A Story of Loyalty & A Fun Update.
A soldier at The End, plus a bit about what’s coming.
Bit of a different newsletter today. I have an exciting writer-update that I’ll explain in the bottom section.
But first: a quick story to entertain you.
I saw this writing prompt, “Holdout,” from fellow Substacker,
, and decided to give it a try. I was further inspired because I came across this painting for the first time that same day; since prompt and painting both sparked a single dramatic moment, I’m putting it to prose.Enjoy.
250ish-word Crunch. Prompt: Write about a holdout soldier under assault
The door closed and the hallway was robbed of all its daylight. In the darkness, Robert took a breath.
Whatever happened next would be painful. But worse: it would be anonymous.
He and Sir Hugh had filled the boat with what treasures they could scrounge, but they had run out of time. Now Hugh was off and away with the queen, the infant princess, and the prince.
No, not the prince anymore, Robert thought. The King himself. The boy’s father was lying dead upstairs, having gone to the grave spitting up blood and cursing his treacherous cousin to hell. The king is dead. Long live the king.
Robert could hear the usurper’s thugs clattering down the passageway. A dozen? At least? They will be here soon. Only moments left.
There was no other way to access the river from inside the castle, but there had been no way to block the door to the jetty, so Robert was staying behind. He had sent his squire into the boat too, to help them however he could. Now, it was only the knight and the old cleric.
“I am going to die here, Father,” Robert said. “Absolve me. Please.”
“I cannot, sir,” the old man replied. “I am only a friar, not a priest.”
Fear at last gripped Robert’s spine. He drew his sword to cover his trembling. There was nowhere to go. The footfalls were growing louder.
“I die a sinner, then.”
“We are all sinners,” the old friar said, “but God knows your repentance, and he sees what you do here—in obedience, in loyalty. I think they’ll kill me too, but until then I will pray for you. But God sees. God sees you now.”
Perhaps, thought Robert, I will not die anonymous after all.
The assassins came around the corner. Robert charged.
* * *
(299 words)
If you want something a little longer, check out my short story that went up a few weeks ago: The Last Day of Segitars Arpadi. And I also hope to be posting more fiction in this space soon.
Which brings me to…
An Update for This Newsletter
I published my first piece here five or six weeks ago, with the intention to share some fiction, some commentary on epic fantasy stories, and general thoughts on narrative writing.
One thing I did not have was a specific editorial plan or a structured cadence of email-posts.
I still don’t.
I was actually about to announce a plan, though. I had it mapped out: weekly posts, with a clear rotation of topics, with a public promise to give you at least a little fiction every other Friday.
But I had to cancel publishing that plan. It already got torn to shreds.
Because, as I am thrilled to announce…
I’ve been selected as one of five participants in the 2024 Gibberish Writing Competition!
This competition runs through all of next month, and it’s organized by the same
that gave me the prompt above, as well as by . Check them both out.The competition will demand of me three short stories of the highest quality I can produce in the 5-day timespan each round provides.
You get to read all of those stories, of course. I’ll be putting them here and sending them out to you. It’s a perfect opportunity to crank out some solid fiction for you, my subscribers.
This does mean my other posts will have to take a back seat. I’m not saying I definitely won’t be posting commentary or writing tips in April, I’m just reserving the right not to. It might have to wait, since I’ve got an arena to compete in!
So here’s what to expect:
My story for the first challenge will be posted on Wednesday, April 10th
The second story will be posted on Friday, April 19th.
The third and final story will be posted on Monday, April 29th.
*** note: these will all go up at 11:00pm EST as per the contest rules ***
Each story will be around 2,000 words, and will be written in response to a challenge prompt given four or five days ahead of time. The full rules and explanations of the competition are available at Gibberish.1
You can also see the announcement post and meet my fellow competitors here.2
This will continue my trend of posting here on literally whichever day of the week is convenient for me at the time.
I thought this post was going to promise a consistent email cadence with a variety of topics, I’m actually announcing a consistent topic (fiction) with a variety of cadence… at least for next month.
Onward!
Next week, since I have some time before GWC’24 kicks off, I’m going to try to publish a yet-unfinished piece about Theoden Thengelson, King of the Golden Hall, inspired by
’s ongoing Lord of the Rings character series and his own treatment of the King of Rohan. Aside from just being about the character, I hope my piece will be both entertaining and thought-provoking. There’s a lot we can learn from the Theoden, even if we aren’t faced with fiendish Uruk-hai on an average Tuesday night.And at some point I’ll share the story that helped me win entry into the competition (Timing TBD).
I want to thank those of you who are subscribed for joining my ragtag band on this writing adventure.
It’s hard to describe how much I really appreciate knowing about each one of you out there, reading what I put out.
I’m humbled and gratified, and it’s also a hell of a lot of fun.
So I say again: thank you.
— Eric
I didn’t plan for this post to triple-tag Scoot, but here we are.
Hyun Woo Kim is already making references to gladiatorial combat… so he’s already endeared himself to me.
Absolutely loved this. Brilliant.
Nice little snippet. Have fun with the Gibberish competition.