Wraeththu

I've been at Storm's doing all sorts of Wraeththu work, reviewing files and projects and stuff, and while at it I came across this story 'Army of Angels' by the illustrious Mischa, the 'founder' of Wraeththu fanfic. The story originally appeared in the program booklet of Grissecon, the first ever (and only) Wraeththu fan convention, which we staged in Oct. 2003. Anyway, it's 6 or even 7 years old now and doesn't necessarily match canon but in honor of Mischa, here it is:

An Army of Angels

http://foreverwraeththu.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/an-army-of-angels/

I've been visiting Storm for the past few days and while I'm here, managed to get her to update her web site with a new journal entry. So for those of you curious or worried about what she's been up to, check out:

http://stormconstantine.com/blog/

Cheers!

I'm actually visiting Storm for the week and today, while working on some Wraeththu business, I suggested she come up with the theme for a new fanfic challenge. Which, as you'll see, she has! Deadline for submission is September 1. As usual, voting for a winner will be done online but in this case might also have Storm have a look and see if we can have a special 'Storm's Favorite' label on one, whether it's the 'winner' or not.

Current Challenge - July 2009

At the end of Fulfilments, just after Cal and Pell finally reunite and before Cal goes off to say goodbye to Panthera, Cal speculates on the ripple affect his encounter with Thiede might have had upon the world:

In that brief, eternal moment when I had become one with the life-forth of Wraeththu, the truth had been revealed to me. As Immanion had changed, so too would other places, touched by the fire of the Triad. Now there was a small, scruffy town in Thaine known as Fallsend, whose grubby streets would open out into wider avenues where hara could walk free. I wondered what would be the fate of Piristil and its kind. Would there be a place for them now? Was the force that strong? Somehow I doubted it. One thing I had learned was the utter need for light and dark, nothing can be wholly good, but if Piristil still thrived, then to complement it, there would be other houses;  places of healing and learning. As Immanion could not be utterly light, Fallsend could not be utterly dark. From the mud would come other roads, and other travellers would follow them, bringing the warmth of wholeness with them from the south and west.

The Challenge:

Storm herself wonders exactly what does happen – to Fallsend, to Piristil, to Astarth. Twenty years after the events of Fulfilments, what are things like? Is Piristil still a ‘business’? Or does Astarth live there alone?  Is the house haunted? Or is it now at peace? What do they think about Cal and the Gelaming? Write a story exploring the place and/or characters as they might have evolved over time. You can use original characters or canon characters, such as Astarth.

Rules: Sticking to the challenge above, write and submit something electronically by September 1, 2009. There is no minimum or maximum length or other restriction. Please do proof the story for spelling, grammar and punctuation to the best of your ability. Also include your contact information and any notes you want to make about the story.

How to Enter: Email your story to wdarling [at] abraxis [dot] com by September 1, 2009. Preferred format: Text (Txt), Word (Doc), Rich Text Document (RTF), or text pasted in the body of the email. Please include your contact information (at minimum, name and email address) and any notes you want to make about the story, sharing with readers.

Book Review: The Abulon Dance by Caro Soles



by John C. Snider



The Abulon Dance is the first SF novel by Canadian writer Caro Soles, a Canadian college professor best known for her gay short fiction, which has been published in anthologies and magazines.



The tale begins when a dance troupe of Merculians (an effeminate, artistic race of humanoid hermaphrodites) arrives on the planet Abulon as part of a diplomatic cultural mission from the Inter-Planetary Alliance. Among the troupe are Triani, an incredibly talented but spiteful prima donna; Cham, the junior-most member of the troupe and Triani's lover; and Eulio, another accomplished dancer who is the partner of Beny, the I.P.A. Ambassador to Abulon. Other members of the diplomatic corps include Thar-von and Talassa-ran, bureaucratic representatives of the Serpian race (tall, blue-skinned creatures who are physically stronger and mentally more level-headed than the Merculians - and sworn to celibacy, a task made difficult by the Merculians openly promiscuous sexuality). Together, the Merculians and Serpians must determine if Abulon should be admitted into the I.P.A.



Once on Abulon, the aliens encounter a succession of mysteries. The Abulonians are surprisingly anachronistic - on the one hand they appear primitive, violent, and patriarchal; on the other hand they exhibit incredibly advanced technology, including intelligent android servants and electronically-enhanced watchdogs. Cultures clash as the Merculians must adjust to the strange ways of Abulon, and soon the situation is complicated by the abduction of Cham and the revelation that there is a powerful insurgent movement which seeks to unseat the Great Chief (the planetary ruler). When the Chief refuses to negotiate with the abductors, Triani and Eulio, along with an Abulonian prince named Luan (the homosexual son of the Great Chief who has become infatuated with the Merculians), set out on a secret mission to rescue Cham.



