Invincible …
Filed under: My Fiction/Writing
My attempt at a sword-and-sorcery flash story, Invincible, went live today at “Every Day Fiction. You can read Invincible here.
Invincible was written specifically because EDF editor Jordan Lapp put out a call for more genre fiction at his magazine. I also wanted to see if I could even do it; I don’t think sword-and-sorcery lends itself to flash very well. But I think I made a noble stab at the beast.
Other genres seem to work quite well in flash. Science fiction certainly can work nicely in short doses. Humor? Yep. Literary vignettes? Certainly. Horror, too, although suspense is difficult to build in a thousand words. But you can go for the sudden jolt of fear, or the quick gross out.
Sword-and-sorcery flash is a different animal. To me, genuine sword-and-sorcery requires some suspense, and suspense takes time. Add in the necessity to develop character and setting, since sword-and-sorcery doesn’t generally take place in the real world, and you’ve got a tall order.
I gave it a shot; feel free to come back here and tell me what you think.
Invincible marks my third appearance in EDF’s flash-story-a-day venue. Tell’s Choice appeared in October 2007, and is now archived there. If you are so inclined, you can read Tell’s Choice here.
My second EDF story, Monochrome, is archived here.
– Steve
Hello, and welcome to the blog of a sword-and-sorcery writer. Most of the stuff here is about writing fiction, but you'll also find some stuff about beer and Godzilla, a few bits of Zen, really short film reviews and my now-and-then rants about social injustice.You can find topics by category, using the list further down in this sidebar.
This is a great story with a fierce narrative drive. Kudos!
James: Hey, thanks … especially coming from you.
Can I call upon you to write cover blurb copy some day?
– Steve
Agreed. It was great to see some S&S in EDF. In spite of your concerns there was some definite suspense in this piece. By the 3/4 mark it really looked grim for the hero. The thoughts of his wife and family hit just the right notes to set the stakes for the battle. The evil sorcerer waving his hands around was a little cheese, but the descriptions of the necromantic whine that kept the zombies alive more than made up for it with the creep factor. Very well done.
I’ve submitted a dark fantasy short to EDF. It has nowhere near the excitement of your story, but I hope the unusual MC will be enough to make the sale.
*Salutes the Swashbuckler*
Near the end of the story, I was thinking that Ulf would fail. Not only did you pull off writing a flash S&S, but you wrote one heck of a story, length be damned.
Great story, Steve. Glad to see some kicking action at EDF. Maybe it’ll intrigue others enough to give it a try. I know I am.
Damn, how do you manage to tell an entire story in some 650 words? I need a novel to do that.
Can I call upon you to write cover blurb copy some day?
Any time!
Ah, so this is where you hide out when you’re not decapitating my poor lowly goblin minions. That’s okay. Now that I’ve linked you to my new blog there’s nowhere left to hide. Mwhahaha*Hack!Cough!Wheeze!*…Ahem!
Howdy, Scott. I’ll check out your blog when I get a chance.
I liked it.
I prefer Monochrome only because I’m sick of my 17YO talking about zombies. Great action narrative! Thanks for sharing!
Have a Guiness for me sometime, and I’ll toast you tonight with wine . . . not to worry, I’ll drink your glass for you.
DMWino