When the Ghost of the Future Catches Up

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Fantasia Divinity Magazine, Issue 20, March 2018

“Behind the unicorn and her demon-rider, the portal poured forth spirits and ghosts who’d been chasing them for eons across the vastness of space. All of them displaced. All of them homeless.”

The harsh blue light of Astralis II shone over the horizon, casting long shadows at an acute angle to the shorter shadows cast by the tawny, warm light of Astralis I, nearly overhead at this hour of noon-night.  The longest, sharpest shadow pointed towards the volcanic cone of Mount Kiyaro; it was cast by the pearlescent, spiraling horn that rose from Elliae’s snowy-furred equine brow.  She faced the mountain; she faced her destiny. Continue reading “When the Ghost of the Future Catches Up”

Gender-Flip Exercise

I’ve found it really useful in my writing to just get in the habit of doing the thought experiment of gender-flipping basically every character before settling for sure on their gender. I just ask myself with every character: would the story be different if I gender-flipped this character? How? Would it still work? What would need changing? And then, finally, which way is more interesting? Continue reading “Gender-Flip Exercise”