The Abulon Dance is a far cry from the chauvinistic boy-saves-girl formula that inhabits many SF novels even today. Ms. Soles has created an fascinating and complex world, and forces us to think about the issues of sexual lifestyle debated in modern society. The Merculians are intriguing, often annoying and downright uninspiring as protagonists, but the reader will still find himself/herself wanting to jump ahead to see where the next plot twist will take things.



A sequel - or rather, prequel - tentatively entitled The Danger Dance, appeared in 2002. The Abulon Dance hints at some intriguing events in the characters' pasts (and makes veiled references to Terra), so it will be interesting to see where this new and unorthodox SF series will take us."


An interesting variation, after Sturgeon's LEDOM, Le Guin's Gethenians and Storm's Wraeththu!

So here's another short story, primarily PWP. niennaainur requested Cobweb/Lianvis, a pairing I'd never before considered. I tried to make it as canonical as possible. I hope you enjoy!

Title: Desert's Fierce Kiss
Pairing: Cobweb/Lianvis
Rating: Adult
W/C: 2,745

( Read more... )

Hi everyone!  This is a short story pairing Cal and Cobweb.  Hope you enjoy it!
Comments are SO VERY welcome!!  Please click the title below.


ONE STARRY NIGHT IN GALHEA

hello all,
I love this comm! 
I am new here so if this is stupid or not allowed please forgive me  :(

I am just finishing reading "The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence" (this is the second of all of Storm's books I've read so far, yes I know completely out of order!  o_O ) and am wondering where the harling of Aleeme and Ponclast ended up.  The story tells about the other three harlings born around the same time and implies of the importance of four...and being impatient as I am I took a sneek peak and found who the forth is and it is NOT Aleeme and Ponclast's  *pouts*  so where is A and P's harling;  who is he, and where is he and let's have a story about that poor little bugger.

Any info and/or opinions are welcome  :)
Thanks

Earlier this weekend I was asking for drabble requests. Most of them became short vignettes, but a couple I knew would end up longer. two_point here requested Seel, 'it must be Seel.' My first thought was Seel/Ashmael, having written Interpret Me the Savage Whirr, but in re-reading it, realized I'd covered most bases there. Still, I wrote more Ashmael/Seel, bringing in Parallax, an OC from Maelstrom and Mage I grew quite fond of, as Ashmael and Vaysh did. I've interspersed 'one' and 'har' (as in someone vs. somehar) since in the original trilogy, Storm used 'one' all the time.

This story takes place in Wraiths. At the end of chapter 12 after Seel saw Pellaz in his re-generation tank, Thiede is very specific with Seel and after telling him he's going to move to Immanion within a month, says, "You will be pleased to know I've allocated a sedu to you. Your training in controlling it begins in two days' time. I'll send a teacher to Saltrock with the animal." Seel isn't particularly grateful.

Title: As Kinshar Met
Pairing/Trio: Ashmael/Seel/Parallax
Rating: Adult
W/C: 1911

( Read more... )

Hi there!
thrihyrne asked me to put these up on this community, and so I do.

( Terzian/Cobweb )
( Seel/Flick )
( Closets of Emily Child Groupies )

Hello all! I was taking requests for drabbles a couple of days ago and had several Wraeththu requests. Two I'll post below; the other two are so compelling (including Lianvis/Cobweb) that they're going to be longer than drabbles/vignettes, but hopefully will get completed today for your rooning reading pleasure.

( Velaxis vignette )

( just-pre-inception Vaysh )

Hi again!  Here is a new fic.  It's a fairly short story about a young har who gets to visit Immanion and has an incredible experience with Velaxis.  Hope you enjoy it!  Comments are greatly appreciated and longed for!

Credit for the icon goes to vcnielson.  Credit for the original artwork goes to Ruby.



Crushed Velvet

Dearest hara!!!

Ever wanted to write/play Cal?

You have a chance!

http://z3.invisionfree.com/Immanion/index.php?act=idx


Please post answers to the challenge, detailed info will follow :)

Hello there! The comm has been quiet…
As part of the 'let me write you drabbles' meme going around, I was requested to write a couple in Wraeththu. Enjoy!

( Read more... )

Winners of Fan Fic Challenge -- April 2009

For this challenge -- Wraeththu "song fic" -- not only did we have a lot of entries (8!) but we had a lot of voters, nearly twice as many as for the last one.

