to learning how to play.

I would like to emphasize that I've had no formal training whatsoever, other than what videos and "how-to's" I could find on the Internet. So, if I sound really bad, please give me the benefit of the doubt.

I practice and play whenever I can and have learned a few songs. However, I'm proudest of discovering the chords of songs from Skyrim and Game of Thrones, which I posted to Facebook and now would like to include here, below. Please tell me what you think!