Orange

From a solely official perspective, it is now Autumn. Finally it slinks into view, crawling out from its hidey-holes in masonry cracks and piles of mouldering leaves. A faint chill has crept into the morning air a threat and a challenge to those who would still dare wear naught but a t-shirt. But for all of the proclamations of an advent autumnal, the heat of summer still clings to the world, resolutely refusing to let go. Occasionally it will be beaten back by the slatey grey of scudding clouds or the assailing phalanx of the driving rain, but it does not yield. Every time I think it has finally been beaten and vanquished, it rallies and claws its way back into the sky. Arguments could be made that this is a good thing, but me? I just really want it to be coat weather again.

My monthly moaning about the weather aside, I suspect you’re here for some short stories. Either that or you’ve lost your way while navigating the seas of Google.

I had a mixed experience with this month’s wordascope. I rather rapidly decided that I was lacking in ideas and promptly decided to hold true to the emergency response of any fantasy fan “Fuckit; dragons.” This naturally spiralled into a whole morass of potential ideas because, you know, dragons. Dragons are awesome. So with a plan and an outline in place, I spent the better chunk of the month larking about with what essentially amounted to a 1,000 word preamble. You know, the set-up, the introduction, the bit before you get to what you’re actually trying to say. This was, perhaps, tactically inadvisable. Primarily because it resulted in a mad-dash to get it finished last night, perhaps not as satisfactorily as I might have hoped. On the upside I got to muck around with some not entirely awful ideas and had a fairly good time expanding the strange universe in which The Starwatcher and The Watcher of Stars occur. Though I decided to tone down the general “alien” feel a bit. So it’s not entire loss, it could always be worse.

The Rogue Verbumancer – Here be dragons

The Mick – Soulful!

James Clayton – Those Eyes so Green <Edit: Added 4th Jan 2014>

Remember to check back tomorrow for the start of October’s Pictonaut Challenge!