But to end the suspense, the winner is...

Along the Line
by Thevina
http://foreverwraeththu.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/along-the-line/

Summary: Inside Cal's head just before, during and after his murder of Orien.

Here are some of the comments that came in on this story from voters:

"ALL the entries were superb, but I chose this one because Cal is such a complex character and very difficult for a writer to get the right 'feel' of. This story is a very vivid and authentic-feeling representation of a particularly mystifying act. There are so many brilliant little touches in it."

"Incredibly powerful, the song seamlessly slipped in to the fic. Being inside Cal's head at such a point was scary, horrific but also moving and painfully sad."

So congrats, Thevina!

---

I'd also like to note that there were 3 close runners-up, so there were a lot of good stories.

Here's a list of all the additional challenge entries:

"Bring Me To Life" by Niennaainur
http://foreverwraeththu.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/bring-me-to-life/

"Love the One You're With"" by Oshun
http://foreverwraeththu.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/love-the-one-youre-with/

"Pale" by Deathangelgw
http://foreverwraeththu.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/pale/

"Racing in the Streets" by Lusa
http://foreverwraeththu.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/racing-in-the-streets/

"Return (Coming Home)" by Ninzini
http://foreverwraeththu.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/return-coming-home/

"See Who I Am" by Deathangelgw
http://foreverwraeththu.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/see-who-i-am-2/

"Summertime" by Lireneth
http://foreverwraeththu.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/summertime/

Look out for the NEXT challenge,
Wendy

P.S. "Ninzini" was actually me :) Next time I'll use my real name, I just felt like being "anonymous" this time.

We've had a BIG turnout of voters this time, but if you haven't voted yet, you have ONE MORE DAY!

And BTW, there is a close race between 2-3 of the stories and they keep tying, so your vote may determine the winner!

http://foreverwraeththu.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/time-to-pick-the-fanfic-challenge-winner/

Wendy

A couple years ago, I bought The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure and The Shades of Time and Memory. I started reading Wraiths in November 2008, finished it a month later, and started on Shades. I finished Shades today. But then I went to check the Wiki article about Wraeththu because I had a lot of unanswered questions. I didn't know if the books were written to be so vague. I'm not describing myself properly, sorry. Anyway. I saw there were 3 books before Wraiths and Shades, so I looked on the internet to find copies of them. I found and purchased a used copy of the first three books (Flesh and Spirit, Love and Hate, Fate and Desire) compiled into one huge book (published in 1993). It has a glossary of Wraeththu terms and such. But I'm really confused about it lol. Is The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit supposed to be in Pellaz's point of view, from before his death in Wraiths? (Or did he die before Wraiths...? I can't remember the first couple of chapters).

Maybe I'm just confused because I read Wraiths and Shades first, which gives me more insight into Pell's not-so-afterlife?

Are the first three books a basic (I shouldn't say "basic" because Wraeththu is anything BUT basic) foundation of history, and Wraiths and Shades just expanded upon the three books? Or are they all completely different books? I mean, not completely different, they still have the same characters and a wonderful on-going plot, but, you know, different as in they don't really pertain to one another?

Gosh, sorry for the long post. I'm really bad at condensing and summarizing things. And sorry for not making any sense at all.

There is a new LJ community devoted to creating a list of favorite stories from different fandoms.  A Wraeththu category exists but needs more folks to sign up for it before stories can be nominated. Check it out.

Wow, thanks everybody for jumping in and voting on the challenge. We have about 20 votes. Voting is open 'til April 10th and it's a good thing b/c there's a 3-way tie right now!

http://foreverwraeththu.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/time-to-pick-the-fanfic-challenge-winner/

If you haven't voted yet, you still have a week to read and then vote week!

So I'm logged in to Forever Wraeththu, checking out usage, seeing if people are reading the challenge entries (they are) and happened to look at search terms stats. This pretty much shows terms people are typing into search engines or typing into the blog itself or WordPress. And as usual, I gotta wonder about these searches and what people think when they arrive and find Wraeththu stuff. Esp. if that's not what they were -looking- for.

Examples of some recent searches:

types of harling
desire to be in a warm dark place
"disembodied hand" "and tickled"
gossip games between friends
darkling nude
why does metal get rusty when it rain's
wraeththu torrent
teaching and assessing contentment
climax of that was then this is now
split apart gasped arched

He he. I really have to wonder about some of those...

And yes, there are more "normal" searches, like "wraeththu seel," "vaysh/ash", "wraeththu egg," etc.