I tend to write more long-form stuff than short.  Still, it’s been very nice over the last couple days to chisel this weird short post-singularity-space-opera-war-in-heaven-art-and-culture story out of nothing—one of the many virtues of short fiction is that I can deal with an idea and move on to the next in three days as opposed to three months.

Also, I’m about halfway through Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry.  Portal fantasies generally don’t excite me much, but this one’s different.  Since most of the book takes place in an ultraCeltic high fantasy land populated by mythical supermen, the presence of a bunch of folks ‘just like us’ gives the story extra emotional power, which Kay uses absurdly well.  The book depends on my being able to feel exactly the way our fish-out-of-water, Jen, Kim, Dave, Kevin, and Paul, feel at various key moments, and man does it succeed.   Riveting.  Aslo, incredibly fast-paced.  SO MUCH HAPPENS per book.  Trying to describe the plot to my wife last night, I realized I sounded like I was describing an epic metal album cover.

You know, something like this:

Only with more blood sacrifice and magic.  Intense.  A cursory review of the Webs reveals a shortage of Fionavar concept metal, which is a shame.  Someone who can play guitar should get on that.